match at the euros, we look at the meteoric rise of adam wharton. i want iwanta these teenagers go five days without one. and coming up on bbc news... two and a half weeks after fa cup glory with manchester united, eric ten hag gets the nod from the club's board to remain on as manager. good evening. we start tonight with a close look at one of the big issues of this election campaign — crime. for some communities it's a constant worry, and we've heard through the bbc�*s your voice your vote that you want politicians to come up with solutions. in cleveland, the police force recorded the highest overall crime rate in england and wales last year — they say they are working with people and that crime is now falling. but what does it feel like for communities living underfrequent threat? our uk editor ed thomas has been to middlesbrough to find out. it's brutal round here. it is, it's brutal. crime. you have to be prepared, don't you. if someone's going to stab you, you have to stab them. victims. we feel degraded, like we're non—existent. they're tracked in through here. and justice denied. next time it happens, do i even ring the police, do ijust leave it? i get up and i think, why are we bothering? this is the netherfield estate in middlesbrough. what's going on? bbc news, looking at the big issues of this election. one of them is crime. what's it like here? bad. tony's born and bred here, and he's had enough. couple of windows that were getting smashed and then itjust escalated from there to there to there. his biggest issue... i can show you something wrong there. ..is the damage being done. what's happened there? kids were hanging out, set fire to the fence. simple as that? yeah, because they're bored. as he showed us round, these teenagers wanted to talk. what is it like living here as a kid? you get coppers chase you all the time. are you vaping? yeah. police have imposed dispersal orders, arrested children as young as 12, and cameras have been put up across the estate. cctv there, there. the place is covered. it's being watched. you've got the penthouse. tony showed us home after home... that's been boarded off for god knows how long. ..with smashed out windows. and that's why this is your number one issue, this election, crime? yeah, yeah. and i think everyone in middlesbrough would agree with that as well. and just round the corner... i won't even come out the house, me. ..we find claire. talked to council not to fix the windows... she's vulnerable and says she's being targeted. how many times have you had your windows put through? been going on for a year, at least once a month. one day we had every single window in the house boarded up. living next door to this is robbie. so you've been targeted as well? no, when it was their house something popped over, flew over and hit mine. he works full time raising a young family. i'm a builder. so they took them out of my garden and put them through her windows. you've worked hard for this. you've grafted for all this. grafted, worked hard for it. you phone the police, what happens? nothing. not a thing. are you being serious? yeah. give us a crime number to g e: to the landlord so he can claim on his insurance. for the family's opposite... it's why we're here. ..all this has changed how they live. soon as i'm out this area, i'm a different person. as soon as i get to the roundabout coming in, i get anxiety issues and she's the same. we're all the same. all of us. it's like you feel as though you can't step over your i doorstep sometimes. she used to come in, oh my god, somebody�*s been stabbed. mam, the police havejust pulled me. does it feel like politics is the answer to the problems on netherfield? no, it's the drugs. people need to knock down on the drugs. two miles away is kings road, north ormesby. we were told some shops are robbed here every day. one has started publicly naming and shaming people they accuse of stealing. others say theft... shoplifting. ..is now normal. round here, horrific. five went in there with balaclavas on and pinched chocolate. - today? today. this morning. about dinnertime. and it was all captured on cctv. the men walk down the road, stop, covertheirfaces. seconds later, they're gone — with chocolate bars. it's scary, them coming in and stuff because i thought obviously they were going to take the money. facing them was ellie. what was it like witnessing what you witnessed today? it's just the usual four us, though. it's like it's happened every day and stuff, so... can you believe you're saying that? i know. no. close by is legends bar. pulled the fruit machine over. and sarah is desperate. £4,500 machine. over the last two and a half years i've been targeted five times now. they've came through the ceiling. they've came through the back shutter. got that bad once, they even came in and pinched my kp roasted nuts. you can't keep going on like this. are you aware of any of the criminals being prosecuted, found guilty? nobody's been prosecuted. nobody. north ormesby is one of the most deprived wards in the whole of middlesbrough. windows smashed. 94 out of every hundred crimes here last year went unsolved. welcome to beirut. as we walk around... so what's happening there, then? police are outside a door. ..an example of modern demands on our police. do you enjoy policing around here? yourjob's different every day, isn't it. busy? not a crime, but a welfare check on kimberley. got confidence in the police, to be fair, because it helps with my mental health. i'm adhd and bipolar, so yeah, they're really nice and they'll sit with you and make you feel good. cleveland police is dealing with some of the highest rates of violence in england and wales. where were you stabbed? twice there, twice there, three times there and one on my back. i'm lucky to be alive. people here told us again and again that drug dealing was the reason why so many were living in misery. all right? let's have a look. stoned. that's crack. money, that, innit. how much could you sell of that in a week? hundreds. crack cocaine, on the streets, being sold by teenagers. how old were you lot when you started dealing drugs? i6. 14. i was about 14. what are the things you've witnessed here? people stabbing each other with smack needles. you've seen a shooting? yeah, yeah. and in daylight, they showed us this. what about that, man. that is quite big. it's hard round here, it's rough. are you prepared to use that? of course, man. you have to. because if you don't stab them, they're going to stab you, aren't they? but that is all because, i presume, the crack and heroin. yeah, yeah. no—one's going to change it. the bobbies can't change it. how many houses are smashed up here? the reasons that the bars are on the windows. politicians are saying they're going to sort out crime, and what they mean by that is sorting out people who are dealing drugs. what they gonna do? sort me out? come and sort me out now. so what would you want? what do you want to say to the politicians? the politicians? catch us if you can. does this general election mean anything to you? what's going to change? do you not want something better? of course we do. we don't want to sell drugs. i don't want to sell drugs all my life. i don't want that for myself, just how it is. and this is the challenge for the next government. solving more crimes, making all streets safe. for people like tony, it's an urgent crisis. we've been degraded. we're non—existent. because you're seeing all that crime. we see the lot. whoever wins the next election they need to step up the mark. ed thomas, bbc news, middlesbrough. joining me now is our senior uk correspondent sima kotecha. a snapshot of the difficult situation in one area. what is the overall picture and what are politicians proposing? well, overall the crime rate has fallen, year on year but some offences have increased for example shoplifting has gone up by 32%. in england and wales, as for what the parties are saying, well the tories say they will put 8,000 officers in the heart of communities across england and wales, over the next three years. they say they will introduce tougher new sentences and build four new prisons, labour hasn't released its manifesto but said it plans to have 13,000 more constables and police and community support officers it says it will fasting track certain cases and create thousands of more spaces. but saying something and making it happen are two different thing, we know the courts are clogged with tenles of thousands of cases, in its backlog and according to the criminal bar association some barristers are opting out of rape cases because of pay and stress. and as for the prisons i am told they are on the cusp of reaching full capacity while policing has been hit by various scandals and that has affected recruitment and morale. rishi sunak has denied that the conservatives have conceded victory to labour in the general election, after the defence secretary grant shapps suggested that sir keir starmer could be swept to power with what he called a "supermajority". the prime minister insisted the tories were "fighting hard for every vote". here's our political editor chris mason. south yorkshire and one passenger with a noisy wheely case. oh, hi, chris. how are you? are you worried about the super majority? i ask that because some in his party are worrying out loud about the direction the country could be heading in — a crushing conservative defeat, a huge labour win. the defence secretary was sounding, well, defensive. you don't want to have somebody receive a supermajority, but i think it's perfectly legitimate to say the country doesn't function well when you get majorities the size of blair's or even bigger. and we would say there are a lot of very good, hardworking mps who can hold the government of the day to account. 0k. and we'd say those are conservative mps. geoffrey cox, of a labour supermajority. .. and he wasn't the only one. well, if you believe the polls at the moment, we are sleepwalking into a one—party socialist state. and opposition is important. i don't actually believe these things because i don't believe the british people will opt for a one party social system. next stop for the prime minister — thejohn wick gift academy, a secondary school in grimsby. he did encounter one fan when he popped into a science class. the man after his job is also here in grimsby and trying to talk down all this chat about winning by a mile. i'm not complacent about this. i know that every single vote has to be earned. nobody has cast a vote in this election yet. but it is important, i think, for the country that we have change. one thing that hasn't changed is the liberal democrat leader goofing around. whoever wins, and by how much, will depend on the arithmetic in every corner of the uk. what we're seeing is the conservatives going down and the liberal democrats going up, and i think it'll be great for the country if we elect a whole great number of liberal democrat mps. listen, england's going to vote against the tories. it's absolutely crystal clear. so people in scotland have got to decide who's going to protect them at westminster and the snp will do it. and look at this — a conservative former minister worried about what she calls a "socialist supermajority" and putting pictures of the leader of a different party on her leaflet. here they are. funny old business, following the prime minister on the campaign trail. his latest visit done, he's off now to prep for his next big interview. both rishi sunak and keir starmer are taking part in a leaders�* tv special tonight because another interview with the prime minister is on at the same time on itv. what did you go without as a child? went without lots of things, because my parents wanted to put everything into our education and that was a priority. so what sort of things had to be sacrificed? lots of things, right? i mean, give me an example. all sorts of things. like lots of people, there'll be all sorts of things that i would have wanted as a kid that i couldn't have. right. famously, sky tv. so that was something that we never had growing up, actually. well, his luck�*s in tonight, the interviews and questions from an audience here are — you guessed it — on sky. yes the format a little different tonight, it isn't a debate, we won't see the two leaders on the stage at the same time, it is an interview followed by those questions from a local audience, we can expect rishi sunak to ex if size his plan for tax cuts and what he claims is a lack of a plan from keir starmer, cuts and what he claims is a lack of a planfrom keir starmer, keir starmer i think will return to his core message of change, and look ahead to labour's manifesto which is being published tomorrow. what we won't get because it is not a debate is the two leaders kind of taking lumps out of each other in the way they did in that tv debate last week and will in the bbc debate coming up in a couple of weeks but so often in tv programmes like this, the key moment could come with a really tricky question from a voter so we will watch out for that and bring you the highs lights from the programme tonight at ten. look forward to it chris. thank you. chris mason there thank you. chris mason there and you can find a full list of candidates standing in the leeds south west and morley constituency at bbc.co.uk/news and click on election 2024 and �*who can i vote for�*. and you can see more from nick robinson's interview with snp leaderjohn swinney on panorama at 7pm on bbc one in scotland, england and on iplayer, while viewers in wales can see his interview with plaid cymru leader rhun ap iorwerth at the same time. the uk economy failed to grow last month after particularly wet weather put off shoppers and slowed down construction. it is still recovering more broadly from last year's recession, but it does follow more than a decade of disappointing growth and highlights the challenge facing whoever wins the election. our chief economics correspondent dharshini david has been going through the figures. in an election campaign centred on the economy, these numbers have made a splash. after rebounding at the start of the year, things stalled — zero growth, as the wettest april in 12 years hit retail, restaurants and construction. areas such as computer programming and publishing did better, and growth overall should improve over the summer. but step back and there's a bigger challenge. this line is how growth, income per person, performed in the years up to the 2008 financial crisis. the dotted line is where it could be if it had continued on that path. but actual growth since 2008, this line, has been a fraction of that, reflecting many factors including the pandemic and global inflation crisis. and that gap suggests that, after inflation, we could be £10,900 worse off each than we might have been. so how do catch up? experts say by investing more — skills, technology and buildings, for example — to boost efficiency, productivity, an area where we've fallen behind many international peers. it may not be the most glamorous topic, but it's an area all those vying to govern will have to grasp, if we're to reap the rewards. the time is 18.16. our top story this evening. taking a look at a key election issue — we talk with communities living with crime — day in and day out. and can england build on their recent success? the euros get under way this weekend. coming up on bbc news... keely hodgkinson looks to defend her 800m title on the final night of the european championships in rome, with gb medal hopes too in the men's1500m and the relays. in the run—up to polling day, we're getting the latest from our reporters across the uk, finding out about the key issues in their areas. in a moment, we'll hearfrom bbc scotland highlands & islands reporter, iain macinnes, in bonar bridge in sutherland, but first to bbc coventry & warwickshire political reporter, joshua nevett, in stratford—upon—avon. good evening from stratford—on—avon, famously the birthplace of the playwright william shakespeare. this has long been rock—solid territory for the conservatives, with the former chancellor nadhim zahawi holding the seat since 2010. but mr zahawi decided to stand down before the election, after he was sacked as conservative party chairman over a tax issue last year. victory here onjuly the 4th would be a mid—summer night's dream for the lib dems. but labour says it can win here, while reform uk and the greens say they're looking to widen the debate. sewage discharges into rivers is one issue that's come up here, and people i spoke to said they're looking to the candidates for solutions. the local water company here severn trent said it was investing £450 million to reduce sewage spills. but the issue has definitely caused a bit of a stink here and the candidates are hoping they can turn tide of public anger in their favour. joshua, thank you. speaking to people here, the key issues coming up time and again are depopulation, the loss of young people from many of these communities, fuel poverty, just how much it costs for people to heat their homes especially during the cost of living crisis, and the colder weather we get here, and linked to that energy pricing. whoever gets the role of being the mp for this area has a huge patch to cover. also a lot of major issues to consider. lots of young people leaving the area. fuel poverty, how do you heat your home is affordably. in a place like this, it is a bit colder than other parts of the uk. energy pricing, it creates a lot of clean, green energy but people still pay lots for their energy prices here and they see it as an injustice. this is normally an snp seat, but it was run by the liberal democrats last time out. for the candidates over the coming weeks that should be a lot of miles to be put in if they want to convince voters ahead of the 4th ofjuly. and a full list of the candidates standing in the general election, is available on the bbc news website. the green party has launched its manifesto, or list of election pledges, including plans to boost health and social care spending by £50 billion a year. to help fund this, the party says it would raise national insurance and wealth taxes on high earners. our political correspondent helen catt reports now from hove. vote greens! greens... the green party of england and wales is optimistic about this election. its policy platform, launched at a cricket ground this morning, is big on ambition and it's deliberately big on spending too. because here it is, a plan that would see billions go into the country's collective pocket to pay for the future of our public services. among the pledges... an investment of £50 billion, more than any other party, in health and social care. £30 billion in insulating homes up and down the country. we are the ones that will stop the water companies continuing to profit. are you really being honest that you can definitely raise all of this to do everything in this manifesto? yes, we do have some ambitious spending commitments and the greens are the only party being honest that that's the level of investment needed to get the kind of public services we need in this country. and we're not shy about talking about the changes to the tax system. that includes people with more than £10 million in assets who'd pay a wealth tax of 1% — 2% for over a billion. middle earners would have to pay more too. anyone earning under 50,000 would not be affected by our tax changes. we are proposing that for national insurance, the percentage of people's salary that they pay on national insurance should be the same regardless of their income. so someone on 55,000 would pay £5 more a week. and if we're going to have. on 65,000, that goes up to? £17 a week. to pay that, it's quite a hike? the levels of tax that the green party is proposing would take us a bit closer to what's normal by other european standards. this manifesto isn't all about public money. the greens are also pushing for rent controls and they would dismantle the uk's nuclear weapons. they're being pretty upfront that they are not expecting to form a government. so this manifesto contains policies that are not likely to be enacted but do allow the greens to draw differences. they're hoping voters will buy into their plans to get to their target of four mps. helen catt, bbc news, hove. the convicted killer, lucy letby, tried to murder a baby less than two hours after she was born, that's according to prosecutors at her retrial. the nurse is accused of attempting to kill the girl, known as baby k, by removing her breathing tube in february 2016 at the countess of chester hospital. it's a charge the jury at the nurse's original trial was unable to decide on. she denies the charge. how long do you think you could do without your smartphone, a day, a few hours or maybe just a few minutes? well, here's what happened when we put a group of teenagers to the test and prised their smartphones from them for five whole days as part of a bbc radio 5 live and bbc bitesize project. our reporter kristianjohnson followed the ups and the downs. ok guys, point of no return. this group of students are doing the unthinkable — locking their smartphones away. you said your goodbye? no tiktok, no snapchat, no whatsapp. so, guys, these are your new... oh my god! they're so huge! instead, they will be using these. the only way of communicating — text and calls. i want a nokia. this is weird, i don't like it. so, in the mornings, usually i like search up the tram times, then i know, oh yeah, i need to leave in five minutes, oh yeah, i've got a little bit of time before i need to leave, but with, like, without a phone, i've got no way of knowing when the next tram will be. ok, i'm 52 hours into the detox, i'm finding it ok. _ i don't think it is - difficult or anything. but charlie's already given into temptation. it is generally hard when you don't have it. it is like having a comfort item, for how many ever years, and itjust goes. it was really stressful. some otherings are struggling too. not knowing what is going on in a like a group chat, itjust makes me, what am i missing out on? but most are focussing on the positives. lot of me is like learning stuff and engaging more and noticing stuff around me, which i probably should be noticing any ways but i'm just too addicted to my phone. i usuallyjust watch like disney plus for like an hour, and then just drift off, but since then i've just gone straight to sleep and it's weired. it feels much better. the more time goes on, - it becomes a lot easier to think of thing to do because you don't have your phone, so like, - oh, new message. five days on, time to get those smartphones back. is that yours? in general, going on tiktok and everything, i'm so going to do that. if anything, i'm going to do it more now. i'll try and use less - of tiktok, that's for sure. i know my screen time is quite high on that. i perhaps the students aren't quite ready to give up their smartphones entirely, but the detox might start to slowly changes their habits. christian johnson, bbc news. england midfielder adam wharton says it's "a dream come true" to be part of the squad at this summer's euros. the 20—year—old was playing for blackburn rovers in the championship five months ago, but could now make his competitive debut at the tournament. from germany, here's our sports editor dan roan. england are settling into their surroundings here in eastern germany. but for almost half of a new look squad, this is theirfirst experience of a major tournament. among them, surprise selection, adam wharton. the crystal palace midfielder, only made his premier league debut in february. today, he explained what it was like to have had such a meteoric rise. it's just a dream come true. i think every kid who grows up playing football wants to play in the premier league, play for the country. it's all been very fast, but i wouldn't want it any other way. england's campaign kicks off against serbia on sunday before further matches against denmark and slovenia in a group the three lions will be expected to top. gareth southgate's side are many people's favourites here in germany, but with the manager admitting that this is almost certainly going to be his last tournament in charge if england fail to win, for him there is a growing sense that this could be now or never. southgate has transformed england's fortunes since arriving eight years ago. his side ending an era of underachievement by reaching the latter stages of three successive tournaments. but the pressure is now on to end their long wait for silverware. do you sense his fourth major tournament in charge will be his last? it's berlin or bust for southgate. he has to win, ee has to get england over the line. you look at the quality of these players. any other country would have dispensed with the manager and particularly with this generation of players. but he deserves huge credit for the progression that england have made and also the cultural changes that he's made. with harry maguire already ruled out of the squad through injury, fellow centre halfjohn stones missed training today with an illness adding to england's fitness concerns in defence. the sense that southgate will have to draw on all his experience if he's to finally guide his team to glory. dan roan, bbc news, blankenhain. the ship which carried sir ernest shackleton on his final voyage has been found. the schooner, "quest" was discovered largely intact on the sea floor. the miraculous survival of shackleton's crew after their ship "endurance" became trapped in antarctic ice flows in 1914 is rightly lodged in history. after that incredible escape, shackleton continued exploring. he set sail for south georgia with some of his men, in a schooner called quest, but died of a heart attack while on board. the ship eventually sank off the coast of newfoundland, where it's now been located. time for a look at the weather. here's stav da naos. good evening. it's a bit of a nondescript day again, much like we have seen the last three days. chilly start, bit of cloud around and warm sunshine here and there. tomorrow we will see a change, a weather system is moving in and that will bring in some milder air but some heavy and persistent rain. it is not going to feel much warmer because of the cloud and rain. tonight the sky is clear so a chilly night to come and lows down to one to 4 degrees in rural spots. these are the towns and city values again. we lose the blue and pick up milder from the south—west, but this is an approaching weather front, from the south—west, but this is an approaching weatherfront, it from the south—west, but this is an approaching weather front, it is tied in with low pressure. although it will feel milder by night over the next few days, it's not going to feel much warmer through tomorrow. we start chilly, bright some sunshine around and then the rain starts to splash into western areas. it reaches all but north east scotland, the far east of england and east anglia. we are in a slightly warmer air mass, but not feeling very pleasant with the rain. low pressure dominates the scene of friday on the weekend. there will be warmer and sunnier moments in between but some of rain will be heavy at times. they were rattling tooth friday and saturday but in between the showers, some pleasant spells of warm sunshine. highs of 19 or 20 degrees, so it will feel warmer and it will start milder as well on friday. same for saturday and sunday morning. the pressure, looks like it will be cross the northern part of the uk. it does stay unsettled through the weekend and even into the start of the new week. that's it from me. hello and welcome to sportsday. i'm sarah mulkirns. scottish fans flock to germany ahead of their opener against the hosts with the players wanting to deliver for them on the pitch. scotla nd scotland is so passionate, especially about football. we are all rooting for the country and everyone wants us to do well. we'll check in with the england camp too and profile one of their newest stars — kobbie mainoo. two and a half weeks after fa cup glory with manchester united, erik ten hag gets the nod to remain on as manager. also coming up on sportsday...