tom bateman.cretary james brokenshire has said that he's not yet considering the possibility of direct rule by uk ministers, after the resignation of northern ireland's deputy first minister martin mcguinness. but speaking to the bbc‘s andrew marr show, he said that it is likely that new elections will be held for the stormont assembly. mr brokenshire also dismissed the idea that britain would consider a joint government with the republic of ireland. i am not contemplating alternatives to devolved government in northern ireland. that is my resolute view. don't you have to, really? it might be on your plate very soon? what is my responsibility is to see that we are working with each of the parties to ensure we are not looking at greater division. my concern is that an election campaign will be divisive, will lead to greater distance between the parties at the end of that. exactly. it is that work therefore that i am doing and will continue to do. i would encourage the parties themselves to think ab

and tom bateman is here now.nteresting comments from the chancellor, philip hammond to this german newspaper. yes, and it raises the question of how seriously we should take this. and the one hand downing st is pre—releasing choice cuts of theresa may's speech and brexit, where she will call the people to fall in behind the plan the brexit, behind the talks that will take place will stop. at the same time the chancellor spends sundays imbalance where the message seemed to have the look and feel of an ultimatum. —— spent some days in merlin. if we don't get access to the single market that we want, perhaps we will slash tax rates to entice business to britain. it interesting hearing from one source close to the chancellor this afternoon who has said that understand the seriousness with which he is saying he will adjust oui’ which he is saying he will adjust our economic model if that is needed. they think this will clearly hang over the talk is something like a threat. they might not want to describe as such but i

here's our political correspondent tom bateman.ould start except, today a warning from mps not to try to derail the plan. —— brexit. article 50 is at the start of the process and it must be put before mps and laws. what lies ahead ? and it must be put before mps and laws. what lies ahead? the government says the legislation paving the way for brexit will be tabled within days and voted on by both houses of parliament. theresa may wants article 50 triggered by the end of march then britain has two years to leave the eu. there can be no going back. the point of no return was passed injune of last year. labour said they will not block article 50 but one to amend the bill, giving mps more control. if necessary, there will be hand—to—hand combat. we need to make sure we get the best deal on behalf the country and she cannot say she a cts the country and she cannot say she acts on behalf the country. theresa may also faces opposition and some of her side. for now, at least ministers believe they are on track to get brexit triggered by th

we can speak to our political correspondent tom bateman.of a sense of why sir ivan resigned from the e—mail. it sounds as if he was just hacked off? it was pages e—mail that he sent to his team in brussels, quite a lot to say. on one level this is an e—mail from our boss to his team saying, it was great working with you, that it went on to say a sense in which he wa nts went on to say a sense in which he wants his team to continue the work. these are the comments that are likely to be widely interpreted as a glimpse into what his frustrations are in terms of working for his political masters. he says, "i hope you will continue to challenge ill founded arguments and muddled thinking and won't be afraid to speak the truth to those in power." he goes on to detail what appears to be some of the challenges ahead when it comes to setting up a team to negotiate brexit. theresa may wants this to get under way by the end march. he says the structure of the negotiating team and the structure of roles and responsibilities to support the team needs rap

we can speak to our political correspondent tom bateman.tom bateman. have not left the eur yet. we have not left the european union yet. while we go through that pi’ocess yet. while we go through that process of the negotiations to leave the european union, there can be no formal trade talks with other countries. this comes under that banner. we have an issue whereby these cannot be described in any way as formal talks. downing street is trying to say about this is that there are couple of key objectives. the first is to establish a close working relationship with new administration in the united states. that will be one of the key points here. theresa may said on the aeroplane on the way out that opposites attract when it comes to the rather different personalities, there are different styles of approach to things. determining that relationship, getting things off to a good start will be crucial. the second point here is to sketch out, borisjohnson second point here is to sketch out, boris johnson voted second point here is to sketch out,

tom bateman is that westminster for us. tom bateman is that westminster for us.man leading the charge in the brexit talks. what do we know about him? another new whitehall‘s figure name. he's a career diplomat, he's low cut it at the side of various foreign secretaries. he was an ambassador for moscow up until last year. he's had a key role in the civil service in terms of that core. firstly, the speed of this. 2a hours since we learned that sir ivan rogers was going from that posed in brussels. now, of course, we've got the letter which we learn about what he thinks. it shows you how quickly theresa may and downing street wanted to get this issue sorted, and not have it hanging over them. secondly, the selection. in that, you have a career diplomat. i think it's going to be very hard for the mps who were hugely critical of sir ivan, to cast 13 in hugely critical of sir ivan, to cast 13ina hugely critical of sir ivan, to cast 13 in a similar light. it's hard to know how he voted in the referendum, but he will be seen as more of a doer. someone who is prepared to

here's our political correspondent tom bateman.hejudges ruled only parliament could start brexit, today a warning for mps — don't to try to derail the plan. the supreme courtjudgement means a bill on triggering article 50, the start of britain's exit process, must be put before mps and lords. so what lies on the road ahead? the government says legislation paving the way for brexit will be tabled within days — that will be voted on by both houses of parliament. theresa may wants article 50 triggered by the end of march, then britain has two years to leave the eu. so there can be no going back. the point of no return was passed injune 23, last year. labour say they won't block article 50 but want to amend the bill, to give mps more control of the process. if necessary, there will be hand—to—hand combat on this. we need to make sure that we get the best deal on behalf the whole country and she can't say she acts on behalf the whole country. theresa may also faces opposition from some of her own mps, who wanta formal exit document to b

let's talk to our political correspondent tom bateman.o we get any clearer idea of what she will say from the papers this morning? downing street this morning says this will be a message of unity. theresa may will save the division, the insults, of the referendum campaign should come to an end. beyond that i think we will find out how far the prime minister will go and there's lots of speculation this morning that she will suggest she is willing to remove britain from the formal free—trade markets of the eu in order to prioritise control of immigration and to seek global trade deals. that is something that her opponents are already seizing upon, saying that in effect this appears to prioritise immigration policy and allow that to drive economic policy. there is a fair amount of criticism that she is facing on that basis. the further details will come out on tuesday, but it is interesting to note that this will be in front of many other eu investors. it will be a message that she wants to show them that she is clear about the direction thi

our political correspondent tom bateman reports.nder pressure to reveal a plan for brexit, theresa may will hope to answer her critics this week, calling for unity and an end to insults or relieving the eu. —— over leaving the eu. injune, people voted for change, and a change is going to come. when she first detailed her thinking on brexit, the prime minister said it must mean control of immigration policy and ministers with the power to strike global trade deals. her speech on tuesday seems likely to reflect that, which many interpret as britain being outside the formal market, but seeking bespoke trade deals. i think the prime minister has always been clear that she wants the uk to be an open, outward looking trade nation. she has said that on a number of occasions. that is the positive view we have on the uk moving forward. and obviously ensuring that uk companies have the best access to the ability to trade with and operate within the european union. the chancellor said there would be a hardball approach to the talks. he was ask

tom bateman reports.'s brexit speech brought the most clarity yet on her approach to the negotiations. she told ministers and european diplomats she wa nted ministers and european diplomats she wanted ambitious trade deals with the rest of the eu, but she confirmed britain would leave the union's formal free—trade area. confirmed britain would leave the union's formal free—trade arealj wa nt union's formal free—trade areal wa nt to union's formal free—trade areal want to be clear. what i am proposing can't mean membership of the single market. the uk would have control of immigration policy, she said, and in an unexpected move the prime minister revealed she would be prepared to walk away from the talks if the deal wasn't good enough. the foreign secretary borin johnson if the deal wasn't good enough. the foreign secretary borinjohnson —— borisjohnson foreign secretary borinjohnson —— boris johnson writes that the countries are queueing up to do trade deals with britain. today, attention turns to the resp

our political correspondent tom bateman reports.resa may will hope to answer her critics

our political correspondent tom bateman is here.e think the prime minister is going to say? it is intriguing. we've been waiting for this speech for a long time. it's going to be a big event in front of other eu ambassadors and britain's negotiating team who will go to brussels to hammer out this deal. will we get a huge amount of detail? i doubt it. will we get the broad outline of where she wants to go? i think so. this is about hammering out free trade deals with the rest of the world, but also, she will call on people to get behind the plan, although we don't have much of a plan out there. she says she doesn't want to have division, she wa nts to doesn't want to have division, she wants to put the division and insults of the referendum campaign in the past. do we know what she wa nts to in the past. do we know what she wants to say about the crucial matters of single market access and the customs union? what we can choose from what she already said in the past is she is likely to suggest we should be prepared to extract ourselve

staff to speak truth to power and challenge ill—founded arguments. 0ur political correspondent tom batemanthy e—mail, i mean, it was a 4—page long e—mail that he sent to his team in brussels, quite a lot to say. on one level this is a kind of e—mail from a boss to his team saying, look, it was great working with you, you're a fantastic bunch, and so on, but he goes on to talk about his sense in which he wants his team to continue the work. these are the comments that are likely to be widely interpreted as a glimpse into what his frustrations are in terms of working for his political masters. because in this letter he says to his team, "i hope you will continue to challenge ill—founded arguments and muddled thinking and will never be afraid to speak the truth to those in power." he then goes on to detail what appears to be some of the challenges ahead when it comes to setting up the team to negotiate brexit. remember, theresa may wants this to get under way by the end march. he says the structure of the uk's negotiating team and the allocating of roles and responsibilities to support the te

tom bateman is in westminster. tom, how serious is this for the pm?many people asked the question four times and not got a straight ante yesterday? this is potentially embarrassing for the government —— straight answer. this one happened lastjune. we heard nothing about it. the reported misfiring happened just weeks before theresa may stood up in front of mps and urged them to back the spending of £40 billion to renew the trident system. as you say, crucially, she was asked about this several times yesterday and just how much she knew about it. did you know the misfire had occurred? i have absolute faith in our trident missiles. i think we should defend our country. i think we should play a role in nato with an independent nuclear deterrent. did you know about it when you told the house of commons? jono the issue would talk about in the house of commons was a serious issue. it was about whether or not we should renew trident, looking to the future, have a replacement trident. that's what we we re a replacement trident. that's what we were talking abou

let's talk to our political correspondent tom bateman.eplay the lagoon to get past brea ks a replay the lagoon to get past breaks it means brexit?” a replay the lagoon to get past breaks it means brexit? i think you get a little more than that. the message will be about unity. there isafairamount message will be about unity. there is a fair amount we can deduce that we already know about the prime minister from we already know about the prime ministerfrom her previous we already know about the prime minister from her previous speeches. afair bit minister from her previous speeches. a fair bit of speculation this morning. it is fair to say she is likely to suggest that britain should be prepared to extract itself from the formal markets and structures of the eu in order to prioritise control over immigration and trade deals elsewhere and to try and trade deals elsewhere and to try and get bespoke trade deals in certain industries with the european union. her chancellor philip hammond has had an interview with the german newspaper, in which

let's talk to our political correspondent tom bateman.hat we know about what theresa may will say? lots of speculation this morning in the papers. what we've heard from downing street formally are some words from the speech they have already released, in which she will say this is about having a vision of a global britain. she wa nts vision of a global britain. she wants more than that, to unify people behind her vision of brexit. she will say there was divisiveness and even in —— insult around the campaign. beyond that, this is the subject for much speculation in the papers this morning. she is likely to suggest britain will remove itself from the formal structures of the eu around free trading markets, the eu around free trading markets, the single market, and the customs union in order to provide control of immigration policy and to forge trade deals elsewhere in the world. will that be enough to silence critics? already this morning we are hearing from people even within our party —— her own party who say this will allow immigration p

and now to our political correspondent, tom bateman. how will they count success or failure? place behind closed doors, these are stage managed affairs. there may only be a couple of questions each to british and american journalist. there will bea and american journalist. there will be a briefing. we will hear about what the prime minister wants to talk about, such as a frank discussion about trade. it will take some time to grasp the fine details of the tightrope that theresa may after what. last night she said in her speech on military action was something off a reset of british foreign policy. she cocked about how the days are over of field policies, where britain and america tried to project their values on other sovereign nations. —— she cocked. we have some reaction to that. i gasped what conflicts she was talking about when she talked about failed policies of the past, and they said that she was not singling out any particular areas. there are those who have added support to what she has said and we can hearfrom christian blunt who is the conservative chair of the for

nick evans, thanks forjoining us let's speak to our political correspondent tom bateman at westminsterick evans there about the devolved governments being left out of this process or at least not having a casting vote if you like, politically, nicola sturgeon wa nts to like, politically, nicola sturgeon wants to ratchet up the pressure on theresa may. she's going to have a vote a ny theresa may. she's going to have a vote any way and a discussion. that's what she is saying. you know, it's interesting, in the sense, what she is trying to do is disentangle the legal ruling today with the politics around this. i think that's the big observation tonight. in one sense, you have a very significant legal, constitutional story here, the highest court in the land has stopped the government from doing what it wanted to do, because it ruled it was, in effect, against the law, that it was unlawful. on the political side, this is something nicola sturgeon is trying to grapple with and trying to find leverage with and trying to find leverage with is the sense in which, article 50, last year, when we

we can speak to our political correspondent tom bateman.saying about this resignation? the government is saying very little. number ten in fa ct saying very little. number ten in fact is saying nothing. they have handed the responsibility to the foreign office, who released a pretty short statement earlier this afternoon, saying that in effect this was really sir ivan bringing his decision to stand down a few months earlier, and he was doing it now to allow them to get someone in place before the end of march. that is the critical date, because that is the critical date, because that is when theresa may wants to trickle article 50 bye, bye process of starting the negotiations. they are saying —— trigger article 50. i rethink trying to brush aside what has happened today. the reason this really matters is that sir ivan rogers not a politicalfigure. he supposedly a completely impartial civil servant, and yet his decision to resign has created another row about brexit. he has in effect allowed that political intensity again to grow. we have se

here's our political correspondent tom bateman.uled only parliament can start brexit, today a warning for mps — don't try to derail the plan. the supreme courtjudgement means a bill on triggering article 50, the start of britain's exit process, must be put before mps and lords. so what lies on the road ahead? the government says legislation paving the way for brexit will be tabled within days. that'll be voted on by both houses of parliament. theresa may wants article 50 triggered by the end of march. then britain has two years to leave the eu. so there can be no going back. the point of no return was passed on 23rd june last year. labour say they won't block article 50, but want to amend the bill to give mps more control of the process. if necessary, there will be hand—to—hand combat on this. we need to make sure that we get the best deal on behalf of the whole country and she can't say she acts on behalf of the whole country. theresa may also faces opposition from some of her own mps who want a formal exit document to be debated,

our political correspondent tom bateman has more. theresa may's brexit speech brought the most clarity yet on her approach to the negotiations. she told ministers and european diplomats she wanted ambitious trade deals with the rest of the eu, but she confirmed britain would leave the union's formalfree— rade area. i want to be clear. what i am proposing cannot mean membership of the single market. the uk would have control of immigration policy, she said. and, in an unexpected move, the prime minister revealed she would be prepared to walk away from the talks if the deal wasn't good enough. the foreign secretary, borisjohnson, writes this morning that countries are queuing up to do trade deals with britain. today, attention turns to the response from the rest of the eu. the head of the european commission, jean—claude juncker, is due to speak. some in the european parliament believe mrs may's demands are unrealistic. it creates an illusion. an illusion that you can go out of the single market, that you can go out off the customs uni

here's our political correspondent tom bateman.dges ruled only parliament can start brexit, today a warning for mps — don't try to derail the plan. the supreme courtjudgement means a bill on triggering article 50, the start of britain's exit process, must be put before mps and lords. so what lies on the road ahead? the government says legislation paving the way for brexit will be tabled within days. that'll be voted on by both houses of parliament. theresa may wants article 50 triggered by the end of march. then britain has two years to leave the eu. so there can be no going back. the point of no return was passed on 23rd june last year. labour say they won't block article 50, but want to amend the bill to give mps more control of the process. if necessary, there will be hand—to—hand combat on this. we need to make sure that we get the best deal on behalf of the whole country and she can't say she acts on behalf of the whole country. theresa may also faces opposition from some of her own mps who want a formal exit document to be de

to be admitted to a bed in the hospital, this would have been done." 0ur political correspondent tom batemans hear the sound of few really has been rising in the house of commonsjust over the has been rising in the house of commons just over the way over what labour are seeing as yet another winter crisis in the nhs, what the government is saying is that they think they have given more than enough money to the health service in england. we have seen continuing reports about the pressures that the nhs is under, and that led tojeremy corbyn at prime minister's questions this week repeating that claim by the british red cross that there was, in his view, humanitarian crisis in the nhs, something theresa may said was overblown. then mr corbyn on wednesday raised this issue that you have been hearing about. here is what he had to say. this week, the prime minister said she wanted to create a shared society. well, we've certainly got that. more people sharing hospital corridors on trolleys. more people sharing waiting areas in a&e departments. more people sharing in anxiety created by this governm

our political correspondent tom bateman has more.t speech brought the most clarity yet on her approach to the negotiations. she told ministers and european diplomats she wanted ambitious trade deals with the rest of the eu, but she confirmed britain would leave the union's formal free—trade area. i want to be clear. what i am proposing can't mean membership of the single market. the uk would have control of immigration policy, she said. and, in an unexpected move, the prime minister revealed she would be prepared to walk away from the talks if the deal wasn't good enough. the foreign secretary, boris johnson, writes this morning that countries are queueing up to do trade deals with britain. today, attention turns to the response from the rest of the eu. the head of the european commission, jean—claude juncker, is due to speak. some in the european parliament believe mrs may's demands are unrealistic. it creates an illusion. yhe illusion that you can go out of the single market, that you can go out off the customs union, and that you