take us away on this. is the us position one of politics or of security? i think it is one of commerce. they want technology to prevail, they want to see this commercial advantage over china increase and not decrease. they are masking —— there are masking and security concerns, but it is pretty impossible like a layman like myself to know how serious they are. the squash was the verb you were using, they are caught between these two superpowers. it's not like you can say the chinese will spy on us and the americans won't. anyone will use digital powers anyway they can. do you think this has politics or

security? i think it is mostly about commerce. it would be a bit cheeky from the americans to raise the security implications when just a few years ago we learned how the us used their own technology... this is with the prism edward snowden revelation. absolutely. a showed that the us was amassing incredible amounts of information. they had spied on the allies and enemies. i think this is mostly about getting... being competition for the tech market and the communications market. the truth is that china and while is the leading company. —— huawei. they are pretty big in europe. i think they have between 35

and 45% of the mobile phone market and 45% of the mobile phone market and they are on the verge of having and they are on the verge of having a monopoly or great control over this 56 technology. and there is no us competitor that can cast a shadow on the predominance of macro dose. —— huawei. on the predominance of macro dose. -- huawei. i suppose far british prime minister and any of the us's amylase, the security question is there, and also are we going to lose oui’ there, and also are we going to lose our partnership, the special relationship. sure, greg was describing this as being caught between two superpowers. one of them is our long—standing allies and one is our long—standing allies and one is not. america has been spying on its allies including us and the germans for years. and that is reprehensible. one wonders what happens with that data once it is acquired. we see the chinese as a

less well disposed to western democratic powers. the question is does that still apply. my instinct is yes and that we want to keep our allies on side. but we have got to have a alternative to the huawei system. to say let commerce rain, thatis system. to say let commerce rain, that is fine unless there is a security concern. i don't think any of us can just say it security concern. i don't think any of us canjust say it is security concern. i don't think any of us can just say it is too complicated, i cannot figure it out. we have to get to the bottom of this. where do you see this, obviously huawei is driving forward. is this a race they are going to win? in spite of the attempts to pushit win? in spite of the attempts to push it back? they are winning at the moment. vodafone think they are

the moment. vodafone think they are the best in the business for making the best in the business for making the base stations. it is interesting that theresa may is now looking both ways. she is looking at the huge advance that cha na ways. she is looking at the huge advance that chana is making. it is going to be the largest economy in the world shortly. and looking at what we have called previously the special relationship, but i don't think it has huge meaning now. and there is every sign that donald trump may a second term and continue the fake trade war he is having with china and we are going to get stuck in the middle. and yet if it becomes a him or us question certainly the uk cannot choose china, can they? no, greg is right. it is a

commercial decision, but you have the security concerns part of the five eyes. and if all those countries decide that china, that huawei is not the way to go because of security concerns, and that is what is going to put the pressure on theresa may or her successor, whoever the next prime minister happens to be to go back on that decision. in a security concern can override any commerce considerations. the other question has to do with how does europe respond to all of this? and the idea that europe is going to welcome with open arms the possibility of china spying on european security networks, i think that is naive. and the european union has demanded of the european union has demanded of the member states to conduct inquiries into what are the security

implications of huawei or other companies investing in these european networks. the commercial aspect is extremely important. there is one concern that europe has, not so is one concern that europe has, not so much with acquiring, owning the 56 so much with acquiring, owning the 5g network, but is the amount of companies and assets that different chinese companies have acquired over the last decade in europe. that is a concern and there are no signs that countries like germany and france are trying to push back. saying we need to see what the implications are advanced because china now energy assets really... nuclear... which are far more worrying than the sg. which are far more worrying than the 56. this which are far more worrying than the 5g. this essential to the argument that donald trump brings to the table, this brooding trade route that he is having with china. there

are noises about coming to idl and on some of the mixed messages he delivers about huawei. it must be worrying for people like theresa may. she must worry well, what if he does some kind of deal at the end of the day and leaves me out in the cold where i am put on the 90 step forever. —— put on the 90 step. no diplomats is in the inner circle, so no one no diplomats is in the inner circle, so no one knows what donald trump's thinking is. and he could pay that at the last minute for a purposes and love the chinese again and theresa may is left alone looking foolish. we are talking about a special relationship that is not so special. it must be difficult to know how to formulate your policy

without knowing what trump is going to do next. right, not so talking about i politics in the us, brings us about i politics in the us, brings us to electoral politics close to home. britain's ruling conservative party got a severe drubbing from voters in local elections this week. the prime minister said the voters' message was simple — deliver brexit. so before we look at mrs may's chances of a worse drubbing in eu elections and prospects for politicians elsewhere on the continent, let's test her proposition. the message was simple? alex. the conservative party expected things to go badly. suppose are not national campaigns, they are about who runs your local council, collection council tax. the conservative party expected worse case to lose up to 1000 councillors and it was even worse than that.

they lost 1300 councillors. none of whom had anything to do with deciding the policy direction of brexit. that is not counting those who are aspiring to be councillors, these are sitting councillors. they we re these are sitting councillors. they were doing their best in the conservative party and they lost through effectively no fault of their own. how simple was the message? i think it was sample in two ways. many did not turn out and those who did turn out voted for other parties. and voting on the remaining side of the divide held up quite well. so liberal democrats made some gains. you will find some people know in the face of this remarkable defeat making excuses saying that conservative party were ata high saying that conservative party were at a high point in 2015, and the liberal democrats where do a come

back. so they were artificially low coming up... forget that. when you get a defeat this big, it is time to stop making excuses. you have got to look to the basics. the tory party is getting the basics wrong. a month ago or is getting the basics wrong. a month ago 01’ so, is getting the basics wrong. a month ago or so, when theresa may agreed to hire brexit extension in europe, she was hoping she would not have to fight european election. issue going to get in a worse situation? yes, i think the tory party will come third behind the brexit party. and could come faith behind change uk or the greens. that is the party and government coming for international election. can it survive coming safe

ina election. can it survive coming safe in a national election? does anyone disagree with that analysis of the potential catastrophe for the government? now, but changing the leader will not change the problems. if the tories come fourth or fifth in the european election, replacing theresa may with anyone else is not going to actually change the problem that they have with getting that withdrawal agreement through the house. and i think she stays a no matter what because there is no mechanism to remove her. i think she stays a no matter what. the other big name party, the labour party did not do so great. hence the walking in the middle—of—the—road comment. they are going to ditch constructive ambiguity or do you see them doing a deal when theresa may because both

of them have an interest in getting toa of them have an interest in getting to a deal? i don't think they have a mutual interest. and i do not think a deal is in the works. and i do not see change at the top of the labour party either. i think the constructive ambiguity will continue and the frustration in the rank and growl. that term was coined in the northern ireland peace process 20 years ago, constructive ambiguity. it works because the ambiguity was constructive. the ambiguity in the labour party is there, but it is not constructive. it worked to a certain extent in 2017 but now people are fed up with labour's ambivalence with brexit. and i think they really need to pay attention to what is happening in their councils. there was a massive shift of vote for people who are pro remainers. i

think this is the meshes thatjeremy corbyn, these are the lessons that he should be paying attention to. another one he should pay attention to and they were members of the shadow cabinet hinting they might support an agreement reached with theresa may on brexit. i think he should pay attention to the german dealings in the spd. the spd has beenin dealings in the spd. the spd has been in opposition, losing elections for almost a decade. so i think labour, if corbyn is thinking seriously about and may be linked theresa may's brexit, the consequences for the party in an electoral point if you will be disastrous. pursues a thought you started with. the idea of smaller

parties coming back, the lib dems for example. the greens, the independents. do you think we are seeing a bit of a ironically at the point of trying to leave the eu, and carbonization of the uk? yes, this started in the mid 1970s, rising relativity between voters. in 2015, that was a super election where over one third of voters voted for all the parties other than the conservative parties. this is the tendency of european politics. highly fragment ties to. lots of choice and this is a reflection of very diverse populations but also the dose mean parties —— two main

parties are now offering...” the dose mean parties —— two main parties are now offering... ijust wa nt to parties are now offering... ijust want to know if anyone differs with the analysis. corbyn does not reflect the views of most of the people in his parties. he was a brexit here. he is very sceptic of the eu. you can only have ambiguity if the reason is complex. this is not complex. he is out of step with his party. that is the problem with jeremy corbyn. his party. that is the problem with jeremy corbyn. he thinks that the eu isa jeremy corbyn. he thinks that the eu is a corporatist stitch up. let's move to what everybody else in europe thinks of the eu. as an irish citizen, when you think about the eu elections, you actually engage with

them, the rest of the eu is going to them, the rest of the eu is going to the polls. when i think back to 2014 the polls. when i think back to 2014 the last eu elections, only two in five voted. not everybody is looking at the european elections through the lens of brexit. in island. i wa nt the lens of brexit. in island. i want you to avoid the brexit topic and talk about the things that concern europeans. we get a lot of media coverage about immigration. it is not simply about immigration, it is not simply about immigration, it is if you are matteo and italy, but if you are out every weekend with the yellow vest movement it is because you think the system is either broken, corrupt or both. it is notjust either broken, corrupt or both. it is not just immigration.

either broken, corrupt or both. it is notjust immigration. if you look at other countries it is actually about how we fix the economy. so it is all of these things. as eunice said, the tectonic plates are shifting and the party systems are breaking down. and you get smaller independents. to get minority parties like the greens having a resurgence for however long that is going to last. when you have the new commission in place, this is what they are going to have to look at. they are going to have to deal with a myriad of problems. we see it here with southern europe has a immigration problem, it is more than that. one of the things that the european parliament is going to start doing following this election, because that projection say the nationalist parties are going to increase their presence, so they are projected to control around a third

of the vote in european parliament. that means that the two party groupings, three party groupings will have to start doing dealings and to listen to other political forces. to be honest, this is what the european union has been used to do. it is of how the institution works. consensus building. however some of the people in question have quite large personalities and they wa nt to quite large personalities and they want to subvert some of the eu's workings. yes, the media likes to pay a lot of attention to them, but they do not have sufficient force to storm out and change everything. that mainstream parties might actually decide to stop talking to them or not engaging in dialogues and look at other forces. the politics is —— the politics of

alliance will shift. you can look to people in italy who are changing the mainstream. is a suggestion for them all to come together, but then he withdrew. so he is kind of manoeuvring as a national leader over national institutions and i think we may see some more of that in the next european parliament. this election that would has seen turn out going down and now it is going up and it was populist so that was not so good. i think it will go up was not so good. i think it will go up and it will be even more populous still. there was a poll done not so long ago that shows there is a vast amount of undecided, swing voters.

it isa amount of undecided, swing voters. it is a massive amount of votes. amount of undecided, swing voters. it is a massive amount of votesm should make it electrifying, is it? it is not for me and i do not think it is for european citizens in a gross generalisation because people do not perceive the european parliament as doing a whole heck of a lot. what was the last key decision they had? deciding something very important that affected all of our lives? the associated press, we are taking it very seriously, lots of people deployed to cover it. but i don't think citizens find it electrifying. it is the only parliament in the world that cannot issue legislation. such a red herring. the european union is not a state. they cannot initiate, but they vote. they are

co—legislators. they cannot be compared to a state. the discussion always go wrong because there is always go wrong because there is always a mistake of comparing the european getting into a state. the capacity to legislate in the european union, is divided across different institutions. deal with greg's point about the perception of european citizens. he is correct. most think that the european parliament is not a very important institution although it is. it takes a lot of very important decisions every day. they only talk about national politics, the european dimension of this is forgotten. this brings me back to something he mentioned before. president macron has tried to talk about a... it

worked for him, many of us would have seen him wrap himself in a european flag. it succeeded. right now his approval ratings are very low. so was margaret thatcher's but then she bounced back. he is redefining what it means to be a european leader. especially after angela merkel is gone. especially if he winds up running against someone on the far right like he did previously. if that is the case, then the future of france becomes very intertwined with the eu. but his flirtation with the european

block is what confuses things. he could win it and become a big international leader or he could alienate people by being too political. and a little bit too pompous in that scenario. and all of that while people are still rioting in the capital. laying down lectures for others while he can't keep things together in his own country. do you see a scenario in which the europe wakes up saying that it has done much more different things and they might have expected?” done much more different things and they might have expected? i don't think so. i think you will see the greens doing better than they have been across europe because of the re ce nt been across europe because of the recent publicity about climate change and there is more of a sense of urgency. but i do not. it is a long, slow process. no big far right

blog saying to the liberal elite, move blog saying to the liberal elite, m ove over blog saying to the liberal elite, move over it we are in charge? in this country nigel farage will sweep the country. and fra 118 this country nigel farage will sweep the country. and fra118 germany as well. but i do not think they will be driving the agenda. —— the far right group in germany as well. those are long processes that are not going to change. the turned out, the more difficult it is to be. there is going to be a shift in the agenda. because we are coming out of austerity. and there is now the perception and understanding that vote rs have perception and understanding that voters have had enough. if they do not want those national forces to ta ke not want those national forces to take over and control save 40% of

the european parliament in five years' time, it is time that europe start to address the social agenda which it has neglected for the past 15 years. this is where the chron might count with a lot of support from the european social democrats. —— resident macron. from the european social democrats. -- resident macron. i'm afraid were going to have to aimed at there. we will come back to it. we'll be back next week, same place, same time. goodbye. hello. but the bank holiday weekend now upon us, the weather is looking a little bit

mixed over the next few days. things are turning colder, there is some sunshine out there to be enjoyed. this is the view. beautiful bluebells and blue sky in derby taken by one of our weather watchers. as we head through the rest of the weekend, although we have got that dip in temperature on the way, it is going to be a mix of sunny spells and some scattered showers. and the brisk winds that we have got out there today will be gradually easing on sunday and into bank holiday monday. most of the showers today are in the east, so for central and eastern parts of england, some heavy showers. eastern and southern scotland also will see some showers, which are falling as snow over the highest ground. but there will be some sunshine returning to northern scotland as we move through the afternoon. let's take a look at the winds for a minute because they will be gusting at around 45 or 50mph. especially strong around these exposed eastern coasts where we've got the heavy showers. mixed in with some of these blustery showers, some hail, perhaps the odd rumble of thunder. but it is quite blustery out there. for the southwest of england, wales and for northern ireland, you should avoid the bulk

of the heavy showers. the winds won't be quite as strong, but it is not warm wherever you are, especially if you are exposed to that brisk northerly wind. most of the showers will ease away tonight, just one or two continuing around the east coast. there will be more cloud working in four parts of northern ireland and the northwest of scotland with a few showers around. but with clear skies, we had a cold night ahead and we are expecting a touch of ground frost first thing tomorrow morning. through the day, we have got high—pressure, coming from the west and that should mean there should be fewer showers than today. and it will not be as windy. there will be more cloud tomorrow across northern ireland and scotland. with that cloud, a few showers following as snow over the highest ground. further south, for the bulk of northern england, wales not a bad day. it is looking largely dry, not as cold as today. around about nine to 13 celsius. at least we will have lost the wind—chill. going to bank holiday monday, still a few showers south through northern ireland, perhaps northern england down towards east anglia. either side of that band of cloud and showers, some drier weather with a bit

of sun breaking through. temperature is not great. 0nly nine to 12 degrees, much colder than it was last year for the bank holiday. then we have low pressure approaching from the atlantic and that is going to bring us a different spell of weather. things will be more unsettled, often wet and windy through the course of next week.

this is bbc news. the headlines at noon: fed up with the brexit deadlock — senior conservatives call for unity, after the party suffers its worst results in english local elections for nearly 25 years. we need to be listening to these results from these local elections, which, as i say, are about deliver brexit, but it wasn't deliver this particular form of brexit. cyclone fani causes destruction in india and bangladesh, bringing torrential rain and winds of up to 125 mph. here, rail passengers face disruption to theirjourneys this weekend, as bank holiday engineering work gets underway. thailand's new king is crowned at bangkok's grand palace, marking his official accession to the throne. and at 12:30, coming up on click: