this is bbc news — i'm ben brown. the headlines at 12pm: another group of migrants cross the channel and arrive in kent as the home secretary cuts short his holiday to deal with the crisis. the trade secretary liam fox says the chances of britain leaving the eu will only be 50—50 if mps reject the prime minister's brexit deal. also this hour, the health secretary matt hancock sets out plans to provide better support for mothers and babies in england. the proposals would include more specialist neonatal staff, and targets to halve the number of stillbirths, and maternal and infant deaths, by 2025. stars from the entertainment world remember comedy actress, dame june whitfield, best—known for her roles in terry and june and absolutely fabulous, who's died at the age of 93. and in half an hour, a special edition of click — all the latest from the world of technology, filmed in front of a live audience. hello. a very good afternoon to you.

the home secretary will speak to french officials today as he comes under growing pressure to do more about the number of migrants crossing the channel in small boats. sajid javid has cut short his christmas holiday to deal with what he has described as a "major incident". more than 220 people have made the crossing since the start of november. and in the last hour the home office has confirmed thatjust this morning another six men, believed to be iranian nationals — arrived on a beach in kingsdown on the kent coast in a dinghy. they've receieved medical attention and have been transferred to immigration officials. simon clemison reports from dover. risking their lives in a tiny boat,

crossing the world's busiest shipping lane — these migrants are some of the 220 who have been picked up since the beginning of november, alone. the number is small, compared with the million or so who crossed the mediterranean, three years ago. but the figure is rising — up from a dozen, who successfully crossed the channel last year. the home secretary is now promising further action, but it's not yet clear exactly what additional measures he's going to take. mps have called for more patrol boats, capable of rescuing several dingies at once. but sajid javid has, so far, only said he will keep the numbers under review. he has spoken of continuing to ensure more is done to intercept boats, tackle traffickers, and deter and protect migrants. sajid javid is expected to speak to the french government, later. as with the relatively calm conditions, the boats show no sign of stopping. simon clemison reporting there.

our correspondent alexandra mackenzie is in dover. we understand six iranians have arrived on the kent coast. that is correct. the channel has been shrouded in mist this morning and this is one of the most dangerous shipping lanes in the world. as you say there has been an increasing number of migrants attempting to ci’oss number of migrants attempting to cross the channel over november and december, a0 on christmas day alone, the youngest of which was only 18 months old. today we have seen this footage from a member of the public. the footage itself has been unverified but we have had a statement from the home office and that statement has said that the migrants were discovered at 7:30am this morning in kingsdown, not far

from dover. the footage shows a dinghy washed up on the beach. there are six migrants. we understand they are six migrants. we understand they are iranian. there are also rescued officials on that footage. as you said, these migrants would have been taken for a medical assessment initially and then they would have been taken to speak to immigration officers. now, here in the dover, the local mp charlie elphicke has been fairly critical of the home secretary, saying that more needs to be done to deal with this problem. we spoke to him earlier. i think the home secretary's been absolutely right in declaring a major incident, appointing a gold commander, treating it seriously. this has been building up over the last two months. it's good that he's taken personal charge. what we now need is a clear plan and a strategy. for me, that is have a dover patrol, with the five cutters, have more investment in our borders,

particularly intelligence, and deeper cooperation with the french. indeed, joint working across the channel, and not being too specific about the 15 mile zone, where our border is. be more flexible in treating it as a joint zone, where we work together with the french, so we can help re patriate people back to the northern french coast. sajid javid has also been dealing with criticism from the labour party who say his strategy is flawed and he has not dealt with the situation quickly enough. sajid javid will be back at his desk tomorrow and has said this is of utmost importance. he will be speaking to the french to see if anything can be done to stop the migrants coming across the channel. he has acknowledged it is a

massive problem and is not something that will be dealt with easily or that will be dealt with easily or that has one easy answer for to resolve. thank you, alexander mackenzie, reporting from dover. earlier our political correspondent jessica parker gave us an update on the reaction from the government. there are concerns that the worst could happen, that this is an incredibly dangerous journey that some people are taking. there has been a lot of focus on the number of patrol vessels, known as cutters, that are currently operating in the dover strait. only one out of the five in the border force fleet. we know that sajid javid, the home secretary, says that is under review but no easy answers with this issue. among the things we understand he will be doing today is talking to the french interior minister, because, at the end of the day, obviously, to some extent, this problem is originating in calais. there needs to be that cross—channel working with france. so no doubt that is something that maybe government felt only the highest level officials and politicians could deal

with at this stage, to really give this situation the oomph that it needs to get something sorted in what is a very complicated and difficult matter. while we are talking about political developments, brexit, it has been relatively quiet on the brexit front over christmas. but liam fox has had something to say today, about what would happen if the prime minister doesn't get her brexit deal through parliament. yes, he's said if she doesn't get her brexit deal through parliament, he thinks there is only a 50—50 chance that brexit will happen at all. he's been talking to the sunday times about this. we know, of course, liam fox, international trade secretary, he likes to put numbers on things. i think it august last year, where he said he thought a no deal scenario was 60—a0. that headline was well discussed at the time. this is all part of a wider government tactic that we have been seeing, warning conservative mps who do want to deliver on brexit, that if they reject theresa may's deal, and, of course, it looked like they would, that is why she pulled it

and delayed the vote, then they risk getting no brexit at all. liam fox reiterating that argument, saying, " pa rliament cannot now, with any honour, renege "on the result of the referendum. "were they to do so, i think you would shatter the bond of trust "between the electorate and parliament and i think "that would put us into unprecedented territory with unknowable consequences. " so, those warnings, that pressure on conservative mps to get behind theresa may's deal continues. of course, we know the vote is now due in mid—january. jessica parker there, are political correspondent. the time is 1:08pm. —— eight minutes past midday. leading figures from the world of entertainment have been remembering damejune whitfield — who has died at the age of 93. her career spanned more than 70 years, encompassing many of the highlights of british comedy. sarah campbell looks back at her life. kiss me, kiss me, bite me! bite you?! bite me! i can't, dear, i'm a vegetarian!

in a career spanning seven decades, june whitfield played alongside some of british comedy‘s greatest talents. what's it like, living in the jungle? well, it's. .. 0h... drums play. it's rather dull and boring, really. i realised, very early on, that i was never going to play the glamorous, you know, leading lady roles. and serious roles, i always thought, "0oh, i'd better not do that. they might laugh at me." and laugh they did. as a comedy performer, she first found fame on the radio in the 19505, appearing in take it from here opposite jimmy edwards. in the 19705, she teamed up with her regular comedy partner, terry scott, in terry and june. hello, darling. i'm having awful trouble deciding what to give you tonight. well, you can start on an explanation.

i'm talking about food. what about eating out? what about the garage? 0h, i'd much prefer a restaurant. # wheels on fire...# but, to younger audiences, june whitfield will be best known as edina's mother in ab fab. inside of me, there is a thin person just screaming to get out. just the one, dear? laughter. and, even in old age, she continued to delight audiences on programmes like radio's news huddlines. a versatile and reliable performer to the end. dame june whitfield who damejune whitfield who has died at the age of 93. earlier, i spoke to actor john challis, who worked alongside june in the only fools and horses spin off, the green green grass. i asked him what made her such a star and what the secret was to her 70 year career.

she was just she wasjust a she was just a lovely person. i loved the characters, i was always fascinated by the character and so on. i was always a character actor like her. so i loved her. i grew up with her. luckily, i found myself in the rivals, with her. she was brilliant in that. using all the wrong words all the time. it was a great thrill to meet her. her daughter was in the chair as well. that was a great pleasure. that whole show. later on, as you say, when we did the spin—off, the green green grass, she played marlene's mother. we had a shall we say not a very comfortable relationship, dora and my character.

it was a treat to play with her. her timing was superb. she was iconic, really. she said she never wanted to play leading roles. she was one of those people we all grew up with. someone said you can't do a sitcom without june whitfield. she was so modest and she had a dry sense of humour. she told it like it is. i loved the quotes about... "i like being in a nursing home, i don't have to worry "about the plumbing anymore." all that sort of thing. absolutely typical of her. as you say a long career. i remember her in terry and june but younger, people remember her in absolutely fabulous, she was brilliant at reinventing herself. absolutely. it is a testament to the quality she had. 60, 70 years, she never stopped,

she always seemed to have been doing something. ab fab was a brilliant late career invention. quite rightly there she was being revealed to a new audience. itjust went on and on. it was so sad it has to come to an end. at least i had a chance to work with her on a couple of occasions. and what a treat it was. she has been described by a lot of the papers as a national treasure, sometimes a term overused but in her case, really applicable. i think so, yes. all her characters... she is one of those people, so valuable in this profession, when you think of her, you smile. and all her creations. she just added so much to our lives

from that point of view. because of those characters. she just had that timing and her characterisation just made life a bit better and a bit more charming, i think. the actorjohn challis remembering june whitfield who has died at the age of 93. a 21—year—old man has died following an incident outside a house in wigan. officers were called by the ambulance service shortly after 9:30pm on friday evening, following reports a man had been assaulted in abram. william livesley was taken to hospital but died from his injuries yesterday. police are questioning a 57—year—old man. councils in england should be forced to consult local communities before cutting down trees, according to proposals from the environment secretary michael gove. it follows three years of protests in sheffield, where more than 5,000 trees were chopped down and replaced.

mr gove says it's right that residents have a say. the labour mp lucy powell has accused private schools of cheating the exam system — to improve their results — by entering pupils for international gcses. the exams have been criticised as less rigorous than the standard exams taken by most state school pupils. in a statement, the department for education said "the international "gcses had not been through the same approval and quality control process "as the new gold standard gcses, which is why they are no longer "recognised in school performance tables. " the headlines on bbc news... another group of migrants have crossed the channel and arrive in kent as the home secretary cuts short his holiday to deal with the crisis. the chances of britain leaving the eu will be about 50—50 if the prime minister's withdrawal agreement is rejected by mps,

the international trade secretary liam fox has told the sunday times. stars from the entertainment world remember comedy actress, dame june whitfield, best—known for her roles in terry and june and absolutely fabulous, who's died at the age of 93. holly has all the latest sport for us holly has all the latest sport for us from the bbc sports centre. a british couple whose son was murdered by his chinese wife good afternoon. more premier league action this afternoon with the pressure on manchester city who'll be looking for a crucial win over southampton to narrow that gap with leaders liverpool. city are now third — ten points behind — following a run of three defeats in their last four matches. we have the belief when the situation is win or lose. the belief is in who we are. we know we have to come back to win games and fight for

trophies but the belief is always there. the action‘s already been getting under way at stamford bridge — nearly 20 minutes into that game between chelsea and crystal palace where it's 0—0. then it's that all important match for manchester city against southampton — burnley have a task on their hands when they host west ham. in the late kick off, manchester united are at home to bournemouth with 0le gunnar solskjaer looking for his third win since taking over at old trafford. let's just keep that running going, oui’ let's just keep that running going, our performance against bournemouth, and get three points. these two games have been fantastic, the first one, my first game, that was new, first game at old trafford, that is also new. we need to keep that momentum going against bournemouth. when you lose a game i don't think you will see many smiles about because you will lose a game. cameron norrie has been beaten by roger federer in the first match of great britain's latest hopman cup

group tie against switzerland norrie had the unenviable task of trying to defeat the man who's won 20 grand slam titles and was swept away 6—1, 6—1. norrie is teamed up with katie boulter who is currently a set down to belinda bencic in her singles match britain beat greece in their first group tie. india's cricketers have beaten australia in melbourne to go 2—1 up in the four test series. australia still needed 1a1 more runs to win at the start of the final day but only had two wickets remaining. and they lost both of those for just three runs. it was the first time india have won a test match in melbourne since 1981. we always knew that we can do this, so we are very happy. but we are not shocked or very surprised by what has happened. we always believed this was very possible, because of the talent we have in the side and the mindset we have carried for the last 12 months, regardless of what has been said.

regardless of the mistakes we have made. but our mindset never shifted once. also overnight new zealand wrapped up their two match series against sri lanka with a huge a23 run win in the second test in christchurch. the first match was drawn. one other cricket line for you — cameron bancroft, one of three australian players banned for ball tampering in a test match against south africa in march, made his return to competitive cricket this morning. he played for perth scorchers' against the hobart hurricanes in the australian big bash but could only manage two runs. hobart won the match by six wickets. two—time champions gary anderson and michael van gerwen will meet in the pdc world championship semi—finals later. anderson beat dave chisnall 5—2 in his quarterfinal while number one seed van gerwen beat world number 7a ryan joyce 5—1. the other semi this evening will be between michael smith and nathan aspinall.

still goalless at selhurst park. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more in the next hour. a british couple whose son was murdered by his chinese wife have won custody of one of their grandchildren after a long legal battle. ian and linda simpson are due to return to the uk later this week after reaching a deal during a court hearing over christmas in rural china. but they have been forced to leave their other grandchild behind. robin brant is in shanghai. torque is through the history of this because ian and linda simpson have been campaigning for the grandchildren to get them for a couple of years now in a very long fought campaign. .. a better life in

the uk compared to where they are currently living which is with a chinese grandparents in a town in rural china called xiangyang. they have been campaigning for two years since their son michael was murdered by weiwei fu. she was his wife at the time and is the mother of the children. she stabbed him to death here in shanghai. the simpsons have been fighting a long legal battle involving mps and the government here, lawyers and chinese officials as well. that all came to a head about ten days ago when a court hearing took place. but they face the unimaginable decision really of having to either take just one of the grandchildren, alice, which is what the chinese grandparents were offering, the chinese court backed that up as well, or neither of them.

so they have struck a deal to take alice back to the uk with them but their grandsonjack, alice back to the uk with them but their grandson jack, who alice back to the uk with them but their grandsonjack, who was a little older, will stay here in china but they say their campaign goes on to get both children with them in the uk. for now, this is progress of sorts for this family who have been through the awful trauma of first losing their son and then having to fight for the custody of the grandchildren. they have alice and are currently in shanghai waiting for paperwork. but you can only begin to imagine to howl dreadful that decision must have been. there have had support from the foreign secretary in their campaign, i gather. yes, they have had a lot of support from the foreign office. jeremy hunt mentioned in a meeting with his chinese counterpart he said he would look into it. i understand the man who is the head of the civil service 110w came who is the head of the civil service

now came him before theresa may's visits to china earlier in the year. and i heard that he mentioned it with his chinese counterpart. so people in very high positions know about it both in the uk and in china. it is of course a politicised legal system here and there are some particularly senior voices in the diplomatic service in the uk who believe that perhaps more political pressure should be exerted but in the end it came down to this court and it is a resolution as sorts but seven—year—old jack remains in china and they are now returning to the uk with alice. she will have a new life there. to add to the tragedy in all of this the fact remains, and i spoke to ian simpson and little earlier, they are nervous about getting the paperwork and they don't wa nt to getting the paperwork and they don't want to speak to anyone else in the press until the visa comes through,

to make matters worse, neither of these children know what has happened to their father or what has happened to their father or what has happened to their mother who is facing a life sentence here in china. so they have... really heartbreaking story there. thank you for joining heartbreaking story there. thank you forjoining us from shanghai. the health secretary, matt hancock, has set out plans to provide better support for mothers and babies in england — to try to halve the number of stillbirths, and maternal and infant deaths by 2025. he said the measures would make the nhs the best place in the world to give birth. 0ur health correspondent smitha mundasad reports. more than 6a6,000 babies were born in england, last year. and the vast majority of new arrivals were delivered safe and well. but, tragically, this is not always the case. in 2017, there were 2,679 stillbirths. and last year, 1,857 babies died in their first month of life. there have been steady improvements

in the last few years. but there are concerns that england's maternity services lag behind some other european countries. the health secretary's ambition is to make england the best place to give birth in the world. there's a whole package of safety measures around maternity care to make sure that we have the right number of midwives. we will have 3,000 more midwives. we've got record midwives in training at the moment. and we want to make sure that the very best care that we see in the best hospitals is replicated right across the country. the new measures include more specialist neonatal staff to care for newborns. and more cots in intensive care. more mothers will get physiotherapy after childbirth. and child health records, known by many as the red book, will soon be available on smartphones, making it easier to share information

between parents, carers and the nhs. the hope is these measures will go some way to helping the nhs save an additional a,000 lives by 2025. but some will argue that much more needs to be done to keep both mothers and babies safe. smitha mundasad, bbc news. just to update you on our main news, the number of migrants coming across the number of migrants coming across the english channel on small boats. the home secretary sajid javid has cut short his holiday to deal with this. the french interior minister has said on twitter that he has spoken to the british home secretary about the attempts of migrants to ci’oss about the attempts of migrants to cross the channel. he says, "in touch with my british counterpart sajid javid, we are coordinating to strengthen our actions on channel

crossings taking by migrants in small boats and putting their lives in peril." "the favourite" is one of the leading contenders at the forthcoming awards season. the film is set in the early 18th century, when a frail queen anne, played by 0livia colman, occupies the throne. here's our entertainment correspondent lizo mzimba. dearest queen, how goes the kingdom? this 0scar—tipped comedy—drama follows the behind—the—scenes manoeuvring as everyone tries to win favour with an eccentric queen. look at me! how dare you?! close your eyes! playing two of the scheming characters, a pair of britain's brightest young stars — joe alwyn and nicholas hoult. harley's a politician who's playing the chess game of the court, essentially, and trying to get to the queen's ear, because then he knows he can gain what he wants in that world. so, yeah, he's very manipulative. i'm not the brightest character.

i think i'm a bit of an airhead, and i run around lustfully after abigail, who emma plays. there's this kind of cat—and—mouse power play between the two of them in the scenes that they're together, and she uses him. he has some status, and she uses him for that. although set in the 18th century, the story explores power and relationships in a way that still has a relevance today. go back to your rooms. thank you. making these things isn't... when you're kind of inside the bubble of it, it isn't something you're necessarily aware of. but when it comes out, especially in the current climate, there are comparisons — both in terms of politics, or even gender politics. he's referring to the fact that, unusually for hollywood, the three most powerful characters are all women — a refreshing and significant change to the kind of films the cast are used to being offered. sometimes, you read scripts, and i've noticed it before, where you read it and you go, that's not a well—developed female

character, or it's trying to be put into an archetype that doesn't exist. so, yes, it's important for it to reflect what's happening in society, definitely. may i exhort the chamber to roar a mighty hurrah for her majesty in her brilliant decision not to raise the land tax? hurrah! the film is overflowing with british talent, something often seen as a quality mark to us audiences. it's the accent! he laughs. i think we're hard—working, i think that's something about it, and also, we love what we do. i think sometimes — nearly all the brits that i know are in it for the right reasons. you know, so that's a big thing for it. but, yeah, also the accent. it has already been recognised at award ceremonies here and in the us, and if the favourite ends up living up to its name at next year's academy awards, few will be surprised. now it's time for a look at the weather.

hello, there. high pressure in the driving seat to the south. wind from the south—west. a mild direction, quite a lot of moisture which will affect western areas on sunday. the best brightness to the east. aberdeenshire see most of the sunshine. some clear spells overnight, we may see the return of low cloud, mist and fog. it won't be very cold, especially in north—western scotland. there is more of a breeze. then we are into new year's eve and really it's a case of spot the