this is bbc news. the headlines. as boris johnson heads to brussels to meet the european commission president, he says no prime minister could accept the current terms, but remains optimistic there is still a deal to be done. i have absolutely no doubt that from january to first, this country is going to prosper mightily. he's absolutely stuck and dithering between the deal he knows that we need and the compromise he knows his backbenchers won't let him do. delays at ports, initially caused by the pandemic, lead to honda pausing production at its swindon plant with fears brexit could make things worse. as more and more people get the vaccine, a new warning to those with significant allergies after two people suffer adverse reactions. turning the uk into a low carbon nation will be cheaper than previously thought overall, but may prove expensive for some homeowners.

forget hollywood, if you want to see real stars go to yorkshire. two national parks in the north of england have been designated dark sky reserves. the prime minister is heading to brussels for dinner with the european commission president ursula von der leyen. ahead of leaving, borisjohnson said no british pm could accept the current eu terms — but says there is still a deal to be done. major disagreements remain between the two sides on fishing rights, business competition rules or the so—called ‘level playing field' and how a deal will be policed or any future disputes resolved. and time is running out to reach an agreement. the uk will stop following eu trading rules on the 31st december — deal or no deal. our political correspondent

nick eardley reports. can you get this over the line, prime minister? for the prime minister, who was the face of the brexit campaign, decision time is coming. will borisjohnson sign up to a trade deal or are the two sides too far apart? tonight in brussels he will meet the european commission president to see if they can give fresh life to the negotiating process. a good deal is still there to be done... but talks have been stuck for some time and mrjohnson told mps that there are still significant issues. our friends in the eu are currently insisting that if they pass a new law in the future, with which we in this country do not comply, or don't follow suit, then they will have the automatic right, mr speaker, to punish us and to retaliate. i don't believe that those are terms that any prime minister of this country should accept.

it is notjust competition rules. there are still disagreements on fish, how much can eu boats catch in british waters, and enforcement, who polices the deal? labour said getting an agreement is essential and even keir starmer, self—isolating at home, suggested he could back one. he is absolutely stuck, this is the truth of it, absolutely stuck and dithering, between the deal he knows that we need and the compromise he knows his backbenchers won't let him do. mr speaker, i genuinely hope this is the usual prime minister's bluster. this country will be ready for whether we have a canadian or an australian solution, and there will be jobs created in this country throughout the whole of the uk, notjust in spite of brexit, but because of brexit. but it is notjust the uk that has red lines. eu leaders say they are united on protecting the single market. if there are british conditions which we cannot accept, then we will take the path of no deal.

translation: one thing is absolutely clear, the integrity of the eu's market must be preserved. there has been a growing sense of pessimism in the last few days about whether these trade talks will end in a deal. so, borisjohnson is going to brussels tonight to see translation: one thing is absolutely clear, if there is room for political compromise, a way of breathing life back into the negotiating process. nothing is guaranteed and time is running out because no matter what happens, in three weeks, our relationship with the eu will change. in a few hours' time, talks will take place in here, the european commission building in brussels. there are big issues to be ironed out and the government is warning that success is far from guaranteed. nick eardley with that report. iain watson is at westminster for us now. the prime minister has some optimism. is it shared? not necessarily, simon. ithink optimism. is it shared? not necessarily, simon. i think he was

indulging in megaphone diplomacy ahead of brussels and effectively saying that there are a range of things that we would find unpalatable, so take them off the menu and we will get a deal. he did say there was a deal to be done. i think what the premise was pointing out was that he does not want to sign up to anything that would in the future mean that the uk would have to automatically follow eu rules and also said sovereign control of waters and everyone fishing rights were essential as well. i think it does, because they might not have to sign up automatically to what the eu decides in the future, and that will come down to negotiating and arbitration and a panel to sort out any dispute, so and a panel to sort out any dispute, so there is some wriggle room, and also some wriggle room in fishing. i'm not saying it, michael gove is saying it, that the government could be generous when it comes to looking at phasing in any new arrangements.

so the uk could have sovereign control of its waters but at the same time not cut off access to eu fleets. the big question is, if there is a will, is there a way? and let's see if the two leaders tonight, the eu commission president and the prime minister can find a way of bridging pretty big gaps but it was interesting that angela merkel, the german chancellor was saying that this agreement has to be for the future. she did not sound like she was all that keen to compromise on the issue of allowing the uk to diverge from eu laws and eu rules and regulations over trade. it's by no means certain that a deal will be struck. that is what 10 downing street is saying that the prime minister saying there is a deal to be done, so at the moment it still sounds relatively downbeat but not impossible that they will find a way through. thank you very much. cabinet office minister michael gove updated mps about the withdrawal agreement earlier — and promised that the provisions agreed will protect the rights of people and businesses in northern ireland.

as recently as july the as recently asjuly the commissioner envisaged the default tariff scenario in which, and i quote, all goods brought into northern ireland would consider to be at risk and as such subject to the common customs tariff. if that had been implemented, it would have raised the prospect of a 58% tariff on a point of smelt —— on a pint of milk, oi’ point of smelt —— on a pint of milk, or 96% on a bag of sugar going from liverpool to the shops in belfast. as we have repeatedly made clear, this would never be an acceptable outcome, so i'm pleased to say that under the agreement we have reached, northern ireland businesses selling to consumers or using goods in northern ireland will be free of all tariffs. whether that is nissan cars from sunderland or lamb from cornwall. internal uk trade will be protected as we promise, whether we have a free trade agreement with the eu or not. labour's shadow cabinet office minister, rachel reeves said it the agreement

too late for businesses in northern ireland, who she believes will not now have enough time to prepare for the changes when they come into force next year. the good friday agreement is a source the good friday agreement is a source of immense pride on this side of the house given the role that tony blair's labour govern played in building on the work of sirjohn major in achieving it. neither of those governments would play games with the peace process, and neither would a government led by my right honourable friend, the member for oban honourable friend, the member for chan and st pancras. because gameplaying with threats to break international law has consequences. and it is also a dangerous distraction. the agricultural department in northern ireland say that the border infrastructure simply won't be ready in time and manufacturing an ice age is 9% of businesses in northern ireland are ready for the end of the transition period —— manufacturing nra. and the decisions needed to make trade flow, reportedly won't even go live until

december the 21st. eight working days before the end of the transition period. mr speaker, this really does give new meaning to the night before christmas. chris page is in belfast. the call has always been for clarity, is that what they have or has the can been effectively kicked down the road again?|j has the can been effectively kicked down the road again? i think some questions have been answered, but certainly others remain unanswered from the point of view of the business community here. one of the major issues had been concerns that new checks on food products arriving to the likes of here, belfast bought from the rest of the uk would mean there would be disruption to supermarkets apply so michael gove in the commons has announced that there will be a grace period for supermarkets and in effect no change for at least three months or six months for chilled meat products so that should ensure that goods going to supermarkets keep moving smoothly across the irish sea. another big

issue has been around tariffs. if there is no trade deal between the uk and eu, then the position was that goods that came here from england, scotland and wales were deemed at risk of moving across the land border into the republic of ireland and therefore the eu would have tariffs due. it is understood there will be a trusted trader scheme where companies can sign up to that and that will mean that 98% of the goods will be exempt from any import duty that would otherwise be due. the implications of all of this will be carefully analysed and businesses still seeking more clarity in areas like exactly what kind of paperwork is going to be needed on the goods moving across the irish sea. one bit of administration they now know will not be required is the possibility that there could be export declarations owing on the other direction from northern ireland to great britain. but the government says that's not going to be the case and it has been negotiated away. so businesses still saying that they

are not going to be ready to operate all of these news the 1st of january, and the senior civil servant of the department of agriculture has said that the new inspection post, for example, one that will be across the water there at belfast harbour, they will only be up and running on a temporary basis and the facilities will be temporary and the full posts will not be built until later next year, so not be built until later next year, so plenty of difficulties ahead and a challenge injanuary. politically, very difficult for unionists who see this as a trade barrier between here and the rest of the uk asking the question, will this mean that northern ireland's economic focus will tilt away from london towards dublin and brussels on the european union. hilary benn is a labour mp and the chair of the house of commons committee on the future relationship with the european union. good afternoon to you. good afternoon, simon. let's talk first about what michael gove has been saying, and what is your understanding about what has changed

and what is now on the table? understanding about what has changed and what is now on the table7m understanding about what has changed and what is now on the table? it was and what is now on the table? it was a good thing that they were able to reach some agreement, because it shows what you can do with political commitment and i hope it is a harbinger of what might happen this evening on the trade negotiations when the prime minister meets ursula vander layun, but it has been clear in the question to your correspondence that they are kicking the can down the road, because these are not permanent arrangements. what michael gove told the house was that for supermarkets, they won't have to produce health tickets when they move goods on lorries from gb to northern ireland for meat products, it will be six months that they will be allowed to come in chilled because normally the eu says they are not allowing any meat products to come from third countries unless they are frozen. it has left people and companies who do business unclear and companies who do business u nclear exactly and companies who do business unclear exactly how the new arrangements are going to work because they have got to be given

guidance before the 1st of january. secondly, they already know that the rules will change in three or six months‘ time, so it‘s not exactly a permanent solution. so a period of grace, if you like. yes, and that is what michael gove described it as but the reason why export health certificates are an issue for supermarkets is if you think of a lorry on the thousands of goods it is bringing to a supermarket, belfast or londonderry or elsewhere, you would have to have an export health certificate for every single one of those items where a certificate of that type is required. and that is a lot of money. in one of the consequences of brexit for trade, notjust between gb and northern ireland on the other way, but between the uk of the eu is that this is going to add costs, bureaucracy and paperwork to businesses at a time when they are already struggling because of the worst economic crisis for 300 years

because of coronavirus. how many times have you and i discussed in upcoming crunch meeting? indeed. but tonight dinner. just how crucial is it? it is of huge importance and there is a heavy responsibility on there is a heavy responsibility on the two main participants, for this reason. it‘s pretty clear that the negotiators have come as far as they can and they say they have 95% of an agreement reached but there are these outstanding questions and it will require political leadership to move, and that involves, bluntly, both sides compromising. that is how you get agreement when you start far apartandi you get agreement when you start far apart and i think on fisheries, they can meet somewhere apart and i think on fisheries, they can meet somewhere in the middle. on the level playing field i would differentiate between a non—regression, in other words, the parties agreeing that we will not lower our standards at any point. because that is something that people need to rely on and what could be described as a ratchet,

because if one side chooses to increase its workers‘ rights or environmental protection and then claim that that gives the other side of the deal an unfair advantage, thatis of the deal an unfair advantage, that is a slightly odd way of approaching things because in effect one party has decided potentially to make itself less competitive, and i‘m sure that there is a way through this because in the end, in any trade agreement, you are going to have to have a way of resolving disputes and we do that in the world trade organization which we are a member that does not infringe on our sovereignty, it just recognises where you pull solvent for mutual benefit by taking on mutual obligations —— paul sovereignty. if there is an organ, the supreme court or european court ofjustice can‘t sort it out, it will have to be an independent arbitrator and that is standard practice in the government has signed up to that in their withdrawal agreement so if their argument is about the northern ireland protocol, it will ultimately

go to an arbitrator and if the two sides agree something like that for the level playing field i can see no reason why a deal cannot be done, and frankly the alternative of no deal does not bear contemplation because business after business that has given evidence to the select committee has said whatever happens, we cannot have tariffs because of the adverse impact it will have on above all the uk, the republic of ireland to a great extent and also to the european union. it is in nobody‘s interest for the talks tonight to fail. we will be talking about this again. thank you very much for your time. philip rycroft was permenant secretary at the department for exiting the european union between 2017 and 2019. he‘s now a specialist partner at flint global, a business management consultancy. and hejoins me now. good afternoon to you. good afternoon. just picking up to you. good afternoon. just picking up on what hilary benn said that a no deal is something that cannot even be contemplated, and yet, at this dinner tonight, it‘s going to

have to be contemplated by both sides. exactly. this is close to now being a binary choice, do we get a deal sorted out with compromises on both sides or do we head into no deal in the new year. it‘s worth saying that this no deal is not the equivalent of the australian situation. australia actually has a number of deals with the eu. the uk would only have one, which is the withdrawal agreement and everything else would fall away and all the stuff on ground internal security, and transport, on the single nuclear cooperation on the whole gamut of issues that would be covered alongside the trade deal would not apply ina alongside the trade deal would not apply in a no deal world, so as well as tariffs, there is a lot of other things that would suffer as a result. before we go into what they will negotiate about, what about the much vaunted canada style deal that has re—emerged? much vaunted canada style deal that

has re-emerged? canada's deal has been deemed to be one of the options all the way through, but of course, canada is not the uk and the difference between what was offered to canada and what is being offered to canada and what is being offered to the uk, one is that the uk deal is better on tariffs because it would be tariff and quota free, but the other thing from the european commission perspective and the eu perspective is that the uk is very much closer and a bigger trader partner with the eu and hence the great concerns about potential unfair competitive advantage for businesses based in the uk, trading of tariff free terms with the eu. you will know much better than most what has been going on in the talks so far between lord frost and michel barnier. they have got to this point and it is clearly an impasse. what can and it is clearly an impasse. what ca n two and it is clearly an impasse. what can two people in borisjohnson and ursula von der loyen bring to the conversation tonight that moves this forward ? conversation tonight that moves this forward? they conversation tonight that moves this forward ? they have

conversation tonight that moves this forward? they have to stretch the envelope. clearly the negotiators have done what they can to resolve theissues have done what they can to resolve the issues and have bumped up against their respective mandates, but what the politicians can do is say, look, we found a bit more space for you to work in, now go away and get this completed. and that will require signalling from both sides that they are prepared to give on the critical remain issues which you‘ve just described in the programme around a level playing field and around the fisheries and governance of the overarching deal. is that possible quest but yes, of course it is possible, and you hope that the two of them sitting down tonight recognise the bad consequences of no deal, both for the eu and the uk, and find that little bit of give in order to give the negotiations a chance. how important is a personal relationship going to be given that ursula von der leyen has only been in the job for a year der leyen has only been in the job fora yearand der leyen has only been in the job for a year and they don‘t know each

other that well. it is difficult to imagine how any charm can be used here. personal relationships do of course matter, but the other thing that matters is trust and trust has beenin that matters is trust and trust has been in short supply. now, the move that the uk made yesterday which michael gove has explained to parliament today on the northern ireland protocol is clearly good news in that respect, because it says the uk is not after all going to go back on its international obligations under the withdrawal agreement. but the trust between the two parties can be sealed at leader level. the fact that the two do not know each other terribly well is not helpful, but let‘s hope that their political professions will overcome that in order to see if they can map a way forward. if you were there advising borisjohnson, a way forward. if you were there advising boris johnson, what a way forward. if you were there advising borisjohnson, what are the compromises you want to hear from the other side and what compromises

are you prepared to make? that is what this will come down to. are you prepared to make? that is what this will come down tom are you prepared to make? that is what this will come down to. it is difficult to know precisely where things are at right now. as hilary benn said on fisheries, you can see a way forward. fisheries, you have to be regurgitating constantly because ultimately it is about what fish are in the water so the stock of fisheries and fish don‘t respect the median line, they swim about, so they are not fish with flags on them. as neighbouring coastal states them. as neighbouring coastal states the uk will have to negotiate into the uk will have to negotiate into the future with the eu as well as norway on the faroe islands, and on fisheries there is always a way forward in terms of looking at the numbers. on the big point of principle, it seems to be coming down to what do you do if the eu shifts and improves its standards, or the shifts and improves its standards, orthe uk shifts and improves its standards, or the uk improves its standards in a way that would give the other side potentially a competitive advantage. what do you do about that? is there

a course to an arbitration mechanism? is there a course for unilateral sanctions in terms of ta riffs unilateral sanctions in terms of tariffs and so on? and that is where the knob of this lies and surely there is a way of pitching this that protects both sides, independent arbitration and that sort of thing is away of overcoming the differences in principle. what would you give the chances out of ten?|j can give you percentages. i am now very much on the fence. 5050. good to talk to. thanks very much. news coming in from avon and somerset police, that four people have been charged with criminal damage over the toppling of the statue of edward colston in bristol back injune. this is the slave trader, edward

colston, and a statue that was dragged through the streets of bristol and then thrown into the harbour by a group of demonstrators. it was a huge story at the time and borisjohnson it was a huge story at the time and boris johnson and others it was a huge story at the time and borisjohnson and others commenting on the attack, borisjohnson described it as thuggery, subversive thuggery and we are hearing that investigations have led to the result that four people have been charged with criminal damage over that action. we will bring you more on that later. many more people are getting the coronavirus vaccine today — as the rollout of the pfizer—biontech jab contuinues across the uk. but people with a history of significant allergic reactions have been advised not to have the vaccine as a precaution. it comes after two nhs workers had reactions after being immunised yesterday. the nhs says they are both recovering well. our health correspondent jim reed reports. sharp scratch now, angela. at a hospital in south london this morning, it was the turn of care home workers to get their jabs. i‘m pleased to have it, you know. we are all in it together, let‘s just get it done.

another 150 people at st george‘s hospital in tooting will get vaccinated today. it is wonderful because it's like a little ray of sunshine in what has been the most difficult year i have ever had in my career over 27 years. across the uk, thousands have now received their first doses. they will all need a follow—up booster in three weeks‘ time before it is fully effective. this morning though the medicines regulator said two nhs workers who received the jab yesterday had allergic reactions to it. the chief executive of the mhra said those with significant allergies should not have the jab for the time being. even last evening we were looking at two case reports of allergic reactions. we know from the very extensive clinical trials that this was not a feature, but if we need to strengthen our advice now that we‘ve had this experience in the vulnerable populations, the groups who have been selected as a priority, we get that advice

to the field immediately. both the staff members affected already had a significant history of allergic reactions and needed to carry an adrenaline or epipen around with them. shortly after receiving the vaccine, they developed symptoms of anaphylactoid reaction, that is less severe than anaphylactic shock. it can include symptoms like a rash and shortness of breath. both have recovered after treatment. the bbc has been told that it was expected some people would have an allergic reaction. it happens every year with the flu vaccine. to start with, this first jab, made by the drugs companies pfizer and biontech, is being given in hospitals so patients can be monitored for any signs of allergic reaction. gps have been told they will start to receive their first batches from next week. giving evidence this morning, england‘s chief medical officer stressed it is still important for the public to stick to social distancing rules.

the idea that we can suddenly stop now because the vaccine is here, that would be really premature. it is like someone giving up a marathon race at mile 16. it would be absolutely the wrong thing to do. but there will come a point where the choice about exactly when to start to ramp things down, how fast and which, needs to be made. this all comes at a difficult time in the outbreak. cases are rising sharply in parts of the country like london and south wales. scientists and ministers say it may take months for the vaccination programme to have a real impact on the pandemic. jim reed, bbc news. we all need to change the way we live — but it will cost much less than previously thought to make the uk a low—carbon society. that‘s the message from the government‘s independent advisors on climate change. the experts say the uk could viably cut its carbon emissions by nearly 80 per cent over the next 15 years. but we‘ll need to eat less meat, avoid too many flights, and change the way we heat our homes.

inger andersen is the executive director of the united nations environment programme. and joins me now. thank you for your time. what are the latest reports and what are you reading into it? what are they telling us? we have just issued today a report that measures the emissions gap, the gap between where we want to be and where we are in terms of our emissions and whilst we are all aware that during this pandemic year not travelled and not moved about as much, so we are showing a 7% decline, globally speaking, in emissions, we are also aware that that in and of itself is not what will make the difference. what we need to do is make a systemic differences, because surely locking up differences, because surely locking up half of humanity is not the way to go. but what we did see during the pandemic, the most extreme lockdown was these clean skies etc etc, but as i like to say, the bath

tub was already full soldier stopping the tap for a minute or two is not what does it. what will do it? so the kind of things we hear from the uk and other countries as well is commitment to net zero and thatis well is commitment to net zero and that is very important, but then using the stimulus packages that are rolling out now precisely to ensure that we do notjust go back to where we are and stimulate a high carbon intense economy, but that we use this to shift our economic track forward , this to shift our economic track forward, and that is what we need to have happening and on saturday at the climate summit, that is the kind of thing we are looking for. there is some encouragement, and using your barthe analogy, whilst the water is full, we know that there is a plug and that the water can be drained, and whether it has taken this lockdown to prove it, you have donejust this lockdown to prove it, you have done just that. we shouldn't get too optimistic because it‘s a very cautious situation we are in right

now. if we do nothing, if we just continue as we were, we will, by the end of the century our report projects, be at an average of 3.5 celsius increase in temperature and thatis celsius increase in temperature and that is in the red zone, if you like, that is not where we want to be. if we do what we promised to do in what is called the nationally determined contributions, these documents that each government has submitted and the numbers are as of november last month, we would be three degrees and may be three and a half degrees, so not a great deal of difference. if on the other hand we ta ke difference. if on the other hand we take those 51% of emissions globally, from those countries who have made a commitment to net zero, and we take that and for good measure add to the us, because we hope that they will come in and make similar changes, then we get to 2.5 degrees. still too high. there it is

imperative that all of that money that we are borrowing from the future generation, that we don‘t give to the future generation a broken planet and a pile of debt, but that we use that money, our stimulus packages, wisely, to nudge and force the economy into a carbon neutral and de—carbonised track, and thatis neutral and de—carbonised track, and that is where we see the opportunity. if we fail to do this, because never before have we put these amounts of money from public purses, taxpayers money, into the economy, we will not hit our climate targets. so one thing is to celebrate those that have come to net zero, 501% of global emitters, but another thing is to recall that in 620 but another thing is to recall that in g20 countries, they emit 78% of global emissions, so the g20 countries have a special response ability to step up and commit to net zero and make real that in the nationally determined contributions.

there hasn‘t been much cause for optimism in terms of the climate recently and yet all of a sudden we‘ve seen china saying that they are going to come on board and agree to certain levels of cuts, and you have a new administration coming in in the us. is there because for some optimism with you personally in terms of the next few years? if you work on environmental matters you have got to remain eternally optimistic because the alternative is too frightful to contemplate. yes, having china committing to net zero before 2016 and the uk committed to before 2050, japan, south africa, korea, or committing and infact south africa, korea, or committing and in fact we have 126 countries that have made that commitment —— all committing. what matters is the bigger economies. that is good, that was a promise, it does not yet translate into the nationally

determined contributions because at the end of the day these things have to be done now, tomorrow, the day after and the day after, until 2050, which is why when we look at the uk, for example, which pulled forward the closing of coal power plants by one year, that is the kind of action we wa nt one year, that is the kind of action we want to see across the board. whether it‘s that or whether it‘s decommissioning of other types of polluting industries, and whether it is investing in electric vehicle infrastructure, these are the kind of things we need to see planning for now, so we can action by action by action carve out the carbon we are putting into the atmosphere. great pleasure to talk to you. thanks forjoining us. the chief medical officer for wales says the coronavirus

situation there is ‘very serious‘ with the virus ‘spreading fast.‘ dr frank atherton says the rate of infection is rising in almost every part of the country. in 10 local authority areas there are more than 400 cases per 100,000 people. coronavirus infection is spreading, and spreading fast. it‘s accelerating across the country. that‘s happening more quickly than we had anticipated as we came out of the firebreak just a few weeks ago, and it‘s accelerating at a greater speed than we have seen during the autumn months. i am joined now by darren hughes who is director of the welsh nhs confederation. how worried are you by this? we are ina very how worried are you by this? we are in a very serious situation in wales, we have the most people we have had it since the pandemic in hospital, being treated for covid, and we saw the highest number of new confirmed cases in a day over the weekend, so we are in a very serious situation in wales at the moment. you had the firebreak, what went

wrong? the firebreak, it did, there was definitely a step in the curve so we saw infections falling but u nfortu nately so we saw infections falling but unfortunately infection rates are now rising again, and what we see when they rise within the community is generally a ten day, two week lag before this leads to an increase for people needing hospital treatment, and so we are fighting the usual winter pressures we are usually dealing with, dealing with the roll—out of the largest vaccination programme ever, what is important to remember is that staff have been trading with covid on the front line now for over eight months —— treating. in the likes of the south wales valleys and the swansea areas, the people on the front line live in those communities, they are family members there, so they are dealing with the effects of covid on the front line but also having a big impact on their family lives, as well. what impact on the hospitals

themselves, that has to be the focus? it certainly does. if you look at the number of intensive care beds in wales in normal times, that number, that bed capacity would now be full but again pointing back to the staff, they are the biggest concern, because it is all very well having the beds and equipment but we need the staff to be able to look after patients and make them well. we are seeing staff absences of around 10% if you look at a particular health board geographical area but what we are seeing is that in particular areas you have much higher levels of staff absence and staff sickness because of people infected with covid themselves but also self isolating because of family members who are ill, so the staff area is the biggest issue for us, it is having a huge impact. what we‘re finding out from colleagues in public health wales is transmission tends to be from people we all know

in wales it is a very tight—knit community where everyone knows one another, and i want to remind members of the public you are four more likely to catch covid from someone you know because you get far closer to them then you are with a stranger —— you are far more likely. we need to be a big reduction in the r right now if we are to look after the welsh population after christmas. it is good news that the vaccination programme that has begun, but presumably there are inherent risks with that. we have your staff dealing with many more people. that is right. about 1500 vaccinations were provided to front line staff yesterday and as well as the nhs we work closely with collea g u es the nhs we work closely with colleagues in social care and local government, in private home care settings, and where there is a high prevalence of covid in a particular community it is affecting the ability of social care staff to do theirjobs and who are looking after theirjobs and who are looking after

the most vulnerable members, but also when people are in hospital recovering from covid at the moment and other conditions, it is quite difficult to get them discharged with the care and support they need at home, so we are under enormous pressure in wales, like nothing we have ever seen before. let's put the economy to one side for the moment. would you want an urgent lockdown nationally now? what we need is for the population in wales and other parts of the uk to do everything they can to protect themselves and theirfamilies they can to protect themselves and their families and to protect their loved ones, and guidance is out there from government and we aren‘t seeing worrying pictures on television of pack shopping centres, and the light is at the end of the tunnel but it will be some months before enough of us are protected by having the vaccination to resume normal life, and there are huge pressures in the community, with businesses closing and people losing their jobs,

businesses closing and people losing theirjobs, and businesses closing and people losing their jobs, and there businesses closing and people losing theirjobs, and there is economic effects and also mental health problems that we are seeing. we are farfrom problems that we are seeing. we are far from the problems that we are seeing. we are farfrom the end problems that we are seeing. we are far from the end of this problems that we are seeing. we are farfrom the end of this pandemic and we would ask the public to do all they can to work with us so we are able to provide care the care they need. thanks forjoining us. sport now and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre. here‘s sarah mulkerrins. good afternoon. uefa has confirmed that the red card given to pierre webo, assistant coach of istanbul has been frozen — as they investigate the allegations of an official using a racist term towards webo during their champions league abandonned game against psg last night. a new team of officials will take charge of the rescheduled game later — which kicks off in paris just before six o‘clock this evening. here‘s our sports correspondent katie gornall at first it was like any other

champions league tie, but then in the 14th minute this happened. pierre webo, istanbul basaksehir‘s assistant manager, accused the romanian fourth official, sebastian coltescu, of using racist language to identify him as he was shown a red card. tensions rose in paris before demba ba, a substitute for istanbul, confronted coltescu. when you mention a white guy, you never say, "this white guy," you say, "this guy," so why when you mention... listen to me! why when you mention a black guy, you have to say, "this black guy"? in the 23rd minute, the players walked off in protest — a rare act in football — and the match was suspended. uefa initially said the match would restart with a different fourth official, but after a long delay that attempt was abandoned when istanbul refused to return to the pitch. the match will now resume tonight with an all—new refereeing team. the significance can‘t really be underwritten. the importance of the match in the most watched club competition in the world.

many black players are now saying, "we may have put up with this in the past but now we will take the power that we have and use it, and walk off the field of play," which is within their right. the psg forward kylian mbappe later tweeted, "say no to racism. mr webo, we are with you." uefa have said they will investigate thoroughly, and they will be under heavy pressure to make sure they stick to their word. katie gornall, bbc news. newcastle‘s premier league fixture against west brom on saturday is expected to go ahead as the squad recovers from last week‘s coronavirus outbreak. the club‘s match at aston villa was postponed last friday because of several cases which affected the team. but with players returning to full group training on wednesday afternoon, there are enough players who have tested negative to fulfil this weekend‘s game at st james‘ park. it‘s been confirmed england‘s cricketers will play sri lanka in two test matches behind closed doors in galle next month. the first test will start on 14th january with the second match beginning on the 26th, with the party due

to fly out on the 2nd. england were originally meant to tour last march but the trip was postponed due to the covid—19 pandemic. and south africa have confirmed they‘ll tour pakistan for the first time in 11; years after agreeing to play two tests and three t20 internationals in january and february. finally, after missing last weekend‘s grand prix in bahrain, lewis hamilton says he‘s finally feeling better after testing positive for coronavirus. the seven time world champion is hopeful of being back in contention for this weekend‘s season ending race in abu dhabi. i know i‘ve not been in touch this past week but it‘s definitely been one of the hardest weeks that i‘ve had for some time. and just been focusing on recovering, trying to get back in shape, so i can get back in the car and race the final race in abu dhabi. i woke up today feeling great

and got my first work—out in so ijust wanted to send you guys a message of positivity, let you know that i‘m 0k. and the women‘s champions league is underway right now — glasgow city are at sparta prague — 2—0 down at half time there. you can find more on that — and also chelsea and manchester city who play as well today — on the bbc sport website. i‘ll see you again in the next hour. more on brexit — borisjohnson is travelling to brussels this afternoon to meet with the president of the european commission, ursula von der leyen as they look to reignite the negotiations. let‘s speak now to the dup mp sammy wilson. we have heard from michael gove on the widdall agreement on how this will affect more ireland, but what

you make of what he had to say? —— withdrawal agreement. if we are going to undo the damage that the withdrawal agreement is causing to northern ireland but also the whole of the brexit project then the withdrawal agreement had to go and change but the government has not done that, they have tinkered around with it, and some of the tinkering may or may not be good, but we don‘t know, because this is not a definitive document, they are reviews in three months‘ time, six months‘ time, things which will happen, we will have to see how it works on the ground, but some of the issues which have been dealt with in the agreement which he has reached now in thejoint the agreement which he has reached now in the joint committee with the eu will at least on the surface now address some of the impediments to trade between northern ireland and great britain and vice versa, but still leave an awful lot of disadvantage for traders. some of them will still pay taxes on goods

when they come into northern ireland, and until they can show they haven‘t been sold outside northern ireland, and some of them will still face restrictions when it comes to bringing goods from gb and have their vehicles searched and goods taken out of the vehicle is to see that they meet with regulations, and they will still be extensive paperwork, and businesses will still be subjected to vat regime is an eu vat regimes, so a lot of things haven‘t been dealt with but some of the issues, at least on the surface, it appears that the government has tried to blunt the edges of the agreement and the impact it would have on northern ireland. have they planted it? there a grace period —— blunted it. has the whole thing really just been kicked blunted it. has the whole thing reallyjust been kicked down the road again? you are quite right, some of it has been kicked down the road again, we were told for example

with export declarations, they will not be required from the 1st of january, and that is good for firms in northern ireland and saves a considerable amount of money. one in my constituency reckon it would cost £1 million a year if they had to introduce those export declarations so that is good news and that seems to be fairly definite, but on the other hand as you pointed out, the import of food from gb will be reviewed again in three months‘ time and if the mindset of the eu is still the same in three months‘ time, namely goods coming from gb into northern ireland will be treated as imports from a third country, then we are going to have the same wrangle all over again, and i note that the irish government is now spinning that the three month period should be used by businesses which are selling great food —— which are selling great food —— which are selling food to source

their food from the republic of ireland, and this indicates we are going to go back to the position where we were initially, after three months, and if the government allows this to happen then i don‘t think we can really claim that they have brought back sovereignty. michael gove was keen to say there was no suggestion of that, but there is a grace period. i‘m wondering where you think the three—month period will leave the union at the end of it? that three-month period can will leave the union at the end of it? that three—month period can be used to do two things, either it can be used by the british government to sit on its hands and wait for the inevitable clash which will have to deal with again, or it can put in place legislation which it is allowed to do under the withdrawal agreement to make sure that any economic damage to northern ireland by the implementation of the

withdrawal agreement is avoided by the british government taking new lateral action through legislation in the house of commons, and what we said to the minister today was that thatis said to the minister today was that that is what he should be doing, he should be making it quite clear to the eu, sort this out, stop interfering in the internal market of the united kingdom, and you make whatever changes you have to make into your laws to allow that to happen, otherwise we will be taking unilateral action to make sure and safeguard the integrity of the union and the economy of northern ireland and the economy of northern ireland and the economy of northern ireland and the uk internal market. what unilateral action? we saw an example of this in the internal market bill and also in the tax bill which was to go through today, where the government would take upon itself powers to protect the northern ireland economy from any detrimental

action which the eu may try to take in relation to our economy using the withdrawal agreement, so for example, the government could introduce legislation to say, the eu rules may say you can‘t bring sausages from gb into northern ireland but we are now introducing our own legislation which will make sure that whatever the eu says, uk legislation allows shops to sell those goods in northern ireland, so those goods in northern ireland, so those are the kinds of preparations, andi those are the kinds of preparations, and i hope they won‘t be necessary and i hope they won‘t be necessary andi and i hope they won‘t be necessary and i hope they won‘t be necessary and i hope they won‘t be necessary and i hope the eu will live up to the promises made in the withdrawal agreement, that there will be u nfettered agreement, that there will be unfettered access across the uk market and they would not interfere in the trade between gb and northern ireland, not that they would use the —— but ireland, not that they would use the -- but if ireland, not that they would use the —— but if they use the widdall agreement in that particular way it is up to the united kingdom government to defend its own country —— the withdrawal agreement.

government to defend its own country -- the withdrawal agreement. sammy wilson, thanks for joining -- the withdrawal agreement. sammy wilson, thanks forjoining us. the headlines on bbc news... as boris johnson heads to brussels to meet the european commission president—— he says no prime minister could accept the current terms — but remains optimistic there is still a deal to be done. delays at ports — initially caused by the pandemic — lead to honda pausing production at its swindon plant — with fears brexit could make things worse. as more and more people get the vaccine — a new warning to those with significant allergies — after two people suffer adverse reactions. honda has temporarily paused car production at its swindon plant because of a shortage of parts caused by delays at uk ports. the companies responsible for transporting shipping containers are warning there could be further disruption when the brexit transition period ends injanuary. but the government insists any delays are a global problem and not connected to brexit, as emma simpson reports. the honda car plant in swindon. like all the other car

manufacturers, the parts arrive when they are needed. a just—in—time supply chain. but it has been hit by delays caused by congestion at the ports. its production line won‘t be running today as a result. gavin runs an online toy company and he‘s had weeks of delays at his busiest time of the year. we‘re particularly affected by things that we‘re importing coming in from china on containers. there‘s lots of congestion at the ports. the ports can‘t cope and there are some boats that are being turned around and sent back to holland. others that are being diverted to other british ports. every company is the same, every company is in total chaos. but christmas will go ahead. we will get there, and we will not let anyone down. so, what has gone wrong? container ships are the arteries of global trade.

covid—19 has disrupted the flow, especially from china. ports around the world are now having problems. it's just a perfect storm at the moment where we have a situation with post—pandemic rates and orders, pre— brexit stockpiling, and also christmas being a particularly busy period. we will get through this, we are confident the sector can deal with this. itjust may take a bit of time and we ask people to bear with us. felixstowe, britain‘s biggest container port, has been hardest hit here. it‘s grappling with a surge in containers ahead of christmas as well as brexit stockpiling, and it had a backlog of ppe containers, too. the ports say things are improving, but volumes could remain high for months. the whole supply chain now wants the government to look at ways to improve capacity, to keep these containers on the move. emma simpson, bbc news.

now if you‘ve been looking for an excuse to get your festive knitwear out early this year — comedian dom joly has the answer. this friday is ‘christmasjumper day‘ and by wearing your santa sweater, you can not only impress yourfriends, you help raise money for charity. to explain i‘m joined by comedian and save the children ambassador dom joly. we really need this this year? yes, i think we really need this this year? yes, ithink so, we really need this this year? yes, i think so, and one thing they are pushing, save the children, is that people are strapped for cash, so there is no need to buy another christmas jumper, which unless you are very strange christmas jumper, which unless you are very strange you only wear once are very strange you only wear once a year, so what we want people to do is up cycle stuff, people have old jumpers, christmas jumpers, pimp them up is the idea, but i think people are just desperate for a really good christmas this year and they just want something comforting, something reassuring, possibly, and with the advent of the vaccine may be there is a glimmer of hope, so

this is a fun thing to do and it raises money for a good cause, so people can donate £2, go to christmas jumper des .org on people can donate £2, go to christmasjumper des .org on friday, that would be great.|j christmasjumper des .org on friday, that would be great. i suggested people might want to send pictures in and they did. it is always fatal! this one from kevin. this is his light up number. you mentioned discounted jumpers, this is one from ian. other supermarkets are available... it does get worse, let me assure you. there we are, actually, that‘s all right. this one is of you looking a little the worse for wear. that was a particularly bad day, actually! i was with some very angry elves.

a particularly bad day, actually! i was with some very angry elveslj can believe that. this is the prime minister getting involved with his festive... 0h minister getting involved with his festive... oh dear. what is it about christmas jumpers, why are they a thing? it is a thing that even though i‘m the face of save the children are promoting their date of it, i don‘t really know. i‘ve no idea who invented the christmas jumperand idea who invented the christmas jumper and for sure he was nothing to do with fashion because they are a crime against fashion. growing up, all i remember, occasional presenters on top of the pops may be wearing them, so it was best avoided, and then suddenly i think, save the children had a great idea of reclaiming it and putting it into this day and allowing everyone to i suppose really just look ridiculous for a good cause. the best part of it is our use it as vengeance against my children, how badly my kids behave through the year depends

on how appalling a jumper i give them and send them into school with, soi them and send them into school with, so i use it for that, but it‘s not for everyone. how bad have they been this year? they've been pretty good, considering we have been in lockdown, we are still together and we got on quite well, but i have to say, i‘ve pimped up a couple of quite extraordinary jumpers. there we re quite extraordinary jumpers. there were some gross colours to start with but the skill is the add—ons, soi with but the skill is the add—ons, so i got some flashing stuff, not exposing, but more lights. they could be trouble at school on friday. —— there could. could be trouble at school on friday. -- there could. it is fun but many of us are facing quite severe restrictions, so how is the charity advising people to make the most of it, to use social media? yes, and the best place to go is the christmas jumper des website which will tell you the various ways you can help and do stuff —— day. there

are can help and do stuff —— day. there a re lots of can help and do stuff —— day. there are lots of things to do but essentially the message is, please wear a essentially the message is, please wearajumper essentially the message is, please wear a jumper on friday, have a bit offun, and wear a jumper on friday, have a bit of fun, and if you can, donate £2, or if you are a kid donate £1, and it really does help, and i‘ve been to the places that save the children have worked in in the likes of siri and the ukraine, and whatever your view on conflicts, children are often affected —— the likes of syria. they helping families affected by covid in the uk so anything you can help with would be really good. they have had a terrible year, as well, like other charities. yes, this is why they really asking people to up cycle and not go out and buy new stuff because eve ryo ne not go out and buy new stuff because everyone is strapped for cash and people are bored of being asked to money so i totally get that, so if anyone could do what they want, but ijust hope anyone could do what they want, but i just hope that christmas anyone could do what they want, but ijust hope that christmas is all right this year. you have made no

effort this afternoon, though. right this year. you have made no effort this afternoon, thoughlj thought you might say that, but look... it is going to take more than that, i think! laughter i don‘t think so. i was a bit of a christmas grinch in the old days, but i married a canadian who loves christmas so i started to get into it. i'm christmas so i started to get into it. i‘m also a former gough so it is difficult for me to wear these colours —— goth. i will be doing my bit on friday. we look forward to seeing that on social media and we wish you luck with the campaign. thanks forjoining us. yes, do your best on friday. i would expect to see you in one. yes, good luck! laughter finally this lunchtime — a case of mistaken identity. wimborne militia in a battle with

social media giants! some of these historical militia re—enactors from wimborne in dorset had their facebook accounts frozen earlier this week. the social media firm appeared to mistake them for a right wing militia group in the united states. but good news — the facebook accounts are back up and running — meaning the 17th century re—enactors can once again share photos and stage virtual events. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with louise lear. wednesday is a quite story with a bit of sunshine coming to an end as a weather front is bringing cloud and rainfrom a weather front is bringing cloud and rain from the west, and the heaviest of the rain across south wales and south—west england clearing over to the near continent but it stays rather cloudy with bits and pieces of rain at times, and the cloud preventing the temperatures from falling too far so we have lost the risk of any frost or fog for thursday morning, but thursday will

bea thursday morning, but thursday will be a rather grey start to the day. bits and pieces of light rain continuing on and off through the afternoon, not that much in the way of sunshine coming through either, but the wind direction suddenly changing to a south—westerly and that means a milder feel for eve ryo ne that means a milder feel for everyone in comparison to late. temperatures peaking between 7—9 for most, may be 11—13 in the far south—west. as we move into friday, looks likely we will see more wet weather pushing in from the west, a drier and brighter saturday awaits.

this is bbc news. i‘m simon mccoy. the headlines... as boris johnson heads to brussels to meet the european commission president, he says no prime minister could accept the current terms, but remains optimistic there is still a deal to be done. i have absolutely no doubt that from january the 1st, this country is going to prosper mightily. he's absolutely stuck and dithering between the deal he knows that we need and the compromise he knows his backbenchers won't let him do. as more and more people get the vaccine, a new warning to those with significant allergies after two people suffer adverse reactions. wales‘ chief medical officer says coronavirus is spreading fast in almost every part of the country. 10 local authority areas are recording more than 400 cases per 100,000 people. delays at ports — initially caused by the pandemic — lead to honda pausing production at its swindon plant, with fears

brexit could make things worse. turning the uk into a low carbon nation will be cheaper than previously thought overall, but may prove expensive for some homeowners. forget hollywood — if you want to see real stars go to yorkshire. two national parks in the north of england have been designated dark sky reserves. the prime minister is heading to brussels for dinner with the european commission president ursula von der leyen. ahead of leaving, borisjohnson said no british pm could accept the current eu terms — but says there is still a deal to be done. major disagreements remain between the two sides on fishing rights, business competition rules or the so—called "level playing

field" and how a deal will be policed or any future disputes resolved. and time is running out to reach an agreement. the uk will stop following eu trading rules on the 31st december — deal or no deal. our political correspondent nick eardley reports. can you get this over the line, prime minister? for the prime minister, who was the face of the brexit campaign, decision time is coming. will borisjohnson sign up to a trade deal or are the two sides too far apart? tonight in brussels he will meet the european commission president to see if they can give fresh life to the negotiating process. a good deal is still there to be done... but talks have been stuck for some time and mrjohnson told mps that there are still significant issues. our friends in the eu are currently insisting that if they pass a new law in the future, with which we in this country do not comply, or don‘t follow suit,

then they want the automatic right, mr speaker, to punish us and to retaliate. i don‘t believe that those are terms that any prime minister of this country should accept. it is notjust competition rules. there are still disagreements on fish, how much can eu boats catch in british waters, and enforcement, who polices the deal? labour said getting an agreement is essential and even keir starmer, self—isolating at home, suggested he could back one. he is absolutely stuck, this is the truth of it, absolutely stuck and dithering, between the deal he knows that we need and the compromise he knows his backbenchers won't let him do. mr speaker, i genuinely hope this is the usual prime minister's bluster. this country will be ready for whether we have a canadian or an australian solution, and there will be jobs created in this country throughout the whole of the uk, notjust in spite of brexit, but because of brexit.

but it is notjust the uk that has red lines. eu leaders say they are united on protecting the single market. if there are british conditions which we cannot accept, then we will take the path of no deal. one thing is absolutely clear, the integrity of the eu‘s market must be preserved. there has been a growing sense of pessimism in the last few days about whether these trade talks will end in a deal. so, borisjohnson is going to brussels tonight to see if there is room for political compromise, a way of breathing life back into the negotiating process. nothing is guaranteed and time is running out because no matter what happens, in three weeks, our relationship with the eu will change. in a few hours‘ time, talks will take place in here, the european commission building in brussels. there are big issues to be ironed out and the government is warning that success is far from guaranteed. nick eardley with that report. our political correspondent

iain watson is in the houses of parliament for us. what are they hoping to leave off the menu tonight? they certainly do wa nt the menu tonight? they certainly do want some unpalatable things taken off the menu. i think the prime minister indulged in some megaphone diplomacy at pmqs at the house of commons this afternoon, making clear there are two things he actually can‘t accept. one was effectively the uk is staying in step with eu rules and regulations beyond the end of this year. and the eu having the right to punish the uk, as he put it, if there was any divergence from those rules. the second was a sovereign control of our waters, as he called it, in other words the british government would have the right to decide who can fish in our waters and how much they can catch. i think there is room for compromise on fisheries are certainly because michael gove said the government would be very generous in looking at how new arrangements would be phased in. ithink how new arrangements would be phased in. i think the other question of staying in step with eu regulations,

there is still a bit of a golf there and that is the toff not that they have to crack around the dinner table. -- that is a tough nut. presumably this will not be candlelit dinners. there will be officials there. officials and chief negotiators from both sides will stop including michel barnierfrom the eu and lord frost of the uk. there will be a predinner meeting, perhaps getting in pleasantries out of the way before the main course is served. that‘s interesting because some people were suggesting that ursula von der leyen, the eu commission president, had been more willing to move a bit towards the uk position in order to get a deal, but michel barnier come under pressure from fellow frenchmen, the president emmanuel macron, might be less willing to move. the question is at that dinner, the two main leaders, borisjohnson that dinner, the two main leaders, boris johnson and ursula that dinner, the two main leaders, borisjohnson and ursula von der leyen, do they turn to the

negotiators and say they have a green light to continue, or whether it is an amber, or even a red light and there is nothing worth talking about. are there phones in the room because presumably european leaders will monitor as cozy as we are.|j think that‘s why we do not expect a definitive answer as to a deal or no deal tonight. there will be an eu summit tomorrow with all 27 leaders there. if ursula von der leyen can see a way through this then she can test the waters with the leaders and see if the mood in the room tomorrow will allow negotiations to resume in earnest. equally, if it looks bad tonight, boris johnson want earnest. equally, if it looks bad tonight, borisjohnson want to come back and talk to his cabinet before he decides to pull the plug. some relatively bad news for boris johnson today because it was hoped angela merkel, the german chancellor, who might be something ofan chancellor, who might be something of an ally, but the idea of britain not moving in step with you to eu regulations, she said she wanted a deal notjust for the present but for the future as well, which seems to bea for the future as well, which seems to be a signal they the amount of

ground the eu is willing to give might be small. iain watson, thank you. our ireland correspondent, chris page, is in belfast and he gave me his assessment of the negotiations. i think some questions have been answered, but certainly others remain unanswered from the point of view of the business community here. one of the major issues had been concerns that new checks on food products arriving to the likes of here in belfast port from the rest of the uk would mean there was disruption to supermarket supplies, so michael gove in the commons has announced that there will be a grace period for supermarkets, in effect no change for at least three months, and six months for chilled meat products, so that should help ensure that goods are going to supermarkets keep moving smoothly across the irish sea. another big issue has been around tariffs, if there is no trade deal between the uk and the eu, then the position was that goods that came here from england, scotland and wales were deemed at risk of moving across the land border into the republic of ireland, therefore the eu, and would have tariffs due, but it‘s understood

there will be a trusted trader scheme so companies can sign up to that and that will mean that 98% of those goods will be exempt from any import duties that would otherwise be due. now, the implications of all this will be carefully analysed. businesses still seeking more clarity in areas like, for example, exactly what kind of paperwork is going to be needed on the goods moving across the irish sea. one bit of administration that we now know isn‘t going to be required, there was always the possibility of export declarations being needed on goods going on the other direction, from northern ireland to great britain, but the government says now that is not going to be the case and it has been negotiated away. so businesses are still saying they are not going to be ready to operate all these new procedures come the 1st of january. also the senior civil servant at the department of agriculture here has said the new inspection posts, for example one that will be across the water there at belfast harbour, well, they will only be up and running on a temporary basis.

the facilities will be temporary, and the full posts won‘t be built until later on next year. so plenty of difficulties ahead, certainly a challenge injanuary. politically, very difficult for unionists, who see this very much as a trade barrier between here and the rest of the uk, asking the question, will this mean that northern ireland‘s economic focus will tilt away from london and towards dublin and brussels and the european union? chris page. philip rycroft was permanent secretary at the department for exiting the european union between 2017 and 2019. he‘s now a specialist partner at flint global, a business management consultancy. i asked him iasked him how i asked him how close he thought we we re i asked him how close he thought we were to a no deal. exactly, this is close to being a binary choice, do they get a deal sorted out, compromises on both sides, or do we head into no deal in the new year? it's head into no deal in the new year? it‘s worth saying that no deal is not equivalent to an australian situation. australia actually has a number of deals with the eu. the uk

would only have one, which is the withdrawal agreement. everything else would fall away, all the stuff around security, transport, cooperation, the whole gamut of things that would cover a trade deal, would all fall away. before we go into what they will negotiate about, what about the much vaunted canada about, what about the much vaunted ca na da style about, what about the much vaunted canada style deal that has re—emerged? canada style deal that has re-emerged? canada's deal has been deemed to be one of the options all the way through this, but of course canada is not the uk, and the difference between what was offered to canada and what has been offered to canada and what has been offered to the uk, one is the uk deal is better on tariffs, because it could better on tariffs, because it could bea better on tariffs, because it could be a tariff quota free deal. the other thing from the european commission perspective, the eu perspective, is that the uk is very much closer and a bigger trading

partner with the eu, and hence the greater concerns about potential unfair competitive advantage for businesses based in the uk trading on tariff free terms with the eu. you will know much better than most what is being going on in the talks so far between lord frost and michel barnier. they have got to this point and it‘s clearly an impasse. what can and it‘s clearly an impasse. what ca n two and it‘s clearly an impasse. what can two people in borisjohnson and ursula von der leyen do tonight, and bring to the conversation tonight that move this forward? they have to stretch the envelope. clearly the negotiators have done what they can to resolve the issues and they have bumped up against their respective mandates. what the politicians can do is say, look, we have found a bit more space for you to work in so now go away and get this completed. and that will require signalling from both sides that they are prepared to give on the critical remaining

issues, which i‘ve just give on the critical remaining issues, which i‘vejust described in the programme already, around the level playing field around fisheries and the governance of the overarching deal. is that possible? of course it is. you would hope the two of them sitting down tonight will recognise the bad consequences of no deal, both for the eu and uk, and find that little bit of give in order to give the negotiations a chance. how important is the personal relationship going to be given that ursula von der leyen has only been in the job for a year and they don‘t know each other that well? it‘s difficult to imagine how any charm can be used here. personal relationships do of course matter but the other thing that matters is trust. and trust has been in short supply. the movement of the uk made yesterday, which michael gove has explained to parliament today, on the northern ireland protocol, is clearly good news in that

perspective because it says the uk is not after all going to go back on its international obligations under the withdrawal agreement. but the trust between the two parties can be sealed at leader level. the fact that two of them don‘t know each other terribly well isn‘t helpful but let‘s hope political professionalism will overcome that in order to see if they can map a way forward. philip rycroft. honda has temporarily paused car production at its swindon plant because of a shortage of parts caused by delays at uk ports. the companies responsible for transporting shipping containers are warning there could be further disruption when the brexit transition period ends injanuary. but the government insists any delays are a global problem and not connected to brexit, as emma simpson reports. the honda car plant in swindon. like all the other car manufacturers, the parts arrive when they are needed. a just—in—time supply chain. but it has been hit by delays caused

by congestion at the ports. its production line won‘t be running today as a result. gavin runs an online toy company and he‘s had weeks of delays at his busiest time of the year. we‘re particularly affected by things that we‘re importing coming in from china on containers. there‘s lots of congestion at the ports. the ports can‘t cope and there are some boats that are being turned around and sent back to holland. others that are being diverted to other british ports. every company is the same, every company is in total chaos. but christmas will go ahead. we will get there, and we will not let anyone down. so, what has gone wrong? container ships are the arteries of global trade. covid—19 has disrupted the flow, especially from china. ports around the world are now having problems. it's just a perfect storm at the moment where we have a situation

with post—pandemic rates and orders, pre— brexit stockpiling, and also christmas being a particularly busy period. we will get through this, we are confident the sector can deal with this. itjust may take a bit of time and we ask people to bear with us. felixstowe, britain‘s biggest container port, has been hardest hit here. it is grappling with a surge in containers ahead of christmas as well as brexit stockpiling, and it had a backlog of ppe containers, too. the ports say things are improving, but volumes could remain high for months. the whole supply chain now wants the government to look at ways to improve capacity, to keep these containers on the move. emma simpson, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news... as boris johnson heads to brussels to meet the european commission president, he says no prime minister could accept the current terms, but remains optimistic there is still a deal to be done. as more and more people get the vaccine, a new warning to those

with significant allergies, after two people suffer adverse reactions. wales‘ chief medical officer says coronavirus is spreading fast in almost every part of the country. 10 local authority areas are recording more than 400 cases per 100,000 people. many more people are getting the coronavirus vaccine today, as the rollout of the pfizer biontech jab continues across the uk. but people with a history of significant allergic reactions have been advised not to have the vaccine as a precaution. it comes after two nhs workers had reactions after being immunised yesterday. the nhs says they are both recovering well. our health correspondent jim reed reports. sharp scratch now, angela. at a hospital in south london this morning, it was the turn of care home workers to get their jabs. i‘m pleased to have it, you know. we are all in it together, let‘s just get it done. another 150 people at st george‘s hospital in tooting will get vaccinated today.

it is wonderful because it's like a little ray of sunshine in what has been the most difficult year i have ever had in my career over 27 years. across the uk, thousands have now received their first doses. they will all need a follow—up booster in three weeks‘ time before it is fully effective. this morning though the medicines regulator said two nhs workers who received the jab yesterday had allergic reactions to it. the chief executive of the mhra said those with significant allergies should not have the jab for the time being. even last evening we were looking at two case reports of allergic reactions. we know from the very extensive clinical trials that this was not a feature, but if we need to strengthen our advice now that we‘ve had this experience in the vulnerable populations, the groups who have been selected as a priority, we get that advice to the field immediately. both the staff members affected

already had a significant history of allergic reactions and needed to carry an adrenaline or epipen around with them. shortly after receiving the vaccine, they developed symptoms of anaphylactoid reaction, that is less severe than anaphylactic shock. it can include symptoms like a rash and shortness of breath. both have recovered after treatment. the bbc has been told that it was expected some people would have an allergic reaction. it happens every year with the flu vaccine. to start with, this first jab, made by the drugs companies pfizer and biontech, is being given in hospitals so patients can be monitored for any signs of allergic reaction. gps have been told they will start to receive their first batches from next week. giving evidence this morning, england‘s chief medical officer stressed it is still important for the public to stick to social distancing rules. the idea that we can suddenly stop now because the vaccine is here, that would be really premature.

it is like someone giving up a marathon race at mile 16. it would be absolutely the wrong thing to do. but there will come a point where the choice about exactly when to start to ramp things down, how fast and which, needs to be made. this all comes at a difficult time in the outbreak. cases are rising sharply in parts of the country like london and south wales. scientists and ministers say it may take months for the vaccination programme to have a real impact on the pandemic. jim reed, bbc news. the chief medical officer for wales says the coronavirus situation there is ‘very serious‘ with the virus ‘spreading fast.‘ dr frank atherton says the rate of infection is rising in almost every part of the country. in 10 local authority areas, there are more than 400 cases per 100,000 people. coronavirus infection is spreading, and spreading fast. it‘s accelerating across the country. that‘s happening more quickly than we‘d anticipated as we came out of

the firebreak just a few weeks ago and it is accelerating at a greater speed than we have seen during the autumn months. we all need to change the way we live but it will cost much less than previously thought to meet make the uk a low—carbon society. that‘s the message from the government‘s independent advisors on climate change. the experts say the uk could viably cut its carbon emissions by nearly 80% over the next 15 years. but we‘ll need to eat less meat, avoid too many flights and change the way we heat our homes. here‘s our chief environment correspondentjustin rowlatt. you probably didn‘t notice the big reduction in carbon emissions the uk has already made. that‘s because the 41% cut on 1990 emissions were largely achieved by closing coal—fired power stations, and replacing them with gas and renewables.

getting all the way to net zero emissions will require us all to help out. here‘s how the committee on climate change says that needs to happen. it reckons technology will get us abount 40% of the way. about 40% of the way. this is mostly about switching to renewable power and once again will happen without us doing anything. another 40% or so will be a combination of behaviour change and technology, so think switching to electric cars, insulating our homes better, and finding new ways to heat them. the remaining 16% will be pure behaviour change, so eating less meat and flying less. chris, i‘m sitting here in my kitchen, and you‘re saying i need to eat less meat and fly less. how are you going to make me do that? you‘re right, it‘s a set of changes to behaviour that do underpin our analysis of the uk as a whole getting to this big challenge of net zero by 2050.

it‘s worth saying, it‘s not all about behaviour change, but that really helps. so the kind of changes we‘re talking about are reducing the amount of meat that we consume, perhaps flying a bit less. that‘s a real strong signal to government that they need to start thinking about those things in the policies that they put in place. some changes will be easier than we think, the committee says. it expects electric cars to become so much cheaper and better that we choose to buy them anyway. home heating is more of a challenge. the committee assumes we‘ll stop using natural gas completely by 2033. our homes will need much better insulation and by 2030, it expects a million electric heat pumps will need to be being installed every year, at £10,000 each. it says the government needs to find up to £4 billion per year to help us cover that cost. the good news is, the committee thinks the overall cost of decarbonising the entire uk

economy will be much lower than was thought, just 0.5% of annual output per year. a small price to pay, it says, for doing our bit to protect the world from climate change. justin rowlatt, bbc news. winter is the ideal time of year for stargazing with the long dark nights often providing spectacular views like this. and it seems the uk is one of the best places in the world for budding astronomers. the yorkshire dales and the north york moors have become the latest parts of the country to be awarded special "dark skies" status because of their low levels of light pollution. luxmy gopal reports. vibrant images of star—strewn darkness. incredible images of our galaxy, the milky way, stretching across the night sky. these photos have been taken from the yorkshire dales and the north york moors —

two national parks which have now been designated dark sky reserves. the special status is given to areas around the globe with low levels of light pollution and good conditions for astronomy. about eight out of ten yorkshire people cannot see the milky way from where they live. you come here, and it stretches one horizon to the other. it‘s fantastic. a river of light in the sky. northern lights, we can see the northern lights from here. very, very difficult to see from other parts, more industrial parts of yorkshire. so really, it‘s a sky full of magic, both here and in the dales. more than 1300 square miles combined, the two parks form one of the biggest areas in europe to be given the status. they join five other dark reserves in the uk, including in snowdonia and exmoor. it‘s amazing news that we‘ve got the designation. and what‘s really important is that this gives the opportunity to businesses here to extend the season in tourism. we have dark sky festivals

in february, half term. obviously, the season is often quieter in that time of year, so this is a much needed opportunity to help boost the economy. it‘s hoped the new status will help keep light pollution low, protect wildlife habitats and attract visitors in winter months, when the sky is darkest, where, if you‘re lucky, you can see the expanse of night beautifully illuminated, reminding us that our planet is one tiny part of a vast, star—scattered universe. laxmy gopal, bbc news. some good news from australia — where the bushfires earlier this year that devastated so much wildlife were thought to have all but wiped out one of the smallest species of possum. but this pygmy possum has been found on kangaroo island, off the south australian coast, for the first time since fire destroyed 88% of their habitat.

the possums weigh less than 10 grams, and are also found in tasmania and sometimes mainland australia. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with louise lear. hello there. wednesday‘s quiet story with a little bit of sunshine quickly coming to an end as a weather front is bringing cloud and rain in from the west. the heaviest of the rain across south—west wales, south—west england, clearing over to the near continent, but it stays rather cloudy through the night with bits and pieces of rain at times. the cloud preventing those temperatures from falling too far, though, so we‘ve lost the risk of any frost or fog first thing for thursday morning. but thursday will be a rather gret start to the day. there will be bits and pieces of light rain through the day continuing on and off through the afternoon. not that much in the way of sunshine coming through either. but the wind direction subtly changing to a south—westerly and that means a milder feel for all of us in comparison to of late. we should see temperatures peaking between 7 and 9 degrees for most, maybe 11 and 13 in the far south—west. as we move into friday, looks likely we will see more wet weather pushing in from the west. a drier, brighter saturday awaits.

this hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: as boris johnson heads to brussels to meet the european commission president, he says no prime minister could accept the current terms — but remains optimistic there is still a deal to be done. as more and more people get the vaccine — a new warning to those with significant allergies — after two people suffer adverse reactions. wales‘ chief medical officer says coronavirus is spreading fast in almost every part of the country. ten local authority areas are recording more than 400 cases per 100,000 people. delays at ports, initially caused by the pandemic, lead to honda pausing production at its swindon plant with fears brexit could make things worse. a major report on how the uk can meet its carbon cutting targets

finds it will be cheaper than previously thought. forget hollywood — if you want to see real stars go to yorkshire — two national parks in the north of england have been designated dark sky reserves. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here‘s sarah mulkerrins. good afternoon. uefa has confirmed that the red card given to pierre webo, assistant coach of istanbul basaksehir has been frozen — as they investigate the allegations of an official using a racist term towards webo during their champions league game with psg last night. both sets of players walked off the pitch in protest after the incident 14 minutes in, with the game then suspended. a new team of officials will take charge of the rescheduled game later — which kicks offjust before six o‘clock this evening.

it signals a marker, really. many black players might be thinking, we have maybe accepted this in the past, but now we will use the power that we have. many black players are now saying, "we may have put up with this in the past but now we will take the power that we have and use it, and walk off the field of play," which is within their right. demba ba was doing exactly that, challenging the officials over the language used, and then using their power to walk off. the seasons women‘s champions league has underway. late in the second half, glasgow city are losing 2—1 at sparta prague in the first leg of their last 32 tie. chelsea kicked off against benfica at 3pm. didn‘t take them long to take the lead — fran kirby scoring in the second minute. manchester city are at gothenburg, also in the first half there — trailing 1—0, though. no british team has reached the final since 2007. liverpool will once again turn

to the youngsters when they take on danish champions fc midtjylland in theirfinal game in group d of the champions league. they go into the game this evening having already topped the group. irish goalkeeper caoimhin kelleher only made his debut for the club last week at ajax — and isn‘t looking too far ahead into the future. a decent week for me, what can i say? two debuts in a week was a wild one, so it has been a good week. i‘ve just been trying to take my opportunities, to be honest. i‘ve had two games and i felt i‘ve done well in them but that‘s all i can do, really. we‘ve not really talked about that. newcastle‘s premier league fixture against west brom on saturday is expected to go ahead as the squad recovers from last week‘s coronavirus outbreak. the club‘s match at aston villa was postponed last friday because of several cases which affected the team. but with players returning to full group training on wednesday afternoon, there are enough players who have tested negative to fulfil this weekend‘s game at st james‘ park. it‘s been confirmed england‘s

cricketers will play sri lanka in two test matches behind closed doors in galle next month. the first test will start on 14th january with the second match beginning on the 26th, with the party due to fly out on the 2nd. england were originally meant to tour last march but the trip was postponed due to the covid—19 pandemic. and south africa have confirmed they‘ll tour pakistan for the first time in 14 years after agreeing to play two tests and three t20 internationals in january and february. hollie doyle has continued her incredible year by making history and becoming the first female jockey to ride a winner at the international jockeys‘ championship in hong kong. doyle took the win in the fourth and final leg of the competition aboard race favourite harmony n blessed. the 24—year old finished joint third overall in the event, which includes 12 of the world‘s bestjockeys.

earlier this year doyle became the first woman to have five winners at one meeting. that‘s all the sport for now. i‘ll have more for you in the next hour. more now on brexit — the uk government has said it will withdraw controversial measures, including those affecting northern ireland, from its internal market bill — after coming to an agreement with the eu on all future aspects of the brexit withdrawal agreement. our reality check correspondent chris morris is here with me now. we know a bit more, we heard from michael gove in the house of commons, and it is all about the strange arrangement that northern ireland is going to be in after the 1st of january where it will be part of the uk customs territory but in thejudgment of the uk customs territory but in the judgment —— eu

of the uk customs territory but in thejudgment —— eu territory, and so one of the big concerns is over tariffs, between uk and northern ireland, and michael gove it said that parliament had been pressing quite hard potentially for tariffs, some of which could have been paid back, but that is what they wanted. what he said was that is something they could persuade them to get rid of. i'm pleased to say under the agreement we reached that northern ireland businesses selling to consumers or using goods in northern ireland will be free of all tariffs, whether that is nissan cars from honda, internal uk trade will be protected, as we promise, whether we have a free trade agreement with the eu or not. the fear was they would have a cheque in the irish sea, but what is going to happen? they are not going to be any customs checks orfilling in a document

not going to be any customs checks or filling in a document for trade going between northern ireland and great britain but it is the trade between great britain and northern ireland in that direction into northern ireland, and the biggest problem really is on food supplies, because a lot of it goes across in that direction, and at the moment michael gove says it is nothing new to have checks on animals, for example, but look at the numbers. in 2020, 1837 consignments of livestock going into northern ireland which have to be checked, about five per day, but when you talk about food because then you are talking in any food of animal origin in the new regime, 460 containers per day and each of those containers can have multiple consignments within it. a lot is going to depend on how much goodwill there is which i think therefore means whether or not an overall trade deal because if the eu decides it wants to stick to the letter of the law and do every single cheque it has to do on every single cheque it has to do on every single consignment coming and it

would become almost impossible, and there will be some dispensation, some leeway for the northern ireland executive to be involved in how those checks are done, but there is an overall feeling in northern ireland that if there is a free trade agreement which gets rid of ta riffs trade agreement which gets rid of tariffs and creates a better atmosphere then the way some of theseissues atmosphere then the way some of these issues with checks on food going into northern ireland are carried out will be much easier, but it will be delayed anyway. there will be no checks on those food imports for three months, but that isn‘t necessarily a long time. one of the dup mps in parliament said there are some checks for three months and some delays for three months and some delays for three months and some for six and some for 12, but he said the union isn‘t for six or 12 months, it is for ever, and there will be a concern amongst unionists, is this the start of a slippery slope? the government are keen to say, absolutely not. the focus now switches to brussels tonight and this incredibly

important dinner that boris johnson is having with ursula von der leyen. yes, the prime minister said he will go over there and make it clear, one issue above all that the government issue above all that the government is focusing on, sovereignty, and we have left the eu and therefore our sovereignty has got to be respected, but where that is most difficult is on the issue of the level playing field and rules on fair competition. the kind of rules you are talking about mean that you do have to share rules and if the eu is insistent which it seems to be and we heard that from angela merkel today, that it needs to be able to punish the uk if it diverges too far from eu rules, from a sovereignty perspective that is a nonstarter, so it is not just perspective that is a nonstarter, so it is notjust political grandstanding by any means, this is a real issue of substance which kind of gets to the heart of what brexit is all about, and if you really want to break away there may be a price to break away there may be a price to pay for that. it is always good

to pay for that. it is always good to talk to you. always positive when i come in. when they said they were going to make you brexit specialist, did they give you a timeframe? no! i was going to say, you were useful when i first interviewed you about that. —— you were useful when i first interviewed you about that —— i‘ve been speaking to the dup mp sammy wilson. he said the changes to the withdrawal agreement is not giving the people of northern ireland the sovereignty they were promised by the prime minister. if we are going to undo the damage that the withdrawal agreement is creating not just in that the withdrawal agreement is creating notjust in northern ireland but the whole of the brexit project, then the government clearly hasn‘t done that, what they have done is tinker around with the withdrawal agreement and some of that tinkering may or it may not be good, but we don‘t know. this is not a definitive document, it is left for reviews in three months‘ time,

six months‘ time, and things which will have to be, we will have to see the work on the ground, but some of the work on the ground, but some of theissues the work on the ground, but some of the issues which have been dealt with in the agreement which he has reached now in the joint committee with the eu will at least on the surface address some of the impediments to trade between northern ireland and gb and gb and northern ireland and gb and gb and northern ireland, but still leave an awful lot of disadvantages for traders, for example, some of them will still pay taxes on goods when they come into northern ireland, until they can show that they haven‘t been sold outside northern ireland. some of them will still face restrictions when it comes to bringing goods from gb and have their vehicles searched and the goods taken out of the vehicles to see they meet with eu regulations and they will still be extensive paperwork, and northern ireland will be still subject to vat regimes, eu vat regimes, so a lot of things have

not been dealt with about some of the issues, at least on the surface, it appears that the government has tried to blunt the edges of the agreement and the impact it would have northern ireland. have they blunted it? there‘s a grace period. has the whole thing reallyjust been kicked down the road again? you are quite right, some of it has been kicked down the road again, we were told for example with export declarations, they will not be required from the 1st of january, and that is good for firms in northern ireland and saves a considerable amount of money. one in my constituency reckon it would cost £1 million a year if they had to introduce those export declarations so that is good news and that seems to be fairly definite, but on the other hand as you pointed out, the import of food from gb will be reviewed again in three months‘ time and if the mindset

of the eu is still the same in three months‘ time, namely goods coming from gb into northern ireland will be treated as imports from a third country, then we are going to have the same wrangle all over again, and i note that the irish government is now spinning that the three month period should be used by businesses which are selling food to source their food from the republic of ireland. a further round of talks is taking place between farmers in india and the government amid a country—wide strike over new agricultural laws. farmers have been demonstrating at the border of the indian capital delhi for days, demanding the government repeal the laws they believe will damage their incomes. ravi singh is the founder of the international ngo khalsa aid. he himself grew up in punjab and comes from a family of farmers. many people in this country are not aware of what a big deal this is.

what is your reaction when you see what is happening especially in the punjab? it is very upsetting, deeply disappointing, and it is like reliving the 80s again where brute force has been used against civilians, especially the farmers, who are practising their lawful means to protest. it is really disappointing, and what is also disappointing, and what is also disappointing, the uk government has kept quiet while other governments have condemned the action by the security forces and we expect the same from a british government on humanitarian levels to open their eyes. it is unbelievable. it was raised in the house of commons briefly today but i want to know, do you share the view that somehow that the protesters may have gone a bit too far in the way these protests have escalated? the protesters are fighting for their futures, they are

fighting for their futures, they are fighting for their livelihoods, and they are doing exactly what a peaceful protester would do. i could not believe the amount of force used against protesters, especially when they were protesting towards new delhi, and right at this moment there are1.2 delhi, and right at this moment there are 1.2 million people not just from punjab but other places who are on the borders of delhi in this freezing winter and they face water cannons and the baton charge, they have faced tear gas, all for they have faced tear gas, all for the fact they were practising their lawful means to protest. as someone from punjab who suffered already for the green revolution, which takes decades to recover, now we are going into the same painful period again where the farmers, the ordinary people, are fighting for their livelihoods in a peaceful democratic manner, according to the constitution, but we are facing such force, and i do hope the world will

wa ke force, and i do hope the world will wake up and take notice. the farmers are not therefore anything else, they are elderly, they have women and children, and they are facing severe winters and they are ready to go for the next six months to fight for their livelihoods, and we don‘t expect anything else. what makes it worse, these laws are being passed without debate and discussion in parliament and it went straight into law. when you say that this question was raised in the british parliament, i‘m not sure if you are seeing the reply from borisjohnson, the prime minister, he made it into an india pakistan issue, so if our own prime minister has no idea what is going on, how can anyone else? we are appealing as british punjabis to the british government to make sure that the indian government response to the protesters accordingly to the indian constitution and not with brute force. we cannot sit back

whilst people from our state are facing such brutality. given the risk of escalation even, is there room for compromise on either side as you look at where we are right now? very difficult to say because the corporations, the punjabis, such a huge producer of farm produce and wheat and a huge producer of farm produce and wheatand grain, a huge producer of farm produce and wheat and grain, the last bastion for the corporations take over like in the other places in india, so compromise is difficult, because most of the government is so closely associated with the corporations which makes it very difficult for the government to go against the corporations and the laws, so these laws are not fair, they are unjust, andi laws are not fair, they are unjust, and i do see a very tough and bitter water head or protests —— wore ahead. it can go ahead if the

government listens to the people, it is time they listened and repealed these laws. there is no way that farmers are going to turn back, not the way the mood is at the moment, especially the treatment they faced to get to delhi. i'm most grateful for your time. thanks forjoining us. more families across the uk are living without food, warmth or shelter — that‘s the stark warning from thejoseph rowntree foundation, which has published its latest report on destitution. the organisation says the number of people experiencing extreme hardship increased by more than 50% last year and there are fears the pandemic is pushing them closer to the brink. in a statement, the government said it had raised the living wage, and was continuing to assess the situation. today‘s figures suggest the worst affected area was middlesbrough, from where our north of england correspondent fiona trott reports. they have waited over an hourfor this. queueing in the rain isn‘t a choice, it‘s a necessity.

hiya, matty, how has your course been going? this small charity feeds hundreds of people like matty every week. i was a bit proud. i didn‘t tell people how much i was struggling. tried to go to sleep, under the covers, just tried to think about something else. like, this place has saved my life. today‘s report says the number of people in the uk living without food, warmth or shelter has more than doubled since 2017. one in seven are in paid work. i know somebody who is actually working as a teacher, and she is just borrowing off loan people because she can‘t afford to put her electric on. it‘s a terrible situation. looking at this report, i feel appalled. thejoseph rowntree foundation believes benefit levels have contributed to destitution. at the beginning of covid, the government took a bold, compassionate step. they boosted universal

credit by £20. that has been an absolute lifeline for millions of people. it is vital that we don't whip that lifeline away in april. in this part of teesside, the demand is so great they want to stay open until easter. in weather like this you need it. a bit of happiness and kindness, someone to talk to. just one charity providing more than food for people in need. fiona trott, bbc news, middlesbrough. this urgent funding is needed to help students this and their mental health — that‘s according to the national union of students, who say more than half of 4,000 students they surveyed said their mental health had got worse during the pandemic. many of them had little contact with people outside their flats or houses and said they felt isolated, anxious and depressed. our education correspondent dan johnson reports. some of our youngest minds are the most troubled. i can feel my mental health getting worse.

away from home, missing family, cut off from friends. i never thought i'd do a freshers' alone in my bedroom! this is their struggle through anxiety, stress, loneliness, and depression. i feel it is one of the toughest experiences i‘ve had in my life, definitely. welcome to my crib! this was the start of claudia‘s student life in liverpool. isolated within days. really struggling. she couldn‘t mix with housemates, or course mates. because we were stuck indoors, we got even more monitored by the security. so that was frightening in a way because we felt like criminals, sort of put into isolation. the university said they did their best to keep students safe. klaudia‘s mental health started to slip. you startjust being very depressed, overwhelmed and hopeless. at one point i knew i wasn't where i wanted to be

and it was really difficult to reach for help. just over half of students who answered the nus survey said the pandemic had damaged their mental health. three weeks into term, with the support of university counselling, klaudia decided to move home and continue her course from here. you were really upset all the time. boyfriend callum has helped her cope. thank you for being there, you know. it's almost like a taboo to talk about your mental health and to start that conversation, it's a really huge step for people to take. the nus survey shows more than two thirds of those who struggled had not asked for help. in a house of nine, there‘s more company. but here in sheffield, they have still suffered. when you‘rejust, like, stuck in your house and, no offence, with the same people for ever, do you know what i mean! it‘s like, it‘s pretty grim. university is meant to be the best years of your life, but right now, it's definitely not. like, it's horrible. i have, like, periods

of time where i feel completely disconnected. i think that it‘s my brain shutting down and saying, "i can‘t cope with this any more." they have all asked for help. they would all like more. there are times when they need more. it really very much feels like we‘re on our own. we‘re looking out for each other because there is no one else that is looking out for us. the government is spending £3 million more on a website supporting student well—being through the pandemic. reaching out to a mate, asking how someone is twice rather than once. don'tjust accept, "i'm fine." i hope that this pandemic will show that putting people first is much more important than putting money first. dan johnson, bbc news. let‘s get more now on the global fight to decarbonise our society. the uk government‘s independent advisors on climate change say it will cost much less than previously thought — to make the uk a low—carbon society. but we will need to make significant changes in the way we live. earlier i spoke to inger andersen, the executive director

of the united nations environment programme. she told me that a commitment from richer countries to net—zero should only be the start in tackling the climate crisis. the kind of things that we are hearing from the uk and others, these net zero targets, but also using these packages to do things right now, so we don‘t go back to a carbon intensive economy, so we use these to shift our inner —— economic methods forward. this is what we are looking for. whilst the water is full we know that there is a plug in the water can be drained, and whether it has taken this lockdown to prove it you have done just that.

we shouldn‘t get too optimistic because it is a very cautious situation we are in right now, but if we do nothing, if we continue as we were, we will by the end of this century, we project be at an average of three and a half degrees centigrade increased in temperatures, and that is in the red zone, if you like, that is not where we wa nt zone, if you like, that is not where we want to be. if we do what we promise to do in what is called the national determined contribution, these documents that each government has submitted, and my numbers are as of november last month, we would be a mare three degrees, 3.5 degrees, so not a great deal of difference, but if on the other hand we take those 51% of emissions globally, those 51% of emissions globally, those countries that have made a commitment to net zero, we take that, and then for good measure we add the us because we hope that they will come in and make similar, and

we get to 2.5 degrees, still too high, but therefore it is imperative that all that money that we are borrowing from the future generation, that we don‘t give to the future generation and a broken planet and a pile of debt, but that we use that money in these stimulus packages wisely to force the economy into a carbon neutral and the carbonised tract and that is where we see the opportunity. if we fail to do this because we put these amounts of money from public purse, taxpayers money, into the economy, we will not hit our climate targets. so one thing is to celebrate those that have come in for net zero, 50 1% of global emitters, and another thing is to recall that g20 countries emit 78% of global emissions, so the g20 countries have a special responsibility to step up

and commit to net zero and make real that in the national determined contributions. there hasn't been much cause for optimism in terms of climate change recently but all of a sudden we have seen china saying they will come on board and agreed to certain levels of cuts and we have a new administration in the united states. is there cause for optimism with you personally in terms of the next few years?“ optimism with you personally in terms of the next few years? if you work on climate and i‘ve worked on climate and environmental matters, you have got to remain eternally optimistic because the alternative is too frightful to contemplate. yes, having china committing to net zero before 2060, the europeans including the uk committing to 2050, japan, south korea, south africa, or committing, and infact japan, south korea, south africa, or committing, and in fact we have had 126 countries making the commitment,

but what matters is the bigger economies. that is a promise, it is not yet translated into the nationally determined contributions, because at the end of the day these things have to be done now, tomorrow, the day after the day after, right until 2050, which is why when we look at the uk, for example, which poured forward the closing of coal power plants by one year, that is the action we want to see across the board, whether it‘s that or whether it‘s decommissioning of other types of polluting industries or whether it‘s investing in electric vehicle infrastructure, these are the kind of things we need to see planning for now, so that we can action by action by action carve out the carbon that we are putting into the atmosphere. we have pictures of boris johnson into the atmosphere. we have pictures of borisjohnson heading to

brussels for the all—importa nt dinner with the eu commission president ursula von der leyen. laura kuenssberg says this is not a standard diplomatic dinner. it is possible that the encounter could be the moment at which the uk and the eu concludes there can‘t be a trade deal and that after decades of political and economic ties, efforts to say a polite political fare will have failed, with all the consequences that might bring about. it isa consequences that might bring about. it is a huge deal. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with louise lear. wednesday is a quiet story. a bit of sunshine coming to an end as a weather front is bringing cloud and rain from the west, and the heaviest of the rain across south wales and south—west england clearing over to the near continent but it stays rather cloudy overnight with bits and pieces of rain at times. the cloud preventing the temperatures from falling too far so we have lost the risk of any frost or fog for thursday morning,

but thursday will be a rather grey start to the day. bits and pieces of light rain continuing on and off through the afternoon, not that much in the way of sunshine coming through either, but the wind direction suddenly changing to a south—westerly and that means a milder feel for everyone in comparison to late. temperatures peaking between 7—9 for most, may be 11—13 in the far south—west. as we move into friday, it looks likely we will see more wet weather pushing in from the west, a drier and brighter saturday awaits.

this is bbc news. the headlines at 4:00pm... borisjohnson heads to brussels to meet the european commission president, he says no prime minister could accept the current terms, but remains optimistic there is still a deal to be done. i have absolutely no doubt that from january the 1st, this country is going to prosper mightily. he's absolutely stuck and dithering between the deal he knows that we need and the compromise he knows his backbenchers won't let him do. as more and more people get the vaccine, a new warning to those with significant allergies, after two people suffer adverse reactions. wales‘ chief medical officer says coronavirus is spreading fast in almost every part of the country. 10 local authority areas are recording more than 400 cases per 100,000 people. delays at ports — initially caused by the pandemic —

lead to honda pausing production at its swindon plant, with fears brexit could make things worse. a major report on how to uk can meet its carbon cutting targets finds it will be cheaper than previously thought. forget hollywood — if you want to see real stars go to yorkshire. two national parks in the north of england have been designated dark sky reserves. the prime minister is heading to brussels for dinner with the european commission president ursula von der leyen. ahead of leaving, borisjohnson said no british pm could accept the current eu terms — but says there is still a deal to be done. major disagreements remain

between the two sides on fishing rights, business competition rules or the so—called "level playing field" and how a deal will be policed or any future disputes resolved. and time is running out to reach an agreement. the uk will stop following eu trading rules on the 31st december — deal or no deal. our political correspondent nick eardley reports. can you get this over the line, prime minister? for the prime minister, who was the face of the brexit campaign, decision time is coming. will borisjohnson sign up to a trade deal or are the two sides too far apart? tonight in brussels he will meet the european commission president to see if they can give fresh life to the negotiating process. a good deal is still there to be done... but talks have been stuck for some time and mrjohnson told mps that there are still significant issues. our friends in the eu are currently insisting that if they pass a new law in the future, with which we in this country do not comply, or don‘t follow suit,

then they want the automatic right, mr speaker, to punish us and to retaliate. i don‘t believe that those are terms that any prime minister of this country should accept. it is notjust competition rules. there are still disagreements on fish, how much can eu boats catch in british waters, and enforcement, who polices the deal? labour said getting an agreement is essential and even keir starmer, self—isolating at home, suggested he could back one. he is absolutely stuck, this is the truth of it, absolutely stuck and dithering, between the deal he knows that we need and the compromise he knows his backbenchers won't let him do. mr speaker, i genuinely hope this is the usual prime minister's bluster. this country will be ready for whether we have a canadian or an australian solution, and there will be jobs created in this country throughout

the whole of the uk, notjust in spite of brexit, but because of brexit. but it is notjust the uk that has red lines. eu leaders say they are united on protecting the single market. if there are british conditions which we cannot accept, then we will take the path of no deal. one thing is absolutely clear, the integrity of the eu‘s market must be preserved. there has been a growing sense of pessimism in the last few days about whether these trade talks will end in a deal. so, borisjohnson is going to brussels tonight to see if there is room for political compromise, a way of breathing life back into the negotiating process. nothing is guaranteed and time is running out because no matter what happens, in three weeks, our relationship with the eu will change. in a few hours‘ time, talks will take place in here, the european commission building in brussels. there are big issues to be ironed out and the government is warning that success is far from guaranteed.

nick eardley with that report. we have just heard on the covid front, canada has approved the pfizer biontech covid—19 vaccine. that is being reported at the moment. canada has given its approval to that pfizer biontech vaccine that has already been rolled out here. that took good news for many, as various health regulators around the world evaluate all these new vaccines. more on covered back in a few minutes. more on brexit now. the other development in the last few days is the agreement reached about how goods will be traded across the irish border once the transition period has ended. our ireland correspondent, chris page, is in belfast and he gave me his assessment. i think some questions have been answered, but certainly others remain unanswered from the point of view of the business

community here. one of the major issues had been concerns that new checks on food products arriving to the likes of here in belfast port from the rest of the uk would mean there was disruption to supermarket supplies, so michael gove in the commons has announced that there will be a grace period for supermarkets, in effect no change for at least three months, and six months for chilled meat products, so that should help ensure that goods going to supermarkets keep moving smoothly across the irish sea. another big issue has been around tariffs, if there is no trade deal between the uk and the eu, then the position was that goods that came here from england, scotland and wales were deemed at risk of moving across the land border into the republic of ireland, therefore the eu, and would have tariffs due, but it‘s understood there will be a trusted trader scheme so companies can sign up to that and that will mean that 98% of those goods will be exempt from any import duties that would otherwise be due. now, the implications of all this will be carefully analysed.

businesses still seeking more clarity in areas like, for example, exactly what kind of paperwork is going to be needed on the goods moving across the irish sea. one bit of administration that we now know isn‘t going to be required, there was always the possibility of export declarations being needed on goods going in the other direction, from northern ireland to great britain, but the government says now that is not going to be the case and it has been negotiated away. so businesses are still saying they are not going to be ready to operate all these new procedures come the 1st of january. also the senior civil servant at the department of agriculture here has said the new inspection posts, for example one that will be across the water there at belfast harbour, well, they will only be up and running on a temporary basis. the facilities will be temporary, and the full posts won‘t be built until later on next year. so plenty of difficulties ahead, certainly a challenge injanuary. politically, very difficult for unionists, who see this very

much as a trade barrier between here and the rest of the uk, asking the question, will this mean that northern ireland‘s economic focus will tilt away from london and towards dublin and brussels and the european union? that was chris page. our political correspondent iain watson is in the houses of parliament for us. how much store now rests on this dinner? we not expecting an announcement immediately afterwards but time is running short.|j wouldn‘t expect an announcement straight after the dinner this evening. there will be a pre—meeting at 7pm and then it gets under way between boris johnson at 7pm and then it gets under way between borisjohnson and european commission president ursula von der leyen. also chief negotiators including lord frost on the uk aside and michel barnier are on the eu side will be present at the dinner as well. what we expect in terms of the best outcome, if you like, is to keep talks continuing and they allow negotiators to go off and have

further discussions. any other scenario is perfectly possible to stop its possible borisjohnson comes back here to discuss with the cabinet whether it‘s worthwhile continuing with talks tomorrow and it‘s also quite possible the european commission president will talk to all 27 member states that the eu summit tomorrow and test the water to find out if any compromises which the uk is asking the eu, to see if any of them are likely to fly. i don‘t think tonight will be absolutely definitive. it‘s certainly the case many of boris johnson‘s own mps don‘t wish to compromise too far on the issue of sovereignty and at prime minister questions this afternoon he was pretty clear that no prime minister could accept any of the eu demands as they currently appear to be on the table, including in future staying in step with eu regulations and also not having sovereign control of our waters, in other words deciding on fishing quotas. i am joined by words deciding on fishing quotas. i amjoined bya words deciding on fishing quotas. i am joined by a former conservative leader, cabinet minister and brexit campaigner iain duncan smith. do you

think there is any room for compromise with the eu and watch at the bottom line before borisjohnson this evening? the line the prime minister took at pmqs and has done consistently as we are a sovereign nation and must be treated like one. you can't own some of our sovereignty. what's on the table at moment with the level playing field, particularly with the regression clauses, staying in step with regulations, thereafter it is asked to be bound in with existing regulations, where we are at the moment, and that these will be adjudicated and that binding will be adjudicated and that binding will be adjudicated by the court ofjustice in europe, who will decide whether or not we have digressed and moved away from them, or regress, as i should say, from the original elements of the regulations. the problem is that that puts them in charge of us and means we are a semidetached nation without even the power to change regulations. there

is also dynamic stuff, the court of justice will keep on changing regulations through the course of interpretation. and you say that is unacceptable and we can‘t follow suit with what that eu wants to do, and at this stage not knowing where those regulations will go in the future. all of that is unacceptable, borisjohnson is future. all of that is unacceptable, boris johnson is right, future. all of that is unacceptable, borisjohnson is right, it's unacceptable, we are a sovereign nation and you wouldn't write with anyone else. there are regression clauses in normal trade deals but they are much gentler. they are about both sides agreeing roughly equivalent levels of where they are now. each agrees not to use some of those, maybe labour laws etc, to kind of dumped the cost and compete u nfa i rly kind of dumped the cost and compete unfairly with that organisation, but there will be an arbitration process independence that may decide whether that actually was and they need to say that was actually the reason. none of that is there and this is way different. you say none of that is there at the moment and it sounds like there could be a compromise in that area. but it also says the eu has to move quite a long way to get

there. other trade deals have been done elsewhere with canada and so on but they say of course that the bulk of trade is done between the uk and the eu, done between britain and the eu and because of that geographical proximity they want something else. they are likely to move towards what you are setting out over dinner in brussels tonight. my honest opinion, i don't think so. i think the eu is stuck because they are very inflexible. this is not a trade deal. this has ceased to be a trade deal. this has ceased to be a trade deal right now and the discussion is about sovereignty. the uk is sovereign and you have to come to terms with that. but the eu hasn't come to terms with that and that's where the stand—off is. when they do, they will make modifications but they are not doing it. a final question, you therefore suggest we are likely to move into a no deal scenario. if that is the case, surely it will be more damaging than even staying in step with eu regulations because it will mean tariffs, higherfood

regulations because it will mean tariffs, higher food prices, potentially even, as the food and drink association are suggesting, possibly food shortages in the supermarkets. i never go with all those scare stories. it is all nonsense , those scare stories. it is all nonsense, discredit all that and bin it. the truth is we will trade with the eu anyway. ourtrade it. the truth is we will trade with the eu anyway. our trade with america, with which we have no trade deal, has increased faster than any trade we have with europe. trade with europe has been flat for some time. what we want is easier access, no question it would work for us. it should work for them as well because we are their biggest single market in the world. common sense may dictate the eu decide they have to treat us like a sovereign country but if they don't come at the end of it all, the people voted to be independent, to be sovereign. the prime minister knows that, and he knows future governments need to be able to exercise that sovereign choice. we can't do it if we are bootstrapped to europe with their regulations as adjudicated by them. they know this is an outrageous

demand to make. and somehow they can't get off it. the combination is not for the prime minister, the accommodation is for them to decide no, we now realise we are being really stupid and it's time to move back to a sensible position where we would then agree a set of reasonable parameters adjudicated independently on the basis of what the purpose was. and briefly, if we don't do that, how quickly would we move to no deal? i suspect people will go on negotiating until the last minute because there is an awful lot at sta ke because there is an awful lot at stake here. we will see how that compression works. my general view is that tonight. iain duncan smith, thank you, effectively saying the prospects for a deal don‘t look good u nless prospects for a deal don‘t look good unless the eu are prepared to move but also suggesting, as we are hearing here, perhaps tonight‘s dinner will not be definitive and there will be an attempt to continue to negotiate even if the mood music remains pretty sombre. iain watson in the houses of parliament, thank you.

how will this evening‘s dinner between borisjohnson and ursula von der leyen pan out? we can discuss this with tony blair‘s former chief of staff, jonathan powell. i don‘t know if you could hear iain duncan smith there. i could, yes. absolutely arguing sovereignty is more important and us trading will help replace whatever we lose with the eu if there is no deal. there are two thoughts on that. there is a fairamount of are two thoughts on that. there is a fair amount of nonsense on sovereignty. sovereignty is already in any state curtailed or limited by the agreements you enter into. we are limited by the nato treaty, the good friday agreement, which is an international agreement to the irish government. the question is, how much are you going to insist on your own right to decide and how much will you concede. if borisjohnson literally went with iain duncan smith‘s instructions to brussels and tell them we are idiots, i don‘t think we would get very far. i very much doubt he would be allowed to go by his ministers unless they thought a deal was possible. they would

scarcely put the prime minister at risk of looking like a fool unless they thought there was a possibility of making a compromise on those issues iain duncan smith was talking about. can the prime minister afford to ignore the demands of ids and others who have a much harder position on brexit if he has labour party support to vote through a deal and in terms of his own future support within the tory party, can he afford to turn his back on those demands? this is a lot about posturing was that we have a model on the withdrawal agreement last year where he was taking a very hard line and was insisting on things and then did a backflip and signed up for the northern ireland protocol, putting a border between northern ireland and the rest of the uk and he managed to sell that to the brexiteers and even surprisingly to the dup in northern ireland by saying it was a fantastic deal and he got it by pure skill. i expect a certain amount of this going to brussels and arm wrestling with von der leyen and i imagine trying to

engage with merkel and macron if he can, to show he has done the best possible thing to get british fish and get as much sovereignty back, as they like to put it. he is trying to demonstrate he has done everything he can and sell it as a big success asa he can and sell it as a big success as a result of the hardline he has taken. do you expect a deal or not? i can‘t be certain, i am not in the government, i am i can‘t be certain, i am not in the government, iam not i can‘t be certain, i am not in the government, i am not in the room, but i would be surprised if they are setting up like this. if they are not going to get a deal would be very foolish indeed. the deal will not come after the dinner. boris johnson is not famous for his grasp of detail and officials in the room will have to do a lot of whispering in his ears. even then they can scarcely conclude a big great treaty. what he is trying to do is break the back of the three outstanding issues and to send officials off to go and negotiate the deal itself. what you have sat through lots of these sorts of evenings, i am through lots of these sorts of evenings, iam sure, through lots of these sorts of evenings, i am sure, so tell us how they work and we assume fish will not be on the menu! probably british fish caught by foreign trawlers and taken there. journalists are always

fascinated by the menu is that these meals but i have to say, i never remember them because you are concentrating on the actual negotiations. the meal is kind of superfluous. normally the note takers, people like me and tumble functionaries, do not have time to eat at all, they are trying to scroll things down and pass pieces of paper to the prime minister and ensure negotiation stay on track and make sure they understand each other while they are talking. it will be quite intense because both sides have a lot to lose if they make a mess of this and both sides want to getan mess of this and both sides want to get an agreement. it will be not so much a relaxed dinner but a focused and rather difficult discussion. how does it normally work? do the two principal players do the talking with people chipping in. having a personal rapport helps a little bit but borisjohnson has a limited cast of people that have not insulted anyone. but i imagine he has a pretty good relationship with von der leyen. they will do most of

the talking put lauder frost and michel barnier will have to chip in because those principles will not understand all the details. what the prime minister really means, is what lord frost will be saying, rather than boris johnson lord frost will be saying, rather than borisjohnson putting his foot in it. on northern ireland, you were involved in brokering the peace deal with tony blair. in your view, does the protocol helped preserve the good friday agreement that we know joe biden is concerned about? good friday agreement that we know joe biden is concerned abounm helps they have abandoned the ridiculous causing the internal market bill about breaking international law. the trouble is, it only appears to be for three months, so they have left the issue to be resolved further down the line and northern ireland finds itself in and northern ireland finds itself in a difficult position notjust in terms of supermarkets but also the question of identity because for unionists, having a border down the irish sea is a difficult issue. they wa nt to irish sea is a difficult issue. they want to remain part the united kingdom. jonathan powell, former chief of staff at downing street

under tony blair, thank you. we have the latest covid numbers we are getting on with the uk reporting 533 new covid deaths today compared with 616 yesterday. that‘s according to government data and the uk recording. 16,578 new covid cases, that‘s according to the official data. 533 yesterday, with a total therefore going up. we know in certain areas, london included, the numbers have not been good at the end of lockdown. many more people are getting the coronavirus vaccine today, as the rollout of the pfizer—biontech jab continues across the uk. but people with a history of significant allergic reactions have been advised not to have the vaccine as a precaution. it comes after two nhs workers had reactions

after being immunised yesterday. the nhs says they are both recovering well. our health correspondent jim reed reports. sharp scratch now, angela. at a hospital in south london this morning, it was the turn of care home workers to get their jabs. i‘m pleased to have it, you know. we are all in it together, let‘s just get it done. another 150 people at st george‘s hospital in tooting will get vaccinated today. it is wonderful because it's like a little ray of sunshine in what has been the most difficult year i have ever had in my career over 27 years. across the uk, thousands have now received their first doses. they will all need a follow—up booster in three weeks‘ time before it is fully effective. this morning though the medicines regulator said two nhs workers who received the jab yesterday had allergic reactions to it. the chief executive of the mhra said those with significant allergies should not have the jab for the time being. even last evening we were looking at two case reports

of allergic reactions. we know from the very extensive clinical trials that this was not a feature, but if we need to strengthen our advice now that we‘ve had this experience in the vulnerable populations, the groups who have been selected as a priority, we get that advice to the field immediately. both the staff members affected already had a significant history of allergic reactions and needed to carry an adrenaline or epipen around with them. shortly after receiving the vaccine, they developed symptoms of anaphylactoid reaction, that is less severe than anaphylactic shock. it can include symptoms like a rash and shortness of breath. both have recovered after treatment. the bbc has been told that it was expected some people would have an allergic reaction. it happens every year with the flu vaccine. to start with, this first jab, made by the drugs companies pfizer and biontech,

is being given in hospitals so patients can be monitored for any signs of allergic reaction. gps have been told they will start to receive their first batches from next week. giving evidence this morning, england‘s chief medical officer stressed it is still important for the public to stick to social distancing rules. the idea that we can suddenly stop now because the vaccine is here, that would be really premature. it is like someone giving up a marathon race at mile 16. it would be absolutely the wrong thing to do. but there will come a point where the choice about exactly when to start to ramp things down, how fast and which, needs to be made. this all comes at a difficult time in the outbreak. cases are rising sharply in parts of the country like london and south wales. scientists and ministers say it may take months for the vaccination programme to have a real impact on the pandemic. jim reed, bbc news. the future of the sky news presenter

kay burley hangs in the balance over a party she attended in central london. sky news is conducting an internal investigation into the gathering of 10 people at two separate tables at the century club, which is a breach of the government‘s coronavirus restrictions. the 59—year—old has been at the broadcaster since its inception in 1989. she was joined at the party by fellow sky news presenter sam washington and its political editor, beth rigby. honda has temporarily paused car production at its swindon plant because of a shortage of parts caused by delays at uk ports. the companies responsible for transporting shipping containers are warning there could be further disruption when the brexit transition period ends injanuary. but the government insists any delays are a global problem and not connected to brexit, as emma simpson reports. the honda car plant in swindon. like all the other car manufacturers, the parts arrive when they are needed. a just—in—time supply chain. but it has been hit by delays caused

by congestion at the ports. its production line won‘t be running today as a result. gavin runs an online toy company and he‘s had weeks of delays at his busiest time of the year. we‘re particularly affected by things that we‘re importing coming in from china on containers. there‘s lots of congestion at the ports. the ports can‘t cope and there are some boats that are being turned around and sent back to holland. others that are being diverted to other british ports. every company is the same, every company is in total chaos. but christmas will go ahead. we will get there, and we will not let anyone down. so, what has gone wrong? container ships are the arteries of global trade. covid—19 has disrupted the flow, especially from china. ports around the world are now having problems. it's just a perfect storm at the moment where we have a situation with post—pandemic rates and orders,

pre— brexit stockpiling, and also christmas being a particularly busy period. we will get through this, we are confident the sector can deal with this. itjust may take a bit of time and we ask people to bear with us. felixstowe, britain‘s biggest container port, has been hardest hit here. it is grappling with a surge in containers ahead of christmas as well as brexit stockpiling, and it had a backlog of ppe containers, too. the ports say things are improving, but volumes could remain high for months. the whole supply chain now wants the government to look at ways to improve capacity, to keep these containers on the move. emma simpson, bbc news. the chairman of tesco says the retailer has been stockpiling some non—fresh food items as it prepares for potential shortages in the event of a no—deal brexit. john allan said consumers could face some disruption to supplies while the industry adjusted to the new situation next year. he told the world at one

on bbc radio 4 that food prices could rise by up to 5% in the event of a no—deal brexit, with some products increasing even more. i think we will end up with pretty much the same choice of products we have now once we have adjusted to the new setup. i think that might ta ke the new setup. i think that might take a month, it might take a couple of months, but it certainly won‘t be long term. what will be different if there is no deal is many food products carry tariffs, and pretty heavy tariffs and dairy products for example, brie might have a tariff of as much as 40% so there will be an impact in terms of pricing for customers because those sorts of ta riffs customers because those sorts of tariffs can‘t be absorbed by producers or supermarket chains but it will also change the mix of what people eat. will people eat quite as much brie if it costs 40% more and

will more domestically produced cheddar? we calculate the overall impact in the low single digits, between three and 5% on food products, but more on some particular items. the chairman of tesco speaking to bbc a little earlier. the international criminal court in the hague has decided not to take further action against the uk government, despite finding evidence that british forces did commit abuses in iraq between 2003 and 2011. while the icc has decided not to pursue a case against the uk government it found that "several levels of institutional civilian supervisory and military command failures contributed to the commission of crimes against detainees by uk soldiers in iraq". the court‘s statement said that it was closing the investigation because it could not be shown that the british government had acted to shield soldiers from prosecution. four people have been charged in connection with the toppling of the statue of the slave trader, edward colston, in bristol. the bronze was brought down injune

during a black lives matter protest and dumped in a harbour. the four suspects are accused of criminal damage, and are due in court in the new year. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with louise lear. good evening. there will be a lot of cloud around in the next couple of days and we see that cloud rolling in off the atlantic as we speak, also bringing some rain with it. the heaviest of which across wales and south—west england, that will drift into the near continent over the next few hours will stop the clouds thickening up further north with showery outbreaks of rain across north—west scotland. because of all the cloud, the temperature should not fall through the night, with overnight lows between three and 8 degrees. a rather grey and drab start to thursday. continuing to see showery outbreaks of rain drifting steadily north. the cloud staying with us, thick enough for coastal drizzle, perhaps some poor

visibility in places and not much in the way of sunshine. temperatures should peak between seven and 9 degrees. we could see double figures in south—west england and the channel islands. looking further ahead, friday could see more wet weather but a brief ridge of high pressure quietens things down on saturday. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: as boris johnson heads to brussels to meet the european commission president, he says no prime minister could accept the current terms, but remains optimistic there is still a deal to be done. as more and more people get the vaccine, a new warning to those with significant allergies after two people suffer adverse reactions. wales‘ chief medical officer says coronavirus is spreading fast in almost every part of the country. ten local authority areas are recording more than 400 cases per 100,000 people.

delays at ports — initially caused by the pandemic — lead to honda pausing production at its swindon plant — with fears brexit could make things worse. a major report on how to uk can meet its carbon cutting targets finds it will be cheaper than previously thought. forget hollywood — if you want to see real stars go to yorkshire — two national parks in the north of england have been designated dark sky reserves. an alliance of international aid agencies and human rights groups says rich countries are hoarding doses of coronavirus vaccines and people living in poorer nations are set to miss out. the people‘s vaccine alliance says nearly 70 lower—income countries will only be able to vaccinate one in ten people. the group, which includes amnesty international and oxfam, says rich countries have bought three times the quantities of vaccine they need to protect their populations. to discuss this further we can speak now to winnie byanyima, the executive director of unaids

and a vocal advocate for a ‘people‘s vaccine‘ for coronavirus. she joins us from geneva. thanks forjoining us. can you explain how the buying of vaccines has worked and why have we got this inequity? well, we have looked at eight of the leading candidate vaccines and the research companies that are behind these vaccinations are free to set the price they want and to sell to who they want. the three that are now in production and one of them is working in the uk and two are about to be licensed, have different positions. only one astrazeneca and oxford has said it would give 64% of its doses to developing countries but moderna has

been bought out by the rich countries and pfizer, the one you have in the uk, has been 90% booked out by the rich countries, leaving the poorest 70 countries in the world with perhaps only one out of ten of their people vaccinated next year. you are talking about rich countries securing vaccines for their people, three, four, five times over, while health workers in other countries won‘t be covered next year, so it is because we have a system that just next year, so it is because we have a system thatjust privileges profit over people. what we are calling for, global cooperation, there is a united nations link where technology

can be shared so that production is maximised so that all countries can be served. we want a fair system where the health workers in all countries are served first, and then all the people and people with morbidity is and then everybody else. it doesn‘t make sense to book up else. it doesn‘t make sense to book up more than three, four times per person when there are people dying elsewhere, so we are looking for a global solution and it is there at the united nations. we are inviting companies to share their technology and we are inviting rich countries like the uk to use their political leverage and investment. $5 billion in the three top companies today, they have put their taxpayers money, they have put their taxpayers money, they have put their taxpayers money, they have got to tell these companies not to go for profit first, to go for securing lives, but they can still make some profit,

anyway. i thought there was a lot of sharing of information on vaccines and as you say the oxford vaccine is committed to rolling this out across developing nations, and it is obviously in every one of‘s interest that there is global fairness and that there is global fairness and that poorer nations get the vaccine, for obvious health and business reason. absolutely. it doesn't make economic sense and of course it doesn‘t make moral sense to hoard an amount of vaccines that you want to use because you have got four, five times more than your country needs, what other people are dying, yet we area what other people are dying, yet we are a global economy and we need to travel and we need to be together and the virus it doesn‘t make economic sense because if we manufacture everywhere —— the virus doesn‘t respect borders. it is just not about making super profits. but it is not about not making profits. it is about getting all countries

out of this crisis. very crucial message. thanks for joining out of this crisis. very crucial message. thanks forjoining us. sport now and a full round up from the bbc sport centre. good afternoon. this season‘s women‘s champions league league has got underway this afternoon — chelsea are making light work of the first leg of their last 32 tie against benfica. it didn‘t take them long to take the lead — fran kirby scoring in the second minute. they were 4—0 up by the break and in control. emma hayes‘ side are now 5—0 up. bethany england with the latest goal for the london side — it‘s late in the second half there. less tha n less than ten minutes to go. it‘s closer between manchester city

and gothenburg, which also kicked off at 3 o‘clock. boa rise had put the hosts ahead, before georgia stanway equalised, samantha mewis has just scored so city leading 2—1. earlier qualifiers glasgow city were beaten 2 —1 at sparta prague in theirfirst leg tie. liverpool will once again turn to the youngsters when they take on danish champions fc midtjylland in theirfinal game in group d of the men‘s champions league. they go into the game this evening having already topped the group. irish goalkeeper caoimhin kelleher only made his debut for the club last week at ajax — and isn‘t looking too far into the future... a decent week for me, what can i say? two debuts in a week was a mad one, so it has been a good week. i‘ve just been trying to take my opportunities, to be honest. i‘ve had two games and i felt i‘ve

done well in them but that‘s all i can do, really. i‘ve not really talked about that. uefa has confirmed that the red card given to pierre webo, assistant coach of istanbul basaksehir has been frozen — as they investigate the allegations of an official using a racist term towards webo during their champions league game with psg last night. both sets of players walked off the pitch in protest after the incident 14 minutes in, with the game then suspended. a new team of officials will take charge of the rescheduled game later — which kicks offjust before six o‘clock this evening. i think it signals a marker, really. many black players are now saying, "we may have put up with this in the past but now we will take the power that we have and use it, and walk off the field of play," which is within their right. demba ba was doing exactly that,

challenging the officials over the language used, and then using their power to walk off. newcastle‘s premier league fixture against west brom on saturday is expected to go ahead as the squad recovers from last week‘s coronavirus outbreak. the club‘s match at aston villa was postponed last friday because of several cases which affected the team. but with players returning to full group training on wednesday afternoon, there are enough players who have tested negative to fulfil this weekend‘s game at st james‘ park. it‘s been confirmed england‘s cricketers will play sri lanka in two test matches behind closed doors in galle next month. the first test will start on 14th january with the second match beginning on the 26th, with the party due to fly out on the 2nd. england were originally meant to tour last march but the trip was postponed due to the covid—19 pandemic. and south africa have confirmed they‘ll tour pakistan for the first time in 14 years after agreeing to play two tests and three t20 internationals in january and february

hollie doyle has continued her incredible year by making history and becoming the first female jockey to ride a winner at the international jockeys‘ championship in hong kong. doyle took the win in the fourth and final leg of the competition aboard race favourite harmony n blessed. the 24—year old finished joint third overall in the event, which includes 12 of the world‘s bestjockeys. earlier this year doyle became the first woman to have five winners at one meeting. that‘s all the sport for now. more now on brexit — the uk government has said it will withdraw controversial measures, including those affecting northern ireland, from its internal market bill, after coming to an agreement with the eu on all future aspects of the brexit withdrawal agreement. it‘s all about this strange

arrangement, the unique arrangement that northern ireland is going to be in after the 1st of january where it will be part of the uk customs territory but in the eu single market for goods, and so having to follow some of the rules of both. that raised questions about how trade between great britain and northern ireland would operate in the future. one of the big concerns was over whether there would be tariffs on some goods between uk and northern ireland. michael gove said in parliament the eu had been pressing quite hard potentially for tariffs, some of which could have been paid back, but that is what they wanted. what he said today was that that‘s something they persuaded them to get rid of. i'm pleased to say, that under the agreement we reached, northern ireland businesses selling to consumers or using goods in northern ireland will be free of all tariffs, whether that is nissan cars from sunderland or lamb from montgomeryshire. internal uk trade will be protected, as we promised, whether we have a free trade

agreement with the eu or not. the fear in northern ireland was they would have a check in the irish sea, but what is going to happen? there are not going to be any customs checks or any filling in a document for trade going between northern ireland and great britain but it‘s the trade between great britain and northern ireland in that direction, into northern ireland, and the biggest problem, really, is on food supplies, because a lot of it goes across in that direction. at the moment michael gove says it‘s nothing new to have checks on animals, for example, but look at the numbers. in 2020, there were 1,837 consignments of livestock going into northern ireland which have to be checked, about five per day, but when you talk about food because then you‘re talking about any food of animal origin in the new regime, you‘re talking about 460 containers per day and each of those containers can have multiple consignments within it.

a lot is going to depend on how much goodwill there is, which i think therefore means whether or not there‘s an overall trade deal, because if the eu decides it wants to stick to the letter of the law and do every single check it has to do on every single consignment coming in, it would become almost impossible. there will be some dispensation, some leeway for the northern ireland executive to be involved in how those checks are done, but there is an overall feeling in northern ireland certainly that if there is a free trade agreement which gets rid of tariffs and creates a better atmosphere then the way some of these issues with checks on food going into northern ireland are carried out will be much easier. it will be delayed, anyway. there will be no checks on those food imports for three months, but three months isn‘t necessarily a long time. one of the dup mps in parliament said there are some some delays for three months, some for six and some for 12,

but he said the union isn‘t for six or 12 months, it is for ever, and there will be a concern amongst unionists in northern ireland, is this the start of a slippery slope? the government are keen to say, "absolutely not." the focus now switches to brussels tonight and this incredibly important dinner that boris johnson is having with ursula von der leyen. yes, the prime minister laid out his stall. he said he will go over there and make it clear, one issue above all that the government is focusing on — sovereignty. "we have left the eu and therefore our sovereignty has got to be respected." but where that is most difficult is on the issue of the level playing field and rules on fair competition. because the kind of rules you‘re talking about mean that you do have to share rules and if the eu is insistent, which it seems to be and we heard that from angela merkel today, that it needs to be able to punish the uk if it diverges too farfrom eu rules, from a sovereignty perspective

that is a nonstarter, so it is notjust political grandstanding by any means, this is a real issue of substance which kind of gets to the heart of what brexit is all about, and if you really want to break away there may be a price to pay for that. that was our reality check correspondent chris morris talking to simon mccoy. urgent funding is needed to help students and their mental health — that‘s according to the national union of students, who say more than half of 4,000 students they surveyed said their mental health had got worse during the pandemic. many of them had little contact with people outside their flats or houses and said they felt isolated, anxious and depressed. our education correspondent dan johnson reports. some of our youngest minds are the most troubled. i can feel my mental health getting worse. away from home, missing family, cut off from friends. i never thought i'd do a freshers' alone in my bedroom! this is their struggle through anxiety, stress, loneliness, and depression.

i feel it is one of the toughest experiences i‘ve had in my life, definitely. welcome to my crib! this was the start of klaudia‘s student life in liverpool. isolated within days... really struggling. she couldn‘t mix with housemates, or course mates. because we were stuck indoors, we got even more monitored by the security. so that was frightening in a way because we felt like criminals, sort of put into isolation. the university said they did their best to keep students safe. klaudia‘s mental health started to slip. you startjust being very depressed, overwhelmed and hopeless. at one point i knew i wasn't where i wanted to be and it was really difficult to reach for help. just over half of students who answered the nus survey said the pandemic had damaged their mental health. three weeks into term, with the support of university counselling, klaudia decided to move home and continue her course from here.

you were really upset all the time. boyfriend callum has helped her cope... thank you for being there, you know. it's almost like a taboo to talk about your mental health and to start that conversation, it's a really huge step for people to take. the nus survey shows more than two thirds of those who struggled had not asked for help. in a house of nine, there‘s more company. but here in sheffield, they have still suffered. when you‘rejust, like, stuck in your house and, no offence, with the same people for ever, do you know what i mean! it‘s pretty grim. university is meant to be the best years of your life, but right now, it's definitely not. like, it's horrible. i have, like, periods of time where i feel completely disconnected. i think that it's my brain shutting down and saying, "i can't cope with this any more." they have all asked for help. they would all like more. there are times when they need more.

it really very much feels like we're on our own. we're looking out for each other because there is no one else that is looking out for us. the government is spending £3 million more on a website supporting student well—being through the pandemic. reaching out to a mate, asking how someone is twice rather than once. don'tjust accept, "i'm fine." i hope that this pandemic will show that putting people first is much more important than putting money first. dan johnson, bbc news. the chief medical officer for wales says the coronavirus situation there is ‘very serious‘ with the virus ‘spreading fast.‘ dr frank atherton says the rate of infection is rising in almost every part of the country. in ten local authority areas, there are more than 400 cases per 100,000 people. i can speak now to gerald jones who is a labour mp for merthyr tydfil and rhymney — one of the areas with the highest rate of infections.

it's it‘s the labour government partly to blame for this with contradictory m essa g es blame for this with contradictory messages and too much relaxing of the restrictions? i think to be fair the restrictions? i think to be fair the welsh labour government have followed the science and put restrictions in place, we had the firebreak locked down in october which came in before the uk government —— lockdown. that lasted over 17 days, but we came out of that a month ago now, and whilst the figures did reduce in my own local area, the figures were reduced by half, but we have been out of that a month now and the figures have started to go up, unfortunately. what is to blame for that, why is it happening? a number of things, a general relaxation of those restrictions, although they are still some restrictions in place,

people are fatigued by the pandemic, andi people are fatigued by the pandemic, and i think whilst the vast majority of people are following the guidelines and are doing what they can to keep themselves and their families safe, unfortunately that is not everybody and we do need, in the run—up to christmas and winter, we need to think very carefully about how we are living our lives to make sure we are keeping ourselves and ourfamilies sure we are keeping ourselves and our families and communities safe because the pressure on hospitals as we are seeing at the moment is significant, and if we don‘t act accordingly ourselves, each and every one of us, there‘s a real danger that the nhs will become overwhelmed. how stressed is it at the moment? you must be in touch with the health professionals. the nhs and all of our doctors and nurses have been at the forefront of this over nine months, and clearly they are very concerned about the

increase in numbers and the impact thatis increase in numbers and the impact that is having on our hospitals. i‘ve been speaking to the health boards that cover my constituency and they are very worried indeed. if we don‘t address this, we have a vaccine which is great news, but that‘s going to take quite a few weeks and months to roll out, so in the meantime we have to continue to follow the guidelines in the run—up to christmas and beyond to make sure that we do all we can to protect each other but to protect the nhs as well. is christmas at risk in wales if people don‘t change their behaviour in the coming days and weeks? this is something everybody has to think carefully about. i don‘t think it is a case of what you can do, although there is a four nation agreement in terms of the arrangements over christmas at the moment, but i don‘t think it‘s a case of what you can do, it‘s a case of what you should do, and each and

every one of us has a responsibility to look carefully at our own arrangements to make sure we can do what we can to keep everyone safe. thanks forjoining us. as people begin receiving vaccines in the uk, social media is alive with conspiracy theories about the potential risks that a coronavirus vaccine could pose. these posts are worlds away from legitimate questions being asked online and reports of side effects and allergic reactions. the bbc has investigated how one woman‘s foot became so called ‘antivaxx‘ propaganda online after false claims she was injured in the pfizer/biontech vaccine trials. this report by our reporter marianna spring contains images some people may find uncomfortable. along with vaccine news comes as rumours and conspiracy theories, false claims that vaccines will be used to inject microchips, to cause deliberate harm, or to alter your dna, a resurfacing on social media. they are worlds away from legitimate questions about the speed and safety

of covid—19 vaccinations. throughout the pandemic vaccine conspiracy theories have been gathering steam on social media, but where do they come from and how do they spread? let me tell you... come from and how do they spread? let me tell you. .. this is patricia, from texas, and pictures of her feet inadvertently became fuel for anti—vaccine conspiracies. she was a participant in the trial to test the pfizer biontech vaccine and around the same time she developed a skin condition on herfeet. a relative set upa condition on herfeet. a relative set up a crowdfunding campaign to pay her medical bills, and it mistakenly claims that her condition was the result of the vaccine. it was the result of the vaccine. it was shared online by prominent pseudoscience influences including here in the uk. i know it is really disgusting. it turns out she didn't even get the jab, she was part of the group that received the placebo, a salty solution, and doctors confirmed that her illness is

unrelated to the vaccine. confirmed that her illness is unrelated to the vaccinelj confirmed that her illness is unrelated to the vaccine. i have to assume some culpability for putting my story out there and i get it, it is social media, you share it for one second and it can get picked up and go viral. people trying to push their agenda on me and i‘m totally pro—science will stop governments and social media sites have made commitments to tackle false heads about vaccines online including facebook who say they will remove them now. it is arguably too little too late. social media experts question whether this is the right approach. anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist and the movement of content will only build their understanding of the conspiracy theory, that big tech elites and others are trying to control their methods. now that people in the uk are starting to receive the coronavirus vaccine,

stories like patricia‘s twisted to fuel harmful this information online could become very common. marianna spring, bbc news. some good news from australia — where the bushfires earlier this year that devastated so much wildlife were thought to have all but wiped out one of the smallest species of possum. but this pygmy possum has been found on kangaroo island, off the south australian coast, for the first time since fire destroyed 88% of their habitat. the possums weigh less than 10 grams, and are also found in tasmania and sometimes mainland australia. the prime minister has faced sharp criticism from labour mps after confusing two separate issues when he responded to a question about the indian farmers protests.

speaking during prime minister‘s questions, borisjohnson was asked by labour mp, tanmanjeet singh dhesi, about the violent clashes between striking farmers and police in india over new farm laws. the prime minister went on to address a completely unrelated matter, reiterating the uk government‘s policy towards the ongoing dispute between india and pakistan over kashmir. many constituents especially those from the punjab and other parts of india were horrified to see footage of water cannon, did tear gas and brute force being used against peacefully protesting but it was heart—warming to see those very farmers feeding those horses who had been ordered... to suppress them, and it takes a special kind of people to do that, so we‘ll be prime minister conveyed to the indian prime minister our heartfelt anxieties and hope for a speedy resolution to the current deadlock and does he agree that everyone has and does he agree that everyone has a fundamental right to peaceful protest? — — a fundamental right to peaceful protest? —— will the prime minister convey. of course, and our views as the right honourable gentleman knows

well, is of course that we have serious concerns about what is happening between india and pakistan but these are pre—eminently matters for those two governments to settle andl for those two governments to settle and i know that he appreciates that point. i won't say anything after that but there is plenty online. i guess borisjohnson that but there is plenty online. i guess boris johnson has that but there is plenty online. i guess borisjohnson has a lot on his plate to be fair. we are seeing the clouds rolling in off the atlantic over the next couple of days and there is also some rain with it. the heavy ridge over wales will drift into the near continent over the next few hours, the cloud thick enough for some showery outbreaks of rain across western scotland but because of all the cloud around the temperatures should not fall very far, overnight 3-8, should not fall very far, overnight 3—8, soa should not fall very far, overnight 3—8, so a rather grey and drab start to our thursday, we will still continue to seek showery outbreaks

of rain drifting steadily north, out of rain drifting steadily north, out of scotland, and the cloud stays thick enough, thick enough for a coastal drizzle and poor visibility in places and not much in the way of sunshine. temperatures should peak at 7-9 sunshine. temperatures should peak at 7—9 and we might see double figures into south west england along with the channel islands. looking further ahead, friday could see more wet weather to come but a brief ridge of high pressure brightens things down for saturday. —— quietens.

this is bbc news. the headlines: as boris johnson heads to brussels to meet the european commission president, he says no prime minister could accept the current terms but remains optimistic there is still a deal to be done. i have absolutely no doubt that from january the 1st, this country is going to prosper mightily. he's absolutely stuck and dithering between the deal he knows that we need and the compromise he knows his backbenchers won't let him do. as more and more people get the vaccine, a new warning to those with significant allergies after two people suffer adverse reactions. wales‘ chief medical officer says coronavirus is spreading fast in almost every part of the country. ten local authority areas are recording more than 400 cases per 100,000 people.