and pulp fiction star is now suffering from a type of dementia. and the deadline looms to see who might want to buy manchester united, with offers expected to come in from prospective owners in britain, the us and qatar. good morning and welcome to bbc news. the prime minister will hold talks with stormont leaders in belfast today, with hopes that a deal between the uk and the eu on northern ireland s brexit arrangement could soon be reached as early as next week. the current trading arrangement know as the northern ireland protocol was negotiated during brexit talks. it was put in place to deal with the fact that northern ireland is in the uk and the republic of ireland is in the eu. some goods passing from england, scotland and wales into northern ireland are getting checked when they cross the irish sea in order to keep an open order on the island of ireland. unionist parties argue that this places an effective border across the irish sea which undermines northern irel
no further strike dates are currently planned. in england, the government says it is working closely with the nhs on contingency plans and remains open to talks based on what is fair and affordable for the next financial year. jim reed, bbc news. let s get more now from matthew taylor, seen in that report, the chief executive of nhs confederation, which is a membership body for organisations that commission and provide nhs services. how concerned how concerned are how concerned are you and other nhs leaders about the proposed strike action? we leaders about the proposed strike action? ~ ., , leaders about the proposed strike action? ~ . , . action? we are extremely concerned. we have written action? we are extremely concerned. we have written to action? we are extremely concerned. we have written to the action? we are extremely concerned. we have written to the prime - we have written to the prime minister, pointing out that at the moment he and his government refused to negotiat
won t enter negotiations unless that is on the table. well, this has now been going on for two months and it is worsening. these 48 hour strikes are a worrying new development which will pose real challenges in terms of managing those 48 hours but will also contribute to the growing problems which you don t necessarily see on strike days, but behind the scenes, which is the impact all this has on our capacity to recover services. and ifjunior doctors also walk out, and many people suspect they will, that will make it even more difficult for us. the government is in an unenviable position, concerned about public spending, concerned about industrial action across the public sector. but really the prime minister and ministers have to recognise that if this industrial action is allowed to become business as usual in the health service then it will become extremely difficult to recover services coming out of a very tough
services. will return to waiting lists in a second but services. will return to waiting lists in a second but returning | services. will return to waiting i lists in a second but returning to the derogation idea, to expand on that a bit more, rather than coming to agreements locally about how so called life and limb services will be provided, that will have to be in done nationally so how much more difficult will it be? it remains to be seen because we are now in new territory. certainly if you are a leader then you have a toughjob at the you are a leader then you have a tough job at the best of times. now having to agree nationally and not knowing whether you will get agreement nationally for the derogations you need in place to be able to plan services, i am confident the trade unions will stick to their commitment to protect life and limb, but the reality is that in a health service that is always working full out you can t take significant groups and staff out without it having a
winter. ., . ., ,~ ., winter. how much at risk are patients? winter. how much at risk are patients? clearly winter. how much at risk are patients? clearly when - winter. how much at risk are l patients? clearly when strikes escalate, when patients? clearly when strikes escalate, when we patients? clearly when strikes escalate, when we have - patients? clearly when strikes escalate, when we have 48 i patients? clearly when strikes i escalate, when we have 48 hours patients? clearly when strikes - escalate, when we have 48 hours we don t have cover at night and we don t have cover at night and we don t have cover in important parts of the service and it becomes more difficult. also now the trade unions are requiring leaders to agree nationally in terms of derogations, so that s a new process. people i represent, the leaders i represent, what they want to be doing is tackling waiting lists, improving population health, getting the health service into a better position, but they a