hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm simon mccoy. today at 2. 4,500 jobs to go at jaguar land rover — most of them being lost here in the uk. falling sales and fears over brexit are blamed whatever the terms of the announcement will do everything we can to make sure they can find jobs that make use of their really valuable skills. 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. coming up on afternoon live all the sport — olly. 83 arrests have been made by spanish authorities at the end of the tennis match fixing investigation, 28 players implicated. all this if you

days before the first glance one of the year, the details coming up. thanks olly and darren has all the weather — we will have a look at the snow in europe and why it has been so bad, donning milder here in the uk over the next few days. thanks darren. also coming up — getting the meghan sparkle: the duchess of sussex has been made the patron of the national theatre as well as three other organisations. hello, everyone — this is afternoon live. britain's biggest carmaker, jaguar landrover, is cutting four and a half thousand jobs — most of them here in the uk. it blames falling sales in china, concerns about the future of diesel, and uncertainty over brexit. the company says it aims to cut costs by up to £2.5 billion pounds.

one ofjlr's 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 the company 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 a500 jobs worldwide. most of them will come from among its 40,000 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. that's hurt a number of european manufacturers, butjlr, which has invested heavily

in 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 land rover has been affected by factors beyond its control but critics say the company has made its own mistakes as well. they 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 simply 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 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 it opened 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 scope 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 and really see that project through. 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. let's cross to the palace of

westminister and speak to the labour mp for birmingham yardleyjess phillips. this although many saying pretty inevitable news, nevertheless this is going to affect your constituency ina is going to affect your constituency in a desperate way. it is absolutely heartbreaking when we talk aboutjob losses from jaguar land rover, we're not just talking about the fact these jobs will ultimately be lost immediately but the skill base and quality ofjobs as very hard to replicate elsewhere. jaguar land rover has been a great employer and has really been quite a lifeline to the car industry in the uk but also to areas in birmingham which rossouw many generations my family, everybody is family has worked on the car industry. it was a beacon of hope and what has been a hard few

decades and this is just heartbreaking. what many people can't understand is that when mcafee took it over it was followed by yea rs of took it over it was followed by years of success, took it over it was followed by years of success, doing amazingly well. as it as simple as blaming the fear of diesel cars and brexit honours that something more fundamental gone wrong? u nfortu nately fundamental gone wrong? unfortunately what has happened is a perfect storm, most people want to say it is brexit and of course that cannot have helped in times of uncertainty for the car industry gci’oss uncertainty for the car industry across the uk, notjust accurate to what it does seem like a perfect storm, the diesel issue, problems with the global trade war between us and china affecting buying power in china and of course the customs problem we do not know what the resolution is going to be, that perfect storm as well as probably

management decisions but i am not here to criticise jaguar land rover, we have just try and see a way through this to keep that manufacturing in the uk. you say you are not yet criticised by the has to be some management was possibility here and some of the workforce do i think blame the management. i have been speaking to some myself who do. absolutely, but i do not think one thing, this isn't thatjaguar land rover driven operations off a cliff with scant regard, and for about a decade we have seen me a lot of growth at jaguar land rover and decade we have seen me a lot of growth atjaguar land rover and in birmingham and result was seen as the good news story, and apprenticeships, women in the workforce, always went back to jaguar land rover and have made decisions in the past. we will sit down, mps from birmingham and the

west midlands with the business ministers and jaguar land rover to find out how we can stop this going wrong. i know these are the ones every mp dreads but can i ask you about labour's position on brexit? an amendment has been tabled and he accuses labour mps calling for a second referendum are breaking labour manifesto promises and not accepting the referendum result. you back another referendum, how do you respond to his accusation? myself and john are fairly friendly and the trouble of politics even westminster at the moment as we are trying to pretend that is some sort of enormous divide and if somebody has a good idea or a new way for what is the only way to get that new way forward is to completely and utterly discredited everybody else boss idea. i will not play those games, i thinkjohn's amendments rights and brexit is a good one and i wish that

parliament had much better ideas about building consensus rather than criticising this sadly what is going on. the public wants to find a way for more than that is what i will stick to. do you think you are breaking labour party policy? no i'm not, labour party policy conference was if we could not have a general election then we should see to have a second referendum, i don't think i am breaking labour party policy but evenif am breaking labour party policy but even if i was to be perfectly honest i would feel about that because at the moment as i'm having to do right now i have to think about the livelihoods of the people in my constituency and that always comes first. my party will inevitably come second. 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 and 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 be 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. and like the government's brexit

dealjeremy corbyn says that there is an alternative possible take a general election to get it. and the government cannot pass its most important legislation then there must be a general election at the earliest opportunity. that means calling a vote of no cover this and the government. when exactly witty push for one? labour will table a motion of no confidence and 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 and parliament to wina mps at the moment and parliament to win a confidence vote on its own. some of its own mps believe the prime minister's deal could be approved without an election and the request theresa may held face—to—face talks yesterday with a number of labourmps face—to—face talks yesterday with a number of labour mps focusing on

protecting workers' rights and environmental policies after brexit. the impression i got as people coming the other positive agenda is would be listened to. good liberal mps support the prime minister's deal after further changes coric?“ the rafa the changes that could be a tipping point when we see everything has been met, the deal is acceptable. theresa may still hasn't won over the small number of labour mps that she met yesterday that she could get there. they want additional guarantees that the kind of funding which english regions received from the eu would continue after brexit but many labour mps are still refusing to do business with the prime minister and that means her deal and trouble. to do this in to bea her deal and trouble. to do this in to be a parliamentary pincer movement to get the premise minister formally to rule out no deal. movement to get the premise minister formally to rule out no deallj

think no deal would be disastrous. 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 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 from the party at the prime minister accepts no deal. she could say no deal in which case very many seventh of colleagues of how would resign in the book, myself included. time is running out to get a deal through. mps slightly what they do not want but not what they do. let's cross to westminster and speak to our chief political correspondent vicki young... we are at the stage every day but

after yesterday everybody is still trying to lick their wounds and market with a stand on this. the interesting issue today is about government reaching out to some labourmps, government reaching out to some labour mps, some would say finally, the sticking quite a while. a labour mp seven months ago said she would consider voting for the ding's deal because she is a incredibly constituency, very worried about inaugural scenario and the impact it might have on manufacturing and have constituency but no one phoned her good to have contacted her and finally they have come to have to say what might you need, what i persuade you to get behind the deal. it has taken a long time, many conservatives would argue it is not an easy thing for the conservative prime minister to do because it would be much better educate get her dealjust would be much better educate get her deal just with the would be much better educate get her dealjust with the backing of conservative mps at the very people

ever thought that was very likely so thatis ever thought that was very likely so that is an interesting move and clearly the idea of no deal, listing to greg clark, openly saying no deal would be a disaster, yet others would be a disaster, yet others would design resign and he was discovered at any cost but that is not the same as an alternative plan and although parliament is gradually clawing back some control over this process we certainly haven't agreed return to position that could get through parliament and replace the adoption of a nodal scenario. have you heard this month gnu, government of national unity? it says i can idea, one gets together to collaborate but what are we going to coalesce around ? what collaborate but what are we going to coalesce around? what are people still feel their preferred option of a second referendum, a nodal

scenario that that would be what'll happen if the deal goes down but of course it is not the case because they agree on this. of course there can bea they agree on this. of course there can be a big shift after maybe the deal is defeated next week anything thatis deal is defeated next week anything that is also very relevant that eve ryo ne that is also very relevant that everyone is assuming it will be defeated pretty heavily, people openly talking about that now and what happens after that. but i think the most likely thing probably is that the government itself might decide to hold a series of votes, greg clark said he is in favour of that and would show that there is no majority for anything else so you could have a national unity government but i do not know who the leading of what would be pushing for. the only thing be a softer brexit with a custom union would bring across labour mps but keir starmer has not been contacted by the government and this the moment thatis the government and this the moment that is not on the cards. theresa

may as the day ‘s action loses that deal on tuesday, a bit longer than that because the friday there will be no one sitting. the following monday is the deadline if the deal was defeated on tuesday when the government has to come with a motion of some kind. don't assume that the individual be a debate on that or a boot, remember this controversial amendment which meant she has to come back cracker does not mention money would have to be taken. in reality the government is seeing the undefeated they would want to offer some clarification pretty quickly but they do not want to be turmoil for days on end with people wondering what is going to happen. and political terms it is pretty clear the prime minister would say something i'd quickly so you get to monday, another motion of some kind on the ba series of votes and some theresa may stand up and say we have voted on everything at the moment there's no actual majority for

anything at all so have another look at my deal. thank you. you're watching afternoon live, these are our headlines four and a half thousand jobs are to be cut at britain's biggest car makerjaguar land rover — around an eighth of its uk workforce. labour leaderjeremy corbyn says he will bring a vote of no confidence in the government — if theresa may loses the brexit vote. 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. 20 professional tennis person been arrested in spain as the result of a match fixing investigation, it people and all arrested with an armenian criminal gang believed to be behind the corruption. andy murray has been added a tricky opening match of the austrian open next week as he continues his comeback from surgery. he faces the spanish 20 seconds did roberto bautista agut. salford have signed

adam walker even though he is banned until march. more than 50 minutes. the funeral of the former leader of the liberal democrats — lord paddy ashdown —has taken place in the village of norton sub hamden in south somerset. (00v) lord ashdown who died just before christmas — aged 77 — only two months after revealing that he was being treated for bladder cancer. he led the lib dems for eleven years, and was mp for yeovil between 1983 and 2001. we can cross to our correspondent clinton rogers in norton—sub—hamdon. and westminster though still shock at this which would be nothing today guessed what they are feeling now. and the village they still cannot believe it, the funeral service

todayit believe it, the funeral service today it was set out in something as small as cancer defeat someone as large as paddy ashdown and that is how the people here are feeling. he was of course an internationally famous politician but he was simply hear paddy, theirfriend and neighbour who went down to the village pub must read in its. the funeral service was in the church behind me at 12pm, paddy ashdown's mccaughan return before that. the service was for family and friends although there was at least one famous faces, the former conservative prime ministerjohn major are also in the village hall to my left the service was beamed via video link so local people who cannot get into the church could and should pay their respects and see what was going on and that village hall was standing room only as they

watched that service. it was a service reflecting paddy ashdown's life, one of the hens, iphone to the my life, one of the hens, iphone to the my country and irish blessing from the man who spent his early years and northern ireland. paddy ashdown was a family man and the readings from his family. he said in his autobiography they were very much his treasure and that is how they viewed him. his son and daughter read extracts from his biography and which she said he had led an exceptionally fortunate as haphazard life which owed more to prominence than to intention. he said how did it all happen, where has all gone? and i think most people would agree that paddy ashdown really revolutionised scented robotics and i have to say

—— centred around politics. when he was first elected as mp for yeovil, it is easy to underestimate what actually meant because he overturned the conservative majority and unseated a party that had held this constituency since it was set up and 1918. i spoke to the lady who was his agent even before he became an mp his agent even before he became an mp and she said when she went with him toa mp and she said when she went with him to a party conference she thought it was in brighton, she said that chap over that is going to lead our party one day and sunday said he is not an mp and she said no problem, he will be soon and that is where the study began. but today was a day for the village to say farewell to the neighbour and friend and it is going to be a memorial service and london in the future although details of that have yet to be released. this is your patch, and

i know... the one thing that paddy ashdown, know your facts, i know... the one thing that paddy ashdown, know yourfacts, get it right. he has ripped my ears off a couple of times, we have all made mistakes. even summon you by phone and the message would say about me, p. what have i done? but what you a lwa ys p. what have i done? but what you always got from paddy was after honestly, dotted with expletives from time to time but after honestly. he was a man of charm and wit and i am proud to say i could attend as a friend. i will miss him asa attend as a friend. i will miss him as a friend and they will miss him here as a friend and neighbour. a man who would walk his dog across these fields and was have a kind word for people who bumped into was

that although the dizzy at the funeral service he was a man who did not suffer fools. i second that emotion. i was on the receiving end of that. thank you. president trump is visiting the us border with mexico a day 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 he just got up and said, "we've got nothing to discuss," and hejust walked out. again, we saw a temper tantrum because he couldn't get his way and he just walked out of the meeting. the president tweeted subsequently: 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 todayjust two days before the current shutdown becomes the longest in american history. david willis, bbc news, washington. here's darren bett. time for a look at the weather. a lot of snow and shared in making the news, this is the german alps and the very the town mail has declared an emergency and once the army to comment and clear the snow, army to comment and clear the snow, a lot of snow and austria as well, several metres and in some parts of austria we have had two weeks snow

and 2a hours. it is becoming down heavy all year, ten days. it is having an impact across large parts of europe, this is north—west turkey, not immune from snow, that has caused problems transport wise in particular. i am going to look at why it has been so snowy, northerly winds and the reason we have had a lot of snow in the alps is persistent northerly winds all year s0 persistent northerly winds all year so it has been the northern alcacer had the snow, getting to the southern alps hasn't been as much, was up southern alps hasn't been as much, was up over southern alps hasn't been as much, was up over the mountains and comes down the other side a bit warmer. it is cold the fern effect. a lot of snow on the northern side of the alps and has been snowy, persistent northerly. the snow we have had in turkey has been a combination of the

cold at the coming down into the mediterranean developing areas of low pressure, a lot of those in greece and that is that any of low pressure bringing the snow into greece and turkey. what we have here isa greece and turkey. what we have here is a bit ofa greece and turkey. what we have here is a bit of a confusing chart, the low pressure they are and the jet strea m low pressure they are and the jet stream which is the fast—moving air high in the atmosphere deciding whether those highs are going to be and so the central and eastern parts of europe has been on the colder side of thejet of europe has been on the colder side of the jet stream, that has plunged down at the mediterranean and developers in areas of low pressure but as we head back towards the uk very different, we have had higher pressure with the jet stream well to the north so we have been on the warmer side of the jet stream, we may not have felt at this morning but we are importing milder air over the next few days winners across central and eastern parts of europe it will stay colder there are and that means more snow. this pattern has been there all year and that is

why it has been so bad because it has been doing this all year. what are the chances of that coming towards us? it would be remarkable, i have never seen that happen. we would need to look at fluctuations downstream, other thing is moving from that way. this is with us for a good while yet. i told you it wasn't going to be really cold. why don't you give us a forecast? you would rather read the newspapers. with the milder then we are seeing the a lot of seeing low cloud and that has been a struggle to get the milder they are down across the southern half of the uk. the best of the brea ks half of the uk. the best of the breaks within the far south—west from briggs, to northern scotland as a bit of rain moves south and then to northern ireland but was tipped asa to northern ireland but was tipped as a struggling to rise across southern areas of the uk, but it

will tend to arrive overnight, the crowd pushing south are ticking away a bit of rain and drizzle and then you will see if you breaks but enough cloud to keep capital is above freezing, three or four. and to friday and quiet again, some cloud and sunshine, the best of the sunshine and eastern scotland and north—east england, towards lincolnshire and more cloud for the best, the northwest with a few lecturers once again. when is fairly late tomorrow, gets to pick up but drawing down that milder clear across the whole country so between eight and ten, and approved for the southern half of the uk compared to today. to the weekend, the winds are going to strengthen, still drawing milderair going to strengthen, still drawing milder air from going to strengthen, still drawing milder airfrom the going to strengthen, still drawing milder air from the atlantic, the cloud breaking a bit because winds are stronger but there will be some rain around sorry little unsettled, ma study weekend with some rain across other parts of england and wales, that moves through the

sunshine and the cloud thickening to the northwest, scotland and northern ireland and for the north—west of scotla nd ireland and for the north—west of scotland some drizzle but tensions rising, between nine and 11 on saturday. winds are stronger on saturday, picks up again on sunday, the first front of rain in the morning, so gone and another one on the aladdin, high—pressure and milder clear and the frank vivier safeguards, most of the sheridan in first front and another wild. now that scotland tony colder, otherwise their bridges between 11 and 12 and 11 or 12 you will not see any snow. this is bbc news. our latest headlines: jaguar landrover is cutting 11,500 jobs — most of them in the uk. britain's biggest car maker blames falling sales in china, concerns about the future of diesel, and uncertainty over brexit. the uk's retail sector has suffered its worst christmas in ten years — with falls in sales for marks and spencer and debenhams.

labour leaderjeremy corbyn has said a general election remains his priority rather than a second referendum if mps reject theresa may's brexit deal next week. as the us government shutdown continues, president trump walks out of a meeting with democratic leaders — they told him they wouldn't fund his border wall with mexico. and, kensington palace has announced that the duchess of sussex has become the patron of a range of organisations, including the national theatre, saying meghan's new roles reflect her interests in the arts, access to education, support for women and animal welfare. book sport now on afternoon live with olly. some concerning news this afternoon regarding tennis? 28 pro players have been arrested, this comes as the end of your long match fixing mitigation by various

authorities. the spanish civil guard are the ones you made this a rest. asa are the ones you made this a rest. as a series of raids across spain targeting an armenian criminal gang who they say have made millions of users out of the match fixing. in total, there were 83 arrests. over 100 matches with suspicious betting patterns, believed to have been fixed. no players have been named but one that feature at last year ‘s us open. the matches in question are at the very lowest rung of tennis. a level where players make very little money. most times, they can be out of pocket unless they do very well and get to the shop and of those tournaments. it was recently estimated that there is something like 14,000 estimated that there is something like 111,000 pro players in the world, half cannot make any money at all. they are the players targeted

by these criminal gangs. they are bribed to the games and the match fixers make a lot of money. this armenian gang are said to have taken the identities of thousands of people to place slots bets on a predetermined result. details of the days investigation it. if we look at this investigation as a whole which was kick—started in 2017. it focuses and seems to have uncovered a group of unmeaning individuals who worked with one professional tennis player who was essentially the link person for all of this corruption. there is talk of 11 house is being searched in spain. hundreds of thousands of dues seized, along with a shotgun. credit cards, luxury vehicles,

documentation, 42 bank accounts and bala nces documentation, 42 bank accounts and balances frozen— this is not a small operation. you suspect it may only be the tip of the iceberg. it was only yesterday that the tennis integrity unit pinpointed the of the sport, seeing what a massive issue this is. they handed out a couple of life and last year. 264 matches, i'm sure some of those go across the spanish investigation as well, were said to have been fixed at that level last year. and this all comes just ahead of the year's first grand slam the australian open? they are talking about it in melbourne are certainly. the draw for the open was made today. andy murray, runner—up five times in melbourne, as we all know, he has tumbled down the rankings after hip surgery tumbled down the rankings after hip surgery 12 months ago. he will face

the 22nd seed. he actually played the 22nd seed. he actually played the world number one, novak djokovic, in a practice match. you look a long way off his best. he is playing a cd player who is also a man who won a title in 2019. beating him takes some doing when you see it is on the 10th of january today. murray has a hip which is better thanit murray has a hip which is better than it was a year ago before the surgery than it was a year ago before the surgery but will never quite be the same again. is it really hard for him when he comes up against a seeded player in the very first round. she will speak to us tomorrow, he has been sounding more downbeat, i have to say. more optimistic last year after the surgery optimistic last year after the surgery about getting back to the top of the game. his comments this year have been suggesting that he

doesn't quite know how far this hip will carry him. we haven't spoken about the other men. carol evans, semifinalist last year, some concern about a knee problem. he starts against a wimbledon finalist. cameron norrie is in the semifinals in auckland, you will play an american player. six british players in all. british number onejohanna konta will play the same virtual osteoblasts week. contract is an seeded this time round. katie boulter and meets katarina makarova. one of story to bring you from rugby league. anna morgan has been signed even though he still has two months ofa ban even though he still has two months of a ban for cooking juice to serve. he has played for a number of clubs.

she tested positive injuly for cocaine and was given a backdated suspension in august. he will be able to play for the vegetables in march. we were right to suggest that roberto nabil will have a problem last night. 9—0, my word. when you doa last night. 9—0, my word. when you do a job that, make sure you get your facts right. let's get more now on our main story: the motor manufacturer, jaguar land rover is to cut 4,500 jobs, around an eighth of its workforce — most of them in the uk. the company blames falling sales in china, concerns about the future of diesel cars and uncertainty over brexit. let's speak now to the financial time's motor industry correspondent, peter campbell. he joins us from their offices in central london. they have been warning of the brexit

issues for some time, can it really be those issues are the? as you said, the things that have affected their performance had been a decline in diesel sales, more than 90% of the vehicles they sell in the uk and europe run on diesel. also, the colla pse europe run on diesel. also, the collapse in china sales which is one of their biggest markets and sources of their biggest markets and sources of profits. back in april, they said they wanted to find £2.5 billion of savings. these job cuts today are a result of those savings thatjlr believe they will find. in terms of brexit, that is one of the main concerns of the company because of the manufacturing in the uk. they have already warned that if there is a hard brexit, that will really make the business struggle costing them more than £1 billion. they may even have to close one of the plants in

britain. this prize of those that we we re britain. this prize of those that we were healing jlr as issued success not what one go. i was speaking with some seniorjaguar people last night and they were pointing the finger at management. jlr has enjoyed a phenomenal growth under tata's ownership. because of that, they had their eyes on enormous growth into their eyes on enormous growth into the future expecting to hit1 million units with an issue years so they opened a new plant on the continent and prepared for growth. the problem is, many of their strategies of came undone at the same time. the diesel issues, china sales, no one expected. much of the problems is that they have strict themselves which is why then have to

ticks at serious action and cutting jobs. they are also bidding a lot into electric cars but they are a bit behind on that now honestly? jlr was almost ahead of many of the premium manufacturers such as aldi or mercedes when it comes to electric cars. with the rest of their fleet offering hybrid electric cars. with the rest of theirfleet offering hybrid options to their consumers, they are considered to be behind. jlr is one of britain's biggest comedy factors but in the granting of things, they are quitea but in the granting of things, they are quite a small player. winners are quite a small player. winners are the larger manufacturers, such as bmw, will be able to spread the cost of those investments. looking at the wider industry, the unexpected problems from fort? this morning they announced they wanted to thousands ofjobs across europe. they are looking to save $14

billion. we don't know whether those jobs will be affected. the chief executive said ll that will be a pretty radical overhaul of their entire business was up for type two point inch the uk which may well be affected by that. day two of the brexit debate in the house of commons is under way, leading to up the meaningful vote next tuesday. the prime minister faces divisions on her own backbenchers, and the other parties in the house of commons are also unlikely to back theresa may's deal. christian fraser has been analysing the numbers ahead of the vote. 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 mps — 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 254 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 114 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. egon cossour is here — in a moment he will be telling us what's hot and what's not in the business news. first a look at the headlines on afternoon live: 4,500 jobs are to be cut at britain's

biggest car makerjaguar land rover — around an eighth of its uk workforce. labour leaderjeremy corbyn says he will bring a vote of no confidence in the government if theresa may loses the brexit vote. as the us government shutdown continues, president trump walks out of a meeting with democratic leaders — they told him they wouldn't fund his border wall with mexico. here's your business headlines on afternoon live: some of the country's biggest retailers saw disappointing sales over christmas. they fell almost 6% for debenhams in the four months to january — and more than 2% for marks and spencer. better news for tesco though — sales went up for them, and forjohn lewis. jaguar land rover is cutting more than 4,000 jobs in the uk — from a workforce of 40,000. it's part of a £2.5 billion plan to cut costs. a similar story at ford — which has announced a major shake—up in the uk and mainland europe. who

thousands ofjobs are going to be affected — although it's thought the impact here will be limited. regulators are planning a shakeup that could mean lower housing costs of thousands of so—called "mortgage prisoners." these are people trapped on high interest mortgages with unregulated or inactive firms. the move could allow them to switch to cheaper deals. a mixed picture is emerging for retailers over christmas. but really, publicly for the biggest names. they meet. sales were down by about 6% for debenhams which is pretty bad news. the company has been engaged in price cutting what they say that that didn't truly entice people to come into the stores. they say the people who did come in actually wanted cheaper

prices. you will remember that debenhams is in a bit of trouble, having to close about 50 stores to revive it business sin not great news for them. marks and spencers are another company that failed to give the profit from the profit from festive joy. sales have give the profit from the profit from festivejoy. sales have been give the profit from the profit from festive joy. sales have been down about 2%. the boss has been blaming things like fierce competition from competitors and lower consumer confidence. also, according to him, the mild winter. he says that is what helped suppress sales for the company. the mild winter is a problem? apparently. i should say that there has been some good news, from tesco, the sales were up. they say at their best christmas for ten

yea rs. say at their best christmas for ten years. john lewis also said that there are sales were up, but not sufficient that they can guarantee a bonus for their staff. theresa wickham is a retail analyst and has been explaining the mixed picture. well, what we have got at the high street, sales are fairly flat for most retailers, there have been a few exceptions. but what we're finding out is that the consumer has changed their shopping habits and they are much more cautious. at the moment, people are really concerned about their overheads, whether they will have to pay more for the railways, or something like that. normally at christmas, people zap out on their credit cards and buy everything like that, but they have stopped doing that, they are thinking more about it. there are several reasons for it. first of all, we probably have got enough stuff in our houses. secondly, this financial caution is coming into it. thirdly, we are thinking about waste at the end of the day. you know, how much more stuff do we do. that look at what's happening

between the united states and china. we are getting some slightly more positive noises? the two sides of the last three days in beijing. some positive noises but no real details. michelle fleury joins us from new york. what have the two sides been saying about the talks? beijing has came out and said that the talks were productive and laid the foundations for a good relationship. one of the issues progress has been made on is the question of forced technology sharing, the idea of american companies doing business in china sharing trade information that they perhaps didn't want to. the other thing we had from the us trade representative put out a statement saying that they had made progress,

in particular on china's commitment to try and buy more goods, whether they are agricultural or industrial products from the us. no time for that but these are the statements coming out from both of these parties after three days of pop. one more spot any actual firm action?|j mentioned more spot any actual firm action?” mentioned china had made progress pledges to the us on buying more goods from american firms. one of the things that the us was pushing for is details going forward above the time i for that, that doesn't seems to have happened yet. in other words, it's great to have pledges but we want to make sure the chinese follows through on this. in the past, we have seen china pledging to balmer to stop clamp—down on the theft of trade secrets —— obama. that work for awhile but there was

some backsliding. americans are not wa nt to some backsliding. americans are not want to make sure any concessions the wind will be followed through. how did the markets react?‘ the wind will be followed through. how did the markets react? , the monday, they were wildly optimistic. in part this was driven by having one of the top trade negotiators at a what was a lower—level meeting with ministers from both sites. that men sent a message of goodwill, at least on the part of chinese negotiators, thinking, ok, advances are being made. then these two state m e nts are being made. then these two statements with mention of the progress being made, also made clear that structural issues still remained which is why you saw the market sink a bit after the initial boost. thank you so much. is that

it? the duchess of sussex has become the patron of four organisations, kensington palace has announced. the organisations selected reflect a variety of meghan's interests, including access to education and support for women. queen elizabeth has passed on her patronages of the national theatre and the association of commonwealth universities to meghan, who married prince harry last year. time for a look at the weather with darren bett. there is milder weather on the way for all of us but a cold morning across the southern half of the uk after a frost in places as well. that really cold air is getting pushed away into the near continent. that is bringing a few spots of drizzle. high pressure in charge and that is where our air is coming from, around that area of high pressure from the atlantic, so that is milder air but it comes with a lot of cloud and we are seeing a lot of that already.

quite low cloud in places, misty and murky in the hills. for a while, it has been thinner across the south—west with a little bit of sunshine as well but the lower cloud is moving its way down across england and wales. we will see the cloud breaking initially in scotland and northern ireland and then some breaks heading down into england and wales. lots of dry weather overnight. enough cloud and enough of a breeze as well to keep the temperatures above freezing, typically three or four celsius. now, into friday, there will be some sunshine at times. some cloud around as well. the best of the sunshine probably from the fens, northwards into north east england and into scotland, with some light showers coming to the north—west of the uk but otherwise a dry day. temperatures should be higher across wales, the midlands and southern england than we have had today so eight, nine maybe even 10 degrees in south wales. over the weekend, the wind strengthening, dragging in milder from the atlantic. sunshine at times,some rain but most of it across the northern half of the uk.

having said that, a little rain to clear away from southern parts of england on saturday. then some sunshine following behind, cloud thickening in the north—west into scotland, northern ireland and eventually northern england and you can see where the rain is across the north and west of scotland. mild, temperatures between nine and 11 degrees and brisker winds on saturday. as we head into sunday, the winds continue to strengthen. high pressure to the south—west pushin in air from the atlantic. these weather fronts are toppling down as well. this is the next one arriving on sunday which will bring some outbreaks of rain across scotland, becoming more showery as it runs into northern ireland and northern england. to the south of that, more in the way of sunshine with many areas in england and wales dry in the afternoon. the winds will be stronger but we are drawing in milder air, helping to break up the cloud. temperatures 11 or 12. hello, you're watching

afternoon live — i'm simon mccoy. today at 3. 4,500 jobs to go at jaguar land rover — most of them being lost here in the uk. falling sales and fears over brexit are blamed whatever the terms of the announcement will do everything we can to make sure they can find jobs that make use of their really valuable skills. 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. coming up on afternoon live all the sport. 28 professional tennis players have been arrested by spanish authorities

after the match fixing investigation and this comes just a couple of days before the first grand slam of the year, all the details coming up. thanks, and we'll bejoining you for a full update just after half—past. darren bett has all the weather. no snow in the forecast in the uk, instead high—pressure close by, the errorfrom instead high—pressure close by, the error from the atlantic meaning it is mild and often cloudy and i will have all the details later. also coming up — getting the meghan sparkle: the duchess of sussex has been made the patron of the national theatre as well as three other organisations. hello everyone — this is afternoon live — i'm simon mccoy. britain's biggest carmaker, jaguar landrover, is cutting four and a half thousand jobs — most of them here in the uk. it blames falling sales in china, concerns about the future of diesel, and uncertainty over brexit. the company says it

aims to cut costs by up to two—and—a—half billion pounds. one ofjlr's 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 the company 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 jobs worldwide. most of them will come from among its 40,000 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. that's hurt a number of european manufacturers, butjlr, which has 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 land rover has been affected by factors beyond its control but critics say the company has made its own mistakes as well. they 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 simply 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 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 it opened 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 scope 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 and really see that project through. 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. executives at jaguar land rover are currently in a conference call with major investors and stakeholder. we'll have the latest from our midlands business correspondent, peter plisner at half past three. stay with us for that. 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 at all, and were down at marks and spencer and debenhams. tesco and thejohn lewis partnership reported rises, however. 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 be 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 dealjeremy corbyn says that 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 the earliest opportunity. that means calling a vote of no confidence in the government. when exactly will he push for one? 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 win a confidence vote on its own. 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 with a number of labour mps focusing on protecting workers' rights and environmental policies after brexit. the impression i got was people coming with other positive agendas would be listened to. could labour mps support the prime minister's deal after further changes? if there is progress that could be a tipping point when we say everything, our red lines has been met, the deal is acceptable. theresa may still hasn't won over the small number of labour mps from leave areas that she met yesterday but she could get there.

they want additional guarantees that the kind of funding which english regions received from the eu would continue after brexit but many labour mps are still refusing to do business with the prime minister and that leaves her deal and trouble. today there was a parliamentary pincer movement to get the prime ministerformally to rule out no deal. i think no deal would be disastrous 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 from the party if the prime minister accepts no deal. she could say no deal in which case

very many conservative colleagues of hers would resign the whip, myself included. time is running out to get a deal through. mps can agree on what they do not want but not what they do. let's cross to westminster and speak to our chief political correspondent vicki young... ifi if i had ifihada if i had a pound for every time i heard time is running out. the point now is that parliament is going to have to make a decision and the next few weeks and i think what is intriguing here is partly about the position of labour mps. there are some who might be willing to back theresa may's deal and there are some who made that point publicly a few months ago, they will never been asked about it by downing street, never approached by the conservatives to see what would take for them to get behind it. i spoke

to another labour mp yesterday and they said they will not put their head above the parapet and vote for the government, something incredibly controversial when everyone believes the deal is going to be defeated by possibly 100 votes. that is the problem that there is and meanwhile of course there are still mps talking about plan b and what they think that should be and there is absolutely no agreement on what that would be. earlieri absolutely no agreement on what that would be. earlier i spoke to the labourmp would be. earlier i spoke to the labour mp who thinks there should be a second referendum, the question now is as our leaderjeremy corbyn willing to go down that road? he is sticking to the line that he wants a general election but it is not in his gift, you cannot force one and he does not have the votes to do that and that is why there is uncertainty about when they might trigger a vote of no—confidence and the government. this is whatjess phillips had to say about linda's general brexit forces. no i'm not, labour party

policy conference was if we could not have a general election then we should see to have a second referendum, i don't think i am breaking labour party policy but even if i was to be perfectly honest i would feel about that because at the moment as i'm having to do right now i have to think about the livelihoods of the people in my constituency and that always comes first. my party will inevitably come second. there are dozens of labour mps who favour the idea of another referendum must is not all of them and at the moment the numbers in the house of commons are not there for this idea of going back to the people and asking again about brexit. they do of the debate. michael gove the cabinet minister opening the debate today, someone who was a very senior brexiteer who was at the forefront of the campaign and someone who stayed on board with the deal and his message that he has been putting over trying to win

around people particularly on his own site you agree with him on brexit but at the moment are backing the he has some strong words for them. one of us might have a perfect version of brexit, a change here, an alteration in there but we all have to accept the responsibility next tuesday to decide and we going to honour that verdict, are we going to make the perfect the enemy of the good? could make the perfect the enemy of the good ? could own make the perfect the enemy of the good? could own interpretation of brexit should be head of the vote 70.4 million people, the incessant everyone who has a job in this country, head of the clearly expressed democratic will of the british people. and we going to endanger the future by either seeking to overturn that mandate or rejecting this agreement and entering into as a premise that has pointed out uncharted waters? if we reject this agreement and this is

the current course of which parliament is set and have no deal of course possible prosper eventually but it is undeniably the case the facts on the ground and demonstrated that there will be economic turbulence and damage that our citizens other constituents face. that is why it i after long reflection have decided that we must back this agreement, we must ensure the british people was my vote is not, that the future is safeguarded and the britain can embrace the opportunities that our people deserve any future and that is why i commend this agreement to the house. a reminder that there are brexiteers who support the prime ministers, i'm speaking to one of them are abuses of lu ca speaking to one of them are abuses of luca filippi the result followed was a clear win for brexit we feel theresa may's deal reflects that

4052 spot, they don't think the people who are able to fully swashbuckling clean break brexit, this is much closer to what the referendum was telling people. swashbuckling, that's a new one. thank you. theresa may will be pressed on brexit when she speaks alongside japan's prime minister after talks at downing street. shinzo abe is expected to call on mrs may to avoid a no—deal brexit because of the impact it could have on trading betweenjapan and the uk. the two leaders will be speaking at downing street this afternoon — we'll bring you live coverage of that — its expected around four thirty this afternoon. the funeral of the former leader of the liberal democrats — lord paddy ashdown —has taken place in the village of norton sub hamden in south somerset. lord ashdown who died just before christmas — aged 77 — only two months after revealing that he was being treated for bladder cancer.

he led the lib dems for eleven years, and was mp for yeovil between 1983 and 2001. you're watching afternoon live, these are our headlines four and a half thousand jobs are to be cut at britain's biggest car makerjaguar land rover — 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. labour leaderjeremy corbyn has said a general election remains his priority rather than a second referendum —— if mps reject theresa may's brexit deal next week. 28 professional tennis players have been arrested in spain as the result of a matchfixing investigation. 83 people in all have been arrested with an armenian criminal gang believed to be behind the corruption britain's andy murray will face the 22nd seed roberto bautista agut in the first round of the australian open that starts next monday in melbourne. in rugby league salford red devils have

signed prop adam walker, even though he is banned until march after testing positive for cocaine i'll be back with more on those stories later. 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 a 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 led to parts of the federal government being closed for nearly three weeks. david willis reports from washington. 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 he just got up and said, "we've got nothing to discuss," and hejust walked out. again, we saw a temper tantrum because he couldn't get his way and he just walked out of the meeting. the president tweeted subsequently: 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 todayjust two days before the current shutdown becomes the longest in american history. david willis, bbc news, washington. heavy snow is causing widespread disruption across much of central and eastern europe. at least 14 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, much of the region covered in a thick blanket of snow. and more is on the way. in turkey runs have been blocked and ferry services cancelled. endless temperatures have dropped to —23 degrees. the snow has even reached south—eastern italy where some schools have been closed. but it is the alps which have seen some of the greatest disruption and loss of life. there have been some spectacular rescuers. 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. the forecast is yet more snow, it is

snowing now and we a tool that will continue for the day, and maybe a little bit of respite at the beginning of the weekend but then on sunday he had his downfall is expected to start again and into next week. some places could even see up to 2.5 metres more news now on top of what is already here. i am very close to one of those catastrophe zones for the rocky mountain, for the rocky mountain, a ski resort and people are saying they are very concerned that the third is that much more news now it could be more evacuations and the authorities continue to struggle with the effort to try and keep the roads clear and meanwhile everybody is very aware of the immense threat of avalanche. a court in california has dismissed claims

by the american actress, ashleyjudd, that she was sexually harassed by film mogul, harvey weinstein. but the court said she could proceed with another claim — that mr weinstein had sabotaged her career. he's denied all allegations of non—consensual sex. 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. with me is doctorjoanna newman, chief executive of the association of commonwealth universities — which the queen was royal patron of for 33 years. what does this announcement mean to a charity like yours? we are delighted and thrilled that somebody s0 delighted and thrilled that somebody so inspiring to young people as the duchess of sussex is ticking on the great original also be originally grateful to the queen for her pension age for some many years. how does it help an organisation like yours? particularly the duchess's profile, past record and espousing the causes of access to education and social mobility and woman and a rose is a powerful amplifier of the work that universities do sushi is going to help draw attention to causes that matter. on an

international stage we have 500 suggestions and 50 countries across the commonwealth, the population is 2.6 billion of which 60% and under 30 so high on education is an incredibly important element in building society across the commonwealth. what you think she will get out of it? she has a gateway to some of the best minds in the world through universities, and aspiring students who are quite brilliant, academic staff the work they do with it is cutting—edge research on teaching teachers, universities and an integral part of society building. i know you have met her but how will this develop and is down to her review all isn't something that you too will discuss over time? it is a dynamic partnership, a pitch which which will develop over time and there are certain causes the retired education which will be of interest to her and

the work we do so wide and varied that will be many choices and how much involvement she chooses to take with us. the beauty for you as forever she goes a large number of press a re forever she goes a large number of press are with a naturally benefit what you are doing. they can only benefit the causes of social mobility and placing access to higher education and access is determined by geography and wealth she can draw an honest attention to these causes. —— enormous attention. she is having a baby, how much time would you expect to be giving to you and the organisation over the next year? would you be inspecting her to be going abroad at any stage?” don't think it is evolution of expectation, it is one which will develop over the years. we have time to develop the solution, she has ever been involved in an event at kings college rugby board university leaders together to draw attention

to the amazing work on human slavery and modern trafficking, climate and resilience and peace and reconciliation. she will choose the events she would like to be involved and amy have time to develop the relationship. when you have is going to be heard, what was the reaction? we were delighted to have, she is a university graduate herself understands why higher education is s0 understands why higher education is so potent. thank you. beachgoers in north devon got a special treat when a hercules transport plane dropped in. despite its size, the plane is designed to land and take off from natural surfaces. barnstaple—based personal trainer rachel hoult grabbed the shots after finishing a surfing session. an raf spokesman said the plane, based at brize norton in oxfordshire, was on a routine training sortie. all of you joking on twitter was

about dropping past is parcels at brexit, and was not. brexit, now it's time for a look at the weather with darren bett. areas and a overnight, natalie please do keep defroster baby pictures down to three or four. and the rain, sunshine and dames, the scotla nd the rain, sunshine and dames, the scotland and north—east england towards the fans, one of two light showers but otherwise a dry day, when is fairly light on friday, temperatures higher across so, between eight and nine across the uk asa between eight and nine across the uk as a whole. over the weekend, the

wins backing up, pulling my olivia, temperatures widely in double figures sunshine but also some rain, most of it and the north and west of scotland. have an this is bbc news. our latest headlines: jaguar land rover is cutting 4,500 jobs — most of them in the uk. britain's biggest car maker blames falling sales in china, concerns about the future of diesel, and uncertainty over brexit. the uk's retail sector has suffered its worst christmas in ten years — with falls in sales for marks and spencer and debenhams. labour leaderjeremy corbyn has said a general election remains his priority, rather than a second referendum, if mps reject theresa may's brexit deal next week. as the us government shutdown continues, president trump walks out of a meeting with democratic leader — they told him they wouldn't fund his border wall with mexico. and, kensington palace has announced that the duchess of sussex has become the patron of a range of organisations,

including the national theatre, saying meghan's new roles reflect her interests in the arts, access to education, support for women and animal welfare. sport now on afternoon live. some disturbing news from the world of tennis? 28 professional tennis players have been arrested as a result of a matchfixing investigation that's lasted over a year. they say the heads of an armenian criminal gang have been detained as have some of those 28 players. close to 100 matches are believed to have been fixed. no players have been named, but one featured at last year's us open. these matches are at the very lowest professional level. challenger and futures events around

the world where players make very little money or can actually be out of pocket if they don't do very well. the international tennis ffederation estimates that of 14,000 pro players, half do not make any money. those are the players that are vulnerable, targetted, bribed to throw games. with the details of today's operation by the spanish authorites, here's our sports correspondent david ornstein. if we look at this investigation as a whole which was kick—started by the tennis integrity unit in 2017. it seems to have a coloured a group of armenian individuals who built with one professional tennis player who was there a link person for all of this corruption. there is talk of 11 horses being searched in spain.

167,000 euros in cash, along with a shotgun, electronic devices, credit cards, luxury vehicles, domination, 42 bank accounts and balances frozen— this is not a small operation and you suspect it may only be needed of the iceberg. david mention the tennis integrity unit who handed out a life ban to one tennis player. they say 254 matches had suspicious betting patterns around them so perhaps the tip of the iceberg. the action being taken with that meaning criminal gang being tracked by spanish authorities. although this as the first of the grand slams gets under way in after your? for the open, andy murray, runner—up five times has doubled down the world rankings after hip surgery. he'll face the 22nd seed

roberto bautista agut. murray played the world number one novak djokovic in a practice match today and looked a long way off his best. they were just testing it other out. they were just testing it other out. the djokovic has played as many places in the new year. it is going to bea places in the new year. it is going to be a tough opener for andy murray after that hip surgery that he had 12 months ago. the british number one johanna konta will play ajla tomljanovic. she lost to the australian in the brisbane international last week. konta reached the semi—finals in melbourne three years ago but is unseeded. there are two other british women in the draw — heather watson faces petra martic, and katie boulter meets ekaterina makarova. kyle edmund and, in norrie also

claim. the arsenal manager unai emery says the club will be unable to spend money on new players during the january transfer window. the club has one of the highest wage bills in the premier legaue. they've also spent big money on a number of signings in the last 12 months, including striker pierre emerick aubameyang and midfielder lucas torreira. we cannot sign like with one player. we cannot sign like with one player. we cannot sign like with one player. we can only sign players like our own. i know the club is working for the possibility. with dick pawar thatis the possibility. with dick pawar that is like we need now. arsenal just looking for some loan signings in january. day two of the brexit debate in the house of commons is under way, leading to up the meaningful

vote next tuesday. the prime minister faces divisions on her own backbenchers, and the other parties in the house of commons are also unlikely to back theresa may's deal. christian fraser has been analysing the numbers ahead of the vote. 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 mps — 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 254 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 114 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. the vehicle manufacturer jaguar land rover is to cut four and a half thousands jobs — around an eighth of its workforce — most of them in the uk. in a conference call in the last half hour, the company blamed falling sales in china, concerns about the future of diesel cars and uncertainty over brexit. jaguar land rover‘s ceo, ralf speth said he remained committed to growing business in the uk. our midlands business correspondent, peter plisner, is at the company's headquarters in coventry. what was the mood of this conference

call? the conference call was mainly for a leading journalist who asked searching questions of him. i think there is very little he can say, bearing in mind that a law has already come out. my asked about his commitments to move over to electric vehicles, whether they would see any more productionjobs, vehicles, whether they would see any more production jobs, jobs vehicles, whether they would see any more productionjobs, jobs in factories. today's redundancies announced an mainly around office staff like in here and in warwickshire. what you can see about continuing to commit to the growth of the company. he says he wants to shake the business to treat ailing high—performance business, committed to hyper growth. we have heard about some of those investments. they are investing in a new battery factory

in warwickshire. i think they are expanding the engine plant in wolverhampton to move away from full—scale diesel production to then include some electric motors. we are starting to see the glimmers of the investment needed to move to electric. i think she didn't want to be drawn into what the next step after. the replacement for some of the newer models was meant to be out next year —— this year, what will happen to models like that? that are uncertainties over brexit. there are rumours that some electric cars will go into solihull. we have had the discovery model moving out of their fairly recently, that will be going to uni in slovakia. i also had rumours that the jaguar x e will be

hybrid from a factory in castle bromwich. there are lots of rumours but no solid fax. the announcement about lead by three point and allegedly supplied is the first real evidence that we have seen for the infrastructure of these electric models being done. the company has won electric car already, but that is being built by a third party in austria. the problems in china, diesel cars, these are problems faced by other manufacturers. the w, mercedes— having similar problems? they are certainly having problems in china but seem to be recovering faster than jlr. manufacturers in china but seem to be recovering faster thanjlr. manufacturers are seeing sales decline, in the uk as well, part of it being the changes to diesel taxation, what people call

the demonisation of diesel. the results of the big factor of uncertainty over brexit. it is good in people of making decisions like buying nucleus, that has certainly lead to a sales decline as well. the former mp and bbc correspondent, martin bell, has revealed he had to have major facial surgery after tripping over at gatwick airport. mr bell was seriously hurt in the accident as he returned from a lecture tour in november. a team at st george's hospital in london re—attached his upper mouth to his jawbone in a complex operation — describing his injuries as amongst the worst they'd seen. kathryn stancheshun reports. i've got eight facial bones collect. four nerve, one in the nose. as a bbc war corresponded, martindale went to some dangerous places. after

being elected as an mp, he had to face a different kind of hostile environment. but it was something com pletely environment. but it was something completely unexpected that proved to be one of his biggest challenges yet. as i had a suitcase in each hand andi yet. as i had a suitcase in each hand and i feel over one of them. nothing to break the fall, straight down onto the concrete. i gave myself a horrific injuries, bizarre considering the places i've been in. i get my worst injury at gatwick railway station. the damage to his face was so railway station. the damage to his face was so severe railway station. the damage to his face was so severe that he described having car crash type injuries. now fully healed, he took the opportunity to frankly team at st george ‘s hospital in tooting for the reconstruction surgery assembled for titanium plates, 16 screws and took two and a half hours. i've been took two and a half hours. i've been to war zones, and been in ambushes, wounded did once. the sad thing

about this is that i have no one else to blame for this. it's a totally self—inflicted injury. over the road to the hospital and describe myself as like dracula ‘s grandfather. we have done an amazing job. anybody can fall over at any time, but when you are my age, you have to got to be more careful. but the veteran journalist thinks it's a minor talisman may have helped. every time i got injured mark i was wearing my lucky white suit. i was wearing my lucky white suit. i was wearing it when i got a piece of shrapnel in the abdomen. i think it could have been so much worse if i hadn't been wearing the lucky white suit. i recommend it. martin bell there, ending that report by kathryn stancheshun. egon cossou is here — in a moment he will be telling us what's hot and what's not in the business news. first a look at the headlines on afternoon live: 4,500 jobs are to be cut at britain's biggest car makerjaguar land rover — around an eighth of its uk workforce. labour leaderjeremy corbyn has said a general election remains his priority,

rather than a second referendum, if mps reject theresa may's brexit deal next week. as the us government shutdown continues, president trump walks out of a meeting with democratic leaders — they told him they wouldn't fund his border wall with mexico. here's your business headlines on afternoon live: some of the country's biggest retailers saw disappointing sales over christmas. they fell almost 6% for debenhams in the four months to january — and more than 2% for marks and spencer. better news for tesco though. sales went up for them and forjohn lewis. jaguar land rover is cutting more than 4,000 jobs in the uk — from a workforce of 40,000. it's part of a £2.5 billion plan to cut costs. a similar story at ford — which has announced a major shake—up in the uk and mainland europe. thousands ofjobs are going to be affected — although it's thought the impact

here, will be limited. regulators are planning a shake—up that could mean lower housing costs of thousands of so—called "mortgage prisoners." these are people trapped on high interest mortgages with unregulated or inactive firms. the move could allow them to switch to cheaper deals. we have decided that the news from the land rover. not great news at all. more than 4000 jobs are going, most of them from admin and management but a blow for the workers. also, possibly, for the uk auto selector as a whole. this comes as the company is losing money hand over fist. back in september of last year, is what £90 million. in the

same period in 2017 it actually made a profit of 385 million. forgive the pun, it was metering. it has hit the skids. let's see a some expert analysis. what's gone wrong for the company? i think it's at least a perfect storm of external influences. china beyond the primary one, the slump in sales there. on top of that, the fall in diesel registrations in europe. then of course there is the drop in consumer confidence are around the brexit debate and the future planning that is having to put in place for a potential bad or no brexit. you also have two consider the external influences. in hindsight that have

been poor decisions internally. decisions to invest in civilian cars when suv ‘s were booming. not investing enough in issue these. suv ‘s are sales are booming around the world, they are more profitable. putting more money into those beagles would have been beneficial. real reasonjob beagles would have been beneficial. real reason job cuts do the trick?” think the potential. we are talking about a company trying to safeguard some of its investment for the future. it has already signalled today that it will invest more in electric cars. jlr in global terms isa electric cars. jlr in global terms is a very small, manufacturer. it's about a quarter of the size of the german premium brand classifieds of ourselves. this strategy of going to

the to do with them, one way is this seismic change in mobility and electric cars. talking briefly about ford job cuts across europe as well? the card industry has been under pressure for a long time, particularly the mainstream brands. there have been successful budget brand wines which have squeezed the meeting plans from the bottom. the premium comic as have built smaller and cheaper cars, stealing sales from the mainstream brands at the top. all the legacy comic is having left with too many factories, too many overheads. they are fighting a battle to win customers at ages, meaning they have been discounting. they are britain's biggest car maker —— ford is britain's biggest car maker are struggling to make any money on the vehicles they sell.

they are not making profits of their sales so of course it has to take drastic action. thank you very much indeed. must have a quick look at the markets. lacklustre trade on the footsie still looking for direction after the christmas break. marks and spencers had been doing quite well despite the slowdown in sales for the company. tesco's share price doing well after a bumper christmas, the best in ten years they say. havers really taking a pounding, issuing a profit warning which investors are issuing a profit warning which investors a re not issuing a profit warning which investors are not liking. that may be around a slowdown in consumer spending. next time you buy a bag of tomatoes from the supermarket check the label. the chances are they were grown in places like spain, italy or morocco. but a project launched in suffolk today hopes to change all that.

a family—backed business has created the world's most advanced greenhouse for growing tomatoes. and it's on a vast scale. richard daniel went for a look round. its creators say it's a glasshouse like no other — the most technologically advanced and the most energy efficient too. this sheer scale is staggering. there are a quarter of a million plants in this section alone. they will produce around 150 million tomatoes a year. but get this— they plan to triple the size of the glasshouse in coming years. the long—term plan — a glasshouse that will a glasshouse that will eventually be a kilometre long. this is about increasing the efficiency of photosynthesis so we can add co2, which we do. we can add extra light, red light. we also change the amount of hours we run additional lighting for. we are always giving the correct

amount of light that the plant requires to optimise the growth. this is just supplementary lighting, the majority of light still comes from outside, from the sun. the glasshouse has hardly any air vents to the outside, preventing heat loss. carbon dioxide from the gas boilers can then be used to boost the co2 levels inside, promoting growth. irrigation comes from rainwater that falls on the roof. humidity is constantly controlled. the aim? user no pesticides at all. resident bumblebees pollinate the flowers while bacteria in charcoal reduces the risk of disease. the rate of growth is staggering. this is what they started with a few weeks ago, that hasn't happened since. they have remained shrewdly with tomatoes forming. at the moment, there are 32 staff here. they were coming years, they hope to

building up to 150. it's quite right because it's warm. you don't need to because it's warm. you don't need to be in the cold outside. it's clean and perfect for you. it's really peaceful here. the first phase cost £50 million and all the money has come from crowdfunding and private individuals. having you keep rogers claimed in the uk makes perfect sense. the uk pension fund has got to be interested in this kind of investment. about 9096 of all the tomatoes we buy are imported. entrepreneurs believe that they will also drew tasty tomatoes all year round as well as cutting the additional cost. they will hit supermarket shelves at the end of february. time for a look at the weather with darren bett. there is milder weather on the way for all of us but a cold morning across the southern half of the uk after a frost in places as well. that really cold air is getting pushed away into the near continent.

that is bringing a few spots of drizzle. high pressure in charge and that is where our air is coming from, around that area of high pressure from the atlantic, so that is milder air but it comes with a lot of cloud and we are seeing a lot of that already. quite low cloud in places, misty and murky in the hills. for a while, it has been thinner across the south—west with a little bit of sunshine as well but the lower cloud is moving its way down across england and wales. we will see the cloud breaking initially in scotland and northern ireland and then some breaks heading down into england and wales. lots of dry weather overnight. enough cloud and enough of a breeze as well to keep the temperatures above freezing, typically three or four celsius. now, into friday, there will be some sunshine at times. some cloud around as well. the best of the sunshine probably from the fens, northwards into north east england and into scotland, with some light showers coming to the north—west of the uk but otherwise a dry day. temperatures should be higher across wales, the midlands and southern england

than we have had today so eight, nine maybe even 10 degrees in south wales. over the weekend, the wind strengthening, dragging in milder air from the atlantic. sunshine at times,some rain but most of it across the northern half of the uk. having said that, a little rain to clear away from southern parts of england on saturday. then some sunshine following behind, cloud thickening in the north—west into scotland, northern ireland and eventually northern england and you can see where the rain is across the north and west of scotland. mild, temperatures between nine and 11 degrees and brisker winds on saturday. as we head into sunday, the winds continue to strengthen. high pressure to the south—west pushing in air from the atlantic. these weather fronts are toppling down as well. this is the next one arriving on sunday which will bring some outbreaks of rain across scotland, becoming more showery as it runs into northern ireland and northern england. to the south of that,

more in the way of sunshine with many areas in england and wales dry in the afternoon. the winds will be stronger but we are drawing in milder air, helping to break up the cloud. temperatures 11 or 12. hello, you're watching afternoon live, i'm simon mccoy. today at four: 4,500 jobs to go at jaguar land rover — most of them being lost here in the uk. falling sales and fears over brexit are blamed. whatever the terms of the announcement, we will do everything we can to make sure they can find jobs that make use of their really valuable skills. 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. coming up on afternoon

live, all the sport. olly foster. 28 professional tennis players have been implicated in a match fixing investigation that comes after a series of raids in spain, and it comesjust a few series of raids in spain, and it comes just a few days before the first grand slam of the year. talk to you later, thank you. and darren has the weather. a lot of cloud heading our way, that is moving down from the north, bringing with it milder air, no snow here in the forecast, but we will look at snow elsewhere around europe, and a look at why it has been so snowy later in the programme. will have more on that later on. also coming up, getting the meghan sparkle — the duchess of sussex has been made the patron of the national theatre as well as three other organisations. hello, everyone, this is afternoon live.

britain's biggest car—maker, jaguar land rover, is cutting 4,500 jobs — most of them here in the uk. it blames falling sales in china, concerns about the future of diesel, and uncertainty over brexit. the company says it aims to cut costs by up to £2.5 billion. one ofjlr's 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 the company 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's confirmed this will mean the loss of 4500 jobs worldwide.

the bbc understands most of them will come from among its 40,000 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. that's hurt a number of european manufacturers, butjlr, which has invested heavily there in recent years, 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 land rover has been affected by factors beyond its control, but critics say the company has made its own mistakes as well. they 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 simply don't seem to want to buy. speaking ahead of the announcement,

the business secretary paid tribute to jlr's workforce. it is 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. 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 it opened a state—of—the—art factory in slovakia. forjaguar land rover to survive into the long term, it needs to be an international player in the global car market, and that means widening its scope 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 and really see that project through. 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. 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 at all, and were down at marks & spencer and debenhams. tesco and thejohn lewis partnership reported rises, however. 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. it's a bit careful, obviously there's not a lot of money

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 be 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're 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 poorfinish, 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 vehicle manufacturer jaguar land rover is to cut four and a half thousands jobs — around an eighth of its workforce — most of them in the uk. in a conference call in the last half hour, let's speak now to darren hall, regional officer at the trade union unite. he's at the company's headquarters in coventry. this is a pretty dark day. it certainly is for the workers with jlr, and obviously we sympathise and we are here to support them the best we are here to support them the best we can. what has the reaction been from your members that you have spoken to? well, and not spoken to any members directly, but i know the local representatives of the company have been communicating with, you know, the workforce, the members

onside as regards to what this means, not necessarily to them individually but as a business, and going forward. what do you think has gone wrong at the company? say again, sorry? what do you think has gone wrong? i wouldn't say there is anything that has gone wrong with the company itself, there are a consequence of the environment that they are within. we have got the brexit uncertainty, which has certainly had a massive impact, and the diesel demonisation has had a massive impact on their business. 90-95% of massive impact on their business. 90—95% of what they produce is diesel within the uk and europe. and then we have got the uncertain markets within china and the downturn there. so it is a consequence of a few issues that have gone on out of their control, this is about the company having to readjust itself and streamline itself in line with the demand, and getting its prepared for a successful future. you mention the

demonisation of diesel —— that is not necessarily new, many are saying the company could be more fleet of footin the company could be more fleet of foot in dealing with that. a lot would say that they were slow off the mark and got too confident within the market and slow moving into electronic eight, but this is recovera ble. into electronic eight, but this is recoverable. —— electrification. the company did give good news as to the news about electrification at wolverhampton, the engine factory, so wolverhampton, the engine factory, so it is a step in the right direction, the company has had to readjust itself accordingly, we can accept that they need to do this, this is about making sure that we are putting the position and supporting the business in the best way we can for those that are working atjlr for the future, for the long—term, not the short term.

stepping forward in the right direction, but 4500 people losing theirjobs. well, hopefully, historically we have been able to obtain up to a voluntary redundancy programme, that is the same that is going to happen now for thejlr workers that are affected by that. so there is no reason why we want obtain, for the jaguar land rover workers, the voluntary redundancies. and we can achieve it through their methods. and what sort of jobs are we talking about here, darren? methods. and what sort of jobs are we talking about here, darren7m this latest wave of announcements, it is going to be aimed mainly at the white—collar workers. the company went into a project last year to save £2.5 billion, which was needed to put the company back into, you know, a successful position. we have gone through the production side, we have seen the consequence of those cuts, reductions last year

in 2017-18, of those cuts, reductions last year in 2017—18, and we knew at some point we are going to start be looking at the organisational changes within and other areas within the business, the white—collar workers, jobs which are as important as anybody‘s else's, this is just as important as anybody‘s else's, this isjust a company as important as anybody‘s else's, this is just a company restructuring itself in line with demand, putting itself in line with demand, putting itself in line with demand, putting itself in the best place it possibly can for the future. thank you very much indeed forjoining us this afternoon. thank you. 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 that 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 the earliest opportunity. that means calling a vote of no confidence in the government. so when exactly would he push for one? 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 win a confidence vote on its own. but 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 with a number of labour mps focusing on protecting workers' rights and environmental policies after brexit. the impression i got was people coming with other positive agendas would be listened to. could labour mps support the prime minister's deal after further changes?

if there is huge progress, that could be a tipping point when we say everything, our red lines has been met, the deal is acceptable. theresa may still hasn't won over the small number of labour mps from leave areas that she met yesterday, but she could get there. they want additional guarantees that the kind of funding which english regions received from the eu would continue after brexit, but many labour mps are still refusing to do business with the prime minister, and that leaves her deal and trouble. today there was a parliamentary pincer movement to get the prime ministerformally to rule out no deal. i think no deal would be disastrous 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 from the party if the prime minister accepts no deal. she could say no deal, in which case very many conservative colleagues of hers would resign the whip, myself included. time is running out to get a deal through. mps can agree on what they do not want — but not what they do. let's cross to westminster and speak to our chief political correspondent, vicki young. the prime minister needs all the friends she has got, she is trying to extend that group with the hand of desperation, some might say. we are hearing the prime minister has reached out to the unions and two

union leaders in particular, we are told she has spoken to len mccluskey unite and tim roach of the gmb, and the prime minister's spokesman said in the last few minutes that the calls were constructive, saying that mrs may has been undertaking widespread engagement about her brexit deal which she believes is good for workers and the economy, and it is part of ongoing engagement and it is part of ongoing engagement and we should expect more of that in the next few days, possibly more union leaders as well. now, that is an intriguing thought, isn't it, simon? theresa may having a chat with len mccluskey, trying to think what they might have to talk about. clearly, is workers' rights is something that, as we heard in the piece, john mann has been pushing, something labour mps are very keen to make sure is part of the deal. they are very worried that, after brexit, maybe the uk would slip behind when it comes to workers' rights. the government would say, look, actually, in terms of this, the uk has gone beyond the minimum

standards in many cases. some labour mps wanta standards in many cases. some labour mps want a commitment notjust that we wouldn't go backwards, but actually we would keep up with any other new eu writes, we don't know whether that commitment was given by the prime minister. we have also had words from the gmb, from that side of things, tim roach, the general secretary there, he says he represents 620,000 working people, saying it is about time their voices we re saying it is about time their voices were heard, that after three years he was glad the prime minister has finally picked up the phone. as you would expect, he said, i was clear about the gmb position, the deal on the table is not good enough, and non—binding assurances on workers' rights will not cut it. he is calling for the withdrawal of article 50 and a final say on brexit, another referendum. i suppose the one thing that len mccluskey and theresa may could agree on is that neither of them are keen on the idea of another referendum. and whilst all this is going on, of course, day two of the

debate. yes, as theresa may tries to persuade people outside of the commons, she desperately needs to persuade people inside, and today she has deployed the environment secretary, michael gove, somebody who was himself the face of the brexit campaign in many ways alongside borisjohnson. brexit campaign in many ways alongside boris johnson. he brexit campaign in many ways alongside borisjohnson. he made a plea to colleagues, especially those who share his feelings about brexit. all of us might have a perfect version of brexit — a change here, an alteration there, but we all have to accept our responsibility next tuesday to decide, are we going to honour that verdict? are we going to make the perfect the enemy of the good? are we going to put our interpretation of what brexit should be ahead of the vote 70.4 million people, ahead of the clearly expressed democratic will of

the british people? are we going to endanger the future by either seeking to overturn that mandate or rejecting this agreement and entering into uncharted waters? if we reject this agreement, and this is the current course on which parliament is set, and have no deal of course possible prosper britain will prosper eventually but it is undeniably the case, the facts on the ground demonstrate it, that there will be economic turbulence and damage that our citizens other constituents face. so that is why i, after long reflection, have decided that we must back this agreement, we must ensure the british people's vote is honoured, that the future is safeguarded, and the britain can embrace the opportunities that our people deserve in the future, and that is why i commend this agreement to the house. many if any mps that michael gove

can persuade, making the case there that there is no such thing as a perfect brexit, that it is notjust over the horizon. he has toned down his language, simon, you will remember that he was reported as saying that those waiting for a perfect brexit were like swingers in their mid 50s hoping that scarlett johansson was going to turn up. he didn't say that! apparently he did. vicki, thank you very much! we are awaiting a news conference, theresa may in talks with the japanese prime minister, shinzo abe, and they will be giving a joint news conference, but she is expected to be pressed very much on the position on brexit. there is some good news coming from that meeting, japan is reportedly ending a ban on british beef and lamb which has been in place since the mad cow disease epidemic in 1996, that will be worth £126 million over five years, we

hearing, no doubt they will be talking about that. we will return to that, it looks like it is not far away, as they checked the microphones and camera angles, we will return to that when it gets under way. 4,500 jobs are to be cut at britain's biggest car makerjaguar land rover, 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 & spencer and debenhams — according to new figures. the labour leaderjeremy corbyn has said a general election remains his priority rather than a second referendum, if mps reject theresa may's brexit deal next week. in sport, 28 professional tennis players have been implicated in a match fixing investigation, a series of raids across spain saw 15 arrests, including the heads of an armenian criminal gang believed to be involved with fixing almost 100 matches. andy murray will face roberto bautista agut in the first

round of the australian open, which sta rts round of the australian open, which starts next monday in melbourne. and unai emery says arsenal cannot afford to buy any permanent players in this january transfer window, he says they only have the funds for loa n says they only have the funds for loan signings. back with much more in15 loan signings. back with much more in 15 minutes. 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 a 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 led to parts of the federal government being closed for nearly three weeks. david willis reports from washington. 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 he just got up and said, "we've got nothing to discuss," and hejust 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... 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 forfunding 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. 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 the duchess, 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. there is only one man to bring that to us, the only man on shift, darren bett! maybe the weather will improve tomorrow, but we are going to look at snow, it is a big story across europe, not in the uk. this is germany, the bavarian alps, and the town mayor in this particular town has declared a state of emergency in orderfor the army to has declared a state of emergency in order for the army to come in and clear a ll order for the army to come in and clear all this snow, and it has been snowing and snowing and snowing for

long time, some parts of germany and austria have had about half a month of snow in 24 hours, some places have got 2—3 metres of snow already, and there is more to come in the forecast. lots of people have been helping out, trying to clear all the snow, to move traffic on, but there has been major problems for people getting in and out of certain areas, this is north—western turkey, another area that has seen heavy snowfall and problems in the alps there is the risk of avalanche, with there is the risk of avalanche, with the amount and the weight of snow, it means that you still have a big avalanche risk across this part of the alps. and it has proved fatal over the last few days. so what is going on? well, what is going on? if we look at what is happening in the alps, essentially your body northerly wind, cold air, down from the north, hitting the high ground, the air rises, it produces no, because the

air is cold, it produces snow, and lots across the northern parts of the alps, and austria, germany, as we have seen, part of switzerland as well. moving to the southern parts of the alps, more sheltered, it will probably be fine and dry. what about us very different, there is the jet stream, on the cold side of the jet stream across central and eastern parts of europe, that is what has kept it so cold, because bad weather pattern has not changed at all. here in the uk, high pressure is dominating our weather, we are on the warmer side of the jet stream, that means no snow here, turning milder, but that milder airfrom that means no snow here, turning milder, but that milder air from the atla ntic milder, but that milder air from the atlantic around the area high pressure is bringing in a lot of cloud, and you can see that earlier on from the satellite picture. as we run through this evening and overnight, that lower, flatter cloud is moving southwards. it will continue to bring a bit of rain and drizzle as well, but more broken cloud will follow from scotland into

northern ireland, pushing southwards. not too cold overnight tonight, introducing milder air, temperatures around about 3—4d, no frost tomorrow morning. tomorrow, a bit of a nothing saw that day, some areas of cloud, some sunshine at times, the best in the east, down towards lincolnshire, a few showers into the north—west of the uk, otherwise dry. drive for england and wales, where it will be otherwise mild. —— into the weekend, you will notice and stronger winds, those will pick up throughout the weekend, but again we are drawing in airfrom the atlantic, so it is going to be mild, temperatures continuing to rise, sunshine at times, but also some rain as well. we may start the weekend with a bit of rain across southern parts of england and wales, moving to the south, sunshine coming through, then the next area of thickening cloud coming in on that north—westerly wind, into the northern half of the uk with most of the rain for northern and western

parts of scotland. those are the temperatures, continuing to rise each day, 9—11d or so. still high pressure to the south—west, all the aircoming infrom pressure to the south—west, all the air coming in from the atlantic, a milder direction, weather fronts weakening as they run southwards, stronger winds probably on sunday, that will break of the cloud a little bit more, more in the way of sunshine around, most of the wet weather coming in across the northern half of the uk, particularly across scotland. wet weather here, even on sunday. but those temperatures, still 11 or 12 degrees, unusually mild weekend across the board. this is bbc news. our latest headlines: jaguar land rover is cutting 4,500 jobs, most of them in the uk. britain's biggest car maker blames falling sales in china, concerns about the future of diesel, and uncertainty over brexit. the uk's retail sector has suffered its worst christmas in ten years, with falls in sales for marks & spencer and debenhams. labour leaderjeremy corbyn has said a general election remains his priority rather than a second referendum, if mps reject theresa may's brexit deal next week. as the us government shutdown continues, president trump walks out

of a meeting with democratic leaders. they told him they wouldn't fund his border wall with mexico. and kensington palace has announced that the duchess of sussex has become the patron of a range of organisations, including the national theatre, saying meghan's new roles reflect her interests in the arts, access to education, support for women and animal welfare. sport now. 28 professional tennis players have been caught up in a matchfixing investigation. 83 people implicated in all, 15 arrests have been made so far, this is after a series of raids by the spanish civil guard, they say the heads of an armenian criminal gang have been detained as have some of those 28 players. close to 100 matches are believed to have been fixed. no players have been named, but one featured at last year's us open. these matches are at the very

lowest professional level. challenger and futures events around the world where players scratch around for a living. the international tennis federation estimates there are 14,000 pro players, half do not make any money. those are the players that are vulnerable, targetted, bribed to throw games. our sports correspondent david ornstein has some of the details of today's spanish operation. it seems to have uncovered a group of armenian individuals who worked with one tennis player according to the report, a professional player, who was the link person for all of this corruption. talk of 11 houses

being searched in spain, 167,000 euros seized along with a shot gun, credit cards, five luxury vehicles, documentation, 42 bank accounts and bala nces documentation, 42 bank accounts and balances frozen. this is not a small operation. you suspect it may be the tip of the iceberg. 264 matches deemed to be suspicious and possibly fixed in 2018. they threw a few sanctions around. the fight goes on against corruption. the draw for the first grand slam of the year. the draw has been made for the australian open, andy murray has been runner up five times but has tumbled down the world rankings after hip surgery 12 months ago. this was him in earlier.

he'll face the 22nd seed roberto bautista agut. murray played the world number one novak djokovic in a practice match today and looked a long way off his best. british number one kyle edmund, who reached the semi—finals last year, has a tough match against former wimbledon finalist tomas berdych. cameron norrie takes on american taylor fritz. norrie going fairly well in auckland at the moment. in the women's draw, british number one johanna konta will play ajla tomljanovic. she lost to the australian in the brisbane international last week. konta reached the semi—finals in melbourne 3 years

ago but is unseeded. there are two other british women in the draw, heather watson faces petra martic and katie boulter meets ekaterina makarova. the arsenal manager unai emery says the club will be unable to buy new players during this january transfer window. the club has one of the highest wage bills in the premier league. they've also spent a lot over the last 12 months, bringing in players like striker pierre emerick aubameyang and midfielder lucas torreira. we cannot sign with one player. we can only sign players like our own. i know the club is working for the possibility. like we need now. azi farni will have more

for you in the next hour. we are waiting that news conference from theresa may and the japanese prime minister. it was scheduled for 4:30pm. everything is ready. we will ta ke 4:30pm. everything is ready. we will take you there as soon as they are there. the vehicle manufacturer jaguar land rover is to cut 4,500 jobs, around an eighth of its workforce, most of them in the uk. in a conference call in the last half hour, the company blamed falling sales in china, concerns about the future of diesel cars and uncertainty over brexit. jaguar land rover‘s ceo, ralf speth, said he remained committed to growing business in the uk. our midlands business correspondent, peter plisner, has been following the story. the press call was mainly for journalists. they asked searching questions but there is very little he can say, bearing in mind that a lot has already come out.

they were asking about various commitments to the move over to electric vehicles, whether we would see any more productionjobs, jobs in factories, going. because today's redundancies that have been announced are mainly around hq staff like here at whitley and gaydon in warwickshire. what he can say is about continuing to commit to the growth of the company. he says he wants to shake the business to create a lean high—performance business and as you said committed to further growth. we have had some announcements about investment today. we have heard they are investing in a new battery factory in warwickshire not far from here. they are expanding the engine plant in wolverhampton to move away from full—scale diesel production to then include some electric motors. so we are starting to see the first glimmers of the investment needed

to move to electric but he was not wanting to be drawn about what the next steps are. the replacement for the jaguar xj is all electric and that was supposed to be out this year. what is going to happen to new models like that? we have had no announcement. there are uncertainties over brexit. there are rumours that some electric cars will go into solihull. we have had the discovery model moving out of there fairly recently, that will be going to a factory in slovakia. i also heard rumours that the jaguar xe will be hybrid from a factory in castle bromwich. there are lots of rumours but no solid facts. the announcements about the battery plant and the electric motor plant is the first real evidence that we have seen for the infrastructure of these electric models being done. the company has one electric car

already, but that is being built by a third party in austria. the problems in china, diesel cars, these are problems faced by other manufacturers. bmw, mercedes, are they having similar problems? they are certainly having problems in china but seem to be recovering faster than jlr. manufacturers are seeing sales decline, in the uk as well, part of it being the changes to diesel taxation, what people call the demonisation of diesel. there is also the big factor of uncertainty over brexit. it is a factor in people making decisions like buying new cars, that has certainly lead to a sales decline as well. news from honda who have announced

they are planning a six non—production day in april this year, shutting down for six days because they want to assess how best to prepare for disruption caused by logistics and border issues following brexit following the departure from the eu of the uk. to facilitate production recovery activity following believes that borders on parts. these contingency provisions have been put in place to best mitigate the risk of disruption at the swindon factory. that is a statement coming from honda direct. a six—day shutdown. a court in california has dismissed claims by the american actress

ashleyjudd that she was sexually harassed by film mogul harvey weinstein. but the court said she could proceed with another claim that mr weinstein had sabotaged her career. he's denied all allegations of non—consensual sex. day two of the brexit debate in the house of commons is under way leading up to the "meaningful vote" on mrs may's deal next tuesday. the prime minister faces divisions among her own backbenchers, and the other parties in the house of commons are unlikely to back her. christian fraser has been analysing the numbers ahead of the vote. 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 mps — that's two more than before the no—confidence vote in theresa may, because two

suspended tories got the party whip back. let's cross to downing street now. it isa it is a pleasure to welcome you to downing street. we are natural partners, thriving island nations committed to defending global rules that we have shipped together. your visit comes at a crucial time as the uk prepares to leave the eu and raise horizons towards the rest of the world our relationship with countries such as japan will be increasingly important and your presidency of the g20 allows us to work together towards our shared goals on the global stage. our people face many of the same challenges. but we also both have

immense opportunities. today we agree a deep and dynamic partnership to shake the 21st—century together. japan and the uk as the worlds third and fifth largest economies are already close economic partners. japanese companies employ 150,000 people in britain and trade between our two countries totalled £28 billion in the past year. our exit from the eu provides an unprecedented opportunity to strengthen this trade and relationship. i welcome your renewed commitment to us securing an ambitious financial arrangement building on the deal already agreed between japan and building on the deal already agreed betweenjapan and the eu. this gives businesses the stability and confidence to plan for the future, supportsjobs confidence to plan for the future, supports jobs and gives confidence to plan for the future, supportsjobs and gives more choice and lower prices to consumers. our enhanced bilateral relationship will allow us to explore ways to go

further. we are already opening up export markets by ending the ban on sales of british beef and lamb to japan. this will create opportunities worth over £120 million overfive opportunities worth over £120 million over five years supporting farmers from wales to the highlands of scotland. our enhanced co—operation shows at a time when global tensions escalated we stand together to promote free and fair trade. as two of the world's most innovative economies we are uniquely placed to address the challenges of ourtime, an ageing placed to address the challenges of our time, an ageing society, the need for green growth, responding to being pleasing use of ai and the future of mobility. today is the start of a significant programme of research and collaboration that will transform the way people live in the 21st—century. british and japanese experts working side by side will help people live independently in their home for longer, develop new

treatments for chronic conditions like dementia and heart failure and ensure a cleaner world for future generations. together we will ensure businesses and innovators are able to use big data legally, ethically and safely in the future. this is our modern industrial strategy in action. our two cultures inspire one another‘s people. a quarter of a million japanese tourists another‘s people. a quarter of a millionjapanese tourists come to the uk each year and growing numbers of british tourists visiting japan. the national gallery will send a major exhibition to japan including the famous sunflowers by vincent van gough, a painter inspired by japanese art. with japan set to host the rugby world cup in 2019 and the olympics and paralympics in 2020 the uk is sharing our experience of delivering these events safely and excess fully. our global economic growth as a by security.

transforming our defence partnership and stepping up our collective response to the threat to be both face. we saw the strength of our relationship when japan added face. we saw the strength of our relationship whenjapan added its voice to condemn the nerve agent attack in salisbury and i want to thank you for the support your nation showed. we're increasing the number of combined exercises between our defence forces on sea, land and airwill our defence forces on sea, land and air will deploy a royal navy warship to the region following on from three naval visits in the past 12 months. to enforce sanctions as part of ourjoint determination to a peaceful resolution to tension in the region and to complete denuclearisation of north korea. i welcome our collaboration on new technologies including exploring what the nation on future combat aircraft, missile development, that will ensure our forces remain an effective deterrent well supporting

industries. working closely with japan and our partners in the region shows a more connected asia that is sta ble shows a more connected asia that is stable and british expertise will help deliver projects in the pacific region unlocking commercial opportunities for companies across the uk. 2019 is an historic yearfor japan. we look forward to working closely with you to ensure a more peaceful prosperous world and i am confident our shared optimism and close friendship will see our nations stand together to shape our shared future. translation: it is a great pleasure to be able to visit the uk on my first trip overseas as we care of

the 620 first trip overseas as we care of the g20 summit. anchor for the warm hospitality granted to us. we had a meeting on the occasion of the g20 last december. we are being able to have this very close exchange of views quite frequently which makes me very happy. the world is watching the uk as it exits the eu. upon my visit to the uk this time around i had the opportunity to have discussion with teresa on brexit. finaljudgment discussion with teresa on brexit. final judgment can only discussion with teresa on brexit. finaljudgment can only be handed by the uk but i would like to mention a few words. we very much welcome the promise made in the withdrawal process of the uk and the eu and i would like to extend my deepest respect to the strong will and hard

work by teresa for the parliamentary approval of the withdrawal agreement. japan and the uk has been building a very strong partnership not only in the political arena but in the economic arena forjapan the uk is the gateway to the european market. japanese businesses have created 1000 aces in the uk offering more than 150,000 jobs. it is the strong will of japan to further develop this partnership with the uk to invest more in to your country and to enjoy further economic growth with the uk. that is why we truly hope that a no deal brexit will be avoided. and in fact that is the whole wish of the whole world. japan is in total support of the draft withdrawal agreement worked out between the eu and the prime minister which provides for transition to ensure legal stability

for businesses that have invested into this country so that is the first point i wish to make clear. on japan uk relationship, our relationship has made unprecedented progress since the prime minister's visit to our country in august 2017. our relationship is closer than ever says the anglo japanese alliance. at the's meeting we confirmed that japan and the uk are closest friends and partners as we strive to uphold international order and promote global and regional security as well as free trade and that our relations have been elevated to the next level. looking ahead to the challenges and opportunities of the next decade we will deepen our strategic partnership further and in this context we were able to announce the uk japan joint

statement. in our meeting we confirmed our co—operation towards the success of the g20 summit which aims to promote free trade, to dry growth in the global economy through innovation. the g20 will also promote initiatives to achieve economic growth and response to inequality at the same time. and by contributing to environmental and global issues like climate change and marine plastics our countries will collaborate to realise a peaceful prospering and enriched human society. on the economic front we confirmed that we will work together to strengthen a free and open trading system in order to strengthen our economic ties post brexit based on the japan eu epa which is to enter into force next month we agreed to work towards the construction of a new economic

partnership with the post brexit uk. i welcome the uk's interest in joining the tpb11. we agreed to work even closer to promote wto reform. on japan work even closer to promote wto reform. onjapan uk economic relations after brexit we agreed to focus on strategic co—operation and innovative areas including ai, robotics and hydrogen society. our co—operation in the pacific we welcome the uk deepening its engagement in this region. the prime minister and i agreed to inject further efforts to strengthen co—operation in areas like maritime security, quality infrastructure and telecommunications infrastructure including five g. in the area of security and defence

co—operation we agree to continue our strong co—operation through initiatives such as royal navy vessels calling onjapanese sports, surveillance of ship to ship tra nsfer surveillance of ship to ship transfer by north korea and joint exercises by the defence forces on japanese soil, which was the first time they engaged in such a drill with anyone other than the us in the context of the new chapter that has been opened in our relationship after the prime minister's visit to japan. on counter—terrorism and cyber as we prepare for this year's rugby world cup and 2020 olympic and paralympic games we look forward to sharing expertise and experiences of the uk which has hosted the london olympic games and the previous rugby world cup. our north korean

situation we have reaffirmed the necessity for complete verifiable and irreversible disposal of all weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles of all ranges as well as the complete implementation of un security council resolutions. we agree to go operating responses against illicit ship to ship transfer. the prime minister showed her support towards the early resolution of the issue which is of highest priority for us. north korea is blessed with a bounty of natural resources and intelligent workforce. if it chooses to proceed through the reds past week north korea can draw a bright future for herself. i hope the country will capture this opportunity. we also discussed maritime security and agreed to strongly oppose unilateral action

that seeks to change the status quo and work closely to minty rules —based international order. as the uk reaches a major historical turning point in herforeign policy japan hopes to reinforce and develop our relationship with your nation. thejoint statement will our relationship with your nation. the joint statement will serve as the guiding post as i continue to work hand—in—hand with prime minister theresa may. after the losing of two votes in two days and your business secretary seeing no deal would be disaster why not take this opportunity to rule out no deal yourself and following your talks

with union leaders and labour mps can you say that a permanent customs union is categorically ruled out? two one, do you feel britain's role of the gateway to europe for japanese companies can sustain if there is a no deal brexit, indeed of there is a no deal brexit, indeed of the leave the customs union or the single market wouldn't break promises made by uk prime minister is all for decades? on the points that you raised with me, what we have put before parliament is i believe a good dealfor the uk and a good dealfor the believe a good dealfor the uk and a good deal for the european believe a good dealfor the uk and a good dealfor the european union. what is at the heart of that deal if we look at the future relationship is the customs arrangement which is ambitious, i will be working for frictionless trade across our borders, but it is more ambitious trading arrangement between the european union and the uk than they

have entered into with any other third country. they have described it as unprecedented and it is. that would give that ability to see that good trading relationship with the eu continuing but also because we would be out of the customs union and would enable us to strike good trade deals with dom on our lawn with countries around the world like japan and we want to welcome the fa ct japan and we want to welcome the fact that the epa has been ratified between japan and fact that the epa has been ratified betweenjapan and the eu but we want to look to enhance our relationship with japan in the future. if we look at what has been happening in the house of commons, the only way to avoid no deal is to have a deal. and to agree a deal. the deal that is on the table which is the deal that the eu has made clear that the only deal, there is an issue that has been raised about the backstop and we are continuing to work with the

eu on that, but there is a good deal on the table, and for those who want to avoid no deal backing the deal is the thing to do. in relation to calls, i want to see this deal getting through parliament with support from the dup and my conservative colleagues but i believe it is in the national interest because it is a good deal andi interest because it is a good deal and i hope it will get support across the whole of parliament. translation: as i said at the outset, japan has an extremely close economic relationship with the uk and many japanese businesses economic relationship with the uk and manyjapanese businesses have made investments into the uk and have created jobs and at the same timejapan and the eu's economic relationship is extremely close as you know already. next month the epa will enter into force. going forward

even post brexit japan intends to maintain this very good relationship. and we truly hope that more investment will be done by japanese businesses to the uk so that both nations can enjoy economic growth together. in this context this draft agreement for transition and legal stability of japanese businesses very much welcomed and we truly hope this is realised but of course it is the people of the uk who will make the final decision but at any rate japan and the who will make the final decision but at any ratejapan and the uk who will make the final decision but at any rate japan and the uk will be further developing our bilateral economic ties. translation: i have a question on

the economic relationship between japan and the uk and the nuclear power plant construction, for both leaders.