jean noel barrot, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. how surprised were you by emmanuel macron s pretty extraordinary decision to call a snap election? well, obviously i was surprised, because it s a very unique way to take a democratic decision, when the political situation in a given country is so severe that it basically limits the ability of the country to act for itself. there are very few leaders in this world that would take such a democratic decision in the face of such important choices. such a democratic decision, you say. many french people, including people very close to emmanuel macron, would call it an almost crazy gamble. no, a majority of french people support this decision. and the reason is simple you re never wrong when you hand the power to the people. and with a situation where the majority was too thin to be able to reform in a political situation where, after the european elections or during the european elections, french citizens expressed some anger,
charged with trying to murder a baby eight years ago in chester. a warning that more mosquitoes in parts of europe mean a rise in cases of dengue fever and other diseases. and the little girl who saved her mother s life, marching to school to get help in her princess dress and wellies. and coming up on bbc news. manchester united are going to stick with manager erik ten hag despite their disappointing league season, that is after a post season review by the club s board. hello and welcome to the bbc news at one. the prime minister says he has absolutely not lost hope of winning the general election. it comes after his defence secretary grant shapps suggested labour could win a landslide victory. he urged voters not to give labour what he caled a supermajority in parliament. mr shapps said no party should have a blank cheque in power. here s our political correspondentjess parker. from a rainsoa ked from a rainsoaked election kick off to handing some dj duties to his foreign s
match of the tournament here in three days time. and good morning. remaining in charge at manchester united. after speculation he wouldn t be there next season, the club s board decides erik ten hag will stay on as manager. and she s the queen of funk who s been getting us on the dance floor for more than five decades. we hearfrom chaka khan in her new role as a music festival curator. good morning. it is a cloudy start for many of us this morning. the cloud will hang around in the east where we will see most of the showers. it will brighten up in the west, but it is still going to feel cool forjune. i would west, but it is still going to feel cool forjune. iwould have west, but it is still going to feel cool forjune. i would have all the details later. good morning. it s wednesday the 12th june. our main story. the green party will launch its election manifesto in brighton and hove today. they re promising a £50 billion a year investment into the nhs and social care. they
up their campaigns out across the country. let s take you through some of todays key events: rishi sunak and sir keir starmer go head to head in their second live tv debate later facing questions from voters on sky news in grimsby this evening. will either man change tack, or will it be more of the same? we ll be discussing all of that during the course of the day. and the green party launches its manifesto promising to raise taxes on higher earners and the wealthy to help fund 50 billion a yearfor the nhs and social care. also today: the cost of living is always important, and we ve just had figures out this morning showing that the uk economy failed to grow in april after particularly wet weather affected consumer spending. the office for national statistics recorded no growth for the month, which was in line with economists expectations. nevertheless it will be disappointing for the conservatives. here is hannah minna. the green party are pledging to mend what i call brok