The Government has been told to drop its "tough guy" approach over threatening to suspend the Northern Ireland Protocol, with a warning it will lead to "disaster".
Lord Frost is meeting Maro？ ？ef？ovi？, the Commission's Vice President, for yet another round of talks today after the Brexit minister stressed triggering Article 16 remained "the only option" if no compromise can be reached.
But Thomas Byrne, Ireland's European Affairs minister, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme there was "serious danger of complete instability" because of these threats.
"Quite frankly I don't think the people who are burning buses in Northern Ireland at the moment... are fully aware of the details and intricacies of the Northern Ireland Protocol."
He added: "The tough guy approach when it comes to Northern Ireland can only be counterproductive and will lead to disaster."
However, challenged on what exactly he meant by this, he was vague saying it was "unthinkable".
"My biggest concern is to ensure peace and stability and economic prosperity in Northern Ireland," he added.
Mr ？ef？ovi？ is to give a press conference at 2:45pm this afternoon.
？？Follow the latest updates below.
In another interview this morning, Nicola Sturgeon said she would not bet on today being the last day of Cop 26.
Asked if Friday is the last day of the summit, she told Sky News: "I wouldn't bet lots of money on that. I hope we see progress today.
"I certainly hope that finishing at six o'clock tonight, which is the plan, would be possible.
"Equally, I would not be surprised to know that it was going into tomorrow. That's not unusual at Cop, so nobody should read anything particular into that if it does happen."
But Downing Street has said Boris Johnson cannot stay any later at the summit than Saturday evening because he must return to London for a remembrance ceremony at the Cenotaph.
A new draft Cop26 climate agreement, published this morning is "slightly better" than a previous version but it "still has a way to go", Scotland's First Minister has said.
Nicola Sturgeon told BBC Breakfast: "So, it is in many respects slightly better than the draft that was published earlier in the week, but it still has a way to go.
"So, on the upside, you know, there's a clear recognition that 1.5 degrees is the goal in terms of limiting global warming. There seems to be movement on adaptation finance, there is wording on loss and damage."
But she added: "On the downside, still not a delivery of the 100 billion dollars financial commitment (from developed nations to vulnerable countries), the expression of regret and disappointment - but the people who are expressing regret are the people who can deliver it. So hopefully we'll see that change.
"And still the fact that, although there is a recognition that 1.5 degrees is the goal, we are way off track to actually meet that, we're still on a track for a world of 2.4 degrees global warming. For many parts of the world that is a death sentence."
Cop 26 finishes today following two weeks of discussions by world leaders and their negotiators.
Ahead of the next election, there are various reports around today that Corbynite MPs face being deselected, after a rule change designed to cement the control of moderates in the Labour Party.
In particular, Zarah Sultana, a rising star of the party’s Left wing, faces losing her seat because Labour members in Coventry hope to deselect her, the BBC reported.
A motion at this year’s Labour conference in Brighton changed the rules for local constituency Labour parties (CLPs) on how members can vote out their MPs more before the next election.
Moderates in the party hope that candidates from the 2019 election, who had the support of the Corbyn leadership, can be removed in advance of the next election in 2023 or 2024.
Tony Diver has more.
When Rishi Sunak admitted that the Government had blundered over the Owen Paterson vote, he was making a bit of a gamble, writes Fraser Nelson.
This is the very apology that Boris Johnson has conspicuously refused to offer. Since becoming Chancellor, Sunak has taken care to be seen as uber-loyal to the Prime Minister, doing his best to conceal the many differences between them. But with the party in crisis – and its leader refusing to express regret – ministers are taking matters into their own hands.
As each day passes, Tories have more cause to regret the loyalty showed last week to what they now regard as an incompetent No 10.
“The whips are supposed to be the shrewdest among us,” complains one minister. “But Boris has made it a nursery for the thickos.”
Backbenchers were not even asked about their opinions on the disastrous “Save Paterson” plan until the day before the vote – by which time everything had been finalised and it was too late to change direction.
Read more from Fraser here
Nicola Sturgeon has said she would not bet on Friday being the last day of Cop26.
Asked if Friday is the last day of the summit, the First Minister 6told Sky News: "I wouldn't bet lots of money on that. I hope we see progress today.
"I certainly hope that finishing at six o'clock tonight, which is the plan, would be possible.
"Equally, I would not be surprised to know that it was going into tomorrow. That's not unusual at Cop, so nobody should read anything particular into that if it does happen."
A Labour frontbencher has attacked the Government for "flirting" with the idea of opening a coal mine in the UK while demanding other countries make demanding commitments at Cop26.
Ministers have said a decision on the Cumbria coal mine is not for them.
Shadow international development secretary Preet Kaur Gill said the wording of the draft deal (see 8:07) is "absolutely welcome", but told Sky News: "We're telling other countries to phase out fossil fuels but actually we're flirting with the idea here in terms of coal mines at home.
"Of course, this can't happen for many developing countries if we don't have the climate finance because how are they going to mitigate and adapt their economies if they just don't have the financing?
"So, this is welcome, it's tighter wording, it's giving a kind of a clearer commitment, but actually without the climate finance it's going to be very, very difficult to deliver it."
Damian Collins has said social media firms must fix the algorithms that push harmful content towards young people, saying it is "not a mystic force".
The senior Conservative MP and his daughter Claudia spoke to ITV's Good Morning Britain about her article for The Telegraph, in which she claimed that social media would " fuel the genocide of my generation".
Mr Collins told the broadcaster young girls are having content "pushed at them" which glamorises self-harm, as he attacked Instagram, TikTok and the phones themselves.
"They made the algorithms, they can fix the algorithms," he added. They are not a "mystic force".
The former minister said he was hopeful the new Online Harms Bill would address much of these issues, saying they would not be resolved "unless we have very clear rules and laws in place, and independent bodies that can enforce them".
The husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is enduring his 20th day on hunger strike, after a meeting with a Foreign Office minister left him feeling "deflated" about his wife's continued detention in Iran.
Richard Ratcliffe described being "stuck in the same status quo" after the discussion with James Cleverly on Thursday, and accused the British Government of not doing enough to resolve the situation.
Mr Ratcliffe, who began his hunger strike outside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in London on October 24, after his wife lost her latest appeal, said while those at the meeting had been "perfectly nice, sincere, caring", he came away from it with "no hope".
His update from Mr Cleverly, lasting a little over 30 minutes, took place after talks between UK Government officials and Iran's deputy foreign minister, Ali Bagheri Kani. Mr Ratcliffe said the Government "clammed up" and would not talk about the outstanding ￡400m debt owed to Iran during his discussion with them.
A singalong vigil is planned for Friday at 6pm where he has been camped in King Charles Street.
A new draft of the deal that could be agreed at the Glasgow Cop26 climate talks appears to have watered down its push to curb fossil fuels.
The first draft of the "cover decision" called for countries "to accelerate the phasing-out of coal and subsidies for fossil fuels".
In a new draft produced on Friday morning, that has changed to calling on countries to accelerate the shift to clean energy systems, "including by rapidly scaling up clean power generation and accelerating the phaseout of unabated coal power and of inefficient subsidies for fossil fuels".
The inclusion of a reference to fossil fuels was a first for a UN decision document of this type, but was expected to get fierce pushback from some countries.
The situation in Northern Ireland "is clearly very fragile", Ireland's European Affairs minister has said.
Thomas Byrne told Radio 4's Today programme that the BBC has reported on "instances of violence, instances of fragility of that peace process this week".
He added: "Further instability will only lead to a continuation of that.
"If we can get certainty, if we can get a continuity in trading arrangements, and less of this discussion, what will happen is that the economy in Northern Ireland will prosper and that then helps as well the social situation, which is very, very delicate at the moment."
There is a "prize" for talks about the Northern Ireland Protocol succeeding, Ireland's European Affairs minister has said.
Brussels is expected to offer an olive branch today - but also reiterate warnings of retaliatory measures if the UK goes ahead with its threats to trigger Article 16.
Thomas Byrne told BBC Radio 4's Today that the EU "certainly don't want to make threats but want to bring this conclusion".
"There is a prize there," he added. "A prize of stability and peace in Northern Ireland, and the continuing good diplomatic and trading relationship between Britain and the European Union."
The EU has listened to the concerns of Northern Ireland and is in "solutions mode", Ireland's European Affairs minister has said.
Thomas Byrne told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the "division" that had arisen in Northern Ireland was "because of threats by the British Government to suspend the protocol under Article 16".
He added: "We're not entirely clear what that's about."
Mr Byrne said he is "very glad despite that gloomy atmosphere" that there are talks taking place on Friday.
Labour has overtaken the Tories for the first time in a year, according to one pollster, in a further sign that the sleaze row is cutting through with the public.
Redfield and Wilton Strategies found 38 per cent of respondents said they would vote Labour if there was an election, with 36 per cent saying they would vote Conservative.
The poll was taken on Wednesday in the wake of a week of headlines about Conservative MPs and allegations of bad practice. Some 1,500 people from across the UK took part.
It is the first time since November last year that the firm, which carries out polls roughly every week, has put Labour ahead – a sign of the political challenge the Tories face.
The United States has warned European allies that Russia could be plotting to invade Ukraine in a repeat of the 2014 annexation of Crimea.
US officials have privately briefed their EU counterparts on a possible military operation as tens of thousands of Russian troops amass near the border.
Senior Whitehall sources told The Telegraph that the Government was concerned about the reports and that there was "twitchiness" and "anxiety" among officials.
It came amid heightened tensions, with Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, accused of orchestrating a migration crisis on the border between Belarus and Poland to destabilise Europe.
On Thursday, the Kremlin claimed it had scrambled a fighter jet to intercept a British spy plane operating in the Black Sea region.
Russian forces, including elite units, are gathering near the Ukraine border, with some deployed covertly at night.
Read more here.
After days of being obsessed with Westminster's sleaze row, there is a distinctly global feeling to the news this morning.
World leaders are hoping to secure a major new agreement at Cop26 that will stave off climate change and keep us on track to stay within the 1.5C target.
The United States has warned European allies that Russia could be plotting to invade Ukraine in a repeat of the 2014 annexation of Crimea. Russian forces, including elite units, are gathering near the Ukraine border, with some deployed covertly at night.
And Lord Frost welcomes Maros Sefcovic for another round of talks in London, in a bid to resolve the issues with the Northern Ireland Protocol
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