you're watching bbc news at nine with me, annita mcveigh. the headlines: up to 5000 jobs are expected to be lost as britain's biggest car maker jaguar land rover plans to cut around an eighth of its uk workforce. jlr, a stellar company with a first—class workforce, have always been clear that their success depends on exports, including to the rest of the european union. the uk's retail sector suffers its worst christmas in ten years with falls in sales for marks and spencer and debenhams, according to new figures. the government may back calls to protect workers‘ rights after brexit to help win support for theresa may's dealfrom labour mps in next week's crucial brexit vote. as the us government shutdown continues, president trump walks out of a meeting with democrat leaders who told him they wouldn't fund his proposed border wall with mexico. a heart—stopping

helicopter maneouvre. dramatic footage shows a group of skiers rescued from the pass of anterne in the french alps. and in tennis, andy murray is set to face the spanish 22nd seed roberto bautista agut in his first round match at the australian open. good morning and welcome to the bbc news at nine. the car manufacturer jaguar land rover is due to announce this afternoon it's cutting around an eighth of its workforce in the uk. the firm is expected to say up to 5000 jobs are to go from its 40,000 stong workforce. it's believed posts in management, marketing and administration will be hardest hit,

although the bbc understands that some factory staff may be affected. the lay—offs are part of a £2.5 billion cost—cutting plan due to a downturn in chinese sales, a slump in diesel sales and concerns about competitiveness in the uk after brexit. our business editor, simonjack, has the details. jaguar land rover has enjoyed a great run for nearly a decade, but recently it's come to a shuddering halt. today's lay—offs are part of a £2.5 billion cost—cutting plan designed to combat a perfect storm facing the uk's biggest car maker. sales in what was the company's biggest market, china, have fallen nearly 50%, as consumers there hold back on big purchases amid global trade tensions. jlr has also been badly affected by the diesel emissions scandal, as 90% of its vehicles are diesel powered. today's job losses come on top of cuts to the workforce and production last year. but jaguar has been

increasing its headcount elsewhere in the world. 4000 workers have been hired in china since 2014. production of the land rover discovery is being moved to slovakia, with plans to hire up to 3000 workers. the company has warned that a no—deal brexit would cost it more than £1.2 billion each year, wiping out any profit. and that uncertainty has been deterring further investment in the uk. if, as expected, the uk bears the brunt, if not the entirety, ofjlr's global cost—cutting, the company management may well feel they can say the decision did not come out of the blue. simon jack, bbc news. joining me now to share his thoughts on this announcement from jaguar land rover isjim holder, the editorial directorfor what car? magazine. we have heard three key factors being behind thesejob we have heard three key factors being behind these job losses, slumps in car sales in china, diesel sales, and uncertainty over brexit.

could you assess the relative impact of those factors? absolutely. i think china is the principal one guiding the decision, the fall in the car market in china. it has been sudden and severe. in the last months of last year it was down by as much 50% year on year for some manufacturers. across the course of the year, down around 25% forjaguar land rover. that really was their biggest market and it was driving huge profits for them. the chinese we re huge profits for them. the chinese were buying their most expensive models. that impact is huge. i don't think you can underestimate the impact of the diesel turn really. it came quickly and suddenly and to a degree it came so suddenly that most car manufacturers could not respond in time. jaguar land rover has been particularly slow to get its plug—in hybrid petrol models on sale as alternative to the diesel. it was also particularly dependent on diesel sales. nine out of ten of the sales that they were making were diesels at one point. brexit is a

work in progress. 0bviously diesels at one point. brexit is a work in progress. obviously the fall in consumer confidence as a result of it has hit them already, but i think what they really fear is no—deal brexit. the complications what the supply chain, the threat of tariffs, and everything that comes with that really would be a massive blow to them. today perhaps they are preparing for some of that worst—case scenario. preparing for some of that worst—case scenario. and the key thing to look out for will be how much are among the substantialjob losses they can protect cuts in production so that they have the production so that they have the production capability going forward. absolutely. this is a car company that needs to transition and it needs to transition from being a traditional car company to one for the future. and particularly one that can build on its leadership around electrical vehicle technology. it already has one market leading car on sale in that market, an suv. it has beaten its bigger opposition from the german bigger opposition from'the'germani manufacturers bigger bppbsitibn frbm'the'germeni manufacturers to getting

premium manufacturers to getting that car on sale, and by most destinations it is better than a lot of the opposition that it faces, but it is not profitable. so in order to build a profitable electric driven future, they need to keep selling the established cards in the meantime. the transition without the money to put into the rnd, and it is billions of pounds that they need, then they will be in trouble, so they will need cuts to free up the funding to secure a positive future. and you have written an opinion article this morning saying why today could mark the first day of jaguar‘s salvation. if you look at jaguar‘s salvation. if you look at jaguar and you look at land rover, what is the future going forward? land rover finds itself what is the future going forward? land roverfinds itself in what is the future going forward? land rover finds itself in a what is the future going forward? land roverfinds itself in a much stronger position. it has been the dominant brand of this group. it has very strong sales and it produces high profit vehicles. it has grown significantly over the last five yea rs. significantly over the last five years. jaguar income trust has struggled to find its footing. it's absolute heritage is in saloon cars and they are not selling well.

jaguar saloon cars are really up against some of the toughest competition in the global market from other competitors. it has transitioned into the suv, which is where the hot sector is in the market, where consumers are looking to and whether bigger profits are, but it has really failed to build on that scale. for the future, they need to try and leapfrog the opposition. if they cannot beat them in terms of scale and profits in the short term, then can they leapfrog all of their opposition by getting ahead in what will be the next generation of vehicles during the seismic shift in mobility that we are experiencing toward electrification? good to talk to you, the editorial director for what car magazine. jaguar land rover has a number of sites across the uk. the company's main headquarters are in whitely in coventry with the mainjaguar assembly plant in castle bromwich, and land rover plants in halewood in merseyside and solihull in the west midlands. earlier the business secretary

greg clarke warned that a no—deal brexit was not in the best interests of the company. jlr, a stellar company with a first—class workforce, have always been clear that their success depends on exports, including to the rest of the european union. and tariffs would be disastrous. but also they are one of the prime examples of a brilliant just—in—time manufacturing process, in which you can save money on warehousing, save money on inventory. that helps them be competitive. so given the difficulties that they are going through, and your reports this morning have commented on that, to add further costs and further disruption from a no—deal brexit, it's clear why they've been so clear that this would be against their interests. with me now is our business

presenter, dominic 0'connell. tough news for the employees of jaguar land rover this morning. i am interested to expand a bit on a question that i put tojim holder about how much the production capacity will be protected on all of these cuts going on because they seem to be aimed at other parts of the manufacturer, don't they? jaguar land rover has three main production pla nts land rover has three main production plants in the uk, in merseyside, and in solihull, and the merseyside plant is differently safe and the solihull plant is safe. there has a lwa ys solihull plant is safe. there has always been a question hanging over castle bromwich, the smallest plant, but people at jaguar land rover this morning said that all three plants are safe. those with long memories will remember that castle bromwich was earmarked for closure in 2008 but that doesn't seem to be the

case. they need to keep their flexibility in production and that size of production, because the long—term plan for tata motors, which owns jaguar land rover, to make it into a bigger car maker, and the goal wasi million make it into a bigger car maker, and the goal was i million cars a year, and they were meant to do that last year and and they were meant to do that last yearand didn't and they were meant to do that last year and didn't get near it. the long—term plan is long—term investment and doing more with jaguar land rover so they need the pla nts jaguar land rover so they need the plants but three plants in the uk sounds like quite a few to me. i think there could be rationalisation in due course. as the previous guest was saying, they need to leapfrog the opposition to be well placed to build the next generation of vehicles. if we look at the factors causing problems at the moment, we have talked about the confusion with diesel in the minds of the motoring public, slumping chinese sales, and of course the fact is that they can't really work out at the moment is just how brexit will impact going forward. it is worth remembering what a roller—coaster ride jaguar land rover has been for its owner, tata motors. they bought them in 2008 just before the credit crisis hit, so they bought itjust before they made a big investment into the

uk, and they went to the government asking for a bail—out loan for jaguar land rover, they wanted £1 billion in the government gave them nothing. then demand picked up at the chinese economy started running away and they had some very good models and it became the most profitable car—maker on the planet. a big and well—known brand. profitable car—maker on the planet. a big and well-known brand. and making the right kind of models and not german—made models for sale into the chinese market. they do well in the chinese market. they do well in the united states as well and they had the right diesel models when it was very attractive in the uk. now the cycle has turned and china has gone backwards very quickly, as your earlier guest was saying. it is the first time in 20 years that annual car sales in china have fallen. those figures were out last week. it isa those figures were out last week. it is a big reverse in china. it is the idea that they are exposed to vicious cycles in the market but they could of course turn again. stay with us because four are britain's biggest retailers have revealed details of their christmas trading. sales at tesco and john lewis

were up but there were falls at marks and spencer and debenhams. the struggling department store chain debenhams reported a 5.7% fall in like—for—like sales in the 18 weeks to the 5th of january. marks & spencer saw its sales drop over the christmas holiday period. like—for—like sales, which strip out the impact of new stores, were down 2.2% in the 13 weeks to 29th december. but tesco appeared to buck the gloomy trend. it said trading over the christmas period had been strong. the company, which is the uk's biggest supermarket chain, said its like—for—like sales over christmas in the core uk area were up 2.2% in the six weeks to 5th january. let's get dominic's thoughts on this news as well. a crucial trading period and a really tough trading period. i'll be seeing the differences in the relative fortunes of the companies that we have mentioned? —— are we seeing? are

people choosing to spend more on food and less on other items? broadly with the big players, they have not been drastic shocks in the christmas trading. there were predictions of a bloodbath and retailers going bust but that hasn't happened. the big players have been trading pretty much as they did throughout 2018. revival in tesco with sales up 2.2%. marks & spencer struggling with the restructuring programme, so download .2%. we have got to bear in mind that these are sales figures and we won't know the profit figures for another five months when we get the annual results for these big players. there is a big clue today. charlie mayfield, the chairman of thejohn charlie mayfield, the chairman of the john lewis partnership, including the department stores and waitrose, said that margins were under pressure and profits for the whole year would be down compared to last year, and that they might not pay out their annual bonus to staff, to the partners as they call them, this year. there was a big hint they might not do that. the last time john lewis did not pay an annual bonus to its staff was 1953. that is

quite something. we can hearfrom sir charlie mayfield, chairman of thejohn sir charlie mayfield, chairman of the john lewis partnership, sir charlie mayfield, chairman of thejohn lewis partnership, who has been describing the challenges facing shopkeepers. in retail there are two main thing is going on. there is too much supply of physical retail space than there is demand for it from customers, and that is the long—running story about the growth of online and the fact we just don't need as much space on the high street as we had and it takes a long time to adjust. you have got those conditions there. added to that, you have got economic conditions, political conditions, which mean that consumer confidence is low. the demand has been dampened. they two together creates a very tough retail environment and that is why you are seeing some of the pain on the high street. what is going with consumers? the brc talk about

consumers? the brc talk about consumers being squeezed. 0thers have talked about caution out there. what do you think is going on with consumers? is there a brexit effect? we are all consumers, aren't we? we follow the route and we go up and down. to some extent i think there was a period last year when people we re was a period last year when people were a bit, like, it is noise going on over there and i will not pay much attention to it. as you get closer to the wire and it gets a bit hotter, people start reading the newspapers and watching the news and seeing what is going on and they think, gosh, it does feel a bit uncertain. i think right now we are probably in a phase where it looks more uncertain and if you look at consumer confidence, from about april last year, it started to decline. and it has dropped quite a bit over this last period, to a low point now. the question is where does it go next? it might bounce back would macro it might carry on going down. who knows? i think consumers are understandably concerned but equally they are

getting on with their lives and day—to—day not that much has changed. people are probably a little bit confused. the chairman of thejohn little bit confused. the chairman of the john lewis partnership. rachel lund is head of insights and analytics at the british retail consortium, the trade association for the high street. i heard one of your colleagues describing it as a running fight to stay still. is that a good symbol of the state of british retail at the moment? i think absolutely. the state of british retail at the moment? ithink absolutely. looking at ourfigures moment? ithink absolutely. looking at our figures today, they show that the market did not grow in december. it is as competitive as it has ever been. retailers are having to try extremely hard to grab a piece of a market that is not growing. and we are talking about a ten year low, ten yea rs are talking about a ten year low, ten years since festive sales have been this poor. 2008 was the last time that it was weaker than 0% growth, which is pretty significant.

we were in the middle of a recession then. the last time we had figures where stand this over the december period. —— worse than this. where stand this over the december period. -- worse than this. there is signal an extreme level of caution among shoppers at the moment?” think shoppers are thinking twice. they spent quite a lot over the summer they spent quite a lot over the summerand they spent quite a lot over the summer and now they have probably sat back and they are looking at the finances and not spending as much over the christmas period. they have had about 18 months of having wages squeezed by inflation. that has been supported by borrowing and a bit of saving so i think what we are seeing isa saving so i think what we are seeing is a bit of thinking again about what they are spending. do these figures include online sales or are they purely sales and bricks and mortar shops? they include online as well. behind the overall figures, you are seeing online growing by just under 6%, which means that in stores sales are falling. but not amazon? we don't know the impact of

amazon? we don't know the impact of amazon on these figures, do we? we don't give out who is in our sample. we cover about 60% of the market and most of them are our members. we have a lot of pure online retailers in there as well, so it is not simply the case that online retailers are growing much faster than everyone else and taking all of the sales. 85% of sales are still done through stores, said it impacts across the market. the big question for members of the consortium is how do they ride this out and how do they grow sales in the year ahead?” think that is absolutely right. it will be quite a tough environment, particularly where there is this uncertainty around brexit, which is particularly affecting the housing market and therefore people's decisions about purchasing furniture and other things as well. the fact is that retailers have got used to having to compete very hard, which means discounts, and offering great

value to consumers as well and it will remain tough. rachel lund from the british retail consortium, thank you very much. the headlines at 9:19am: up to 5000 jobs are expected to be lost as britain's biggest car maker jaguar land rover plans to cut around an eighth of its uk workforce. the uk's retail sector suffers its worst christmas in ten years with falls in sales for marks and spencer and debenhams, according to new figures. the government may back calls to protect workers' the government may back calls to protect workers' rights after brexit to help win support for theresa may's deal from labour mps in next week's crucial brexit vote. andy murray has never dropped a set against roberto bautista agut, and he won't want to start now that is drawn against him in the first round australian open. and manchester city

make it 16 goals in two matches as they thrash burton albion 9—0 in their league cup semifinal first leg last night. more on all of those stories in the next half an hour. thank you. see you then. the five—day brexit bill debate continues at westminster later after yesterday's dramatic events in the house of commons. the speaker, john bercow, came under intense criticism for allowing an amendment which led to another defeat for the government. the labour leaderjeremy corbyn is in west yorkshire this morning where he'll make a speech to party members arguing that theresa may will lose her right to govern if she loses the main brexit vote on tuesday. meanwhile the government is considering giving extra protections to workers and the environment in order to win support for its withdrawal agreement from some labour mps. let's to go wesmtimnster and speak to our assistant political editor norman smith.

good morning. labour are working on a number of fronts but even if the prime minister wins the support of some labour mps for her deal, are we looking at anything like the sort of numbers she needs to win that vote next week? not initially, ithink. the assumption in westminster is that a deal next week will go down pretty much whatever happens. but if mrs may was to go back to brussels and come back with another deal, maybe come back again, perhaps there could be movement. what we are seeing, it seems, is an attempt to build bridges, with the government today poised to signal it will accept an amendment put down by a group of labourmps accept an amendment put down by a group of labour mps from leave supporting constituencies seeking to bolt on to mrs may's deal some of the demand that mr corbyn and others have been making in terms of guaranteeing employment rights, social rights, environmental

conditions, climate change standards. all the sorts of things that mr corbyn has been demanding, opening up the question that could some labour mps be won over down the line to backing mrs may's deal? the back bench was sounding distinctly lu kewa rm back bench was sounding distinctly lukewarm about all of that with the shadowjustice secretary lukewarm about all of that with the shadow justice secretary richard burgon suggesting it was just a desperate manoeuvre by mrs may. obviously workers' rights are important but i would take the newspaper stories about that with a pinch of salt. we want to see legally binding promises in connection to workers' rights. and also i have to say the history of the conservative party on workers' rights is not a very positive one, so rights is not a very positive one, sol rights is not a very positive one, so i take the whole thing with a pinch of salt. iamjoined i am joined now by the labour mp john mann who put down the announcement that the government seems to accept. why did you do this? we have our own red lines. they are nothing to do with mrs may.

these are some but not all of the red lines that we have got and she has had her is all the way through and we have got some. employment rights, workers' rights, environmental standards, health and safety, they a re environmental standards, health and safety, they are part of our red lines. we do not want to see a brexit where we become some kind of singapore economy, where it is a race to the bottom and we try to undercut everyone else and workers lose out. what we want is to compete by being the best in the world.“ mrs may, as now seems likely, accepts those red lines, are you more likely and other labour mps more likely and other labour mps more likely and other labour mps more likely to back mrs may's deal? of course it does. they doesn't mean that people will be rushing on tuesday to do so. this is the start of the process. i could reasonably say perhaps that should have been done a long time ago. but we are where we are. and there are other issues that need to be gone through,

clarified, and in the spirit of what is happening at the moment, part of what our amendment does, is if the eu was to improve their standards, say on workers' rights, this requires government not to endorse that, but to guarantee through policy by parliament that that is brought back to parliament in the future. in other words, brought back to parliament in the future. in otherwords, parliament will decide whether to accept new and better standards. that is quite critical in terms of going forward. what do you say to those labour activists and labour mps hearing that, who think what are you doing? you are throwing theresa may a potential lifeline of labour support when she is on the ropes. what we are doing is we are drawing our red lines inside parliament with a resolution that will tie the government's hands, any government's hand, in the future in the

negotiations. you could save her deal. i suppose the premise for this for us is that we accept the ma nifesto, for us is that we accept the manifesto, we accept the referendum result, we are leaving the european union. so how do we need? this is about how we leave. it is our red lines for how we need. the labour mps who will not be very happy are those who want to overturn the referendum, overturned the manifesto we are stood on, and have a second referendum or revoke article 50 and keep that in the eu. but then this will not be very good. but for those that accept the manifesto, and the labour leadership does of course, and accept results of the referendum, and the labour leadership does, this ought to be good news. you said this was the start of a process and do you think that down the linejeremy corbyn could back or may be an stain on a reworked theresa may deal that includes the labour red lines? --

maybe have stain. i can't speak for jeremy corbyn but what is clear to me is that there is space for more red lines to be established and for the labour party to do that through jeremy would be very helpful. if we can assist in doing that, then these are traditional red lines but actually they are real ones, real ones in terms of people's lives. we need a good brexit and we have got to work together to make sure we get one, whoever is in power. john mann, thank you very much. an awfully long way to go in this whole brexit process that there are signs now of potentially some movement with mrs may very late in the day trying to reach out to some labour mps, it seems. thank you, norman. let's talk more about this with stephen bush, the political editor at the new stateman. labour looks like a party that is

not settled on what it wants to do. like the conservatives, labour is impossibly divided on the issue of brexit. the advantage they have is thatitis brexit. the advantage they have is that it is not a theological issue for their membership, said they are more able to get their divisions out of public view. there are people likejohn of public view. there are people like john mann who of public view. there are people likejohn mann who have wanted brexit for a long time and are determined to vote for something that prevents it not happening. we have labour mps and very heavily remain seated did not want brexit and do not want their constituents to say they voted against it. and there are labour mps who want no brexit at all and there are labour mps who don't want no deal and will vote for anything, no brexit, theresa may's deal or something else entirely to prevent leaving without a deal. and if you arejeremy corbyn, you need voters to stick with you and to win over the leave voters who didn't vote for you. it is difficult if not impossible to

work out how he will balance all those factors in his parliamentary party and his electoral imperatives at the next election. and possibly a general election sooner rather than later but who knows on that front? before we talk about what might happen next, it is worth talking about the astonishing scenes in parliament yesterday, and in particular the intervention of the speaker, john bercow. yes, what happened yesterday was that the speaker of the house declared a fourth whip motion, and he said that something that was thought not to be amendable could be amended by the vote in the house of commons which defied historical precedent but under our system the only role that really matters is whether you have a majority in the house of commons, and if you do, you can do whatever you want. john bercow did have that majority, twice over, once for mps voting for the change and twice because the majority of mps want him

to stay. in an odd way, although that has brexit implications, it wasn't solely about brexit. the reason why people likejohn mann who do not want to stop brexit are not well served by that motion passing, the reason he voted for it, they do wa nt the reason he voted for it, they do wantjohn bercow to be the speaker and stand up for the back benches, and stand up for the back benches, and then there are other backbenchers who want it stopped, so there are wheels within wheels. many nuances. you mentioned what impact this might have as we go forward now, heading into next week, and if theresa may's deal fails, now, heading into next week, and if theresa may's dealfails, so now, heading into next week, and if theresa may's deal fails, so what happens next in terms of plan b? what could that plan b be about? presumably the prime minister is working on that right now? the main impact, it means the prime minister has got to respond within three days and not 21, which has big applications were brexit. her big clu b applications were brexit. her big club card is that under article 50 we leave on the 29th of march, and we leave on the 29th of march, and we either leave catastrophically with no deal or with some kind of arrangement and she knows that the closer you get to the 29th of march,

the more mps will vote for her deal just to stop the disaster of no deal. the time that you can run down the clock has been limited and that makes it harder for the clock has been limited and that makes it harderfor her to do the clock has been limited and that makes it harder for her to do that. they think people in the cabinet are talking about now is indicative votes. the cabinet would not have a binding vote right away, but you can test the mood about a second referendum. that would kill off mrs may's deal as we know it and it would kill off a second referendum, because for them to succeed they need the same dynamic as mrs may, which is mps being so frightened of the cliff that they reopen the referendum result. thank you for your thoughts this morning. in a moment we will have the weather forecast but first what had victoria derbyshire got coming up in her programme at ten o'clock? we will be looking at what happens if the uk leaves the eu without a deal at all, what will it mean for the economy and the services like

the economy and the services like the nhs, for you when you travel abroad? and is it what you voted for? chesham us what you think. do you actually want a no deal or are you actually want a no deal or are you dreading the possibility? send me an e—mail. join us at ten o'clock. and it is time now for a look at the weather forecast with carol kirkwood, a day two wrap up warm? absolutely right, especially if you're in the south. temperatures as low as —6 in parts of 0xfordshire this morning. but in the north it is a different story with more cloud around. today you can expect, after around. today you can expect, after a sunny start in southern england and south wales, a weather front sinking south and introducing all of this cloud and some patchy light rain and drizzle. it will brighten up rain and drizzle. it will brighten upfor rain and drizzle. it will brighten up for northern ireland and western scotla nd up for northern ireland and western scotland for some time. temperatures higher in the north than in the

south today but tomorrow, that will change. tonight it is not going to be as cold as the one just contract that will be some breaks in the cloud and we still have the weather front in the south, leading us into tomorrow. to start with in southern england, south wales, we will have cloud and patchy result. it will move away and for many of us we will start to see some sunshine, it will not be as breezy but there will still be a fair bit of cloud around for all of us, and milder conditions. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines... up to 5,000 jobs are expected to be lost as britain's biggest car maker jaguar land rover plans to cut around an eighth of its uk workforce. the layoffs are part of a £2.5 billion cost—cutting plan partially due to concerns about brexit. the uk's retail sector has suffered its worst christmas in ten years — according to new figures released by four of britain's biggest retailers.

sales at marks and spencer and debenhams were down on the previous festive period — but tesco and john lewis bucked the trend. the government may back calls to protect workers' rights after brexit, to help win support for theresa may's dealfrom labour mps in next week's crucial brexit vote. time now for the morning briefing, where we bring you up to speed on the stories people are watching, reading and sharing. yesterday, mps passed an amendment in the house of commons which would force theresa may to show parliament her plan b within three days if she loses next week's crucial vote on her brexit deal. shadow justice secretary richard burgon told bbc breakfast why the amendment was a good idea, adding that if the prime minister does lose, labour would bring a no confidence motion in the government "within a matter of days". it helps to stop theresa may trying

to hold the country to ransom, she's trying to run the clock down and say, you either accept hers deal will you accept a disastrous no deal. and all the practice to traffic jams of van, deal. and all the practice to trafficjams of van, the circling boats and the rest of it, are all pa rt boats and the rest of it, are all part ofan boats and the rest of it, are all part of an operation to try to intimidate parliament and the country into accepting her second—rate, worst of all worlds, deal. so this amendment being passed which means she has to come back within three days in the event of a rotten within three days in the event of a rotte n d eal within three days in the event of a rotten deal being voted down. so being able to drag it out, and therefore wind the clock down in order to put further pressure on people to accept a rotten deal which is not in the national interests. so in that way it's very positive. but ministers remain clear that the prime minister's deal is the best deal — here's andrea leadsom on itv‘s peston last night. first of all, the prime minister always comes back to parliament

every time anything changes, so it is perfectly reasonable and believable that she will come back to parliament. within three days? with her thoughts. but i think the key thing is that the prime minister absolutely intends to give everything she's got to getting this meaningful vote through. i do not agree with those who say that her deal is not a good deal. what it is isa very deal is not a good deal. what it is is a very careful compromise. he's the man known for reporting from war zones around the world, only to suffer injury at home. the former bbc correspondent martin bell, who went on to become an mp, had a bad face fracture in november when he tripped over. he here is paying tribute to his facial reconstruction surgeon on radio 4's today programme. i tripped over a suitcase, it's fairly humiliating after all the other things i have done in my life, but it was in gatwick and i suffered a quite serious injury but i am back together and i fell into wonderful hands and i thought it was right to

pay tribute to a very successful nhs, in my case. and it was particularly serious because you fell straight onto your face?” particularly serious because you fell straight onto your face? i was holding a suitcase, pulling a suitcase in either hand, i tripped over one of them and fell flat on my face, it was like a car crash injury without a car. so it took a two—and—a—half our operation, those wonderful surgeon, helen clitheroe, to rebuild my face, it was amazing. how did she do it? she did it with some titanium plates and eight screws and i still have the plates, they will be with me for the rest of my days. and a lot of very clever handwork, because of course the only aperture she had to work through was the mouth. i am a huge fan of some aspects of surgery that i had never even heard of before. and you are now a man of steel with those plates, a man of titanium, at least! actually when i passed through the airport next time, i don't know what

it's going to be like. i have got two titanium hips which i have had for 20 years, i've got titanium in my mouth and i've got a piece of shrapnel in the abdomen chapple—hyam the bionic man, yes. flooded wards, broken down lifts and bed shortages. those are just some of the issues facing staff and patients at the royal hospital in liverpool on an almost daily basis, while a state of the art, empty hospital sits next door. they feature in the new series of the bbc‘s hospital, which takes a candid look at life on the ward — let's look at a clip from the show. it's really frustrating when you look out the window and there's this fabulous new hospital, the cost of what it is repairing this building would be astronomical, to be honest. the new royal is a £335 million state—of—the—art hospital. after the construction company carillion went bust, it has sat empty and unfinished for the last ten months. incomplete electrical fittings mean the trust can't even turn off the lights. at the end of the day we're

all here for patients. we just try to make it as positive experience as it can be for them. the amount of problems that we have, didn't use to have this ten years ago, even five years ago. i mean unfortunately there's a lot of unhappy patients here today. 0ur reporterjayne mccubbin was at the hospital, where she spoke to chief executive aidan kehoe, who said he was angry at carillion. i think it's important that the public see what we're dealing with the new pressures on our staff. they get a real picture for how the nhs is today. for us, obviously, also, it was important that we got things moving with the carillion debacle, we wanted to get the new hospital finished, i think it... do you think this might put a rocket up the bum of the powers that be to give you the funding to crack on? no, it wasn't about that. i think we got fantastic support from the government all the way through this, trying to get this deal completed. everybody wanted to get the hospital finished.

and the blame sits with carillion fair and square. i think we got lots of support, as i say. but as you've seen through the hospital programme, we need this new royal, we need to get that built. it's not a great environment here for our patients or our staff, who provide great services. so it's about really pushing on and getting it finished. there is an amazing, powerful clip in the programme that you'll see tonight where you speak of your fury about carillion, taking bonuses while the people of liverpool suffered, what do you want to see happen? well, you talked at the beginning of the programme about the human effect of all of this, and it's a massive human effect. the people of liverpool deserve a new hospital, our staff deserve a new hospital. so, of course, i'm angry with carillion, i think a lot i think a lot of our staff are because they left an unfinished hospital. but what we can look forward to now is a fantastic, state—of—the—art building that will be one of the finest healthcare facilities you will find anywhere in the world. and i think we can all be excited about that now. 0n the bbc new app at the moment,

most read... judge dismisses sexual harassment claim against harvey weinstein, from the actress ashley judd.|t weinstein, from the actress ashley judd. it has been dismissed by a los angeles federal court, the judge ruling that her allegations did not fall within the scope of the statute under which she had sued. however, he said her defamation claim, that mr weinstein had sabotaged her career, could still proceed. harvey weinstein denies the allegations against him. scrolling on down, at number nine... a story about stranded seals in a canadian town. this is a town in newfoundland and basically, they have become stranded after nearby waters suddenly froze over last week, preventing their return to the ocean. if you scroll on down through the story, you can see an image of dozens of seals stranded, people are really

concerned they're going to staff. but canadian law says people can't interfere with marine mammals but there are calls for someone to come and help them. —— going to staff. most watched, at number two, you may have seen the image in our headlines, a really dramatic helicopter rescue in the french alps, let's see if we can get the image back on the screen for you, a group of skiers had become stranded ina group of skiers had become stranded in a pass after one of them suffered a knee injury. another one of the skiing party used their mobile phone to call for help and then a really dramatic rescue and student. i'm so sorry, we seem dramatic rescue and student. i'm so sorry, we seem to be having trouble showing you these amazing pictures. the helicopter pilot performed a manoeuvre called a skate support, where the helicopter hovers centimetres above the ground to take the injured skier on water. and the

helicopter pilot brushed off the praise and said that he practised it a lot. take a look at the news app and look at the pictures if you have not see them, because they are really dramatic. apologies we could not show them to you just now. that's it for today's morning briefing. sport now, from the bbc sport centre. hopefully you won't have any problems of showing us the pictures you want to show us! yes, we are going from the snow to the heat and i have seen those helicopter pictures, everybody, they are amazing! in australia, andy murray will play the 22nd seed roberto bautista agut in the first round of the australian open. the draw has taken place the australian open. the draw has ta ken place over the the australian open. the draw has taken place over the last couple of hours in melbourne. murray is now ranked 230 in the world. for news on that and the other five. players in the main draw, we can go live now to

melbourne and chat to our tennis correspondent russell fuller. good morning to you, afternoon, evening...? morning to you, afternoon, evening. . . ? evening morning to you, afternoon, evening...? evening here! it looks pretty beautiful, actually, that looks gorgeous. what does this draw mean for andy murray? it's a tough start in that he's playing a seeded player in roberto bautista agut, a man who has already won a title in 2019, which takes some doing that when you consider that it is only the 10th of january but he won in doha last week. murray's hip is better than it was a year ago before the surgery but were never quite be the surgery but were never quite be the same again, and it's really hard for him when he comes up against a seeded player in the very first round. he's going to speak to us tomorrow. he's been sounding more downbeat, i have to say, so far this year, more optimistic last year after the surgery about perhaps hitting back to close to the top of

the game but his comments so far this year have been suggesting that he doesn't know quite how far this hip is going to carry him.” he doesn't know quite how far this hip is going to carry him. i know it's probably the question you get asked an awful lot, but how much longer can he carry on? well, i think a lot of that depends on him. first and foremost he needs to try and get two or three months of lots of matches under his belt. if he's able to do that and he's not been too much pain, then he will decide whether he wants to keep playing at whatever level he can achieve. he's still got things he wants to achieve, he still has ambitions, but he just does not know whether that is practical. he will hope that he has locked on his side and he is still able to get himself into a position where he is competitive. he said in the past i would be very happyjust said in the past i would be very happy just playing this said in the past i would be very happyjust playing this sport i love again. but having been a world number one and three—time grand slam champion, no—one quite knows, least of all himself, whether playing at a

slightly lower level would be enough for him. it's very difficult to work out what is happening withjo konta's game at the moment, her form has been unpredictable, you would say, over the last year or so — what is the draw looking like for her and the other women? she has got a tough draw, like a lot of the british players, she will start against tom jelavic of australia, match she can do the nightly win but she is in the draw as both of the williams sisters as well as simona halep. heather watson starts against a seeded player, katie boulter has also got a tough opponent, m. and the other men we haven't spoken about yet, kyle edmund, semifinalist last year, bit ofa edmund, semifinalist last year, bit of a concern about a knee problem, he starts against tomas berdych, a past wimbledon finalist, and cameron norrie, who is in the semifinals in auckland, he will play taylor fritz of the united states in the first round. tough draw for many of them

are. round. tough draw for many of them a re. lovely to round. tough draw for many of them are. lovely to talk to you, russell fuller. it was a pretty spectacular night of football last night at the etihad, lead one side burton thrashed 9—0 by manchester city in the first leg of their league cup semifinal. gabrieljesus scored four of them, riyad mahrez got the ninth! let's have a look at some of the reaction on social media, starting with gary lineker, who said... and one city fan said... let's have a look at some of the back pages this morning. not surprisingly, most of them focus on that match, the demolition of burton in the league cup. city scored ten

against huddersfield back in 1987. and in the daily mail... 9—0 and it is only half—time! the paper also reports that west ham have rejected an offerfrom reports that west ham have rejected an offer from a chinese super league clu b an offer from a chinese super league club for marko arnautovic. finally, if you're having a bad day, spare a thought for this chap in a brazilian under 20 competition, he's on the floor, what happens... ? under 20 competition, he's on the floor, what happens...? 0n the floor injured, the medic truck comes out and runs over his foot! shall we see it again? i love the way his head just bounces back on the ground! that's quite painful for just bounces back on the ground! that's quite painfulfor him, he even puts his head in his hands as he leaves! they're spraying magic spray he leaves! they're spraying magic spray on his back, i don't think it is his back that's the problem any more! much more sport on the website. tune into sportsday later

on the news channel, just after half past six. that's all for me for now. more sport coming up at 11.15. they had onejob, more sport coming up at 11.15. they had one job, and more sport coming up at 11.15. they had onejob, and that wasn't more sport coming up at 11.15. they had one job, and that wasn't to cause further injury! some breaking news coming into us from west midlands ambulance service about a fatal fire in stoke—on—trent. 0ne about a fatal fire in stoke—on—trent. one man has sadly died and ten other people were assessed by ambulance staff following the fire at a property in stoke—on—trent, the london road, just before midnight last night. two ambulances, two paramedic offices and an emergency doctor were sent to the scene, one occupant, a man, was confirmed dead at the scene, ten other patients were assessed, with three of them requiring further treatment in hospital. that news

just coming into us. the headlines on bbc news... up to 5,000 jobs are expected to be lost as britain's biggest car makerjaguar land rover plans to cut around an eighth of its uk workforce. the uk's retail sector suffers its worst christmas in ten years, with falls in sales for marks and spencer and debenhams, according to new figures. and the government may back calls to protect workers' rights after brexit to help win support for theresa may's dealfrom labour mps in next week's crucial brexit vote. it's been announced by kensington palace this morning that the duchess of sussex has become the patron of four organisations. richard lister — our news correspondent — has more details and joins me now. which organisations is she going to become patron of? these are the

first four for become patron of? these are the first fourfor her so become patron of? these are the first four for her so i become patron of? these are the first fourfor her so i think become patron of? these are the first four for her so i think there isa first four for her so i think there is a lot of interest in seeing exactly the direction she plans to ta ke exactly the direction she plans to take her membership of the royal family. they're the national theatre, the association of commonwealth universities, and animal welfare charity and smart works, which helps vulnerable and unemployed women to get back into the marketplace. kensington palace this is all four of these organisations reflect something that duchess of sussex has been involved with relief quite some time. given her acting background the national theatre is perhaps not a surprise. it is an organisation for which the queen was a patron for 45 years and she has passed that patronage onto meghan as she has with the association of commonwealth universities, one which the queen held for 33 years. so clearly, this isa held for 33 years. so clearly, this is a shift within the royal family, moving some of those responsible of these towards the newer members. and one of those organisations was so

excited by the news that they rather jumped the gun on the announcement of? yes, if you look at the national theatre website yesterday, you would have seen a picture of the duchess of sussex smiling above a message which said... the duchess of sussex announced as our new royal patron. so they got a little bit ahead of the game but it is formally confirmed today. a lorry driver has been arrested after 27 suspected migrants were found in the back of his vehicle on the m6. a stretch of the motorway near stoke—on—trent was closed in both directions last night to allow police to carry out searches, causing long delays. ben ando reports. a busy motorway brought to a standstill. hundreds of cars gridlocked. thousands of travellers stuck for hours. eyewitnesses said the police were stopping lorries on the m6 near stoke—on—trent, and in one, 27 suspected migrants were discovered. i did see a few of them run up the motorway,

and the police gave chase. it was astounding. there's one, there's another, wait, there's another. when's this going to stop? in a statement, staffordshire police said... this woman was pictured trying to get her baby to sleep, standing in the outside lane, and many on social media asked why stopping one lorry led to the motorway being closed for six hours. hundreds of burton albion supporters tweeted their frustration. very few were able to reach the etihad stadium for their side's cup tie against manchester city. the m6 reopened late last night. the police say those discovered in the lorry were given medical checks and are being seen

by immigration officials, while a 42—year—old lorry driver has been arrested on of trafficking. heavy snowfall and strong winds have now led to the deaths of at least 14 people across europe. 0ne village in northern greece has experienced a record low temperature of minus 23 celsius. the risk of avalanches are at the highest level in parts of the alps and norway — and forecasters are warning of more extreme weather to come. caroline rigby reports. snow is often welcomed in the alps at this time of year, but you can get too much of a good thing. dramatic footage has emerged of a rescue near chamonix, in france, the pilot of this helicopter forced to carry out a daring manoeuvre in an effort to reach an injured hiker. digging the nose of the aircraft into the mountainside, the blades brush against the snowpack.

translation: it's to save time when you have extremely challenging mountain weather. the team chose to perform this in order to be as fast as possible. elsewhere in europe, the wintry weather has created some unusual scenes. this beach in athens, more used to sun, now covered in snow. in greece, a number of people have died in freezing storms, but it is the alps, austria and southern germany which have been worst—affected. icy conditions have led to major travel disruption for german commuters, who have faced long train delays and traffic jams. this village in bavaria has been completely cut off, its nearly 900 residents relying on emergency crews to deliver supplies through the forest. avalanches are a particular concern, with many areas of the alps and norway on their highest level of alert. six children had a lucky escape in austria after four of their group became buried on a ski slope.

people are doing what they can to prepare for the bad weather, but with such sustained conditions, some are struggling to cope. translation: at the moment, it isn't good. the wind is picking up again. the snow situation remains bad. we've been shovelling snow for three days now. the deepest deposit was around 3.5 metres. and it is not only humans finding the weather challenging. rail workers in austria helped save this mountain goat after it became trapped. it is the relentless nature of this weather system over europe which has made it so dangerous, and forecasters warn that, with more snow on the way, the situation could get worse before it gets better. now it's time for a look at the weather.

simon, are we going to see much more snow across europe? yes, they have had up to three metres in the austrian and german alps and that is the same amount you would expect to see in the whole of january, and there is more to come over the next five days, another 2—3 metres in some places, so the dangerous situation continuing there. across the uk we have got a lot more cloud this morning compared to yesterday morning. because of that there is quite a big difference in the social. that is the scene at the moment in greater london, a few bright spells across southern areas. we started off with a frost across southern parts, minus five celsius at six o'clock this morning in 0xfordshire. this one front is the dividing line to milder air moving into the north, 10 degrees in northern ireland and scotland at the moment. this is the air mass actually. you can see it is coming

from the atlantic and the yellows are bringing the milder air across scotland. some sunny skies developing here over the afternoon, elsewhere, a fair amount of cloud, some outbreaks of rain and rizal affect in central and eastern areas for a time this morning. temperatures still struggling, meanwhile, the scotland and northern ireland, about nine—11. tonight there will be varying amounts of cloud, the milder error spreading to all parts. not as cold as last night, particularly for england and wales. a frost free night, temperatures staying up about 5—7 friday will stop off on relatively mild note with quite a bit of cloud, but that will break at times and there will be some sunshine across eastern parts of england and up into eastern parts of england and up into eastern parts of scotland. jump hours perhaps in the western isles on friday. but for most of us it is a dry day again. temperatures even across the south will be higher than

today. we can pull this area of high pushes its way to the sand we allow this weather fronts to moving across the uk, the breeze will pick up from the uk, the breeze will pick up from the north—west as well. there will be some more times during saturday. much of that should clear away and many of us should have a dry day and there will be some sunny spells as well. 0r rain coming in from the north and temperatures about 10—11 celsius, so still quite mild. 0n sunday, again, there may well be a bit of rain at times, especially towards northern and western areas of scotland. jump hours moving towards cheshire and the midlands but the many, it will be dry again on sunday. there will be some dale stephens in northern parts of scotland. but still relatively mild for many of us, those temperatures still up for many of us, those temperatures stillup in for many of us, those temperatures still up in double figures. things turning a bit more unsettled over

the weekend but still mild. hello. it's thursday. at ten o'clock. i'm victoria derbyshire. we're only five days away from that crucial commons vote when the prime minister will try to get her brexit deal approved by mps. theresa may says it's her deal or no deal. so what would a "no deal" brexit look like and what would it mean for you? i'm an entrepreneur, so no—deal brexit would mean more expense to pass on to my customers and a nightmare for my customers.” pass on to my customers and a nightmare for my customers. i work in aviation and no—deal brexit would be an opportunity and not a crisis. as an eu citizen and somebody working in the car industry, no deal would be disaster. for the uk fishing industry, brexit is a sea of opportunity and no deal would bring that on