17/12/2017 The Papers

Prince Harry, has interviewed the

former US President Barack Obama.

Hello and welcome to our look ahead

to what the papers will be

bringing us tomorrow.

With me are the author

and journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

and Ruth Lea, economic advisor

at Arbuthnot Banking Group.

First, a look at all front pages

that will greet us tomorrow.

The Metro leads with

a picture of Rebecca Dykes,

the British Embassy worker

who has been found dead

at the side of a road in Beirut.

The Financial Times says that

millennials and gig economy workers

have been left behind

by pension reforms.

The Daily Express has a warning

of wild winds for Christmas,

saying that 70 mph storm chaos

is on the way.

As with many

of tomorrow's front pages,

the Telegraph also carries

a picture of Rebecca Dykes,

as well as a message

from the UK Government

that the Saudis

"must stop starving Yemen".

The Times say the Tories are urging

Theresa May to stay on as PM

over fears that a leadership

election would wreck

post-Brexit trade talks.

The Guardian reports

that Tory backbenchers

are calling for

a cross-party alliance,

saying that Labour are the key

to securing a soft Brexit.

The Mirror also leads with the news

that a British embassy worker

has been killed in Beirut.

Are so let's begin with the

Guardian, that story that Labour

holds the key to a soft Brexit,

according to Tory backbenchers.

Of

course, we don't know which rebels

have been talking to Gavin Barwell,

but it seems that some of them have

been going to him and saying, look,

we should have a deal with some of

the Labour Party, have a cross-party

alliance to come up with some sort

of soft Brexit compromise. I think

the chances of this are absolutely

zero, I cannot see for one second,

one ns, that Theresa May would agree

to a cross-party alliance with the

Labour Party, absolutely

unbelievable. I do wonder what is

going through the minds of rebels

now, fair enough, they won the vote

last week, they can have the vote on

the framework deal at the end of

2018, but what happens if they then

say, we don't really like this deal,

whatever it may be, let's vote

against it, what is the alternative

I would like to ask Dominic Grieve,

Anna Soubry. The alternative would

be, presumably, falling out of the

EU in March 2019 with no deal at

all.

No, that is not what it means,

and I think it is so wrong to

present it in this binary way, and

to ridicule some very, very, very

real, authentic, sincere,

intelligent people. It wasn't easy

for those 11 people to do what they

did last week, hang on, let me

finish. It is not as if there is

only one way that this can happen.

This is the biggest thing this

country is going to go through. Even

you, with your very strong views,

and me, with my very strong views,

have to realise that between several

positions there is a sea

possibilities.

Could I ask a

question, please? What if the rebels

vote against any deal agreed with

the EU? What will happen? Yasmin,

what will happen...

I'm trying to

answer your question.

You are not

answering.

You keep interrupting me.

There isn't a deal...

Just a moment,

Ruth!

You can't do this, I need to

speak. Barnier has just said,

actually, he has cast doubt on

whether the Government should we

allow the flexibility that we

thought she had got, they cannot

cherry-pick, he says. Like I said,

there is a range of possibilities.

We cannot carry on. I thought you

had more sense than Johnson and the

Rees-Mogg, Ruth. Twice before I

bring you back in, let's address

this idea of reaching

out, do you

think there is a coalition to be

formed?

In a way, the Labour Party

has got away with things for a long

time, they are as divided as the

Tories, but they do not have the

loony wing that the Tories seem to

have produced in people like

Rees-Mogg. But they are as divided,

they are as many Labour MPs who are

for as against, so a coalition of

people who, in my view, and it is my

view, who have a more sensible,

softer approach to Brexit would be a

good thing.

Two things, Theresa May

would not agree to that, and you

have not answered my question - what

happens if the rebels vote against

the deal agreed between the EU and

the British governance?

I do not

accept it is agreed yet.

Hypothetically, what happens if they

vote against any agreed deal?

We

keep talking.

We keep talking!

We

keep talking.

Keep talking!

This is

not like an election, this is our

destiny for the next hundred years,

that is not about you, it is about

the children and grandchildren.

Britain has been incredibly good at

compromising, not taking hard lines.

I am not taking hard lines. I am

just saying, what do these people do

if they vote no?

I trust them to do

the right thing, that is my answer.

One of the issues here, Michel

Barnier has given an interview to

Prospect magazine, some references

to the fact that he has said there

will be no cherry-pick in, they are

taking a pretty hard line position,

saying, we will not give you a bus

broke deal, what you make of that?

In the words of Mandy Rice-Davies,

he would say that, wouldn't he?

Grow

up!

He is a negotiator, and if you

are a negotiator, you put your

position here, the other puts his

position there, and then you

negotiate.

So there is a bespoke

deal to be found?

I have every faith

in this government and the EU, which

Yasmin so adores.

I do, I do.

I have

every sense that they will see there

is a beneficial deal to be hard.

Beneficial, beneficial...

The way we

have behaved until very recently,

and I have to give credit to Theresa

May, and she has spoken language

which is conciliatory, but these mad

Brexiters will not let that happen.

Every time... The Florence speech

was a good speech.

It was, I agree.

Goodness me!

But look what happened

next, all these extremists

Brexiters, there is no deal good

enough.

She is in charge, I have

every confidence...

Look at Boris!

We have to move on from Brexit, but

before we do, we have members of the

Cabinet meeting tomorrow, Tuesday is

a full cabinet meeting, Yasmin, what

do you think they will set out as

their vision for this next phase of

the negotiations?

I don't know,

because I think the Government

itself is so divided. There are so

many people in that cabinet to have

a completely different vision from

the way Theresa May has been

talking. I don't know. I think they

could get their own house in order,

we might begin to understand.

They

are moving towards it, because

Philip Hammond, who was always keen

on the transition agreement, which

is going to happen, he is moving

more and more to the idea of a bus

broke deal, and if you have got

Philip Hammond and David Davis and

Boris Johnson, those three in

particular on the same side, that is

excellent news, and it seems as

though they are coalescing around

that there.

Boris is not, he is

taking off again, as ever.

We have

had a good go at coalescing on

Brexit, but let's move on to the

Financial Times, we are going to

start with IKEA, and other EU story

in a way, but more specific, to do

with a crackdown on corporate tax

avoidance, they are in the firing

line.

Which is extraordinary, like

all these other internet giants and

so on, they have got their very

clever ways of what is not a

strictly illegal tax avoidance, and

I am pleased that the EU is coming

down on these things that have been

going on for such a long time. One

of the reasons, I think, so many

people across Europe and the West

are so troubled at the moment is

that they don't feel the world is

fair, and something has got to be

done, and I am glad they are doing

something about it. Will I go to

idea? I have a quandary!

We are

going to whizz on, there is a story

in the FT I want you to talk about,

millennials and the deep economy,

young people, particularly

self-employed people, people with

several jobs, the zoo of pensions

and whether we are saving enough.

I

suspect we are not, and I take the

view that anyone who is

self-employed will not be included

in auto enrolment.

This is new auto

enrolment for younger people.

And

also, they're going to put up the

levels at which people contribute.

So I take the point, but the FT, I

must make the point that this is a

step in the right direction towards

people saving more for their old

age, which will needs to happen, as

we have got an ageing population,

the ever more burdensome on

taxpayers, the generation of

taxpayers coming up.

Startling

facts, around 38% of the working age

population, the Government, under

saving for their retirement.

But it

is not just that they'll

self-employed, the gig economy, the

money they earn is so low, most of

them, so saving is not an option,

especially if you are living in

cities like London.

The cost of

living is so high.

The Daily

Telegraph, Yasmin, let's start with

this story, this picture of Rebecca

Dykes on the front of several of the

papers, this apparent murder in

Beirut, very upsetting story.

It is,

just before Christmas, she was just

about to come home for Christmas,

and she is on the front page of

virtually every paper, quite

rightly, I think. But yes, we don't

know more than that, but apparently

so far it seems to indicate murder -

and other stuff, which I just feel

so bad for the family.

Apparently

strangled and found on the motorway,

and she worked for the Department

for International Development out of

the embassy, tragic, what can you

say? We have no idea who has done

it, who knows?

Very much the

beginning of that reporting on that,

isn't it? And Yasmin, to end, we

will look at the Telegraph's lead

story, Saudis must stop starving

Yemen.

This is interesting, that the

Daily Telegraph is running this,

because we have been allies of this

vile regime for the longest time,

and the way it treats its own

population is something that we talk

about, but really interesting that

we have now got the Telegraph and

the International Development

Secretary saying, stop doing what

you are doing in Yemen. Some of our

arms are being sold to Saudi Arabia.

Children are starving, getting

diseases we thought had been wiped

out. Man-made horror like this,

actually, we avoided looking at this

story for a long time, so I am

impressed, actually, that the

Telegraph has run it.

I agree, they

could be breaking international law

by blockading people, starving them

of international aid. I totally

agree with Yasmin, this is an

horrendous civil war going on in the

Yemen, part of the overall conflict

between Saudi Arabia and Iran to

sort of control the Middle East. The

Sunni-Shia conflict. Unfortunately

for the two people of Yemen, they

just happen to be in the front line

of horror. -- poor people of Yemen.

It is time that people started

speaking out against Saudi Arabia,

everybody has been sucking up to

them for reasons that we although.

Plenty of food for thought, we must

leave it, time is tight.

That's it for The Papers this hour.

Yasmin and Ruth will

be back at 11:30.

Don't forget all the front pages

are online on the BBC News website

where you can read a detailed review

of the papers.

It's all there for you

seven days a week,

and you can see us there too,

with each night's edition

of The Papers being posted

on the page shortly

after we've finished.

Thank you, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

and Ruth Lea.

They have behaved themselves

impeccably, just about! Comeback in

an hour to see if they are still

fighting!