this is bbc news. i'm martine croxall. the headlines at 11:00: theresa may defends plans to increase national insurance contributions for the self—employed, outlined in yesterday's budget. the shift towards self employment is eroding the tax base, it's making it harder to afford the public services on which ordinary families depend. the health secretary says it's essential that a & e departments in england hit their target for waiting times, now that extra money has been pumped into care and health services. the queen unveils a memorial in london to service personnel and civilians who served and worked in iraq and afghanistan. and on newsnight — pledges promises and vows. the fall out from the budget continues as david cameron's former director of communications tells us being perceived to have broken a manifesto promise over national insurance is very difficult for the government. good evening and

welcome to bbc news. the prime minister has insisted that the controversial change announced in the budget to increase national insurance for self employed workers is "simpler, fairer and more progressive". theresa may refused to accept that the government had broken a manifesto pledge saying the promise had only extended to one kind of national insurance. but the move has angered a number of conservative backbenchers and been roundly criticised by labour. our political editor laura kuenssberg reports. brussels is rarely a place where british prime ministers can find a retreat, but theresa may entered discreetly into the summit, in a hurry for the talks. not for her the grand arrivals of her other eu colleagues. not the day for number

ten to stop and chat. but after a domestic debacle over her budget, she knew there was explaining to do. as the chancellor made clear yesterday, we will use this moment of change to build a stronger economy and a fairer society that works for ordinary working people by embracing genuine economic and social reform at home. you have said many times that you believe deeply that voters must be able to trust their politicians. let me read something if i may. "a conservative government will not raise vat, income tax or national insurance." as you know, that appeared in the conservative manifesto in 2015, the basis upon which voters elected a tory government. will you admit that you have broken that promise to the public? if you do not, do you not risk looking like other politicians who try to wriggle out of uncomfortable truths? the legislation was clear

that it was honouring our manifesto commitment in our 2015 manifesto and no amendments or concerns were raised at the time. honouring a commitment is not exactly the same as sticking to a firm promise. we did make some difficult decisions in the budget yesterday, but those decisions allowed us to fund an ambitious, new approach to technical education, to open more than 100 new free schools and meet the growing demand for social care. the shift towards self employment is eroding the tax base, it is making it harder to afford the public services on which ordinary working families depend and this goes some way towards fixing that. the referendum ended politics as usual, and despite the complexities that theresa may faces, she's had a relatively trouble—free time. but with real anger at home over her government's budget, not today. gavin wright is a self—employed tilerfrom norwich. he chose the tories in 2015.

but now he fears he'll lose as much as £500 a year from the changes. he reckons the conservatives have slammed the door on him. cheated, annoyed. basically you vote for someone, you get told something. a year or so down the line they change their mind. they lied to you, basically, and here we are. we've all been cheated. thousands, millions of self—employed people. at home, philip hammond's budget will meet resistance from labour but the real trouble is that some tory mps are on the warpath as well. this is something that has slipped through the net and what we've got to do is make sure it doesn't get through the net. it has to be stopped. the chancellor leads to do a u—turn, quickly. this is not sending out the message that i know every conservative member of parliament believes in, which is supporting business growth. these people are making the growth of the future. in seven months the prime minister's team has rarely felt pressure like this.

they may well learn the hard way their brexit adventures in brussels are not the only front. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, brussels. around 15% of all british workers are self—employed —— under the new tax change announced yesterday more than half of them will lose out. higher and middle earners will be hardest hit. 0ur economics editor kamal ahmed has been looking at the numbers. hairdressers, builders, minicab drivers, well paid management consultant, the strong army of the self—employed. they tend to pay less tax and the treasury does not much like that. i asked the man investigating whether phillip payment was right in increasing the tax? as it does, this is pretty

fair, economically rational and it strengthens the base. this is a pretty good way to do it. mr hammond has talked about fairness. what are the differences between being employed directly by a company and being self employed 7 employed directly by a company and being self employed? per employed — pa rental leave, being self employed? per employed — parental leave, sick pay and holiday pgy- parental leave, sick pay and holiday pay. if you are self—employed you receive none of these rights. at present, an employed person on £25,000 per year would pay national insurance of £1970. for a self—employed person that falls to £1630. that will rise after this increase to over £1800. the gap has

110w increase to over £1800. the gap has now narrowed. any less than £16,000 for self—employed will be better off. 580 pounds per year will be earning more. the self-employed are not the only people facing a tax increase. katie runs a writing business. she takes dividends from her share in the company. the government is going to ask her and over a million investors in shares to pay more tax. people might think twice. this is the one budget and we have had quite a lot of chances. you can only imagine what happens next year all the year after. it discourages entrepreneurship. the

government is looking at changing the rules in other areas as well. this debate of work and fairness has only just this debate of work and fairness has onlyjust begun. german police say several people have been injured in an axe attack at dusseldorf‘s main train station this evening. there are no reports yet about how serious the injuries are. police say they arrested a man and are searching the station and its surroundings. the health secretaryjeremy hunt says it is essential that a & e the health secretaryjeremy hunt says it is essential that a&e departments in england hit waiting time targets over the next year — now that extra money has been earmarked in the budget for care and health services. nhs trusts are meant to assess 95 per cent of patients within four hours, but the latest figures suggest most are currently only reaching 85%. our health editor hugh pym reports. immense pressure on hospitals, long delays for some patients. it's been one of the toughest ever winters for the nhs,

with the worst performance on waiting times in england since records began. having hinted the key a&e target might be changed, the health secretary now says the 95% benchmark can and should be met. i'm personally not a great fan of targets and i'm certainly not a fan of having too many targets, but this one is critical for patient safety. how is that going to be achieved and how quickly do you think it can be achieved? it is not going to be overnight, but it is essential and i am expecting the nhs to return to that target during the course of the next calendar year. hospitals in england have now been given a strict timetable. we hope to be in a position whereby we will deliver 90% performance by september and 95% performance by the end of march 2018. some hospitals like this one are consistently meeting the target. as you can see, we've got a bank of computers here that give us

real—time information. technology helps them monitor the flow of patients and there is a focus on diverging them if possible to the right type of care. 0ur attendances for the past year were around about 140,000 patients. 40,000 of those we were able to get to see the gp which we have on site and that has enabled us to remove from the emergency department a lot of patients that probably did not need to be here in the first place. getting the a&e system back to the 95% target is a big commitment, given how far short of that the national performance figure now is. so can the nhs in england deliver with the money it's got? ministers said the chancellor's budget increase will help — £425 million over three years. that includes a 100 million a&e spending boost in year one. but that is a small proportion of nhs england's annual budget of 107 billion. it is a very big stretch to hit 95% next year.

it will need significant investment in extra doctors, nurses and beds and in communities and hospitals and we can't see where that money is coming from. ministers say new money for social care in the community and gp facilities in hospitals will help, but they will now be judged on whether that 95% target is met in a year's time. hugh pym, bbc news. a national monument paying tribute to members of the military and civilians who served and worked in the wars in iraq and afghanistan has been unveiled in central london. the queen led the ceremony watched by 2,500 invited guests. robert hall reports. there have been many accounts of individual sacrifice during the longest and most intense period of combat operations since the second world war. this was a day to recognise the stories that have not been told. we meet in the presence of god

to commemorate and give thanks for all those civilians and members of the military who have served on operations in the gulf region, iraq and afghanistan. 682 service personnel lost their lives in iraq and afghanistan. the political decisions which put them in harm's way still divide opinion. no one has ever doubted the courage and dedication of every man and every woman who travelled to a troubled region. may this memorial commemorate the lives and service of all. my son was called kris 0'neill, he was killed in iraq in 2007. at least they are all being recognised, that is the main thing.

that is the main thing. with all the controversy over the iraq war, i did not even think we would get a memorial, but it shows what people power can do. but delight at public recognition was tempered by regret. a very fitting service, a very pretty memorial, but very frustrated. bereaved parents, family members, were not originally invited to this. those who were invited saw a sculpture that offered a glimpse of the past and the future. today brought a good closure to the events, both iraq, which was quite traumatic, and afghanistan, which i went to four times, which was very traumatic. there are still people out there. ileave injune. and i am leaving a team behind that will continue working. one day, sergeant mark lunn and his wife michelle will pass on their iraq experiences to their son alfie, not on his best behaviour this morning.

but the queen was amused. alfie, and generations to come, will have a permanent reminder of a chapter in our history that remains unfinished business. robert hall, bbc news, westminster. that's a summary of the news, newsday is coming up at midnight. now on bbc news it's time for newsnight. when‘s a promise not a promise? is the answer when it is in a party manifesto? as philip hammond is attacked from all sides for raising national insurance, will this become theresa may's big issue of trust? david cameron's former director of communications spells out the danger. he can explain to people, here is a path i took and this is why it is not a breach of a manifesto promise. the problem with that, as you are asking me and as you should rightly ask him and other members of the government, is people perceive this to be a breach. we'll be discussing making and breaking political promises. and on viewsnight...

also tonight, we discuss isabelle huppert and paul verhoeven‘s golden globe—winning thriller, elle, and its complex portrayal of one woman's response to the most horrific rape. can cinema take us to dark places where accepted views on rape are challenged through the character of a woman who refuses to be a victim?