the headlines at four o'clock... labour is promising to confine tax rises to the top 5% of earners. the shadow chancellor says it's now the party of low taxation for middle and low earners. no income tax rises for all those earning less than £80,000 a year. and i will 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, it is notjust the money, it is having the people, which is why we're having extra 10,000. the liberal democrats say they'll keep the "triple lock" on pensions, but those on higher incomes would lose the winter fuel payment. just three hours remain for the people of france to choose between emmanuel macron

and marine le pen in the presidential election. we're live in paris looking ahead to the result, which isn't just significant for the future of france, but also for the european union, as the brexit process unfolds. 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 0lympian marries american film director dustin lance black in dartmoor national park in devon. and we follow up the 2005 documentary about children living in mumbai. that's india's millennials, 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. 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'll blink and they'll 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'm 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, you find that 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, or 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. the liberal democrats say their manifesto will include a commitment to keep the triple lock on pensions. this guarantees that pensions rise by as much as wages, inflation or 2.5% — whichever is highest. but pensioners with annual incomes above 45 thousand pounds 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. with me is our political correspondent leila nathoo. let's talk about an interview that amber rudd, the home secretary, gave on radio 5 live earlier today, about immigration targets? yes. amber rudd a p pa re ntly immigration targets? yes. amber rudd apparently refusing to guarantee that a previous tory commitment made by david cameron of bringing net migration down below 100,000, so in the tens of thousands, a commitment that the cameron government had made, there is no guarantee as yet that this is going to be in the tory ma nifesto, that this is going to be in the tory manifesto, when we get it, hopefully, in the coming weeks. amber rudd was saying, our manifesto is not going to be identical to the last one, but we do want to continue to bring immigration down. everyone is wondering, will it be a commitment, will it be a pledge, will it be an aim? will we get some

figures and another commitment on immigration? will we get that commitment from the tories? interesting in the interview that she appeared to be suggesting that circumstances had changed because of brexit and that therefore that might bea brexit and that therefore that might be a reason to look again at the commitment? well, the argument from some opponents of the sack has been that we rely on skilled workers, workers coming into britain from the eu. if we are going to be stopping those workers from coming freely into britain, as theresa may says she wants to do, putting immigration at the heart of her brexit strategy, then we might need certainjobs at the heart of her brexit strategy, then we might need certain jobs and professions to be supplemented by people from other countries. now, there is a lot of speculation about what will be the conservative commitment on this. remember, theresa may herself has a particular connection with this policy, she was home secretary under david cameron.

so, it is a sensitive issue for her. she has said that she wants net migration to be down to sustainable levels, which she you are in the tens of thousands, but no firm commitment yet. net migration of course only applied to non—eu migrants, because as a member of the eu, you cannot restrict anybody from the eu. so, i suppose there was a logic in saying that might change. but in truth, the government has got nowhere near meeting that pledge at any time since it made it in 2010? no. the latest figure is 273,000. way off tens of thousands! yes. some might say that it was full right, for david cameron to make that commitment. whether theresa may will wa nt to commitment. whether theresa may will want to have that target to be

measured against in the future, we'll have to wait and see. but it is interesting, because we haven't really heard much about immigration so really heard much about immigration so far in this election campaign. and that is slightlyjarring with how central it was to the referendum campaign. when the manifestos eventually get published, your body will be watching that very closely. —— everybody will be watching. 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. lets cross to my colleague huw edwards who is in paris. good afternoon from paris, where the polls will close within the next couple of hours and the people of france will discover who their next president will be. tens of millions of voters have been visiting the polling stations today, after a deeply divisive campaign, with emmanuel macron and marine le pen offering radically different visions

of the future of this country. tonight's result will also have a direct impact on the future direction of the european union in the years ahead, as the brexit process unfolds, so the relevance of the outcome to france's neighbours is very clear. this report on the day's voting is by our correspondent hugh schofield. emmanuel macron was the first of the candidates to vote this morning, at a voting station near his home in the seaside resort of le touquet. with him, his wife brigitte. a short time later, marie le pen was also in front of the cameras in the northern working—class town of henin—beaumont, one of the strongholds of her front national party. turnout will be one of the things to look out for today. neither of the main parties, the socialists and the republicans, has a runner in the race, and that may deter some voters. also, some on the radical left view mr macron and ms le pen as as bad as each other.

but in general, participation in presidential elections in france tends to be high. i think it's very important, particularly this year, because it's a vote for democracy. we know what happened in the us, the brexit is on its way, so it's very, very, very important to vote. sorry, my heart is actually beating really fast now. yeah, we have to vote, because, i mean, for democracy, we have to vote, it's... we should. and it's a big decision. as ever, security is tight. the champs—elysees attack just before the first round, still very much on people's minds. so, from 11 candidates in the first round, we are down to the final two candidates today — emmanuel macron and marine le pen. but voters going into france's polling booths have more than two options. for the first time, the number of those who spoil their ballot, or simply leave their ballot paper

blank will be counted in the results, as our correspondent karin gianonne explains. in this final round in the election, under french electoral law, voters also have three other options apart from the two main candidates. first of all, there is abstention, the french can choose not to vote, either out of principle or out of apathy, and this can affect turnout, which is traditionally very high in france. in the last round, it was 77.8%. in 2012, it was over 80%. but there are some who think that this time around could be the lowest turnout ever. well, voters do have two other choices. first, to simply spoiled the ballot paper, rather

than choose one candidate. but for the first time in presidential elections, there's another choice. the third option is the blank vote, and that means you wanted to take pa rt and that means you wanted to take part in the election but you reject all the candidates on offer. you can do that by putting in an empty envelope of bank ballot paper into the box. under new rules, these votes are counted, so while neither candidate can claim them in their total, we will see those figures show up at the end of all this. with me is professor raymond kuhn of queen mary university of london — an expert on french politics. what is at stake today? quite simple, the future of france and the future of europe. we have two

different, contrasting, polarised views of france, one outward—looking, pro—european, pro—globalisation. and the other, inward looking, not to say backward looking, much more protectionist france. you could not have had a more polarised second—round that what we have had in the last two weeks. in the last few minutes, i was given the latest official turnout figures by the interior ministry. these were at five o'clock, so, not long ago. 65.3% turnout at this stage, where in 2012, it was nearly 72%. so, a significant drop. would you read much into that? i would read something into it. there's clearly something into it. there's clearly some voters who have not been mobilised. 0ne some voters who have not been mobilised. one interesting aspect about macron‘s vote is that a lot of people were intending to vote for him, but only to block le pen. and clearly some people are not bothering to vote at all because they are not interested in either candidate. certainly, many who voted

for the hard left candidate in the first round have said that they are not going to vote in this won't. lots of the commentary has been around a divided france — are people overstating that? no, i don't think they are, actually. the fractures are there. whoever is elected president of france this evening changes from being a candidate to being president of the nation, and one of their roles will be to try to heal this divided nation, and that's going to be very, very difficult task. it is not clear either of them will have a parliamentary majority for a full mandate for so—so reforms. and the result of this election is well events to the wider european union, and possibly directly relevant to the given the brexit process? absolutely. if macron wins, there will be cheering and shouting in berlin and brussels and shouting in berlin and brussels and other capitals of europe. they

will welcome it. conversely, if marine le pen wins, following the brexit result last year, this could well spell the end of the european union, in the eyes of many. for us in the united kingdom, if macron wins, he has said there will not be any soft touch, the 27 member is of the eu are going to be very, very tough, along with france, they're going to play hardball with theresa may. all along, the polls have been suggesting that macron has had a lead, and we will wait to see, of course. but i'm just wondering, if that is the end result, what happens to all of those supporters of le pen, lots of whom are angry and frustrated about the economic situation in france, it's a big challenge for any new president? situation in france, it's a big challenge for any new president7m is. since 2002, when marine le pen's father got through to the second

round, really, both left and right have not done enough to address the legitimate concerns of people who are looking to the national front. it is easy to condemn their policies, but at the same time as an people who feel excluded from france. the new president will have to reach out to those people. and when we look at the style of campaigning that she has upheld, and that we think of the style that her father upheld more than ten years ago, do you think people make the distinction, has she in effect rebranded the national front, even though she is now telling us that she is not the leader of the party at the moment? i think she had significant success in detoxifying the brand, in terms of the style. and then on wednesday, she seemed to go off message, going on the attack and undermining are not of her own campaign. her second—round campaign was based on a france at peace with itself, and that was not the substance over itself, and that was not the su bsta nce over style itself, and that was not the substance over style of her

elevation debate on wednesday. very good to talk to you. and you can see live coverage of the french election result here on bbc news later this evening. coverage starts at 6.30 on the bbc news channel — that's france decides: the presidential election 2017 this evening at 6.30 with christian fraser. time for the sport. good afternoon, on the final day of the championship, blackburn rovers have been relegated to league one. it is 37 years since they last played in the third tier of english football. they beat brentford but it was not

enough, as nottingham forest and birmingham city also won to maintain their championship status. it was a sad day for blackburn rovers fan is. victory, and yet they become the first premier league winner to drop into the third to of english football. they had the perfect start, a charlie mulgrew free kick adding them in front against brentford. the lead was doubled moments later, thanks to this from danny guthrie. bradford did get a consolation before craig conway tucked this away for blackburn. it was too little, too late. there was no happy finish today. meanwhile, forest had at one stage looked in trouble. anything other than a win would not do. jordan smith literally saved their season. from goalkeeping heroics to goalkeeping blunder. britt assombalonga leading forest

out of the woods. but their survival bid did not stop there. chris cohen hammered home, everything looking rosy at the city ground. there was even time and space for another rocket from sombre longer. the relief was clear, as fans flooded the pitch on the final whistle. so, this is how tight it was in the end. forest survive on goal difference only. birmingham saving themselves with victory at bristol city. newcastle a re with victory at bristol city. newcastle are champions, taking the title by a point after they beat ba rnsley title by a point after they beat barnsley and brighton drew with aston villa. the play—off semifinalss sees huddersfield by sheffield wednesday and reading playing fulham. liverpool had a

goalless draw with southampton, the fourth time this season they have failed to score against the saints. milner had a penalty saved by fraser forster. and forster was again at his best in injury time, denying marko grujic. liverpool are just a point ahead of manchester city, but third is the best they can hope for 110w. third is the best they can hope for now. they have kicked off at arsenal, and manchester united have made eight changes to the side which beat celta vigo on thursday. david de gea has had to make a very good save already. in the scottish premiership, aberdeen are a goal up at hearts. earlier, rangers secured at hearts. earlier, rangers secured a top three finish and a place in next season's europa league qualifiers. they came from behind to beat partick thistle 2—1. in their

first international cricket match at lord's, against england, ireland are chasing 329. they won the toss and chose to bowl. they got wi—fi early england wickets but eoin morgan, joe root and jonny bairstow all got big innings. ireland started very strongly in reply, with paul stirling of middlesex using some local knowledge. he felt jake ball tupper sam billings took the catch. ireland have lost another one as well. there's commentary on radio 5 live sports extra. great britain's rowers have won four gold medals in the first world cup regatta of the season the first world cup regatta of the season in serbia. it is the start of the olympic cycle building up

towards tokyo 2020, with three 0lympic champions competing for britain. two of them, mo sbihi and will hair, won gold in the first week race of the day. what a great weekend it has been at newmarket for aidan 0'brien. after winning the 2000 guineas with churchill yesterday, he's done the double for the third time after his 9—1 shot winter won the 1000 guineas. that is all the sport for now. still goalless between arsenal and manchester united. ireland, currently 81—2. more sport for you coming up later on. 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 of the girls — who boarded an aircraft on their way back — they 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 and were released in a prisoner exchange deal. joining me now via webcam is alex perry, a journalist and author of the hunt for boko haram: investigating the terror tearing nigeria apart. alex, thank you very much for being with us. it is good to speak to you about this extraordinary three year period. do we have any idea what has happened to the girls in the time between being kidnapped and, for these girls, being released? we do have some idea. there has been scattered reports from some of the girls who have managed to escape, the group of 20 that were freed in

december. they have had a terrible time, largely on their own, forced into marriage, repeatedly raped, some have been made to fight, some we re some have been made to fight, some were forced into becoming suicide bombers. some of the girls that escaped were girls that were strapped with a suicide vest and walked two checkpoints and asked to be defused. as i say, they have been through this for more than three yea rs through this for more than three years now, largely on their own, with almost no outside help. what is the motivation for boko haram? boko haram has its roots in the deprivation and the destitution of north—eastern nigeria. deprivation and the destitution of north-eastern nigeria. basically, the nigerian government has done nothing to develop that part of the country, and it is one of the poorest places on earth. so, there is genuine grievance against the government. but boko haram has taken that and turned it into this

nihilist movement. i mean, they're against progress, actually. they don't believe the earth is round, they don't believe in the evaporation of water, they're against education, they are against enlightenment, they want to return to medievalism. 0n the scale of jihadi groups, boko haram are, for wa nt of jihadi groups, boko haram are, for want of a better word, at the dumber end of the scale, they are wilfully ignorant. i suppose they have not had the international attention that people like islamic state have had, because they are confined to that one part of nigeria. nonetheless, nigeria has huge wealth through oil deposits and a lot of human capital as well check how big a threat are they to the stability of the country? when they are in their ascendancy, which has happened periodically, the last time was when the chibok girls went missing, they threatened to split africa's biggest country in two, which would be a

disaster. right now, the nigerian army has beaten them back. so—so territory is a pinhead now, compared to what it was. what's slightly worrying about this development today... the development with the chibok girls is incredibly welcome, but it seems to have been a prisoner exchange. we do not know who was released, from boko haram, back to the movement. but as i say, there is genuine grievance against the nigerian government, which is, if it isa nigerian government, which is, if it is a case that it is also releasing boko haram leaders of some organising calibre, and you might well see boko haram comeback. real dilemma there. fascinating to hear from you. a 21—year—old man has died after

falling off a jet ski. the driver, who was also injured, was released from hospital after being treated for minor injuries. 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. a search is under way for two men in their speedboat off the coast of scotland. they have not been seen since setting off on a leisure trip

at nine o'clock on saturday. helicopters and lifeboats searched the water overnight. the water temperature is still very cold at this time of the year, only ten—11 degrees, and your chances of surviving in the water for much longer than bigger are very poor. if you are better equipped, and we understand these people are equipped with life jackets, and in one case a dry suit, then your chances of survival, if we can pick them up, hopefully are very high. the brothers are said to be worth