Park in kent after france reopened its border with the uk. We start the programme on brexit because there is increasing speculation a trade deal between the uk and the eu could be agreed as early as tonight. It is understood the broad shape of an agreement is there but theres still some discussion over details. Our europe editor katya adler has the latest from brussels. The expectation here in brussels is that tonight is the night. Or at least that it should be. Eu diplomats say there is so little difference now between the the two sides. That said, they are continuing to negotiate this evening on the last sticking point. Weve spoken so much about fish that eu keep some fishing rights in uk waters after brexit. And all the complexities surrounding that. The Prime Minister is said to have been in very close contact with the president of the European Commission who of course represent all the eu countries in his discussion. That makes absolute sense. Because its only at those top political levels that those very difficult last political compromises could be made. Because its only at those top political levels that those very difficult last political compromises could be made. So course, everybody nowjust waits to hear whether a deal has been reached or not to hear whether a deal has rob watson is our uk Political Correspondent. One imagine they are going over the details with finetooth right now. One imagine they are going over the details with finetooth right nowli have to say waiting more easily than iam have to say waiting more easily than i am after this. After all this time. I think when does have to be very careful after four and a half yea rs. Very careful after four and a half years. Absolutely waiting on the detail. Lets remember that if there is deal this will be its not an exaggeration, a truly historic moment. And the most important moment. And the most important moment in british political history since the vote to leave the european union. Again, without getting too far ahead of ourselves, if there is a deal if that detail does get resolved and they consider the big picture is fine as well is a detail, it means there will think that wont be no deal. That is massively important for someone with think that would have led to political and economic chaos here in the uk. And perhaps the start of an unthinkable sort of enmity or almost rivalry between the uk and the european union. If there is a deal it makes that much less likely. Rob, are we any that much less likely. Rob, are we a ny clearer that much less likely. Rob, are we any clearer as to what this deal potentially looks like . Well, no. Dont forget its going to be over 1000 pages long for them its pretty good. I think its worth remembering, i was talking up the idea of a deal as opposed to no deal and highlighting the differences. Its still worth remembering that were its still worth remembering that we re pretty its still worth remembering that were pretty sure its going to be a very ha rd were pretty sure its going to be a very hard brexit. What do you mean by that is the uk is leaving the European Unions main sort of economic elements as it were, they single market. And the Customs Union and as faras single market. And the Customs Union and as far as we understand, this deal wont cover things which were important to the uk Services Like financial services. It will be what some people are calling a fair lee bare bones trade deal. I guess optimist we tend to take the view that it least if you have a deal at something you can build on. The uk could decide to get closer to the european union, reverse its divergence. Or as some would like it to maybe become more divergent from the european union. But at least you sort of got a starting point where you could decide where you want to go to from there. Preferably with easing of tensions here in the uk over the brexit divisions and of course the uks tension with brussels. We may be getting a little bit ahead of ourselves. Thank you very much. Lets go live to west minister and stick to our correspondent. There has been talk of the uk having to compromise in the end on fishing. Do we know any more about that . And if that is true how will that go down with some parts of tory party . Theres been a lot of movement on fishing in the last few days. It was perhaps the big outstanding issue at the weekend for some it was also the issue of how you police rules. Fisheries has been one of those issues. In the uk it was obviously these symbolic of some of the washed elements of being in the european union. And from very European Countries its really important that their fishermen still have access to uk waters. At the weekend there was some Pretty Big Movement from both sides. And it did seem they were heading in the right sort of direction. Where there could bea sort of direction. Where there could be a compromise. So the big question is whether thats gone far enough and whether it can be signed off tonight. Weve not had that confirmed yet. There is no guarantee that it will be. If we learned anything from the last few months of the Brexit Process its that sometimes last minute hurdles do appear. Dont be sitting there tonight thinking this is absolutely done. My understanding is the two sides last hour have still been in the negotiating room. Not all done. However, if the deal is signed off it will be really interesting to see how coastal communities, how some tory mps react. Because there were some who at the start of this process really didnt want any sort of fisheries deals linked to trade. It looks like there may well be some links between fisheries and trade 110w. Links between fisheries and trade now. Big question is going to be how long before the new rules come in . Whether there is a lengthy transition to new quarters and what the quarters look like i. A lot of that will be in the eye of the beholder. Im sure if that deal is done both sides will be able to say look, weve got something good from theirs. At the same time im sure there will be some on either side who arent completely satisfied. Thank you nick. More of course on that story as and when we get it on bbc news. Lets stay here in the uk. 6 Million People will be moving into tierfor 6 Million People will be moving into tier for coronavirus restrictions from boxing day. The uk help secretary matt hancock announced the change is saying it was vital the Government Act as cases continue to rise at an dangerous rate. Hospital admissions are now at their highest level since mid april. Our Political Correspondent. Heres our Political Correspondent laila nathoo. Not the gift the government wanted to give. Having already scaled back plans to allow christmas mixing but ministers say the new strain of the virus has forced their hand. We have learned that when it comes to being a matter of when not if we take action it is better to act sooner. And i know that some of these decisions are tough. And i believe that everybody will do what is needed to keep themselves and others safe. Especially this christmas. And i know from the bottom of my heart that there are brighter skies ahead. The government insists its confident that the system of tiered restriction in england is now Strong Enough to contain the new strain of virus that is spreading quicker while the vaccine is being rolled out. Almost half of the countries population will soon be in the toughest tier. Ministers say they dont want another National Lockdown but are keeping everything under review. We been here before and they had to change course. The cheer of christmas is muted this year. If a millions facing even stricter rules boxing day will bring a further test of resolve. The reason for the changes is clear the coronavirus outbreak in the uk is out of control. Here are the latest numbers, they show that there were a further 39,237 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the past 2a hours the highest figure reported on a single day throughout the pandemic. Its important to note that Testing Capacity has increased considerably since the first peak in spring. A further 744 people have died, taking the total number of confirmed uk deaths to 69,051. We all know that 2020 has been a hard year. And its ending in this festive period which is going to be very different. Across the country cases have risen 57 in the last week. The average covid hospital admissions are1,909a day. Thats the highest figure since mid april. There are 18,915 people in hospital with coronavirus right now. Thats almost as many as there were at the peak. So two days before christmas its already a bleak picture and matt hancock now says yet another new variant has been detected in two people arriving from south africa. Heres more of what he said. This new variant is highly concerning. Because it is yet more transmissible and it appears to have mutated further than the new variant that has been discovered in the uk. Weve taken the following action, first, we are quarantining cases and close contact of cases found here in the uk. Second, we are placing immediate restrictions on travel from south africa. And finally and most importantly, anyone in the uk who has been in south africa in the past fortnight and anyone who is a close contact of someone who has been in south africa in the last fortnight must quarantine immediately. Lets get more on that from our Health Correspondent katharine da costa. More work needs to be done in this. There will be further investigations going on in Public Health england, laboraroties in porton down wiltshire to find out more about the behaviour of this South African variant. As well as Ongoing Investigation into the variant that seen circulating predominantly in lending, the southeast and east of england. Well the rapid spread of new strains has led to questions about whether vaccines will still be effective. Scientists say its highly likely they will. Heres katharine da costa on that. More than half a Million People have so far received their first dose of the Pfizer Biontech vaccine, but with concern about a new variant of the spreading 50 70 more quickly, there have been calls to speed up the roll out of vaccines by giving more people one dose rather than two. Given the circumstances we are facing, with the rapidly expanding number of cases, spreading through the country, we have to do what we can to save as many lives as we possibly can as quickly as we can. Therefore, giving second doses only gives a marginal benefit compared with the benefit you get from giving more people first doses. Trials found the vaccine provided 52 protection after the first jab. That rises to 91 after the second dose. And reaches 95 a week later, after the first jab. The uk regulators approved the Pfizer Vaccine based on two doses so any changes we need to be reviewed. In the meantime the decision on the Oxford Astrazeneca vaccine is expected soon. The uk has pre ordered 100 million doses. If approved around 4 million could be available straightaway. Given it is easy to store and distribute, Large Community vacination centres like this one in epsom could begin operation. Questions have been raised over whether the new variant in the uk will affect the impact of the vaccine. Those behind the jabs are confident it will work, but a few tweaks can be made. We can start to engineer a vaccine that completely mimics this new mutation and we could be able to provide a new vaccine technically, within six weeks. Further research into the new variant is still ongoing. Some experts advising the government think it could be much more widespread than first thought, after ten cases were picked up in denmark. In a country as small as denmark a relatively low infection rate, it would suggest, in my view, that the virus has been introduced into the great majority, if not more of European Countries. We are likely to see a greater use of Community Mass testing. The uk regulator has just approved rapid tests which provide results in 30 minutes can be used by people at home, too. Catherine da costa, bbc now to the border between the uk an france. It reopened on wednesday but the situation in the port of dover is still chaotic. Rapid testing of the drivers is already under way but because there are now at least 5,000 lorries backed up its clearly going to take time to get things moving. Heres the uks transport secretary grant shapps. Its been an enormous operation. But once we got the army deploying tests which is happened this evening as well as much larger number of people from the nhs test and trace system. We can handle the number of test today. The problem is not the number of tests, its not the number of sailings today. 10,000 is about will get through in a busy day in kent. We can do that number of test as well for the is the logistics of people following the instructions, make it sure its clear in order we can get traffic rolling for some again, the more that people follow the clear instructions the faster to get this resolved. It will take a matter of days rather than weeks or anything else. But they will be, im afraid im some patients required. We will be providing some welfare for lorry drivers and others at making sure that we can do that. Well after 3 days stranded the drivers are frustrated and angry. This was the scene earlier as you can see groups of protesting drivers clashed with lines of police who had blocked the port off. The bbc has heard from some of them. Police from three days told us that testing will start soon. But they dont know when. They dont know when. And thats why people are protesting for that because we just want to make the test and go straight to home. In one day is christmas. We are in a three day, we are very tired, we stay in the cars, we dont have a lot of food, no money. Its not very good. England told me and i have to pass next test. Said i can go to france. But i dont see test. Our reporter amanda akass was there and had been hearing their frustrations. Ive spoken to people whove been here since sunday night. One man told me im out of food, out of drink, out of money. There is nowhere to go to the loo down here in central dover. Ive had people crying to me saying that they were hoping to get back to see their children in time for christmas. They dont know whats going on. They cant go back because both sides of the road here are completely blocked. So it is an extremely difficult situation. Weve heard today from the leader of Dover Council who says he just doesnt see how all of these people are going to be able to get across the channel in time for christmas. Even when the port itself has reopened. So heres how travel and freight is now working between the uk and france under the agreement. Hauliers, french citizens and british nationals living in france can now travel by air, rail or sea. But in order to get across theyll have to show that theyve tested negative for covid 19 in the last 72 hours. As i mentioned to help clear the blockage of lorries at dover rapid lateral flow tests will be given out to hauliers. Results will come in 30 minutes a positive test will mean isolation in a local hotel. The arrangement will be reviewed on the 31 december, but could run until 6january. Nhs test and trace staff and the military have started testing. Sangita myska is there and sent this a short time ago. We think that there are about officially 5,000 vehicles trying to get into the port of dover. But i have to say, my colleagues suggested the real figure is quite a bit higher. What you can see perhaps in the background, again, more police lines. And some of the vehicles now coming out of the port of dover. I have been told on the ground that these are lorries that are disembarking from ferries. That would be a positive sign. The reason thats a positive sign is because it means that those ferries could be getting ready to set sail for the paddle i know that . Because about two hours ago we saw the first mobile testing kits. Coming here to the port of dover. Let me just take you across to the mouth of the port. What the Police Officers as been telling me is that they took some vehicles in quite a few hours ago and had the drivers park them inside the mouth of the port. Its thought that what will happen is they will get tested. If they test negative they will, when the ferry is ready, be able to board that ferry and start breaking the deadlock. The job of testing all the hauliers is a massive one and heres why this is the manston air field where thousands of the lorries have been parked up for days testing has began there but is clearly taking time. The lateral flow tests they are using are quick but still take around 30 minutes to get a result. Elizabeth de yong is the policy director for logistics uk, which is involved in efforts to get lorry drivers tested for coronavirus and back to mainland europe. She says despite the agreement with france and the start of Rapid Testing not a single lorry has crossed the channel from the uk to france. Well, last night so hopeful with the situation thinking that it could just be done. We had offers of additional sailings add additional ports. But now 18 hours after the border has operated, i am far less hopeful. I think we need to be planning for the lorry drivers to be still be an kent and doing our best to give them a better christmas than they might be otherwise having without our help. Theres also been frustration in france with thousands stranded in the uk trying to get home for christmas many are slamming the government for their handling of the situation. And the frustration is clear among those making the decisions as well. This tweet comes from frances Deputy Europe minister clement beaune. He tweeted a picture of the huge number of lorries and said, in french, for all the pseudo atriots who call for the permanent closure of borders every day. Tagging the far right politician Marine Le Pen and others. But amongst the waiting, the anger and the uncert