The end of the console . Plus, a british designed hypercar. Good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. Borisjohnson is preparing to launch the conservative manifesto in the next few hours which will pledge not to raise the rate of income tax, National Insurance or vat. The Prime Minister will also say he wants to bring his brexit deal back to the commons before christmas, if the conservatives are returned to power. Our political correspondent, nick eardley reports. What would he do with power . This afternoon, borisjohnson will unveil the conservative manifesto. His basic message deliver brexit and move onto domestic priorities. He will pledge that the bill that will deliver brexit will be brought back to parliament before christmas if he wins the election. That, he says, would allow the country to move on. So what will the conservatives do on the home front . They will pledge today not to raise rates of income tax, National Insurance, or vat. Thatll make it harder for the government to raise money, but the tories are still pledging to spend. Mrjohnson has already promised money for the health service, for more police, for education. Today there will be costly pensioner family projects, too, like keeping the pension triple lock and winter fuel payments. As well as more money for childcare, to fix potholes, and for a skills fund. The manifesto will pledge to end car Parking Charges at hospitals for protected groups nhs staff on night shifts, disabled patients, the terminally ill and their families. The conservatives say their plans are fully costed and affordable and they will spend the next three weeks trying to persuade you that theyve got the best plan on offer. Nick earley, bbc news. Our assistant Political Editor norman smith is in telford where the conservatives will launch their manifesto. This will launch their manifesto. Is the last of the big pa to this is the last of the big parties to launch their manifesto, are you exciting big surprises . In normal times, this would be a big banana is moment, but to be honest, i cant really say that tension is growing because the signs are that this will because the signs are that this will bea because the signs are that this will be a deliberately cautious, risk averse manifesto. Why . Because so many tories were badly burned by mrs mays catastrophic manifesto last time. The shambles which crumbled. The tories have been over and over through the manifesto stripping out anything they think in anyway might cause any wrinkle of. Added to which, they want to simply keep the focus on brexit. So they are not in the market to change the narrative of this and of this election. Why ta ke of this and of this election. Why take a needless risk . We are going to get a fairly, shall we say, modest manifesto, i would say. We know theyre big announcements are more Police Officers, more cash for schools, six more hospitals, a lot of the other nonsense we are expecting our relatively small and no doubt worthwhile. Things like mending potholes or stopping nurses on night shift having to pay parking fees £250 million for Wraparound School care. It is more money but it is not a humongous amount. Instead it has been a defensive posture. They have sought to reassure pensioners that the triple lock pensioners that the triple lock pension rises, that stays and also to reassure taxpayers that they will be no rise in income tax, vat or National Insurance. That is a message hammered home this morning by sajid javid. Well, we are very clear. We want to help people with the cost of living where ever we can. Earlier this week, we set out our plans to cut taxes, cut National Insurance for 31 million people, helping the lowest paid the most. Its not going to add up. Well, if i answer the question about the tax lock, i will show you exactly how it adds up. We are also announcing today this, as you say, the triple tax lock which is our commitment, giving more Financial Security to hard working people, that under a conservative majority government, the rates of tax and the three biggest taxes, National Insurance, income tax and vat, will not rise and they can be absolutely certain of that. However, no matter how hard the conservative high command have tried to strip out any nasty surprises from this manifesto, it cant stop noises off stage left occurring anyway. This morning we had one on the former tory mp keith simpson, long standing veteran conservative saying in terms, basically, you cannot trust morris johnson. Have saying in terms, basically, you cannot trust morrisjohnson. Have a listen to what he said. I never voted for boris. I mean, the one thing you can always rely upon with boris is that he will let you down, at the end of the day, and he comes with a lot of baggage, but, you know, he was elected leader by the conservative party. We have already had a number of my colleagues lost the whip. I do find it incredible that two senior colleagues have left the commons without being members of the conservative party, ken clarke and philip hammond, and i think that is wrong. After all, many of the people who are in borisjohnsons government, ministerial positions, where serial rebels against theresa may. He touches on that issue which has dogged borisjohnson he touches on that issue which has dogged Boris Johnson throughout he touches on that issue which has dogged borisjohnson throughout this campaign and throughout his political career. The issue of trust. Meanwhile, on the labour side, the issue of credibility still rippling away over there, hugely ambitious spending plans, . Rippling away over there, hugely ambitious spending plans, . Spring asked about how nerve you pay for any of this. This morning, another massive spending pledge to compensate the so called wasp women, the women born in these 50s who lost out when the Pension Changes were exhilarated which meant many of them didnt have time to readjust their pension arrangements. Some had to go back to work, others lost out on a lot of cash. Labour say they will compensate them and that will cost more than £50 billion. A plan defended by the shadow cabinet member Angela Rayner this morning who also stressed that no one earning less than £80,000 will pay any more income tax under a labour government. We have said quite clearly that the top 5 will pay a little bit more so anyone watching your show earning less than £80,000 a year will not pay a penny more. We have also said that corporations will have to pay a little bit more. And to put that into context, we are saying that Corporation Tax would be at 26 and under margaret thatcher, it was at 36 . And in your piece earlier, i think this is really crucial to say, in your piece earlier, you were talking about people being honest with the public we have been incredibly honest with the public that in order to have a world class system, Public Service and those jobs of the future, those at the top will have to pay a little bit more. It is curious, sean, how to large degree the parties almost got into a bidding war over spending. Every policy seems to revolve basically around who is going to spend more money. This no doubt will raise . About how you pay for it. We know the tories have said they will not put up tax and labour have said they will only put it up on the most wealthy. That prompted pauljohnson, the director of the institute for fiscal studies to raise a sceptical eyebrow this morning. There is really not an enormous amount there. I think the triple tax lock, as they call it, not increasing income tax, vat or National Insurance, could come back to bite them, as it did actually before the 2017 election because they had a similar pledge in 2015 and that stopped even modest increases on some very low rates of National Insurance. If we are going to undue austerity to any extent and indeed if we are going to cope with the fact we are going to need more money for the health service, need more money for pensions, at some point over the next decade, we are going to have to raise taxes or accept that we are going to have much less in the way of Public Services, the nhs and so on than we have got used to, and i think Neither Party really is taking that serious message to the electorate. If you want to better Public Services, you are going to have to pay. In labours case, they are saying, well, someone else will pay. And in the conservatives case, they are saying, well, nobody needs to pay. It isa it is a funny old world. Normally when you get a big manifesto launch you think the party wants to make a big splash and big impact, i get the feeling that it will all be if we all left telford and nobody knew we would have been here in the tory party would not be bothered. How different is this from other campaigns . We hearabout different is this from other campaigns . We hear about the importance of social media, telephone banks rather than door to door canvassing, you have covered an awful lot of elections over the years, i want to draw attention to it. Do get a sense of this being a different sort of campaign or not . In some ways yes, i think what has impacted as much as anything on the traditional way of campaigning is the fact we are campaigning is the fact we are campaigning in the middle of a winter. That makes it hard to have bigger evening rallies and makes it ha rd to bigger evening rallies and makes it hard to get people coming out evening. The Traditional Campaign becomes even less so. Never mind the crucial role that social media and digital campaigning now has. I suspect we are gradually moving away from the familiar elections where we expect people to put leaflets through doors. Now, campaigning is so through doors. Now, campaigning is so carefully targeted on niche groups of voters in particular constituencies, it is almost micromanaged. That said, the big picture, the big appeal, i still think is the driving force in an election campaign. Who can set that really, i think, election campaign. Who can set that really, ithink, probably election campaign. Who can set that really, i think, probably determines who wins. Very clearly, team johnson wa nted who wins. Very clearly, team johnson wanted to be about brexit, lets get brexit done, team corbyn wanted to be about real change, a moment in the history of this country when things suddenly did switch. We ended austerity and there was much more focus Public Services. So although maybe the style of campaigning has changed, the critical importance of dominating the field on which the con test is fought still remains. And well be bring you live coverage of the conservative launch here on bbc news from 1 45pm this afternoon with norman smith live in telford. Well also bring you analysis from our team of specialist correspondents and our Reality Check Team will try to cut through the spin and fact check the manifesto pledges. Stay with us for all of that from 1 45pm. The liberal democrat leader jo 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 party to stop it. Oh, you think that is what is happening at the moment . If you look at the polls right now, that is what they say. 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 it 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. 0h, 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 quotes, 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, 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. The snp say they will push the next uk government to lift financial restrictions on the scottish governments spending powers. The party claim it will unlock almost £3 billion over the course of the next parliament, which they plan to use to boost the economy and tackle climate change. In other news, Police Investigating the deaths of 39 vietnamese nationals in a lorry in essex have charged a man with human trafficking. The victims were found in grays last month. 23 year old Christopher Kennedy from darkley in County Armagh will appear before Chelmsford Magistrates Court tomorrow. Five teenagers have been arrested after a large brawl at a cinema in birmigham yesterday evening which saw a number of Police Officers injured. Fights broke out as police attempted to clear around 100 people from the star city leisure complex. Two machetes were seized in the incident. 0ne witness described it as one of the scariest momemts of their life. 0ur correspondentjenny kumah is at the scene. Jenny, good afternoon to. Do we have any idea what sparked this trouble last night . Police say that those people that had come here to enjoy an evening out at the cinema were left s ha ke n an evening out at the cinema were left shaken and frightened. Many of those were families with Young Children who had come here to this Entertainment Complex in birmingham to see the new frozen film. Police report that there were groups of young people armed with machetes and they deployed dozens of officers and they deployed dozens of officers and those officers say they were met with hostility. They had tourist use tasers to restore order and they recovered to machetes during the trouble and later found a knife nearby. In terms of injury, they say seven Police Officers received minor facial injuries and today, we have received more details about those people who were arrested, the five young people. They include a 13 Year Old Girl who was arrested on suspicion of assaulting police, alongside a 14 year old boy and a 14 Year Old Girl and a 19 year old man. A 14 year old boy was also arrested on suspicion of obstructing the police. Now, the police say they are trying to understand the reason for the trouble and they are asking for the trouble and they are asking for people who took video or photos of what happened last night if they havent already sent them on, to forward them on so they can make more arrests. Sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, heresjohn. Englands cricketers are in big trouble in the first test in mount manganooee, having fallen well behind on day four. Theyll need to bat out the final day tomorrow to force a draw, with only seven wickets in hand. Bj watling continued his brilliant innings, making 205, alongside mitchell sa ntner who hit a century, as they declared on 615 9 their highest score against england. Santner then took three england wickets for just six runs, leaving joe roots side on 55 3 at the close thats 209 runs behind. Theyll struggle to recover after that impressive display from the kiwi batsmen. It was a terrific partnership that has put new zealand in a fantastically strong position to dominate this game. England now, there are only thoughts of trying to save it. Unfortunately they have lost three wickets towards the end of the day, so with one day to go england have it all to do. Rangers are bidding to go back level with celtic at the top of the scottish premiership. Theyre at home to hamilton no score yet but the game is only a couple of minutes old. Manchester united will attempt to haul themselves up from tenth in the premier league table this afternoon, when they face sheffield united, whore t