may it's all been about the reason may and her strong and stable leadership. my local team. it's rather presidential. it's not just the west midlands were the tories have done well it is also tees valley, places that are solidly labour and have been for years. although there is a blue tide, the labour party can point to successes in manchester and liverpool, they are making as big a deal as they possibly plausibly camp of their successes there. there is now addressing this up. the tories have done extremely well in areas that labour has traditionally been able to count on. the times front page says may cause the landslide, heavy losses for labour and ukip. —— theresa may on course for landslide. we mustn't extrapolate but one is round the corner and we do it anyway. let's do it. what can you safely conclude? one can safely

conclude that she's going to win in june. that is fairly obvious. sticking your neck out here. personally, i'm sticking my neck out, i don't think it will be the 140 or 160 margin some people are saying. i think it's more likely to be around 80 or 70. actually, if you extrapolate out the local election results, they did slightly less well in the local election results than some of the polls would suggest. is that it some of the polls would suggest. is thatitis some of the polls would suggest. is that it is clearly going to be a pretty sizea ble that it is clearly going to be a pretty sizeable conservative majority. we must mention the lib dems, they are happy with their share of the vote this time. but not with the number of seats that they've got. so that's the perennial problem for the lib dems. it has played at in local actions as in national action. they have not had a good time, and again they are trying to put a brave face on it and say, we have five weeks, we can do this, make a difference, we the credible opposition in england and wales. but there is little evidence for it.

first past the post doesn't suit them. daily express, the reason, the new maggie. there will always be some who won the next that, but whether that is helpful for the wider population, people unsure about it. they are both women. that's an irresistible comparison for parts of the right—wing press. you know, i'm pretty sure that the girl. not handbags this time but shoes. it's not handbags but shoes. she has a firmness of character that i think is making it a reasonable comparison. but i don't know, it doesn't really work for me. very different backgrounds. she a p pa re ntly different backgrounds. she apparently has the comparison. you can see why, but she stuck with it. this is very meant to be flattering but i take your point. let's look at the front of the scottish daily

mail. if the different front page from the other one. roost‘s tories defy the snp. conservative the fixer to roost‘s tories does and snp. she came to the forefront in the debate. in scotland, the tories have had such an impossible time of it until it started to be turning round. is it down to her? they are the second largest party in scotland now. how did that happen? imagine saying that four years ago. the tide of the snp appears to be stagnating, certainly they are down seven. it's about labour's much as the tories. that is about the unionist vote going to the tories. it is about her. she is the plausible face of the junior and labour aunt. she is plain speaking isn't she. you know where you are

with ruth davidson. the assertion of the scottish daily mail that the snp have plummeted is, ithink, something they would argue with. they have not managed to take glasgow as they hope to. that is quite a thing. the tories have taken glasgow? if you had said this to me two we e ks glasgow? if you had said this to me two weeks ago i'd have told you to have a nice lie down. clearly, minds have a nice lie down. clearly, minds have shifted in scotland and clearly, there is a large number of vote rs clearly, there is a large number of voters who just clearly, there is a large number of voters whojust don't clearly, there is a large number of voters who just don't want another independence referendum. that seems to be the key message that ruth davidson was putting forward. and that the tories put forward in scotland and it's resonating. we don't want any more votes about anything ever. we've got one coming haven't we on the eighth? before that on sunday, the french go to the polls to choose between marine le pen and emmanuel macron. and his party which he only set up a year ago. it's starting to look clear,

grow clearer ago. it's starting to look clear, gi’ow clearer 110w. ago. it's starting to look clear, grow clearer now. the first round looked a bit hairy. but opinion polls can be wrong, but macron has a 60s to —— polls can be wrong, but macron has a 605 to -- 62% polls can be wrong, but macron has a 60s to —— 62% in the opinion polls, marine le pen has 30%. even if it is wrong, it will be an unprecedented scale for this to be wrong. there is wrong and there's wrong. and should bea wrong and there's wrong. and should be a shoe in for macon. the markets are saying this is our guide, we don't think we'll have marine le pen come in and threatened to dismantle video row. but he hasn't got any mps? video row. but he hasn't got any mps? no. that will be interesting. hisjob mps? no. that will be interesting. his job and 50% mps? no. that will be interesting. hisjob and 50% of his new mps? no. that will be interesting. his job and 50% of his new party who has never served as mp5 before and the other 50% will be people coming

in from the other parties to join him. two questions, what are they made up with and what is the calibre? and will the right and left of their people or will they go to oi’ of their people or will they go to or marsh —— macron's party. the months ahead will be interesting. he so months ahead will be interesting. he so polished on the tv? you heard speak. last year i went to a talk with 40 people. but i've never seen a politician in this country like it. the charisma is extraordinary. and of course, a sigh of relief across the eu if it is him. enormous. marine le pen would be disastrous for the remaining eu project and for the kilo. —— dogear i’ow. they've been explicit about backing macron. even barack 0bama, who is

explicitly that out of video backing emmanuel macron. it's a mutual friend and external —— it's unusual for external parsed additions to get involved. when barack obama did that with the referendum, it didn't go down well. not terribly well. a different story. to almost finished. motorway speed limit faces cuts to 60 mph. this is a suggestion for how to tackle air pollution, which has suddenly become headline news. there are parts of the country that are reaching european guidelines on air quality. presumably, we would be subject to these european air quality regulations two years from i'iow. quality regulations two years from now. nonetheless, the government is keen to stick to these european regulation. they then told that got to? yes. it's a serious issue, it

kills 40,000 people each year who wouldn't necessarily otherwise die of respiratory diseases and so on. there are a package of measures would have been suggested including cutting speeding limits on motorways, but i can't see going down well. there was a potential programme to scrap certain kinds of diesel cars. that it's unclear how a lot of this will be funded and it seems like a lot of the nuts and bolts of rubble to be done is pushed back. the scrappage game could cost up back. the scrappage game could cost up to £80 billion? it's huge. the government didn't want to publish it, they wanted to publish it back until after the election. the graco pushit until after the election. the graco push it back. it you wonder if it had been pushed back, it could have been more radical. it is tinkering around the edges. they are not specific amount how it works. the

councils to do something, but perhaps they shouldn't. it is one issue when the proposals, they may be more radical than they appear now. you mentioned councils as well, it seems then that if these clear as jones are brought in, it will be up toa jones are brought in, it will be up to a local council to do it? yes, they must produce plans. this is the times reporting, two were produced —— reduce air pollution in the shortest time possible. it's ambitious and there semanticjohn mcenroe objection from “ some —— some objection from environmentalist to this. i think this won't please anyone. the hard—core environmentalists say it doesn't go far enough. the business could say is draconian, the councils say it's not fair to be all on us. people will like getting rid of speed bumps. switch enough, they

keep spare saying as well. we'll back to the time for a bit of fluff, really, quite literally. the sheer variety is the headline 30 alpacas in cirencester in gloucestershire has been given unusual hairstyles by the owner. helen kendall smith, all to celebrate ten years of breeding them at herfarm. to celebrate ten years of breeding them at her farm. there's got either judges with six or 19705 rock star mullet5. judges with six or 19705 rock star mullets. it looks like crufts? they're supposed to look like boodles or dinosaurs. —— poodles or dinosaurs. they don't click map massively like either poodles or dinosaurs how does one even see? has like to see all 30 of them together. wouldn't that be a site out in the gloucestershire field. i'm impressed

by your background knowledge, katie. good alpaca knowledge. this is why we good alpaca knowledge. this is why we have these gue5t5 good alpaca knowledge. this is why we have these guests in, they have 5uch hinterland. that's the papers to much, don't forget you can see the front pages of the papers online on the bbc news website. it's all there for you — seven days a week at bbc.co.uk/papers and if you miss the programme any evening you can watch it later on bbc iplayer. thank you katie and oliver. goodbye. coming up next, the weather. good evening. central and western pa rt5 good evening. central and western parts of scotland have had lovely weather all week. the end of the week is on a lovely night. there's plenty of blue sky and sunshine. it's quite warm, as well. 20 celsius in the north—west highlands. however, further south and east underneath the undulating crowd, it's 11 degrees. even when we saw the cloud, there was sunshine coming

through. fairly consistent cloud in the farther south eastern corner. there's more cloud in the north sea, spreading inland across england and wales overnight. it will thicken up in the south—west. the odd spot of rain through the midlands and parts of wales. overnight, lows about seven oi’ of wales. overnight, lows about seven or 8 degrees for most places. dipping down to the top and a single figures in the far north of scotland. a touch of frost there. a decent start of the day in scotland, further south and west we have this weather front with a pink cloud and rain but it is confined to the far south—west. elsewhere, a shower or two to the midlands, wealth, early on. for the bulk of the day, we try and most prizes will be dry. something drop by the royal develop and it looks like a decent day across scotland. low cloud across scotland's north, but 17 degrees and some sunshine. 14 or 15 degrees in northern ireland, cool on those

northern ireland, cool on those north east, the seat coasts. there's the brighter weather in the south—eastern corner and here in the south—western corner. it shouldn't last too long but it will be a pretty dull and damp afternoon. the rain moves awake towards the south watch the evening. most places will have a dry heaving with a fair bit of cloud. a lot of dry weather. as we of cloud. a lot of dry weather. as we get onto sunday, lighter winds with a noticeable breeze, some low cloud, and drizzle. the further west, the winds are lighter and this quy west, the winds are lighter and this guy should be a bit clearer, breaking the cloud up a bit. and we will cease and sunshine. it will be cool on the north sea coast, heading inland and will easily have 16 or 15 degrees possibly 18 or 19. driver the weekends of the most part, and the weekends of the most part, and the driving continues next weekend. throws the dry theme this is bbc news. the headlines at 11:00pm: big wins

for the conservatives. they have taken control of 11 councils and gained more than 500 seats. labour has a tough time after it loses more than 380 seats and seven authorities, including glasgow city council, which they have held since 1980. mixed fortunes for the liberal democrats. the party is down by 42 council seats. disappointment for ukip, as they lose all of their seats bar one. and the snp is the biggest party in the scottish council elections, with tories replacing labour as the second—biggest. in other news: the government finally publishes its draft plan to tackle air pollution, but it has been criticised for being too unclear.