this is bbc news. the headlines at 3: the race for the french presidency. independent centrist emmanuel macron faces the front national‘s marine le pen in a fortnight after beating both mainstream parties yesterday. a new era in french politics but which way will the voters turn? to macron, globalisation and more europe, or to marine le pen for security and control of borders? they have 13 days to decide. parties hit the campaign trail here withjeremy corbyn pledging to strengthen britain's trade unions and fight for working people. only labour will deliver for working people, small businesses, and our most vulnerable people. none of the rest would even think of these types of policy. a 21—year—old man is arrested after a former royal navy officer was killed by burglars who ran him over with his own car. arthur collins, former boyfriend of reality tv

personality ferne mccann, is appearing in court charged over an acid attack which injured 20 people. and in the next hour: the london marathon‘s most heart—warming moment. the man who sacrificed his own race time to make sure this exhausted runner crossed the finish line. iwas, like, shouting in his ear saying "come on, come on, you can do this!" good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. i'm christian fraser live in paris, where the centrist candidate, a perfect day to begin campaigning

for the second round. i'm christian fraser live in paris, where the centrist candidate, emmanuel macron, and the far—right national front leader, marine le pen, have made it through to the second round of the french presidential election. macron, who has never run for political office, told his supporters they had changed the face of french politics, and it was his job to reconcile the country. marine le pen described her victory as historic and said a vote for her was important for the survival of france. it's the first time in nearly 60 years that neither of the country's established parties has had a candidate in the second round of the race. james reynolds reports from paris. the centrist candidate emmanuel macron began his run—off campaign this morning. his supporters believe he's now one step away from winning the presidency.

france now prepares for a choice between macron and marine le pen, pro—eu versus anti—eu. pro—immigration against anti—immigration. at the macron campaign headquarters supporters cheered their candidate into the night. this is the 39—year—old's first ever election. macron is the newcomer, the insider turned outsider, making it through to the next round. and he is now the favourite to become this country's next president. translation: in 15 days, i want to become your president, the president of all the french, the president of the patriots to counter the threat of the nationalists. the macron team gave themselves time to celebrate but they now have to focus on fighting the run—off. of course, we feel

the responsibility, it's a new page starting in this country and we have marine le pen in front of us so it is, as we say, it's also about the value, we want to defend. marine le pen will dispute that. at her victory rally she promised a real fight in the second round. translation: what i have to offer is a big change, a fundamental change, a new way of doing politics. new faces in power and the renewal that you have been waiting for. marine le pen won more votes than her party has ever got before. her supporters believe that she can beat macron. the choice is clear, macron is for globalisation, marine le pen is for a renewed france. we have a clear political choice and i believe in these two weeks we will be able to explain that and that marine le pen will gather the patriotic vote. her first stop this morning

was a market in northern france. opinion polls suggest that she starts the run—off well behind emmanuel macron. marine le pen will want to make it a referendum on patriotism, on europe, on globalism. she is trying to repeat a little bit the american campaign. trump versus clinton. the capital, here cleaning anti—le pen graffiti, is already preparing for the second round. in two weeks‘ time france will make its choice. so how do the two remaining contenders for the french presidency match up? 39—year—old mr macron and his en marche party is promising a liberal, pro—european agenda. that includes a 50 billion euro public investment plan to reduce unemployment, renewable energy, a big cut in corporation tax and more leeway for companies to renegotiate the 35—hour week.

48—year—old marine le pen took over the national front leadership from her father six years ago and her policies are strongly right—wing — among them, talks with brussels on a reformed eu followed by a referendum on it. ms le pen wants the automatic expulsion of illegal immigrants and she's pushing for the closure of extremist mosques and housing priority to be given to french nationals. let's talk to a strategist at the largest european strategist. one of the most extraordinary statistics i have seen today is that marina penn took over 17,000 communes compared

took over 17,000 communes compared to just took over 17,000 communes compared tojust 7000 took over 17,000 communes compared to just 7000 emmanuel macron took. it means that the national front is within french society deeply ingrained, it means that emmanuel macron carried big towns, so there isa macron carried big towns, so there is a sharp division between the electoral. you could also remarked that the eastern france went to marine le pen and the west went to emmanuel macron. there is a sharp division. the boundaries are really striking this time, so the other little, middle talents who went for marine le pen, and the big towns when the emmanuel macron. however, we should not underestimate all overlook these figures because you have to take into account the other boats, and jean—luc melenchon did

incredibly well in places like marcy in town is a little towns. we have just heard from the president, francois hollande, the city wants supporters, the socialists, to come out and back a manual macron and the blocked the national front. for a president who has been so deeply unpopularfor the last president who has been so deeply unpopular for the last five years, does that help him? not at all. my opinion is that, before the first round, you could see he was tempted to back emmanuel macron that he would back from this temptation because of his rating on the pulse. we have never seen a president who has been so low over the fifth republic all we have never had a president that is so low in the polls. that is not working in the favour of emmanuel macron. that backing is not working in his favour. he made a case for being a

nation of change, a renewed, young people coming to power, a whole generation, going into retirement. what you have is what marine le pen will exploit, for sure, the continuity in five more years, a guy who is wearing a mask and behind it will be francois hollande all over again. i imagine you slept a little easier last night in all your customer that this company you are connected with because we look at the euro, it is up against the dollar, a lot of relief in the business community. definitely, the result is very close. what is at sta ke result is very close. what is at stake for financial markets was the qualification of a pro—europe. this morning, for emmanuel macron it is

90, 90%. we are relieved. there was a prospect of the far right versus far left, two anti—europe candidates, so to get emmanuel macron into the second round is what the business community wanted. definitely, yes. the risk is largely disappeared. the probability to have a eurosceptic disappeared. the probability to have a eurosce ptic majority disappeared. the probability to have a eurosceptic majority is very low. we do not know what the economic policy will be but what we know is this will not be eurosceptic. that isa this will not be eurosceptic. that is a very good point. the relaxed because, whatever happens in the national assembly, if the right word to do particularly well, they are dragged further to the business agenda, it does not matter to them, but it does matter to the people. yes, it does, but it is very close.

if the instance, the official running candidate for the socialist party, 6%, he was not in the equation, probablyjohn luke miller john would have gained more and been in the second round. that was the worst scenario for a different number of people. but that could have happened last night. and there is, of course, much more on our website, including live updates right now of all the latest reaction. they are campaigning today. marine le pen is in the north of the country and emmanuel macron is here in paris, campaigning among his supporters. they are expecting a debate on wednesday next week, televised debate, when the two candidates will go head—to—head. but we will focus on upload a week on sunday when the french people will have to decide. right now, we will take you to the

us, where president donald trump is speaking via video conference with the commander of the iss. peggy whitson has broken the record for most time spent in space of any american astronaut, and she got made its commander, first female commander, almost a decade ago now, but she will be staying on board until september and we know donald trump is communicating with her now. ido trump is communicating with her now. i do not know if we can actually hear the conversation between them. it is so special to just be in zero gravity. this guy is new and he can give you a better perspective. everything here, my dad always said

if you love what you do come you never workaday in your life, and we work really hard up here but it does not work, it isjust work really hard up here but it does not work, it is just fun. work really hard up here but it does not work, it isjust fun. you are only changing the world why you do it. the other morning, i was working out on a machine that we work out on. right below it is a window. when you are on the device where you do crunches, every time you come up, you see out the window and it is awesome because you go, crunch, oh my gosh, that is beautiful! it is awesome. everything we do here is fun and it feels so great to know that we are making a difference on the ground and for the future of humanity as well. it is an incredible job. you are making a great difference. this is a very

exciting time for our country, to see what is happening with our country in terms ofjobs and business. there is such excitement and abuse yes. many american entrepreneurs are racing into space. i have made friends are so excited they want to get involved. tell us about the opportunities that could exist for the next generation of scientists and engineers. that's something you think, a student... you have hundreds of thousands of students watching. is that something that students should be focusing on all do you think they should focus on other subjects? sir, absolutely. this is probably the most exciting time in space exploration, certainly in my lifetime. we are about tojust

have an explosion of activity. there is so much involvement on the space station with commercial industries and commercial partners. we have an entire programme to manage science. nasa has done a wonderfuljob of seeding a new industry with the commercial crew programme and the commercial crew programme and the commercial cargo programme so we can build the infrastructure we need for the future exploration. what they love about american entrepreneurs is once you get them going, you better stand up to the way because they will start chucking. we are at that point now. nasa is taking on that expensive hard complex task of going further and deeper into space would be wonderful new rocket space launch system, and as soon as we break open that door, this incredible infrastructure we have been building

is going to be right there to pick up is going to be right there to pick up the baton and continuing to the stars. i would say to all the students watching, the time to get excited is now. if you are not studying science and maths, you might want to think about that because our future in the star starts now. you can be a part of that if, like doctor whitson, you can find that passion and work really hard. we will find a permanent foothold in the stars the humanity if you do that. that was jack fisher and his colleague there, who has spent the most time and space of any american astronaut, said this was a celebration of sorts. contrast those two visuals, the astronauts who can barely keep their feet the astronauts who can barely keep theirfeet on the astronauts who can barely keep their feet on the ground zero gravity, and the tabloids speaking

to the president and his daughter and the nasa astronaut cape rugen. president trump they're asking them to expand on the opportunities for young people in space in what he said was a very exciting time for americans tojob said was a very exciting time for americans to job opportunities. back here on earth... labour will "never, ever apologise" for the closeness of its ties with the trade unions, jeremy corbyn has said. the party's leader was addressing the scottish trades union congress in aviemore. we are standing for the many, not the few. we must ensure the many, standing together, have the power to stand up to the rich and the powerful few. the labour party will always cherish, sustain and protect our relationship with the trade union movement and the working people that all of you in this hall represent. you are our dna and ourfamily.

we'll never apologise for the closeness of our relationship with you. the defence secretary, sir michael fallon, has branded jeremy corbyn a security risk for refusing to back a nuclear deterrent or state if he would order drone strike against terrorists. labour want to be the next government. jeremy corbyn is putting himself forward seriously as the next prime minister of this country — somebody who wouldn't authorise strikes against terrorists, who would not support our nuclear deterrent, and who would undermine our defences. so it is very important we do point out this is somebody who could be prime minister in six weeks' time. meanwhile, the liberal democrats are holding a campaign event in vauxhall, south london. let's get more from our chief political correspondent, vicky young, in westminster. bring us up to date on what is being

said there. it is interesting that we are here at all. it is an inner london seat, a safe seat. the labour mp wasa london seat, a safe seat. the labour mp was a very high profile leave campaigner. the liberal democrats wa nt campaigner. the liberal democrats want this to be all about brexit, they said they are uniquely placed, they said they are uniquely placed, they want a second referendum on the deal that theresa may gets. they say the campaign slogan will be about changing the course of britain's survey will appeal to remain constituencies. this is one of them. they think they would do better than last time around. it would be pretty difficult not to. they got wiped out. but they say, when you look at places like richmond, which they won

ina places like richmond, which they won in a by—election, that is the kind of place they will be targeting. but what about the south—west of england? what about the south—west of england ? that used what about the south—west of england? that used to be the real heartland. that will be trickier for them. up against the conservatives. more other leave area. even though they are excited about this election, they say they are ready and ina election, they say they are ready and in a better place than they were when morale was incredibly low in 2015. they think they can do better but it would be a real struggle for them. tim farron is coming here in them. tim farron is coming here in the next half—hour or so. he will also talk about the surge they had in membership, more than 100,000 people, a lot of them here in the capital in london. they will use those people to get out there, get the message across. the other thing he has done is to rule out any kind of coalition. we have heard from the conservatives saying thatjeremy corbyn could lead a coalition of chaos. the liberal democrats think jeremy corbyn is toxic and they have ruled out they will prop up at all.

they are not planning to join a conservative or labour coalition. ukip says it's standing up for women with an election pledge to ban the wearing of the burka in public places. critics say it would be a violation of religious freedom to tell women they can't cover their faces. ukip made a series of announcements this morning, including disbanding sharia courts and a moratorium on new islamic state schools. the party's deputy leader, peter whittle, denies the policies discriminated against muslims. i don't think there can be any better way of segregating down by wearing a face veil. that is a literal barrier to integration. i think that is something for which there is great public support, getting rid of. the point is that we have reached the stage in this country

where we have gone down one route which has been about separation, not integration. whether it is trevor phillips or angela merkel and david cameron, people have been saying multiculturalism was a failure, a bad idea, but they have done nothing about it. we are attempting to address it. this is of increasing concern to the majority of people in this country. be back later on this hour in a b moore, where scottish union leaders are meeting because scotland's first minister, nicola sturgeon, will be there. a 21—year—old man is being questioned by police investigating the death of a former royal navy officer outside his home in manchester. mike samwell, who was 35, is thought to have been run over by his own car as it was being stolen in the early hours of yesterday morning. our correspondent, danny savage, has been in chorlton in manchester

and gave us this update. mike samwell was asleep about three o'clock yesterday morning in his terraced home in chorley. he was woken up by some sort of intruders, or disturbance, going on in his house. it is understood he went downstairs to investigate. he was involved in an altercation with the people who were in or had been in his house. he was involved in a confrontation in an area behind his terraced home where his car was parked. it appears that these had got hold of his car keys. he was then run over by the vehicle as they made their escape. his wife dashed out to comfort him after he had been run over. emergency services were called.

mike died an hour later in hospital after undergoing treatment. the car was found about three miles away. the police are asking for anyone with information to search their consciences. what happened had crossed the line, and greater manchester police said they had arrested a 21—year—old man in connection with what happened here. he is now being questioned by detectives. people have been coming along and leaving floral tributes here and messages. we had people from the sub—mariner's association in manchester here. he was a formal naval lieutenant, a sub mariner. he then work in engineering, which is why he worked here. the investigations continue. a man has appeared in court, charged in connection with an acid attack at a nightclub in east london which left two people partially blind. arthur collins, who's 2a and the former boyfriend of the tv personality ferne mccann, is facing 1a counts of wounding with intent and one count of throwing corrosive fluid with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. at the collins appeared in court

here earlier today. collins in fact was on crutches and appeared to have difficulty standing when he was asked by the districtjudge to give his name, address and age. just to recap the charges, collins is facing 14 recap the charges, collins is facing 1a counts of grievous bodily harm and one count of throwing acid with intent to burn. andre phoenix is facing seven counts of throwing corrosive fluid with intent to burn. both been remanded in custody. these charges are in connection with the alleged acid attack at an east london nightclub a week ago in which more than 20 were hurt, two of them

serious. the young woman and a man both of whom have lost the use of one eye, so serious injuries. and finally the london marathon. almost 40,000 people took part yesterday but it was these two who summed up the spirit of it all. heading down the mall, about to finish the marathon in under 2 hours 50 minutes, matthew rees saw an exhausted runner and decided to stop and help, almost dragging him over that finish line. dan johnson caught up with them both this morning. after a test of endurance it was a moment of kindness that summed up the marathon's spirit shared by so many. how are you feeling? with sore legs and swirling social media the it manager from manchester and the banker from swansea spoke about those last few tough and tired steps to the finish.

i was just trying to get to the line. my body went and i went to the ground. so, yes, it was really desperate. i saw him in the distance as i was about to sprint, his legs were jelly, but he said he was determined to finish. and then his legs went again and i realised i was going to have to stay with him to make sure he did it. i didn't really think about it. when someone's in need you want to help them out. it was important that he got to the finish line after coming 26 miles and there was only 20 metres left. i couldn't let him lie on the ground. what did you say to him? i was shouting in his ear, saying, "come on, you can do this, it's 200 metres, we will finish — i'll stay with you". maybe i was a bit overzealous with my support. i needed it!

you were telling him to carry on? yes, because we had never met and i did not know what his aspirations were for the day. i just wanted him to finish his race. matthew was clear in knowing that, if he leaves me, there's a chance they will whisk me off and not get me to the finish. and that's so nice. such a gentleman for doing that. if roles were reversed, would you have done the same thing? my goodness, you are the first person to ask me that and that is such a good question. i have not given that any thought. i would love to think i would. i'm sure he would have. yeah, but it was special, what he did. and the crowd loved it, the royals cheering them home. these are two competitive runners who have both put in good times, under three hours. what the general public see

is the spirit and this happens all over the place, itjust happens there were quite a few cameras trained on that. at that point, capturing that moment. but it happens everywhere up and down the country. a friendship formed, more races to come, maybe next time the good samaritan will even finish ahead, because it was the man on his last legs who officially crossed the line first. but taking part is more important than winning, right? they have already shown that. great story there of last—minute help. we will shortly bring you, if you stay with us, nicola sturgeon's speech from the scottish trade union congress. but before then, we will ta ke congress. but before then, we will take you to the weather. it is very cold and abbey more right

now. some snow showers around. look at this picture from aberdeenshire. these wintry showers will continue through the course of the day into this evening. the far south is not called just yet. that cold at the, it feels more like 0 celsius. look how they continue to affect scotland through the night, some of them affecting than the eastern counties. but lots of clear, cold weather tonight. a bit too windy for frost form, but those temperatures will be close to freezing, if not below. tomorrow, a real rush of showers right across the country, hail showers possible anywhere. it will feel chilly. temperatures tend to dip dramatically for a few moments and it will feel closer to zero. it

will get warmer towards the second half. hello. this is bbc news. the headlines at 3.31pm: french president francois hollande calls on voters to back emmanuel macron in the second round of the presidential election saying support for the far—right puts the country at risk. mr macron faces the far—right leader marine le pen in the presidential run—off. parties hit the campaign trail here withjeremy corbyn pledging to strengthen britain's trade unions and fight for working people. only labour will deliver for working people, small businesses and our most vulnerable people. none of the rest would even think of these type of policies. a man has been arrested over the death of an ex—royal navy officer

who was hit as his car was stolen from outside his home in manchester. a 21—year—old is being held on suspicion of murder and is due to be questioned. two men have appeared in court charged in connection with an alleged acid attack a nightclub in east london. more than 20 people were injured, including two who lost sight in one eye. all the latest sports news. will perry has the details. newcastle united can be promoted back to the premier league at the first time of asking tonight if they beat preston in the championship at stjames' park. brighton have already secured their place in the top flight next season but rafa benitez‘s side have had a dip in form taking just a single point from their last three games. the other teams have to do something. . we have to do ourjob. we have to be sure that these three games we are concentrated to do our

job properly and to win our games and if the other results go in our favour, much better. my target was to go up. the main thing is to be sure we finish ourjob. manchester united striker zlatan ibrahimovic says "giving up is not an option" after finding out he faces several months on the sidelines with a serious knee injury he picked up against anderlecht in the europa league last week. there had been speculation that the 35—year—old could retire given the nature of the injury. but he's said on social media today that he "will come back even stronger", claiming injuries won't decide his future in the game. andy murray will be playing in this week's barcelona open tennis as part of his build up to the french open and to maintain his status as world number one. murray was surprisingly knocked out of the monte carlo masters last week in what was his first tournament back since recovering from an elbow injury. it was hard to maintain your ranking at the top of the game. you have

some of the best players of all time are playing just now and are playing great tennis this year and a lot of the young ones are starting to play better and better as well. so it's going to be tough, but i'm happy to be fit and healthy again and hopefully i can start playing some good tennis. whilst murray has a bye to the second round, kyle edmund has booked his place in round two after a straight sets win over france'sjeremy chardy. he'll play the austrian dominic thiem next. joining them is britain s dan evans who has beaten thiago monteiro of brazil 7—2 in a deciding set tiebreak in barcelona. at the world snooker championship, the world number one mark selby is through to the quarter—finals after beating xiao guodong. selby resumed with a 10—6 lead against his chinese opponent and rattled off the three frames he needed in under an hour. he made a century break at the crucible for the first time in his career in the first frame of the session and just missed out on another as he clinched the match by 13—6. 10-6

10—6 you have got a comfortable lead. to win that first frame and get settled was nice and to win it in one visit was even better. barry hawkins willjoin mark selby in the last eight of the championship. he tookjust under hour this lunchtime to complete a 13—6 victory over scotland's graeme dott and reach his fifth consecutive quarter—final where he'll now face another scot stephen maguire. it sounds disrespectful to graham. i played solid enough. i did some good clea ra nces played solid enough. i did some good clearances when i needed to. i had a few breaks. not probably scoring as heavy as you would like really, but i'm winning and that's the main thing. former british heptathlete kelly sotherton is set to be upgraded to her third olympic bronze medal. it comes as a result of the international olympic committee disqualifying russia's tatyana chernova for testing positive for a steroid at the 2008 games in beijing. chernova's positive test is only the latest in a long line from the ioc‘s re—analysis of stored anti—doping samples

from the 2008 and 2012 games. that's all sport for now. hugh ferris will be with you later. will, thank you very much indeed. four drivers have admitted falling asleep while operating trams in croydon, where seven people were killed after a tram derailed in november 2016. drivers have told the bbc a safety device, known as a dead man's handle, failed to activate and stop their trams. our correspondent, ed thomas, reports. a speeding tram. no emergency braking. the sandilands disaster — here, seven people were killed, over 50 injured. have you fallen asleep? yeah. it's happened to me once in ten years. how many drivers do you think have fallen asleep in the cabin? i would have to say most drivers have at some point in their careers. he's admitting what many would consider

gross misconduct because of this. it is called the traction brake controller or tbc — the driving lever that powers the tram. inside, the safety device known as the dead man's handle. this driver says when he fell asleep it didn't work. was there an alarm? no. was there any emergency braking? no, none whatsoever. my hand remained on the tbc. that was enough to keep the dead man's handle from being activated. why aren't drivers telling the operators what's going wrong? if we were to come forward and say, "excuse me, i fell asleep", i think you'd just be dismissed. four drivers have told the bbc they'd fallen asleep in the cab. and they asked us to watch this footage again — a tram driver who appears to be asleep. there's no alarm, no emergency brakes. he's in and out of sleep, isn't he?

he's coming to and starting to doze, and coming to and starting to doze. why was there no alarm? why was there no braking? well, because... if he were to completely pass out, if he were to completely lose consciousness, then he would relax his grip. but it's ok just to slightly doze in and out, like we saw in the video footage? no, of course it's not all right. the company who operates the trams for tfl, tram operations limited, says driver fatigue is monitored. and on the driver's safety device, says it is satisfied the controls are fully functional. we can also reveal at least three trams have been recorded speeding since the sandylands derailment. one was travelling at 65 kilometres per hour in a a0 zone. the operator told us it had increased speed checks since the sandilands crash.

it's changed my life. he did everything for us. and still waiting for answers, the families of those who died. my daughters are just devastated. what is the one question you want answering? why... why? investigators are trying to answer that question — to piece together a disaster that changed so many lives. more now on the general election campaign. the liberal democrats are hoping to capitalise on their hard—line anti—brexit stance and pick up votes from people who want to maintain close ties with the eu. let's cross to vicki young who is at an event in vauxhall. this is not

the traditional heartland of the liberal democrats. they have never held this seat. they have always polled reasonably well here, but they haven't had a huge presence here, but this seat is interesting because it is a labour seat, but it is held by kate howey. she was a very high—profile leave campaigner in the referendum campaign and it's that kind of area the liberal democrats are hoping to capitalise on as they very much support the remain side of the argumentment theircampaign remain side of the argumentment their campaign slogan is going to be this is the election that can change the course of britain. they say a landslide for theresa may would be bad because it would lead to a so—called hard brexit. they are putting themselves out there as the pro—eu party. tim farron is due here in the next few minutes and they say that their membership is soaring. over 100,000 members the liberal democrats have. vicki young, thank you. let's cross to the house of commons for an urgent question on pollution concerning the publication of a government report

into its air quality strategy. i'm committed to the importance of ensuring clean air. since 2011 the government announced over £2 billion to help bus operators upgrade their fleets, support the development and ta ke fleets, support the development and take up of low emission vehicles, reduce pollution from vehicles such as refuse trucks and fire engines and to promote the development of clea n and to promote the development of clean alternative fuels and then in addition, in the autumn statement, we announced a further £290 million to support electric vehicles, low emission buses and taxis and alternative fuels. our actions have enabled the uk to make significant progress on improving its air quality since 2010. we now have lower emissions of the five key pollutants, volatile organic compounds, sulphur dioxide, ammonia and nitrogen nigh oxides. due to the failure of vehicle emission smands,

the uk is among 17 european countries including france and germany who are not meeting eu emissions targets for my trojan dioxide in parts of some of our towns and cities. we are taking strong action to remedy that. my department since last november has been working jointly with the department for transport to upgrade the government's national air quality plan for nitro general dioxide. we have updated the analytical base for the plan to reflect new evidence following the vw scandal and the failure of the eu's regulatory regime to deliver the improvements expected on emissions. the plan adapts to these new circumstances by setting out a framework for action. so following long—standing precedent we have now entered the period of pre—election sensitivity that proceeds elections. in accordance with the guidance covering both the local and general

elections, the propry tee and ethics tea m elections, the propry tee and ethics team in cabinet office have told us it would not be appropriate to launch the consultation and publish the air quality plan during this tile. so the government is therefore has applied to the high court for a short extension of the deadline to publishing the national air quality plan for nitro general dioxide so the government can comply with pre—election rules. so the government is seeking to publish a d raft government is seeking to publish a draft plan by the 30thjune, and a final plan by the 15th september. the application will be considered by the court. thank you, mr speaker. nearly 40 million people in britain live in areas with illegal levels of air pollution. 2,000 schools and nurseries are close to roads with damaging levels of fumes and nhs experts estimate that poor air quality contributes to 40,000 premature deaths every year. this situation has gone from bad to worse

on this government's watch and has now escalated into what the defra committee calls a public health emergency. does the secretary of state agree that this is indeed a public health emergency? given the gravity of the situation and the fa ct gravity of the situation and the fact she has only known about today's high court deadline for months, why did she choose to request a further delay to the publication on her air quality plan at 7pm on friday night? will she clarify whether she had in fact already applied for an extension before the election was called? it is unacceptable to hide behind the election to delay publishing her plans. cabinet office rules are clear that purred is not an excuse to delay acting on vital public health matters. will she confirm that the plans are ready for publication? and if she agrees, it isa publication? and if she agrees, it is a public health emergency, why the delay? isn't it the case that the delay? isn't it the case that the government is doing everything

it can to avoid scrutiny because it is missing its own commitments and has no strategy and wants to yet again kick this issue into the long grass. how can we trust her government to maintain air quality standards after we leave the eu when they have done everything possible to avoid scrutiny on existing standards and have had to be dragged through the courts. if the government fails to publish its plan today, then within the first 30 days ofa today, then within the first 30 days of a labour administration, we will. only a labour government will legislate for a new clean air act setting out how we would tackle air pollution that damages the lives of millions while this conservative government continues to shamefully shirk its legal responsibilities and puts the health of millions at risk. thank you, mr speaker. i think right across this house we agree that air quality is a significant concern and i've already set out some of the

strong action that this government has taken in spending £2 billion since 2011 to try to improve matters of the it is right we do have our d raft of the it is right we do have our draftair of the it is right we do have our draft air quality plan for no 2 ready and she asks why do we have a late extension? i can explain to her that in the course of developing our d raft that in the course of developing our draft plan it was very clear that local authorities will have to play a central role in delivering the finalair a central role in delivering the final air quality plan. so government initially sought to defer publication of the plan and the launch of the could be sull tation on it until after the purred period for local authority elections. since that application was lodged the prime minister called a general election and a further period of purred commenced on 21st april. as she will know government normally seeks to avoid launching consultation exercises during purred periods. it is our intention that we

will publish this on 30thjune which she says within 30 days with a labour administration, they would be publishing. that would actually be later than the intention of this government. i also... later than the intention of this government. ialso... i later than the intention of this government. i also... i also want to make very clear that we now have entered a period of time where we are advised not to be publishing consultations and so what we are trying to do is a very short extension which we do not believe will make a difference to the implementation of our plans but statement we are safeguarding our democracy. that was the environment secretary promise that the government will publish its draft air quality plan by the end ofjune, june 30th. it had been accused as you were hearing there the government, by the opposition, of pure political expediency in seeking to delay publishing those plans to

tackle air pollution until after the general election. accused of hiding behind the general election, but the environment secretary promising it will be published by 30th june. we will go to aviemore and nicola sturgeon. graham, you will have destroyed it before anybody gets back into the main exhibition stall. madam president, thank you very much for your introduction. it is undoubtedly a sign of the importance of the trade union movement in scotland that i am here today and it is a real pleasure to be here today. let me begin by congratulating the award winners that we have just celebrated. there is no doubt that their achievements have made a real difference to people's lives and workplaces across the country. but they have also helped to further the values of the trade union movement. and what we've just celebrated today

in handing out the awards are just a few of the many outstanding examples of the important work that is done by unions and by union reps right across the country and that work is one of the many things that makes trade unions so vital. vital to our economy, and vital to the kind of society that we are. today, there are some politicians, there are too many politicians and there are also voices in the media, again perhaps too many voices in the media, who say that politicians should shy away and government should shy away from building strong relationships with the trade union movement. that somehow, we should be embarrassed by those links. let me say to you today clearly, i think that is flatly wrong. it is the relationships and the partnerships we have that are so essential to building the kind of country we want scotland to be. so the relationships and the

partnerships between government and the trade union moment are something we should be proud of in this country, never, ever embarrassed by. applause and that's. .. that's applause and that's... that's relevant to what i want to talk about today. i wa nt to what i want to talk about today. i want to talk about some of the ways that the scottish government works with the tuc, to make scotland a fairerand a with the tuc, to make scotland a fairer and a more prosperous country to live in. but first i want to talk as you would expect me to do about the important decisions that scotla nd the important decisions that scotland faces in the weeks ahead. because we are, of course, at the start of a general election campaign. a campaign called by the prime minister last week for one purpose and one purpose only — to strengthen the grip of the tory party, and crush decent and opposition. and to do so, before possible criminal prosecutions for alleged expenses fraud at the last general election catches up with her. and whatever else, whatever else

happens in this election, we should not allow the tory party to escape the accountability for any misdemeanours that may have led to them buying the last general election. applause but the question that confronts us today and because of the general election, it is an urgent question is what kind of country do we want to be? now, overthe is what kind of country do we want to be? now, over the next few weeks, different parties will obviously set out their competing visions for the future of the country. and one of those visions, the tory vision should be ringing alarm bells loudly and clearly across scotland right now. because make no mistake, i think it is obvious to see the hardliners have taken over the tory party and now those tory hardliners wa nt to ta ke party and now those tory hardliners want to take over the country as well. it is no surprise that ukip

right now is losing support to the tories because the tories are now threatening to take the uk in a direction that a few years ago ukip could only have dreamed about, but it should alarm all of us and whatever our politics, we should all stand up against that right ward drift of the country that the tories are determined to effect and in scotland, knows, we know from long experience that there has always been a cost to voting tory but the price at this election has never been higher and it will be those that are least able to pay that price who will bear the biggest burden. the tories will i will pose a double hit on scottish families and communities. they will make scotla nd and communities. they will make scotland a poorer country and a more unfair, unequal society. and you don't have to just take my word for that. the resolution fundation

think—tank issued its annual audit of living standards recently and it said this, "a particularly tight squeeze on poorer households will actually see their incomes fall and is set to drive the biggest rise in inequality over a parliament since margaret thatcher's time in downing street. " and they go on to say that the unequal i will pact of the squeeze is a result of government policy on tax and benefits. now, much of the political debate in the uk right now is of course, dominated by brexit and our relationship with europe is of huge importance to the kind of country we will be. but the hard—line tory kind of country we will be. but the ha rd—line tory plans kind of country we will be. but the hard—line tory plans for prost brexit britain and are about far more than our relationship with europe because they see many of them, brexit as a means to an end. and the end for too many tories, too many in the current uk government is a low tax, low wage, low regulation uk. we already know that brexit will hit wablings and jobs. leaving the

single market will cause damage to our exports and jeopardise the inward investment that creates jobs and it could limit our ability to attract and retain those eu citizens who contribute so much to our society and to our workforce. the trerb eitself has said brexit will leave the whole of the uk permanently poorer, but there is more at stake. eu legislation currently guarantees important rights. paid leave, working hours, maternity pay. it sets baseline standards when it comes to health and safety and treatment of agency workers. it provides important protections against discrimination. but now, the tories are threatening to walk away entirely and in their words, "change our economic model." we should be in no doubt about what that means. a changed economic model is presumably what the former chancellor lord lawson had in anyoned when he said, "brexit gives

us the opportunity to finish the job that margaret thatcher started." that would be a catastrophe for scotland's communities. we see even with a small majority the tories have introduced the bedroom tax and the shameful rape clause. it is shame on the tories that they defend the rape clause. with a tory government with bigger majority, our security stel that so many depend upon will never have been in greater danger and we see just over the last weekend even the triple—lock pension protection is under threat. the truth is the tories are starting to think that they can do whatever they wa nt to scotla nd think that they can do whatever they want to scotland and get away with it. and brexit is a good example of that, despite saying she would seek auk that, despite saying she would seek a uk approach to triggering article 50, the prime minister rejected the

scottish government's compromise plan. she announced unilaterally that the uk would leave the single market, no matter the cost that. as a result, scotland now faces the prospect of being taken out of the eu against our will. i know that we share the same concerns as the s tuc and we want to see many of the same solutions. how many of us could look workers in the eye and say we #2rust theresa may's tories with the minimum wage, employment rights, or equalities law? i know i couldn't. farfrom seeing, equalities law? i know i couldn't. far from seeing, an equalities law? i know i couldn't. farfrom seeing, an overdue crackdown on zero—hours contracts that we should see from a uk government, we would be more likely to see erosion of workers' rights in a way that is both dangerous and unacceptable. when it comes to migration. yes, of course, there are challenges that must be addressed, but we can't stand by and watch eu citizens living here in scotland

deprived of their rights and nor can we allow the tories to shut the door of this country to a valued workforce in a way that would risk shutting the doors of many of our businesses or driving away essential workers from our public services. that would be an act of economic self—harm. it would damage all of us, but more than that, it is wrong and politicians need to have the courage to stand up and say so. i can tell you that the snp and the scottish government supports the six key demands in the t tuc is making today and with a strong voice at westminster and a strong scottish parliament, we will keep fighting to bring those powers to scotland at the earliest opportunity. the fact is, it has never been more important for people across scotland to think clearly a nd for people across scotland to think clearly and ask ourselves this question — how can we best protect scotla nd question — how can we best protect scotland from the hard—line tories? and that's why the next few weeks and the next two years as the brexit

process completes, will be so important for our future. indeed, faced with the prospect of a prime minister who in her own words wants to strengthen her own hand to deliver the kind of brexit that she wa nts, deliver the kind of brexit that she wants, it is more important than ever that we have strong voices in westminster and then once the terms of brexit are clear, the people of scotland, not the tory party, should have a choice about our own future. of course, in addition to protecting our relationship with europe, the scottish government is also working with the trade union movement to meet the other challenges that our country faces. we're still, of course, recovering from the global downturn in the oil and gas sector and we saw some of the implications of that in the video earlier on the uk cuts to public spending have harmed growth our public services and our social security system and partly as a result of that, too many people find themselves in jobs that offer too little stability or security. and there are other longer

term issues facing our economy. the need to raise productivity to adapt to the requirements of an ablinging population to ensure that everyone can earn a decent living, as more jobs become automated and to manage the move to a low or no carbon economy of the scottish government has taken steps to meet the challenges and seize new opportunities. we've supported the establishment of innovation centres, bringing together universities and businesses to ensure that we remain at the fore front in areas of huge and growing economic importance like biotechnology, oil and gas and data science. we've made unprecedented investment in infrastructure, transport projects at the queen's ferry crossing, the aberdeen bypass and the edinburgh glasgow rail improvements and through or broadband programme. we have taken every opportunity to support a

vibrant green economy, that support has helped us become a world leader in renewable energy. but we know that one of the most important things any of us can do to build a stronger economy is to tackle inequality. the evidence is clear that greater inequality has a negative impact on economic growth and that's why creating a more equal society is always will be at the height of our economic policy. we know from experience and from evidence and from research that strong trade unions play a hugely important role in helping to achieve that.