this is bbc news. the headlines at 8pm. the government calls for a reset in relations with the eu following a row over the supply of vaccines and the now—abandoned attempt to override part of the brexit agreement. i think the european union recognise they made a mistake in triggering article 16, which would have meant the reimposition of a border on the island of ireland. we were told that under no circumstances could the european commission countenance a border between northern ireland and the republic of ireland, but yet, 29 days into the protocol, they are quite happy to invoke it when it's in their interest and in the interest of the european bloc. the prime minister publishes an open letter to parents, saying he's "in awe" of the way they're coping with home schooling. confusion over coronavirus rules in maternity wards.

midwives warn a lack of clarity means some staff are being abused. five men have been arrested following a "disturbance" at a former military barracks in kent, being used to house hundreds of asylum seekers. a four—year—girl has discovered a rare dinosaur footprint on a beach in south wales. well, wejust literally were walking along the beach doing the usual thing, looking for shells, and what have you, and lily said, "daddy, look at this," and there it was. and in half an hour here on bbc news, london and the second wave follows staff at the royal london hospital as they try to cope with the latest wave of covid—i9 patients.

good evening. welcome to bbc news. the government says the european commission recognises it made a mistake threatening to impose controls on the export of coronavirus vaccines from the eu into northern ireland. it was a decision that could have seen checks on its border with the republic of ireland. the move which was reversed late last night came amidst a deepening row over vaccines supplies. the first minister of northern ireland accused brussels of an "incredible act of hostility". michael gove insists the uk will work with the eu to address issues and that the uks vaccine programme is still on track. our political correspondent nick eardley reports. the great hope for so many of us. vaccines could be a way out of the coronavirus crisis. this wasjoanna, a nurse, becoming the first person jabbed in northern ireland last month. ministers think the uk

roll—out is going well, but in europe there's frustration at delays, prompting brussels to introduce controls on vaccines leaving the eu. the plan, though, would have meant controls here, the border between ireland and northern ireland. that's despite the brexit deal being designed to keep goods flowing. there was a furious response last night, which led to europe changing its mind and saying the proposal had been an error. i think the european union recognise now that they made a mistake yesterday. the commission made a mistake. they didn't consult us, they didn't consult ourfriends in dublin, and they united parties in northern ireland, from sinn fein on one side to the dup on the other, in condemnation, and people in northern ireland were bewildered by this step. last night's row did something rare, uniting different sides of the political divide in the uk in opposition to brussels. ministers here are pleased that an immediate crisis has been avoided, but they face calls from some to use the emergency

powers themselves to protect trade between northern ireland and the rest of the uk. we were told that under no circumstances could the european commission countenance a border between northern ireland and the republic of ireland, but, yet, 29 days into the protocol, they are quite happy to invoke it when it's in their interest. i do fear that it has caused some political damage, and it's given the brexiteers an opportunity to use it to their own advantage, and i think that's very unfortunate given the fact that there was a lot of attention and effort and dedication put into protecting the all—ireland economy. avoiding a hard border in ireland was one of the hardest tasks of the brexit negotiation, and that's why some here are so frustrated that europe seems to be willing to use its emergency powers so quickly, and although it's now changed its mind, there are questions over what this will do to trust between brussels and london, and whether something similar could happen again. some are calling for a more

conciliatory approach. we must do everything that we can, everything that we have in our power to find a solution, and any kind of vaccine nationalism, i think, is simply wrong. the european commission is still imposing some controls as it tries to speed up its vaccine programme, but, for now, a major row has been averted. nick eardley, bbc news, westminster. as we heard there, governments across the world are grappling with how best to roll out vaccines with varying degrees of success. our health correspondent katharine da costa explains how the uk is faring. the uk's mass vaccination programmes are well under way, with more than 300 million doses on orderfrom seven different companies. three have already been approved, but only the oxford/astrazeneca and pfizer/biontech vaccines are in use. supplies of moderna are expected in the spring. this week, two more vaccines

were found to be highly effective at protecting people from falling seriously ill with covid. if they are approved by the uk regulator, novavax could be available from the second half of this year. it's not clear when supplies of janssen would be available, but, unlike the other vaccines, that one only needs one shot, and it can be stored in a fridge, which could make a significant impact on the pandemic globally. so, how is the vaccination campaign going around the world? well, israel has taken an early lead, with 53 doses per 100 people. the uk is on 12 per 100. supply issues affecting pfizer and astrazeneca have meant countries like germany, spain and france are still lagging behind. one major concern scientists have is whether new variants could stop current vaccines from working as effectively. the good news is that novavax was found to be 86% effective against the uk variant, and both novavax and janssen were

found to be around 60% effective against the south african version. scientists are still studying the impact on current vaccines. early evidence shows that they are still pretty efficient, but companies say, if changes are needed, they could be tweaked within weeks or months, and, like flu, we may need new vaccines each year. catherine dacosta reporting. earlier i asked nick eardley, our political correspondent, about the significance of the last 2a hours. the decision yesterday then reversed to invoke this article in the brexit deal which basically allows you to override the rules to avoid a hard border on the island of ireland, that decision infuriated everybody involved in this process. it's one of those rare situations where all the parties in the uk, all the parties in the republic of ireland and crucially everyone in northern ireland as well was absolutely furious. so, we had this pretty quick reversalfrom the european union last night but i suppose

the question now is, "is that enough?" and i suspect there's actually been quite a lot of damage done. firstly, trust, and we know that the brexit process, although it's officially over, is still going to continue in the background because there's still a lot of things to be sorted out. this does nothing for trust. there's also the question of whether it lowers the bar for these emergency powers to be used in future. there are unionists in northern ireland who have been knocking on borisjohnson�*s door saying, "look, when you look "at supermarkets and the fact that some producers in northern ireland "are struggling to get things from great british mainland, "you should use these powers now to do the same thing, "to get things from great britain to northern ireland." now, i don't think the uk government wants to do that, but it adds pressure for them to do it if the european union is being seen to be prepared to do it in certain circumstances. but there's also this question, as you say, of what on earth they were thinking? because as soon as it was announced, it was quite clear that the irish government were furious, there were representations

being made by all the people who'd been involved in negotiating this protocol saying, "stop it. "change your decision! "it's a ridiculous position to be in." and that eventually happened, so, there is also that question of what's going on in the commission for it to get to that point where those warnings were not made before the decision was made? and i suspect some will be asking that question very vocally over the next few days. it still leaves the european union with the headache of how they get supplies across the union as fast as they want, because some countries are weeks behind. yeah, that's right, and i think there is growing frustration in the european union at the way this process has been handled by the commission. remember, it's different to the uk. the european commission has decided it will procure all the vaccines for member states and then it will be rolled out via commission. will be rolled out via the commission. that process seems to be going badly at the moment, there is great frustration in the commission that the astrazeneca contract isn't being fulfilled.

there's been a big dispute about whether astrazeneca is doing what it promised the commission. it insists it was just trying to make the contracts, that the contract said that it had to make its best efforts and that's what it's doing. i think those questions are going to continue. but the uk government view is that the roll—out here, and you heard the numbers there — half a million first doses given in the last 2a hours, the view in whitehall and in the uk government is that the process here is going very well and despite the fact that there are going to be new controls brought in by the european union on exports leaving, on vaccines being taken from the single market and going elsewhere, some of them are supposed to be destined for the uk. the government here is insisting that it's absolutely confident it won't affect supply, and that things are still on track for the uk to meet its target of vaccinating everybody — on a first dose anyway — for everybody in the top four at—risk categories by the middle of february.

nick eardley. now let's take a look at the latest government figures there were 23,275 new coronavirus infections recorded in the latest 24—hour period which means that on average the number of new cases reported per day in the last week is 25,519. the number of people in hospital is falling — with 34,783 currently in hospital. 1,200 deaths were reported, that's people who died within 28 days of a positive covid—19 test. on average in the past week, 1,177 deaths were announced every day. the total number of deaths so far across the uk is 105,571. there are also figures for the numbers of people vaccinated. 487,756 people have had their first dose of one of the three approved covid—19 vaccines in the latest 2a hour period. meaning nearly 8.4 million people in the uk have had theirfirstjab.

meaning nearly 8.4 million people in the uk have had theirfirstjab. today is the anniversary of the world health organization first declaring the covid—19 outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. its director—general, tedros adhanom ghebreyesus, has warned countries against "vaccine nationalism", saying drugs should be prioritised for use for those most in need around the globe. vaccines are giving us another window of opportunity to bring the pandemic under control and we must not squander it. the pandemic has exposed and exploited the inequalities of our world. there is now a real danger that the very tools that could help to end the pandemic, vaccines, may exacerbate those same inequalities. vaccine nationalism might serve short—term political goals

but it is ultimately short sighted and self—defeating. we will not end the pandemic anywhere until we end it everywhere. earlier i spoke to max lawson, the head of inequality policy at 0xfam, and he says people across the world should get access to all the successful vaccines. we have a situation where rich countries have bought enough vaccine to vaccinate every single one of their citizens three times over. so, i think no one, least of all 0xfam, is suggesting that everyone in the uk — we should all get a vaccine. my father was vaccinated last week, my mother is getting vaccinated next week. but we think that that hope, that kind of freedom from fear that the vaccine brings could come to everyone on earth and can come a lot quicker, and the other main obstacle apart from rich countries buying too much of the vaccine is that we have a situation where we're respecting the intellectual property of pharmaceutical firms like astrazeneca and pfizer.

we are allowing pfizer to make a very big profit from this vaccine even though all of the research behind these vaccines was funded by european and american taxpayers money, and that is artificially rationing the supply. so, we have limited supplies. we are hearing this week with astrazeneca being unable to meet its commitments to the eu. why not have every vaccine company in the world producing these successful vaccines? why are we limiting it to individual companies? and that is limiting supply and notjust for the eu but for the rest of the world. and developing countries will be lucky to vaccinate may be one in ten citizens in the next year on current numbers. so it really is a very, very serious issue and many, many people are going to die around the world for the sake of the profits of pharmaceuticals. pharmaceutical companies, those involved, are saying that they are not profiteering at all and they have put money of their own in but there has been... well that's just not true.

but a lot of public money, isn't it? i mean, billions and billions of pounds of public money has gone in. and that's the argument for the open source. well, it's very — we must distinguish between pfizer and astrazeneca. astrazeneca are not selling at profit. but they did receive huge public subsidy, $2 billion to be precise. pfizer are selling at a significant profit, up to 80% profit margin. again, their vaccine is based on a vaccine developed in germany which was funded by european union money which is another rich irony. so, the public money has flooded into developing these vaccines which is why we've got them so quickly which is such an amazing achievement, but then to see these public goods turned into privatised medicines for profit and limited by the rights of pharmaceutical companies, we think, is absolutely crazy and at a time like this, it makes no sense to have some of the biggest vaccine manufacturers in the world sitting idle unable to produce vaccines because they don't have the rights to them. that needs to change,

and borisjohnson could do a lot to fix that. he's so far defended the intellectual property of these firms and hasn't said anything about open source or sharing of technologies. but given the number of deaths that britain has had, given the death rate in britain, surely it's right to use the vaccine that's been developed here, produced here, to get those numbers more under control. we've had over 105,000 people die with covid in the last 12 months. surely, it's right... i completely agree. surely, it's right... it's right though because not everybody agrees with you. some people, talking about inequality, are saying that actually we should be starting to ship it abroad to poorer countries right now even to places where they are not seeing the death rate we've got in the uk. you are more nuanced than that? no, i'm not suggesting that. i do think it is a bit over—the—top for rich countries to have bought

enough vaccine to vaccinate every citizen three times over. i think that is a case of vaccine hoarding, i think those vaccines could be shared. but do i think every single person in the uk should be vaccinated? absolutely. but i believe firmly that this is a false choice. we should not be forced to choose between an elderly person in the uk and someone in senegal or indonesia. i used to live in africa, working for 0xfam. i had a very good friend die of covid last week. people are dying all over the world of this disease, and why should we choose when we could smash through this intellectual property, have open source technology, and mass—produce these safe and effective vaccines, which are a miracle, and get them all over the world as fast as possible. and remember, it's in all of our interests, because if we can control this disease before it mutates so much that we need to have a whole new set of vaccinations, then it's in everybody�*s interests. so we need to vaccinate the world as quickly as possible, and we want to do that by respecting the profits of pharmaceuticals like pfizer.

we need a people's vaccine, not a profit vaccine. max lawson. and we'll find out how this story and many others are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10.30 and 11.30 this evening in the papers. 0ur guestsjoining us tonight are the author and journalist yasmin alibhai—brown and the executive chairman of the communications group, cicero, iain anderson. the prime minister has published an open letter to parents, saying he is "in awe" of how they are coping. he also promises "hundreds of millions "of pounds" will be spent on a national education catch—up programme after the pandemic. here's our education editor branwen jeffreys. it's tough for millions of parents right now, trying to help children learn at home. schools in england are mainly closed until march. today, borisjohnson said he couldn't thank parents enough. he said they are buying time for vaccination and that is saving lives. only a few children are still learning in school. parents and teachers are worried

about lost learning. there is a promise in the letter of hundreds of millions of pounds for catch—up but it's going to be a big job. one of the schools i have responsibility for, fantastic place, serves a very deprived community, only 30% of those families have access to broadband in that area. only 30%. this is digital poverty in a really extreme way and it means that many children, despite the very best efforts of schools and teachers, still cannot connect with that learning. this warehouse is getting laptops to kids, more than 800,000 so far. but not every child will have somewhere quiet to work or parents able to give them lots of time. leading to fears that children could pay a heavy price in this pandemic. holly power is a parent of two and also principal of christ the king aquinas sixth form.

she has her hands full. holly, thank you very much forjoining us for your work load is like at the moment and how it compares to your fellow teachers. ~ ~ ., , ., ,. teachers. well, i think as a school leaders we _ teachers. well, i think as a school leaders we have _ teachers. well, i think as a school leaders we have a _ teachers. well, i think as a school leaders we have a lot _ teachers. well, i think as a school leaders we have a lot on - teachers. well, i think as a school leaders we have a lot on her - teachers. well, i think as a school| leaders we have a lot on her hands at the moment. we very quickly have had to move all our lessons online at the same time providing for key worker and vulnerable students on the site. if the mixture i is safe for our student centre staff. we are rolling out lateral flow testing at the the moment and still doing contact testing and tracing. it is a busy time for school leaders. as he has said, i have children of my own. we have had a period of isolation and doing thejob but which i know many parents are doing at the moment. i am many parents are doing at the moment. iam in many parents are doing at the moment. i am in the fortunate position to see it from both sides, but the teachers aside and the working parent side. the prime

minister has _ working parent side. the prime minister has said _ working parent side. the prime minister has said he _ working parent side. the prime minister has said he is - working parent side. the prime minister has said he is in - working parent side. the prime minister has said he is in awe l working parent side. the prime| minister has said he is in awe of how parents are coping. what are parents steering gear? there has been focus on how you support our young children and keep them concentrating. —— parents telling you. in other children need support as well. i you. in other children need support as well. ., you. in other children need support as well. . ., , you. in other children need support as well. ., . , ., . you. in other children need support as well. . ., , ., ., ., as well. i am really fortunate to meet a sixth — as well. i am really fortunate to meet a sixth form _ as well. i am really fortunate to meet a sixth form centre - as well. i am really fortunate to meet a sixth form centre for . as well. i am really fortunate to - meet a sixth form centre for disease control and prevention high achieving a level students and they are engaged in self—sufficient and it is really went to the parents, it has been more about talking about the mental health and well—being, a lot of them are anxious about what will happen with the exams this summer. so we have been communicated to parents about supporting students. 0urstudents to parents about supporting students. our students are working really hard and looking at a laptop all day, so they may not be used that so we support them with rest breaks and make sure that they had to look after themselves while swinging online. i think from a

parent point of view, my five—year—old taught me when a bio graph was yesterday and i think from sort of teaching in social media, the literacy is very difficult, something the parents are learning quickly. i think the challenge for school leaders, and i have primary colleagues who have set some parents think there is too much work being set and some parents think there is too little, and everybody is in a different circumstance at home, something that i've been really proud of my sons for. they have said to us from day one as parents that everyone is in the situation, all you can do is do the best in the situation you're in and focus on yours and your children positive well—being. and do everything you can around that. it's different for parents with children of different ages and i know many parents are trying to support older children through sam's at the same time as

supporting younger ones who need a bit more input. it's definitely a juggle. the other thing to think about if you're a parent is that to remember that many of the teachers also have their own young families i think at the moment, i read yesterday a statistic from emma sheppard who runs a project saying 50% of the future workforce also have children under 18, so it is definitely worth keeping in mind that the teachers that are running your learning also have to work around and be flexible around their own families. i around and be flexible around their own families.— own families. i 'ust hastily looked u . own families. i 'ust hastily looked u- what a own families. i 'ust hastily looked up what a diet — own families. ijust hastily looked up what a diet graph _ own families. ijust hastily looked up what a diet graph is,, - own families. ijust hastily looked up what a diet graph is,, i - own families. ijust hastily looked up what a diet graph is,, i would l up what a diet graph is,, i would not put you on the spot. i was not sure, it is two successive letters, to represented to represent a sound... i hope that is correct! thank heavens for the computer in my desk. final questionjust

thank heavens for the computer in my desk. final question just briefly, the prime minister has said there will be millions of pounds to go towards a national catch—up programme. we know there is a massive digital divide with some parents unable to provide their kids broadband and the right devices. if you could encapsulate itjust briefly, what should the focus be on the cassia programme? we briefly, what should the focus be on the cassia programme?— the cassia programme? we serve a socially disadvantaged _ the cassia programme? we serve a socially disadvantaged area - the cassia programme? we serve a socially disadvantaged area and - the cassia programme? we serve a socially disadvantaged area and we | socially disadvantaged area and we have been fortunate to receive 200 wi—fi hotspots and that has been really key, as was just setting your article, we make our lessons so that teachers and students can access them on the phone so they don't always need a laptop but if they don't have wi—fi, then that is really difficult. i think the investment needs to be in making sure that all students have access to the internet because that's what opens the doors really, that needs to be the focus. it needs to be funded centrally rather than by individual school budgets. halli; individual school budgets. holly power, thank _ individual school budgets. holly power, thank you _ individual school budgets. holly power, thank you for _ individual school budgets. holly power, thank you for talking to to

us tonight. a four—year—girl has discovered a rare dinosaur footprint on a beach in south wales. lily wilder and her family made the discovery at bendricks bay in barry in january. the footprint is 220 million years old and had been preserved in mud. palaeontologists say it's one of the best examples from anywhere in the uk and will help them to establish more about how early dinosaurs walked. a little earlier, my colleague reeta chakrabarti caught up with lily and herfamily — who told her when they realised they'd discovered something spectacular. we were just walking along the beach, and there it was, this amazing footprint. just unbelievably realistic that we can believe it is real. we are seeing photographs of it now and of your pointing at the

footprint. when you site did you think, has somebody drawn that or has someone edged it out? we thought maybe, because it's popular with fishermen down there, i thought maybe someone's been sat on the rock on a out, but it wasn't really and so we got home and i showed sally and even she thought, is it real? the first archaeologist we showed it to, likewise, they were like,... is this a wind—up, he said! but at one point did you think you found something really important? i showed my mum, and she said we need to report it, and i put on a fossil identification facebook page, and it caused a bit of a stir, and that's when i was put in touch with the archaeologist, cindy from cardiff museum, and they knew what to do, so they took over from there.

that must�*ve been a great moment. now lily, you have a dinosaur in your hand, haven't you? you know it's sort of dinosaur it is? is that a t rex? yeah? that's my favourite dinosaur. is it really? the footprint that you found, do you think the dinosaur looks a bit like that? no. i have it all wrong. tiny. was a tiny? it was too small, wasn't it? yeah, t rex footprints are big. of course they are! lily while they're speaking to reeta chakrabarti. the weather now with nick. hello. well, we've seen some rain, sleet and snow today. as temperatures drop, and that clears, as we get into tonight, it is going to be turning quite icy out there, and risk of ice, too, in the northern isles, where there will be some wintry showers continuing, and some snow out of these, particularly into shetland.

for many of us, though, it's a dry, clear night, although there will be a few freezing fog patches in parts of scotland, with a widespread hard frost, minus double figures in the coldest spots in scotland as we go into sunday morning, which will be a crisp, cold, crisp, sunny start for most of us. a few wintry showers still in northern scotland, sun turning hazy elsewhere, and another weather system bringing some outbreaks of rain into towards south—west england and wales. some sleet and snow again in the hills, but patchy rain and drizzle toward south—east england, as well, later into the afternoon. not quite as windy to the south as it has been today, but it is still going to be a cold day out there. more rain and some disruptive snow pushing northwards during tuesday, lingering across some northern parts on wednesday and thursday. for some, briefly milder.

hello this is bbc news with martine croxall. the headlines. the government calls for a reset in relations with the eu — following a row over the supply of vaccines and the now—abandoned attempt to override part of the brexit agreement. i think the european union recognise that they made a mistake in triggering article 16,

which would have meant the re—imposition of a border on the island of ireland. the prime minister publishes an open letter to parents, saying he's "in awe" of the way they're coping with home schooling. confusion over coronavirus rules in maternity wards — midwives warn a lack of clarity means some staff are being abused. five men have been arrested following a �*disturbance' at a former military barracks in kent, being used to house hundreds of asylum seekers. now on bbc news. britain has one of the highest death tolls from covid—19 in the world. clive myrie's film follows staff at the royal london hospital as they try to cope with a second wave. a warning this programme contains content which some viewers may find distressing. she's young. she's someone's relative. this is something precious that we're holding and we're trying to do.

my wife lost her fight for life.