From westminster and cardiff, and will be talking to three now former parliamentarians, with more than 80 years of experience between them. The other main stories on bbc news at 5. The Climate Campaign group, Extinction Rebellion, wins a legal challenge against the metropolitan polices ban, on their protests in london. And the two time olympic champion, nicola adams, retires from boxing because of fears she could lose her sight. Its five oclock. Our main story is the official start of the Election Campaign, with the dissolution of parliament and the imminent launch of the conservative campaign this evening in the West Midlands with borisjohnson. But the day started badly for the Prime Minister, with the news that his cabinet colleague the welsh secretary alun cairns had resigned, following claims he knew about the role of a former aide, ross england, in the collapse of a rape trial. Mr cairns had claimed originally that he knew nothing about the matter. Mr england was subsequently selected as a conservative candidate but has now been suspended. Our first report is from our Political Correspondent chris mason. This is what the official start of a general Election Campaign looks like. The Prime Minister went to see the queen at Buckingham Palace this morning and then he made the most of the backdrop of what he still hopes to call home after polling day to make his pitch. I have just been to see her majesty the queen earlier on and she agreed to dissolve parliament for an election. I want you to know that i dont want an early election, no one much wants to have an election in december, but we have got to the stage where we have no choice because our parliament is paralysed, it has been stuck in a rut for three and a half years, and i am afraid our mps arejust refusing time and again to deliver brexit and on the mandate of the people. If we can get this deal over the line, with a sensible majority government we certainly can, then we can release that pent up flood of investment. Hundreds of billions are waiting to pour into the uk and we can inject a surge of confidence into our system. But moments before, this, the Prime Ministers welsh secretary alun cairns resigning from the cabinet. He had denied he knew about a former aides role in the sabotage of a rape trial, but bbc wales discovered he had been e mailed about it. He had been a cabinet minister for three years and said he was confident he would be cleared of any wrongdoing. The conservatives have had a bumpy start to this campaign, notjust this cabinet resignation, but being forced to defend a doctored video put out on social media and two of their politicians forced to apologise after remarks widely seen as crass about the Grenfell Tower fire. They are now trying to focus on their big picture message, as are labour, as the two main candidates to be Prime Minister slugged it out. Jeremy corbyn has been in telford in shropshire, a must win seat for labourand said. I will be proud to be a labour Prime Minister. But i have to warn you, it will be very different. It will be a very different way of doing things. Because i was not born to rule. He promised to scrap University Tuition fees and rough sleeping, in work poverty and the need forfood banks and added. Judge us on whether we have built hundreds of thousands of genuinely Affordable Homes so that decent and secure housing is within the reach of everyone. Judge us on whether patients are still waiting more than four hours in a e departments and tens of thousands are waiting months for cancer treatment. Judge us on whether we have got brexit sorted within six months by offering the people the final say. Who do you prefer . Mr corbyn, mrjohnston or one of the other Party Leaders . It will be your call in five weeks time. Our chief Political Correspondent vicki young is at westminster. Let vicki young is at westminster. Us start with what v ecclestone let us start with what we Bernie Ecclestone expect later this evening. The start of the conservative campaign. We can expect. It is not the start any Political Party would want. They have grids showing what they want to talk about, how they will shape the agenda and resignation of a cabinet minister was not on day one. What they have tried to do today is by alun cairns resigning borisjohnson making his speech, he has a big eventin making his speech, he has a big event in the West Midlands opponent. They hope that will be the end of it and they can move oner tomorrow, but it has been extremely difficult for them and of course, it has given a com plete them and of course, it has given a complete free hit to the opposition. This wasJeremy Corbyn giving his reaction thes are talks of the welsh secretary. First of all there is a victim here, that victim needs to be apologised to and supported secondly, if he is resigning, because of his behaviour, and involvement in this, as the secretary of state, then shouldnt he be resigning as conservative Party Candidate . That he be resigning as conservative Party Candidate . That is my question. He said he will stand as a candidate, you think that that shouldnt be allowed . Candidate, you think that that shouldnt be allowed . Obviously, he legally can stand as a candidate but does he have a moral right to stand . If he is stepping down as a minister because of his involvement i would have thought the least the conservative party can do is not put him up as a candidate in the next election. So really the conservative party on the back foot, they will try and remedy all of that, i think in the coming days and weeks and i suppose the up side fromer the conservatives is we are a long way from polling day, there is a lot of ground to cover between now and then and they will hope they can move things on and it was striking in Boris Johnsons speech, things on and it was striking in borisjohnsons speech, i think, laying out various things there, talking about how he didnt want a general election, blaming parliament for it, Opposition Mps would say we did pass the first stage of you deal, you could have pursued that but talking about the choices ahead, for voter, and, you know, depicting it in very stark terms, and really, really going on the attack with labour and Jeremy Corbyn saying that mr corbyn was on the side of Vladimir Putin of russia, saying it was a left Wing Labour Party that would bring in huge rises in tax, an uncontrolled immigration system and accusing labour not knowing where they stand on brexit, so really going on the attack there, Boris Johnson, and you know, ithink going on the attack there, Boris Johnson, and you know, i think this in this election it is clear there are real choices for people to be made, and you cant say that all the parties are offering the same thing, whether it is about the economy or whether it is about the economy or whether it is about the economy or whether it is about brexit. Indeed. And of course, you know, parties in different parts of the uk, scotland, wales, Northern Ireland will have markedly different points when they launch their campaign, some have already. When you went through that list, it just already. When you went through that list, itjust underlined for us once again, that despite the fact this this campaign has been characterised by many as you know, a brexit campaign, forwant of by many as you know, a brexit campaign, for want of a better phrase, people are going to have some very serious and new and different policy proposals across the board, to look at, so, it is going to be difficult to ignore that in favour of brexit . Yes, i think we would have talked about this in 2017, where the conservatives were going round the country, theresa may saying brexit means brexit. Itjust didnt turn out like that, because you cannot control the agenda, as we have seen today, every party has things they want to talk about, broadcasters, there are rules governing how much coverage they get. They will all be able to have their say, so to some extent they can shape the narrative the greco cox, and when it comes to voting, when you sit there and very you ballot paper there will be lots of different thing, that is going to be a major issue, brexiter for lots of people. The liberal democrats want it to be, the conservative party want it to be and the snp, but people will have strong views about education, health, Mental Health, all sorts of things when they cast that vote, it could be for very very Different Reasons and the politicians cannot control that. Vicki, thank you very much. 0ur chief Political Correspondent. More on the Campaign Later in terms of interviews. Lets take a look at some the other Election Campaign news. The liberal democrat leaderjo swinson has been campaigning in north london, watford and surrey, insisting she is the best suited for thejob of Prime Minister. Ms swinson launched her election battle bus campaign with a pledge to invest 11 billion pounds into Mental HealthCare Services if her party wins the general election. The snp leader Nicola Sturgeon says demand for an independence referendum in scotland will become irresistible, if the snp wins the majority of scottish seats at the general election. Speaking to the bbc this morning, scotlands first minister said she intended to hold another vote on independence next year. She also said the prospect of a Hung Parliament after the general election is significa nt. The brexit party leader, nigel farage, has told supporters in cumbria that the idea of workington man as the key swing voter in the election is patronising cobblers. At a rally in workington, which voted to leave in the 2016 referendum, mr farage claimed that labour would betray leave voters. The town found itself in the spotlight, after a think tank said conservatives would have to target traditional labour voters from regional towns such as workington, in order to win the election. The green party also launched their Campaign Today and just after 5. 30 our reality check correspondent will be taking an in depth look at what the party is proposing. Stay with us for that. Today was the intended date of sajid javids first budget as chancellor. The failure to implement a brexit deal, and the general Election Campaign means that the budget has been delayed. Had it not been delayed, what would the fiscal backdrop to todays budget have been . The institute for fiscal studies has released a report analysing what the budget might have said. The Economic Research organisation claims that downgraded growth forecasts, the spending review, and the changes to Student Loans have all changed the picture since march, with forecasts for borrowing next year would likely have been at least £30 billion higher than those made by the 0br back in march. Reductions to borrowing in the last finacial year were back to the level seen in 2007 08. Measured as a share of national income, borrowing in 2018 19 was 1. 9 , its lowest share since 2001 02. This is about in line with the average rate of borrowing seen over the period from the end of the Second World War through to 2007 08. With me now is the director of ifs, pauljohnson. It is good to have you with uses again. Right, so, if the budget had been taking place today, we know what the political context is and the uncertainty over brexit. Would the uncertainty over brexit. Would the chancellor have been in a position to announce some of the radical spending proposals that the conservatives have been talking about in recent weeks . He wouldnt have been in a position to do that and to keep to the fiscal rules that he and his predecessor had set themselves, they said we want want borrowing to go above 2 of national income, £50 billion next year, because of the changes since march, big increase in spending already announced, changes to Student Loans, reduced growth laze raise we would expect borrowing to be above 50 billion. You might remember that you know, back in those distant days when Philip Hammond was chancellor he talked about a brexit war chest of 27 billion. All gone, every last penny gone. If we look ahead a few months, this is a tricky one, we have an election coming up, but given the kind of backdrop you have been described and given the figures i was sharing with viewers there, the chancellor whoever it is, who comes into power at the end of the year and to the new year, what will be the first thing they need to grapple with based on what we know . I think they will need to decide and hopefully tell us before the election what they are trying to achieve in terms of spending and tax and borrowing. It looks like they might be comfortable with high levels of borrowing and possibly debt than we have had over the last several year, if they are the not co mforta ble several year, if they are the not comfortable how will they square their Spending Plans with their desires on borrowing and debt, do they want to raise taxes, to cover some of this, if they are happy with higher borrowing and debt, that is 0k higher borrowing and debt, that is ok for, you know, one, two, three year, but you cant do it forever, what is their plan for getting that back down . We have had some campaigns launched already, conservatives tonight. Are any of the parties in your view right now, supplying enough information so that people like you can offer analysis to voters, which will inform their decision on december 12th, you know ina decision on december 12th, you know in a solid way, do you have enough information right now . It is early days and we will be waiting for the ma nifesto, days and we will be waiting for the manifesto, but as you have just been saying we have had lots of announcements of goody, whether it be for Mental Health or green investment, or what have you, i am sure we will continue to get announcement of goodies one can take for a period. I announcement of goodies one can take fora period. I hope announcement of goodies one can take for a period. I hope that when it comes to the manifestoers,s we will get sign of real priorities and actual plans and how that relates to how they will be paid for, because it is also worth saying even on the promises of spending, it matters can you get that spending down properly, can you get good value for it. It is all very well to say we will spend billions more on this that and the other, but trying to do that very quickly, trying to get lots of stuff built quickly, the Public Sector isnt very good at it but even if we wa nt isnt very good at it but even if we want it, let us not promise too much, if you promise more than is deliverable you risk wasting money. Lets continue to discuss the general election, and a cabinet resignation, on the day the conservatives are launching their campaign. Alun cairns has stepped down as welsh secretary. 0ur wales correspondent Hywel Griffith is in cardiff. We heard a bit earlierfrom people likejeremy we heard a bit earlierfrom people like Jeremy Corbyn we heard a bit earlierfrom people likeJeremy Corbyn questioning even mr cairns right to stand in this election, talk about the repercussions there in wales of the fa ct repercussions there in wales of the fact that mr cairns has decided to resign and what indeed conservatives are saying there, to people about the possible impact on their captain. Alun cairns was going to be the man who was going to lead the charge for the conservative, at welsh secretary he would be at the forefront of their campaign, however arguably his reputation is tarnished. While he is Still Standing in the vale of glamorgan, his constituency he has held, some are questioning whether he should pull back and disappear completely, we have not seen him, the lights are on in his house i am told but there is nobody answering the door. He has not come forward to speak on the record. You saw his Resignation Letter where he said he is sure he will be found free of misconduct. His colleague, however, questioning hisjudgment, how his colleague, however, questioning his judgment, how this his colleague, however, questioning hisjudgment, how this has been handled and the tories were on course according to the first poll of the general election to potentially have Massive Gains in wales, potentially up to ten seats which would put them almost on level pegging with labour. Now people are saying who will lead this campaign for us, who can step up to the plate if alun cairns is damaged goods . Thank you. The climate activist group, Extinction Rebellion, has won a legal challenge against the