a coward by donald trump actions after the president says he would have tried to help even without a weapon i think i would have tried to have helped. and american media giant, comcast, puts in a bid for sky challenging an existing offer from rupert murdoch's 21st century fox. good morning. welcome to bbc newsroom live. i'm reeta chakrabarti. heavy snowfall is hitting parts of the uk, causing road and rail disruption in many areas. police say driving conditions are "treacherous" in places as a band of wintry weather and very low temperatures sweeps westwards. hundreds of trains are cancelled, many schools are shut and forecasters say some rural communities may be cut off. 45 children were led to safety after a bus crash near deeping st james in lincolnshire — though no injuries are reported. the met office has issued amber warnings for large parts of the country as cold air sweeps in from the east. up to 10cm of snow is expected today and as much as 20cm is predicted in some parts of eastern england, scotland and northern ireland by the end of today. trains have also been affected by the snowfall, with cancellations and disruptions on lines across the country. snow has closed liverpool airport's only runway but passengers are being advised to still turn up. one of the worst affected is kent, where our correspondent robert hall said there is disruption on the roads and railways. well, it is still snowing here, quite heavy showers from time to time. in this area the forecasts were pretty well on the nose in the sense that we've got a swathe of snow running from the thames valley right cross kent and into surrey and sussex. about five centimetres here in ashford, but elsewhere, towns and villages reporting a little bit more than that. in terms of the disruption, it's been very mixed. the main arterial routes overall are open but we have had difficulties on the m20 near maidstone. westbound, that remains a problem. there are abandoned vehicles and a number of accidents. elsewhere on the m20, only a249, the major arterial road, that has a steep hill, i den, abandoned vehicles and the jackknifed lorry. that closes the jackknifed lorry. that closes the roads and whenever that happens the gritters cannot get through. the gritters in this county of kent have been operating under what the county council have cold a store emergency plan, which means they get every available vehicle out and the other farmers who have snow ploughs to look after the country roads. that has been in place but if the traffic does not want the car is not grinding the salt and melting the snow. that compounds the problem is and physically the gritters cannot get through. on the rails, southeastern trains are running a normal timetable but there have been some delays and cancellations and they have combined smaller trees into larger trains. there has been disruptions on country roads that are perhaps less well treated and they have had to withdraw the service on those roads. dozens of schools have also been closed. pupils have difficulties getting to work. advice to parents is to keep an eye on the relevant websites. overall, a bit of a mixed picture across the region outside the old block hardly any snow at all but within that there is enough to cause problems and the concern is that with temperatures as low as they are, what has come down will remain and we have more heavy snow forecast for the end of week. probably more intense difficulties over the next few days. our correspondent, ben ando, is at colchester railway station where many services are being disrupted. the snow is falling thick and fast, ben, how have commuters and? the snow is falling thick and fast, ben, how have commuters and7m the snow is falling thick and fast, ben, how have commuters and? it has been tough for them. many will have been tough for them. many will have been quite appreciative that they knew in advance that there was going to be disruption because as it was, fewer people arrived at the station than normal and that meant that the just services that were available we re just services that were available were not horribly overcrowded in a way that i think some people will have feared. we have had a mixed bag of whether this morning. when i arrived there was actually no small. during the morning it has been intermittent snow showers. it has been snowing quite heavily over the last half an hour or so but that seems to be clearing but it is an ongoing problem and one of the problems is not so much the snow it is the freezing temperatures, it is really cold here and that can cause difficulties for things like the points and the signals that may not function in the way that they should. for these reasons network rail and the train operators greater anglia here, c2c, all other that run the trains in east anglia i'm eating and conferring with one another to try to reinstate trains were possible and paul flynn been to some of the most remote areas up in the east coast, great yarmouth, for example. but also to be realistic about what they can achieve given the ms moore bad weather forecast. we are dealing with extreme temperatures, not average winter weather. our infrastructure, both roads and the rails, they are not bowled for this. we do not normally see temperatures as cold as this, we are normally a warm and dry part of the country. as you heard, there are problems that can be caused for the railways, it is not billed for these extremes railways, it is not billed for these extre m es of railways, it is not billed for these extremes of temperature and everyone here is doing the best that they can. thank you for that, ben ando, oui’ can. thank you for that, ben ando, our correspondent. drivers are being warned to be careful in treacherous conditions. make sure you are only taking that journey if it is absolutely necessary. you can be assured that the motorways and major trunk roads are going to have been cleared and been treated but that is not to say that other areas will not have snow on the ground, and that may well affect traction and the way that your vehicle handles. our transport correspondent victoria fritz is here. what is the disruption that people are facing? it is very much towards the east of the country and that is expected to sweep across as we will shortly hear from our weatherman, chris. there have been significant disruption the rod and reel lives in particular. the reports are doing 0k. particular. the reports are doing ok. london, heathrow, gatwick, newcastle have all said they are not expecting any disruption but to check online with your airline for flights that might be coming up. and an extra travel time if you are trying to get to those airports. when it comes to the trains, hundreds have already been cancelled. one thing that is worth mentioning, lots of people are angry this morning that there could be a few snowflakes and yet they have cancelled the trains. that is not necessarily to do with the volume of snow although snow dust can cause problems. what happens in cold weather is that the tracks and signal points can stick and that means that the signals remain at red and the trains cannot pass through. also for the rails with a power is connected, if the freeze over there is no power connection between the train and the track which means there is a problem. for greater anglia, juliet that we saw getting interviewed a while ago, she said on radio the other day that they are putting on socks onto the front of the trains because as the home freeze up it means that they cannot sound and if they cannot do that, the trains cannot go any faster than 20 mph. network railare the trains cannot go any faster than 20 mph. network rail are also putting up a helicopter when possible which will do thermal imaging to work out with the problems are the worst. but there are certainly some significant delays when it comes to the trains. the moral of the story is to check before you go out. yes, the southern trains website actually crashed under the weight of all of that small. it is best to go on national rail inquiries if possible, do check out your local radio because they will be very plugged in to what is happening in your local area, particularly with the roads and the delays. check before you go out and if you can stay at home, i would urge you to do that. many thanks, victoria. as these pictures show, much of kent in southern england has been blanketed in snow and some of the biggest disruption has been in the county. there have been delays on the m20 in both directions adding up to two hours to journey times, that is according to highways england. more than 230 schools and nurseries are closed in kent. schools across sussex and surrey have also been affected. jonny may now is chris fawkes from the bbc weather centre. how much worse is it going to get? we can look at two areas that are seen we can look at two areas that are seen significant snowfall over the last three hours. let us look at the graphics. the first area overnight, we had any array of snow, a paula lowe that came in over the north—west of england, that came across northern england, moves across northern england, moves across the midlands and now it is on two wheels as well. that has brought several centimetres and caused localised transportation option but down towards kent, look at this line of showers, they have been formed by the winds and because they have not changed direction, though showers have been locked and loaded on exactly the same kind of areas, so shower after shower after share, wales just down the road after london. in kent, we have seen carnage caused by that heavy snowfall. that is what has been happening but every look at the forecast over the next 24 hours, for the changes are ahead. the winds will change direction, we will start to get even colder air coming across the north sea and that means that the north sea and that means that the showers will get even heavier and at the same time, we will start to push further northwards and that means that there is the risk of disruption heading more across north—east england, northern and eastern parts of scotland, were widely over the next few days, five to ten centimetres, some areas will get heavier showers and could see up to 25 centimetres, perhaps up to 40 centimetres. we are looking at widespread transport construction in those locations and as the is not finished because towards the end of the week what will happen next is oliver were cold here will be in place and we will start to see an area of low pressure moving of the atla ntic area of low pressure moving of the atlantic and bumping into that cold here and we will see a widespread fall of snow across england and wales. that will be coupled with strong winds, we could see blizzard conditions for a time and that is pushing northwards. if you have not seen significant snowfall so far in this cold spell, the chances are that you will do in the chances are that you will do in the next few days with a focus on the next few days with a focus on the disruptive weather over the north—east in the next few days but transferring southwards towards the end of the week affecting other parts of england and wales. we will have to brace ourselves. chris, many thanks. you can keep up to date with all the weather disruption by visiting the bbc news live page. that's bbc.co.uk/news. two other news now... staying in a customs union with the eu would be a "sellout" of the uk's interests, according to the international trade secretary liam fox. he will deliver a speech to business leaders later, in which he is expected to say that the future of global trade will not be decided through strict arrangements like a customs union. let's get more now from our assistant political editor — norman smith — who is in central london, where liam fox will make his speech. this is the latest brexit speech made by senior ministers, what will characterise the speech, do you think? controversy over the lead argument because leaving the customs union has been a central plank of the government, an argument made by liam fox and also that outside of the customs union that britain can forge its own trade deals and take advantage of the growth in other parts of the world which brexiteers have said is a real golden opportunity for brexit. however, that big keynote speech has been knocked off course by this! and packet of crisps! what has this got in common with brexit, well, dr fox's key civil servant, the man who was in charge of his department and worked alongside him until march of last year has said that leaving the customs union and trying to negotiate our own deals would be like giving up a three course meal in exchange for the promise of a packet of crisps. in other words, we would be much better remaining in the customs union. martin donnelly has said that he believes it would be so bad for the british economy outside of the customs union and the single market, that britain will have to apply to rejoin. he has said ina have to apply to rejoin. he has said in a speech that british business will become less competitive, it will become less competitive, it will become less competitive, it will be at a disadvantage compared to eu companies and that inward investment will be hit and that britain, one of the most open economies in the world, will become one of the most bureaucratic, because of the need for broader checks and massive amounts of paperwork. he has said there will have to be checks to make sure that companies exporting into the eu comply with origin of country regulations, with hygiene regulations, with hygiene regulations, security regulations, vat payments and that if the british government wants to negotiate the sort of deal it is seeking, it would not need a cracked negotiating team, instead it would need a fairy godmother, his own phrase! let us listen to sir martin. if you look at where we are now with fair and equal access to the very large rich eu market, which is nearly half of our service to three—fifths of our trade, if you're going to give that up for the promise of some bi—lateral deals with markets that are far less important to us, well, it's like giving up a three course meal for a packet of crisps — it's just not equivalent and we have to recognise that reality before we take that decision. iam sure i am sure that liam fox will want to say something about that when he speaks with this morning. boris johnson has already spoken and said he disagrees with that analysis, noting that he used to work for the european commission. boris johnson has also provoked controversy after he suggested an interview on bbc this morning that you could possibly avoid the hard border between northern ireland and the republic of ireland by looking at the example of the london congestion charge, suggesting that there is no barrier between borrowers like camden and westminster. that has prompted accusations from the labour party that mrjohnson should remain quiet about the subject of which he is ignorant. his comments have been described as thoughtless and facile. let us listen to what he said. we think we can have very efficient facilitations systems to make sure there's no need for a hard border and excessive checks between ireland and northern ireland. there's no border between islington... camden and westminster, but when i was mayor of london we invisibly took hundreds of millions of pounds from the accounts of people travelling between those two boroughs without any need for border checks whatever. added into the mix we have also heard from the former top man at the world trade organisation, who has said he does not believe there is any way that a hard border can be avoided in northern ireland if the uk is determined to be the single market and the customs union. and for good measure he questions whether the proposed two years for this transition period is going to be long enough. norman, much to chew over. many thanks. the headlines on bbc newsroom live... heavy snowfall hits parts of the uk causing road and rail disruption as cold air sweeps in from russia. trade secretary liam fox will set out plans for new trade opportunities after brexit, but they're criticised by his former top civil servant. a pause in the syrian government's assault on the rebel—held area of eastern ghouta, but both sides report continued fighting. after defeat in the carabao cup final, arsenal legend ian wright believes it is time for a manager arsene wenger to go. british boxer curtis woodhouse has said he might not fight again following the death ofa not fight again following the death of a boxer during a bout at the weekend. he said it has left him questioning the morality of the sport. it is time olympic medallists, usain bolt, will fulfil a dream when he plays football at old trafford, he will be the captain in the cheering and applause soccer aid match for the world i! side. —— world soccer aid match. fighting is reported to be continuing in eastern ghouta, the enclave of damascus controlled by syrian rebels. the brief respite was ordered by syria's ally russia, which said it would be repeated daily to allow civilians to leave the besieged enclave. an estimated 400,000 men, women and children are trapped in eastern ghouta and in the last week more than 560 people have been killed — some reportedly from the effects of chlorine gas exposure. food and medicine are in short supply there but in the first few hours of the ceasefire, none of it has been brought into the enclave. the window is meant to allow civilians to leave the besieged mouayed — told the bbc he was concerned about trusting those enforcing the pause in hostilities. do you trust your killers, do you trust the regime that is killing you five years, maybe seven now? do you trust them? do you trust them regarding yourfamilies trust them? do you trust them regarding your families and your wives? it was the russians that was bombing and shelling us from the beginning of this brutal war. it is a big decision for a father to me. —— to make. martin patience is watching developments from beirut in neighbouring lebanon... is it right to call this a ceasefire anymore, do you think?|j is it right to call this a ceasefire anymore, do you think? i do not think so, we have had conflicting reports, but one report suggested that the rebels were firing mortar shells at one of the evacuation corridors, were civilians were supposed to leave. that has been denied by them. but we are hearing reports from russian media but not a single civilian has managed to leave eastern ghouta this morning. secondly, we are hearing from a uk based monitoring group who have said that the syrian government has carried out air strikes on two towns in affected areas. it appears that there has been a resumption of violence and let us remember, this ceasefire, the temporary ceasefire, it was only meant to last for five hours, so many it was only meant to last for five hours, so many were it was only meant to last for five hours, so many were expecting the violence to resume when it ended anyway. in the meantime, there are reports of civilians being trapped without adequate food, then fear of their lives, and these reports of a chlorine gas attack. has any more detail emerged about that? not specifically regarding a chlorine gas attack, that happened over the weekend. in terms of trying to get humanitarian assistance into that area, i wasjust begin to humanitarian assistance into that area, i was just begin to someone from one of the international ngos and one of the international outfits and one of the international outfits and they have said, we simply cannot do it within a window or five hours, we only found out about this yesterday along with the rest of the world, all of the parties need to be signed up because otherwise if we try to get in there, we could come underfire from try to get in there, we could come under fire from the syrian government and the russians, or the rebels themselves. so it is a very dangerous situation and in order for that to happen they have said there must be agreement on all sides, but the one thing that we have seen vince hilaire is a complete lack of agreement from the international community. so perhaps we should not be surprised when this ceasefire as crumble so quickly. —— we have seen in serie a. —— we have seen in syria. the bbc has learned that women in syria have been sexually exploited by men delivering aid on behalf of the un and international charities. a new report says that men would trade food and transportation in return for sexual favours. danielle spencer is a humanitarian worker who conducted focus groups with these women, and she spoke to our diplomatic correspondent james landale. .. so they were withholding the aid that had been delivered and then using these women for sex. so, this was a range of women, women of different ages in the group. some had experienced it themselves. some were very distraught. i remember one woman crying in the room. she was very upset. you know, women and girls need to be protected when they are trying to receive food. and when they are trying to read the —— and when they are trying to receive soap and basic items in order to live. the last thing you need is a man that you are supposed to trust and receive aid from then asking you to have sex with him and withholding that aid from you. the number of people in britain living with diabetes has doubled over the past 20 years, according to a leading charity. diabetes uk say almost 3.7 million people have the condition and warned there could be nearly one million people who aren't aware they have it. the charity describe it as the "fastest growing health crisis of our time". the largest cable operator in america is hoping to buy the sky television group. comcast, which owns the tv network nbc and universal pictures, has put in a bid for twenty two billion pounds. the offer challenges an existing bid of 18.billion from 21st century fox, which has a minority stake in sky. let us discuss this latest development with stuart purvis, who isa development with stuart purvis, who is a member and a senior executive at itn and oxfam. he is very board member at channel 4. rupert murdoch does not own the majority of shares and therefore comcast has the right to outbid rupert murdoch for those shares. we are going to have an auction. no other complications, a straightforward option and in that auction there will come a moment when the models must decide whether they are buyers or sellers. when exactly will the cash out on sky? will they do it now or later? how surprising is this? we knew that comcast were interested in gate—crashing the deal but we did not know how they would do it. they have done it any very clever way. this simple deal will be attractive to regulators and shareholders. it will force the price up. they are prepared to pay for it that is. it also potentially derails this whole deal between the murdochs and disney which would be an interest of comcast. they might be in love with sky and be prepared to pay a lot of money, but they will look at how they can disrupt their competitors. is that the main motivation? why is comcast interested ? probably is that the main motivation? why is comcast interested? probably a bit of both. they are very big group. they moved into movies and nbc and they already control nbc news, probably die loosely regarded news service on american tv, so they know the business well. i am sure that they would get on well with the existing sky management which is high quality management. lots of things going for it but the pressure point, nobody has probably thought before that rupert murdoch would get into a bidding warfor something most people thought he already owned! that is where it gets complicated but it is relatively straight forward now, the highest bidder will win. you provided on was the solution for regulators that we re the solution for regulators that were worried about... yes, all of the regularly plumbing of some kind thatis the regularly plumbing of some kind that is going on at the moment, a lot of this has arisen because the murdochs all in much of tv and print and can be very influential, comcast is not involved in print media anywhere, let alone in the uk, so you either like them as a proper company or they do not, but actually, they can put money on the table, that would be welcomed by the shareholders. one irony is that the prices going up because sky has been so prices going up because sky has been so successful in the prem a—league option. it was by being so successful in that auction that they have put up the price of their own shares and therefore rupert murdoch will have to pay more money for the company which he actually helped to get such a good deal for company which he actually helped to get such a good dealfor in company which he actually helped to get such a good deal for in the first place, lots of ironies involved in this. indeed, very good to talk to you. thank you. time for another look at the weather. thank you. as we have been hearing, there have been big problems out and about on the roads and the rails in particular. there is a severe weather warning in force. the snow showers will continue to work in, particularly across kent were the ones will not change direction, so father heavy falls of snow here. for eastern england and scotland, the snow showers are coming through thick and fast but whenever you are located, it is a cold afternoon. overnight tonight the winds will start to switch around into the easterly direction and the heavy showers are going to start to be steered more across north—east england, eastern and northern areas of scotland, that is where the heaviest snow will be and the most disrupt the snow. but there will be a widespread burst of sharp frost with us tonight. over the next two days, wednesday and thursday, there is another amber severe weather warning for snow. five to ten centimetres of snow expected. we could even see up to 40 centimetres in other locations. this will be highly disruptive and some of that heavy snow will be working right into the heart of the central belt. that visual weather. —— that is your weather. hundreds of schools have been closed, roads have been blocked and rail services and flights have been cancelled because of heavy snow and freezing temperatures. i think the concern is with temperatures as low as they are what is now coming down will remain and more heavy snow forecast for the end of the week. a met office amber warning of snow and ice causing disruption is in place across much of north east and eastern england and the south east. international trade secretary liam fox is to argue that staying in any form of customs union with the eu after brexit would be a "complete sell—out" for the uk. there are reports of air strikes and shelling in the syrian rebel—controlled enclave of eastern ghouta, where a five hour ceasefire ordered by russia is meant to have come into force. us cable tv giant comcast has made a £22 billion bid for sky, challenging an existing offer from rupert murdoch's 21st century fox. in the world of sport. starting with football. arsenal. bad news if you areafan. football. arsenal. bad news if you are a fan. 3—0 to manchester city defeat in the league cup final. the same opponents in the premier league on thursday. ian wright has urged oursaintanger —— on thursday. ian wright has urged our saint anger —— arsene wenger to step down at the end of the season. and he said a two year deal in the summer was a mistake. if it played out like it is playing out now, you don't take up the option simply because something has to change. i wa nt because something has to change. i want arsenal to challenge again, signing exciting players, someone coming in and around arsenal to lay down the law to people and a new manager and players who are on easy street literally. a few of them own easy street. neil lennon has two judges from the scottish football association. he reacted angrily when coal and work we re reacted angrily when coal and work were rewarded a penalty leading to the equaliser. he was sent to the stands and discard the standard of refereeing in scotland at mickey mouse. misconduct and criticising a match official charges. usain bolt will fulfil a dream in june match official charges. usain bolt will fulfil a dream injune when he plays football in old trafford. he has made no secret of the fact he would love to be a professional footballer. he will captain the world i! in the soccer aid match where he takes on robbie williams's england side. a less stars, footballing legends and he has a celebration plan for when he scores. —— ablest stars. woodhouse was due to headline the bill when his opponent suffered a right ending injury. ryan wilson's tournament could be over. he tangled with nathan hughes at murrayfield and he will appear before the disciplinary committee tomorrow. sir chris high has urged fans to stick with the sport despite recent doping controversies. he says the majority of athletes are clean and it is not only cycling affected by the issues. cycling like all sport has its challenges. i can't think of any sport that has not had controversy with doping and issues there. yeah, sadly, it is part of modern sport. pa rt sadly, it is part of modern sport. part of sport since day one. all we can do as athletes and ambassadors is to remind people there are the majority of athletes doing it the right way. women golf players will play in a men's tournament for the first time later this year. thomas bjorkman will partner katrina matthew in st albans in may. men's and women's teams will feature and itaims to and women's teams will feature and it aims to be the equivalent of the twe nty20 it aims to be the equivalent of the twenty20 competition in cricket. three members of the same family are missing after an explosion at a flat in leicester. we have out an update from leicestershire police in relation to the fight people named as missing and unfortunately officers say they found remains. 46—year—old mary and her son shane, 18 and 17—year—old sean. and 18—year—old leah, 22—year—old victoria, believed to have worked in the polish supermarket below the two story flat. —— storey. relatives have been told, getting support. five people confirmed to have died and five people treated at hospital, one with life threatening injuries. throughout today, like yesterday, big trucks. demolition companies dealing with the debris which was blown across four lanes on sunday night. police college is an active scene. evidence being gallant. a search and rescue operation and the emergency services still committed to people who may be trapped still underneath the rubble. road and rail obstruction after heavy snowfall. police say driving conditions are treacherous. police say driving conditions are "treacherous" in places as a band of wintry weather and very low temperatures sweeps westwards. pete williams from the rac is in bristol. conditions treacherous. in the east and the north—east in particular. 20% up in terms of the number of brea kd owns 20% up in terms of the number of breakdowns attended. a large number of minor accidents. people are skidding and slipping on the snowy, icy conditions. we advise those having to make a journey, certainly a long one, to do simple preparations. check their forces of winter. plenty of fuel for your journey, a good level of oil. one third of the vehicles we tend to have a dangerously low level of oil. top that up. check your tyres for tread. plenty of tread to give grip and traction on the road and at the right pressure. windscreens in good condition and effective in clearing them. check the coolant level. you don't want to overheat. e is for electric. make sure you lights are working and the lenses are clear from the salt on the roads. screen wash. make sure you have a really good quality screen wash effective than to —15 or —20 seven make sure you can keep the windscreen clear and you have good vision of the road. and for the next few days, not just today, this advice? and for the week ahead, yes. quick checks, pack them in you could avoid a winter break down and distress and inconvenience that will cause. the local conditions, bear them in mine. reduce your speed, with extra room between your car and the vehicle in front. stopping distances could be five — eight times the distance of normal. take care. think about what would happen if you suffer a breakdown or are stranded somewhere in all the traffic. pack extra warm clothes. waterproofs. robust footwear in case you have to get out in the snow. if you do anticipate that, pack a shovel. you would be grateful if you get stuck on ice. have a fully topped up mobile phone, water, potentially a hot drink and some food. just in case you have to sustain yourself on a long journey. this was the scene in the romanian capital bucharest this morning after heavy snowfall. temperatures have plunged to minus seven. schools in the city have been closed for the next two days. thousands of extra people have been brought in by local authorities to help residents deal with the severe weather. and in italy soldiers have been deployed as the snow has a big effect. the cup tie between milan and lazio postponed. here she is in vienna. what is the temperature and conditions? about -9, an icy wind. the snow has just begun to fall again. really, people are bracing themselves up here, wrapping themselves up here, wrapping themselves up here, wrapping themselves up warm. vienna gets cold temperatures. cold snaps like this usually come only every few years or so. in the mountains, we have had temperatures measuring around —30 degrees. tonight, they are saying the forecast is going down to —25. this has made things very difficult for people who are homeless, shelters are full of people here in austria. and in other parts of central europe in countries like poland, several deaths have been reported with people dying from exposure. people here really bracing for this arctic weather which has hit central europe at the moment. with the icy winds, it is making things feel even colder than the temperature actually are. get yourself somewhere warm, bethany. a fifth british tourist has died following a helicopter crash in the grand canyon more than two weeks ago. 29—year—old eleanor udall died in a las vegas hospital, four days after her husband, jonathan. the couple were on their honeymoon when the accident happened. three of their friends were also killed in the crash. labour have condemned borisjohnson over the congestion charge. why are you so annoyed ? over the congestion charge. why are you so annoyed? it was throwaway, clip and a tactless statement by the foreign secretary comparing border between two london boroughs with that between the irish republic and northern ireland. clearly a silly thing for the foreign secretary to say and a reckless thing to say. there are many people living along the border who are deeply worried about how the border can be kept openin about how the border can be kept open in light of brexit and how we can make sure in keeping it open we preserve the good friday agreement and the peace settlement. boris johnson simply in a typically frankly facile way. comparison between london and northern ireland, frankly i am thinking it was ludicrous. you could say he was talking about an actual transactions and these things can be done with technological advancements fairly simply over time. you'd think he is ignoring the wider implications of a ha rd ignoring the wider implications of a hard border? clearly. it has been noticeable in recent interventions by the foreign secretary, speeches, articles, he has singularly failed to mention the northern ireland border. one of the most pressing problems we face with respect to brexit. at a time which relationships between our country and the irish republic have been challenged by the brexit question, and the question of power—sharing in northern ireland, it is a very foolish wave of the foreign secretary to intervene. frankly, he ought to know better, think a little more before he engages in something about which she understands very little clearly. we found out labour's positions on a customs union with the eu after brexit. your leader said that would go some way to solving the case you in ireland. it remains the case that the eu, doesn't it, that the uk cannot cherry pick bits and pieces of european rules that it wants to. why is there any reason it should view that proposal by jeremy is there any reason it should view that proposal byjeremy corbyn any differently than the way it has from government ministers?” differently than the way it has from government ministers? i think they will see it is one of the ways we can keep the border open, effectively having britain within with northern ireland within a customs union. customs, checks... it is one of the tools we need to keep to maintain the good friday agreement. jeremy corbyn was right to make that clear. it is imperative we keep the border open and free of infrastructure on the island of ireland. staying in a customs union with the eu is one of the ways to do that. that is why it has been so foolish of the tory government to refuse to countenance the prospect of staying in a customs union. it almost guarantees their position that we will end up with a hard border on the island of ireland. the foreign secretary was not serious this morning, no one is serious. no one has come up with a reasonable explanation about how that would work. heavy snowfall hits parts of the uk causing travel disruption and school closures. the trade secretary liam fox will defend plans to be a customs union in order to strike bilateral deals after brexit, but his former top official said it is like swapping 83 course meal for a packet of crisps. reports of air strikes and shelling in the syrian controlled enclave of eastern ghouta where a five hour ceasefire is said to have come into force. us cable tv giant comcast has made a £22.1 billion bid for sky, challenging an existing offer from rupert murdoch's 21st century fox. it had already agreed to buy the 61% of sky it does not already own. comcast chief executive brian roberts says he's "confident" the offer would be cleared by regulators. more on this in a moment. drivers opting for petrol rather than diesel cars are partly to blame for a rising carbon dioxide emissions from new vehicles. the car industry trade body says a 0.8% increase to 121 grams per kilometre is the first rise since the year 2000. a division of troubled lender provident financial has been told to pay almost £169 million in compensation to customers. the financial conduct authority said provident‘s vanquis unit failed to properly disclose charges on one of its popular repayment plans. the bradford—based company has also been fined £2 million. good morning. there could be a battle for control of sky. comcast has launched a £22 billion bid for the country. that is despite 20th century fox already having agreed a deal worth more than £18 billion. it wa nts deal worth more than £18 billion. it wants the 61% of sky it does not already own. joining us now is alice enders, director of research at enders analysis. up up until now we were led to believe mr murdoch would get his hands on it and it was a done deal almost. who is the new bid? comcast in the us, fixed line broadband is ex—growth. they do not have an international presence. this would be their first international presence and they would acquire premium pay—tv company. let's talk about the company. let's talk about the company. prepared to pay £22 billion, £4 billion more than agreed with rupert murdoch? the endgame of the fox sky deal is still ahead of us. 61% of the vote is available as you know. we're getting through the regulatory clearance of fox— sky here in the uk. bearing in mind december fox sold itself in a swap to disney. we have a potential owner in disney of sky and a potential bidding war, we think, with disney also entering the fray to try and acquire sky from the independent shareholders. what strikes me is they are squabbling over a diminishing part, diminishing return because we are looking at the market and used to talking about disney and fox and all these big corporations that control what we watch, how we are entertained, but there are new players like amazon, networks. —— netflix. sky is a family business although those are attractive prospect. roberts was convinced to purchase sky by a taxi driver. during a trip to london. there is still a market for a premium pay—tv product bearing in mind sky also has the very valuable football rights that a lot of fans want to see. as you know, one of the reasons why sky is so attractive at this point is because it got a very good outcome from the premier league option. —— auction. some markets numbers for you. shares up some markets numbers for you. shares up 20%, sky, because of the surprise bid. 22 billions. investors like that. ftse 100, bid. 22 billions. investors like that. ftse100, a quarter almost. the action is in the economy of the us. by the end of the week getting an idea. we will get an indication of interest rates and borrowing from the world's largest economy. the expected rise in interest rates... keep a close eye on those. more later. the uk is facing a growing threat from far right terrorism. commissioner mark rowley who will retire next month says four terrorist attacks where disrupted last year including islamist plots. occasionally in the past we have found lone actors planning terror acts. now, organisation. 18 months ago based on intelligence we have provided, the home secretary this gross national action. the clear terrorist organisation, unashamedly a home—grown, neo—nazi, white supremacist, terrorist organisation. that has to be the concern we now have, the degree of organisation. that reflects the fact we are now announcing a combination of organised and individuals acting led to four plots being foiled last year. a police officer who resigned for failing to confront the gunman who killed seventeen people at a school in florida has hit back after being called a "coward" by president trump. scot peterson insisted he had "taken up a tactical position" outside a school building because he believed the shots were originating from outside. at a meeting on gun control at the white house, mr trump told state governors that he would have acted more bravely. here's peter bowes. cheering less than two weeks after the attack on their school, students at stoneman douglas high have something to raise their spirits. their hockey players have just become state champions. it is a bittersweet victory for a school still struggling with the aftermath to the shooting. this was not for us, it was for the 17 victims. we played for them. so passionate and emotional. it is all for them. since the shooting, the mood in america over gun control appears to have changed. students have taken to the streets to demand tougher laws and the president has gone on the offensive. at a meeting with state governors, he rounded on police officers who he believed did not do enough to help. i got to watch some deputy sheriffs performing this weekend. they were not exactly medal of honour winners, all right? how they performed was, frankly, disgusting. scot peterson, a 32 year veteran officer who had been assigned to guard the school, resigned last week after it emerged he remained outside the building where most of the pupils were killed. he issued a statement through his lawyer, saying... for his part, president trump suggested that his response would have been different... you know, i really believe, you don't know until you are tested but i really believe i would run in there even if i didn't have a weapon and i think most of the people in this room would have done that too. he also suggested some teachers should been be armed with guns. that idea has been met with opposition. the governor of the washington state said he had been listening to those affected. he said it included some of those who did not want to be "pistol packing teachers". i understand that you have suggested this and we listen to people about it, maybe it does not look so good later but i suggest we need a little less tweeting and a bit more listening. let's take that off the table and move forward. students in florida prepare to go back to classrooms, but the intense debate over how to make american schools safe continues. peter bowes, bbc news. the headlines are coming up on the bbc news channel. in a moment we say goodbye to viewers on bbc two — first we leave you with for a look at the weather... hearing that the snow has been causing significant problems as expected. the big two areas, the polar low travelling across england into north wales. localised disruption. towards south east england, the line of showers forming because of the winds bringing carnage across parts of kent. the m20 resembling a car park. the showers feeding in. not a change in direction, the wind through the afternoon. east and central england and east and central scotland... the other feature of the weather, it is freezing cold. temperatures struggling to get much above freezing. looking at the picture of an eye, subtle changes in the weather. —— overnight. heavy showers across north—east england, eastern and northern areas of scotland. widespread frost, temperatures in the towns and cities down to minus five. in the countryside, a lot colder. the weather charts for wednesday, still with the flow of siberian air. the trough will encourage the showers turning even heavier across the north sea. they will be slamming their way into the north—east of england, northern and eastern scotland. the met office issued a amber severe weather warning. some areas could pick up over the next couple of days. widespread transport disruption. these areas... the winds blow the heavy snow across the central belt of scotland. high risk of disruption over the next couple of days. the daytime temperatures not getting above freezing in a lot of cases. the wind makes it more like minus ten tomorrow. this is the peak of the bitterly cold spell. but not much warmer towards the end of the week. low pressure jacking up from the south, and atlantic global. bumping into the cold air and will see significant heavy snow for wales northern ireland and england. blizzard conditions. no end to the transport disruption but moving further south later this week. this is bbc news and these are the top stories developing at 12 noon... heavy snowfall hits parts of the uk causing road and rail disruption as cold air sweeps in from russia. i think the concern is that with temperatures as low as they are, what's coming down now will remain, and we've got more heavy snow forecast for the end of the week. the met office issues amber warnings for large parts of north—east and south—east england. trade secretary liam fox will defend plans to leave the customs union after brexit but he's criticised by his former top civil servant. if you're going to give that up for the promise of some bilateral deals with markets that are much less important to us, it's like giving up a three—course meal for a packet of crisps. it's just not equivalent. a mother and two of her sons are believed to be among five people who died in an explosion in leicester. a temporary ceasefire in the syrian enclave of eastern ghouta appears to have collapsed with no aid reaching those trapped. also... the armed school officer branded a coward by donald trump defends his actions after the president says he would have tried to help. you know, i really believe — you don't know until you test it — but i really believe i would have run in there even if i didn't have a weapon. and i think most of the people in this room would done that, too. and american media giant, comcast, puts in a bid for sky challenging an existing offer from rupert murdoch's 21st century fox. good afternoon. welcome to bbc newsroom live. i'm reeta chakrabarti. heavy snowfall is hitting parts of the uk, causing road and rail disruption in many areas. police say driving conditions are "treacherous" in places as a band of wintry weather and very low temperatures sweeps westwards. many schools are shut and forecasters say some rural communities may be cut off. 45 children were led to safety after a bus crash near deeping st james in lincolnshire, though no injuries are reported. the met office has issued amber warnings for large parts of the country as cold air sweeps in from the east. up to 10cm of snow is expected today and as much as 20cm is predicted in some parts of eastern england, scotland and northern ireland by the end of today. trains have also been affected by the snowfall, with cancellations and disruptions on lines across the country. snow has closed liverpool airport's only runway but passengers are being advised to still turn up. phil bodmer is in pickering in north yorkshire... tell us about the conditions where you are, please. well, rita, we have heard several centimetres of the white stuff overnight, as i dip my foot in, you can see that it is covered and snowplough is and gritters have been working around the clock to keep the main route over the not york moors open between pickering to the south and whitby to the north. traffic is light on the meanwood the north. traffic is light on the mea nwood than it the north. traffic is light on the meanwood than it normally would be, this is main route but we have seen snow ploughs and gritting teams using this road quite a bit this morning so the authority is keen to keep it open. elsewhere across the north of england today there has been quite a bit of disruption on the rails and the airports. flights are running from the airports but the advice from airlines is that if you are heading abroad to turn up and allow yourself plenty of time. on the roads there have been problems on the m62, lincolnshire police dealt with five collisions before 6:30am and merseyside police also had a busy time in the area. lots of heavy snow has been falling across the country and that snow is slowly moving south and west words. the problems will come later tonight, as you can see, a fair amount of snow already but as the temperatures drop and fall below freezing, that is when it will form and the concern is that that will mean there will be more tricky conditions for tomorrow morning, especially as more snow falls, as is forecast overnight. that amber weather warning expired about 11am this morning but we did not have quite as much snow as was anticipated but nonetheless, conditions are less than ideal and as the temperatures drop tonight there is concern about the rush hour tomorrow morning. as far as we know, here in yorkshire and least, several schools are closed, several hundreds of schools, but people are going about their business as much as they can all be trying circumstances. phil bodmer, thank you. heavy snowfall is hitting parts of the uk, causing road and rail disruption in many areas. one of the worst affected is kent, where our correspondent robert hall said there is disruption on the roads and railways. well, it is still snowing here, quite heavy showers from time to time. in this area the forecasts were pretty well on the nose in the sense that we've got a swathe of snow running from the thames valley right across kent and into surrey and sussex. about five centimetres here in ashford, but elsewhere, towns and villages reporting a little bit more than that. in terms of the disruption, it's been very mixed. the main arterial routes overall are open but we have had real difficulties on the m20 near maidstone. westbound, that remains a problem, say kent police, with a number of abandoned vehicles and a number of accidents. elsewhere on the m20, on the a249, the major arterial road, that has a steep hill, again, we've had abandoned vehicles and a jackknifed lorry. that of course closes the roads and whenever that happens the gritters cannot get through. the gritters in this county of kent have been operating under what the county council have called a snow emergency plan, which means they get every available vehicle out and they alert farmers who have snow ploughs to look after the country roads. that has been in place but if the traffic does not run, the cars are not grinding the salt and the grit and melting the snow. that compounds the problems and physically the gritters cannot get through. on the rails, southeastern trains are running a normal timetable but there have been some delays and cancellations and they have combined smaller trains into larger trains in some instances, which are less likely to run into difficulties which are less likely to run into difficulties on icy or snowy surfaces. there have been disruptions to bus services on country roads that are perhaps less well treated and they have had to withdraw the services on those roads. dozens of schools have also been closed. pupils have difficulties getting to work. those that can have tried to remain open. advice to parents is to keep an eye on the relevant websites. overall, a bit of a mixed picture across the region. outside the envelope there's hardly any snow at all but within it, there is enough to cause problems, and the concern is that with temperatures as low as they are, that what has come down will remain, and we have more heavy snow forecast for the end of the week. probably more intense difficulties over the next few days. that was robert hall in kent. our correspondent, ben ando, is at colchester railway station where many services are being disrupted. then, you were telling us, commuters have had it fairly tough this morning. yes, that is correct and the thing is that right here in the weather is changing virtually from one moment to the next. a few minutes ago it was bright and sunny and you almost sense that could be the start of the floor. now the snow is coming down again in blustery flurries and that is making it really difficult for the planners at network rail and the train operating companies to decide on the best way forward. they do not want to cancel trains, they do not want this disruption, of course not, but when network rail yesterday looked at the forecast the thought that they would need to reduce the frequency with which trains can travel. they have had to travel more slowly, there are problems that the ice causes for points and signals, all of those things must be taken into consideration otherwise you will have the situation of hundreds of passion is possibly stranded on a train in the middle of nowhere. we did that and that caused some commuters to feel frustrated but overall, certainly at the station, we saw people treating the whole thing fairly pragmatically and understanding that there was a reason why the train service from here was operating a little bit less than 50% of the normal service. one forward they will try to reinstate some services and they are monitoring the situation all the time. it is extreme temperatures we are dealing with, we are not dealing with average winter weather. our infrastructure, both roads and rails, they are not built for this kind of temperatures, we do not normally see temperatures as low as this in east anglia, we are normally a warm and dry part of the country. the difficulty, as you heard, there we re the difficulty, as you heard, there were rail infrastructure is not to be built to cope with really extreme temperatures which are those being forecast because of the really cold temperatures coming in from the east and going forward. network rail and the train operating companies will plan the best that they can and there could be more dvds and more cancellations. thank you, ben ando. that is the situation on the trains. drivers are being warned to be careful in treacherous conditions. make sure you are only taking that journey if it is absolutely necessary. you can be assured that the motorways and major trunk roads are going to have been cleared and been treated but that is not to say that other areas will not have snow on the ground, and that may well affect traction and the way that your vehicle handles. joining me now is chris fawkes... hejoins us from he joins us from the bbc weather centre. it looks bad out there at the moment, and it is going to get worse. yes, for some. we can look out for the snow has been falling over the last 12 hours. there have been two areas, one was an area of low pressure that moved in last night from the north moore yorked areas. that has been driving south—west words, taking the heavy snow not just across south—west words, taking the heavy snow notjust across england but also affecting the north—west midlands and right away across wales as well. that feature is moving out of the way. that has brought several centimetres of snow, localised disruption. this line of showers has brought big problems to ten. the m20 is looking more like a car park than a motorway and you can see why, the showers have only been moving within the last hour. we are beginning to lose that anchor and they are drifting away. the showers should hopefully ease off in terms of intensity and let things get back to normal a little bit. beyond that, rita, tomorrow we have this bitterly cold siberian air moving in, tomorrow is the coldest day and with that cold air moving across the north sea, the tempter contrast will be at its greatest and that means we will have even heavier snow showers working across the north sea and targeting the north—east of england and the north—east of scotland, where the met office has already issued a severe amber weather warning. after that there is an area of low pressure from the south, this is towards the end of the beach, that will bring in a band of precipitation. we will have a band of snow moving across england, wales, northern ireland and coupled with strong winds we couldn't at blizzard conditions. to sum up the next two days, the north and east of scotla nd next two days, the north and east of scotland and the north—east of england is where we could see some significant transport disruption and towards the end the week the area is further south across england and wales, perhaps northern ireland, too, is where we could see disruption bringing blizzard conditions for some. thank you, chris. you can keep up to date with all the weather disruption by visiting the bbc news live page. that's bbc.co.uk/news. staying in a customs union with the eu would be a "sellout" of the uk's interests, according to the international trade secretary liam fox. he will deliver a speech to business leaders later, in which he is expected to say that the future of global trade will not be decided through strict arrangements like a customs union. let's get more now from our assistant political editor — norman smith — who is in central london, where liam fox will make his speech. liam fox is due to speak shortly, but he is risking angering certain people in the business community? yes, we know that leaving the customs union, the government regarded as one of the key planks of the approach to brexit because they have said and we will hear from you fox shortly, that it will enable the uk to strike its own trade gales, which is a great golden opportunity of brexit. they believe there are these and have the markets that we can take advantage of once we leave the customs union. liam fox will say that we must be morne morkel and agile, in particular, to take advantage of the emerging industries and the digital economy, we cannot afford to be bound by eu rules and regulations. however, has speech has been somewhat knocked to one side by an intervention by his former top civil servant, sir martin donnelly, the man that used to work alongside him the department for international trade, he has said that he thinks weaving the customs union and the single market would be so damaging that a future british government would actually have to ask to rejoin because he has said that leaving would have an immediate impact upon the british economy, and leave british firms at a competitive disadvantage and discouraged investment and turn britain from one of the most open economies in europe to one of the most bureaucratic. have a listen to what he has said. if you look at where we are now with fair and equal access to the very large rich eu market, which is nearly half of our service and goods exports, plus preferential markets, which gets us up to three—fifths of our trade, if you're going to give that up for the promise of some bi—lateral deals with markets that are far less important to us, well, it's like giving up a three course meal for a packet of crisps — it's just not equivalent and we have to recognise that reality before we take that decision. as if that was not good enough, sir martin said that the government's negotiating strategy, trying to get this frictionless trade deal with the eu without being a member of the single market or the customs union, that you would not need a crack negotiating team for that, he said you would need a fairy godmother! at the same time as that, we have had the same time as that, we have had the foreign secretary borisjohnson promoting controversy after he suggested that the idea of a hard border between northern ireland and the republic of ireland, well, he's got that could be avoided in the same way that borders between london boroughs like camden and westminster or camden and islington had been avoided with the london congestion charge. have a listen! we think we can have very efficient facilitations systems to make sure there's no need for a hard border and excessive checks between ireland and northern ireland. there's no border between islington... camden and westminster, but when i was mayor of london we invisibly took hundreds of millions of pounds from the accounts of people travelling between those two boroughs without any need for border checks whatever. and while all of that has been ticking off, the man who used to be the top dog at the world trade organisation has been telling mps on the brexit select committee that he does not believe there is much chance of avoiding a hard border between northern ireland and the republic, and for good measure, he has said that he is not sure that a two—year transition period will be long enough. so, an awful lot for liam fox to get his teeth into when we hear from liam fox to get his teeth into when we hearfrom him shortly, and you have to say, with the best will in the world, this is not the sort of build—up he would have wanted for the speech. because this is a speech that was designed as one of those keynote speeches set up by the government for what they have called the road to brexit. so we have already had last week the speech from borisjohnson already had last week the speech from boris johnson and already had last week the speech from borisjohnson and then we had davis davis over in vienna. liam fox's speech was made to be a key plank in the government's roads to brexit, setting up the keys were leaving the customs union and striking those free trade deals. now there is all sorts of noises being made where the dr fox will have to deal with. ok, norman, made where the dr fox will have to dealwith. 0k, norman, many thanks. we will bring you that speech by the trade secretary, liam fox, as soon as it happens. now the headlines... heavy snowfall hits parts of the uk causing road and rail disruption as cold air sweeps in from russia. trade secretary liam fox will defend plans to leave the customs union after brexit but he's criticised by his former top civil servant. a temporary ceasefire in the syrian enclave of eastern ghouta appears to have collapsed with no aid reaching those trapped. time for a sports update. hello, have to city city in the league cup final, arsenal legend ian wright has urged manager arsene wenger to step down at the end of the season and said that he cannot make the case of the manager can remain in his position. ian wright believes that although stan conte has lost interest and that a new two—year deal given the arsene wenger at the end of the summer was a mistake.|j would have given him one year with an option out of respect. but if it has played out like it is playing up now, you do not take up the option simply because something has to change. i want arsenal to start the challenge again, i want to see a sign to that make us excited again, i want someone to come into arsenal who will lay down the law to people and the new manager, whoever that is going to be and the players who are now on easy street, literally, a few of them only easy street. dewberry‘s head coach neil lennon has received two charges from the scottish fa following his behaviour in saturday's 2—2 draw at command. lennon reacted angrily when the referee awarded the man at a penalty which led to the equaliser in the match. he was then sent to the stands and later described the standard of refereeing in scotland asa standard of refereeing in scotland as a mickey mouse. he faces charges of misconduct and of criticising a match official. the eight time olympic medallist usain bolt will fulfil a dream in june olympic medallist usain bolt will fulfil a dream injune when he plays football at old trafford. he is a huge manchester united fan and has made no secret of the fact that he would love to be a professional footballer and his first there will be as captain of the world 11 in the soccer aid match when they take on sanghera's robbie williams england side. usain bolt has said that he had a special celebration planned for when he scores. boxer curtis woodhouse is considering his future in the sport after the death of a boxer at the weekend. he was due to headline in a new bout coming up. he has said it questions whether the sport is justifiable. women golfers will play in the men's european golf tour event for the first time later this year. ryder cup captain thomas bjorn will partner solheim cup captain trina matthew at this enduring club in the month of may. the tournament has it six hole matchplay format and will feature men's and women's teams, it is to be the equivalent of crickets twe nty20 teams, it is to be the equivalent of crickets twenty20 cup edition. that is all the sport for now, we will have a full round—up at 1:30pm. thank you for that update. fighting is reported to be continuing in eastern ghouta, the enclave of damascus controlled by syrian rebels. the brief respite was ordered by syria's ally russia, which said it would be repeated daily to allow civilians to leave the besieged enclave. an estimated 400,000 men, women and children are trapped in eastern ghouta and in the last week more than 560 people have been killed — some reportedly from the effects of chlorine gas exposure. food and medicine are in short supply there but in the first few hours of the ceasefire, none of it has been brought into the enclave. the window is meant to allow civilians to leave the besieged the area but one resident of eastern ghouta — mouayed — told the bbc he was concerned about trusting those enforcing the pause in hostilities. do you trust your killers, do you trust the regime that is killing you five years, maybe seven now? do you trust them? do you trust them regarding your families and your wives? it was the russians that was bombing and shelling us from the beginning of this brutal war. it is a really big decision for a father to make. earlier i spoke to our middle east correspondent, martin patient who is following developments from beirut in neighbouring lebanon. we have had conflicting reports but one report suggested that the rebels we re one report suggested that the rebels were filing mortar shells at one of the evacuation cottagers were civilians were supposed to leave, that has been denied by them. but we are hearing reports from russian media that not a single civilian has managed to leave eastern ghouta this morning. secondly, we have heard from a uk based monitoring group and they have said that the syrian government has carried out air strikes on two towns in the affected areas. so it does appear that there has been a resumption of violence and let us remember that the ceasefire, the temporary ceasefire was only supposed to last for five hours, so i think many in eastern ghouta were expecting the violence to resume when it ended anyway. and in the meantime, there are reports of civilians being trapped without adequate food, without adequate... infearof their adequate food, without adequate... in fear of their lives and reports ofa in fear of their lives and reports of a chlorine gas attack. had any more details emerged about that? not specifically regarding the chlorine gas attack, that happened over the weekend. in terms of trying to get humanitarian assistance into that area, i wasjust humanitarian assistance into that area, i was just speaking to somebody from one of the international ngos, one of the international outfits, and they have said, look, we simply cannot do it within a window or five hours, we only found out about this yesterday along with the rest of the world, all of the parties have to be signed up, otherwise, if we try to get in there, it is liable that we could come underfire there, it is liable that we could come under fire from the syrian government and the russians and even the rebels themselves. it is a very dangerous situation and in order for that to happen they had said that there must be agreement on all sides, but the one thing that we have seen in syria is a complete lack of agreement from the international community. so perhaps we should not be surprised when this ceasefi res we should not be surprised when this ceasefires crumble so quickly. our correspondent, martin patience. the foreign secretary borisjohnson says the government won't fund any aid agency that allows the exploitation of women in southern syria. it follows fresh evidence given to the bbc that some women in the south of the country have been abused by men delivering aid on behalf of the united nations and international charities. here's our diplomatic correspondent, james landale. the rebel—held conclave of eastern ghouta in damascus. the government has called for a pause in fighting but there was little sign of that yet. to the south it has emerged that a local officials have been demanding sex from refugees in return for germanic a renewed. we are delivering on behalf of international charities. so they were withholding the aid that had been delivered and then using these women for sex. so, this was a range of women, women of different ages in the group. some had experienced it themselves. some were very distraught. i remember one woman crying in the room. she was very upset. daniel spencer, an experienced aid worker who first heard of this in jordan, said the expectation was so widespread that some syrian women refused to go to distribution centres because people would have assumed they had for aid. —— they had offered their bodies for aid. you know, women and girls need to be protected when they are trying to receive food and soap and basic items in order to live. we interrupt this now to go to liam fox and his speech which is coming live from central london. it has caused a number of important questions to be are. some of these relate specifically to the referendum decision itself, others are questions which needed to be addressed anyway. but have been brought into sharper focus by that decision. where do we say our place in the world? what sort of economy and what sort of country do we want to be? what should our influence be in global affairs and global trade? and how do we generate the income we will need to ensure a prosperous and secure future for the generations that, after us? since the referendum vote, and the creation of the department for international trade, my ministerial team and i have undertaken over 150 overseas visits to all parts of the globe, the old friends and new allies alike, and the market is large and small. from across the world, the team to deepen trade and investment ties with this country, and once again here as champion the case for fry fed —— trade, —— free trade, is palpable. so why should that make us care? we have record levels of employment, our success is underpinned by a legal system whose reputation is second to none. we have a skilled workforce and the low tax and well regulated economy. we are home to some of the world's finest universities, our research and development capabilities are cutting edge and other financial institutions a world leading. we are in the right time zone to trade with asia in the morning and the united states in the afternoon, and, of course, we speak english, the language of global business. in 2017, i saw the highest level of foreign direct investment projects landing in the uk in our history. as the world's bidding companies offered a strong vote of confidence in the future of our economy. and this was matched by an increase of some 11% in the value of our exports. in 2017, 600 and £17 billion of uk goods and services we re billion of uk goods and services were sold overseas, narrowing our trade deficit by just were sold overseas, narrowing our trade deficit byjust under £7 billion. the second half of 2017 also saw strong growth in manufacturing output. partly as a result of this improved export performance, order books for british manufacturers remained well above the long—term average and this is testa m e nt to the long—term average and this is testament to the hard work and dedication from british businesses, large and small, up and down the uk. we also saw a continued explosion of interest in british tech and innovation. in the last year, we have had more than 50,000 tech start—ups in our country and more venture capital in tech was invested in london last year than in the whole of germany, france, spain and ireland put together. and this all adds up to an extremely positive picture, one which should give us confidence in dealing with the global challenges that lie ahead and the opportunities that we must seize. this confidence is key to being able to take advantage of a dramatically shifting picture around the world, where previous assumptions are being challenged and influence is moving, and new markets are blossoming. it often repeat the fa ct are blossoming. it often repeat the fact that the imf estimates that it within the next ten to 15 years, 90%, 90% of global economic growth will originate from outside the european union. this is not in any way to diminish the importance of europe as an economic market and partner, but merely to point out the scale of the shift in global economic activity, so that we are orientated towards the most income generating parts of the global economy. the thriving economies of south and east asia and increasing africa, are and will become even more important as the new—found prosperity drives demand for the goods and services of the developed by by2020, by 2020, china's middle class is expected to number 600 million. by 2050, africa and its own will represent 54% of the world population increase. by 2030, china will have over 220 cities with a population greater than 1 million people. the whole of europe will have 35. on top of the first asia—pacific growth, addicted 1.1 billion middle—class applicants by 2060. such a shift, notjust in global demographics but in the rise of the collective wealth of developing countries will determine where the golden opportunities of the future will be. and where we must be, too. markets are already out there for the best that britain has to offer. i see it on every overseas trade visit i make. for uk export goods, top end fashion, high—quality cars, scotch whiskey, high—end manufacturing. the demand is growing. for professional services, accountancy to law to education to life sciences, financial services. these newly emergent middle classes will need more of the skills we are already world —class more of the skills we are already world—class in. it is here we will find the united kingdom's unique comparative advantage. we must as a country set our sights on this future. we have to take a long—term view and our future future. we have to take a long—term view and ourfuture must future. we have to take a long—term view and our future must be global. because the pattern of our trade is changing. 57% of britain's exports are now to outside the eu compared with only 46% in 2006. what is more, while our eu exports are still dominated by goods, our non—eu exports are evenly split between goods and services. our approach should not be simply identifying how much of our current relationship we wa nt to much of our current relationship we want to keep. but what we need to rospa in a rapidly changing global environment. we cannot let the practices and the patterns of the past constraint the opportunities of the future. we need an economic outlook that takes advantage of the opportunities europe will continue to bring but limiting... the uk is perfectly placed to partner with economic powerhouses of the future and they in turn are eager for the mutual prosperity that such a partnership will bring. to do this, we need the ability to exercise a fully independent trade policy. we have to maximise our overall trading opportunities for the uk to secure the prosperity of our people. in the first speech i gave as secretary of state for international trade, i set out britain's proud tradition of defending the concept and practice of free trade. time and time again studies have found evidence of a strong, positive correlation between economic openness and growth. during the 1990s, per capita income grew three times faster in the developing countries that lowered trade barriers than in those that did not. that effect is not confined to developing countries either. the oecd growth products through my project found a 4% rise in income per capita, in other words, free—trade works. globalisation has been a huge and sustainable benefits to the world economy, including through trades, specialisation and innovation. increased competition, economies of scale and global value chains have all contributed to a productivity revolution. boosting the output of businesses across the globe. and when free—trade agreements are reached, the positive effect on businesses, industries and economies can be remarkable. the eu career free—trade agreement which came into effect injuly 2011 is just one example. in the year before the deal was agreed, the uk beer and cider industry sold almost nothing to career. exports were under £2 million. —— korea. sales since 2017 have gone to £93 million to south korea. trade can be important to developing countries as they gain access to new cutting—edge technologies and millions more consumers of their goods. as the world is emerging and developing economies have liberalised trade practices, prosperity has spread, bringing industry, jobs and wealth weather was once only deprivation. according to the world bank, the three decades between 1981 and 2010 witnessed the single greatest decrease in material deprivation in human history. 1 billion people were taken out of abject poverty in just one generation. that is why it is morally unthinkable to reject free and open trade. it is notjust overseas markets that benefit. the benefit from free trade. we do so here at home as well. although it might not always be noticed, the wider benefits of a liberal trade policy are shared by consumers and households across the country. by providing a wider choice of goods at a lower price. it provides a supermarket with the ability to sell usa supermarket with the ability to sell us a full range of foods all year round. enables electronic retailers to sell us increasingly sophisticated technology at lower prices from televisions to computers to mobile phones. all this helps incomes are further. for example, in the decade to 2006, the real import price of clothing fell by 38%, a real help for families with children. but more than lower prices, open markets allow consumers the ability to choose where they sort the goods to ensure sustainability and the propagation of our wider values, including our environmental agenda and maintaining the high standards in the food that we can buy. as with many freedoms, free and open trade can be taken for granted. but the reality is that these freedoms and the benefits that labour still have been hard won and have to continually be defended from the siren call of protectionism and the siren call of protectionism and the anti—trade lobby. that is why our vision for a post—brexit britain is one of leadership. the uk is already a committed member of the world trade organisation. a body which is the home of the international rules —based trading system... currently, our direction and action within the wto is determined by our membership of the eu but soon the uk will regain full authority of independent membership. establish our own trading schedules. taking the necessary steps so that on leaving the eu we will exceed —— ceded to the agreement on government procurement and begin to exercise power independent voice. a stylish defender of trading rights and freedoms not only at the wto but other international bodies. moreover, we can help forge the way and the liberalisation of those areas of world trade where the wto and other bodies have yet to extend their reach. services, digitaltrade and the knowledge economy. the digital economy is growing 32% faster than the wider economy and creating jobs three times more quickly. digital trade is inherently transnational and e—commerce offers previously unknown opportunities for snes previously unknown opportunities for s n es and individuals, particularly woman to take part in the globalised economy “— woman to take part in the globalised economy —— smes. and in many areas the eu has been unable to keep pace with the agenda. there is a real opportunity for the uk to becoming global leader in digital trade. if we are to lead, we must ask ourselves what leadership looks like. as i alluded to earlier, part of the failure of current trading practices has been the rigidity. there is a tendency amongst some nations to cling to the known trading mechanisms more suited to the structures of the past than the digital age of the future. flexibility and agility, then, are the key to any future trade policy. the ability to react quickly to new developments, to explore new opportunities and nurture frightening industries will be the key to growth and prosperity in the coming years. that is why my department is pursuing a more flexible approach to our country's trading future. there is a growing awareness that a full—blown gold—plated free—trade agreement may not be the only solution in a fast changing global economy. fortu nately, changing global economy. fortunately, there is a global trade tool box to which we can choose the most appropriate mechanisms for liberalising trade. these range from being members of multilateral agreements to mutual recognition agreements to mutual recognition agreements and the source of outcome based equivalents approach recently advanced by the governor of the bank of england. we will consider multi—country alliances of the like—minded, right down to bilateral arrangements using all the advantages available to us, from our diplomatic network to the system of prime ministerial trade envoys. all of these options are available. but only to countries with independent trade policies. in the past 20 months of dit‘s existence we have open dialogue with countries like as the united states, the uae and australia. these will lay the groundwork to future trade agreements. and identifying nontariff barriers to trade that can be removed earlier. we have begun appointing a new network of her majesty'strade commission is based on market able to maximise exports and investment is free from centralised targets. with a presence in 108 countries and working across government, dit is a fully integrated trade department bringing together investment, export promotion, export finance, trade policy. we are currently piloting a new global growth service, increasing our support for those medium—sized businesses with international ambitions, and dit also has an extensive range of resources available to sme‘s and new exporter. by nasa has been recognised as a flexible credit agency. £3 billion was provided in support helping 221 uk countries sell to 63 countries around the world and 79% of these companies where smes. great .gov .uk was launched in 2016 and has been visited by over 2.68 million users. we are reviewing our wider strategy on exports and investment including undertaking and expert strategy review working alongside the industrial strategy to identify what more we can do to help exports large and small across the uk, businesses maximising the export potential. working hard to create the right framework for business and especially our small and medium—sized businesses to enable them to make the most of their innovation, ingenuity and expertise that are the cornerstone of our economy. so what does all of this mean? for our future relationship with the european union and beyond? for those firms that trade with the eu, keeping all of their regulations, customs union, single market and external tariffs does like an easy option. but we cannot allow our future to be determined by our past. instead, we should turn our past. instead, we should turn our back into the global training winds of the future and our sail. unlock the vital prosperity we need, offered better preferential agreements and work more closely with developing countries. and develop a trade policy working for the long—term interests of businesses, citizens and future generations. there has been a lot of debate in recent days about the eu's customs union. as we are leaving the eu, necessarily we cannot remain in the customs union which is open only to eu member states. the alternative has been proposed that we enter a new customs union with the european union. but what would this mean? first of all, for goods we would have to accept eu trade rules without any say in how they were made. handing brussels considerable control over the uk's external trade policy. secondly, it would limit our ability to reach new trade agreements with the world's fastest—growing economies. third, it would limit our ability to develop trade and development policies that would offer new ways for the world's poorest nations to trade their way out of poverty. what would a customs union actually consist of? which sectors would be covered? would it be like turkey which has a customs union but only for industrial goods and some agricultural products? whatever it covered, should such a customs union be negotiated, we would be forced to allow goods from other countries into our markets tariff free, on terms set by brussels, without any tariff free access to the markets of other countries in return. and, if we were to disagree, brussels could simply overrule us. those of the political left who opposed the agreements between the eu and the united states might want to consider that in a customs union they would have to implement any elements of the agreement whether they like them or not in any sectors covered by a customs union as ruled takers, without any say in how the rules we re without any say in how the rules were made, we would be in a worse position than we are today. it would bea position than we are today. it would be a complete sell—out of britain's national interest and a betrayal of the voters in the referendum. then there is the issue of constraints on the ability to negotiate independence trade arrangements. a customs union would remove the bulk of incentives of other countries to enter into comprehensive free—trade agreements with the uk. if we were unable to alter the rules in whole sectors of our economy, as turkey has now discovered. the inevitable price of trying to negotiate with one arm tied behind our back is that we would become less attractive to potential trade partners and forfeit many of the opportunities that would otherwise be available to us. then, there is a question of our ability to help developing countries in the way we would like. not only does the eu have a high average external tariff, 5.1% compared for example to the us 3.5%, but it continues to operate tariffs in a way that particularly disadvantaged countries who want to add value to their primary commodities and move up value chains. as we leave the eu, we committed maintaining preferential access to developing countries. outside the customs union we would have the freedom to expand access and tackle barriers to trade to enable poorer countries generally to trade their way out of poverty and become less dependent on our aid budgets. many ngos the look to britain to lead in this area would find itaims britain to lead in this area would find it aims frustrated by the aims ofa find it aims frustrated by the aims of a customs union. remaining in a customs union of any type would only make sense if we were to abandon our global ambitions and limit our ability to shape our trade policy to the changes in the global environment that i have outlined. tomorrow's choices would be constrained by today's status quo. we would deny ourselves the opportunity to shape britain's base in the future world economy and our ability to influence the direction of that economy itself. of course, the government's aim is to ensure that uk companies as low as those from abroad retaining the maximum freedom to trade with and operate within european markets. we want european businesses to do the same in the uk. that is why we want to develop customs arrangements which lead to trade being as frictionless as possible at our borders in a tariff free environment with as few non—tariff barriers as possible. and northern ireland. it is of course a special is a part of our united kingdom as any other. so it is vital that it has a full share in our future prosperity and our opportunities as a trading nation. the avoidance of a hard border in northern ireland is of crucial importance. as is the prevention of trade barriers between northern ireland and great britain. we believe that a comprehensive and liberal trading agreement with the eu is the best way to deal with the crucially important issue of avoiding that hard border. britain has vigorously supported the trade agreements reached between the eu and other countries. such as canada and other countries. such as canada andjapan. we and other countries. such as canada and japan. we have done so because we believe in the principle of free trade. but also because we believe it is the best way to increase the prosperity of the of britain and the rest of europe. —— the people of britain. and we believe the same principles should exist between the uk and eu as we move away from the political constraints of the union. we do so as one of the world's largest economies with a strong alignment of the eu. we understand that outside the eu, we will no longer have influence in the council of ministers, the commission or the european parliament, where eu rules will be made. but it would not be in the interests of the eu or the uk to introduce unnecessary restrictions on trade and investment across the european continent, for it would send a signal to global investors that europe was less open for business than it is at present. we wa nt business than it is at present. we want and economically vibrant eu to be able to be a major partner for the future in a deep and special partnership. our negotiations must be focused on delivering a partnership that will support the prosperity, stability, and security of both eu and uk citizens. and it will need to be a bespoke relationship. we are not canada or norway and switzerland. we are britain. we want to be a truly global britain with ambitions to maximise trade opportunities both inside and outside the eu, working with global partners and seeking to minimise any barriers to trade. it all comes down to flexibility and agility in what will be an increasingly competitive global economic environment. the uk must regain the ability to negotiate our own trade arrangements with our own partners. to surrender this would be to endanger not only our long—term prosperity and the innovation and dynamism that will ensure britain means a reading economic power but also our ability to influence the new trading landscape in a way that reflects uk values and interests. —— leading economic power. we have an opportunity to reorientate our economy. we have to ensure we put the prosperity, stability and security of our people first. we must also remember that history experience and values are vital navigational tools and that confidence, optimism and vision will a lwa ys confidence, optimism and vision will always deliver more than pessimism or self—doubt. the prize at stake is not simply the future prosperity of the united kingdom, but our ability to participate in and shake the world economy in one of the most exciting points in history. living away from the concept that define our activities in the 20th century to new ways of viewing the opportunities of the 21st. about breaking down barriers, opening up barriers, dividing opportunities so the benefits of free trade can be enjoyed not only by the next generation in this country but so that some of the world's most poor can share in the futures of our prosperity. —— fruits of our prosperity. —— fruits of our prosperity. we are at the crossroads to help shape global future for the better. we have a duty to grasp it. thank you. applause i will take a question from tim. where are you, tim, from bloomberg? its lady went outside, but you are in bloomberg, it feels like the height of summer. your former permanent secretary to martin donnelly has likened the plan you outline for a three course meal for a packet of crisps. what is your response and only concerned there are some in the british establishment who do not accept brexit and want to stop it? the second point is, william hague, former leader, has said conservatives who vote to keep the uk in the customs union will effectively be helping bring down the government and ushering in jeremy corbyn. is he right? first of all, it is unsurprising that those who spent a lifetime working within the eu would see it moving away from the eu would see it moving away from the eu would see it moving away from the eu as being threatening. the particular choice i have some action donnelly outlining was a choice between the eu and trade opportunities elsewhere. and a continuation of eu trade agreements. ido continuation of eu trade agreements. i do not believe that is the choice we face. we are trying to seek a full and the liberal partnership with the eu. already having discussions about expanding our trade agreements beyond the eu. and talking about rolling over the eu agreements into uk law so we get no disruption in terms of market access at the point of exit. but a choice of one of the other. the brexit process is more complex than a pack of walkers. —— walkers. we will be able to persuade her colleagues, they will find it persuasive and understand the benefits the prime minister set up. to greater economic prosperity... we will have more from liam fox at the top of the hour. in a moment, the with ben brown but first the weather. with ben brown but first the the early amber warnings have no expired. a lot of snow earlier on. this was sevenoaks. snowy around maidstone. here in the north—east of england, northumberland, snow earlier. going around in the wind, heavy snow over the higher ground. for the rest of this week, more to come. more met office snow warnings, more travel disruption. with the wind picking up, significant wind—chill. if you thought it was cold, wait until tomorrow. the siberian aircoming our cold, wait until tomorrow. the siberian air coming our way on the strengthening easterly wind which will blow in more snow showers to the rest of the day and overnight. it'll be the eastern side of the uk seeing the bulk of those. there could be a few getting through to the west. clearer skies here as well. snow showers through the channel islands moving into southern parts of devon and cornwall later the night. another cold night, minus eight in one or two places, similar to night. our focus eight in one or two places, similar to night. ourfocus for the heavier snow into wednesday and into those they actually is further north. amber snow warnings from the met office for north and east of scotland, through the central belt and north—east england. 15 centimetres or more in some areas. snow shower driven on by the strong to gale—force easterly winds. for the south, snow showers as well. southern parts of england and wales becoming drier and sunnier. temperatures maximum lower than today. on the strength of the wind, bitterly cold, more like minus nine or —10 celsius. the snow showers in the north continuing overnight. a big area of low pressure moving northwards from iberia. moving into the cold air. bringing wetter weather. that'll be so. the main focus will be across most southern areas of the uk. heaviest falls in the south—west. and south wales. a slice of something drier before backing into the snow showers that continue especially across northern and eastern scotland. another cold day perhaps not above freezing in many places but we still have the bitterly cold easterly wind. again, it will feel more like last night, minus ten. hundreds of schools are closed, roads are blocked, trains and flights delayed or cancelled — and there are amber warnings of more severe weather ahead. here on the north york moors we have had several centimetres of snow and it keeps on falling. snowploughs and gritting teams have done their best to keep the main routes open. we'll have the latest from our correspondents round the country. also this lunchtime... the international trade secretary says a customs union would prevent britain doing other trade deals after brexit. it would be a complete sell—out of britain's national interest and a betrayal of the voters in the referendum. a temporary ceasefire in the syrian enclave of eastern ghouta

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