15/12/2017 The Papers

Hello and welcome to our look ahead

to what the the papers will be

bringing us tomorrow.

With me are Kevin Schofield, Editor

of PoliticsHome and Rachel Shabi,

Journalist and Broadcaster.

Lets give you a flavour of the

papers as a whole.

Lets give you a flavour

of the papers as a whole.

The I leads on Brexit,

with trade talks due

to take place in weeks,

as negotiations move

onto the second phase.

The FT reports on a

U-turn by Ryanair,

reversing a decision to recognise

pilot unions for the first time,

in the hope of avoiding

strikes over Christmas.

The Times reports on the fallout

of a collapsed rape trial,

after police failed

to disclose evidence -

it says some senior barristers

suggest it's just the

"tip of the iceberg".

The Telegraph says eight

in ten rural homes

and businesses are mobile phone

blackspots, amid concerns some

countryside communities

are being "left behind".

The Mirror leads with

claims that some hospital

nurses are having to pay up

to £1,300 a year just

to park at work.

The Express reports on a study

claiming that shedding

weight could be the key

to combating rheumatoid arthritis.

The Sun looks at next

year's Royal wedding -

to be held on the same day at the FA

Cup final, on Saturday, 19th May

And "what a right royal

own goal" says the Mail,

expressing concern that next year's

nuptials will be a clash

for millions of football fans.

Brexit trade talks, Kevin, the i say

it could be kicking off in weeks,

what a joy.

Donald Tusk the European

Council president hinted today that

trade talks, which the Prime

Minister and government are

desperate to move on to trade talks.

What happened today is a formal

rubber-stamping of agreement phase

one being dealt with and moving on

to face two, it was a formality

after the agreement last week. A lot

of excitement around that. It took

the tension out of the summit in the

last couple of days. Maybe start to

look forward to phase two. The

negotiating document the European

Commission put out today stressed

that trade talks formally wouldn't

start until March, which is three

months away when you consider we

have to be out by March 2000 19. The

clock really is ticking. I think it

caused a fair bit of nervousness in

Whitehall. But they've been having a

nod and wink that informal trade

talks can begin. Which should

hopefully pave the way for some kind

of deal. Theresa May wants a trade

deal to be done by the time we leave

in 18 months' time, 15 months' time.

The EU has said, it's something you

can finalise after you've left. So

there is this is still a big gap

between getting to this stage, it's

been the easy part even though it

seemed difficult. This will be

really tough.

They say in i they

praise Theresa May's role in ending

the stand-off but it's been a

gruelling six months. Where do you

think Theresa May is that all of

this?

It feels like longer than six

months. Where she is is where we

always knew she would be. Having to

agree to the framework that the EU

has set. She could have done that a

long time ago. We could have saved

ourselves nine months and had nine

months more to negotiate. I think

it's been mismanaged by the

Conservative government. Of course

now we are looking at, yes, the EU

is saying we're not going to start

talking about trade until March, but

to be fair, it's not as though the

Conservative government has said to

them what they want in those trade

talks. The cabinet is meeting next

week to have their first

conversation about this, something

they've been avoiding all this time.

Because the Cabinet is so divided

over this.

It's interesting if we

look onto the FT weekend, we've got

a big piece on this, Theresa May

given green light in Brexit talks.

Tucked away is a quote from Angela

Merkel, German Chancellor, saying

Britain has to tell us what they

want. The most difficult phase is

yet to come. Where is the vision is

the question a lot of people are

asking.

You hit the nail on the

head, the Cabinet is so split,

you've got the Remainer element of

Philip Hammond, Amber Rudd. Against

Michael Gove, David Davis, Boris

Johnson, these hard Brexiteers. The

Prime Minister's way of handling it

has almost been don't talk about it

until we have two. It is called the

end estate discussion. What Britain

wants Brexit to look like come March

2000 19. It's remarkable, 18 months

since the referendum and they

haven't got around to talking about

what they want Brexit to look like.

We were told it would happen before

the end of the year which means only

one more Cabinet before Christmas,

which is on Tuesday. It's going to

be a bit of a ding-dong I would have

thought. At the same time, they

won't come to any conclusions.

They'll be having a say because they

can't agree.

Again I think this is

entirely her mismanagement, she

could have said, and this would have

been... This is true of a 48-52

result referendum anyway but

especially true after the election

which quite clearly returned to

parliament a mandate for a much

softer version of withdrawal from

the EU than she and her government

has been planning. She could have

resolved this 18 months ago.

Certainly since the election since

saying... There is no constituency

amongst the nation for anything like

the kind of Brexiteer extremists in

my Cabinet are advocating, so we're

not doing it and that's it. She

could have resolved that with better

leadership.

She could have not had a

general election. Rachel, delve

inside. Page two of the sun, they've

got this headline, don't cash our

bricks checked yet. They say there

are these sticking points that could

bring things to ahead again.

Particularly on the issue of the

money. Saying you can't have it

until you've agreed this, this and

this.

May be realistic to the sun.

Probably not to anyone dealing with

these negotiations.

Greasy, we talked about the

infighting in Conservative

government. There was this talk of

possible rebellion this coming week

but they seem to have had that one

off.

This was a self-inflicted wound

by the Prime Minister, about a month

or so ago she brought forward an

amendment to her own bill saying the

data Brexit, 11pm on the 29th of

March 2019 must be on the face of

the bill. She gave it to the Daily

Telegraph. A cynic would suggest it

was only done to get a nice headline

in the Daily Telegraph. It was to

make her look quite tough and

pander, almost, to the Brexit wing

of the party. She got beaten early

in the week for the first time on

the withdrawal bill. There was a

hard-core of Tory rebels. She was

looking at another defeat on this

amendment on the Brexit dates next

week. Looks as though tonight there

has been a climb-down, she's managed

to get other Tory MPs to put forward

a slightly diluted version of the

amendment, which the Remain rebels

have said they will vote for. She's

not going to lose the vote next

week. It is again how weak her

position is, this was supposed to be

heard test of strength. She's had to

back down.

What more Brexit story

before we move on, in the Scottish

times, an Angolan immigration

control. Economic worries. With the

uncertainty of Brexit. We've had the

SNP budget. This is coming home to

roost, people thinking, what happens

next?

This is what is coming next.

Now we've moved on to the bit where

we discuss trade with the EU, this

is going to come back onto the

agenda. The relationship between

immigration control and the economy.

Hence the Scottish times, The Times

in Scotland, Leeds with this story

of how the Scottish economy is being

stifled by uncertainty. Over

immigration and trade, which is

suppressing wages. It is also making

businesses lack confidence and lack

capacity to make decisions around

investment. It is, of course, that

dilemma. Because throughout there

has been this fact, sorry to have to

use the word, but it is a fact, the

economy is adversely impacted.

Various sectors are starting to

suffer, particularly the NHS, which

is in a recruitment crisis because

nurses especially, and doctors, from

the EU, no longer want to come here.

Partly because they have no

guarantee of what their work and

living conditions will be, partly

because the UK has become a hostile

place, in terms of turning landlords

and hospitals and doctors into

border police.

Has it become a

hostile place?

Absolutely it has

become a hostile place.

Hostile

elements, I'm not the country is

hostile.

When we talk about

landlords refusing anyone without a

British passport a lease, I would

describe that as hostile.

That is a

hostile act... But...

Visa hostile

conditions. I don't think everybody

in the UK is hostile, I don't think

people from every person in the UK

as hostile. The climate in this

country is hostile.

Let's come away

from Brexit because that takes us

into calmer waters. Back to the

Financial Times, a story about

Ryanair and another feisty character

in the form of Michael O'Leary.

We've seen something of a change in

the position of Ryanair.

The Prime

Minister has had to back down on

this amendment. Ryanair have had to

back down. Michael O'Leary the chief

executive has consistently spoken

against trade representation for his

pilots. Now he's had this ongoing

dispute with pilots, Christmas is

coming, clearly this is the worst

possible time of year for them to

have cancellations. He's basically

read the writing on the wall. A

remarkable U-turn given his record.

A Christmas miracle.

He says he'll

recognise unions as a way of getting

an agreement with the pilots to get

the planes back in the air because

they do not want... Something like

20,000 flights were cancelled in the

summer, which was disruptive enough,

people missing out on their

holidays. People want to fly home

for Christmas and that is probably

worse.

I feel like you've almost

burst into song, driving home for

Christmas.

To the Times, they lead on a

different story. We looked at the

times in Scotland, the immigration

story. In England, The Times

focusing on this rape case, which

has fallen apart because of a load

of evidence that never made it to

the defence team casebook. It has

opened up a whole issue about

whether this is happening more

widely.

A road kick that collapsed

because at the 11th hour evidence

was given to the defence that

exonerated someone who had spent to

years on bail with the threat of a

six-year conviction hanging over

them. The time is now say there are

more cases like this, that, you

know, this is something that wasn't

just a one-off in terms of how the

police handle evidence. They think

we need to be careful how we handle

this story. Because there is a quote

here from someone from the criminal

bar Association, saying the failure

with a rape case, that we heard

about yesterday, was not an isolated

incident, and police and the CPS

might be unconsciously biased

towards people who report... That

cannot be the case.

Flying in the

face of what we normally say.

If

that were the case, the rape

conviction case would be higher than

5%. It seems to me not necessarily a

very helpful comment to make in that

context are very valid claims, about

the way police and the CPS handle

evidence, which might also be

related to funding and having to

operate with cuts.

More to say on

that story but I'll delve into the

Daily Mail. What a right royal own

goal, this is about the date of

Harry and Megan's wedding.

Incredible, of all the Saturdays

they could have picked, they picked

the same day as the FA Cup final. I

got married in May and it was at the

back of my mind because a lot of my

friends coming down from Scotland I

knew were big football fans, I

thought it's not on the same day as

a cup final. It wasn't, I was

telling Rigel earlier, my mum and

dad got married on the date of the

cup final, Scottish cup final, 1971.

My dad is a big Celtic fan, Celtic

were in the final, so he missed the

final. It went to replay and he cut

short his honeymoon. Came home.

Quite a good test bed for the bride

to see how serious her husband is.

You think, is he going to be fully

concentrating on the wedding have

his mind on the football.

It is of

this story turned up one of the

reasons it ended up on the same day

as cup finals is because they

decided they couldn't have it the

Friday before because it would

necessitate a bank holiday. That is

just mean.

I'd love a bank holiday.

Not only does it clash with the cup

final but we've been deprived of an

extra holiday.

The suggestion is

Prince William, president of the FA,

might have to sneak off quickly

after the service.

They say they

will have a morning service so he

can make it in time.

Right, to the

mirror, nurses, immigration, this is

a big nurse story. Despicable is

just one word, the big headline.

What is despicable according to the

Daily Mail.

We have got many

details.

Not a lot to go on.

The

focus for the mirror is the 14 day

Christmas TV Guide. Nurses are

having to pay for parking. Which

seems extraordinary, the amounts

they are having to pay, especially

since we already know we have this

seven year pay cap amongst other

things. They are facing huge crisis,

financially. We heard through this

year, nurses having to use food

banks and generally finding it very

hard to stay afloat. It reminds me

of one of the things in the Labour

Party manifesto, to provide free

parking for NHS staff as well as

visitors. Starting to see the sense

of introducing something like that.

They say £1300 a year.

A lot of

money.

You have to feed the meter at

hospitals.

You assume it's a

separate car park. The Daily

Telegraph, let's whizz through. They

have this story about town versus

country, a technological divide.

What is this?

Eight in ten homes in

rural areas are essentially mobile

phone blackspots. Can't send text

messages, can't go on the Internet.

This is a piece of research, back-up

plans by the government to loosen

planning laws, so more mobile phone

masts can go up. It can be bad

enough in London, but nothing

compared to rural areas in this day

and age where people do so much

online, people work from home. Not

being able to access a mobile

Internet coverage, it's almost like

running water and heat and light

these days, people just assume...

They ought to have it.

Difficult to

go about your normal business

without access.

Holding business

back, small businesses especially

say this particularly hinders

development and growth. It's

frustrating to hear about nationwide

these things holding the economy

back

we shouldn't have to put up

with this type of... Especially the

postcode lottery, if you live in a

rural area, that is the price you

have to pay, you can't phone anyone.

We can't avoid ending with a little

bit of sparkle, a bit of

Glitterball. In the Daily Express.

Debbie McGee, aged 59, is doing so

brilliantly on strictly. What I want

to be the dancing Queen.

Highlighting it is the strictly

final, should we be excited, will

you be watching? I mean, everyone is

excited. She's been great, really

inspiring throughout and, you know,

I think she's...

I just wonder...

She's 59, in great shape, such high

praise from the judges.

I wonder

whether she has the... I haven't

watched very closely all series

because my eldest's daughter is mad

on it, I wonder if she is popular

with the public because I remember

her being in the dance-off a few

weeks ago despite doing really well.

I wonder whether the public don't

quite want her to win it, that's

my... Top tip.

The favourite is Joe,

is done very well and has been

capturing hearts along the way.

A

very good Scottish contestant.

Your

money is on him as well? We don't

see any buyers.

Completely

impartial.

6:30pm tomorrow night, a

little plug for the strictly final

if people want uplift in these

impossibly bleak times. Thank you to

Kevan at Rachel, that is all from

the papers. You can see the front

pages of the papers online and on

the website.

If you missed the programme on any

evening you can watch it again

online. Thank you to Kevin Schofield

and Rachel Shabi, that's all from us

tonight. Good night.