we're live in paris, where the polling stations will close within the next of hour, as the people of france choose their new president after a bitterly fought contest. a short while ago the far—right candidate marine le pen left her paris headquarters, a victory for her would mark a dramatic new direction for france. earlier emmanuel macron voted in his home town of le touquet, winning the election would be the pro—eu candidate's first experience of elected office. tens of millions of voters have been visiting the polling stations, but the latest official figures show that turnout is down, on the previous contest five years ago. we'll bring you all the developments live in a special programme starting at 6:30pm here on bbc news. i'm shaun ley with the other stories this afternoon: an election pledge from labour , if it wins onjune the 8th it won't raise income tax for anyone earning less than £80,000 a year.

the conservatives focus on mental health — and is the lows earning less than an thousand pounds a year. no hikes in vat and no rises in national insurance either. the conservatives focus on mental health — promising to recruit another 10,000 staff in england if they're re—elected. good evening from paris, where the polls will close within the next hour, 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, including the uk, is very clear. this report on polling day in france, is by our europe correspondent damian grammaticas. there is some flash photography coming up. cheer this morning for the man promising optimism for france. he's just 39 years old, nervous moment, hovering on the brink of the presidency. emmanuel macron‘s is an extraordinary political story. a year ago, a rank outsider. the collapse of france's main parties and his message open internationalists, pro—eu have propelled his rise. it's done, he said.

now it's up to fate. france's election has exposed the same fault lines that have driven out the western countries. on one side and those constable with globalisation, on the other those anxious and angry faced with a changing world. his rival marine le pen appeals to them. this was another shock. france's far right leader in the final run—off. she is anti—eu, wants to ditch the euro, real estate border controls. she painted her campaign as another fight against the out of touch elite. a win for her would plunge europe into new political uncertainty. mr macron headed the paris this afternoon. he is a former investment banker and briefly economy minister, so part of the establishment. a reason many may decline to vote for him. the two

candidates have radically different views on questions of identity, immigration, openness to the world, so immigration, openness to the world, so this election will be highly consequential. will it be the next domino to fall or will it mark the receding of the populist tide? there we re receding of the populist tide? there were signs today that turnout was down compared to the first round. were signs today that turnout was down compared to the first roundli chose the candidate that i thought was least dangerous for france. i think i had to do it because the other one for me was not at all positive for france. we know what happened in the us, brexit, so it is very important to vote. sorry, my heart is beating very fast! holding its breath to cover the eu. a macron when would be a triumph for europe's centrists but france has been left divided. 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 of the presidential election, voters only have two candidates to choose from. but under french electoral law they also have three other options. first, there is an abstention. the french can choose not to vote, either out of principle or out of apathy, and this can affect turnout which is to traditionally very high. in the last round it was 77.8%. in

2012 it was over 80%. there are some who think this time will be the lowest turnout ever. voters do have two other choices. 0ne lowest turnout ever. voters do have two other choices. one is to simply spoiled ballot paper rather than choose candidate over another. for the first time in presidential elections there is another choice. the third option is the blank vote which means you wanted to take part in the election but you reject all the candidates on offer. you can do that by dropping an empty envelope 01’ that by dropping an empty envelope or blank ballot paper into the box. under new rules introduced last year 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. the polling stations in the big cities are staying open for an hour longer than in other parts of france, so in the city of bordeaux, in south—west france,

just under an hour to go. 0ur correspondent nuala mcgovern is there. some suggestions earlier that turnout is down on the first round andindeed turnout is down on the first round and indeed on five years ago. what is your sense of it? it is the same here. it is really clear when he walked into the polling stations, i have been an four today, they have an hour by hour tally of those that are registered and those that have turned out. it is really incredible tallying, of the figures, and some saying it is even down to 10% in one of the polling stations i was in. that is really quite high compared to the first round. and in particular competitive as well. you we re particular competitive as well. you were just saying we're coming to the last hour, this is a big city, bordeaux, along with paris and some

of the others, it is 8pm local time when ends. there is still a steady strea m when ends. there is still a steady stream of stragglers. whether they are finding it hard to make up their minds or their choice is so sure they feel they can pop in at the last minute, i am not sure. we will find out. but it is a kind of warm, sunday evening, here in bordeaux, people coming in, kind of a quiet celebratory mood, quite different i feel to round one. i suppose with 11 candidates it was a lot of choice. now down to two. we have heard about these two candidates having very specific policies that some people are not comfortable voting for either and they would like to have a bit of some of the previous 11. but we don't have long to wait. it is about an hour. we found out loud one projections very quickly after the polls closed. i think a lot of

people are meeting with their families, getting around the television, or maybe in a bar, trying to figure out what is next for this country. just a few days since a televised debate which was a very intensely argued a fair and pointed up the divisions. lots of talk about what was at stake for france in the election. when you talk to people there, is it something they are reflecting?m talk to people there, is it something they are reflecting? it is immediate. the debate was a few days ago, the papers were continued to run with it even intel yesterday. picking apart what was true, what wasn't, what was the policy behind certain lines, but also the tenor of the debate, that there was this angen the debate, that there was this anger, this division, and that came up anger, this division, and that came up in group discussions for some of the programmes on the bbc world service. it came to what it is like to be in french society now and where is the bad feeling and anger coming from, and will the next person, either the youngest man to

be president or the first woman to be president or the first woman to be president, how will they come and be president, how will they come and be able to unite those people when the feelings run so deep? it has been a bitter campaign, long campaign, so whoever it is that ta kes campaign, so whoever it is that takes the reins, they have an awful lot of work to do. thank you again. the polls will be closing in about 50 minutes time. back here in paris iamjoined i'm joined by geunaelle gault , from the polling company kantar public. i'm joined by geunaelle gault, from joined the polling company ka ntar public. we are almost there. for people in your profession is a big moment when the polls close, what, how soon will people have a sense of what is going on? it is a bit complicated. this year, the polling stations are closing later than before. but i think it will be easier for us to

get a first idea about the results may be 15 minutes before 8pm. how confident will those predictions bead using? it will be pretty rigorous, because this is not based before a survey, it is not based on what people are saying, it is based on ballot content. we are waiting for the first 100 ballot papers, then 200, and it is an extrapolation based on this. so that will be interesting, to look in detail at the figures. we have been talking in the figures. we have been talking in the last couple of hours about official estimates of turnout, which suggest they are down on the first round and down by maybe five or 6% on 2012. would that make sense to you, and what with the fact is there? i think that is true, because 7496 there? i think that is true, because 74% of turnout, this is low. usually

the turnout for the second round is higher than the first. i think this is interesting but was expected in oui’ surveys, is interesting but was expected in our surveys, people were saying they we re our surveys, people were saying they were hesitating. what is interesting is it maintains the suspense, the potential nonvoters were widespread over the voters coming from the conservative right and also the voters forjean—luc melenchon. we will see what will happen but maybe it is not totally clear, but maybe it is not totally clear, but maybe it will give a candidates an advantage, one of the other. will those abstentions cause the macron tea m those abstentions cause the macron team a lot of concern or will they have already factored it in?” team a lot of concern or will they have already factored it in? i think it was expected, so i think once

again we will see, but of course during this campaign between the two rounds, what was really hard, really tough, and it was clear that many people were not deciding to go and to choose between the two candidates, which is once again unusual because when you see, for example in 2000 two, john marine le pen at the second round, the turnout was eight points higher at the second round. this is a little different. i mentioned a televised debate already. it was such an angry affair in many ways. you had two very distinct and radically different visions of what france can be in the future. what is your research telling you about the potential for whoever wins to try to unite people after this divisive contest? i am not sure we saw the vision during the debate. it was

more like inviting your new neighbours to get to know them. and then you are attempting some kind of domestic dispute! and you are really embarrassed in front of them. i think it was much more like this and the people, we are following lots of french people during this campaign, with quantitative study and qualitative studies, and in those qualitative studies, and in those qualitative studies, and in those qualitative studies they were upset about the debate, and i think i don't really understand the strategy of marine le pen, because probably her challenge, because she is the challenger, her challenge would have been to convince, to reassure the conservative, and i am not sure her behaviour was like that. we shall see. not long to go. 45 minutes here in paris and the big cities. thank

you very much. polling is really finished. 45 minutes. there may be some people running to the polling stations in the big cities now. but in other parts of france, the polls closed 50 minutes ago. we will have a result a little later this evening. more from paris then. in the meantime, back to london. and you can see live coverage of the french election result here on bbc news, later this evening. coverage starts at 6:30pm on the bbc news channel — that's france decides: the presidential election 2017, this evening at 6:30pm with christian fraser. we are expecting the first indication of who has won the contest a little after seven o'clock. labour says it will not raise income tax for anyone earning less than 80 thousand pounds a year as part of an election pledge to low and middle earners. the shadow chancellor, john mcdonnell, said those earning to help pay for public services.

the conservatives say they have no plan to raise income tax but have so far refused to completely rule it out. 0ur political correspondent ben wright reports. it was a slogan used by tony blair, now revived by labour's new leadership. setting out what he called a big deal to upgrade the economy, john mcdonnell promised not to raise vat national insurance for anyone, but said the top 5% of earners pay more. if labour is elected next month, we will guarantee for the next five years, there will be no income tax rises, for all those earning less than £80,000 a year. labour is now the party of low taxes for middle and lower earners. mr macdonnell said people earning more than £80,000 a year would pay

a modest amount more but the rates and details would have to wait for the manifesto. the conservatives have promised not to raise vat that have so far made no matching pledge national insurance or income tax. this is a clear statement of intent. they want to raise taxes, they want to penalise business, they want to penalise wealth creation and i think they will end up wrecking the economy as they have done in the past. the total amount of income tax raised in 2016 is just over £169 billion. the top 5% of uk owners, labour's target group paid just over 47% of that, close to £80 billion. you cannot make a really big change to the amount of money that is available just by focusing on people over £80,000 a year, partly because they already pay an awful lot of tax and a lot more than they did a few years ago, but partly because if you really want significant amounts of money, you have to do something the politicians don't like doing,

which is hit the majority of people, which is where vat and the national insurance and a lot of income taxes actually paid. you are pledging to increase tax on high earners have to pay for public services and borrow billions for infrastructure, but that has been labour's message sincejeremy corbyn became leader. why do think it can turn things around for labour in the last four weeks of this general election campaign, when it seems it has not worked so far? i think there is an opportunity now in general election campaign which we have not had before jeremy corbyn was leader. i think we can turn the polls around and i genuinely think we can secure a majority onjune gate. ——june the —— june the 8th. many of the bankers and financiers who work it would pay more income tax under labour's plan and this is the first general election for many years, when there is a stark choice developing between labour and the conservatives with how the economy should be run and how money should be raised and spent. the conservatives have said that if they win onjune eighth, they'll make mental health a priority, with another ten

thousand staff working in mental health services in england by 2020 and reforming key legislation. earlier, the liberal democrats said they'd raise more money for health and social care by putting an extra penny on income tax. here's our health editor, hugh pym. theresa may has already talked of transforming the way mental health problems are dealt with across society. now there are more details of what she wants to do if she gets back to downing street. the conservatives said there are concerns that individuals, including young people, are detained unnecessarily in police cells and secure mental health wards, so the mental health act, which dates back more than 30 years, should be scrapped and replaced. if you have a child that has severe mental health problems and you find that child, instead of being treated by the nhs, actually ends up in a police cell, it's a terrible thing for the child, probably make their condition worse,

but it's also very bad for the police as well. we want to stop that. but the liberal democrats criticised the conservative government's record on mental health. 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. the conservatives also said they want to increase staffing levels in all areas of mental health care in england, with 10,000 more planned by 2020. currently, there are 200,000 in a variety of roles, but according to government figures, the number of mental health nurses is down 6600 since 2010. mental health charities welcome the aims, but are doubtful about what can be delivered. we've got to resource the front line so that there are enough beds and enough people and we wonder if the 10,000 people promised will be trained by 2020, will be sufficient to meet such demand.

labour said there appeared to be no extra funding and warm words from conservatives wouldn't help tackle the injustice of unequal treatment in mental health. hugh pym, 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 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. a major rescue operation is continuing to try to locate two men, who are missing in the irish sea. search teams say debris has been found. the alert was raised when their speed boat failed to return from a leisure trip

to the south—west coast of scotland last night. the pair had been travelling from port logan towards stranraer. of 0fan import of an import on. what is the latest? the latest is that there is no confirmation yet that any debris has been found. the incident started at nine o'clock yesterday morning when these two men aged 46 and 35 left port logan here on the mull of galloway, the southernmost tip of scotland, they left on leisure trip heading north to stranraer. but we don't think they got there and they certainly did not come back here to port logan. they were reported missing last night at about 615. that's sparked a massive search and rescue operation involving helicopters, coastguard teams and

four lifeboats. that initial search went on well into the night. it was stood down temporarily for a few hours and then resumed again this morning and it has been going on all day. we are now 24 hours into the operation, and the fact that as far as we are aware nothing official has been found can only raise concern for the welfare of these two men. the vehicle and trailer which had brought the speedboat to the shore here at port logan was parked up here at port logan was parked up here earlier today but has scenes been removed. we do not know by whom 01’ been removed. we do not know by whom or to wear. worrying developments there and we will speak you more if we hear more. 82 nigerian schoolgirls have arrived in the capital, abuja, where they're meeting the country's president after being freed by the islamist group, boko haram.

the girls from chibok were among 202 we re the girls from chibok were among 202 were taken three years ago. the government says they will be given medical checks before being reunited with theirfamilies. medical checks before being reunited with their families. around 100 others are still being held. a 21—year—old man has died after falling off a jet ski on loch lomond. police scotland said stuart mclevy was a passenger on the craft when he fell into the water on saturday evening. he was taken to the royal alexandra hospital in paisley where he was pronounced dead. the driver, who was also injured, was released from hospital after treatment 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. 0ur correspondent mervynjess has been speaking to anne morgan, the sister of seamus ruddy.

i was thinking firstly of my family here at home. and also thinking of all those who have been here looking after this site and thinking of all the people who have spent a lot of time helping us find seamus. with regards the reaction yesterday when you got on the news, i know you were on your way to the airport, what you feel about that? it was a sense of relief that the search was going to be successful. i was leaving on the train and! be successful. i was leaving on the train and i was despondent and i thought i will never come back to rule again. and within an hour i was backin rule again. and within an hour i was back in the centre again and things had completely changed. mixed

emotions, i imagine. absolutely. it isa emotions, i imagine. absolutely. it is a bittersweet moment where you are very happy but also very sad. very sad that all these 32 years have gone past and we were not able to find him, but now it looks as if we have found him. that was an morgan talking to our correspondence in paris. sri and and gopi hinduja have been associated with the labour party more billionaires are living in the uk than ever before. 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. he revealed in a youtube video in 2013 he had a boyfriend, saying his "whole world changed" when he fell in love with a man. the graffiti artist banksy has taken on brexit in his new mural in dover.

it depicts the european flag being chiselled by a workman to remove one of its 12 stars. the work appeared near dover's ferry terminal overnight. interesting commentary from banks say. don't forget we will have a lot of coverage of the french presidential election, beginning in just a few minutes time. our correspondence is live in paris. we should get a first indication of who has one, either emmanuel macron or marine le pen, just after seven o'clock. now let's look at the weather. west has been best for sunshine.

further east has more cloud, and has been feeling chilly. where we have the cloud in the east temperatures will hold up fairly well overnight. when we have the sunshine it will be a chilly night with a touch of frost perhaps. the towns and cities will stay around seven to 10 degrees. tomorrow is still a lot of cloud across northern and eastern scotland. so that clouds get into the midlands and east wales. the best of the sunshine further west. a call feel along the east coast. even where there is sunshine it will feel cooler than today. through tuesday and wednesday the wins will get lighter, it will turn warmer and we will all see more sunshine. hello and welcome to a special bbc news programme on the french election. we have a very exciting evening

ahead of us. voters have gone to the polls and in just under half an hour's time we will get a rejection about who will become the next french president. voters are eliminated at the first hurdle the