this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley. the headlines at three... labour is promising to confine tax rises to the top 5% of earners. it says it's now the party of low taxation for middle and low earners. no income tax rises for all those earning under £80,000 a year. and there'll be no hikes in vat. and no changes in your national insurance either. the conservatives pledge more money to fund mental health staffing in the nhs and a change in the law so fewer people are detained against their will. it is new money going into the nhs that is going into mental health. it's not just money, it is having the people who deliver these jobs, which is why we need the 10,000 extra professionals. the liberal democrats commit to keeping the "triple lock" on pensions but those on higher incomes would lose the winter fuel payment. the french are choosing between emmanuel macron and marine le pen as voting takes place in the presidential election. 82 nigerian schoolgirls are due

to meet the country's president after being freed by the islamist militant group, boko haram. also in the next hour... tom daley dives into married life. the british 0lympiam marries american film director dustin lance black in dartmoor national park in devon. and... click goes behind closed doors with the doctor as something goes bump in the night. that's in half an hour here on bbc news. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. labour is promising not to raise income tax for anyone earning less than £80,000 a year as part of an election pledge

to low and middle earners. the shadow chancellor, john mcdonnell, said those earning over that amount would be asked to pay "a bit more" to help pay for public services. the conservatives say they have no plan to raise taxes but have so far refused to rule it out completely. here's our political correspondent, ellie price. a policy pledge to capture the imagination of low and middle—income voters — and the newspaper headlines. labour say 95% of taxpayers will benefit from what the shadow chancellor described as a "personal tax guarantee". anyone earning below £80,000, we will guarantee you will not have an increase in income tax, vat or national insurance contributions. and for those above 80,000, we will ask them to pay a modest bit more. why? to fund our public services. the policy may sound relatively familiar... there will be no increase in vat, no increase in national insurance, no increase in income tax... the conservatives made that pledge at the last election. so far, theresa may has ruled out

a rise in vat but not committed to retaining that previous manifesto pledge of not raising income tax and national insurance contributions. today, the tories said there was a black hole in labour's tax proposals. they're going back to type, they want to tax aspiration, they are always going to raise taxes. they will start at £80,000, you will brink and they will bring it down again. it's the same old labour, raising taxes and hurting aspiration. and potentially the economy. the lib dem leader, tim farron, was on a 5k fun run today. his party said labour's tax pledges were not worth the paper they were written on. official figures show that the top 5% of earners, those in labour's target group for tax rises, already account for more than 47% of all income tax paid in the uk. you can't get that much more by putting a few pence on income tax for the highest earners. if you really want to raise significant amounts of money to support public services, i am afraid it can'tjust be

other people who pay. it has to be all of us. announcing the pledge today, john mcdonnell did not rule out introducing a new higher rate of tax for the top earners. he insisted the decision would be made when the party's manifesto is launched within the next few weeks. the conservatives say reforming mental health legislation in england and wales will be a priority if they win the election. theresa may said a new law would tackle discrimination and the unnecessary detention of vulnerable people. there would also be a boost to the number of mental health professionals by 2020. richard lister reports. when she entered downing street for the first time as prime minister last year, theresa may described the lack of sufficient mental health care as a burning injustice. now, in what the conservative campaign describes as its first major domestic policy announcement, the tories have pledged to employ an additional 10,000 mental health staff in the nhs, to give more legal protection to all people suffering

from mental health issues, and to make mental health first aid available in every school. if you have a child that has severe mental health problems, and you find that child, instead of getting treated by the nhs, actually ends up in a police cell, that is a terrible thing for the child, it'll probably make their condition worse. but it's also very bad for the police as well. we want to stop that. the tories say they will rip up the mental health act amid concerns it is allowing the widespread detention of people against their will. the liberal democrats say the conservatives delayed such reforms while in the coalition, and failed to fully fund children's mental health care. when i come across families who are waiting desperately for their children to receive the care they need, they feel badly let down by this government. so, for me, it's empty rhetoric at the moment. labour says there are 6,000 fewer mental health nurses than in 2010, and less investment.

health care charities welcome the attention but worry about the future. daily at sane, we hear of people struggling to get help, who are being turned away and neglected. we've lost over 25,000 beds since 2000. the main focus may be on brexit, but health care is also a key battleground in this campaign. richard lister, bbc news. the liberal democrats say their manifesto will include a commitment to keep the "triple lock" on pensions. this would guarantee they rise by as much as wages, inflation or 2.5% — whichever is highest. but pensioners with annual incomes above £45,000 would lose the winter fuel payment. labour has also pledged to retain the triple lock. theresa may has declined to say whether the conservatives would do so. earlier, i spoke to our political correspondent, ellie price, and i asked her about a radio interview home secretary amber rudd had given the bbc in which she refused to confirm if the government wold commit to its previous target for reducing immigration. the home secretary was asked,

surprisingly, about immigration and what she might do about it. it was interesting because so much has been made in the eu referendum campaign and before, the conservative party commitment to cut immigration to the tens of thousands. when david cameron was leader and theresa may was home secretary. exactly. it is an issue close to theresa may's heart. amber rudd said today, essentially, refusing to allow us to imagine that the commitment to the tens of thousands would be the commitment in the tory manifesto. she said, we're having a new ma nifesto she said, we're having a new manifesto that will not be identical to the last one. some quite political language being used here. but, certainly, it is a clear dodging of what has up to now been a strong commitment from the conservative party. my personal view, she said, is that we need to

bring immigration down. but because we are leaving the eu, we need to ta ke we are leaving the eu, we need to take a look at it again. so this suggestion that from the time the previous manifesto has changed, after leaving the eu, there is an opportunity to say, this number, which experts said were unrealistic, you could never meet it, and we are way off it, maybe it is the chance to say, actually, the eu changes things. that would be the case they would make. think so, but probably theresa may will be careful not to use this as an opportunity to be seen to not be strong on immigration. we have had a press release from ukip today saying that the tories are completely at sea with regards to immigration. with immigration being such a big issue

in that eu referendum campaign, it isa in that eu referendum campaign, it is a bit ofa in that eu referendum campaign, it is a bit of a surprise we have not heard more about it in the election so heard more about it in the election so far. we know that, for example, theresa may does not want to remove stu d e nts theresa may does not want to remove students from the immigration number. that is a huge number that could really get the numbers down. some colleagues think she should ta ke some colleagues think she should take it out. absolutely, but she does not want to be seen to be bodging the figures. the manifesto will come out next week, so there's plenty of opportunity for a singer tories to say, wait until the ma nifesto. tories to say, wait until the manifesto. and four opponents to keep hammering away at it, presumably. in practical terms, who big an issue is this going to be in terms of the brexit negotiations? the government, as far as i recall, has said freedom of movement will end as we currently know it. but equally, this talk of a transitional period and pressure from business saying, hang on a minute, we played a lot of europeans at the moment and we don't want our supply of labour

to shut off like that. absolutely right. of course, there was that issue of whether theresa may should guarantee the rights of eu nationals already in the country before the negotiations even start. that it would set a conciliatory tone for the negotiations. she declined to do that, much against a number of senior tories and opposition parties that said she should. but itjust goes to show that everything is up for grabs goes to show that everything is up forgrabs in the goes to show that everything is up for grabs in the negotiations. immigration, asi for grabs in the negotiations. immigration, as i say, is a key part. it is clearly such a strong issue here in the country and theresa may does not want to be seen to be going soft on it. 0ur political correspondent, ellie price, on immigration in the british election campaign. french voters are going to the polls today to choose their next president. the second and final round of the election pits the centrist candidate, emmanuel macron, against the far—right leader, marine le pen. more than 50,000 police officers have been deployed amid tight security. as the election takes place.

karin gianonne is in paris for us. good afternoon. hello. there is a real sense of anticipation in paris now. the rain is cleared, the son has been trying to come out. just a few hours to go until voting closes. turnout is being very closely watched. we will get the first official religions of the results and after voting ends this evening. —— soon after. i have been getting the perspective of voting experts on how these statistics are put together, but first this report from my colleague. emmanuel macron was the first of the candidates to vote this morning at the voting station near his home. with him, his wife. a short time later, marine le pen was also in front of the cameras in the northern working—class town that is one of the strongholds of further national party. —— of herfront

the strongholds of further national party. —— of her front national party. —— of her front national party. turnout will be one of the things to watch it for today. some voters could be deterred because other parties are not in the race. 0thers because other parties are not in the race. others in the radical left view both these candidates as as bad as each other. in general, participation in elections in france tends to be high. it is very important, particularly this year, because it is a vote for democracy. we know what happened in the us, brexit is on its way, so it is very important to vote. my heart is beating very fast now. yes, we have to put for democracy. it is a big decision. as ever, security is tight. bichon salesian attackjust before the first round is still very much on people laws—mac minds. —— shone.

people are gathering on the street in great excitement to find out who will be france's next president and they really do not have to wait long. 8pm is when polls close in the major cities. then we will get the official projection of results. they are based on real, partially coated figures from polling stations all over france. carefully selected and processed. i have spoken to one of the people closely involved in this, getting that very confident figure out at 8pm in the evening. he is a representative of a poster company. —— polling company. they come from a sample of polling stations that we build. we have interviewers in all those polling stations and those interviewers attend the ballot counts and send us information for the first 200 ballots... 400 first ballots. they send us information on a continuous basis. so we take this information, our computers, pundits and experts look into it and at 8pm,

we are pretty — more than that — confident that we will be able to give the final results, name of the winner and the figures. he is absolutely confident that the name that they produce just after 8pm local time, 7pm name that they produce just after 8pm localtime, 7pm in name that they produce just after 8pm local time, 7pm in the uk will be the winner of france's presidential election. the balls going into this showed emmanuel macron is the clear favourite on 63% of the vote, with marine le pen, his rival, on 37%. we will have special coverage on bbc news. that is with my colleague, christian fraser. we should have the result at 7pm uk time. thank you very much. we'll talk to you later, i hope. the headlines on bbc news... shadow chancellorjohn mcdonnell is

saying that labour will not raise income tax for anyone and in less than £80,000 per year as the party declares itself the party for middle and low levels. —— earners. the prime minister has announced plans to replace mental health legislation in england and wales with a new law tackling discrimination and the unnecessary detention of vulnerable people. the liberal democrats say their manifesto will include a commitment to keep the "triple lock" on pensions, but those with incomes above £45,000 would lose the winter fuel payment. in sport, blackburn rovers have been relegated from the championship. they beat brentford on the final day of the season but wins for nottingham forest and birmingham city saw them stay up at the expense of the rovers. newcastle won the tie ) slipknot. it is most other at anfield, where james milner of liverpool has had a penalty saved by fraser forster. a point would be good enough for liverpool to move to third. arsenalface good enough for liverpool to move to third. arsenal face manchester united in the next hour. england has

set a target of 329 to win the second one—day international at lord's. eoin morgan with 76. jonny ba i rstow lord's. eoin morgan with 76. jonny bairstow made 72. ireland are 2—0 in reply. i will have a full update in the next hour. more sport later. 82 nigerian schoolgirls have arrived in the capital, abuja, where they're due to meet the country's president after being freed by the islamist group, boko haram. these are the latest pictures. the girls — who boarded an aircraft on their way back — were among 276 taken captive in the north—eastern town of chibok in 2014. they are the second group of chibok girls to be freed. they were released in a prisoner exchange deal. we can go live to abuja now, and chris ewokor is following the latest developments for us. chris, thank you for being with us again. what do we know about the meeting with the president? in less

than 15 minutes from now, the meeting should kick—off. already, the girls are in abuja and have been received at the presidential villa. i have seen photos, clips of the girls. these were girls abducted when they were in their teens, probably between 17—19. they look more mature now. i saw one with a bandage on her arm. i so one possibly carrying a baby. all 82 of them meeting the president's afternoon. there have been some really horrifying stories from those who have escaped previously from the hands of boko haram, who were amongst the girls kidnapped. there has been talk of girls forced to marry boko haram fighters, sold as slaves or sexual abuse. what sort of

conditions to be believe the girls are in? do we know anything about the circumstances in which the negotiation took lace, where they have been held for the last three yea rs, have been held for the last three years, and how many islamist fighters have been exchanged for them? well, at the moment, it is not clear in any way. in fact, the government is not giving details about the negotiations. those who we re about the negotiations. those who were involved, we don't know. there are a number of parties involved in negotiations but it is not clear. the government is not saying exactly what was given. a spokesman said that some boko haram suspects were exchanged as a kind of swa p suspects were exchanged as a kind of swap for the girls to be released. again, if money was paid as ransom,

it is also not stated. and at this moment, it is too early to start speculating on what transpired in negotiations. again, it is not clear because the girls have not spoken, except for government officials, to the public and media, about their condition. their experiences and will they have been kept for the past three years. that is the question people have been asking year, for instance. —— asking here. that nearly 300 schoolgirls have been kept in a particular location for three years and it has been difficult to identify where they have been kept. chris, i wonder, the kidnapping took lace when goodluck jonathan was president. the current president came in after promising to crack down hard on boko haram and bring this militancy to an end. the majority of girls are still missing.

has there been much criticism of the government and military for how they have handled this? well, in a way, he did promise he was going to ensure the release of those girls and the first batch were released in 0ctober and the first batch were released in october last year. about seven months from now. again, he has not been much criticised, especially when the first batch of 21 girls we re when the first batch of 21 girls were released. he did promise again that more negotiations were ongoing to ensure the girls were released. he promised, he said that he was not going to consider that he has fully defeated boko haram, except all the girls who were abducted in chibok we re girls who were abducted in chibok were released and brought to safety. so far, the government have claimed they have brought down the activities of the militant group. they have taken the majority of

the... at this moment, as well, the attacks that boko haram used to carry out have diminished. it has gone down and we have only scenes but adequate attacks taking place, which one cannot say is very... to this extent, the government has kept its promise. thank you very much for being with us thank you very much for being with us this afternoon. the sister of seamus ruddy — who "disappeared" during the troubles in northern ireland — has said news that a search team has found human remains — brings a sense of relief. mr ruddy was working as a teacher in paris in 1985 when he was abducted, killed and buried by the republican paramilitary group, the inla. since monday, investigators have been searching a remote wooded area near rouen.

bbc northern ireland reporter, mervynjess has been speaking to anne morgan, the sister of seamus ruddy — outside notre dame cathedral in paris. i was thinking first day of my family at home. and also thinking of all those who have been here, looking after this site. i am thinking of all the people who have spent a lot of time helping us find seamus. with regards to the reaction yesterday when you got the news, because i know you're on your way to the board when the news came through, what did you feel about that? it really was a sense of relief that the search was going to be successful. i was leaving on the train andi be successful. i was leaving on the train and i was despondent. i thought, i will never come back to this place again. within an hour, i was back in the centre again and things had completely changed. my life had changed. mixed emotions? absolutely mixed. it is a bittersweet moment. you are very happy but also very sad. and very

sad that for all these years, 32 of them, time is gone past and we could not find them, time is gone past and we could notfind him. them, time is gone past and we could not find him. but now it looks like we have found him. talking about the search for the remains of her missing brother, seamus, who vanished in france more than 30 years ago. an 85—year—old nepalese man who was attempting to become the oldest person to climb everest has died at everest base camp. the death of min bahadur sherchan was confirmed by nepal's tourism department. the former gurkha was trying to reclaim his record from a japanese climber who reached the peak aged 80 in 2013. 75 years ago, at the height of the second world war, the isle of wight came under a ferocious aerial attack from the luftwaffe. 70 people lost their lives in the air raid. but the destruction would have been much worse had it not been for the actions of the crew of a polish warship. this weekend, their heroism is being remembered. kasha madeira reports.

archive: polish destroyers, co—operating with the british navy, are visited by the polish president... the blyskawica, one of two grom destroyers built in cowes, was the pride of poland. during a refit back on the island, the crew could not have foreseen the role they would play in defending cowes against that devastating air raid. ..you are not only serving the cuase of poland but the cause of mankind. josef wlodarczak is the last surviving crew member. he recalls how all on board had a critical role to play. translation: when it comes to the isle of wight, our guns were blazing. i was down in the engine rooms ensuring the motors were running so the gunners could keep firing. whilejosef was in the engine room, tom guy was next to the ship, on dry land. it was dangerous. the guns were so red hot, and i could prove it, i could actually see them, they was red hot, they was.

they put water on them all the time. that decision to fire was controversial. while in dry dock, the blyskawica should not have had any live ammunition on board, yet her captain, wojciech francki, was convinced an attack was imminent, after seeing german reconnaissance flights. june weeks' father saw the same planes. he was looking out of his bedroom window, and these german reconnaissance planes were so low, he could actually see the swastikas on them — they were really, really low. he said to my mother, we are going to get it soon. the isle of wight was used to coming under attack. the luftwaffe used the light reflected off the medina as a guide to fly further north to attack cities on the mainland, but that night, the attack was unprecedented because they were aiming directly at cowes itself. captain francki was denied permission from the admiralty to arm the blyskawica and in doing

so he risked court—martial. playing at his commemorations, his granddaughter said he took the initiative. when the bombing started, he sent smoke screens out. which actually they did afterwards praise him for his initiative in that. it was quite an unheard of thing to do, to disguise the ship, to kind of create a fog. his actions and that of the blyskawica's crew saved countless lives. today, a modern polish navy destroyer is anchored off the coast of the isle of wight, not to defend but to honour the blyskawica's memory. more billionaires are based in the uk than ever before, according to the annual sunday times rich list published today. the hinduja brothers, who made their money from banking and manufacturing, top the table and are said to be worth more than £16 billion. joe lynam reports.

sri and and gopi hinduja have been associated with the labour party since the mid—1990s, and acquired british passports in 1997. their investments in oil, it, energy and the media have made them worth £16.2 billion, according to the sunday times rich list, up by a quarter in a single year. not far behind on £16 billion is the ukrainian music mogul len blavatnik. he owns warner music as well as stakes in a number of other companies. at number nine, the duke of westminster, worth £9.5 billion, is the highest—ranking british born person on the list. he owns property in large parts of central london. there are a record 134 billionaires in this year's top 1000 on the list, with a cumulative wealth of £658 billion. in order to get on the list, you need to be worth at least £110 million. although there are no women in the top 20 who became billionaires in their own right,

the sunday times says this year's list is more diverse than ever. it says that many have benefited over the past yearfrom booming stock markets in europe and north america. joe lynam, bbc news. british olympic diver tom daley has married his partner, american film director, dustin lance black. the couple got married in a service at a luxury hotel on dartmoor national park in devon. they announced their engagement in 2015. tom daley revealed in a youtube video in 2013 he had a boyfriend, saying his "whole world changed" when he fell in love with a man. good luck to go for them. let's take a look at the weather prospects. west has been best for sunshine today. the north—easterly wind has brought a lot of cloud further east. that was the scene earlier from one of our weather watchers north—east scotland. the cloud has been feeding its way and across northern, eastern scotla nd its way and across northern, eastern scotland and eastern parts of

england. well the cloud has made things feel rather cool by day, into jamaica, the extra cloud will hold the temperatures up. it could also produce the odd spot of drizzle across eastern half of the country. —— into tonight. we'll be keep clear spells, temperatures could keep low enough for a touch of frost. tomorrow, still cloud and eastern areas and the best of the sunshine in the west. particularly northern ireland, westerns colin, north—west england, wales and the south—west. under the code in these courts, it is chilly. for the west, not as warmer today but still quite decent under sunny ‘s guys. so what sort of day on tuesday. —— similar sort of day on tuesday. —— similar sort of day on tuesday. it should be sunnier for all of us on wednesday. hello. this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley. the headlines at 3.30pm: labour promise not to raise income tax for those earning less than £80,000 a year, as part of an election "personal tax guarantee." theresa may has announced plans to replace the mental health act in england and wales with a new law tackling discrimination

and what she calls the unnecessary detention of vulnerable people. the liberal democrats say their manifesto will include a commitment to keep the "triple lock" on pensions, which guarantees they rise by as much as wages, inflation or 2.5% — whichever is the highest. voters in france go to the polls today in the final round of its presidential election. they are choosing between the centrist emmanuel macron