later in the programme, we will be talking to gina miller.ng parliament the right to vote on the side of the brexit processes stop we will talk to her later on. the question of preventing it hard border between northern ireland and the republic with the so—called backstop agreement is probably the most controversial part of the prime minister's get brexit plan. the dup says the withdrawal agreement leaves northern ireland following different rules to the uk. some parties in northern ireland ta ke some parties in northern ireland take a different view to that. many businesses think that they are very keen to avoid any kind of new trade barriers. our ireland correspondent chris page reports. it's difficult to tell where it is, but it's easy to see how it's affected the brexit process. the irish border has been the most difficult issue for negotiators to resolve. the sticking point is the backstop, an arrangement to ensure there will be no checks on the land frontier, even if trade talks aren't successful. under the backstop, there would be some

>> gina miller, thank you very much, talking there about what no-deal looks like the triggers to look for silvia what are t silvia, what are the europeans doing to prepare for that possibility? >> the 27 european leaders will discuss a no-deal scenario later today. the european commission has been publishing several documents telling citizens and businesses how they should prepare for that eventuality. of course the europeans see this as an obligation obviously there is a problem getting the exit agreement approved and at the same time the time is running out before the 29th of march deadline in brussels they feel it's their obligation to prepare for that eventuality. let me guide you through what we expect as well in brussels apart from the no-deal discussion. the prime minister, theresa may, will be joining the other leaders early this afternoon that will be the moment when theresa may is expected to tell them exactly what she needs from them in order to get the exit agreement approved in the uk parliament there could be a statement later this afternoon from the 27 european leaders,

the gina miller case went to the supreme court and the government had to seek the authorisation of mps they did that, and that put us ona 50, they did that, and that put us on a course to leave the eu. mps are 110w on a course to leave the eu. mps are now saying, why are you preparing for no deal? because mps instructed the government to pull the exit cord. it is leverage? they have time on their site, as we get closer to the exit date, the fact they are the ones with the plan, the deal they have negotiated with brussels, that will become more clear, so mps who say, i will vote against this plan, what they are saying to me in private, actually, i may have to swallow my concerns and basically ta ke swallow my concerns and basically take the only safe option. we could spend all of this interview talking about the likelihood of getting the deal through but we are here to talk about the very contingency plan. there has been criticism of this. vince cable says it is complete madness and ironic that most of the money is going to european companies. but we are trying to get out of the eu. the

if you remember the gina miller case, that said you need an act of parliament to trigger article 50 and general we're hearing that we need an act of parliament, according to our own constitutional provisions, to terminate that notification. professor catherine barnard, thank you very much for your thoughts. the prime minister will plead with mps to back her brexit deal today as the government became embroiled in a constitutional row with parliament. theresa may will begin five days of debate in the house of commons on her brexit plan before the crunch vote on december 11th. but before she even addresses mps her government will come in for intense criticism over claims it's in contempt of parliament by refusing to publish the full legal guidance given to ministers about the withdrawal agreement. the debate on the contempt motion will happen first — expected to start around 12:30pm. if it loses it will be the first time a government has been held in contempt of parliament in modern history. but despite what it says in some of the newspapers this morning, the contempt motion does not call