Prints on it. I can. You cant really see her figure prints on it. Ican. Ifeeli can. I feel the poise that she brought in to undermine and strengthen the writing on that side and bring a bit of for punch and economy. There are various women in the centre piece as well that i feel is interesting. Bond has never been against women but one of the things she has done is sort that out. I hope that your enthusiasm pays off. Will be an Easter Parade bond film, yes. Thank you for coming in. Now its time for a look at the weather with stav danaos. Hello there. It wasnt a bad day across england and wales, again, plenty of sunshine around, albeit rather chilly. But it was wetter across scotland and Northern Ireland. In fact, this was weather front, which will continue to move southwards and eatwards overnight tending, to fizzle out. Well, there will be lots of showers packing into the northwest of the country. As we head on into thursday, its low pressure which will be taking over, particularly across the north and the west, you can see a real squeeze in the isobars there. So a blustery day for all, but especially in the north, where we will see gales. Especiallly around northern and western scotland as the wind gusts, later in the southeast, it will be for the northwest by here and it will be fairly mild. Hello, everyone. Welcome to tonights episode of electioncast. It has been a bumper day with lots of things being discussed on the podcast. First of all, i pondered how that nato Leaders Summit nearly endedin how that nato Leaders Summit nearly ended in a war between canada and the united states, caused by princess and. Something i chewed over with chief Political Correspondent vicki young. Ok, so this was the reception last night at buckingham palace, and one camera is allowed in and they are allowed to film various things. So one thing that they spotted was at one point there was the line up, the leaders were coming in and being greeted by the queen, and it looked like princess and, when mr trump came along, took a step back and the queen seemed to Say Something to her. Some people interpreted as princess and snubbing the tramps. She did a shrug, short of like the shoulder shrug emoji, princess and doing it. But there has been an update. Valentine low from the times is quoting laura elston, the press association corresponded and it wasnt a snub at all, it was just that the queen wanted to see who was nextin that the queen wanted to see who was next in the line, and there was nobody there. Because trump was the last person. So it was princess and saying it is just me, not last person. So it was princess and saying it isjust me, not im not going to shake his hand. There was no princess and snub, although she was in the huddle with the drink, we saw was in the huddle with the drink, we sanustin trudeau the canadian Prime Minister apparently seeming to ta ke Prime Minister apparently seeming to take the mickey out of donald trump. He was talking, was it Angela Merkel was in there, was she . You could see borisjohnson, trudeau was in there, was she . You could see Boris Johnson, trudeau and was in there, was she . You could see borisjohnson, trudeau and macron. I dont know if they did it by lip reading, and they were talking about, and then he did a a0 minute press c0 nfe re nce. About, and then he did a a0 Minute Press Conference. A 40 Minute Press Conference then someone said is that why you are all late . They were alljoking and that why you are all late . They were all joking and laughing. That why you are all late . They were alljoking and laughing. They said, you could see his staff come jaws hit the floor and then donald trump service. This is what donald trump said about his former friend justin trudeau. Is twofaced. Trudeau, he isa trudeau. Is twofaced. Trudeau, he is a nice guy, i find him to a very nice guy, but i called him out on the fact he is not paying 2 , and i guess is not very happy about it. You were there, a couple of you with air, and hes not paying 2 and he should be paying 2 . Ij air, and hes not paying 2 and he should be paying 2 . I love the fact that donald trump just says it all. He is there, sitting next to Angela Merkel, and then hejust start saying, hey, he is two faced. I mean, ilike saying, hey, he is two faced. I mean, i like the guy, but he is two fa ced. Mean, i like the guy, but he is two faced. They had another barney, at one of the summit i was at, they had a huge row at the end, justin trudeau, it was all about tariffs, and he got up in his press conference and went for it, and trump heard about it, same kind of thing. You have been in a trump press c0 nfe re nce thing. You have been in a Trump Press Conference 0 thing. You have been in a Trump Press Conference or two, what are they like . It is incredible, he loves the camera, he loves taking the questions. You are right, he did doaa0 the questions. You are right, he did do a a0 minute impromptu press conference yesterday and thats what he did that time. The white house quy he did that time. The white house guy said he will take as many questions as there are, so everyone piled in and it was a complete free for all. Hejust seem piled in and it was a complete free for all. He just seem to piled in and it was a complete free for all. Hejust seem to really enjoy it. Although there is a donald Trump Press Conference not happening. He has decided he has had enough. Said i have done so many that im going, so he has left without doing one. Now, you do wonder whether downing street had a little word, do you think . Do you think he has had enough already, donald . You know, it has gone really well. Has he done any tweets . |j havent well. Has he done any tweets . havent checked, but that is a massive minefield potentially avoided, for downing street. There is the lack of photographs or film of borisjohnson is the lack of photographs or film of Boris Johnson and is the lack of photographs or film of borisjohnson and donald trump, because the campaign team, the conservatives know that a ringing endorsement from donald trump isnt necessarily a vote winner with everybody, because he is a very controversial figure, everybody, because he is a very controversialfigure, so everybody, because he is a very controversial figure, so speaking to people in downing street and on the campaign team, they just people in downing street and on the campaign team, theyjust really wa nted campaign team, theyjust really wanted to get through this 2a hours and get back to campaigning, and i think borisjohnson and get back to campaigning, and i think Boris Johnson is and get back to campaigning, and i think borisjohnson is going straight back to the election trail to get out of all of this. But as ever, donald trump has certainly left his mark. The row with macron. A theme that is never ending. Left his mark. The row with macron. A theme that is neverending. Next theme, labour. Shadow chancellor John Mcdonald doing a speech in the midlands with lots of numbers, pound signs. What has all been about . This is interesting, because as we know, labour have had a lot of what they call it retail offers offering lots of things to lots of people. But as ever the question is how are you going to pay for it all . They say it is all costed, but i think what theyve realised is, and ifound this a bit going around the country, people are a bit wary of these promises, no matter which party it is coming from it, actually, and the more they are, i think the more they start to say how is this going to be paid for . The free broadband being one that struck a lot of people because a lot of people wouldnt see that as an essential item. If you are running a business it is, but there was a bit of scepticism about how that would be paid for. Then labour have come up with this figure, saying you will be, we will save you £6,700 a year. Now the problem with it is when you look at the numbers, there are things on it, such as you will save £2000 because ofa pairof such as you will save £2000 because of a pair of real season tickets. Now of course not everyone has a season now of course not everyone has a season ticket, and there might not be two in the family either, so thats a bit of an issue. be two in the family either, so thats a bit of an issue. I was reading only i thats a bit of an issue. I was reading only 11 people commute to work by train. The i reading only 11 people commute to work by train. The 11 people . why do people not complain about getting a seat 0nly do people not complain about getting a seat only 11 of people commute to work by rail, which means that is not an average family with two season not an average family with two season tickets. So who is this average family . With the broadband they say you will save money, but it isa they say you will save money, but it is a calculation based on 2030. Because they are trying to get across to people you will be worse off under the conservatives, better off under the conservatives, better off under the conservatives, better off under us. The conservatives have gonein off under us. The conservatives have gone in there straightaway and said these figures dont add up. There is a big question as well about whether the things labour are offering, how progressive they are, in terms of the wasp you women, who lost out on the wasp you women, who lost out on the change of the pension age. A lot of them are quite wealthy. The waspi women. How are they going to pay for that . It has been quite controversial and today John Mcdonnell talking about, yes, we would borrow to fund some of these things. Although what was interesting about john things. Although what was interesting aboutJohn Mcdonnells messaging the last couple of days and what he was saying today is less about the credibility of spending pledges on the source of the governments spending and more about actually getting people to realise what it means for them individually. I think thats what labour feel has maybe been missing. It is the pound in your pocket argument, isnt it . Going back to saying this is something that is tangible. You talk about broadband and these billions of pounds, people dont relate to that kind of money. How will your Transformation Fund help me . Yeah. Liberal democrats, we have seen quite a lot ofjo swinson today. Shes had a lovely time. She was out on her electric bass. She she doesnt go on her bus actually. She was there later. And a swarm of bees. There were some bese. Really big bese. As a picture, it is quite something to behold. There is Extinction Rebellion, and they were dressed up as bees, trying to make their case about climate change, and saying really that the liberal democrats have not been ambitious enough, and then one of the bees glued himself to the electric bus, andi glued himself to the electric bus, and i thinkjo swinson made the point it was slightly ironic. Then jo swinson went out and spoke to them. Her plea was to be reasonable. Behave, adam the question is will she still be queen bee when it comes to the 12th of december . Lets listen to her. Hello. Very lovely to meet you, and i appreciate the campaigning work you are doing about the climate emergency, so thank you for coming and for expressing very clearly your concerns about this today. I find campaigning work a little bit patronising. We are an active rebellion against the government which has failed to act on climate change. Was that the guy he was glued to the bus . Im not sure if he was glued at this particular moment. I dont know how they got him. She tried to engage with them but they didnt seem that impressed. They are saying the liberal democrats are trying to be net zero carbon by 20a5, and their point is that is five years sooner than the government target of 2050, but Extinction Rebellion dont think thatis but Extinction Rebellion dont think that is good enough. Jo swinson had an encounter with another stinging thing. Im not going to call andrew neil and insect. Dont do that. She received some more barbs from andrew neil, who interviewed her as one of his set piece interviews. You are proposing to scrap the so called bedroom tax. Who voted nine times to introduce the bedroom tax . The liberal democrats in government, including myself. That would be you. Which i have previously set and im happy to say again was wrong. And im sorry about that and it was one of the things we did get wrong. You are proposing to scrap the benefits cap. Who voted several times to introduce the benefits cap . cap. Who voted several times to introduce the benefits cap . I would have done with somebody with collective responsibility in government. You want to roll back the Health Reforms that allow nhs health contracts to be put out the private tender. Who voted three times for those reforms . private tender. Who voted three times for those reforms . I was in government. That would be you. You have been a keen lib dems watch for many years, what did you make of that . She has come under a lot of pressure about the revoke article 50 dollar saivet brought in in the summer dollar saivet brought in in the summer when times were slightly different and she has come under a lot of pressure about that, and then the personal stuff, when they say to her the more people see a view of the less they like you, which is quite a difficult thing for her to handle. But i think probably the most difficult part for her was when they looked back on her voting record, when it comes to austerity, because of course the lib dems were in collision with the conservatives, andi in collision with the conservatives, and i found that still coming in collision with the conservatives, and ifound that still coming up in collision with the conservatives, and i found that still coming up as and i found that still coming up as an issue, not just and i found that still coming up as an issue, notjust tuition fees but the fact that if you are a labour voter thinking of blending your vote to the liberal democrats, they immediately say you were in coalition with the tories, you know, andrew neil talking about you voted seven times for the bedroom tax will stop but her way of dealing with that i think is to apologise, saying yes, we got some things wrong, which i think is probably the best way of handling that, because they are talking about changing these policies and their argument was we we re policies and their argument was we were ina policies and their argument was we were in a coalition, if there had been more lib dems we could have got our way but we did manage to change some things but we couldnt change everything. Weve been promising to do this for ages, which is to zoom in on the election on Northern Ireland, and to do the zooming in, we have. I am emma vardy, the ireland correspondent for the bbc, covering Northern Ireland and the republic of ireland, the whole island of ireland. Right, has the election been a big deal in Northern Ireland . You know, sometimes what is going on in Northern Ireland and the election doesnt feature that much in the uk wide story because Northern Ireland has different parties, its got its own brand of politics going on very much related to the troubles and the history of Northern Ireland. But this time round it is dramatically different because brexit hasjust added this extra level of complication. It has increased the bitterness between the two parties, and a real feature of elections in Northern Ireland this year is that there are these electoral pacts are being formed between parties, parties across the political spectrum stepping aside for each other, basically moving aside in one seat in return for another party stepping aside from them in another seat. It is all to maximise votes, unionist against nationalist, leave against remain, the so called Pro Remain Alliance being formed and officially between parties here. So yes, it is different this time round in Northern Ireland because brexit, but of course the underlying divide in Northern Ireland always comes back to unionist and nationalist tensions and that has really been ramped up further even because of the brexit divide this time round. In terms of how brexit plays, are people Walking Around with their pocket copies of the withdrawal agreement, talking about the ireland protocol or is it more whether you are a lever or a remainer . The thing about brexit and Northern Ireland, there has been a lot of detail in trade, but here it hits people s emotions in the sense of identity. Where goods might be coming through green and red channels at ports. There might be some extra form filling channels at ports. There might be some extra form fitting to do depending what we come up with, it kind of gets washed aside for stop it matters for businesses but when it matters for businesses but when it comes to the ballot box, people come back to their core identities, whether they believe or whether they are from a staunch unionist or nationalist area, the nationalist of course very anti brexit. The dup has been pro brexit although anti Boris Johnsons brexit deal. So a lot of the detail about how the trade will affect Northern Ireland, how it will affect Northern Ireland, how it will affect farmers and businesses, gets affect farmers and businesses, gets a little bit lost because it comes back to the basic two camps, and a sense of identity and wrench camp are you in. So i am still looking for a part of which camp are you in full stop i am still looking for a part of the United Kingdom where they are agonising about the detail of the withdrawal agreement. Still not found it yet but the election hasnt happened yet. If you run a business here or you are a farmer, you will be looking more detail, but most people are making the decision based on some core fundamental beliefs, and not looking at that kind of technical detail we get into asjournalists. Kind of technical detail we get into as journalists. Shall we look at the ma nifestos as journalists. Shall we look at the manifestos of the big five parties in Northern Ireland, do you want to ta ke in Northern Ireland, do you want to take us through them . Sure. A lot of things in Northern Ireland are devolved, health, education, infrastructure, that kind of thing, so infrastructure, that kind of thing, soa infrastructure, that kind of thing, so a lot of things in Northern Ireland arent really going to be given that much by westminster. They will be decided at stormont but the Stormont Assembly has not been sitting for nearly three years. So Party Manifestos in Northern Ireland will be a bit less full of the grainy detail you might get in Boris Johnsons plans for the nhs or whatever, and they are a bit more basic. Lets start with the two big parties, the dup and sinn fein. The dup are really angry about Boris Johnsons brexit deal. They are predicting that they will still be power brokers after polling day. They are predicting there will still bea they are predicting there will still be a Hung Parliament and the conservatives will still need the dups votes for a majority. Probably the codeword for thinking that is going to happen is that they are secretly wishing they will remain in that position of power. The dups main message is if they do end up in that position, they will continue to fight borisjohnson that position, they will continue to fight Boris Johnson on the that position, they will continue to fight borisjohnson on the brexit deal. They want it changed, they dont want anything that makes Northern Ireland different from the re st of Northern Ireland different from the rest of the uk, so they are going to keep banging about run. Here is arlene foster, the dup leader, banging that drum metaphorically at the launch. With the general election result uncertain, there will again i firmly believe he the opportunity for the Largest Party from Northern Ireland to have significant influence on securing the best European Union exit deal for Northern Ireland and on delivering more for the people of Northern Ireland. The party with the most seats from Northern Ireland will have the most influence, and having secured significant investment for Northern Ireland in the last two years, the dup wants to do much more. So sinn fein have also put brexit front and centre of their campaign, really strong anti brexit party. They have said brexit is no good for the island of ireland. At the centre of their campaign was this anti brexit stance was top sinn fein has stepped aside as part of the Pro Remain Alliance i talked about. But also for sinn fein, you have to remember the question of irish unity. That is going to be another big part of their manifesto. Lets hear what Mary Lou Mcdonald said unveiling their manifesto. In this election, it is important people use, lend, borrow votes from others to ensure that loud and clear again it is heard the north has not consented to brexit. The north has not and will not consent to brexit, and we insist that our people, our island, our communities are protected. What can you tell us about the three smaller parties, the ulster unionist, the sdp and the alliance . The sdlp and the Ulster Unionist Party lost the seats they held last election and they are really fighting hard to try to win a bit of representation back at westminster. Alliance are a Cross Community party, the only Party Standing in all seats. They say it is anti democratic for one party to move aside, they say they are not unionist, not nationalist, and there has been a surge for the middle ground in the european elections this year, the local Elections Alliance did really well. They are a bit like the lib dems and that they wa nt bit like the lib dems and that they want another referendum, cancel brexit, that is the ticket that amy long is standing on trying to unseat the dup in east belfast. As for the sdlp, they are trying very hard to win back a seat in the foil constituency. That was one of the closest in 2017. That is the one they are throwing everything at. But in the big picture, it is the dup and sinn fein who will pick up the majority of the votes, about a third of the vote share each they got at la st of the vote share each they got at last election. They are still very much likely to be the two biggest parties with the other three we have mentioned trying to fight to get backin mentioned trying to fight to get back in there at westminster. Important for me to also add a big feature of the arguments between the parties in this campaign when sinn fein are concerned is that sinn fein dont take their seats in westminster. They have a long standing policy of abstention is, saying we dont believe the British Government should rule Northern Ireland anyway so we are not going to sit in a parliament we believe it is illegitimate, and that is something all parties will criticise sinn fein for. They will say sdlp believe in sitting in westminster to be arguing the day to day things out. Just another facet of the Northern Ireland election is very unique to Northern Ireland, candidates push insane candidates for sinn fein standing for seats that they will not take up. There was endless speculation about after all these decades sinn fein would turn up and take their seats, and every time it was raised by anybody, they said they are not going to do it. But it is something people talked about. For us covering the westminster parliament, the dup have spent a lot of time talking to them over the last few years, and of course it is very much seen through the prism of the dup. Lots of people in Northern Ireland say hang on a minute, there are all these other parties, who because they are not sitting at westminster, we dont cover as much, and m obviously you do. Exactly, the romain voice in westminster just do. Exactly, the romain voice in westminsterjust isnt heard as loudly because sinn fein the remaining voice. They go to college green, but their voices not there in the chambers. They have attracted a lot of criticism for that if they we re lot of criticism for that if they were to ever give in on that they would attract a whole lot of criticism for the other reasons i have explained to you. You could be forgiven if you dont follow politics too closely, you are outside Northern Ireland, you might think the dup represent the whole of Northern Ireland, because of course we have banged on about them endlessly. But they dont of course, they are only one part of the picture here and that has been a consta nt picture here and that has been a constant frustration for non dup vote rs constant frustration for non dup voters here throughout the time they have been in bed with the conservatives. On to our next guest, who isjoining us now . Conservatives. On to our next guest, who is joining us now . Damon rose, the editor of 0ut, which is the bbcs disability podcast and pages on bbc news. Welcome to electioncast. Can you just take us through what the main parties are saying they will do for people with disabilities . Ok, so this could be quite long and complex, because disability is kind of a subset of absolutely everything in the world if you think about it. There are 13 million disabled people in the uk. They are quite a big old constituency to court really. So you would think that the parties would wa nt would think that the parties would want to do that. Labour have brought out their own disability election, their own manifesto for disabled people. The other parties havent yet. But there are some interesting stuff in here. If we look at benefits first of all. This of course has been the really big thing over the last few years, since austerity kicked in, and since the liberal conservative coalition government. We all know disabled people and benefits have been a major issue, cutbacks, and it seems to be an acknowledgement across the board that disability benefits are going to rise. Conservatives want to keep the universal credit, but lots of the other parties in some way or another want to change it, or get rid of it. The conservatives recognised that the Work Capability assessments have been a little bit full on, because they can be. Just remind us what they are . Work capability assessments are what disabled people have to have in order to get their benefits, if they are not going to work, they have to go through a whole bunch of different tests, which can be quite undignified, and going into real detail about how disabled you are, how far you can walk, how much you can see, how much you can think. That kind of thing. And there seems to bea that kind of thing. And there seems to be a wish to get rid of some of that undignified way of doing these tests. All the parties pretty much, the conservatives, labour, liberal democrats, the greens, other parties, all are really wanting to get rid of that way of doing it, and making the test less upsetting. The brexit party of all the parties dont have any detail particularly on this, but do want to look at universal credit. They say after 12 months of being in power. Yes, so that sort of policy tweaks, what have the parties got, in terms of new ideas, may be around work and life and stuff like that . New ideas . The interesting new idea i get around work is that labour are talking about separating out the idea of disability leave and sick leave, so people who perhaps have to ta ke leave, so people who perhaps have to take a certain amount of time off work because of their impairment, their disability, is going to be counted separately from if they have flu or cold or chickenpox or something along those lines. Labour also want to produce, they want the Larger Companies of 250 employees or more to publish a disability pay gap report. We have all heard about the gender pay gap. There seems to be a lot of acknowledgement now that there is a Big Disability pay gap as well. The lib dems are talking about reducing Business Rates for companies who look after their staff, in terms of mental well being, which staff, in terms of mental well being, which is staff, in terms of mental well being, which is interesting. Plaid cymru want to bring back sheltered work, which seems on the face of it a backward move. Sheltered work . Where disabled people work altogether, typically in the old wren ploy factories, making things altogether. But they are focusing their thoughts on rehabilitation. Giving them a fair and equal workplace. That is a very good rundown. Thank you. Do the parties make much effort to make their policies available to those who are visually impaired or deaf . dont have the full detail. I analyse it by looking on the web and downloading pdfs and that kind of thing, asa downloading pdfs and that kind of thing, as a blind person. I downloading pdfs and that kind of thing, as a blind person. Lam a bit geeky, lots of blind people are incredibly geeky. I am sitting here with a phone, trying to read my notes to you on this programme right now. Great, thank you very much, damon. Just out of shot we cant see your guide dog. What is his name . Db. Hello to you too. That is you up to date with the days going on. The big question Everyone Wants a nswered the big question Everyone Wants answered is is it going to snow on election day . We will give you an answer, sort of, in the podcast edition of electioncast, which is available 2a hours a day on the bbc sounds app. Download that. Loads of other great content on there. We also spoke to the host of youre dead to me. We will be back with brexitcast tomorrow. See you then. Hello. It wasnt a bad day across much of england and wales. Plenty of sunshine around, albeit rather chilly. But it was wetter across scotland and Northern Ireland. In fact, this was weather front, which will continue to move southwards and eatwards overnight tending, to fizzle out. Further south and east you are, generally drier with some clear spells. Walter and quite chilly once again in the far south east, a touch of frost out of town, less cold or even quite mild further north and west. Low pressure will be in the driving seat for thursday. You can see squeezing those isobars, weather fronts piling into the north and the west so it will be a windy day, especially in the north where we could see gusts of 50, may be 60 mph in the northern isles. Very wet too, especially western scotland, the rain will really mount up, perhaps even a risk of localised flooding. There is the wind gusts, light in the south east, then further north west, and here it will be fairly mild. Hello, im nuala mcgovern, this is 0utside source. Constitutional experts have been giving their opinions to the trump impeachment hearings the Housejudiciary Committee has heard from four scholars. Three of them sounded like this. President trump has committed impeachable high crimes and misdemeanors. By corru ptly abusing the office of the presidency. The fourth said the president s actions were not impeachable and warned the proceedings are harming the country. A republican friends are mad, my democratic friends are mad, my wife is mad, my kids are mad, even my dog seems mad