Will v f aid will find out vll hr milt vain will find out what is supper and we will find out what is on the menu and how successful this evening goes in the coming hours. Dont go away. This bbc news. Do stay with us. Bye bye. Hello, im ros atkins. Welcome to outside source. The uks Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, is going to be having dinner in the next few minutes with ursula von der leyen from the eu. Brexit is on the menu. At the moment, it sound like neither the uk oi moment, it sound like neither the uk or the eu is going to back down. We will be taking back control, and we have already taken back control, of our money, our borders and our laws, and we will seize all the opportunities that brexit brings. Translation we are working on it, but we are also prepared for conditions that we cannot accept. So we will keep you up on all of
that. The Pfizer Biontech vaccine. Meanwhile, the roll out continues in the uk. And Indian Farmers vow to intensify an extraordinary protest thats been going on for almost two weeks now. And. That is cher singing to an elephant. Well hear why in a bbc exclusive interview with her. Right, straight to brussels. Uk Prime Minister borisjohnson and the president of the European Commission, ursula von der leyen, have met. They are going to have dinner very soon. Their goal is to unlock trade talks
which are running very low on time. Here is Boris Johnson here is borisjohnson at the ambassadors residence, going to meet ursula von der leyen. We will be live in brussels. First, both sides have been laying out their red lines today. Heres mrjohnson in parliament. Ourfriends, ourfriends in the eu, are currently insisting that if they pass a new law in the future with which we in this country do not comply or dont follow suit, then they want the automatic right, mr speaker, to punish us and to retaliate. And secondly, theyre saying that the uk should be the only country in the world not to have sovereign control over its fishing waters. And i dont believe, mr speaker, that those are terms that any Prime Minister of this country should accept. In berlin, Angela Merkel also addressed parliament. Translation if there are british conditions which we cannot accept, then we will take the path of no deal. One thing is absolutely clear the integrity of the eus market must be preserved. Let us bring in the bbcs kevin connolly, who is in brussels. Where oui connolly, who is in brussels. Where our expectations set for dinner . am sure dinner will be good, in that very narrow sense, expectations are pretty high. I think the political atmosphere around dinner is very ha rd to call atmosphere around dinner is very hard to call because, of course, what we hear from hard to call because, of course, what we hearfrom ursula hard to call because, of course, what we hear from ursula von der leyen and Boris Johnson what we hear from ursula von der leyen and borisjohnson on the way into this meeting is what you and i have heard in many european summits, which is, we want a deal but we dont want a deal that any price, and that is essentially what they are both still saying. They have their red lines, they have those negotiating points beyond which they cannot afford to go politically, but they have not yet revealed them, and time really now is running out stuff weve been saying for a very long time that diminishing pushes coming to shove, it is all coming down to
the wire. We really are at the wire. The transition period for the uk ends on the 31st of this month. If there is no deal before then, then there is no deal before then, then there will be no deal until some point in the future, when perhaps they would resume talks on a Free Trade Agreement, so a very narrow window of time. It seems to me the likeliest outcome of tonights talks is in agreement to keep talking. For the moment, the chief negotiators on both sides have said, look, we have got to a certain point, we cannot go any further without high level political engagement. They get a bit of that engagement. They get a bit of that engagement tonight. I think like the likeliest outcome they will tell the negotiators to have another 90, tell the negotiators to have another go, to keep talking. Meanwhile, kevin, this comes on the eve of the latest eu summit. How does that fit in to the brexit equation . On the european side, theres experts to keep this separate. There
desperate to. Sanctions on what to do with russia, turkey, the mediterranean, what to do about china, how to relate to the new administration in the united states, how to manage their own internal affairs, where poland and hungary are applying problems with the budget. They have a crowded timetable. The member states, rather remarkably, have stayed united on the subject of brexit, the british have not succeeded in separating off german manufacturing from french to and french agriculture, for example, so they have a lot to thing about for themselves, they have delegated this to the European Commission, to the figure of michel barnier, now a very familiarfigure the figure of michel barnier, now a very familiar figure on British Television screens, and they hope they will be able to leave it in the commissions hands up until the last possible minute and they have trusted the commission to get a deal which suits all of the member states
and makes all of the compromises that they are prepared to make between themselves. It is going to between themselves. It is going to bea between themselves. It is going to be a busy couple of days at the summit. They will be hoping that it is not a busy couple of days talking about Boris Johnson and is not a busy couple of days talking about borisjohnson and brexit. Thank you very much indeed. That is kevin life with us in brussels. As we saw, borisjohnson and ursula von der leyen have met, they met in front of the flags, and they have gone off and their talks and their dinner will begin. The stumbling blocks to a deal remain the same theyve been for months, but its worth going through them. There are still disagreements on fishing. The uk wants its fishermen to have far greater access to rights fish in its waters and to be able to review foreign access on a regular basis. The eu argues its Fishing Industries rest on a quota system the uk has been a willing participant of and those industries cant have their income removed overnight. Theres also disagreement on business competition rules or the so called level Playing Field. Heres one German Green Party mep. The question of the level Playing Field, which, to remind everyone, had already been agreed in the political declaration with the Withdrawal Agreement, is certainly the biggest stepping stone from our side and the question of governance or how will the rules that we commonly agreed will be enforced in the end. And i hope that this dinner tonight is going to move us ahead, and we were hoping that maybe in this last minute, everybody comes back, realising that we should come together in the end. Part of the eus concern around the level Playing Field issue is that if it compromises here, it will set a precedent. Chris morris from bbc reality check explains. And its notjust because the eu is worried, potentially, about British Companies having an unfair advantage in years to come, its about other big Global Companies who might be able to come into the uk and potentially take advantage of lower regulations but still be able to access the Single Market. The final issue separating
the sides is governance. The two sides need to agree how any deal will be enforced and how disputes will be resolved. And on the uk side, borisjohnson is facing pressure from within his own conservative party to not sign up to the eus rule book. And all the enforcement that will come with that. Heres the former conservative leader iain duncan smith. In the end of it all, the people voted to be independent, to be sovereign. The Prime Minister knows that and he knows future governments need to be able to exercise that sovereign choice. We cant do it if were boot strapped to europe, with their regulations, adjudicated by them. So thats the perspective from iain duncan smith, inside the conservative party. Next on outside source, lets look at what the opposition is saying. The labour party has been criticial. Heres the leader keir starmer,
speaking to parliament from self isolation at his home. He is absolutely stuck, between the deal he knows we need and the compromise is backbenchers will not let him do. I genuinely hope this is the usual Prime Ministers blustar. This will be. Let us hear from the Bbcs Katya Adler on whether this is a final chance to break the deadlock. Negotiations logic would suggest that tonight would be the moment that borisjohnson and ursula von der leyen, the European Commission president , who tonight represents all 27 eu member states, would say, look, we have stared into the whites of each others eyes for long enough, the clock is ticking down to the end of the transition period, now its time for both of us to make those difficult political compromises to reach a deal. It really isnt that straightforward. And that is because we have had a clash of ideologies right
from the start of these talks. For the government, it wants to defend National Sovereignty that its got since brexit. It says it doesnt want to sign up to a new brussels rule book. And for the eu, as we heard earlier today from Angela Merkel, it wants to protect its Single Market overall from what it sees as potential unfair competition from the uk, so its not as easy as the Prime Minister saying, look, ursula, illsign up to your competition rules if you give me a big compromise overfish. Before they met this evening, both separately said they thought a deal was still possible, but the no deal option still features prominently on the menu. Well talk much more about brexit a little later in the hour. Lets turn to the us. Joe biden has unveiled his defence team. Lloyd austin, a retired four star army general, is to be secretary of defence. If the pick is confirmed
by the senate, general austin would be the first black leader of the pentagon. These are file pictures of lloyd austin at a Senate Hearing in 2016. He retired from the army that year, which means he needs to get a congressional waiver to serve as defence secretary. Theres a legal requirement that a former member of the military has to be out of uniform for at least seven years before serving as secretary of defence. Now, lloyd austin was involved in the iraq war from start to finish. And thats something president Electjoe Biden has been keen to highlight. Yesterday, the atlantic published this opinion piece from joe biden titled why i chose lloyd austin as secretary of defense. In it, he wrote of general austins time in iraq that. Lloyd austin is the latest ofjoe biden and Kamala Harris team to be unveiled. He joins janet yellen, the nominee for secretary of the treasury, and antony blinken
the nominee for secretary of state. Here is president elect biden introducing lloyd austin a few minutes ago. I got to know general austin in the early days of Vice President. President obama had charged me with overseeing Operation Iraqi freedom and the withdrawal of our forces and women from iraq. General austin was with me on the ground, notjust meeting the troops or for military strategy sessions. He was there when i was working with the correct political leaders. I watched i was working with the correct political leaders. Iwatched his political leaders. Iwatched his political skill, how he dealt with them. They respected him, across the board. When i met with the leaders of our coalition partners, same thing. And he was there during one particularly memorable incident when we we re particularly memorable incident when we were at a meeting at the ambassadors residence in the green zone. The insurgents launched a rocket attack on the house, and of course general austin was just another day at the office. He just
sat there, kept right on going. So i sat there, kept right on going. So i sat there, kept right on going. So i sat there and kept right on going, and everyone were, what the hell are they doing . But he is cool under fire, inspiring the same in all those around him thats lloyd austin. He was the person president obama andi austin. He was the person president obama and i entrusted with the incredible task of bringing home americas forces and redeploying our military equipment safely out of iraq. It was the largest logistical operation undertaken by the army in 60 years, and getting it done required much more than military know how. General austin was a diplomat. It was not an easy task. And here is the manjoe biden would like to be secretary of defence, lloyd austin. Back in 1877, a young man from the small town of thomasville, georgia became the
first African American to graduate from United Military academy at west point. And after his commissioning, he was assigned to one of the armys all black regiments, and he was assigned to one of the armys all black regiments, and he became the first non white officer to lead the first non white officer to lead the Buffalo Soldiers of the tenth cavalry. And so fast forward to today, nearly 150 years later. Another native son of thomasville, georgia stands before you as the secretary of defence designate. Next on outside source, lets talk about the covid 19 vaccine. Canada has become the third country to authorise use of the Pfizer Biontech coronavirus vaccine, after the uk and bahrain. The uk began its Mass Vaccination Programme yesterday and today, medical regulators have recommended that people with a history
of significant allergic reactions should not have the jab after two nhs workers had an adverse response yesterday. Theyve both recovered already and thousands of other people have received the vaccine without any issues. Heres our Health Correspondent dominic hughes. Theyve been together ever since they met while working at Basildon Hospital more than five decades ago. Now, vic and penny griffiths have returned to the place where they each served for a0 years, from where the Covid Vaccine offers some hope of better days ahead. Our zest for life doesnt diminish when you get older, but the anxieties are there about catching something or doing something that may stop the span of your life. As far as im concerned, both of us want to have it done and get on with life. Sharp scratch now, angela. But as vaccinations continue, a warning from the medicines regulator two nhs staff, both with a history of serious allergic reactions, suffered side effects
after receiving the vaccine. We need to strengthen our advice now weve had this experience in the vulnerable populations, the groups that have been selected as a priority. We get that advice to the field immediately. The two Staff Members are now well again, having received treatment, but those who experience significant allergic reactions have been told to avoid getting the jab for now. Experts say of the thousands who is received the vaccine both yesterday and in clinical trials, serious reactions were very rare indeed. At Bradley Manor care home in belfast, staff and residents were receiving their jabs. By the end of the year, more than 4 million doses of the Pfizer Biontech vaccine should have arrived in the uk, and gps will start delivering vaccines next week. But from the governments most Senior Scientific adviser, a warning this is no time for complacency. We have a very important light at the end of the tunnel with vaccines, weve got a lot to do to roll out the vaccines, weve got a lot to do to make sure
the vulnerable are protected. Its not the time to suddenly say we relax everything, and if that happens, we will have a big surge. The vaccine is now reaching the most vulnerable, even in some of our more remote communities. Today, some doses arrived in orkney in the far north of scotland. But as we embark on the biggest Mass Vaccination Programme weve ever seen, expect some bumps along the road. Dominic hughes, bbc news. Now, if we turn back to brexit. If the uk and the eu fail to reach a deal by the end of the year, we know the Economic Impact will be considerable. Thats why this issues getting so much attention. In the uk, the Government Finance watchdog projects a 2 loss in gdp in the first year thats on top of any impact from covid 19. Then the governor of the bank of england says the long Term Economic effects of a no deal brexit will be worse than the coronavirus. He says, it would be better to have a trade deal, no question about it. There were a series of parliamentary hearings yesterday about the impacts of a no deal brexit on uk industry. The bbcs rob watson was listening. You had the head of the Farmers Union warning that there might be problems with supply of food to the uk, the car manufacturing warning