hello, this is bbc news. the headlines... a new era in the uk's relationship with the european union, as the formal separation is completed. you're watching bbc there'll be changes to travel, news at nine with me trade, immigration annita mcveigh. and security co—operation. the headlines. people are being warned to expect a new era in the uk's relationship some disruption in the coming weeks with the european union, as the new rules bed in. as the formal separation hospitals are under "extreme is completed. pressure" as the new year begins with fears record covid cases there'll be changes to travel, trade, immigration and security co—operation. will increase the strain. people are being warned to expect the uk sees in 2021 some disruption in the coming weeks as the new rules bed in. with fireworks and a light show paying tribute to the heroes of the coronavirus pandemic. i'm live in dover where the first let's take a look back now at some of the lives we celebrated ferries have just left towards over the past year, in we remember. france carrying the first lorry drivers to experience the new regime. hospitals are under "extreme pressure" as the new year begins with fears record covid cases will increase the strain. the uk sees in 2021 with fireworks and a light show paying

tribute to the heroes of the coronavirus pandemic. tributes are paid to tommy docherty. the former manchester united and scotland manager who has died at the age of 92. and in half an hour's time we'll be taking a look back at some of the people whose lives we celebrated over the past year in we remember. hello, good morning and welcome to bbc news. a new era has begun for the united kingdom, after completing its formal separation from the european union, leaving the single market and the customs union at the end of the brexit transition period.

under the new arrangements, there will be no import taxes on goods crossing between britain and the continent. the government has warned there will be some disruption in the coming weeks as new rules bed in for travel, trade, immigration and security co—operation. borisjohnson said the uk had "freedom in our hands" and the ability to do things "differently and better". this report from jessica parker. big ben chimes. big ben marking the hour last night. boris johnson described it as an amazing moment for the country. it is one that some will regard with huge optimism, others with deep regret. but for brexit supporters, a long fought cause coming to fruition. all decisions will be made in the house of commons through a system of transparency and accountability. i used to say to my constituents, i'll give you £100 if you can name me any of the members of the european parliament that represent you, and haven't lost a penny. the last ship leaving dover before

the new rules kicked in. the uk left of the eu last january, but it was yesterday evening that the transition period ended and largely brought that departure into effect. new border checks are coming in. change is here. unfortunately, because of the late negotiation of the deal, many of the actual details of how these checks will be done, and what the documentation looks like, have still not really reached those who are going to be working under them, and still worse, those who are going to enforce them. on new year's day there is expected to be relatively little freight traffic. the immediate impact of brexit in some areas may be less instant or obvious than others. nevertheless, significant changes are here, whether on trade, travel, immigration or security. civil servants of my generation have spent the last 40 years trying to remove obstacles to working, living, travelling to europe. and tonight, those obstacles, many of them, are coming back. life will get more difficult,

more expensive, more cumbersome, dealing with europe. muted new year celebrations across the uk last night. and while coronavirus continues for now to shut down much of society, those changes brought by brexit could well become more apparent in the months ahead. jessica parker, bbc news. with me now is our political correspondent nick eardley. hgppy happy new year to you and nice to start the new year with someone in the studio! this is where everything that has been talked about with regards to what happens after brexit, after the transition phase, it all goes lies. happy new year to you too. 2021 is the year is the year we will see the implications of brexit so things like freedom of movement are now ending, it is going to be harder to send some products to be harder to send some products to europe, there will be more checks, more paperwork done on goods

going from the uk to europe although we might not see the implications of that for a few days because it is new year and there is less traffic going over the channel. for boris johnson and brexiteers, this is the big political moment, too, because although the uk formally left 11 months ago, it might feel like 11 yea rs months ago, it might feel like 11 years sometimes, 11 months ago, the sovereignty that boris johnson thinks the uk will get back from this process kicks in today so it is a big moment in both political and practical terms. the political changes are now there, the different decisions can be made by the uk. but that will mean there is potentially a bit of disruption over the next weeks and months. for anyone who thinks the negotiations are at an end, they are not, are they? there is still some detail to be worked out. that's right because although the trade treaty that was agreed on christmas eve covers a lot of our

relationship with europe, it isn't everything so anyone who thinks brexit can be put to one side and forgotten about completely, i'm going to have to let you down and say that isn't the case because when it comes to financial services, when it comes to financial services, when it comes to the exchanges of data, gibraltar, these are all things that will have to be figured out in the next few months. in the long term, negotiations will go on about fishing after five years. one of the things the uk was desperate for that led to these negotiations going down to the wire was the ability to make different decisions to europe. that isn't going to happen overnight. we won't necessarily divert all that quickly. when that does happen over the next few months and years, there will be implications for that and there may well be tariffs put in place of certain decisions are made by either side so it has been a complicated relationship over a0 yea rs. complicated relationship over a0 years. it is slightly less complicated now the treaty but it

isn't all simple now. 0k, complicated now the treaty but it isn't all simple now. ok, thanks, nick eardley. under the new arrangements, there will be no import taxes on goods crossing between britain and the continent. but customs checks will return and there will be more paperwork for businesses and people travelling to eu countries. our correspondent simonejones is in dover and we can speak to him now. good morning to you, simon, happy new year to you in dover. this is one of the places where we will see in action those new rules bedding in. yes, the test begins now, just behind me you have a dft s ferry arriving from calais. and in the past hour or so we have seen the first ferries heading across the channel from dover over towards france. these are the first ferries to sail under the new regime and the first lorry drivers to experience it, too. what it means in practical terms is that lorries to even be allowed to kent should have a kent

access permit so they can get it online by filling out forms, showing they have the correct documentation. if they have, they will also get a bar code showing they have permissions to export and import goods and also the right safety certificates. once they get at the port, that bar code is scanned. they get on the ferries and whilst their on the ferries, customs check everything is in order and if everything is in order and if everything is in order and if everything is the lorries will be able to drive off when they reach france. slightly different in the opposite direction with the traffic from france into the uk because the british government says for the first six months or so there will be a very light touch, so very few checks if there is any disruption or delays they are likely to be seen more on this side of the channel. 0k, more on this side of the channel. ok, simon, thank you. this was the reaction of some people on the streets of brussels to the uk's departure. it's a shame.

big shame that it has had to go down like that. kinda feel sad about it. yes, don't know what the relationships are going to be in future. it is a shame that we won't be able to travel or go to england as easy as we could have done before. i respect the british people's decision. but at the same time, i think it's a pity. joining me from paris is nathalie loiseau, former french minister for european affairs and currently a member of the european parliament's coordination group on the future uk—eu relationship. very good to have you with us this morning and a happy new year to you. what are your feelings, your emotions this morning as the uk and eu begin this new relationship?

well, happy new year to you. my feelings this morning is to express best wishes for the uk for the future of our relationship. it will be different. i still believe that it isa be different. i still believe that it is a story of lost opportunities but we have to make the best of the current situation, of the current agreement, and make sure we remain close partners and friends. it will be more difficult and i do regret it but we come into the relationship with good faith. and i wonder how that faith and warm wishes will stand up to the nitty—gritty of the reality of this new relationship and the details that are still yet to be worked out. i was talking with one of our correspondence about fishing, a huge issue for the french and for people here in the uk. what do you think is going to happen on that front? how can an equitable solution

be arrived at? there is a solution in the partnership agreement. we will look closely at it, before we give consent to the agreement, we have asked for two months, notjust a few days as it was in the british parliament. there is a solution and i hope it will be long—term, and i hope it is sustainable. and, you know, that fisherman from europe, they have been fishing in the same waters for centuries so i think we should rely on scientific data on the ability to protect the resource and make sure we cooperate together as we have been doing for so long. scotland, let's talk about scotland. nicola sturgeon tweeting last night a message, scotland will be back

soon, europe, keep the lights on. would the eu would like to see scotla nd would the eu would like to see scotland as an independent nation backin scotland as an independent nation back in the eu fold? that is a domestic issue for the united kingdom and we will not interfere. but we will never forget that so many people in the uk were willing to remain in the european union. and we will focus on what we have to do, what is on our plate in the eu, reforming the eu, making it more attractive because there were reasons for the result of the 2016 vote. and one never knows, maybe one day british people will feel the need to come back to us or we will have an improved relationship because we have to face it, the current partnership agreement is better than a no deal but it is a thin agreement and there are many issues and many topics which are not

covered. 0k, nathalie loiseau, thank you for your time today. nathalie loiseau, french mep and member of the european parliament. some hospitals in london and the south—east of england say they are now under "extreme pressure" because of rising coronavirus cases. they say some seriously ill patients are being moved to intensive care units in other parts of the country. our health correspondent katharine da costa reports. like several major hospitals in the capital, university college london has had to rapidly increase critical care capacity to cope with the surge in covid patients. it's caring for more than 200, with numbers rising by the day. staff can't always provide one—to—one care. what we're having to know do is stretch those ratios. so one intensive care nurse is finding themselves looking after two, three. in some places at the peak they were looking after four or five patients at a time. that puts a phenomenal amount of stress on the team.

pressure too at southend hospital. a shortage of staff saw the trust declare a major incident on wednesday. some patients have had to be transferred to cambridge. another sign of the unprecedented pressure hospitals are under. staff are already stretched. they themselves are suffering from the effects of covid—19 through being ill themselves, being off work or having to self—isolate because of exposure. so there is a real risk of health services becoming overwhelmed because of lack of staff and inadequate number of beds, and because of the pressure everyone is under at the moment. so what does declaring a major incident mean? government money to reopen mothballed wards and community hospitals. people sent to other hospitals in the region or further afield. and the fire brigade could drive ambulances. that's something being considered in buckinghamshire, after the council and hospital trust also declared a major incident this week.

we are trying to actually look at the ways in which we can persuade people to use other alternatives, other than coming into the hospital, the a&e department. and also, we are looking at ways in which we can deploy resources across from other departments, such as the council, into the hospital. from the hospital's point of view as well, they're looking at cancelling some of their non—urgent operations, to free up resources for covid patients. some hospitals in the south—east are now so stretched, patients arriving at a&e are being treated in ambulances. others are having to be sent across england for treatment. and some health leaders are warning we've yet to see the impact of mixing over christmas. what we're going to see in the coming weeks is these numbers really increasing, because we know there is a real lag between people being infected with covid and the symptoms coming out. so typically, it can be a two—week journey from someone realising they've been infected to perhaps being hospitalised. so the pressure is going to continue

to mount and it is going to be quite a nail—biting journey for the nhs. it's a tough start to the new year. for many the roll—out of vaccines can't come soon enough. katharine da costa, bbc news. let's return to the formal separation of the uk from the european union. we heard from dover a little earlier and in a moment we'll be with our correspondent in calais but first let's go to chris page who is in this morning. northern ireland will remain in the eu single market for goods, unlike the rest of the uk, and will apply eu customs rules at its ports, as part of a deal to avoid physical checks on the border with the irish republic. so there is a trade border within the uk? that's the way plenty of people see it here at belfast bought and in larne and county antrim, there will be a0 lorries checked per day on average. so lorry drivers

will be notified whenever they are on the ferry crossing they've been selected for inspection, when they arrive they will have to drive to the border inspection post, basically, a new infrastructure, their back doors of the lorry will be and the lorry will be checked. that will check an hour or so. there are big practical implications for the likes of the logistics industry, new administration, new paperwork, new administration, new paperwork, new bureaucracy to get used to. also political implications in northern ireland. unionists see this as a separation economically of northern ireland from the rest of the uk so they are very much opposed to the particular arrangements that have been arrived at for this part of the uk. nationalists opposed brexit altogether so, really, all this has no political support within northern ireland but what the government in london is emphasising is that

northern ireland is in a unique position, it has access to the european market and the british market, the only place that can say that, and therefore there are big business opportunities that could flow from this. for the first few days the focus will be on basically how the new arrangements work in practical terms. when it comes to the next few months, it'll be a big debate as to what it means for northern ireland's place in the uk, and their future prosperity, northern ireland's place in the uk, and theirfuture prosperity, and all that given added impetus given 2021 will mark 100 years since northern ireland came into being so we can expect brexit and all the implications of it to be added in to the debate as to the sort of place northern ireland is and the sort of place it'll become in the future. chris, thank you very much. we were talking to simonjones in

dover a little earlier, talking about what the new relationship means for people heading to the confident from dover. what effect have these new arrangements had on calais? lots of new customs checks and new regimes in place here. of course, it is quite this morning, new year's day, the french authorities saying they don't expect things to be very busy here over the next few days but they will be watching very carefully to see how the new customs formalities, the whole new system is working. because what they don't want to see is disruptions if individual companies don't have the correct paperwork, correct documents when they arrive here, there could be delays as extra checks have to take place. the french authorities here say they are prepared for this new system.

they've built 6000 new parking places for lorries to go to if they need to have extra checks. but of course it'll be down to the individual companies as to how they manage to deal with this. the french authorities as well say there is a big impetus for them to make sure that this system works smoothly. millions of lorries passed through calais every year. and if things don't go too well here, there is the concern that some companies may tra nsfer concern that some companies may transfer their businesses to other ports in belgium and the netherlands so everybody saying they want to make this as smooth as possible but we will see how it works out over the next few days and weeks. 0k, thank you very much, bethany in calais. let mejust look calais. let me just look ahead a little bit later, we will be answering your questions related to travel in brexit after 11am so if you have a question, get in touch.

we will try to answer as many of your questions as we can. it is time for the sport now. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's katherine downes. hgppy happy new year! happy new year! happy new year! happy new year to you too but u nfortu nately a happy new year to you too but unfortunately a sad start. the former manchester united and scotland manager, tommy doherty, has died at the age of 92. docherty managed more than a dozen clubs in total including united, chelsea and aston villa. his family say he died peacefully at home after a long illness. affectionately known as the doc, he'll be remembered as one of football's great characters. never short of an opinion be it about players or club directors, he had a great sense of humour, too, here he is talking to terry wogan in 1988. people say to me, why did you take the job? i say, well, to be quite honest with you, at the time, i hadn't been feeling very well.

and i say, i went down to see my doctor and he said, tommy, get as far away from football as you possibly can. laughter. tommy dochery was best known for his five year spell as manchester united manager. they were actually relegated in 197a whilst he was manager, but they came straight back up and beat a really successful liverpool side in the fa cup final a couple of years later. there have been some lovely tributes paid, including by some of the players he managed. one of the game greatest ever characters. many of the address from the dock, he was fun, there was laughter, he did impressions of the players. in the build—up of any game, an away game or a massive game in the fa cup final, like you mentioned in 1977, wonderful company. you never wanted to leave his company. he stayed at old trafford a bit longer, who knows

what could have happened? two of docherty‘s former clubs meet in the premier league tonight as manchester united play aston viulla, and united will be without edinson cavani. the striker has been banned for three games for a racially offensive social media post which he deleted and apologised for. cavani has also been fined £100,000 by the fa and has to complete a "face—to—face" education programme. before that, everton play west ham. lots of talk at the moment about the best way to handle the coronavirus pandemic with cases rising in football as well as in the uk as a whole. some matches have been postponed, but the premier league say they're not even discussing the idea of pausing the season. here's the everton boss, carlo ancelotti. we have to follow the protocols. and i think not all the people is following the protocols. not all the people were masks. not all the people were masks. not all the people take social distance. the

fa ct people take social distance. the fact that football is being played is good for the people because a lot of supporters, unfortunately, have to stay home. we to be to make me, too, and the fact we can have matches on tv is good. andy murray has pulled out of a tournament in florida next week because he doesn't want to take any risks ahead of the australian open. murray had accepted a wildcard to start his season at the atp event in delray beach, but he says he's concerned about the increasing rates of coronavirus and the transatlantic flights involved. it looks like andy murray committing to being in melbourne at the australian open in february. that's all the sport for now. thank you very much. muted new year celebrations have taken place all over the uk, with events either cancelled or scaled down due to the pandemic. in london a televised display was held over the river thames — meanwhile in scotland — crowds of people gathered at edinburgh castle — despite warnings to stay away.

greg mackenzie has more. an hour after leaving the eu behind, the uk left 2020 behind. these were fireworks, but done in a covid—secure way. a dazzling display on the thames televised on the bbc at midnight. over the o2 arena, images filled the skies, including a tribute to the nhs and to captain sir tom moore. there was even a special mention for something we've all had to get used to, zoom calls. before tonight, police had warned people to stay away. on london's embankment a few hundred people did gather. on any given new year's eve there's normally 10,000 people along the embankment awaiting the fireworks to see in the new year. unfortunately, it's been cancelled.

and the advice from the police ronight to many people turning up here, is to go home. it's been very like, quiet. there's police everywhere. so it's just like, it's not like the usual. no, the police have been lovely, it's been fine. it's been nice. we went to the tate britain earlier. the lights are still up. people are jolly. celebrations all over the uk have been either cancelled or toned down. at edinburgh castle, a single bagpiper welcomed in the new year. while the majority stayed away, some people were turned away by the police. instead of the usual fireworks for hogmanay, this was the replacement. a series of videos showing drones forming images over scotland's skies. many of us may have seen in the new yearfrom our homes, as the pandemic continues to restrict life in the uk. but, with 2020 now at an end, we'll be all hoping for a better 2021.

greg mckenzie, bbc news. and, finally, let's take you to rome where some people have been marking the new year in a bracing way. take a look at these pictures. one of the city's most popular spectacles on the morning of new year's day is called the tuffo nel tevere. that was done rather elegantly, actually. but it looks a little bit more than bracing. that is one way to wa ke more than bracing. that is one way to wake yourself up on a chilly morning. that is how they do it in rome! please don't rush out to your local river to try to do this. don't! i am telling you! time now for a look at the weather. it would

bea for a look at the weather. it would be a bit chilly forjumping into rivers, wouldn't it? far too chilly, especially in the south—west of england this morning. good morning and happy new year! temperatures down to minus seven across parts of wiltshire, dorset and hampshire. there is a lot of cloud in these areas today said temperatures will struggle to lift and cloud for much england and wales could produce patchy rain or drizzle, brightening up in northern england but for scotland and northern ireland not a bad start with lots of sunshine. a few showers continue in northern scotland turning to snow over northern scotland. patchy rain showers in eastern england down towards the channel islands. a few showers in northern ireland, and there is a risk of ice in many areas. down to around minus four in northern england and scotland. as for tomorrow, a lot of sunshine around with showers in eastern scotland,

eastern england, rain for many but sleet and snow over ground. showers returned to wales and cornwall, 00:29:08,236 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 tomorrow, temperatures 2—a.