starmer, rebecca long bailey, the shut up as a secretary and a couple others making up the numbers. and the idea is to find some kind of consensus as to an agreement that they can come to in the shape of a brexit deal or an aspirational brexit deal or an aspirational brexit deal or an aspirational brexit deal they could put to the house of commons to get mps to back. but as you say two days of talks, another four and a half hours or so today, and no breakthrough. we are told the talks are expected to continue tomorrow but both sides would say at the end of the talks today was that there were details, technical discussions and they hope to continue them tomorrow. in terms of the substance of what they are discussing, we don't really know if they got to the meat of the matter yet in terms of what each side will be happy to agree to and where the give and take would come. but there is an expectation i think now that this process is going to continue rather than being wrapped up in a few days and theresa may may well end up going to brussels in the middle of next week to that eu council

labour's shadow brexit secretary sir keir starmer said the government has not proposed any changes to theresa may's brexit deal. at the moment the government's not proposing any changes to the deal, it's not countenancing any changes to the actual wording of the political declaration. now, obviously, ithink we all want to break this deadlock. we want the talks to continue. but compromise does require change. at a meeting of finance ministers in bucharest this morning, the chancellor philip hammond said he expects a "positive outcome" from the talks with labour. we should be open to listen to suggestions that others have made. and some people in the labour party have made other suggestions to us and we have to be prepared to discuss them. our approach is, we have no red lines. we will go into these thoughts with an open mind and discuss everything with them in a constructive fashion. let's talk to our political correspondent matt cole. matt, are these talks close to collapsing? on the one hand you have keir starmer saying that there is nothing on the table and on the other philip hammo

starmer held with david lidington and the team and that was more of a technical discussion about the nature of the future relations agreement as well as the withdrawal agreement, which has many problems and flaws in it as we have pointed out in parliament. the key priority is to avoid crashing out with the eu with no deal because of the disruption that would mean to industry and the supply chain, so we are determined to make sure there is no crashing out without a deal, so next week something will have to happen in parliament and labour will be playing our part. labour's position is, your move, prime minister. the government saying tonight that this process has not broken down. a downing street source suggests talks are ongoing. whether we will see any meetings in the next day or so on an exchange of letters or text between both sides seems unclear. the government and labour said that they are serious about peace talks and finding a way to break the brexit deadlock but i have to say that at the moment, a deal looks doubtful. hundreds of people have been protesting in central london a

shadow brexit secretary sir keir starmer has proposed no changes to expect. and ira warning that a botched ira warning contributed to deaths in the 1974 birmingham pub bombings. now on bbc news, it's time for newswatch, presented this week by shaun ley. hello and welcome to newswatch with me, shaun ley. coming up on this edition. not everyone is bored by brexit, meet the television channel which is enjoying record audiences for politics. should last week's question time have included a question from the audience asking if it is morally right for five—year—olds to be taught about lgbt issues in school? the costs of the last few months of political turmoil in the uk are debated, but there has been at least one big winner. the television channel of which many viewers have previously, perhaps, been unaware. 0rder, order. bbc parliament has made an international star of mr speaker, john bercow, thanks to its live coverage on all the twists and turns of brexit. the channel attracted a record 3.5 million viewers injanuary, as well as its five biggest daily audie

starmer, about the technicalities around the customs union. i am a bit sceptical that anything will emerge but i think one thing that will eventually come out of the talks is that there are likely to be so—called indicative votes. you know these, we have had them before. they didn't reach any agreement. we are going to have more! but these will be backed by the government, likely on monday or tuesday. and the thinking is that this time they might have some kind of preferential voting system to make sure that we do actually get a vote. —— a result. the thinking seems to be that if mps can geta the thinking seems to be that if mps can get a consensus around something, then mrs may could go to the eu council on wednesday and say, look, i haven't got my deal and we haven't managed to reach some kind of agreement with labour, but parliament has expressed a view which suggests we might be able to make progress if we pursue this particular route. and hope that in the light of that, the eu would agree to an extension to brexit. to be clear, inso

the shadow brexit secretary keir starmer didn't give anything away as he left. we are told those talks broke up in the last few minutes. has there been any significant progress, following the talks today? we have had further discussions with the government, and discussions are 110w the government, and discussions are now going to continue. thank you very much. i think it is fair to say there was not much being said they are. but discussions have just ended and that was sir keir starmer emerging from the cabinet office in whitehall. let's go straight to westminster and talk to our chief political correspondent. where are we today? that was all obviously happening behind closed doors, as you said, so pretty unclear whether any progress has been made or not. lots of speculation about which side is going to be prepared to compromise, downing street making it very clear this is all pretty urgent and they will have to be compromises on both sides, and speculation about whether a customs union might be one way forward. meanwhile, of course, absolute anger among some of

starmer. i think the widespread the what westminster is mrs may is pretty much clutching at straws, albeit number ten remain cautiously optimistic, perhaps the only people who are cautiously optimistic that some sort of deal can be reached. labour insist that if there is a deal, mrs may will have to budge and bite on the idea of a customs union, labour's or demand. a gypsy goes down to that road, she risks mutiny and a potential cabinet rebuilt at a time when there are renewed signs of attem pts time when there are renewed signs of atte m pts to time when there are renewed signs of attempts to as her, with the executive committee of the 1922 committee of tory backbenchers meeting late this afternoon to discuss amongst other things whether they should change the leadership rules to allow another contest before the end of the year. one of those pushing the idea is tory mp nigel evans. and so i find it hugely frustrating, my own view now is that i believe that we need fresh leadership and i hope

let's play you the right clip of keir starmer a short time ago. we have had two rounds of talks and today we have had an exchange of correspondence with the government. so far the garment is not proposing any changes to the deal. in particular, it is not countenancing any change to the wording of the political declaration. that is disappointing. compromise requires change. we want the talks to continue and we have written in those terms to the government but we do need changes we are going to compromise. there is no commitment to a customs union in any shape orform commitment to a customs union in any shape or form that they are now making? i think the central issue is whether there is any change to the deal. that is what this is all about. and at the moment, the government is not proposing any change to the deal, it is not countenancing any change to the actual wording of the political declaration. 0bviously, actual wording of the political declaration. obviously, i actual wording of the political declaration. 0bviously, ithink actual wording of

the talks appeared to break down yesterday when the shadow brexit secretary sir keir starmer accused the government of refusing to consider changes to the brexit deal‘s political declaration. ina in a moment we will have the latest from our political correspondent but let's remind ourselves what the political declaration is. it is the document which sets out proposals for how the uk's longterm future relationship with the eu will work after brexit. our political correspondent, matt cole, explained to me earlier why the political decleration is proving so divisive... we were hearing from philip hammond today, who is at a meeting of eu finance ministers that talks would continue this weekend. that is in contrast to what we have heard from labour, who tell me there is nothing scheduled this weekend. despite that, philip hammond seems to be enthusiastic and optimistic that not only can agreement be reached with labour but it can translate into a positive outcome on wednesday's eu emergency summit in brussels. this is him sounding chipper earlier. the conversations with the labour party

the shadow brexit secretary sir keir starmer says the government has proposed no changes to its brexit deal, though downing street has insisted it would be prepared to make changes to secure cross party agreement. obviously that's disappointing. compromise requires change. we want the talks to continue, and we have written in those terms to the government, but we do need change if we are going to compromise. an inquest finds that a botched ira warning call contributed to or caused 21 deaths in the birmingham pub bombings. free after almost a decade in jail — sally challen, who killed her husband with a hammer, has been released ahead of a retrial. and coming up — footballer danny rose criticises the lack of action in tackling racism in the sport. the england and spurs star says he cannot wait to return to turn his back on the game because of the problem. stephen king's classic horror story pet sematary is reimagined for the 21st century, starring jason clarke and john lithgow. see what mark kermode makes of that and the rest of this week's releases in the film review. good evening

but the talks appeared to break down yesterday when the shadow brexit secretary sir keir starmer accused the government of refusing to consider changes to the brexit deal‘s political declaration. before we speak to our political correspondent, let's just before we speak to our political correspondent, let'sjust remind before we speak to our political correspondent, let's just remind you of exactly what that political declaration is. it's the document that sets out proposals for how do uk's long term future relationship with the eu would want after brexit itself has happened. it is not legally binding, but will be worked up legally binding, but will be worked up intoa legally binding, but will be worked up into a full agreement during the transition period, assuming, of course, they leave with a deal when we get a transition period. if you leave without a deal, there would be a transition period. matt cole is here to explain more. why is the political declaration regarded by labour as political declaration regarded by labouras an important political declaration regarded by labour as an

the shadow brexit secretary sir keir starmer says the government has proposed no changes to its brexit deal, though downing street has insisted it would be prepared to make changes to secure cross party agreement. we wa nt we want to continue and we've written in those terms to the government, but we do need change if i going to compromise. an inquest finds that a botched ira warning call contributed or caused 21 deaths in the 1974 birmingham pub bombings. free after almost a decade in jail, sally challen, who killed her husband with a hammer, has been released after a retrial. also coming up: donald trump repeats his warning to mexico to control illegal immigration and drug smuggling. and at 11:30pm we will be taking a look at the papers with michael booker from the express and susie boniface from the mirror. r--. gggaiar— welcome to of the european council asking to delay brexit until the 30th ofjune, but with the option to leave sooner if parliament can agree a deal. theresa may says the uk will now be preparing to take part in elections for the european parliament at the end of m

but the talks appeared to break down yesterday when the shadow brexit secretary sir keir starmer accused the government of refusing to consider changes to the brexit deal‘s political declaration. our political correspondent matt cole is here. what is the political declaration and why is it this bit that die in such dispute about? we have been talking for months about theresa may's deal as a shorthand for what mps have been voting repeatedly against in the comments, let's be honest. now, that deal falls into two parts. we have the withdrawal agreement. that is effectively the divorce deal with the eu, settles what britain will pay on departure for its liabilities, and how you divide up who gets the children, that kind of thing, but there is a second part of the deal known as a political declaration. unlike the withdrawal agreement it is not legally binding. the political director of —— political declaration effectively looks ahead to the possible future relations, it is aspirational, if you like. it is not legally binding and it is that bit that labour particularly in negotiations t

starmer is a government of refusing to consider changes to the political declaration. let's just remind you of exactly what the political declaration is — it is the ‘document which sets out proposals for how the uk's long term future relationship with the eu will work after brexit. the political declaration is not legally binding but will be worked up into a full agreement during the transition period.‘ if you without a deal on friday, as is currently scheduled, there will be no transition agreement. how it has been viewed in europe, and what consequences might it have at home? joining us as an independent member of the european parliament for the south—west. thank you for being with us. south—west. thank you for being with us. you're in this very strange place, arendt you? you thought you we re place, arendt you? you thought you were retiring eminently, and you could be finding yourself trying to go back again for some undetermined period? yes, it's a very strange position to be in. i never thought we would be here. but for the last six months or so, that ha

but the shadow brexit secretary sir keir starmer said mrs may's team had ‘not changed its position‘ on her existing plan. the prime minister is to meet chancellor merkel of germany and president macron of france tomorrow. this afternoon she spoke on the phone to the president of the european council — donald tusk — ahead of an emergency summit in brussels on wednesday — where eu leaders will consider the uk‘s request for another extenion. in a moment we will talk to emma vardy in dublin. but first to our political correspondent nick eardley at westminster. so more talks this evening between labour and the government? officials get back round the table later this evening to thrash out some of the remaining issues. we know the labour party is urging the government to go a lot further than it has so far on the idea of customs, to agree to a long—term customs union after we have left the eu. at this stage the suggestion is that the government has not got that far, it is not promising as much as the labour party wa nt promising as much as the labour party want on that issue and is