britain's biggest car maker cuts a,500 jobs. jaguar land rover blames falling sales in china, concern over diesel and brexit uncertainty. it's a brilliant, skilled workforce. it's a real asset to this country, and whatever the terms of the announcement, we will do everything that we can to make sure they can find jobs that make use of their really valuable skills. we'll be live at jaguar‘s headquarters in coventry. also this lunchtime.... the worst christmas for a decade on britain's high street — retail sales flatline in december. the labour leader tells theresa may she should call an election to break the deadlock over brexit. if you are so confident in your deal, call the election and let the people decide. well, unfortunately the president just got up and walked out. democrats accuse donald trump

of a temper tantrum as he storms out of talks on his border wall. dramatic rescues in the alps as avalanches claim more lives. and new roles for meghan markle — the duchess of sussex becomes patron of four charities close to her heart. and coming up in the sport later in the hour on bbc news: andy murray struggles in a practice match against novak djokovic, as he also finds out his first—round opponent at the australian open. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. britain's biggest car maker, jaguar land rover, is cutting

4,500 jobs, most of them in the uk. it blames falling sales in china, concerns about the future of diesel, and uncertainty over brexit. one of its rivals, ford, has also warned of thousands ofjob losses across its european operations. here's our business correspondent, theo leggett. jaguar land rover is the uk s biggest car manufacturer but it is losing momentum. this morning workers heading through the gloom to its headquarters were bracing themselves for bad news. with sales and profits falling the company had already announced plans for a major restructuring programme designed to save £2.5 billion. today it has confirmed this will mean the loss of 4500 confirmed this will mean the loss of a500 jobs worldwide. the bbc understands most of them will come from among its a0,000 uk workers and mainly from office—based staff. one

of its biggest problems is in china, where the car market as a whole fell by 6% last year, the first such fall in two decades. jlr, which has invested heavily bearing recent yea rs, invested heavily bearing recent years, has suffered particularly badly. another problem lies closer to home, sales of diesel vehicles in europe have tumbled dramatically amid concerns about their environmental impact and fears of possible restrictions on using them. there's no question jaguar possible restrictions on using them. there's no questionjaguar land rover has been affected by factors beyond its control but critics say its product line—up is sometimes confusing, that it relies too heavily on diesel power, and that it has invested in some models that consumers don't seem to want to buy. speaking ahead of the announcement, the business secretary paid tribute to jlr's workforce. it's a brilliant, skilled workforce, it's a

real asset to this country and whatever the terms of the announcement, we will do everything that we can to make sure they can find jobs that make use of their really valua ble find jobs that make use of their really valuable skills. then of course there's brexit. jaguar land rover has warned that if we leave the eu without a deal its costs could rise by more than £1 billion per year. it insists it has no plans to close any uk factories but it's already building this electric car in austria and last year the hill is a state—of—the—art factory in slovakia. forjaguar land rover to survive in the long term it needs to be an international player in the global car market and that means widening its go beyond just british manufacturing. it has taken steps to do that already, it opened a plant in europe last year and has grown its chinese operations. now it needs to build on that. others are struggling too. ford has also

announced plans for thousands ofjob losses in europe. jlr insists its business is fundamentally strong but says change is inevitable if it is to compete successfully with larger and more powerful rivals. our correspondent peter plisner is at the company's headquarters in coventry. devastating news for the workforce — what's been the reaction? i think this announcement had been expected, unions this lunchtime talking about the effect to all parts of the country, a company of course that embarks on a £2.5 billion restructuring programme so i think it's inevitable we would have seenjob cuts of think it's inevitable we would have seen job cuts of this size. we've already seen 1500 jobs go in production areas around the country, now we are seeing production areas around the country, now we are seeing jobs going at hq and also in warwickshire. little impact on the supply chain, the companies that make parts forjaguar

land rover. we have seen production slowdown is already and that has had an impact on them. there is some good news today, jaguar land rover announcing two new factories, want to produce batteries in warwickshire and another factory probably inside its existing plant at wolverhampton will produce the electric motors. those factories could have gone anywhere in the world but instead they are based here in the uk and not only that, here in the west midlands where the bulk ofjlr's operations are. thank you. the latest retail sales figures show it was the worst christmas in a decade for britain's shops. sales flatlined in december, with no overall growth. sales at marks & spencer and debenhams were down, though they were up at tesco and thejohn lewis partnership. our business correspondent, emma simpson, reports. elton was drafted in. # it's a little bit funny...# he wasn't the only big name signed up for glitzy retail christmas ads. holly willoughby did her bit too,

but this year we weren't letting ourselves go wild with the cash. must have party, after party... it's a bit careful, obviously there's not a lot of money going around, is there? did you spend more this year than last? no, actually i got some good bargains this year because everything was in the sale before christmas. and those sales were more widespread than ever, but the discounts didn't help debenhams. sales at its uk stores slumped by 6% over the festive season. marks & spencer had a poor christmas too, with a 2.2% drop in sales. clothing, home and food all down. at the discount goods retailer b&m, sales dropped over the quarter. tesco did better. their sales were up on last year. john lewis also enjoyed some growth. it's already said profits would substantially lower this year but

today it warned it might have to suspend its cherished staff bonus for the first time in more than 60 years. what we said very clearly is, because of the steps we've taken, we've got a strong financial position. we can afford to pay a bonus. the question is, is it prudent to do so? and of course that's a judgment about what is coming and the uncertainty in the market, and this year of course there's quite a lot of that. there are always winners and losers when it comes to the battle for our christmas cash, but this year it feels like there are fewer winners than normal, and the industry trade body reckons this has been the worst christmas since 2008. we are in the midst of a perfect storm. technology fundamentally changing the way that people shop, rising costs for retail businesses, and sluggish demand, which took a downturn at the end of last year, so the last few months in december, that critical trading period for many retailers, saw no sales growth at all. a poor finish then for what's

been a tough 12 months. the january sales are now in full flow. 2019 could be even more challenging, especially for those starting in a weaker position than last year. emma simpson, bbc news, liverpool. the labour leader, jeremy corbyn, says defeat for theresa may in next week's crucial brexit vote should be the trigger for a general election. but, in a speech in wakefield, he indicated he would not immediately demand a vote of no confidence in the government, and he resisted calls to support another referendum. meanwhile, it's emerged the prime minister has held talks with labour backbenchers who want to bolster workers' rights as part of brexit. here's our political correspondent, iain watson. if you don't like the government's brexit deal, jeremy corbyn says there is an alternative but it will

ta ke there is an alternative but it will take a general election to get it. if the government cannot pass its most important legislation, then there must be a general election at there must be a general election at the earliest opportunity. that means calling a vote of no—confidence in the government, so when exactly what he pushed for labour will table a motion of no—confidence in the government at the moment we judge it to have the best chance of success. clearly labour does not have enough mps at the moment in parliament to wina mps at the moment in parliament to win a confidence vote its own. at some of his own mps believe the prime minister's deal could be improved without an election, and at their request theresa may held face—to—face talks yesterday as a number of labourmps, face—to—face talks yesterday as a number of labour mps, focusing on protecting workers' rights and environmental overseas after brexit. the impression i got was people coming would be listened to. if

there is huge progress on these other issues, there could be a tipping point, where we say actually we have got everything we want. our red lines are all met. if that's the case, the deal is acceptable. theresa may still hasn't won over a small number of mps she met yesterday but she could get there. they want additional guarantees the kind of funding english regions received from the eu would continue after brexit but many mps are still refusing to do business with the prime minister, and that leaves her deal in trouble. today there seem to bea deal in trouble. today there seem to be a parliamentary pincer movement to get the prime minister formally to get the prime minister formally to rule out no deal. i think no deal would be disastrous outcome for britain. so you might expect this cabinet minister to give full throated backing to the prime

minister's deal, but not quite. through the debate, we need to form a united view as to what kind of deal can command the confidence of the house. and the temperature was raised at westminster when a conservative mp said she would resign if the prime minister accepts no—deal. time is running out for the prime minister to get the deal through parliament. mps can largely agree on what they don't want but not on what they do. our assistant political editor, norman smith, is in westminster. as we saw, the prime minister has been talking to some labour mps about her brexit deal, how significant could that be? it is significant could that be? it is significant but don't expect a sudden stampede of labour mps

rushing to back the pm. equally it is absolutely clear that if mrs may wa nts to is absolutely clear that if mrs may wants to get a deal, she's going to need some labour support because there are around 30 or a0 tory mps who would be willing to walk over burning coal is in their bare feet to vote against her deal and we are now seeing, it seems, are very last—minute attempt to reach out to labour vote. we have face—to—face meetings between the pm and some labour mps meetings between the pm and some labourmps and meetings between the pm and some labour mps and the decision to accept this amendment from labour mps on eu workers' rights. up to now the government has fought tooth and nail to reject amendments from many of its own mps and here they are tamely accepting a labour amendment. that suggests they are ready for mrs may's deal to have bolted onto its key labour demands so the deal begins to morph into something much

more likejeremy corbyn's deal. it won't save the prime minister's bacon come tuesday but if she was to then go away and come back with a few more labour demands she might get more support, and if she went away again, put on some more demands, the clock was ticking down towards brexit day and no deal, you could could get to a situation where enough labour mps were repaired to support or abstain to maybe get mrs may over the line. it is an awfully long shot, but frankly, given the situation mrs may is in, it is perhaps her best shot. norman, thank you very much. what chance does theresa may have of winning next week's vote. my colleague christian fraser has this assessment of the challenge facing the prime minister. so, here we go again. the mps are debating theresa may's brexit deal. the vote, remember, will be

on tuesday, and that for now appears to be the only thing we can be certain about — there will be a vote. but everyone agrees that getting a commons majority will be an almighty struggle. so, before we look at which way the vote may go, let's remind ourselves how many mps the parties have here in the house of commons. we can take out the speaker and the two deputy speakers, because they don't vote. the conservatives have 316 mp5, that's two more than before the no—confidence vote in theresa may, because two suspended tories got the party whip back. but that's still not enough to command a majority. now, in this parliament the conservatives have relied on a confidence and supply agreement with the dup, whose ten mps support the prime minister in key votes. and over here, on the opposition benches, labour has 25a mps, the snp have 35, the liberal democrats have 11. they've lost one, who resigned to back the prime minister's plan. and there are eight independents, four plaid cymru mps, and the green party has one.

but as we know, brexit has divided the two main parties. some mps will not be doing what their whips tell them. so, let's go next door to the lobby, to remind ourselves who doesn't like the prime minister's deal. well, first, there's the dup — all ten of them. they can't vote, they say, for a deal that includes the irish backstop, and so far there's been nothing the prime minister has offered which would reassure them. so, they are still firmly in our "no" column, at least for now. and then there are 99 brexit supporting conservatives who are on the record as opposing the deal. there are also tory remainers who say they will rebel, there are at least 12 of them. so, the total number of conservatives against this deal stands, by our tally, at 111. next comes labour and all the other opposition mps, and altogether that adds up to another 312 votes against the prime minister. who's going to vote for the deal?

well, the best estimate from bbc research is 205 conservatives will fall in behind her, and beyond that there's still only the additional support of that one solitary former lib dem. which means, on these calculations, the prime minister would be short by 11a votes, and that, incidentally, is 19 more votes against her than just over a month ago, when we last looked at these figures. but i remind you, as we did last time, that we don't know how many of this group who are against might abstain, lowering that overall total, and we don't know how many labour mps might back the deal who haven't yet made a decision. we don't yet know what further concessions or clarifications might come from the eu between now and the vote on tuesday, so all that could change the numbers. at least we won't have to wait long to see what the final tally is. what comes after that — well, that's anyone's guess. christian fraser reporting there.

president trump is visiting the us border with mexico today as part of his campaign to build a wall there. it comes a day after he stormed out of talks with his democratic opponents on how to pay for the wall. mr trump dismissed the negotiations as a "total waste of time". the democrats accuse him of slamming the table and having a "temper tantrum because he couldn't get his way". the dispute has meant parts of the federal government have been closed for nearly three weeks. david willis reports. a disagreement over policy on the border with mexico has escalated into a high—stakes game of brinkmanship that continues to hold key parts of the american government to ransom. a third meeting between president trump and democrats chuck schumer and nancy pelosi to discuss the crisis ended in acrimony. well, unfortunately, the president just got up and walked out. he asked speaker pelosi,

"will you agree to my wall?" she said, "no," and hejust got up and said, "then we have nothing to discuss," and he just walked out. again, we saw a temper tantrum because he couldn't get his way and hejust walked out of the meeting. the president tweeted subsequently: "just left a meeting with chuck and nancy, a total waste of time. i asked, are you going to approve border security which includes a wall or steel barrier? nancy said no. i said bye—bye." the president is making reopening the government conditional on funding for a border wall, the signature issue of his campaign. meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of government workers are going without pay. i think the president made his position very clear today, that there will be no deal without a wall. there will be no deal without the priorities the president has put on the table. president trump has floated the idea of declaring a national emergency,

which would enable him to circumvent congress in his hunt for funding for the wall. he is due to visit the border again later today, just two days before the current shutdown becomes the longest in american history. david willis, bbc news, washington. our correspondent, gary o'donoghue, is on the us border with mexico at mccallen in texas. so, gary, what's donald trump trying to acheive by going there? if you believe the president himself, he's supposed to have said ina himself, he's supposed to have said in a meeting this was a pointless photo op and something that wouldn't achieve anything at all, so as far as he's concerned we're not sure what he thinks he's going to achieve, but it will focus the debate, it will keep it going, of course, and we understand he is bringing the white house counsel with him, that's the chief lawyer

inside the white house, potentially because he may decide to declare that state of national emergency that state of national emergency that he didn't do the other night, when everyone thought he would do it. why would he do that? well, actually it would be an interesting way out of the current stand—off over the shutdown, because he could do that, maintain his view that he was fighting for the wall, that it was fighting for the wall, that it was getting his money for it through another way other than congress, and also signed those spending bills to reopen the government, and that's important because tomorrow 800,000 federal employees go without their pay packets, and saturday marks the longest shutdown in us history, so there's a lot to play for. murray, thank you very much. —— gary, thank you very much indeed. our top story this lunchtime. britain's biggest car—maker, jaguar land rover, announces thousands of job losses, with most of them in the uk. and still to come... the duchess of sussex becomes the patron of four charities, that champion causes close to her heart. coming up in the sport in the next 15 minutes on bbc news... the draw has been made for the first

round of the australian open and there's a tough path ahead for the british number one johanna konta. heavy snow is causing widespread disruption across much of central and eastern europe. at least fourteen people have been killed, and avalanche warnings are at their highest level. ski resorts and mountain villages have been evacuated, and three regions in austria have been declared catastrophe areas. our correspondent, bethany bell, reports from scheibbs, in the foothills of the austrian alps. winter has central and eastern europe in its grip. for days now, much of the region has been covered in a thick blanket of snow. and more is on the way. in turkey, roads have been blocked and ferry services cancelled. in greece, temperatures have

dropped to —23 degrees. the snow has even reached south—eastern italy, where some schools have been closed. but it's the alps which have seen some of the greatest disruption and loss of life. there have been some spectacular rescues. this helicopter pilot, near chamonix in france, couldn't land as he tried to save an injured climber, so he stuck the nose of his aircraft into a snow drift in order to let the rescue team land. translation: it'sjust to gain time when we have rapidly changing conditions on the mountain. clouds can come down at any minute, so we choose to do this to deploy as quickly as we can. it's something we train for, not in such spectacular conditions, but we do practise. in austria, some ski resorts

and mountain villages have had to be evacuated. and it's a constant struggle to keep paths and roads clear. austrians are used to the snow, but the sheer amount of it that's fallen in the past few days is making life very difficult for people here in the mountains. this path was shovelled clear just a short time ago, but as you can see it's now completely white again. people are bracing themselves for more. across the region, heavy snowfalls are forecast over the next few days. the risk of avalanches is very high. and we can talk to bethany in scheibbs now. bethany, these conditions have already claimed a number of lives in the alps — are they set to continue? what is the forecast? the forecast

is yet more snow. as you can see, it's snowing now. we are told that will continue for the rest of the day. there maybe a little bit of a respite at the beginning of the weekend, but then, on sunday, heavy snowfall is expected to start again and into next week, and some places could even see up to 2.5 metres more new snow. that's on top of what's already here. i'm very close to one of those catastrophes owns a little bit further up the mountain from where i am, catastrophe zones. a ski resort had to be evacuated. people around here are saying they are very concerned, if there is more snow there could be more evacuations and there could be more evacuations and the authorities will continue to struggle with the effort to try and keep the roads clear, and meanwhile everybody is very aware of the immense threat of avalanches. bethany bell, thank you, reporting from scheibbs. the spanish authorities say they've

broken up a criminal gang that made millions by fixing professional tennis matches. 83 people have been arrested — among them, 28 professional players. our sports correspondent, joe wilson, is here. what more can you tell us? on the face of it this is very alarming. when we talk about these kind of figures and spanish police making raids, seizing a shotgun i believe, it's alarming a criminal gang could be so heavily involved in tennis. this is the kind of example tennis has been aware for sometime and we are talking about professional players. there are thousands of men and women trying to make a living out of tennis, in really small tournaments, some cases in parks and they don't make any money, but the likes of you and me if we wanted to can gamble on these

tournaments so corrupt person could potentially say to a player, you are making nothing out of winning this match, why not play badly on purpose, i can place bets accordingly and we can make money. that's the context. tennis has said there's a tsunami of corruption going on. one thing that will reassure the game that betting patterns have been seen, triggered a police investigation and it is now triggered arrests. one point to finish with, yesterday, when a big report into tennis corruption came out last year, i asked the reporter of —— the author of that report i said, can we believe what we see at wimbledon and he said, yes, so it's alarming but it's down in the lower echelons of tennis where there are too many professionals. thank you, joe wilson, our sports correspondent. the former mp and bbc war correspondent, martin bell, has had majorfacial reconstruction surgery after tripping over his suitcases at gatwick airport. mr bell suffered serious injuries in the accident, as he returned from a holiday in november. a team at st george's hospital in london re—attached his upper mouth to his jawbone using four plates and 16 screws. i've done some serious ambushes from biafra to bosnia and i've been wounded once. i think what's particularly sad about this — i've got no one

else to blame for it. it's a totally self—inflicted injury. i wrote to the hospital and thanked them and described myself as looking like dracula's grandfather. it's amazing, the job they've done. martin bell. the duchess of sussex is to become patron of four organisations that champion causes close to her heart — including the national theatre, and charities supporting unemployed women and animal welfare. the announcement is being seen as a milestone for meghan markle, outlining her integration into the working life of the royal family. richard lister reports. she commands attention wherever she goes and the duchess of sussex says she wants to use that profile to further the causes she believes in. today she was in west london, at the charity smart works which helps unemployed and vulnerable women get into the job market. whatjob did you get?

it's one of the four organisations she is to be patron of. another is the national theatre, an unsurprising choice for a woman who used to be an actress. we can get it out of the way that i'm not interested. she believes the arts can be used to bring people from different backgrounds together. it's one of two patronages passed onto her by the queen. the other is the association of commonwealth universities. meghan has already given some insight into her support for that organisation in a speech in fiji last year. and while progress has been made in many areas across the commonwealth, there is always scope to offer more opportunity to the next generation of young adults, and specifically to young women. going to drop it, give me the ball? animal welfare is the focus of the fourth patronage. the mayhew charity works to improve the lives of animals in britain and around the world. for all these groups, royal endorsement can mean both a higher profile and more cash. at smart works today, meghan had to choose outfits forjob interviews.

she, of course, will be a working mother in a few months' time. these patronages will be a chance to use her position to make a difference and to show us what kind of royal she wants to be. richard lister, bbc news. time for a look at the weather. here's darren bett. we were reporting on all that snow in the alps, causing a lot of avalanches and death, any of that snow on the way here? no snow on the way here, in actual fa ct no snow on the way here, in actual fact it's going to get milder over the next few days, and it was quite a cold start this morning mind you across the southern half of the uk at that while there has not reached here just yet. we seen the best of the sunshine in the south—west, but we started with a frost. the colder air is getting pushed away into the near continent and we have high pressure to the