04/12/2017 BBC News at Six

Tonight at 6.00 -

Theresa May's mission to Brussels -

but she fails to break the deadlock

in Brexit talks.

This was meant to be the day that

opened the way to the next

stage of Brexit talks.

Some issues do remain

that require further

negotiation and consultation.

Ireland claims there was an

agreement on the border question,

but the DUP has objected to the

plan.

We have been very clear.

Northern Ireland must leave the

European Union on the same terms as

the rest of the United Kingdom.

I'm

surprised and disappointed that the

British government now appears not

to be in a position to conclude what

was agreed earlier today.

So will both sides make

enough progress before

next week's EU summit?

Also tonight:

The fight against poverty

in Britain - researchers say

the gains of the past few

years are unravelling.

The supermarket that's not doing

what it says on the tin -

the Co-Op sells food that's past it

best before date.

England's bowlers to the rescue

in the second Ashes Test -

but Australia still have

the upper hand.

And coming up on Sportsday on BBC

News - he was told he'd never walk

again.

Meet the man who defied the doctors

to win a boxing title.

Good evening. This might have been

the day that Theresa May and the EU

could signal there was enough

progress in the Brexit talks to move

onto the next stage, but it was not

to be. The main obstacle is the

border between Northern Ireland and

the republic. Earlier today, it

seems the issue about the border had

been resolved, but the DUP objected

to the suggestion that Northern

Ireland should be treated

differently to the rest of the UK.

Ireland's Prime Minister accused

Theresa May of backing off an

agreement.

Here to reveal the deal, or was it

slippery when wet? The Prime

Minister didn't exactly looked

delighted, but after weeks of trying

to grip a deal, it seemed it was on.

She'd only parked up for lunch, but

it turned into a long lunch, and

then later and later. By tea-time,

look at their faces. Off for the

day.

We have been negotiating hard

and a lot of progress has been made,

and on many of the issues there has

been a common understanding. It's

clear we want to move forward

together, but on a couple of issues,

some differences remain which

require further negotiation and

consultation, and those will

continue, but we will reconvene

before the end of the week, and I'm

confident we will conclude this

positively.

Didn't feel very

positive this afternoon.

Despite our

best efforts and significant

progress, we and our teams have

made, over the past days, but there

remain some issues. It was not

possible to reach a complete

agreement today.

But eager MEPs this

morning. Saying, we are the team.

Relatively sure that the UK

Government would give enough to make

it work, despite what has been

described as a contradiction over

the Irish border.

As long as we have

the commitment there will be full

alignment, there will be no problem.

The text includes a concession from

the British government over the

Northern Irish border?

Is that a

surprise to you? The British

government created eight

contradiction.

We have to be sure

that on citizens rights, everything

is OK.

Watch this. As suggestions of

a deal became the accepted truth,

the DUP, whose support Theresa May

needs, slammed on the brakes.

We

have been very clear. Northern

Ireland must leave the European

Union on the same terms as the rest

of the United Kingdom, and we will

accept any form of regulatory

diversions separating Northern

Ireland.

As time ticked on, 20

minutes later, Theresa May broke off

her meetings in Brussels to phone

Arlene Foster. The DUP made it

plain, I understand, they could not

support the proposed deal. The

precise opposite to the Irish leader

who has pushed and pushed, and talks

of his shock.

I'm surprised and

disappointed that the British

government now appears not to be in

a position to conclude what was

agreed earlier today. I accept that

the Prime Minister has asked for

more time and I know she faces many

challenges. I had knowledge she is

negotiating in good faith.

Despite

all the hope, the negotiating teams

leave Brussels today without a deal.

Those close to her claim it's not

just the reliance on the DUP that

sank today's deal. She was meant to

be home by now, but Theresa May is

still talking. No further steps

forward.

As we've been hearing,

the issue of the Irish border proved

the major sticking point today.

Our Ireland Correspondent, Chris

Buckler, has been looking at why

the border has proved so

contentious, he joins us live from

on the border near Newry.

All along this border, you will find

former customs posts like this. No

one wants a return to this, or what

has been called a hard border, but

Unionists have asked questions about

what could be the price for that.

They feel it could be closer ties to

the Republic of Ireland and

potentially closer divisions within

the UK, specifically between

Northern Ireland and Britain. That

is politically sensitive, and

awkward for Theresa May, given her

reliance on the DUP in the Commons.

The journey to a Brexit deal

is proving far from easy.

The UK and the EU still have to find

a way through the many problems

posed by these border roads.

The Irish government are insisting

that there should be no change along

the 310 miles that connect

Northern Ireland and the Republic,

that this should remain

an invisible border.

South of the dividing line

in Dundalk, which will

stay a part of the European Union,

people started the day believing

there was a prospect of a December

deal and for owners of shops like

this, keeping trading rules

and regulations the same across this

island would be quite a gift.

There's no restrictions at all.

If you take stuff down, you can take

it with you in the morning,

you don't have to go

through the customs.

I remember what it was like,

you lost a day going the customs

in Newry and Dundalk.

After a while, it's like everything

else, when it's gone a while,

you forget how bad it was, you know.

But the DUP hold

quite a few cards in

what is proving to be

a grown-up game of poker.

They worry that the trade-off

for ensuring customs posts

don't return to this island's roads

to be new divisions and trading

differences within the UK.

Potentially new checks at ports for

ships travelling between Northern

Ireland and Britain,

what has been called

a border in the Irish Sea.

And north of the border in Newry,

many felt the Conservatives had no

choice but to listen to the

Democratic Unionists, because they

hold the balance of

power at Westminster.

May needs the DUP at the moment.

Could that scupper this deal?

I think it might because

if they pull the plug,

it will be a general election.

Still part of the UK,

so that's the way it will work.

But these are towns

which rely on your

euros as well as pounds,

and they worry that any border

could put off visitors

and their cash.

You see, if they put a hard border,

it would more or less destroy

towns like Newry and Enniskillen,

the border towns.

Currently, it seems difficult to see

a way out of the negotiations

that will satisfy everyone,

but the government

needs to come up with

solutions for this border and fast.

Chris Buckler, BBC News, Newry.

In a moment we'll talk

to our political editor

In a moment we'll talk to our

political editor Laura Kuenssberg,

but first to our Europe Editor,

Katya Adler.

Cacia, they obviously got close to

some sort of agreement. What is the

reaction there now?

Brussels has

been left a bit open-mouthed this

evening. No one involved in the

negotiations saw this coming. The EU

had its pens metaphorically poised

to sign off on the next phase of

Brexit negotiations. Negotiations

had at the back of their mind that

Ireland might perhaps put a brake on

the breakthrough in the talks, but

it seems the DUP was the understudy

for that role, striving to set the

stage at the last moment, all while

the Prime Minister was having a

power working lunch with the

European Commission chief. EU

diplomats describe how the Prime

Minister found herself with her back

against the wall and the prospect of

her government crumbling. They are

not sure what is going to happen

next. There is lots of brave talk

today that what happened today was

not a failure, and that the two

sides are closer than ever before on

key Brexit issues. That is true, but

there is a return to frustration

again in EU circles that the

European parties find themselves

treading Brexit water while waiting

for internal politics to play out in

the UK.

Thank you. We can now talk

to Laura. The DUP has its

objections, the Irish Prime Minister

is disappointed. Where does this

leave Theresa May tonight?

In a

tricky spot. Nothing about this was

ever going to be easy, but this

unexpected turn of events today has

left her looking pretty embarrassed.

Does it mean it is all over? Of

course not. Sometimes in these talks

there has to be a dustup before

there is a breakthrough. Each side

very much wants a deal. But is there

a clear way through? An obvious

solution to this stand-off? Not at

all. In terms of getting to that

deal, Theresa May knows she cannot

please all of the people all at the

time. But she has to be able to

please enough of the people enough

of the time to be able to get all

the different factions to come

together at the critical moments,

and it seems today that so much

effort had gone almost at that point

for her only to have her plans

dashed by that small, Northern Irish

party on whose support she relies on

at home. This is going to be a

difficult few days. We might see her

back here by the end of the week.

She knew today wouldn't be

straightforward, but today was a

shock she could have done without.

There was no way Theresa May would

have come to Brussels today unless

she believed a deal was extremely

close. The British side have made a

mis-judgement here, and no one quite

knows what will happen next.

Thank

you.

There's been a big increase

in the number of children

and pensioners in poverty -

that's according to the Joseph

Rowntree Foundation.

The charity says that,

over the past four years,

an extra 700,000 children

and pensioners in the UK fell

into so-called "relative poverty".

That's defined as households

with less than 60% of the median

income - that's the middle

value of all incomes.

The foundation says it's the first

time in 20 years that these groups

have seen sustained rises.

Our social affairs correspondent,

Michael Buchanan, reports.

Here you are, Francis,

haven't you had any yet?

This drop-in centre is a second

home to Flo Singleton, a

source of friendship,

laughter and warmth.

The 84-year-old has seen her pension

increase in recent years,

but pension credit, a benefit paid

to the poorest pensioners,

has not been similarly protected.

She lives on £160 per week.

It is a struggle, says Flo.

If you go out, you don't have

to have your heating on, do you?

Trouble is, once it's dark

in the evenings now, and cold,

you have to put your heating

on, don't you?

So you go on the bus

just to keep warm?

Yeah.

Well, you know!

Yeah!

It's lovely and warm on the bus.

And then you sort of try and extend

it as long as you can.

Even though you've

got to nowhere to go?

Yeah.

It's mad, isn't it?

The number of people in absolute

poverty, not having enough

food or water to live on, has fallen

by 500,000 since 2010,

say ministers.

But today's figures refer

to relative poverty, having a lot

less than most other people.

Since 1994-95,

the number of people in

relative poverty has

fallen slightly.

For pensioners, the decrease

was quite dramatic

then started rising.

Child poverty also fell,

albeit most likely.

-- more slightly.

Then it too began increasing.

From around 2012, we finally

saw wages outstrip

inflation once more so that meant

incomes particularly middle-income

households started

to grow in real terms.

That meant they started to pull

further away from those on low

incomes who over the same period

were also affected by cuts

to benefits.

The mantra has long been,

if you're poor, get a job, and for

most people, that is

indeed the case.

But increasingly for

the poor, it is not true.

Today's report finds that one

in eight workers don't earn

enough money to avoid

being in poverty.

When Cameron was born, his mother

Karla had to give up work.

Living on basic benefits

has been trying.

She has sometimes had to skip meals.

But now he is six months old,

the single mum would like to

return to work but she fears being

unable to find flexible childcare

for a zero hours job as a learning

disability support worker.

I really did want to be

able to go back to work.

It just isn't reliable

enough and secure enough.

I need and he needs

security, stability.

We need routine.

And without that, it's never

going to be a settled life.

The government say they are spending

£90 billion a year supporting

working age people in need.

Such sums are not,

however, preventing

increasing numbers of people

from falling into poverty.

Michael Buchanan, BBC News.

Our top story this evening. Theresa

May fails to break the deadlock in

the Brexit talks. The Irish border

is a key sticking point. And still

to come, Paisley in Scotland, the

town bidding to become the UK's City

of Culture. Coming up in the sport,

a glimmer of hope for England's

cricketers as they take four quick

rockets on day three of the second

Ashes Test. They are 1-0 down in the

five match series.

The UK wastes 7 million tonnes

of food each year and now a major

retailer is aiming to help

in the battle to cut that waste

by continuing to sell food

beyond its best before date.

East of England Co-op has 125 stores

and will now sell dried and tinned

foods for 10p when they reach

the date they are best eaten by.

Our business correspondent

Emma Simpson has been to one

store in Colchester.

Everything we eat has a shelf life,

but would you be willing to buy food

which is past its best?

Plenty of shoppers at this small

convenience store did,

once they found out the price.

They're 10p, for a whole

bag of pistachios.

Oh, my life!

10p.

Right, yeah.

I'll have them.

Yeah?

Got a deal?

Yeah.

Here's how it works...

Any tinned or dried goods passed

the best before date end up

in these boxes at a knock-down

price, instead of going to waste.

Labels can be confusing.

The use by date tells

you when a product is safe to eat.

The best before label simply tells

you when food is at its best.

It's still safe to eat

after the recommended date,

and too much of it is ending up

in the bin.

It's reckoned households

across the UK wasted 7.3 million

tonnes of food last year.

Most of it could have been eaten,

or, putting it another way,

it's the equivalent of £13 billion

worth of wasted food.

To stop some of its store cupboard

items going to landfill, this chain

decided to do something new.

We wanted to be brave about it,

so we just checked the legality out,

it was legal, so why not do it?

Do you think the big retailers

should do it as well?

I think everybody should do it.

If I think it's a disgrace that

we're wasting so much food.

And most of us shoppers agree.

There are a lot of people who can't

afford a lot of expensive stuff,

so I think it will really work.

I think it's a great

idea by the Co-op.

A lot of the time if it's best

before, you can have it, can't you,

the next day or something?

It doesn't matter.

Small-scale it is,

but it's sure popular here.

Could this best before bargain

box kick-start other

retailers to follow suit?

Emma Simpson, BBC News, Colchester.

The Metropolitan Police

Commissioner, Cressida Dick,

has suggested two retired officers

who alleged pornography was found

on a Cabinet minister's computer

could be prosecuted,

if it's found to be untrue.

Bob Quick and Neil Lewis claimed

that pornography was found

on a computer seized from the MP's

Parliamentary office nine years ago.

Mr Green denies watching

or downloading pornography

on the machine.

Funding to a flagship British

government aid project has been

suspended following a BBC

Panorama investigation.

The programme found aid money

was being diverted to extremists,

known for their brutality.

The Foreign Office says it's looking

into the allegations.

Jane Corbin reports.

Britain is one of the main funders

of the Free Syrian Police,

set up to bring security to areas

held by the opposition.

But documents obtained by Panorama

reveal that some police stations

were handing over 20% of salaries

to the extremist group

Nour al-Din al-Zenki.

The company's internal documents

make it clear that Zenki's

misuse of the funds,

essentially British funds,

sets a dangerous precedent,

but they didn't stop.

They went on.

The company which runs the aid

project, Adam Smith International,

or ASI, say they recommended

stopping the funding,

but the donors, including

the British government,

initially disagreed.

Funding to the station

wasn't stopped until ten

months after the payments

were first discovered.

The police also support Zenki's

barbaric justice system.

Mahmud Bitar says he was tortured

in the Zenki prison in 2014.

It was just before ASI

took over the contract,

but Britain was already funding

the Free Syrian Police.

Mahmud says these police officers

were his prison guards.

They were there 24/7.

They are there all the time, and,

of course, the Free Syrian Police

knew about what's going on.

They knew, of course.

Panorama also discovered the police

officers were present at the stoning

of two women in another part

of northern Syria.

We spoke to someone

who worked for ASI but didn't

want to be identified.

ASI said the stoning was only five

weeks after the company

took over the project,

and the men were not

formally officers.

They'd since been

removed permanently.

The Foreign Office has suspended

funding while it investigates

Panorama's allegations.

Jane Corbin, BBC News.

And you can watch the full

programme - Panorama:

Jihadis You Pay For,

tonight at 7.30, on BBC One.

Cricket and Australia remain

in command of the second

Ashes Test in Adelaide,

despite a fightback from England.

Australia bowled England out for 227

but were then reduced to 53-4

at the end of the third day.

Our sports correspondent

Andy Swiss was watching.

When it comes to batting,

Adelaide has seen the best.

The home of the great

Sir Donald Bradman and the fans

descending on the Oval

were about to see how not to do it,

as England threw away their wickets,

their hopes and perhaps the Ashes.

James Vince and Joe Root both went

tamely, hardly the captain's

innings he'd hoped for.

And when Alastair Cook served up yet

more catching practice,

England were staring at humiliation.

But if they were brittle,

Australia were brilliant.

Nathan Lyon's dazzling caught

and bowled followed by an even

better one, Mitchell Starc showing

the reflexes of a juggler,

as Australia tightened their grip.

By the time the final

wicket fell, England

were still a massive 215 behind.

Game surely over.

But then a twist.

Australia could have

made the visitors bat

again, deciding not to.

Bad choice.

Under the floodlights,

England's bowlers sparkled.

Two early wickets for Jimmy

Anderson, two for Chris Woakes,

including the big one,

Captain Steve Smith.

Australia 53-4 at the close.

It may be faint but England finally

have a sliver of hope.

Well, Australia's fans will still be

heading home pretty happy

with their team's position

but England's bowlers have at least

given them heart after that

early batting collapse.

A tense end, then,

to a dramatic day.

Verbals exchanged as

the players left the pitch.

England will be hoping

they could yet have the last word.

Andy Swiss, BBC News, Adelaide.

Paisley in Scotland

is in the running to become the UK

City of Culture 2021.

Except it's not a city,

it's a town - the first town ever

to make it on the shortlist.

It's competing against Coventry,

Stoke, Sunderland and

Swansea for the title.

The winner, to be

announced this week,

will host a year-long celebration

of arts, music and culture,

which has proved a huge economic

success for the current holder,

Hull.

In the second of our five profiles,

Lorna Gordon has been meeting spoken

word poets of Paisley.

I love Paisley.

They're creative, pretty,

full of magic and fun.

This tired, weary, brownfield site.

You were built on threads that

had been ripped apart

or taken away to lands anew.

One, two, three...

Hi!

They are the poets of Paisley.

Their verse, the town

through their eyes.

People have this kind of perception

of the working class, like,

it's just all grey and dull

and scraping by, but I think

like culture or something,

it's kind of helped me kind

of become who I am today.

Yeah, we've lost all these

old things, and there's been a lot

of decline and a lot of bad things

happening in the town.

What can we do now instead?

Paisley was known the world

over for the pattern

which bears its name.

It was a town that built

its fortunes on thread.

But when the mills closed,

thousands of jobs went with them.

Its heyday was over.

My mum was a mill girl,

like thousands of people here.

She had a great sense of camaraderie

and we are tapping into that

heritage and that sense of vibrancy

with our bid, and really doing it

for towns up and down the land.

The challenges here are not unique.

An empty high street.

A larger, more prosperous

neighbour in Glasgow.

A sense of a town left behind.

Paisley is a town, not a city,

but those behind its bid believe

this could work in its favour

and if it wins, it could not only

inspire but show the way to other,

smaller urban areas,

so often overlooked.

Projects like this, working

in one of Scotland's most

deprived communities,

are helping to reinvent this place,

putting culture at its heart.

For too long, Paisley's been

the poster boy of poverty.

That's not who we are.

There's so much culture

going on here, so much aspiration

and potential and people need

to stop looking at the weeds

and focus on the flowers.

They are daring to dream

here that their time has

come but win or lose,

Paisley's cultural

flourishing will continue.

Lorna Gordon, BBC News, Paisley.

Time for the weather with Ben.

Stunning picture.

It is and it was a stunning end to

the day. And parts of the country,

not all, there was cloud in places

but sunshine as well and this

picture came from East Yorkshire. We

will keep this fairly quiet weather

as we had through tomorrow, the best

of the brightness today has been in

eastern areas, more cloud further

west as you can see on the

satellite. That will continue to

work its way eastwards this evening

and night. Rather cloudy and perhaps

damp conditions over some hills in

the west but if you see any breaks

in the cloud for any length of time,

you could see some fog patches

forming by tomorrow morning. Most

places holding several degrees above

freezing but again if the cloud

clears overhead, don't be surprised

if you get a touch of frost for

tomorrow morning. Tomorrow in many

ways a similar day, lots of cloud

but some breaks and sunny spells,

the best of those once again to be

found in eastern areas. The

beginnings of a change further north

west, strengthening winds, outbreaks

of rain into north-west Scotland,

temperatures around where they

should be for the time of year and

as we had through night, wind

strengthening even further, up to

the north-west. That sets us up for

Wednesday as things start to change

more dramatically, really strong

winds in the West, could be gales

later in the day as outbreaks of

rain squash in from the Atlantic.

For the time being, it will be

really mild, 11 or 12 degrees, the

mildest day of the week but it won't

last. A big changes coming, courtesy

of this, a deep low-pressure system

swinging through during Wednesday

night, bringing very wet and windy

weather and it will also, as it

clears away, open the