here's nick miller. ican give i can give you an exciting weather forecast but maybe for the wrong reasons. we have a spell of strong winds to come over the next few days and even into the weekend. this afternoon a lot of fine weather to be had through much of england and wales. some showers around in northern ireland. some snow to the high heels across scotland. and temperatures normal or above for the time of year. but tonight turns wet and windy and we will see some outbreaks of rain spreading east across the whole of the uk. some snow in higher areas and the winds strengthening with gusts up to 70 miles an hour. elsewhere around 60

miles an hour. elsewhere around 60 miles an hourand miles an hour. elsewhere around 60 miles an hour and some of those across the east of england going into the rush—hour tomorrow morning. we have some hill snow in northern ireland, and the last of england and scotland. but slowly clears away to lower levels as we go through the day tomorrow. the wind easing a little but still blustery. and temperatures a little lower the further south you are. and then another area of low pressure arrives, a deepening system coming infor arrives, a deepening system coming in for friday to turn things much wetter and windy once again. we all have wet weather spreading east across the uk and again with that strengthening wind, some gales and places. 0nce strengthening wind, some gales and places. once again the potential for gusts up to 60 miles an hour or so. and then there was strong winds into

the night and saturday morning. it is all done to this area of low pressure, moving away from scotland on saturday. some rain and hill snow and the risk of some flooding north of the central alps because the brain and the snow melts. maybe strong wind in the south later in the weekend. we will keep an eye on that. a reminder of our main story this lunchtime. the president of the european council, donald tusk, has spoken of a "special place in hell" for those who promoted brexit, without a plan to deliver it safely. i have been wondering what that

special place in hell is like for those who demoted brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it. that's it. so goodbye from me. now on bbc one, let'sjoin our news teams where you are. good afternoon, it's 1:30pm and here's your latest sports news. by the end of the day manchester city could be back on top of the premier league, a position they haven't occupied since early december last year. win at everton and they'll move above liverpool on goal difference — pep guardiola of the opinion though it's notjust the top two who are in the title race. with 39 points to play, when we are 9—10 points behind, it's not — it's not much. i never said tottenham was not there, indeed chelsea. i never pulled out all five or six games, and united is making this run of victories every single week.

we'll be there to fight for the premier league. fifa president gianni infantino will stand unopposed for the top job in world football injune's presidential elections. former tottenham defender ramon vega had planned to stand against him but failed to win the required support of five of the 211 member federations, leaving infa ntino to serve a second term. he replaced sepp blatter in 2016 following the corruption scandal. richard freeman, the former team sky and british cycling doctor, who faces a charge of ordering testosterone to enhance the performance of an athlete, has had his medical tribunal adjourned until friday. freeman, is charged by the general medical council of ordering testosterone, which is banned for use by all athletes, from this 0ldham—based company to the team's headquarters in manchester back in 2011 and then attempting to conceal his motives for ordering the drug.

if found guilty he could be struck off and lose his medical licence. the 2018 tour de france winner, geraint thomas is back in action today, his first race since since the tour of britain last september. the welshman rides in the five—stage volta a la comunitat valenciana in southern spain and says he's enjoyed his busy life since that tour victory last summer. definitely been busy, and normally off—season you get rested and go on holiday and come back and start training again but it's been so much busier. it has gone so fast, we are closer to the start of this tour than the end of the last one. when you reach the pinnacle, something i've dreamt of doing for so long, to do it it takes all the pressure off now and it's just about enjoying racing and riding my bike and the challenges that brings. british sprinter dwain chambers is out of retirement and is on the 60 metre start list at the british indoor championships this weekend.

it's a surprise return to top level athletics for chambers, who officially retired two years ago and is now almost a1. chambers was banned from athletics for two years after testing positive for steroids in 200a. he's attempting to qualify for the british team at next month's european indoor championships in glasgow. england women have announced their new raft of central contracts with an increase in money made available for player salaries sussex bowler freya davies earns her first full professional contract — she's one of twenty one players centrally contracted with four rookies. it continues a growth in the women's game since 2014, with several players earning 15—30% more on their deals last year. as you've been hearing, league two newport continued their superb cup run — knocking out middlesbrough in a replay last night which had a bit of everything. it was a tense evening for keeperjoe day.

not only did he have to keep middlesbrough out, his wife had gone into labour during the match. so at full time, no hanging around to celebrate — he was straight off to the hospital! and this the outcome. twins. he didn't manage to make the birth but what an outcome on both fronts. and they're not the only new arrivals. horse racing fans are celebrating the new arrival of a foal born to annie power a champion hurdle winner over the jumps and dad galileo who won the derby at epsom on the flat who commands a stud fee thought to top at least £3a00,000. to top at least £300,000. the progress of that foal will be closely followed, won't it? that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website.

that's bbc.co.uk/sport. i will be back with plenty more in the next hour. i will see you then. tom, thank you for that. now we can get more on the strong words from brussels on brexit today. this morning with the president of the european council donald tusk saying there is a "special place in hell" for those who promoted brexit without a plan of how to do it. he was speaking after talks in brussels with the irish prime minister leo varadkar. let's listen to a clip of what donald tusk had to say. the top priority for us remains the issue of the border on the island of ireland and the guarantee to maintain the peace process in accordance with the good friday agreement. there is no room for speculation here. the eu itself is first and foremost a peace project. we will not gamble with peace, or put a sell by date on reconciliation. and this is why we insist on the backstop. give a believeable guarantee

of peace in northern ireland and the uk will leave the eu a trusted friend. i hope the uk government will present the idea that both will respect this point of view, and at the same time, command a stable and clear majority in the house of commons. i strongly believe that a common solution is possible and i will do everything in my power to find it. a sense of responsibility also tells us to prepare for a possible fiasco. the taoiseach and i have spoken about the necessary actions in case of no deal. i know that you will also be discussing this shortly with the european commission. by the way, i've been wondering what the special place in hell looks

like for those who promoted brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it safely. donald tusk there. we have had some reaction from nigel farage who is still an mep. this is what he tweeted. and when they'd finished the news conference the men appeared to have a humorous exchange over mr tusk‘s words. thank you. you'll be in terrible trouble with the british press. yeah! what do you think the place in hell looks like? ! theresa may has met with the main political leaders in northern ireland as part of the government's efforts to break the deadlock over brexit. mrs may was on a two—day visit

to try to reassure people she can secure a brexit deal that avoids the return of customs checkpoints on the irish border. the leader of the democratic unionist party, arlene foster, said that she had told theresa may, that legally binding changes to the withdrawal agreement were needed. so, we have had another useful engagement with the prime minister. as you know, we engage with government quite regularly in and around the brexit process. we reiterated again the fact that the backstop was the problem in relation to the withdrawal agreement and the brady amendment put down in the house of commons last week gives her the mandate now to go to brussels, as she intends to do on thursday, and we look forward to hearing the outcome of that. arlene foster, leader of the dup, making it clear that theresa may does have to try and get some kind

of change towards that mechanism that's in the withdrawal agreement that's in the withdrawal agreement that she has hammered out with brussels, making it clear that there must be a change to that northern irish backstop. in a moment, we'll have all the business news, but first the headlines on bbc news. strong words from the president of the european council donald tusk, as he criticises those who he says promoted brexit without a plan of how to do it. a downing street spokesman dismissed the remarks, saying the eu referendum was the largest democratic exercise in british history. in his annual state of the union address, president trump makes an appeal to the democrats to co—operate with him for the good of the american people, and insists the wall on the border with mexico will be built. it's understood that the first deportation flight from the uk to jamaica since the windrush scandal, has left from birmingham. i'm jamie robertson. in the business news — interserve, one of the uk's largest providers of public services, has reached

a deal with its creditors to prevent its collapse. the rescue plan involves cutting its debts from over £600 million to £275 million by issuing new shares. six travel websites, including booking.com and trivago, have been investigated over pressure selling and misleading discount claims according to the competition and markets authority. it said it was concerned the sites were making rooms seem more popular than they were. the sites will now stop using pressure tactics and make prices more clear. brussels has knocked down a proposed french—german rail merger, designed to help europe compete with china. the eu's competition commission blocked the tie—up, saying uniting france's alstom with the rail arm of germany's siemens would lead to higher prices. the chancellor could miss a key budget target next month because he can't reduce spending as much as he planned.

that's the view from the country's oldest independent research institute, the national institute of economic and social research. it's cuts its forecast for british economic growth this year to 1.5% — down from the previous forecast of 1.9%. it's blamed a slowdown in the uk, and overseas. that's a difference of 0.04%. ——that‘s a difference of 0.4%. earlier we spoke to amit kara, national institute of economic and social research. brexit uncertainty has intensified and this is dragging down economic growth in the near term, and unless this uncertainty is resolved, economic growth will remain weak for a prolonged period of time. we are also saying that if, at the end of this process, the uk ends up without a deal, that economic growth will slow down quite sharply but it's unlikely to be a disaster for the simple reason that policy will step in. there are some contingency plans that are already, there have already

been announced, monetary policy will step in. and we also expect the chancellor to step in with additional actions, may be tax cuts and may be even more spending. so, in other words, of course it's important to have some kind of deal because that will be the smoothest process. but if there isn't a deal, action will mitigate some of the losses. amit kara from the national institute of economic and social research. that comes amid warnings from the cbi which says the uk risks crashing out of a0 trade agreements which span five continents which have been created by the eu if we leave with a no deal exit. now, in

other business news. apple's head of retail, angela ahrendts, is leaving the iphone makerfive years after taking up the role. her move to apple in 201a from the luxury fashion brand burberry, where she was chief executive, was seen as a major coup for the tech giant. she will be replaced by long time apple executive deirdre o brien, who is currently vice president of people. the mouse house has reported first—quarter profits that beat analysts' predictions. if you are wondering what the mouse house is, it is disney. walt disney said its customers were spending more at its us theme parks and resorts, and its media network business was doing especially well. if you follow the fortunes of snapchat you'll know it's been losing users for the middle part of last year. that's changed, says the holding company snap. at the end of 2018 the numbers started to level off and the company believes they're holding steady at 186 million daily active users. another private sector company

running public services has run into trouble. interserve — may have pulled itself back from the brink. it has reached a deal with creditors which involves cutting its debts from over £600 million to £275 million by issuing new shares. existing shareholders can't be that pleased — interserve has a market value of £17 million. two years ago it was worth £500 million. about 70% of interserve's turnover comes from government contracts. joining us now is sophie kilkert, senior investment manager, seven investment management. what went wrong with the company?m is similarto what went wrong with the company?m is similar to carillion, they have a lot of debt on them because of the work they do, they take on contracts and the contracts are not always paid as soon as the work is delivered. into serve had a lot of debt and the outsourcing sector since carillion collapsed last year has been a tricky one, so this deal

they have been trying to get through whether creditors take on a lot of the equities and the current equity holders basically reduced to 2.5% of the company. let's go into this deal, what happens to the existing shareholders? very little. but at least the company hasn't gone under so far. they do get something and the shares are up around 6% on the back of that but interserve shareholders have had a hard time, since the shares reached a high in 2015 they have been on a way down. they will get something but it's not a lot. shareholders are understandably not happy about that. a new york hedge fund coal train which owns 15% of the company want to change the entire board and this deal is not yet approved by shareholders so it is scant in detail yet and i think this one will continue for a while. private companies looking after public services. are there others that we should be concerned about? as a sector it deserves some sort of

scrutiny, and generally we need to look at how the government manages resources like that and whether they should go to the private sector. that is the conversation people will have been having since carillion last year. i would watch those companies in the sector, certainly. sophie, thank you so much. 0cado shares are down sharply after a fire at the andover distribution centre. down almost 8%. the reason is this is one of 0cado's big new robotic distribution centres and they have said that as a result of this via their growth will be hit badly. gsk has moved up about a third of a percent because they had better results than expected. pound against the euro, pretty much where it was earlier in the week, and the ftse 100, stable, not really going anywhere but 0cado is the big share mover today. that's the business

news for now, back in an hour. thanks for that, jamie. let's go back to the house of commons to get the latest reaction from prime minister's questions and those comments from donald tusk on brexit. 0ur assistant political editor norman smith is in the houses of parliament for us now. what has been happening, norman?l lot of questions, as you might expect, about brexit. not sure we are much the wiser, david liddington standing infor are much the wiser, david liddington standing in for the pm today and it was pretty much a dead bat for most of the questions and i think perhaps a sense that the action was elsewhere after those remarks by donald tusk in which he suggested there was a special place in hell for those who had promoted brexit without a shred of a plan. what are we to make of that? i'm joined by labour's seema malhotra, does it matter if the president of the european council makes those sort of remarks? i don't think his words we re remarks? i don't think his words were appropriate. i do think what it

highlights after his discussions with the irish prime minister as well is how deeply felt the worry and anxiety is both in the republic of ireland and northern ireland about what this is going to mean in future, potentially without a backstop, for ireland and for the united kingdom. ithink backstop, for ireland and for the united kingdom. i think that whilst those words were inappropriate, it does speak to an issue where to try and make brexit seem simpler whereas it is extremely complicated and extremely delicate, that the brexiteers, ostriches and their unicorns haven't helped our debate and haven't helped inform the public about how we move forward. i think to make this final point, the idea that theresa may should be in northern ireland for two days 50 days before we leave the european union on current plans is an indication of how serious this is and what a serious matter it could be if anything goes wrong in ireland. how does it play, though?

apart from the diplomatic niceties, is there not the risk that these sort of remark simply get the backs up sort of remark simply get the backs up of hardline brexiteers who set theirface against up of hardline brexiteers who set their face against any deal mrs may might come back with. this was a remarkable intervention by the council president but he nailed it, the reason we are in this mess and the reason we are in this mess and the reason we are in this mess and the reason we are in this situation and why parliament is having to fill in the blanks is that those who campaign for leave, including those who are senior government ministers currently, didn't have the decency to flesh out their proposals. that isa to flesh out their proposals. that is a basic in a manifesto, a white paperor is a basic in a manifesto, a white paper or anything else before the vote. it's those who campaigned for leave with no plan who have done all the damage here. paradoxically, though, might it work to mrs may's advantage if there is a sense that actually all is gloom, no deal lose, that strengthens the leverage she has on mps to back her deal?|j that strengthens the leverage she has on mps to back her deal? i back the prime minister's deal but i

don't think this is going to make that much difference. everybody needs to calm down. so much has been said throughout the last few weeks and months and this is probably part ofa and months and this is probably part of a negotiating strategy, trying to put pressure and make some of our more hardline brexiteers to get angry. i would urge everybody to calm down, looked calmly and coolly at what is going on and get over the line so that we leave with a deal on the 29th of march. let's stay calm and at what will happen next. we know that mrs may is coming back to the commons next week, probably without an agreement, and emily thornberry today suggested we were heading towards an accidental no deal. how likely is that? it could be that there is no accident about it because this is a result of how the prime minister has chosen to handle brexit and deal with the issues raised by parliamentarians. she has been known for hunkering down with only a few people around her not even engaging her full

cabinet, or her full front bench, her not even engaging her full cabinet, or herfull front bench, or even a full party let alone the rest of the country. that is coming home to roost. you must engage in serious talks because what is clear that her brady amendment was simply about buying time. she is playing both ways. if you read reports of the attorney general now looking to have a legally binding limits to the backstop while she has said that a sea mless backstop while she has said that a seamless border has been the cornerstone of ireland's prosperity. we have got to really understand her position. i personally recognise the need for a backstop as an insurance policy if there is no future deal agreed in time. but where we have to go now is to have a proper conversation in parliament with mps expressing their view in a vote about what the future looks like. for my part i think it needs to be an eea based arrangement with a customs union and if we can get movement on the future declaration and political declaration and future framework, we might see the logjam

in parliament broken. people don't wa nt to in parliament broken. people don't want to move house without knowing where they are moving to, that's the issue. may be the prime minister's strategy is quite a cute strategy. she knows it will be difficult to get her deal through but the alternative of no deal will, in the end, probably terrify many, many of her critics and therefore running down the clock is, from her part, quite a clever strategy. well, if she has some big master plan she has a funny way of showing it. there is a funny way of showing it. there is a real danger in terms of running down the clock here. remember, we have a government, this isn'tjust me, the opposition, this is the government warning us of medicine shortages and food shortages and you are right to appeal for calm but when we are staring in the face food shortages and medical shortages as owned by your own government, people have every right to be concerned when we are a few weeks away from falling off a cliff, this is the worst peacetime crisis to face the uk and it's not of the eu's making or some external forces, it is a crisis made within the tory civil

war. 0k, and where we are now, do you believe mrs may can get her deal through? yes, though, with the amendments that we have spent some time talking about over the backstop. but i want you and the viewers to be clear, the facing both ways are the opposition parties. they say they don't want no deal, they say that, and yet refuse to vote for the only way of exiting the european union in the smooth and orderly fashion. they are the people to blame if we end up in a no deal outcome. we are going to have to leave it, i'm sorry. i apologise for cutting people short. that is all we have time for but don't worry, plenty more brexit round—the—clock in the days to come. studio: you'd better believe it, norman! norman speaking to us from the commons. now for the weather news with nick miller. lets make time for the weather because there is lots to talk about

over the next few days and into the weekend as it turns wet and windy, for many of us for a time, in contrast to what we have out there at the moment where it is fairly quiet, breezy, nothing worse than that, skies like this, not a huge amount of clear blue skies, a of high cloud, hazy sunshine and a speu high cloud, hazy sunshine and a spell of wet weather heading north—east through scotland and a bit of snow on the higher hills but barring the odd shower elsewhere plenty of fine weather. and as we have seen through much of this week, temperature is fairly respectable, at or above average for the time of year, so some of us are at or above average for the time of year, so some of us are in double figures. but tonight, round one of wet and windy, we will see rain spilling east across the uk, bit of snow to the hills of northern ireland, northern england and scotland, around 200—300 metres, more in scotland, several centimetres on the higher hills and the wind is picking up. this evening dose of wales and south—west of england, up to 70 mph gusts, elsewhere in england and wales, from the mersey to the humber, 50—60

kilometres per, and the strong winds will start across the eastern side of england tomorrow. temperature is not going down too far, but it's cold enough for some hill snow across the north of britain, slowly easing along with the rain at lower levels tomorrow morning and tomorrow afternoon we are ok, sunny spells, a few showers, blustery but not as windy as we start the day and temperatures come down a little bit across parts of england and wales, otherwise fairly similar. and then here comes our round to of wet, windy weather. this is targeting friday, this deepening area of low pressure and the winds will be more widespread, those gales in places, and it looks very wet at times, an area of rain, heavy at times, pushing north and east, the wind strength and, initially across western areas as we go deeper into the day so we will feel it in to northern ireland, england and wales, gusts of up to 60 mph, higher gusts around some coasts. strong winds tra nsfer east around some coasts. strong winds transfer east and north saturday morning. a mile to find then again it is wet at times and very windy.

here is another look at the area of low pressure, closest to scotland as it pulls away on saturday. this is where we will have the strongest winds to start, 50—60 marks per hour on saturday before easing, some rain and hill snow especially in northern scotland, sunny spells and a few showers elsewhere. you get the idea, strong winds over the next few days, and wet at times and there could be some travel disruption as a result. we will keep you updated on all of that but for now, that's your latest forecast. hello, you're watching afternoon live. today at 2: the president of the european council condemns people who he says promoted britain leaving the eu, without a plan to deliver it safely. i've been wondering what that special place in hell looks like for

those who promoted brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it. in his delayed state of the union address, donald trump appeals for republicans and democrats to set aside their differences. we must reject the politics of revenge, resistance and retribution and embrace the boundless potential of cooperation, compromise and the common good. hotel booking sites are warned to end pressure selling,