Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC News 20240713

Manchester united are losing 2 1 to sheffield wednesday. Full details in sports day in half an hour, here on bbc news. Good afternoon. Borisjohnson has launched the conservative partys election manifesto, promising to get his brexit deal passed by parliament as soon as possible after the election, if he wins. In a speech in telford in shropshire, he offered what he called a route map to take the country forward. For the nhs in england theres a pledge to add 50 thousand more nurses and restore nursing grants thats on top of an existing promise to pump tens of billions more into the Health Service. He said thered be no rises in income tax, National Insurance and vat for 5 years. And he pledged to raise the threshold at which people start paying National Insurance, to £9,500, a saving of £85 a year, per person. Our political editor, Laura Kuenssberg was at the manifesto launch, and her report contains some flash photography. Ahead, but farfrom clear. Feeling optimistic . Tories out the tories know it is theirs to lose. Tories out but who would bet on much these days . This time last year, borisjohnson was a controversial backbencher. Now defending his own position as prime minister. And with a list of promises hes making new, trying to secure the conservatives another five years in charge. How is that . Can you see that . His number one rallying cry, to move on and leave the eu injanuary. Do we want more delay, do we want more dither and drift and deadlock and division . Do we want 2020, to be another year of defeatism and despair . No, we dont, get brexit done, and we can restore confidence and certainty to business. Get brexit done and we will see a pent up tidal wave of investment. Get brexit done and we can focus our hearts and minds on the priorities of the british people. The conservatives had already vowed extra money for the Health Service but there is a new promise to recruit more nurses. Today in this manifesto we pledge 15,000 more nurses and their bursaries and 50 million more gp surgery appointments, and we make this guarantee. Cash to scrap hospital parking charges, taxpayers money for more childcare and an infrastructure fund, all he claims without raising tax. Heres the kicker, we can do all these things without raising income tax, vat or National Insurance traditions. That is our guarantee. And in this manifesto. There is a vision for the future. Borisjohnson says he never wanted this election but it is both a huge risk and a huge opportunity for him and his party. Let us go for sensible, moderate, tax cutting, one nation conservative government, and take this country forwards. Thank you all very much. You won the leadership of your party by making a big promise on brexit that you then broke despite saying the buck stops with you. Now you are trying to win the country by making promises and significant extra spending, do you accept beyond this room and your party, it is a big leap of faith for the country to trust you with a majority . The Biggest Issue at this election is really whether people have any confidence in politics any more. I think the reason confidence has been so undermined is because the three and a half years they have seen politicians engaged in constant prevarication, procrastination, dear the and delay when the people of this country voted to get brexit done. The tory leader is now right in the fray, right in the middle of this campaign, but none of the steps spelt out today are designed to create the fireworks he is famous for. There is no doubt, people are asking positions are you going to stick to what you are saying. We couldnt be clearer about getting brexit done. We want to spend more money on our priorities, nhs, police, schools, if we keep the economy strong. Compared to labour manifesto, this is a pamphlet rather than a phone book, but designed to keep the tories out of trouble rather than shake up the fundamentals of the campaign. Is this a winning manifesto . We are fighting very hard. The contrast between him and his rivals has been there since day one, borisjohnson would take us out of the eu in less than 70 days, that is the choice, vote to leave at speed or vote for the chance to stay. Laura kuenssberg, bbc news. Laura kuenssberg, bbc news, telford. Well, today, borisjohnson promised to add an fifty thousand nurses to the workforce. Lets talk to patricia mar kwiss, shes the Royal College of nurses director for england and joins me now via webcam. Thanks very much for being with us. The key word here seems to be added 50,000 nurses. Whats your understanding of what they are thinking . Well, we are not quite sure what they are thinking of the moments, but we know that there is currently 43,000 vacancies in the nhs alone. So, its a move in the right direction to start looking for an extra 50,000 nurses, but what we are keen to make sure is that that is registered nurses. People whove got a degree, and who are the right people to be delivering the care to the people of england. 50, when people to be delivering the care to the people of england. So, when you say you are concerned about registered nurses, is there evidence then that sometimes, nurses are being recruited who you would say are not quite up to it . No, its not about nurses being recruited, its the use of the word nurses versus the use of the word nurses versus the use of the word nursing staff, there is a difference between a registered nurse, somebody who has done a degree Level Education to become a nurse, and those who support them in delivering care. So thats what we want to really understand is do we really mean 50,000 nurses, registered nurses to fill those 43,000 gaps, if thats the case, then thats absolutely brilliant. If its not the case, then we need to understand further what it is that they are aspiring to. 0k, thank you for clarifying that. Very helpful. They seem to per pb proposing that some of this will be new nurses being trained, some will be recruited from abroad, and some will become interestingly, nurses who need to be retained, or brought back, nurses who have left. How much of an issue is it that you are losing good nurses, because they are losing good nurses, because they are demoralise, orjust have got to the point where they want to move on . Unfortunately, there is evidence that says that lots of nurses are leaving the profession because of conditions which they are trapped to work, largely due to the reduction in numbers of staff that theyve got to work with, so its a vicious cycle, so it is right that there is a need, absolutely, to retain nurses in the profession. And, indeed, to recruit some from overseas. We are in international profession, its great to continue to work with collea g u es great to continue to work with colleagues from abroad and international recruits. Thats not a long Term Solution though. The long Term Solution though. The long Term Solution though. The long Term Solution has got to become as they say, to retain our current registration for registered nurses, but also to increase the number that we educate here in the uk universities. Yes, and they seem to be proposing 14,000 of the 50,000 will be in more nurses being trained, helped, they say, by the reintroduction of maintenance grants. How significant is that . Again, this government removed the bursary from nurses in england some yea rs bursary from nurses in england some years ago. So, this billion pounds that theyve removed, there are going to replace it, what they are not doing though is replacing the funding of the tuition fees, which is something that we have site is also necessary. The evidence that weve got suggests the numbers that weve got suggests the numbers that we had coming into nursing education, we need to fund the tuition fees and maintenance, ie the living fees that people have, or living fees that people have, or living expensive that people have. So its good that we are moving back towards having proper funding so its good that we are moving back towards having properfunding for nursing students, but this is only one step in the right direction, there is more to be done to. Another source they say of more nurses would be 5000 gain from expanding what they call the nurse apprenticeship scheme, the system by where nurses train on thejob scheme, the system by where nurses train on the job rather than university. Is that something that makes sense to you . Absolutely. We have no problem with nursing apprenticeships, the problem is being that the way the current funding works, its not been an attractive option for employers to deliver nurse education in that way, but its a great way forward, and it still does mean, however, that nurses are at university, its not that they are doing a degree, they arejust doing in a that they are doing a degree, they are just doing in a different way. Sounds like a well come from you, but with some caveats about the detail. Thank you very much indeed, patricia. Meanwhile, labour says if it wins the election, those who lost their race, sums of up to £31,000 could be handed out to the nearly four with a million women affected. Sums of up to thirty one thousand pounds could be handed out, to the nearly 4 million women affected. Labour estimates the overrall cost would be 58 billion pounds, over five years. Todays announcement wasnt part of their manifesto, and both the conservatives and the liberal democrats have described the promise, as uncosted. 0n on that note, the liberal democrat leaderjo swinson has said there has been a squeeze on her party during the campaign but that she is not conceding yet. Speaking on the Bbcs Andrew Marr show, swinson also attacked Jeremy Corbyns neutral stance on brexit and said the liberal democrats priority was to stop brexit from happening. Well, of course the liberal democrats want to stop brexit and we will be campaigning to stop brexit. Ok, if that is the case, Jeremy Corbyn is offering a referendum, you may not like every aspect of what he is saying, but he is offering a referendum, and borisjohnson very much isnt, doesnt that mean you are inevitably going to have to lean towards the labour party and help them form a government, vote things through for them, rather than the conservatives . Well, first of all, as things stand, as things stand, borisjohnson is on course to get a majority, and liberal democrats are the best placed party to stop it. Ah, you think that is what is happening at the moment . If you look at the polls right now, that is what they say. Now there is, obviously, two and a half weeks to go in this campaign, and i am working very hard to change that situation. You are not conceding yet, but you think that he is going to win . Of course i am not conceding yet. Liberal democrats are campaigning hard right across the country, and we are making real inroads, but we need to make sure we win those seats from the conservatives, and we are in a position to do that in a way that labour simply is not. If he doesnt win an overall majority, and he comes to you saying, listen, jo, i never thought. I dont want to do this, i am doing this through gritted teeth, jo, but to get my deal through, to get my Withdrawal Agreement through, i am prepared to offer the liberal democrats a referendum on that deal afterwards, what do you say to him . Look, i am not putting borisjohnson orJeremy Corbyn into number ten, but if there is a law in parliament. The voters might. If there is a law in parliament that i can vote for that makes sure that the brexit deal is put to the public, with the opportunity to remain, i will vote for that. We have always said we will vote for that. Ah, 0k. So if borisjohnson tries to do a deal with you, whereby he gets his Withdrawal Agreement through the house of commons, he delivers his promise to get brexit done, but in return for that, he gives you a referendum, you say yes . I am not doing a deal, andrew. I am going to vote for the things that i am standing up for, for the things that i believe in, and i believe we should stop brexit, and it may be that a peoples vote is the best way to do that. We have campaigned for that for more than three years and so, as we have said, over the last year, if we can put a specific brexit deal to the British Public with the option to remain, liberal democrats will support having a peoples vote. We will vote for that legislation. Jo swinson there. And the leader of the snp, nicola sturgeon, said that scrapping the uks nuclear deterrent, trident, would be one of her red lines in the event of her party supporting a labour government. I have a moral objection to weapons of mass destruction, unlikejo swinson, i wouldnt be prepared to press that Nuclear Button that would kill potentially millions, tens of millions of people, but there is also the opportunity costs of trident, billions, tens of billions of pounds that are required to renew trident, in my view, are better stronger and stronger conventional defence that is more effective to protect our country, but also on hospitals and schools and better Social Security provision. These are the choices that we should be thinking very carefully about, and you know, if the snp is in that position of influence, then these are absolutely the kind of policies that we will push through. Coming up to quarter past six, here are our on coming up to quarter past six, here are ouron bbc coming up to quarter past six, here are our on bbc news. Borisjohnson pledges not to raise income tax, vat or National Insurance as he unveils the conservatives manifesto. The tories also promise to add 50 thousand more nurses to the nhs in england, and restore nursing grants. Five teenagers are arrested after a large brawl at a birmingham cinema which saw a number of Police Officers injured. Lets return now to politics. The bbcs Reality Check Team have been assessing the conservative manifesto pledges. 0ur correspondent Helena Wilkinson has been looking at their findings so far. We have looked at various angles, and you have not been taking a look at education and child care, is that right . Yes, so childcare is featured in the manifesto today, and what the conservatives are trying to do is specifically target those working pa rents specifically target those working parents who struggle, and there are many of them, to find a affordable childcare to fill in the gaps, basically, between the start and finish of school, and their working day as well. So, what the conservatives are saying is they wa nt to conservatives are saying is they want to boost funding for wraparound care, wrapped around care being brea kfast clu bs, care, wrapped around care being breakfast clubs, afterschool clubs, and holiday clubs. Now, this is specifically aimed at Primary School children. If wejust specifically aimed at Primary School children. If we just take a closer look at what theyre pledges are, what they are aiming to do is have 250,000 extra childcare places for Primary School age children. Just to put that into context though, thats only about 5 of that age group who will benefit from this. In terms of how much its going to cost, well, they say £250 million for three yea rs, they say £250 million for three years, what they call resource spending, thats day to day spending, thats day to day spending, and then a further £250 million capital boost, what that means is a one off payments, and that will go towards, say, getting the buildings, for example, staffing, and equipment to enable this wraparound care. And the backdrop to this of course is that there has been cuts for pupils in schools in england, and when thats happened, you tend to see local authorities trying to focus really on the schools core activities, so you can see how those breakfast clu bs you can see how those breakfast clubs have really slipped down the agenda. In terms of the other parties, they very much focused on providing Free Childcare to all preschool children, and they are going to be spending a far more than the conservative. 0k, thank you very much. Its been very helpful to have all of those manifesto commitments broken down, thank you. 0k, all of those manifesto commitments broken down, thank you. Ok, lets ta ke broken down, thank you. Ok, lets take a look at some of the other measures thast are in the conservative manifesto . Well theres a commitment to an extra 20,000 Police Officers for england and wales, though that would only restore force numbers back to 2010 levels. Theres a pledge for the uk to be Carbon Neutral by 2050, and that promise of 7. 1 billion pounds a year for schools in england, by 2023. 0n immigration, the conservatives want to introduce an australian style points system. 0ur chief political correspondent, vikki young, has been gauging the mood in rother valley, in south yorkshire, an area that voted heavily to leave the eu, and where brexit and trust are key election issues. Who are voters moving towards in this former mining town, an area that overwhelmingly backed leaving the eu. So is borisjohnsons promise chiming with leave voters . I want out and over so we can get on with the real things that influence the ordinary people like us. Who can do that for you . The conservatives or the brexit party. I hope what he is saying he will do happens. Will you give him a chance . Yes. In this area, labour have always been strong, what is their view on brexit . They cant decide one way or the other. Outside the Leisure Centre members of this running club are limbering up, many are still undecided about how to cast their vote. It has always been labour, this is an ex mining village, maltby, people voted for labour, but they are changing their views. Is that because of brexit . Maybe. They promise before an election but then they dont deliver. Very up in the air. It has been predominantly labour in this area but i will be backing boris all the way. I do like him as a person. He might not be trustworthy but i do like him. At first glance a seat like rother valley isnt an obvious place for borisjohnson to search for victory, it has only ever been labour. This area voted heavily to leave the eu and the conservatives are hoping their pro brexit message can persuade even traditional labour voters to switch this time. In this pub, many are sticking to labour this time but it is clear trust is an issue for party leaders. I cannot see myself voting tory but i am loathe to vote forJeremy Corbyn. That speaks a lot. Would you normally vote labour . I am a member of the labour party. When you see Boris Johnson on the tv . I used to like him on the tv but i dont see him as a representative for the country. He is embarrassing. I dont trust him. Sorry, thats awful to say, but i just dont trust him. Borisjohnson knows he has to turn places like this from red to blue to win the election outright, and brexit could be the key. Vicky young, bbc news, rather valley. Welcome our economics editor has been taking a look at some of the numbers, including the ma nifesto, the numbers, including the manifesto, hejoins the numbers, including the manifesto, he joins me the numbers, including the manifesto, hejoins me know and such, what do you make of it all . So, by the standards of the ma nifesto, so, by the standards of the manifesto, and the budgets, the numbers are quite small, the conservatives will point out that some of the spending increases are already baked into the numbers, the game at the spending review. So, in terms of the new news that we got today, we are talking about essentially a net tax cuts, a tax rise i should say about 3 billion, weve got the 3 billion extra from corporation tax, and then theyve given away about two and a half billion in terms of the National Insurance rise, and then the remaining money is spent essentially and 3 billion in terms of extra spending. The new spending we heard about today was the nurses spending, as has been heard, thousands of new nurses, extra appointments, its all quite small and pity, there is no big white rabbits, there is no big tax cuts, as borisjohnson promised in his conservative leadership campaign, but there is a promise that there will be no tax rises either. Theres an extra 8 billion a year by the end of the parliament, in terms of investment spending, potholes, research and development. Its where that is focused. When you look at it in the round, i dont you know, government would argue that its exactly what they want, its a steady as she goes type of budgets, not trying to rock the boat, and indeed, thats what the i fs, paul johnson, thats what they thought as well. This is not a transformative manifesto in terms of tax and spending pledges, its pretty much steady as she goes. About 3 billion, take on board the increases announced earlier this year, and then not much in addition. So, i think the big take away here is that most of the cuts that weve seen over the last decade weve got the 3 billion extra from will be baked into spending over the next 3 4 years, unless more money turns up later on. You think the take from the conservatives would be that, yes, these are smaller numbers than you have got in the labour manifesto, its a very clear choice now, instead of sort of 3 billion in extra spending under this conservative cost plan, the number for labour is 83 billion, which is a huge difference, a genuine choice, and the conservatives, obviously, they would argue that its because their numbers are credible, and that they are affordable, i think both sides of these two main parties where perfectly happy with the positioning that they are taking. Conservative saying we are credible, these are small numbers, they are modest, they are affordable, labour is saying we need to transform to change the country. Faisal, thank you very much indeed. I appreciate your analysis about. Excuse me. Now, one of the richest men in the world has jumped into the democratic president ial race. Billionaire Michael Bloomberg joins an already crowded field of white house contenders. The move is an about face for the former new york city mayor, who said in march that he wouldnt run in 2020. In a statement, mr bloomberg said the us cannot afford four more years of president trumps reckless and unethical actions. Lets take a closer look at who is Michael Bloomberg . He has a net worth of 52 billion according to forbes making him nearly 17 times richer than mrtrump. He made his money first as a wall street banker, before going on to establish a financial publishing empire. He was originally a democrat. He became a republican to serve as new york city mayor from 2001. But he rejoined the Democratic Party last year. Hes considered running for president in the past, but ruled himself out because he thought americans wouldnt vote for a billionaire new york businessman. Clearly that concern no longer applies. Earlier i spoke to our washington correspondent Chris Buckler and asked if this decision has come as a surprise . Yes, we even saw a week ago, him apologising for a stop and frisk policy that was put in place in new york, involving the police searching, a disproportionately black and latino community, and there is a feeling he is trying his best to think about who he would need support from if he was to win this democratic nomination for president. Now, it must be said, he is late to the stage year, in fact, literally late to the stage, because we have already had several debates between the Democratic Candidates who have already announced, but, he does come with some name recognition are obviously a lot of wealth and Money Matters when it comes to american politics. Its worth pointing out that he has lodged his unofficial bid to become president with a 30 official bid to become president with a 30 million add campaign, and that of course is just a small amount of his wealth. If hes going to take on, of course, the other billionaire and that donald trump. Yes, we said in the introduction, he wasnt sure whether he would have any resonance with people, given his rather elite status, what are the polls show about his chances . Yeah, if you take a look at the adverts, actually, he is doing his very best to kind of emphasise that he comes from ordinary middle class american roots, and essentially made it good at becoming a very successful businessman, philanthropist, and someone who really cares about issues like Climate Change and gun violence. Things which are really intended to find him as being different from donald trump. But he is coming to the race late, and as a result, he is pulling Single Digits as far as democrats are concerned. We dont really know what hes going to do, because, of course, hes only justjoining the race. And the point is that the primaries and caucuses elect the Democratic Candidates, they are not far away. But what he is doing, which might be clever, is he is making this a battle of the billionaires, he is very firmly putting himself in the position where he is taking on donald trump and making it personal, and make no mistake, from the other side, its personal as well. Donald trump has said there is nobody he would rather beat than as he calls him, little michael, if you take a look at some of the Campaign Literature that is just being published, i mean Michael Bloomberg is taking it straight to donald trump. Saying, there are unprecedented risks of him winning another four yea rs and describing him as a failed businessman whos Companies Went bankrupt multiple times, and to build a president ial campaign empty promises and reckless actions in office has harmed americans and weakened our country. Let the fight began. Chris buckler reporting there. Now, in hong kong, theres been a record turnout in local elections, seen as a test of Public Opinion following six months of pro democracy protests. 0pposition parties hope public anger over the governments handling of the unrest, will help them ro win control of sveral councils, sending a clear message to beijing. 0ur correspondent, Rupert Wingfield hayes is in hong kong for us. Iamat i am at the city garden counting centre, you can see, the kind is well under way, its now one oclock in the morning here. This is an election, clive, remember, for local seats in local councils. Not for the legislation, not for the chief executive, nevertheless, its the first vote, or chance to vote that hong kong people have had since the pro democracy protests broke out here about six months ago. Because of that, turn out has been truly extraordinary today. The highest in hong kong history. In the Eastern District of Hong Kong Island this morning, the queue to vote at this polling station went on and on and on. We are seeing queues like this in districts all over hong kong today. People waiting for an hour, even up to an hour and a half to vote. People are telling us they have never seen anything like this in a local election in hong kong before. Translation we didnt have to line up before. Everyone is more enthusiastic. They really want to contribute to the society. Half an hour. We know this is going to happen, because Everyone Wants to vote this time. Speaks in cantonese. The passion of those standing for election today is out of all proportion to the power of the local Council Seats being contested. But for the opposition, today is a referendum on the protests that have rocked hong kong for the last six months. In 2015. David and his mother are on opposite sides of that fight. We can see old people, pro government regime. They control the power, they control the parties, they control everything, even the economy. So we can take back the control and start to have more strength and power. Yes. They are doing it the wrong way, so i dont support the movement. But i say, i worry about the students, just like i worry about my son. Long lines continued far into the evening, as polling closed, turnout topped 70 , an all time record for any election in hong kong. That should be good for the opposition. Whatever the result, this election will not resolve the political deadlock which is tearing hong kong apart. Rupert wingfield hayes, bbc news, in hong kong. I have headlines for you injust a moment, but first, lets have a look at the weather. Hello there. Light winds and all that moisture around meant it was a dull and misty day for most of us today, but theres signs of change in the south west. Weve got an area of low pressure again. More weather fronts bringing some rain up from the south west overnight, picking up the breeze a little. Maybe breaking a few holes in the cloud, but lifting the mist and fog. It should be mild and frost free, particularly to the south west, where we have the cloud and the rain. That will move northwards and eastwards tomorrow. Some rain for a while in northern ireland, easing off in the afternoon. Not much rain for scotland. Most of it on and off for england and wales