Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC News At Five 20240713

Here in the north of england. We are the city of leeds. Well bring you all the latest on the general election race. The other main stories on bbc news at five two teenagers have been found guilty of murdering Jodie Chesney in a park in east london. Two others have been cleared. A Police Officer has been charged with the murder of retired footballer Dalian Atkinson, who died after being tasered. Would you pay £5. 99 a month to be able to binge on british classic Television Series . The uk streaming Service Britbox has now officially launched. Its 5pm. Our top story. The Election Campaign has turned its focus onto the economy, with the shadow chancellor, john mcdonnell, setting out plans to borrow £150 billion over five years to replace, update and expand schools, hospitals, housing and care homes. Mr mcdonnell said the investment would be on a scale never seen outside london and the south east. The chancellor sajid javid says the conservatives would increase borrowing to pay for new infrastructure but he insists that controlling borrowing is a priority. This report from our economics correspondent andy verity. The man who wants to be the next chancellor of the exchequer has already promised £250 billion in extra spending in the next ten years. Today, he promised another sizeable sum in half that time. Social Transformation Fund will begin the urgent task of repairing our social fabric which has been torn apart by the tories. 150 billion to replace and upgrade and expand our schools, our hospitals, care homes, and, yes, Council Homes once again. Another £150 billion over five years is roughly £30 billion a year. To give you an idea of how much that is, £1 billion will pay to run the nhs across the uk for three days. It is enough for a government to build up to 111,000 new social homes, or to pay for 22,000 new secondary school teachers. But it will mean loosening the governments rules on spending. 0ur fiscal rule for next parliament will exclude borrowing from investment for borrowing targets. It will mandate us to deliver an improvement in the overall Balance Sheet by the end of the parliament. So that, when we invest in the infrastructure our country desperately needs, it is recognised on both as a cost but also as a benefit. Beforejohn mcdonnell had even spoken, the existing chancellor was attacking his Spending Plans. You mentioned 150 billion. He might as well, mcdonnell, say a trillion, 2 trillion, 3 trillion, because they are meaningless numbers, because even if he tried to do what he said, if he tried to keep his word, he would crash the economy. But the conservatives, too, want to loosen the purse strings, known in the jargon as the fiscal rules. The aim for the last decade has been for debt to fall as a proportion of the economy and in recent years, it has. Today, both parties ditched that goal, saying that the governments debts can now rise. Instead, they will have a rule on the cost of servicing that debt. The conservatives say Debt Repayment shouldnt cost more than 6 of the governments revenue, labour say it shouldnt cost more than 10 . Some economists welcome those much looser purse strings. There needs to be investment in the country. There is a shortage of investment for the last ten or so years since the financial crisis, and to some extent we are pleased that both parties are offering these Spending Plans. The thing that worries us greatly is that it is not being underpinned by a comprehensive Spending Review or indeed an assessment of the taxes that will be required to meet their Spending Plans, and that is a grave concern to us. Labours plans would more than double public spending on investment and even the conservatives new spending cap would allow the highest Public Investment for a0 years. But what now seems affordable in this pre christmas election may look less so in the new year, especially if, as some predict, the economy slows down. Andy verity, bbc news. As labour struggles to deal with the continuing fallout from the resignation of its deputy leader, tom watson, theres been a new headache. Two former labour mps, John Woodcock and ian austin, have come out in support of the conservatives, arguing mr corbyn is unfit to govern. 0ur Political Correspondent chris mason reports. Here he is, ian austin, at the heart of the labour party, working for gordon brown 15 years ago. Hes devoted his adult life to the party as a counsellor, an adviser, attending cabinet. But his disagreements withJeremy Corbyn are not new. Hed sat as an independent mp since february, but nonetheless, his intervention today is still astonishing. Take a look at this. I thinkJeremy Corbyn is completely unfit to lead our country, completely unfit to lead the labour party. And after 3a years, since a teenager, ive worked for labour party. In my 30s, i was a government adviser. In my 40s, i was an mp and a minister, but its come to something when i tell decent labour voters that they should vote for borisjohnson in this election. I cant believe its come to this, but thats where we are. Yes, thats a former labour minister suggesting you vote conservative. I had to leave the labour party, i felt. I could have kept it quiet and gone along with it all, or disappeared back off to dudley, but i think youve got to stand up and tell the truth. I think youve got to stand up and tell the truth, and if youre not going to do whats right on a fundamental question like racism, what are you going to do . And he wasnt done there. Here he was in westminster, hours later, with another former labour mp, John Woodcock, who says he will vote conservative. Their views are clear. Ian austins dad was a jewish refugee, his aunts and grandma were murdered by the nazis. Hes long been deeply angry at what he sees asJeremy Corbyns failure to deal with allegations of anti semitism. He says the party has been poisoned with anti jewish racism. The labour leadership insist they are doing everything they can to eradicate the problem. He added that the decision of labours deputy leader tom watson, who has also had does disagreements with Jeremy Corbyn, to leave politics was enormously significant. Although mr watson maintains he will Still Campaign for labour and wants to seeJeremy Corbyn win. Its a very personal decision, not a political one. Ive been in front line labour politics for 35 years. Im 52 years old, ive been on a Health Journey in recent years and i want to take a leap and do something new. So what do labour make of what ian austin said today . The shadow chancellor made a reference to an unpaid Government Role as an envoy to israel that mr austin took on in the summer. He is now employed by the tories. What else do you expect him to do in an Election Campaign . Where you are employed by the tories, you speak on behalf of the tories. Thats what this was about this morning. The conservatives had a bumpy start to this campaign, now its labours turn. 0ur Political Correspondent sean curran is at westminster. Hello. Another eventful day, and in fa ct, hello. Another eventful day, and in fact, its only day two of this Election Campaign. Following up on those criticisms from ian austin, the Jewish Chronicle those criticisms from ian austin, theJewish Chronicle today criticised the labour leaderships handling of the anti semitism and urged non Jewish Voters to not vote labour. Jeremy corbyn was asked about that this afternoon. 0ur party has confronted the issue. We have suspended or expelled members. We have an education programme. And all of that has been set up since i became the leader of this party. And we will carry on doing exactly that. There are manyjewish people in this country who are members of the labour party, supporters of the labour party, work with the labour party, and they do not share the views that have been put forward on the front page of the Jewish Chronicle. I regret that the Jewish Chronicle has chosen to print that. But i simply say to everyone our community is stronger when people Work Together, when we recognise the danger and the poison that anti semitism is. Borisjohnson has also been on the campaign trail. He has been in scotland, ramming home his message that he is the Prime Minister for the union. He made these comments when he was at a distillery. Were the party thats going to keep our fantastic United Kingdom together. And actually, its only scottish conservatives who can prevent another referendum next year under Jeremy Corbyn, who will have done a deal with the Scottish National party, because thats the only way he can see getting into power. Not only would he have a referendum on scottish independence, but wants to have a second referendum on the eu. So were the party thats saying, come on, lets get together as the whole uk, lets get brexit done, get this thing over the line, and then get on with bringing our great country together and unleashing the potential of the whole uk. Its only scottish conservatives that can prevent that second referendum. Now, the snps Nicola Sturgeon definitely wants a second referendum. She wants it next year. But scottish labour and the liberal democrats say they are opposed to the plan and do not want a second referendum. Talking of the liberal democrats, jo swinson, itv were given until 5pm to talk about their plans to have a debate not including her. The deadline has passed and the lib dems have not heard from itv. Thank you, sean curran there. Lets take a look at some of todays other election news. Some of britains pro european Political Parties have announced a remain electoral alliance. The liberal democrats, plaid cymru and the green party will step aside for each other in 60 constituencies. They claimed the move was in the national interest. It is unprecedented, the scale of this arrangement between these three different Political Parties, but i think it speaks volumes about how high the stakes are, how important this is, that these parties, ourselves, the liberal democrats, with the green party and plaid cymru, have been able to put aside those narrow Party Interests to Work Together in the national interest, and thats how our politics should be done. Around 3,000 voters in swindon have been mistakenly warned that they may not be able to vote in the general election. In a letter sent by swindon council, residents were told they would be removed from the electoral register as they were no longer entitled to be registered at their property. The Council Later tweeted, asking residents to ignore the letter as it was sent by mistake. Boris johnson and Jeremy Corbyn have condemned the remarks of a conservative general election candidate who said that women should keep their knickers on while discussing a high profile rape case. Nick conrad a former bbc local radio presenter made the comments five years ago. He has since apologised. Mr conrad is standing in the broadland seat. Youll be able to find a full list of the candidates in broadland on the bbc website after nominations close next week. In the wake of borisjohnson saying. We heard from tommy sheppard. We have three main objectives in this election. 0ne sheppard. We have three main objectives in this election. One is to walk borisjohnson out of number ten. The second is to stop brexit by putting it back to the people. And the third is to demand respect for scottish public opinion, and im not expecting Boris Johnson scottish public opinion, and im not expecting borisjohnson to respect independence or even to respective referendum. I am independence or even to respective referendum. Iam inspecting is independence or even to respective referendum. I am inspecting is the scottish public votes by a majority to consult people, that westminster would respect that, not try and overturn it. And if he tries to combat that, he is going to turbo charge scottish referendum. Tommy sheppard. And well have more on the election later in the programme. As Business Leaders publish their manifesto for the north, Christian Fraser is in leeds. Two teenagers have been found guilty of murdering the girl scoutJodie Chesney, who was stabbed in an east london park in march. Svenson 0ng a kwie, whos 19, and a 17 year old man, who cant be named, have been convicted at the old bailey. Two other co defendents were cleared of murder. 0ur correspondentjon donnison is at the old bailey. This was a shocking case. Shocking case. Jodi chesney, 17 years old, a level student, girl scout, stabbed in the back, apparently a blameless victim with no apparent motive for the killing. The jury victim with no apparent motive for the killing. Thejury here victim with no apparent motive for the killing. The jury here at the 0ld the killing. The jury here at the old bailey took less than six hours to reach their verdict. 19 year old svenson 0ng a kwie and his 17 year old accomplice, who we cannot name because of his age, guilty of murder. Two others, a 20 year old and a 16 year old youth, they were both acquitted of both murder and manslaughter, and my colleague dan johnson has murder and manslaughter, and my colleague danjohnson has the background to the case. I know parents say this about their children, but there really wasnt a bad bone in her body, not one. Jodie was a wonderful girl. Very loving and caring. And shed do anything for anyone. The worst thing that can ever happen to somebody is to lose a child, especially in this manner. I terribly miss being able to ask jodie to play the piano for me. I miss everything about her. The chesney family photos sparkle with youthful innocence and ambition. Jodie was bright, caring, and kind. Hard work volunteering earned her the highest recognition. Her killing stunned a nation, already fearful that knife crime was out of control and claiming more young lives. The last time i sanodie, she popped her head around the stairs and said, happy birthday, dad. Isaid, thanks, love, gave her a kiss and went to work. It was her dads birthday, and as he celebrated that evening, this was the last image ofjodie, heading to the park with friends to listen to music and smoke cannabis. Cctv later caught two figures crossing the field towards the group. This was an attack that came from our darkest nightmares, the two hooded men walking silently over to the play area. The prosecution said they crept up on jodie and her friends. And her boyfriend described how one hopped this fence, the other came through this gate, and without a word being said, they walked straight up tojodie and she was stabbed in the back. Then, as quickly as they came, the two men disappeared back into the night. The car that had dropped them off moved down the road, where there was just a glimpse of their shadows before they drove away. The desperate effort to savejodie ended here, when the ambulance met a team of doctors who attempted open heart surgery. The police were going to take us to the hospital when jodie was on her way there. Then i heard over the radio for them to re route to my house, because jodies gone. So, i heard it in the police van. Just coping from day to day, living day to day as best we can. You know . Only two of the four young men in that car are old enough to be shown, but they were all accused of murder. The driver was manuel petrovic, a drug dealer selling cannabis and cocaine. He claimed he expected to pick up drugs and did not know anything violent was planned. Svenson 0ng a kwie also sold cannabis around harold hill. He admitted he was in the park but claimed he went there to do a drug deal. When he was asked who stabbed jodie, he named his 17 year old co defendant. In return, he said it was svenson who killed her. The jury were shown footage proving the three of them met earlier that day before heading off to do drug deals. They also saw svenson leaving home wearing clothes matching the description given by some ofjodies friends. When he came back the next day, he was wearing a different outfit. Manuel petrovic admitted he brought svenson a change of clothes but they turned out to be too short. Svenson said he burned the others. When you add the circumstances together, it showed a compelling case. It was only because of the weight of the evidence that forced all four defendants to admit to be being present at the car, present at the scene. In terms of the actual motive, i dont think we will ever know because only the four people in that car know why they went to that park. What happened here that night pierced the thin veil of reassurance that knife crime happens somewhere else, to other people. And this trial has laid bare just how fractured some of the lives here really were built around drugs, gangs, weapons and violence and fuelled by respect and revenge. Im not going to spend my life hating. Ive learnt that from other parents that ive met and theyve said it to me, please, dont spend your life hating because its going to eat you up inside. And i dont want to do that. And i knowjodie wouldnt want that out of me. Danjohnson dan johnson there on danjohnson there on the background to this case. In the last hour or so, jodies father, peter chesney, has spoken very briefly to reporters outside the old bailey. He said, he was over the moon that the guilty verdicts. He punched the air and he said, we got them. We also heard from the dci, who said he was immensely pleased with the verdict. Justice had be done. He said jodie was a lovely and innocent girl. She did nothing to warrant to this level of violence. The does not guilty young men are to be sentenced later this month the two guilty young men. Jon donnison, think you very much. Lets return to the Election Campaign now. And throughout, bbc news will be looking closely at the places where the election could be won and lost visiting ten parts of the uk where seats will be closely contested. Today, were in leeds, and we can cross over now to Christian Fraser, who is there for us. Thank you very much. I know we will surprise you, but i was a student here 26 years ago. This is a city i know well. Quite a confession from someone know well. Quite a confession from someone from east lincolnshire for but its always been a city with huge potential. Some of that has been realised, some of that would be fulfilled, and certainly leeds would welcome investment. Let me show you this map. There are eight constituencies, five of which are held by the labour party. Three have been held by the conservatives. Were here in Leeds Central which has been held by the labour mp hilary benn since. But the two neighbouring seats of pudsey and morley 0utwood are key battlegrounds between the tories and labour. Remember, you and Andrea Jenkins who took that seat from ed balls, no less. One other key fact for you, the 2016 eu referendum. The city of leeds delivered a near 50 50 with the remain vote shading it by 50. 3. It really is an oasis, the rest of the region went leave. There was talk today of shifting some of that to the north. That mirrors this front page. A lot of front pages across the north of england mirror this. This has been written by a cioss this. This has been written by a Cross Party Group of Business Leaders who want a formal committee for the treasury to rebalance the economy. They want to dictate a transport budget for the north, they wa nt transport budget for the north, they want more spending on the nhs and on education and skills. It is this kind of thing that is going to be incorporated, you would imagine, into the manifestos that are still to be printed. This is the message the parties are going to have to carry to the doorsteps in the coming weeks, and we have been out with some of the campaigns on the First Official day of campaigning in 2019. With winter coats, brollies and sensible shoes, the volunteers are mustering. Here in the West Yorkshire drizzle, the ground war is under way. Leeds north west is one of the key labour marginals. They face a sizeable challenge here from the lib dems, so no room for any complacency. Labour is pouring in the resources. Its a big team, bolstered by young faces. This constituency has one of the biggest student populations in the country. Hang on, weve got to 40, ground floor, that is. No other party really matches labours ground game, set times every day, 11am, 2pm, 4pm, 6pm. Regimental. Just committed, just enthusiastic. Any student orformer student from leeds knows about the notorious pub crawl the so called 0tley run 16 pubs into the city centre. And you know what, its a bit like the Election Campaign. Its long, it requires great stamina, and no one really knows where its going to end. At least, i didnt. But theres a serious point here. Student turnout, the final thursday of term in the run up to christmas youd better get them early. This is waterloo mount were on now. In neighbouring pudsey, turnout is also important for the conservatives. Theyre defending a majority from labour of just 331. Whats the brexit message . The brexit message is we are here to get brexit done. Its not been the perfect start to the tory campaign. In pudsey, theyjust hope its the Prime Ministers message, and not the remarks ofjacob rees moggs, that are cutting through. Does it make you angry, when you need every one of these votes . Yeah, of course, its very frustrating, but those things dont matter to people here in pudsey. Ive never voted conservative. Are you a labour supporter, of old . Of old, yeah, but theyre just fools, arent they . And its brexit that you will be voting on . Yeah, definitely. Ive been saying, its a toss up between conservatives and brexit party. Which is why, back here in leeds north west, the mood in the lib dem camp is as bright as their high vis jackets. Over the last year, its been incredible seeing the change on the doorstep. People are now saying, i voted labour in the past but im disillusioned withJeremy Corbyn. Im coming to you instead because of your stop brexit position. Do you know all aboutjo swinson . No, not at all. Hmm. They have five weeks to inform and change minds. Its humbling for the candidates, careers depend on these volunteers and in the depths of a yorkshire winter, the early enthusiasm will be sorely tested. Yes, indeed. We have been sheltering to the date in the shopping centre, as have many of these shoppers. Let me show you the picture. It is coming up to half past five. It is already dark, pretty miserable for the one thing i noticed, it sounds pretty obvious, going out the Campaign Teams yesterday, people go out turned in early on nights like this. They draw the curtains, the porch lights are not on and they dont want to open the door. Any number of people i saw last night trying to put flyers through doors or even handing them through the window because people did not want to come and open the door to the Campaign Teams tells you how difficult this is going to be. Its very difficult. Much easier in the summer, when people are washing the car or walking the dog or are out in the garden. This time, its going to bea the garden. This time, its going to be a very different Election Campaign. Christian, thank you very much. Christian fraser there in leeds. Throughout the election, well be taking an in depth look at the numbers behind the politicians speeches. Both labour and the conservatives have set out their Spending Priorities today. Lets have a look at what theyve announced. Labour have pledged £150 billion over five years to be spent on schools, hospitals and other infrastructure projects. This is in addition to the £250 billion already pledged for the green Transformation Fund to address the climate crisis. Added together, thats £55 billion a year for the first five years. Meanwhile, the conservatives have pledged to balance their budget on day to day spending, meaning they wont spend more than they bring in. Theyve relaxed their rules on borrowing. Theyll allow 3 of gdp to be spent on and theyll reasess borrowing costs if they rise in the future. On investment and theyll reassess borrowing costs. Both parties are funding their spending on investment by borrowing money. They do this by borrowing money from investors on international markets, which needs to be paid back with interest. Both parties agree that now is a good time to borrow money because Interest Rates are low, so the amount they have to pay back is less than at other times. Lets get the thoughts now of ben zaranko Research Economist at the institute for fiscal studies, who has been looking at the pledges announced today in more detail. Huge changes from both parties, but the biggest coming from labour. A huge sum of investment. What you make of their plans . As you say, £55 billion a year, extra investment on top of what the government has already penciled in, is a big announcement. We have looked at how that would compare to her much the government has invested historically. And it would take investment, if this was delivered, which is an f, two levels back in the 1970s stop just expand that graph. We have got the constant black line am aware we are at the moment, and above that, in blue, thatis moment, and above that, in blue, that is what the conservatives are proposing. And then quite a lot higher up there is the labour proposal. That is right. The conservatives have said come as part as their fiscal strategy, it will be capped at 3 of the economy. Labour is promising to spend 55 billion a year comeau choi above that. That is a ambitious. Labour thinks it would be beneficial to the country and the economy. But delivering investment on that scale could be challenging. Critically when the bank of england and mark carney said they are pulling back on their investment for the next four years. Saying things are not going as well as we might expect. And that will affect both parties, wanted to . That will affect both parties. That is what we have seen both parties. That is what we have seen adjustments from both parties on what is called budget balance. All of that spending has to be financed out of taxes. If the economy performs worse than expected, as the bank of england said today, that feeds through to tax revenues and thats a gap that has to be plugged from somewhere, either from has to be plugged from somewhere, eitherfrom raising has to be plugged from somewhere, either from raising tax has to be plugged from somewhere, eitherfrom raising tax rates has to be plugged from somewhere, either from raising tax rates or from cutting spending. Lets look at the conservatives. They relaxed their fiscal rules. What is the thinking behind that . It has been a big shift in conservative policy. They are willing to increase borrowing, but theyve also dropped some of their previous fiscal rules which mrjavid inherited from his predecessor. There talk about limiting that sharing costs. They said if it reaches more than 6 of revenues, they will revisit the rules. They every its rated they wa nt to rules. They every its rated they want to reach current budget balance. Thejob, want to reach current budget balance. The job, which want to reach current budget balance. Thejob, which the previous said was to. What this allows for his higher spending and otherwise would have been the case. There is another graph i want to just show, because here again, it shows exactly how much greater the promises that have been made by labour than conservatives. You look at this, and you say, how achievable is either of these considering they do considerably great room than we do at the moment . That is right. Labour promising more than the conservatives. I think a key challenge, whether it is a Labour Government or a conservative government, finding the money might be the easy bit. Actually funding projects to invest in, finding a Skilled Workforce to deliver this projects, getting plane information for those projects, the stonehenge tunnel, the garden bridge, announcing projects does not make it happen. You have to deliver them. For the next government, that will bea for the next government, that will be a key challenge. We will leave it there. Good to talk to you. Ben zaranko, thank you. Youre watching bbc news. Lets take a look at some of the other news stories now. A Police Officer has been charged with the murder of the former aston villa footballer Dalian Atkinson, who died after being tasered in shropshire in 2016. Phil mackie is in birmingham for us now. Actually come outside burnham crown court. That is because there were two hearing today posted both of these officers were charged this morning after a very long investigation. Birmingham crown court. Dalian atkinson, the very well known footballer, was involved in an incident outside his Fathers House and he was tasered by two Police Officers and later died. There is a two year investigation. They passed their files onto the crown prosecution service, and this morning, a further two years later, those two officers were charged. Dalian atkinsons family said they we re Dalian Atkinsons family said they were happy it would go before a journey but regretted it took to this point. This afternoon here at crown court, there a lengthy discussion about whether or not the press would be allowed to name those two officers. At the moment but there is an order banning any mention of who they are, because if their identities were revealed, their identities were revealed, their lives will be put at risk despite offering no evidence to support that claim. There will be a further hearing next wednesday to determine that matter and the two officers themselves will be back in court in december for the officers themselves will be back in court in decemberfor the next officers themselves will be back in court in december for the next part of thisjudicial court in december for the next part of this judicial process, where one is charged with murder, the other with assault. Thank you very much for that. Now its time for a look at the weather with ben. A lot of talk of flooding around the country. Good evening to you. Some really atrocious travelling conditions for some of the decisioning. Some of this this evening. Numerous flood warnings from the environment agency. More than 70 the last time i checked. The bbc whether website will have the latest on the flood warnings for rur and also the weather warnings there isa and also the weather warnings there is a met Office Amber Warning still in force for parts of derbyshire, Greater Manchester and west and southWest Yorkshire. The rain is going to keep on coming. Expect or problems with flooding, more variable conditions on the roads. That wet weather very slowly sinking south into the night, the midlands, parts of wales and eventually pushing towards the southeast of england. The first southeast will have some shoppers, it will turn chilly here. Quite a cold night in prospects has a few showers. For most, it is a drier day, thankfully, a brighter day, with some spells of sunshine. But still rather chilly, with highs of six. This is bbc news. The headlines. The shadow chancellor sets out plans to borrow £150 billion over five years to replace, update and expand schools, hospitals, housing, and care homes. The social Transformation Fund will begin the urgent task of repairing our social fabric thats been torn apart by the tories. Setting out his partys plans, chancellor sajid javid also promised spending on infrastructure but insisted his priority is control of government borrowing. There will be new hospitals, schools, railways, better broadband, new connections, and opportunities for every part of our great nation. Two teenagers have been found guilty of murdering Jodie Chesney in a park in east london. Two others have been cleared. Im very pleased that the jury has seen through these defences that were presented by the suspects and have found them guilty. A Police Officer has been charged with the murder of retired footballer Dalian Atkinson who died after being tasered. We go to the bbc sport centre and joining us now is jane. Hi there, simon. We start with england manager Gareth Southgate. England manager Gareth Southgate has named the Leicester City midfielder, James Maddison in his squad for their euro 2020 qualifiers against montenegro and kosovo this month. Maddison had to pull out of their last set of matches due to illness, but he was then spotted in a casino during the international break. However, southgate has decided to give him another chance. Also returning to the squad is manchester citysjohn stones, who replaces evertons michael keane. Theres no place for dele alli but alex 0xlade chamberlain and Callum Hudson 0doi are both included. This squad announcement is actually the first time weve heard from Gareth Southgate since bulgaria were told that they had to play one game behind closed doors as punishment for the racial abuse that england players suffered during their qualifier. Heres what southgate had to say about that. Still very proud of the players and the way they dealt with all of that. And the ongoing issue is one of education across the world, really. I have spoken about that probably more than i should have needed to over the last few years, but that is a situation we are still in sadly. So i think we still have work to do, and we have to start that work here ahead of anywhere else. It seems incredible, but everton manager marco silva says that andre gomes could be back in the everton side before the end of the season. Gomes suffered an horrific ankle injury after a challenge by tottenham forward Heung Min Son during their one all draw in the premier league on sunday. Surgery to repair the fractured dislocation has apparently gone well. The former arsenal manager Arsene Wenger says he hasnt spoken to the german champions Bayern Munich about taking their vacant managers job but he hasnt ruled himself out either. Wenger said he knew the club well and would never refuse to talk to them. Hes 70 years old now, and hasnt had a coaching job since leaving arsenal at the end of last season. Bayern sacked niko kovac on sunday. The former england and northampton hooker, Dylan Hartley has announced hes retiring from professional rugby, afterfailing to recover from a long standing knee injury. He hasnt played since december, missing englands Rugby World Cup run. Hes northamptons longest serving player with 251 appearances in 1a seasons. Hartley said the last few months had been difficult physically and mentally and, while his career wasnt perfect he wouldnt have had it any other way. 0ur reporterjames burridge has more. Let us look at the plus points first of all. He is englands second most capped player and took england on the astonishing run after the humiliation of the 2015 world cup where they went on an unbeaten run of 18 matches. They thrashed away the wallabies three heaven zero at the six nations grand slam title. Ahead of all that came the controversy, 60 weeks of bands. He missed a tour because he has chaired the wrong side of the line to many times. Controversial but the man that people turn to when england was in a crisis. The Scottish Rugby union has been fined £70,000 for comments made by its chief executive, mark dodson, before their world cup game against japan. You might remember there was tension between the scottish governing body and the tournament organisers as their final group match was under threat of being cancelled because of a typhoon. The game did go ahead with scotland losing it and getting knocked out of the tournament. Glad to be reminded of that. Thats all the sport for now but over on the bbc sport website, you can find build up to Tonights Europa League games. Celtic are the first to kick off, away to lazio, at five to six well have the latest in sportsday at 6 30. I hope you canjoin me then. Simon. Jane, thanks so much. Lets return to the Election Campaign now and throughout, bbc news will be looking closely at the places where the election could be won and lost, visiting 10 parts of the uk where seats will be closely contested. Today were in leeds, and we can cross over now to Christian Fraser, who is there for us. Christian. Simon, thank you very much. Well throughout the general Election Campaign, we will be asking what questions you would like answered. Weve had thousands in already and lots of you have been asking about student voting. Leeds is home to five universities and in some constituencies in the city, a high student turn out could affect the outcome. Chi chi izundu has been to meet some students to help provide some answers. Leeds. Home to more than 70,000 students, most of whom are eligible to vote. Polling day, though, is right at the end of this term for many. Were at emmas student house. Hi, come in. Lots of universities encourage students to register to vote when they enrol at the start of the academic year. But emmas not stopping there. I am a keen friend who has been trying all of my friends to register to vote. I think its incredibly important that they get involved, and i think they shouldnt waste the opportunity. It is super easy to register, you can do it on your telephone. You need your name, your National Insurance number, your nationality, your address and your date of birth. And thats it. I think my mate alec have a question for you. Historically, Younger Voters are less likely to vote than older voters. My term ends the day after the election. Can i vote here in leeds and at home in cambridgeshire . In a general election you can only cast one vote so you have to decide which address you want to vote at and cast it there. If you do it twice, and youre caught, you could face a hefty fine. In the last general election, polling suggested 70 of students cast their vote in their home constituency. So if i am away on election day, can i still vote . You have two options. The first option is postal voting, but you have to apply for that process, and there is a deadline. The deadline is the 26th of november if you live in england, scotland, and wales. The other option is the proxy vote, so getting someone else to vote in your absence, like mum or dad, someone you trust. Again, you have to give a reason as to why you cant cast that vote yourself. The deadline for that is the 11th of december 2019. If you live in Northern Ireland, the deadline for both proxy voting and postal voting is slightly earlier, so you have to make your application by the 21st of november 2019. Thank you. Do you want to go and get a cup of tea . But in some constituencies like this one in leeds, its the student vote which could determine who wins. Chi chi izundu, bbc news, in leeds. Well, with me now, we have First Year Student alex chen who will be they are already registered and super organised. We have First Year Student alex chen who will be voting in his first general election, 21 year old masters studentjill lupupa, and maya feldman, who is also voting for the first time. In that weeds northwest constituency. If i told you back in 2017 you would have the biggestjump in registrations of anywhere in the country when Jeremy Corbyn came, they were hanging out of the trees singing 0jeremy they were hanging out of the trees singing 0 Jeremy Corbyn, is there that same enthusiasm this year . Not at all. I read when he was first elected as leader. He was this incredibly liberal progressive freshening presence against theresa may. But in the past years, he has been such a decisive device of figure over the last couple years, all that momentum is gone. What are the key issues for you then . In terms of . On what youre voting on . Im funny for weber in this election. Because the mp in the northwest is incredibly interested in moving away from a london centric government and make sure that a change for yorkshire is made by the people in yorkshire defusing that disparity across the country economically. Ive lived in london and rural whales and to see how both of these plays are treated, and that is not. Iam of these plays are treated, and that is not. I am supporting him of these plays are treated, and that is not. Iam supporting him of these plays are treated, and that is not. I am supporting him for labour. The two parties want to focus on brexit, labour would like to move away from brexit to the issues. Does brexit feature for you . I think that is why im going towards lib dems because they want towards lib dems because they want to get rid of brexit. I dont see the point of having a second referendum because i think that the democracy showed that Everyone Wants to leave and even though i voted to remain, ithink to leave and even though i voted to remain, i think we should stick to that and try to just. Remain, i think we should stick to that and try to just. You are also in the weeds northwest constituency. The mp is a remainer, he is Still Campaign summitfor the mp is a remainer, he is Still Campaign summit for remain but he does i convince you . I think labour are too far left for me and i think lib dem get the right centre between the two of each parties. Ok, you are grinning next to me. But you are but a bit different because most stu d e nts a bit different because most students are remainers and you are a brexiteer. I love brexit. Ithink brexiteer. I love brexit. Ithink brexit is fantastic. Because there will be so many fantastic opportunities. And also a taxi driver once told me when i was making down to the viaduct, one said to me that europe stands to his lot more than the uk does which is why they are incredible scared if we go no deal for sub but im not sure the taxi driver is correct. But you are ina taxi driver is correct. But you are in a Leeds Central here where there is or hilary benn who has held this seat for 19 years . I dont know who hilary benn is. While he is a remainer and has been very prominent in the house of commons campaigning for remain or a second vote, and he has a safe seat here. So you have an option, you can vote here or you can maybe vote in liverpool. Ive got a deadline on the 13th, sol maybe vote in liverpool. Ive got a deadline on the 13th, so i will home anyway. I will go home anyway. The election comes in the last week of terms. Will your mind be focus on the elections on the last thursday before christmas . Yes, definitely. I mean i am a first year foursome im focusing this year on becoming an adult up pond that is voting and exercise my democratic right and voting and exercise my democratic rightandi voting and exercise my democratic right and i think for me right now, i dont have exams, but that is so important. Gaining equitable independency. So you wont be on the pub crawl through leads . independency. So you wont be on the pub crawl through leads . I dont think so. Ill probably be in the january one one. Maybe after the election. Think you offer to us. We hope youll take part in the election. Thank you for talking to us. Dont forget throughout the Election Campaign, we will be asking what questions you would like answered. Send us your election question at hashtag bbc your questions, or via your questions at bbc. Co. Uk. If you are sending it in on twitter, it is hashtag bbc your questions or you can send by e mail, your question stomach simon. Thank you, Christian Fraser in leads. During the run up to the election, our reporter joe tidy will be looking in detail at how digital and social media platforms are being used as part of political campaigns. Hejoins me now. Youve seen theres been a Conference Call with facebook. Where are we at the moment weeds sell it there so much screening over how facebook will approach the elections. We have seen issues in the past of course. We are generally is the past of course. We are generally is looking issues around integrity, who is posting what, fake news, misinformation and transparency about what parties are putting on the platform. And it is not facebook, also instagram because facebook owns both. There was a dedicated team around the world the 500 employees were monitoring elections, not just the 500 employees were monitoring elections, notjust the selection. They say as we draw closer to the vote day in the uk a team wasnt around to the vote day in the uk a tea m around to the vote day in the uk a team or symbol rounding and sure things go smoothly here. They said they have not seen any terms of foreign evidence, like any we have seen foreign evidence, like any we have seenin foreign evidence, like any we have seen in the past. And an interesting question from the journals. If that doctored keir starmer video was put ona doctored keir starmer video was put on a facebook app, and they said if it was, they said yes. This new resources that. A new resource that facebook is using. What can that facebook is using. What can that tell us . It can tell us a lot. A lot of things we wanted to tell us. A lot of things we wanted to tell us. For example it cannot tell us where the ads are going in the country but tell us where it is. England, scotland, wales but not which region which would be really helpful. But it can give Us Democratic breakdown in terms of jammer gender and age for that we wa nt to jammer gender and age for that we want to shoot two adverts that anyone can find if you search on facebook. And unless you were targeted, you may not see it. Its viable in the sense and it is really interesting because this is an adverb from the conservatives and borisjohnson, the adverb from the conservatives and Boris Johnson, the same adverb from the conservatives and borisjohnson, the same message but two very different styles. Heres the first one. Music. That one is aimed at very squarely young men. You will not have seen that. Thank you very much you will not have seen that at all. You go straight to the point you have to be living between living in, between 18 34. But this is the verge ofan between 18 34. But this is the verge of an audience. Aimed at a very different audience. That is a mixed gender profile but very much older people. 45 and older. That is who is going to see that at. Im not rising to this. That is the conservatives but all the parties are doing their own thing. And it is interesting to see what the strategies are. Weve been looking at the lib dems this week. They have got 400 different adverts that are running actively on facebook at the moment, the most by longley. 0ther facebook at the moment, the most by longley. Other parties have maybe two or three. Longley. Other parties have maybe two or three. This is costing money. It does every civil time. The rule is the more targeted the ads are, the more expensive they are. What about the whole of social media . Because what about the whole of social media . Because its what about the whole of social media . Because its an open Battle Ground stop till its really important as well. Weve seen that in some of the e mails. Important as well. Weve seen that in some of the emails. We have seen in some of the emails. We have seen this in e mails telling supporters to share their videos stomach when it comes to twitter, labour are bossing it. Their ruling the roost in every way. How do you rule this . Likes, shares, and retreats. For example, Jeremy Corbyns retweets, this is had the most likes of any tweet in the last week. 104,000 plus. How reliable is that and how do we know that is real . Very good point. We dont know whether or not they could be posted by bots for sample, these robot programmes that help that sort of thing, we dont know whether or not people could be doing it sarcastically but in terms of the metrics we have to judge success, thatis metrics we have to judge success, that is as good as it gets put to much. But if you look at the wider picture, we get a different picture. Yes twitter might be very good for labour party, in fact the top 20 tweets the last week, 16 of them have been labour. But if you look at the picture on facebook, we got this from bbc monitoring, a different situation entirely because the conservatives arc any more activity, more reactions, we are talking about likes and shares, interviews and then you have the labour party and then you have the labour party and the brexit party and lib dems as well. A different picture on facebook and that could tell us a little bit about the demographics on those platforms because we know of course twitter is generally more open to left leaning ideas and discourse whereas facebook is perhaps more right. Thank you joe. Lets return now to the Election Campaign, and Spending Plans have been at the heart of the campaign today. Labour announced that they would borrow £150 billion over five years to spend on schools, hospitals, housing and care homes. The conservatives say they would also increase borrowing to pay for new infrastructure. But ministers have accused labour of indulging in fantasy economics. Joining me now is nadhim zahawi, the business minister and conservative candidate for stratford on avon. Good evening to you. Spend, spend, spend. Notjust good evening to you. Spend, spend, spend. Not just labour good evening to you. Spend, spend, spend. Notjust labour proposals but yours as well. First of all unwaverings proposals, they say they will borrow 150 billion plus another tuna 50 billion income for total. It is not realistic and not achievable. You hatcher men they will spend the whole of 2020 next year having to have two referendums, one on the eu, very divisive, very distracting for government and the second on allowing the snp to separate from the union. You have to remember. Before we even begin to address the issues that your viewers will be wanting to address which is public services, they have to answer that question. But on our announcement today by the chancellor, it is effectively saying, the british people through their hard work, ingenuity, and belt tightening have managed to deliver a much stronger, more robust economy with the depths of coming down by four fifths. And now, economy with the depths of coming down by fourfifths. And now, we have new fiscal rules, the first is that day to day spending by governments will never exceed what comes in to the treasury in taxes. 0ver comes in to the treasury in taxes. Over the next three years, the average of what comes in will be what we spend. The second rule is to ta ke what we spend. The second rule is to take advantage of historically low Interest Rates that we can borrow act and to borrow about 3 of gross domestic product, gdp, which is about 2. 1, 2. 2 trillion at the moment is gdp. 3 of that to invest year on yearforfive moment is gdp. 3 of that to invest year on year for five years on very important infrastructure. Things that the Prime Minister has been talking about in terms of rail and roads and buses, electric buses and so on. Roads and buses, electric buses and so on. And the third rule is that we would keep an eye on the interest that we pay for our bartering and if it exceeds 6 for a sustained length of time, we will then revisit and work at our strategy in terms of our borrowing. We pay for our borrowing. We pay for our borrowing facet that is a serious discipline from a party that, the only party that will unblock brexit, deliver it so that 2020 can be a year of investments, of hiring more police men and women, investing in our schools and hospitals, a different vision to labour with two referendums in 2020. You say that but increased spending and balancing the budget, the two of your new rules if you are white but they were in labours manifesto into thousand 17 and you described them as dachshund 2017 is outrageous. The differences we have promised to cut the deficit by forfeits. And the economy has been much more robust, goes on appointed for decades since the start of late 70s. Really robust economy. But the most important thing is that we deliver brexit. I am the business and industry minister and i am the business and industry ministerand i can am the business and industry minister and i can tell you on the friday before the Super Saturday when we came to parliament and Corbyns Labour Party effectively kibosh to us delivering on boriss really good fair deal. |j kibosh to us delivering on boriss really good fair deal. I have limited time. Lets go to the future because what you are proposing will push up the National Debt what it will mean actually. Is that a yes or no answer as ever but this is quite an important matter. Quite difficult to. Quite difficult just an important matter. Quite difficult to. Quite difficultjust to give you a yes or no answer for. If we get returned to power, the debt as a percentage of gdp will be lower after five years of us being back in power delivering all these services we wa nt power delivering all these services we want to deliver that it was when we want to deliver that it was when we took office. Thats why it is disciplined and i think a robust strategy to deliver better public service, higher wages, £10. 50 strategy to deliver better public service, higherwages, £10. 50 in our National Living wage. That is a plan you can trust that unboxed the brexit issue and then delivers. Its not the brexit issue, its the years of austerity brought in by your government as much as brexit, isnt it . You will know as well as i do that we had to tighten our belts because the economy was collapsing. We were birmingham £156 billion a year. The borrowing now is that forfeits over than that for so we we re forfeits over than that for so we were borrowing 150 plane pounds a year. Thats why the deficit is forfeits lower and that is why we can know go forward in a confident way. But you have to unblock brexit first and then when we say we will do that by the end of january if you elect us and then we can focus on 20,000 more police men and women, better hospitals, upgrade and new hospitals, and 14 billion on education, thats a real vision for the country, a positive vision for 2020 versus two referendums by Corbyns Labour Party. Thank you very much for your time. Boris johnson is for Northern Ireland the second. 0ur Political Correspondent, Jonathan Blake is there right now. This is the last offer borisjohnson there right now. This is the last offer Boris Johnson on there right now. This is the last offer borisjohnson on a far reaching visit today coming here to spread the message that the conservatives are the party that will keep the union of United Kingdom together. But of course Northern Ireland and that subject is tricky territory for him because the brexit deal borisjohnson has negotiated in some peoples eyes puts an administrative boarded down the irish sea and the dup whose support Boris Johnson would the irish sea and the dup whose support borisjohnson would have been keen to keep were not able to support it and suggest that in fact it undermines the union of the United Kingdom. Its a tougher unit for the Prime Ministers have to make here on visit to Northern Ireland facade a tough argument. And the alliance risking emerging between sinn fein and the green party in some seats may make it harder for the dp and other unionist parties naturally aligned to the conservatives to hang on to those westminster seats. Harder for the dup. The main thing is this factor in the afternoon, he saw a whiskey disagree and on t side a factory as well. All making the case at the conservatives as he sees it are the party to protect the union particularly in scotland making the argument that he felt for the conservatives is the only way to stop another independence referendum facade on teesside. A busy couple of days for the premise and a busy couple days for the election. Thank you jonathan. Time for a look at the weather. Ben rich has the details and rain is a big part of the story. We have seen heavy and persistent rain especially across Northern England. It has been causing problems, flooding problems in places but also some really appalling travelling conditions on the roads and on the rails. Many flood Warnings Issued across england and mostly in the north. Last i checked 73 flood warnings but that has been growing. We have a met 0ffice amber warning enforced in parts of derbyshire, Greater Manchester and parts of West Yorkshire. These areas have been seeing rain for the day as it piles into the evening. Before heading out and about in these areas do take extreme care but also across many parts of Northern England and wales, very wet weather to come. Eulas see southeastward the very wet weather to come. Eulas see southeastwa rd the night, very wet weather to come. Eulas see southeastward the night, chilli further north end you will see. And as we get into tomorrow, shall remain to contend with in the central and eastern parts of england. Much drier, much brighter, spells of sunshine. Those top temperatures between 6 11 degrees. In the short term if youre travelling north england, northing wales, rain could well cause you some big problems. As the economy Takes Centre Stage in the Election Campaign. Both the conservatives and labour want to borrow billions more. Both want to invest in public services. That Means Investment on a scale never seen before in this country, and certainly never seen before in the north and outside of london and the south east. There will be new hospitals, schools, railways, better broadband, new connections and opportunities for every part of our great nation. From public spending to Party Politics a former labour mp makes a blistering attack onJeremy Corbyn. Well be live in leeds, hearing about what matters away from westminster. Also tonight the death of the former aston villa striker, Dalian Atkinson