this is bbc news. i'm ben brown. the headlines at 3pm. labour's draft manifesto is leaked — it contains plans to renationalise the railways and scrap university tuition fees. this is an extremely modern, progressive, progressive set of proposals and it's looking to the long term future and most people are extremely excited at what they've seen. a note of caution about the economy — the bank of england governor says 2017 is likely to be the low point for wage growth. this is going to be a more challenging time for british households over the course of this year. wages won't keep up with prices for the goods and services they consume. waiting times for key nhs services in england were the worst in five years in the latest financial year, according to new analysis. three women including a mother and daughter are remanded in custody for

eight days charged with terrorism offences and conspiracy to murder. i'm rebecca jones. and in the next hour, a record £a00,000 fine for making over 100 million nuisance calls. marketing firm, keurboom communications, made repeated calls, sometimes at unsocial hours, trying to get people to make compensation claims. where do you want me? bouncing on my knee. where do you think i want you? and david beckham makes his big screen debut in king arthur — but his cameo performance gets mixed reviews. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. a draft of labour's general election manifesto has been leaked, and it includes radical plans to renationalise the railways and royal mail; to scrap university

tuition fees in england, and to end the public sector pay cap. the long document also includes plans to fund the nhs and social care through an increase in income tax for higher earners. the manifesto is due to be formally launched next week, and is being discussed today by senior labour figures. our political correspondent eleanor garnier reports. it wasn't meant to be like this. at labour's first election poster launch, they had wanted to focus on attacking the tories. good morning, everyone. instead, it is their leaked manifesto everyone's talking about. a draft version now out there for all to see, a whole week early. this morning, though, no sign of the leader as originally planned. he was meant to be here, but these things happened, and mr corbyn is dealing with internal matters. so it was left to others in labour to play down the significance of the leak.

the draft includes proposals to nationalise the railways and the postal service, a plan to create publicly owned energy companies in every region of the uk plus the introduction of price caps, and there's a commitment to abolish tuition fees as well as £8 billion for social care. this is an extremely modern, progressive, progressive set of proposals. and it's looking to the long—term future and most people are extremely excited at what they have seen. was it you? it certainly wasn't. the details might be out but the manifesto is not yet finalised. we are here to decide the final version, i am sure it will be an exciting programme that can attract as many voters as possible to the labour party. it's being agreed by seniorfigures at an already planned meeting in central london today. are you responsible for the leak? don't be silly. they are hoping their decisions will help the party win over the public. ordinary labour voters want an increase in the minimium wage, the abolition of zero hour

contracts, agency workers dealt with, investment in our industry, nationalisation of the railways. so what did people at coventry station make of the plans? it's a good idea, they should nationalise everything, bring it back to how it was. jeremy corbyn generally has the right idea, so if he thinks it is a good idea, i am willing to listen. it willjust be another gravy train run by left wing think tanks, people in london. it is clear not all in labour are convinced the party's leadership has a winning message. let's get real. the tories are 20 points ahead in the polls, it is the tory manifesto that people need to be focusing on. seeing what they'll do in government. labour mps are trying to save as many good labour mps as possible so we have a semblance of an opposition after the election. one key question remains, how many of the major —— how will many of the major

spending commitments be met? mr corbyn‘s allies insist all of the policies in the final document will be fully funded. so far, there's little detail in the draft. there's no doubting the labour leader's popularity among his own supporters. but to win this election, mr corbyn and his party's policies will need to win over much wider support. our chief political correspondent vicki young is outside the meeting in central london. vicki, is there any sense of how it's going? we are told they're making good progress and we expect this meeting to wind up at about apm. we haven't had any suggestion that there is anyone trying to block the process. normally it would take a long time to agree an election ma nifesto a long time to agree an election manifesto but it's been done more quickly because of this snap

election. of course this wasn't the way labour planned for this to happen. they were hoping to announce several big key policy announcements over a few days before the formal launch of the manifesto next week but this launch means it's being talked about much earlier. they're making the best of it by saying at least labour are setting the agenda and people are talking about their policies. as we've heard, amongst them are some very radical policies. they will be offering a very different programme to the other political parties. their critics say it's a programme that takes the mac to the 1970s. but it's true to say that most people, most voters have not been offered this kind of thing in recent years and labour is very certain it will appeal to people. things like abolishing tuition fees they hope will appeal to young voters. they are hoping to get the young bait out. they notoriously don't vote in large numbers. labour wa nt to don't vote in large numbers. labour want to change that. halfway through this meeting, a senior member of the

shadow cabinet, john trickett, came out to show us what was happening. show us what was happeningli show us what was happening. i am leaving the meeting before it has finished because i have a session in the north to attend. the meeting has been very productive. an exciting document is emerging. it will talk to the whole country, to every part of the country and it will speak to the many and not the view. we expect the many and not the view. we expect the manifesto will be the basis of oui’ the manifesto will be the basis of our new government the manifesto will be the basis of our new government which would take the whole country in a new direction. i think you now need to wait for the end of the meeting which will take place in due course. thank you very much. now, some of what he said there will be disputed and it will be disputed, too, by some labour candidates who do not build this kind of programme will appeal to the whole country. they are concerned it won't appeal enough to people may be at the centre, people who have in the past voted conservative. but clearly jeremy corbyn in charge of this labour party but two years feels

there is no reason to be leader if you don't actually put forward what you don't actually put forward what you believe in and his own principles, this manifesto, this d raft principles, this manifesto, this draft manifesto as it stands, looks like it will be very much what he wa nts to like it will be very much what he wants to bid forward to voters. the key young, thank you very much. two key policy areas in labour's leaked manifesto are transport and education. our correspondent gillian hargreaves looks first at the party's pledge to abolish university tuition fees in england. cheering they've got cause for celebration, because if you're a graduate, you earn around £200,000 more in your lifetime than somebody who didn't go to university. which is one of the reasons why the coalition government raised fees to £9,000 a year for students in england. but when they did, there were riots on the streets, and now labour promises to scrap fees altogether. so what do students think? i reckon it's a good idea for the students,

but for the treasury, not so much. up until now, my education has been free. why now? why do i have to pay at 18 onwards, nine grand peryear? well, perhaps some students would say that. but labour's plan is going to cost. when 7% of the population went to university, the government could afford to pay tuition fees, but now more than half of all 18—year—olds enter university each year. if the government paid for all of their tuition fees, the bill would be huge. well, abolishing tuition fees adds to borrowing in the short run by about £10 billion. of course, the government is already paying for student fees, it's just getting that money back, well, two thirds of that money back from graduates in the long run. so the long run cost to the government of abolishing fees is still really pretty significant. when it comes to paying for university, labour is heading in the opposite direction to the tories, but there's little detail yet on how and when it

would introduce the change. gillian hargreaves, bbc news. another pledge in the leaked manifesto is to re—nationalise the railways. richard lister has more. i did a thoroughly unscientific survey of the first ten people that i came across. seven of them said they were in favour of nationalisation. three said they were against it. what does that prove? well, absolutely nothing. it was a very small survey, but it does chime remarkably closely with what opinion polls have been saying nationally for the past few years, when a clear majority of people tell opinion pollsters they are in favour of nationalised railways. and that's quite remarkable when you consider the bad old days of the old nationalised british rail, which was really something of a byword for british decline by the time it was fully privatised 20 years ago. labour says this time it would be different. if you put the passenger first on your spending

you can freeze fares, you can give free wi—fi to everybody on board and you can improve disabled access to trains. of course, few would argue that privatisation has been an unqualified success over the past few decades. certainly fares have increased more sharply than inflation and trains, many trains, are hugely overcrowded. now the tories say that's still better than british rail and they point to the fact that privatisation has led, certainly since about 2000, to a much better safety record and also much more punctual services. the counter argument to that is that network rail is responsible for a lot of those improvements and labour point to the fact that network rail, in charge of tracks and stations, is a public body and it's taxpayers' money which has gone into improving the services which we now use. the liberal democrat leader has been campaigning in wales and the west of england. he's visited a refugee charity and has pledged for the uk to take

50,000 more syrian refugees. our correspondent sima kotecha is in gloucestershire — where the liberal democrat leader tim farron is campaigning. tell us a bit more about what he has been up to today. well, i'm at a community centre today in gloucester where red charity is based and it helps —— where a charity is based and it helps refugees and asylum seekers settle into the uk. i'm joined by the leader of the liberal democrats, tim farron, he's been campaigning here today. thank you very much for your time. you're pledging to allow 10,000 syrian refugees every year you are prime minister to enter the country, so we're talking about 50,000 in total. 50,000 over a parliamentary term and

thatis 50,000 over a parliamentary term and that is about extending the existing scheme from 20,000 to 50,000, bearing in mind that there are something like 5 million displaced people as a result of the conflict in syria. i have spoken to people from across the country today, some fleeing from president assad's war against his own people and some fleeing daesh. it's a reminder that this country has done far too little to help those people. it's only because of the pressure put on the previous prime minister after the tragic death of alan kirby was all over the newspapers, and we are saying it's time we stood up, demonstrated our values of the country and took our fair share of refugees from this war—torn part of the middle east. but at a time when we hear a lot about our schools and nhs struggling, there will be some people who say, we are struggling to deal with the demand by marrying

population and now you're saying you wa nt to population and now you're saying you want to bring in people from other countries. what would you say to them? we are talking about 80 people per constituency. let's remember what the united kingdom did in the aftermath of the second world war, taking people from the death camps, from across the continent back then. shall i point out that our economic position back in 1945 was a lot wea ker position back in 1945 was a lot weaker when it was back then? sometimes, you just have to do the right thing. 5 million displaced people, 1 million in europe and our government shames us by kitty really turning its back on the most desperate in the world. if this was a war—torn country and syria was safe, how would we want those people to treat us and our children? when you answer that question honestly, you answer that question honestly, you know exactly what britain should do and that's exactly what the liberal democrats would do. we are ata liberal democrats would do. we are at a community centre which is

helping people who have come from war—torn countries. where will the resources come from to help these people? we've been hearing from people? we've been hearing from people from syria today saying they can't get their children into schools. surely that is the problem? how can we get those resources? to be clear, what the government does is to not invest upfront. the folks we've been speaking to today, painters and decorators, electricians, people with great skills who can't use them and therefore aren't paying taxes, they'd love to, because we're not investing upfront to give them the english language support that they need. this is about notjust being compassionate, but also being level—headed. these are folks who are desperate people who have fled from their homes, they didn't want to lead but it was more of a risk to stay there and it was to up sticks and come here. they have bags of energy and desire to make this place their home and to contribute, yet

far too many politicians put barriers in the way. doing the decent thing is also the wise thing. thank you very much for your time. that's tim farron, the leader of the liberal democrats. back over to you now, then. thank you to you and to tim farron for that. the conservatives have said that if they win the election, they will increase defence spending by half a percent more than inflation, every year. the defence secretary sir michael fallon also said the conservatives would continue to meet the pledge to spend at least 2% of national income on defence. it's a growing defence budget, it's properly financed. we meet the nato 2% target and we think it's right to commit to that for the rest of this parliament, so that our armed forces have the equipment that they need to keep this country safe. the green party have launched their election manifesto in london. in a speech, the party's co—leader caroline lucas said that britain's prosperity depends on the natural world. we're the only party that puts the environment at the heart of all of our policies. and we do it quite simply because a prosperous, thriving future will be green or not at all.

throughout the election campaign, we'll be taking an in depth look at the key issues that are important to you. today at 3.30, our reality check correspondent chris morris will be answering your questions on brexit. you can get in touch via twitter using the hashtag #bbcaskthis — or text your questions to 61124 — and you can email us as well at askthis@bbc.co.uk. the bank of england is predicting only moderate growth for the uk economy this year — with a squeeze on households' incomes, as wages rise more slowly than prices. interest rates have been kept at 0.25%.

looking further ahead, the forecast is brighter — although as our economics correspondent andrew verity reports, a lot depends on the brexit negotiations. here is one element of the cost of living that is shooting up. the wholesale price of butter has doubled in the last year, according to dairy farmers. producers and shops are passing on some, but not all of that to us, the consumers. at the last count, the retail price of oils and fats like butter was up by 15.5% compared to last year. as for the price of butter as for the whole economy, the big question is, is this inflation temporary, or will it last? i think for the bank of england, they are really trying to work out how persistent the rise that we are seeing in inflation at the moment is going to be, and juggle that against the context which is a uk economy that is weakening, a housing market that is looking a little bit soggy, certainly in terms of activity, people looking for new houses and

properties coming onto the market. a uk economy that is also facing brexit. the official consumer price index measure of inflation got down below zero in 2015. but now, it's back above the 2% target. the bank of england is now predicting it will carry on rising, peaking later this year at 2.8%. the wages that people are getting are not going to be sufficient to compensate for the rises in consumer prices, the prices in the shop. and so this is going to be a more challenging time for british households over the course of this year. one big reason for higher price rises is the pound. because it dropped in value both before and after the referendum, we need more pounds to get hold of the dollars and euros we need to buy imported goods. and most of our goods are imported. the projected inflation entirely reflects the effects on import prices of the fall in sterling since late 2015. the depreciation caused by market expectations of a material adjustment to the uk's medium term

prospect as it leaves the eu. the bank's confident prediction is that the effect of the weaker pound will peter out next year and that workers will not seek to beat inflation by demanding much higher wages. on that basis, interest rates may have to rise a little in the next three years, but only very slightly. three women have appeared in court in london, charged with preparing a terrorist act and conspiracy to murder. they include 21—year—old rizlaine boular, who was shot by police during a raid at a property in willesden two weeks ago. seven other people, arrested as part of the investigation, have been released from police custody. dominic casciani was in court. a very unusual hearing this morning at westminster magistrates‘ court. three women in the dock, a mother and a daughter and a third woman

accused of these two very serious offences, the first of those being conspiracy to murder, the second being preparation of acts of terrorism, which is effectively a key offence used by the cps and the police in investigating allegations of terrorism. in essence, what this case amounts to is an allegation against rizlaine boular and her mother, mina dich, whose 43, and a third woman, khawla barghouti, and it said that rizlaine boular, along with the other two, conspired between the 11th of april and the 28th of april, so last month, to murder persons unknown. in effect, the allegation amounts to a suggestion that there was going to be some sort of terrorist attack involving knives in the westminster area of the capital. miss boular is further accused of engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of

terrorism and her mother and the third defendant are accused of helping her in that aim. when they came into the dock this morning, miss boular and her mother were wearing full islamic dress, their faces were fully veiled. the senior districtjudge asked both women to partially removed the face covering so their eyes could be seen and they agreed to do that, then mina dich brought the covering back down again, the mother, over her eyes. there was no application for bail, so thejudge there was no application for bail, so the judge remanded them there was no application for bail, so thejudge remanded them in custody to next appear at the old bailey a week on friday. the european union‘s chief brexit negotiator michel barnier has addressed the irish parliament — an honour usually only reserved for visiting heads of state. mr barnier highlighted the complexity of issues relating to the border with northern ireland — and what that means for brexit talks.

our ireland correspondent chris page was listening. well, ireland have given michel barnier very special treatment here today. as you say, before today, the only visitors invited to speak to the irish parliament where presidents and prime ministers, the likes of nelson mandela and colleagues, so this shows how important the brexit debate is in ireland. what michel barnier had to say reflected pretty much what is in the eu‘s draft negotiating guidelines on brexit. the issues around the irish border have to be resolved in the first phase of talks with the uk, so the irish government are pleased about that, there are issues, as it were, pushed so high on the brexit agenda. the trickiest issue will be what happens to the

border between northern ireland and the republic of ireland. at the moment, it‘s an open border, you drive across it and hardly notice it‘s there. the question is, will new controls have to come in after brexit? everyone involved says they don‘t want that to happen but the question is, if the uk is leaving the european customs union, while what will then happen with regards to mana what will then happen with regards to man a drink they the border? that is something michel barnier spoke about in his speech to parliamentarians today. brexit changes the external borders of the eu but i will work with you to avoid a hard border. the uk's departure of the eu will have consequences. we have a duty to speak the truth. we have a duty to speak the truth. we have together a duty to speak the truth. custom controls are part of eu border management, they protect the single market, they project our

food safety and standards. but as i already said many times, nothing in these negotiations should put peace at risk, nothing. so, a strong expression of will there on the behalf of mr barnier, with the eu doing their best to avoid a hard border in ireland and that that will bea border in ireland and that that will be a priority in this gauche issue, but as you heard that, he puts the customs conundrum in a nutshell. that brainteaser will be occupying the minds of officials in dublin and london as the brexit process unfolds. today, the focus has been michel barnier‘s speech in the parliament in dublin. a big symbolic moment for ireland, which is likely to be the nation most affected by brexit apart from the uk self, of course. thanks for that. a marketing company which made

nearly 100 million nuisance calls has been fined a record £400,000 by the information commissioners office. keurboom communications made automated calls to people encouraging them to make insurance claims. angus crawford reports. joining us isjohn mitchison from the direct marketing association which represents telephone marketing companies. he‘s also head of the uk‘s telephone preference service; the opt—out register for cold calls. thank you for being with us, john. this is a huge fine, isn‘t it? thank you for being with us, john. this is a huge fine, isn't it? are you surprised? this is a huge fine, isn't it? are you surprised ? it this is a huge fine, isn't it? are you surprised? it was initially a surprise but when you see the scale of the calls that were going on, i think it‘s only proportional. of the calls that were going on, i think it's only proportional. nearly 100 million calls. nearly 100 million. i work that out to be about 200,000 a day. we welcome this kind

of fine. rogue companies like this that may cause like this only bring the legitimate companies into disrepute, so this is welcome. the legitimate companies into disrepute, so this is welcomem they are making 100 million calls like that, how many of them are they hoping will pay off and therefore make it worth their while?l hoping will pay off and therefore make it worth their while? a company like this can do it on a very low cost scale. they can get simple softwa re cost scale. they can get simple software on a computer and they may even just software on a computer and they may evenjust are software on a computer and they may even just are the numbers randomly because they know the format of uk numbers, so they just because they know the format of uk numbers, so theyjust keep dialling and dialling, playing a recorded message, when it hits live number, a person may respond. you‘ve probably had a similar call. respite to speak to an operator. you leave some information and that information may then just be sold on. information and that information may thenjust be sold on. so it‘s basically a lead generation system. collecting data to sell it on. it‘s not marketing in the way that most releva nt not marketing in the way that most relevant organisations would recognise it. we know it's a

nuisance but it‘s upsetting for a lot of people, elderly people and so on. is this a growing problem or do you feel it‘s being brought under control? it's a very significant problem. i‘m not sure it‘s growing at the moment. it‘s been at a very high level for a number of years. there have been a lot of different actions taking place to try to stop things. the ico have been doing a lot, the information commissioner has been fining companies making nuisance calls, span texts, and that‘s all very good. what happened in this case is that the company has gone into liquidation, so it might be difficult for the ico to claim that money, but what we would like to see, and i know the ico would like this as well, is for directors to be held personally liable and we might even go even further and say there should be custodial sentences for the worst cases like this might be appropriate. and you think that would nail it as a problem? at the moment, companies seem to be able to

get away with it. it can be difficult to track companies like this down and organisation to do similar things at the knees —— overseas, it‘s even more difficult to track them down. a lot of them are rivers this, aren‘t they? to track them down. a lot of them are rivers this, aren't they? yes, the call could be coming from overseas but then the data is sold toa uk overseas but then the data is sold to a uk organisation, so if you track the data, you can normally track the data, you can normally track a uk company and a buyout buying poorly gained information, they are as liable. thank you very much for talking us through that. let‘s catch up with all the weather now. and mixed a day—to—day. feeling humid in the south. some showers and thunderstorms developing primarily across the south—west but they have been affecting central and southern areas for the next few hours into

this evening. local torrential downpours and rain in northern ireland as well and heavy burst across england and wales where it will feel warm tonight compared to recent nights but a cool filter things under the clear skies in scotland. friday is looking cloudy for most. some sunshine around. northern and western scotland seeing the best of it and some glimmers in england and wales and northern ireland but further hefty downpours around, particularly for england and wales and the odd rumble of thunder and a humid feeling day especially in the south and south—east. for the weekend, a little less humid as the weekend, a little less humid as the weekend wears on. a mixture of showers on saturday and sunday. warm sunshine in between, particularly in the south and south—east. hello. this is bbc news. the headlines. labour‘s draft manifesto is leaked and includes promises to nationalise railways and parts of the energy

industry and to abolish tuition fees. but the conservatives called the plans a shambles. the bank of england issues a note of caution about the economy as it downgrades its growth forecast. it says household spending is slowing, with weak retail sales and a sharp fall in new car registrations in april. waiting times for key nhs services in england were the worst in four years in the latest financial year, according to new analysis, with 2.5 million people waiting longer than four hours to be seen in a&e. three women, including a mother and daughter,appear in court charged with terrorism offences and conspiracy to murder. a cold—calling firm is fined a record £400,000 for making almost 100 million nuisance calls. marketing firm keurboom communications called people, sometimes at unsocial hours, trying to get them to make compensation claims.

hugh has all the sport over at the bbc sports centre. good afternoon. the fa chairman greg clarke has defended the rights of football club‘s to pay agents whatever they see fit. clarke has spoken in the light of a fifa investigation into the £89 million transfer of paul pogba from juventus to manchester united last summer. they have written to united asking for clarification on the deal after allegations that pogba‘s agent mino raiola, was paid £41 million in the deal. 22 of which, it‘s claimed, came directly from united. if manchester united want to pay that much money and no, i haven‘t looked into the individual transfer, how much the agent got, that‘s what they will pay. they are accountable to their owners and fans. if they think it‘s good value for money, as a commercial transaction.

if football wants to limit the amount of money that agents get, we will have to sit down as a game, led by the professional game and the premier league and the efl and the clubs and talk about that. clarke was speaking to the bbc at a fifa congress in bahrain where the body‘s president gianni infantino said he believes those who want to use football to get rich should get out of the sport. infantino also spoke about the wave of criticism aimed at fifa over the past few years. in the wake of the various sandals engulfing the organisation, he admitted that much of it was deserved. fake news, alternative facts, these terms did not exist until some time ago. they have become en vogue in recent periods. there's a lot of alternative facts about fifa circulating. fifa bashing has become a national sport. especially in some countries. and i understand also why and it was right and it was

right, but fifa has changed now. this is a new fifa. we have new people here. and we act with facts. ronald koeman says he‘s prepared to lose ross barkley aveda from sign a new contract soon. he still has a year left on his current deal. the clu b year left on his current deal. the club must have an answer by the end of the season in ten days‘ time, believing the longer it takes, the more doubts he must have and he prefers to work with players who wa nt to prefers to work with players who want to stay. manchester united are 90 minutes away from their first appearance in the final of the europa league. they‘ll defend a 1—0 lead from the first leg of their semi—final against celta vigo of spain at old trafford tonight. united managerjose mourinho won the competition with porto back in 2003 and has made it his priority in recent weeks as winning the trophy, would mean a place in next season‘s champions league. it was not a gamble,

just a consequence of our situation. so we are in this situation now. and we have to fight for it, so let‘s see if tomorrow we can do it and if we can go to the final. nottinghamshire are playing durham in the northern group of the royal london monday cup. durham won the toss and batted. alex hales have been making hay in the nottinghamshire sunshine with this six on his way to a half—century. he‘s lost a few team—mates along the way, though. 118—4 from 23 overs. third in the table, durham are fourth. that is all the sport for now. more in the next hour. thanks for that. a spot of news to you

which has come to us that a high courtjudge in london has ordered a former oil and gas trader to pay his estranged wife almost half £1 billion for their divorce settlement. the man who worked in london, made his fortune investing in the russian energy sector. the names of the couples have not been made public but it is thought to be one of the biggest awards made by a divorce courtjudge in england, possibly the biggest ever. i think so. we will do a bit of research and check that out. correspondent chris morris. our expert on all things brexit is with us. four weeks we‘ll be asking

your questions on issues in the general election. today, we‘re going to ask for your questions on brexit, so let‘s go through them. the first one is from andrew in brighton. i think we can actually hear his question. let‘s have a listen. think we can actually hear his question. let's have a listen.|j think we can actually hear his question. let's have a listen. i was just wondering what is it party ‘s policy on brexit? a nice easy one to kick off with. we could spend the next 20 minutes talking about this. broadbrush, the long answer is read the manifesto is. when they finally come out next week. the tories want a clean brexit, which means leaving the eu single market, leaving the customs union, ending free movement of people and the role of the european court of justice of people and the role of the european court ofjustice in british life. they say when they‘ve done

that they want to negotiate the best possible relationship in the future. labour say we accept the result of the referendum but we dispute the idea we should just give up on the single market, and think the tories have done that too quickly and they also are unhappy, and we saw that in also are unhappy, and we saw that in a d raft also are unhappy, and we saw that in a draft manifesto leaked today, with the phrase no deal is better than a bad deal. they say they would not go for a no deal. that would be too much uncertainty for business. the lib dems are stock offering the sta rkest lib dems are stock offering the starkest alternative, saying there should be a second referendum. they say it was a referendum on leaving but we didn‘t have a referendum on how we leave. their argument is once the deal is done, if it is done, there should be a second vote on whether people accept what that deal says. some other smaller parties, ukip are in favour of brexit, surprise surprise. the green party say they accept the referendum but don‘t like the extreme brexit, put

forward by the government, and the other party, the only seat in scotland, the third—party, the smp would like some way to keep scotland in the single market, even if the rest of the uk leads and as a result of brexit, they want to hold a separate referendum on scotland being independent from the uk. the next question has come from text message, anonymously, but it says, who requires a secure irish border, europe or the uk? we will hear a lot of argument about brexit over the next couple of years. the one subject on which all sides agree, we‘ve got to do this right, more than anything else, is ireland. it‘s not about a secure thing, but the whole of the island of ireland is pa rt whole of the island of ireland is part of the eu, in the single market. everything flows freely. once we leave, the border between

northern ireland and the irish republic will become the external border of the eu and therefore in some ways a customs border, so nobody wants to have customs posts reappearing on the border because that brings back all the bad memories of the troubles in northern ireland. it is intrinsically mixed up ireland. it is intrinsically mixed up with the success or failure of the northern ireland peace process, so they talk about imaginative solutions, where would you have customs? very close to factories, ports, around the island of ireland. we saw the chief eu negotiator in dublin addressing the irish parliament. he has made it very clear that this is one of the first top priorities to resolve. it's one of their three conditions for making further progress in terms of trade talks, but it‘s one of the three. settling the divorce bill and the

rights of eu citizens are the other two, but the third one is we have to make sure we have a creative solution. it‘s going to be very difficult because how do you can tell customs when you don‘t have any customs but they‘ll have to do it online, find a creative way to do that. another anonymous one from e—mail is well opposed to brexit uk keep the disability rights? a lot of questions about rights in general, but disability rights in particular? the uk has always been at the forefront within the eu of promoting rights for disabled people, in fact, in1970, rights for disabled people, in fact, in 1970, before wejoined rights for disabled people, in fact, in 1970, before we joined the rights for disabled people, in fact, in 1970, before wejoined the eu, the uk was the first country in the world to have specific legislation awarding and protecting rights for disabled people. over time, there is no doubt, since we‘ve been in the eu, those rights have been strengthened both by eu legislation

and buy some rulings of the european court ofjustice. there was a case for example in 2008, a woman won a case that ruled she had been hassled into resigning from herjob because of the amount of time she had to ta ke of the amount of time she had to take caring for her disabled son, so that was a case she won at the european level. in the future, those arguments will be had at the uk level to begin with, all that legislation, the great repeal bill will be taken en masse, the tory plan if they win the election, and brought back and turned into uk law. what happens to it after that is the question. the question ought merry working people will be asking, will wages and terms and conditions be any good now the protection of the european court is also being pushed away in two years? a question of the protections we have had, which will

presumably disappear with brexit. protections we have had, which will presumably disappear with brexitlj guess if the question we want to know, will we be better off or worse off? it‘s not a satisfactory answer always, but partly, we will hear this a lot, it depends on what gets negotiated. if you talk to most economists, a majority think, in the short term, we may be worse off for a little while, there‘s a price for taking back control. in the longer term, it impossible to predict and depends on the health of the global community, trading deals, around the world, but in terms of rights, all current eu rights will come back to uk law. lets take something like paid holiday. it‘s incredibly complicated, some rights for paid annual leave come from the uk law. some of them come from eu lawful thugs how do you and stitch that? a lot of attention in the years after

brexit is going to be on the uk parliament and what mps do with all this massive, tens of thousands of bits of legislation, which bits get amended, stay and go and get amended ona amended, stay and go and get amended on a quiet friday afternoon when no one is watching. we have got time for a couple more. this one is from the west midlands. with the eu is seeking a huge divorce bill from the uk, we don‘t know exactly how big, how much coming charge the eu for accessing our brilliant security services? security was mentioned in theresa may‘s letter to donald tusk which was perceived by some people asa which was perceived by some people as a bit ofa which was perceived by some people as a bit of a threat. it was the one bit of a letter which did not go down brinkley and seem to be implying we will be less generous

with security cooperation. when it comes down to it, the short answer is, sadly, for him, nothing. security and intelligence are not eu prerogative and is done by individual countries and it‘s obviously in all our interests to cooperate. through nato and so on. obviously we know countries like france has a good intelligence service. it‘s good for us that they can pass information to us as well, so the other thing about the divorce bill, it sounds big but the one thing to bear in mind, it may be 60 billion or whatever, let‘s see where it ends up, but it‘s nothing compared to the value of renegotiating our entire trading relationship with the rest of the eu and the world. that is the really big prize and that‘s what is going to determine whether brexit is a success or a failure. final question from kevin on twitter. he‘s asking,

is theresa may‘s stance she needs a big majority to go to brussels a red herring? in truth, is it because she needs a big majority in the election to get the bad deal through the house of commons? i don't think having a bigger majority is going to make a huge difference to how the rest of the eu negotiator with us. in some ways, although they won‘t say it because it will be seen as interference in our electoral process , interference in our electoral process, they would be happy if she had a more stable majority because, from their perspective, that gives her a better negotiating position, more confident negotiating position. ina way, more confident negotiating position. in a way, it‘s more about her position domestic league and gives her that domestic mandate. she can go to brussels and say, have an election, it has voted for me on a platform which we will see next week, we know most of it already but in the conservative manifesto, so in many ways, it‘s more about the domestic politics than european

politics. all the eu leaders and officials i‘ve spoken to say the size majority makes no difference to the way we will negotiate. but they would say that, wouldn‘t they? chris, lots of questions, thank you to everybody who has been in touch with us. and thank you, chris, for answering them so brilliantly. well done. top of the class. six out of six, i think. done. top of the class. six out of six, ithink. let‘s done. top of the class. six out of six, i think. let‘s take you to central london. this is where senior labour party members are meeting to approve the manifesto and it comes after embarrassment for the party because a draft version of the ma nifesto because a draft version of the manifesto has been leaked to the media. we are going to see, i think, in the next few minutes, jeremy corbyn emerging from that meeting and maybe saying a few words about

the labour manifesto, which, according to the league, at least, contains some quite radical measures, for example abolishing tuition fees in england, renationalising the railways, the royal mail and so on. that was a lea k of royal mail and so on. that was a leak of a draft so the final version is being finalised right now beyond those revolving doors. as chris morris was just saying, nowhere other brexit negotiations being followed more closely than northern ireland where businesses have developed close relationships across the border with the republic of ireland. they fear those links maybe put it risk by the return of a hard border. dominic oconnell has been looking at the northern irish economy and what a return to a hard border might mean for business there. this is what will be once britain leads the european union, the main land border between the two. might not look like in the tranquil of

this block art and international frontier. over there is republic of ireland and hear the uk. wasn‘t a lwa ys ireland and hear the uk. wasn‘t always this peaceful, of course, it is to be a militarised border with checkpoints. now businesses are worried about britain‘s vote to leave the eu. and what happens next. some of the most worried farmers and food processors in the north who forged deep oration ships in the republic. this man says his organisation makes constant use of the open border. we process livestock in northern ireland and the republic of ireland, employing 1200 people in the republic, 1400 in northern ireland. from our perspective we are hugely concerned about the impact of a hard border. we hope that there will not be won but we cannot rule that out. therefore, for business planning purposes, we have to consider the worst—case scenario and for our

company that would be very significant disruption. not all businesses in the north think brexit is bad news. some, like fishermen, think it‘s the best thing whichever is ever happened. i have less influence over fisheries policies in the irish sea than government minister from slovakia or any other eu country does. the thing about the irish sea, it's a bit of a pond but 7596 irish sea, it's a bit of a pond but 75% of it falls within uk territorial waters. uk fishermen only can catch a 45% of the quota. the future of the frontier is linked to the outcome of the brexit negotiations which are themselves uncertain. but businesses in the north and south will be hoping that the politics of peace, which dismantled a hard border in the first place, will triumph over politics brexit. just a line of news from the usa concerning all the

various allegations about a supposedly between donald trump‘s presidential campaign and russia and the kremlin and the firing of the fbi director, now we are hearing 20 state attorneys in the usa have called for an independent special counsel to investigate possible russian interference in the us presidential election. so 20 state attorney general is calling for a special counsel to investigate those allegations of russian interference in the election in america. let‘s go back to central london where senior labourfigures are back to central london where senior labour figures are meeting to approve the party‘s general election ma nifesto. approve the party‘s general election manifesto. there has been embarrassment to dame when a draft version was leaked including radical

plans. here is jeremy version was leaked including radical plans. here isjeremy corbyn. let‘s listen to what he has got to save. say. i will come to everybody. listen to what he has got to save. say. i will come to everybodylj will say. i will come to everybody.” will come to everybody. jeremy, the other way. jeromy. thank you very much. can ijust say this, thank you for coming here today. we have just concluded our meeting, our joint meeting of the shadow cabinet and the national executive and we have discussed our manifesto for the general election. we‘ve just unanimously agreed the contents of it. we have amended the draft document that was put forward in the most informed, interesting, sensible

discussion and debate in our party. and we will present it to the british people in the next few days. our manifesto will be an offer and we believe the policies in it are very popular. and offer that will transform the lives of many people in our society. and ensure that we have a government in britain onjune the 8th that will work for the many, not the few, and give everyone in society a decent opportunity and a decent chance so nobody is ignored, nobody is forgotten and nobody is left behind. the details will be published in the next few days. the details will be set out to you, including the costings of all pledges and promises that we make. and i know you are all looking forward to reading it in great detail at that time and at that point, you will be able to ask all the questions you would like. but, today, thank you all very much. can

i say, thank you all are very much for coming today? studio: jeremy corbyn, a fairly brief address to the media. he said thejoint meeting of brief address to the media. he said the joint meeting of the shadow cabinet and national executive have unanimously agreed the labour party ma nifesto unanimously agreed the labour party manifesto which won‘t be published for a few days now and, when it is commonly said, when the details, including costings of the promises are made public, that is the time to a nswer are made public, that is the time to answer questions. he was not taking any questions but they have amended that draft document and did not talk about the leak we have had today, but he didn‘t deny there had been a lea k but he didn‘t deny there had been a leak and he said, in that meeting he‘d said there was a sensible debate and he said what they had to offer would transform the lives of people in britain, nobody would be ignored and details would be

published in the next few days along with full costings of all the labour party pledges. more on the election campaign coming up at four now let‘s talk about david beckham. david beckham has made his speaking debut on the silver screen. he was greeted with cheers at the premiere of the film ‘king arthur: legend of the sword‘ in london although the reception for his cameo performance as a soldier has been mixed as our entertainment correspondent david sillito reports. david beckham. you could probably say he‘s got it all. the footballing talent, the looks, the global fame. and he just looks right on a red carpet. no wonder the movies have called. there are rumours, the legend of the sword of a king other than yourself. find him. this, an all—action retelling of the king arthur story.

it is, of course, far from his first time on screen. he had a cameo in the man from u.n.c.l.e, and was the moody, silent star of this short film. however, there‘s more. i think people are going to love it. obviously, with guy‘s movies, you know what you‘re going to get, but there‘s a few surprises. one of them being, we both see and hear mr beckham‘s acting. right, where do you want me? bouncing on my knee. where do you think i want you? hands on the hilt, stupid! the reaction — more than a few critics have been a bit critical. let‘s have another listen. right, where do you want me? bouncing on my knee. where you think i want you? hands on the hilt, stupid! all these negative comments are terribly unfair, say his defenders. and the director. yeah, i love him. and i think he's great on screen. i find him very talented,

yeah, i love him. david beckham, meanwhile, says he has no plans to take up acting full time. ira chi. he was a very talented football. let‘s not go any further than that. time now for a look at the weather. a lot of fine weather across many parts of the uk particularly so in the northern half. that‘s where the best of is at the moment. cloud and showers, but this pressure system is also dragging in some air from showers, but this pressure system is also dragging in some airfrom a long way south which is fairly humid wafting its way across england and wales. temperatures already into the low 20s. the satellite confirms a lot of places are having a pleasant afternoon. the cloud drifting northwards. a few rumbles of thunder. the showers drifting ever

northwards and turning quite wet in northern ireland. some rain towards the south—east as we head towards dawn but north—eastern areas will stay dry but still quite cloudy across the north sea coast. not particularly cold and it‘s 12—13, quite warm. in the south—west, lots of cloud in the sky, quite low, with showers on the southern half of the uk through the morning but already temperatures 14—15 at 8am. some spells of sunshine in the north—west of england but the north west of england will be quite cloudy with a breeze coming in from the north sea. northern ireland, damp start. western scotland, the best of the sunshine. a real range of temperatures across scotland tomorrow. fine and warm in the west but chilly in the east with the breeze and cloud. showers into the afternoon across much of england and wales. northern england, more

showers moving through. scattered showers moving through. scattered showers in many parts so the odd rumble of thunder and 18—19 the top temperature in the south—east. into the weekend, not a wash—out, they will be some sunshine but showers and after a couple of days a fairly humid weather, turning a good deal of pressure. saturday, the south—east could stay dry for much of the day. most of the showers across the north and west of the uk. temperatures in the upper teens but a bit chilly in the far north—east of scotland. through saturday into sunday, rain to all areas and then it moves through and we get fresh aircoming infrom it moves through and we get fresh air coming in from the atlantic so into sunday, sunny spells and a scattering of showers and certainly a slightly fresher feel to things. this is bbc news. i‘m ben brown.

the headlines at 4pm: the labour party approves its manifesto after it was leaked — it contains plans to renationalise the railways and scrap university tuition fees. we have a manifesto that will work for the many, and not for the few. this is an extremely modern, progressive, progressive set of proposals and it‘s looking to the long term future and most people are extremely excited the bank of england gives a cautious assessment of the economy — warning that 2017 is likely to be the low point for wage growth. this is going to be a more challenging time for british households over the course of this year. wages won‘t keep up with prices for the goods