this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley. the headlines at 11pm: labour's election manifesto is formally approved by the party leadership and will be published within days. jeremy corbyn says it contains policies that will be "very popular". an 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. the bank of england downgrades its forecast for economic growth this year, with a warning of a squeeze on consumer spending. official figures suggest waiting times for some nhs services in england are the worst in five years. coming up on newsnight: the politics, policy and reaction to labour's manifesto so far. is it as radical as we have been told? good evening and

welcome to bbc news. labour's election manifesto has been formally approved by the party leadership and will be published next week. jeremy corbyn said the policies would be fully costed and would prove to be very popular with voters. some of those policies had already been revealed after a version of the document was leaked overnight. it included proposals to re—nationalise the railways and to scrap university tuition fees in england. our political editor laura kuenssberg has more on the campaign events of the day. they wondered what exactly was going on, and you might too. this was meant to be the grand unveiling of a labour poster, albeit on a waste ground in south london. but the party leader was nowhere to be seen. it's got a terrific slogan. jeremy corbyn should have been selling the slogan. he'd been promised as top billing.

but after the astonishing leak of a draft of labour's complete manifesto... ..we were told he had other things to do. mr lavery, mr gwynne, where's mr corbyn? he was meant to be here, mr lavery. he was meant to be here, but things happened and mr corbyn is... ..dealing with internal matters. do you know who leaked your manifesto, mr mcdonnell? no, we don't. mr corbyn‘s closest ally was promising great things. this is an extremely modern, progressive set of proposals. it is looking to the long—term future and most people are extremely excited at what they have seen. the 45—page draft we have seen spells out plans to nationalise the railways, royal mail and parts of the energy industry, to abolish tuition fees in england, to restore some welfare benefits and scrap the bedroom tax and to provide £8 billion for social care. are you angry at the allegations

that your staff leaked the manifesto? in a frenzy over who told the world... reporter: are you responsible for the leak? don't be silly. what do you make of the leak? that was naughty, wasn't it? labour shadow ministers, officials and union bigwigs were due to arrive to sign it off. we are here today to decide the final version and i'm sure it will be an exciting programe that will attract as many voters as possible to the labour party. i'm absolutely certain that ordinary labour voters want an increase in the minimum wage, the abolition of zero hour contracts, agency workers dealt with, with investment in our industries... reporter: and nationalisation? of the railways! eventually, the leader sped in to "dot the is and cross the t‘s." inside, labour's top brass discussed tax rises for the very wealthiest and big business, a ban on fracking, ending arms sales to saudi arabia, but no ban on nuclear weapons. and, afterfour hours, it was eventually agreed, a plan described as the biggest intervention in the state

since the 1970s. but is that how he sees it? i'm naturally to the centre. "i'm naturally to the centre", he says. but for how labour will pay for his grand plans, we will have to wait. we havejust concluded ourjoint meeting of the shadow cabinet and the national executive, and we have discussed our manifesto for the general election. our manifesto will be an offer, and we believe the policies in it are very popular, an offer that will transform the lives of many people in our society. the details will be set out to you, including the costings of all the pledges and promises we make. but the national manifesto, this seeming chaos, for some of his candidates makes not much difference. listen to this. let's get real. the tories are 20 points ahead in the polls. it is the tory manifesto people need to be focussing on and seeing what they are doing in government.

we labour mps are trying to save as many good labour mps as possible so we have a semblance of an opposition after june the 8th. manifesto timing slip—ups aside, this is less radical thanjeremy corbyn and his core supporters might have wished. the task now to persuade voters of its merits. ultimately, what matters is not the clamour over the leak, but what you make of what labour has to offer. sorry, can i get through? jeremy corbyn‘s hope is that the more people understand of him, the more they will like. his internal rivals in the labour party fear the opposite is true, and it's already been a bumpy journey. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. the bank of england has warned of a squeeze on household incomes this year, as the cost of living rises faster than wages. the bank's governor mark carney said he expected only moderate growth for the uk economy. and looking further ahead, he said better prospects depended on the government securing a "smooth" exit from the european union.

our economics editor kamal ahmed has the details. wherever you live, a clear message from the bank. only 17, a year of squeezed incomes, high prices and slower growth. what better news could be coming. mark carney kicked off his mixed message on the uk economy with a warning. this is going to be a more challenging time for british households over the course of this year. real income growth, the user to demolish the —— terminology, will be negative. use theirs, it won't keep up with prices. consumers are split between the worried and those who seem more positives ahead. no matter what you buy in the shops these days, everything has gone up in price.” do think it is going to get worser

when brexit hit hard. i'm not looking forward to the consequences of brexit. we are seeing stability in the uk and that's positive. i think the economy is on the way up. i think you've got no choice but to kind of look where your money is going in terms of shopping, spending, holiday prices obviously going up as well. it's those rising prices the bank is focusing on, saying it expected inflation to rise by 2.7% this year. that is ian sharpe contrast with the rise in earnings which will languish atjust 296. -- earnings which will languish atjust 2%. -- that earnings which will languish atjust 2%. —— that in sharp contrast. there will be a growth upgrade for 2018 and 2019. labour says growth will bounce back. why are you so confident that wage growth will hit 3.75% by the end of 20 —— 2019? confident that wage growth will hit 3.7596 by the end of 20 -- 2019? we are focusing on a smooth brexit

progress, and it takes into which uncertainty will temporarily weighing in on wages. that will dissipate. report today can be neatly summed up in six words. short—term negative, long—term positive. yes, the income squeeze is back for this year, but assumptions that global growth will be stronger, an assumption that the brexit progress will be smooth, has left the bank more bullish. the governor had a warning for all corners of the country, that interest rates may rise more quickly than some expect as the economy strengthens. as long as the economy strengthens. as long as we get that good brexit deal. hospital waiting times in england are at the worst level for five years, according to a study of the latest nhs data. the health foundation, a charity which conducts specialist research, said key targets were being missed and there were longer waits for accident and emergency, cancer treatment and routine operations. our health editor hugh pym has been examining the findings. jim has prostate cancer, he faced long delays

between seeing his gp, going for tests and then having surgery. he's one of a growing number of patients in england facing long waits for cancer treatment. it affected every part of my life. it affected my personal life, my work life because you're waiting around and it becomes more and more clear that you've got something wrong with you. so i went for so long without any treatment at all. at least 85% of patients should start cancer treatment within 62 days of being referred, but that target hasn't been met in england since late 2015. in a civilised country, the nhs has to do better for cancer patients. people shouldn't be waiting more than 62 days for treatment, they deserve much, much better. according to the health foundation think tank, waiting times for key services in england were the worst in five years. 26,000 patients had to wait longer than the two month target

to start cancer treatment. that compares with 14,300 in 2011-12. the number waiting more than the four—hour target for being treated or assessed in a&e was 2.5 million, a sharp increase on the 725,000 with long waits five years before. against a backdrop of rising patient numbers and stretched resources, it's getting harderfor the nhs in england to hit its key performance targets, which are supposed to provide reassurance of high quality care for patients. more and more people are needing to use the nhs. that's not new and it's not unexpected. as a population we're getting older, there are more of us and our health needs are more complicated. but demand on the nhs has historically risen by around 4% per year whereas, from 2009—10, funding has only risen by around 1% per year. nhs england said the march figures were better than proceeding months, but over recent years there's been a steady decline. whoever forms the next government

will have to face up to that. hugh pym, bbc news. president trump appears to have changed his explanation for sacking the head of the fbi james comey. the white house had insisted that mr trump acted on advice from the us justice department. but in a television interview he gave to nbc this evening, mr trump said he'd been intending to sack mr comey in any case because the agency was in "turmoil". our north america editor jon sopel is in washington. the president was in characteristically forthright mood. he didn't pull his punches in this interview. he accused james comey of being a showboat, a grandstand. he left the fbi in turmoil. what i thought was most interesting was the explanation, that on tuesday night and wednesday we were being told the reason he was fired was because the

deputy attorney general had recommended that need to be changed at the top. even in donald trump's letter sacking james comey, he said he received the attached letters from the attorney generals recommending dawsons —— your dismissal. i have accepted that. this is what he said in the interview. did you ask for a recommendation? what i did was i was going to fire james comey. my decision. you made the decision? i was going to fire comey. there is no good time to do it. in the u said you accepted their recommendations. i was going to fire regardless. the white house also said that one of the reasons he was fired was that the reasons he was fired was that the rank and file members of the fbi we re the rank and file members of the fbi were unhappy with him as their leader. but that was contradict that today by the acting who was giving testimony before a senate committee.

the white house have also said today that the other thing that president trump wanted to do was to see that russia was investigate —— the russia investigation completed. and yet the president of twitter this evening that the russia investigation is making america look like a laughing stock to the russians. you place your money and you place your choice. a mother, daughter and a third woman have been charged for what is believed to be the first all—female terror plotting britain. the three women from london were accused of planning a suspected knife attack in westminster, as well as being accused of terrorism offences. all three were charged with conspiracy to murder. one of the most familiar faces on television from the 1960s onwards, geoffrey bayldon, has died at the age of 93. he was perhaps best know as catweazle in the children's television drama in the 70s.

the versatile actor also played the crowman in worzel gummidge, and appeared in other classic series, including drwho, the avengers and the tomorrow people. let's have a quick look at some of the front pages. the leak of labour‘s manifesto makes the times front page, with the paper saying the party is facing civil war. the daily mail is more critical, calling the policies "corbyn‘s fantasy land". the telegraph reports that senior members of the party are distancing themselves from the leadership over the policies. the guardian takes a different angle, saying the party is rallying around the proposals. the independent picks up on the bank of england's latest economic forecasts, which suggest incomes could get squeezed. the financial times notes that japan's soft bank is investing $500 million in a uk tech start—up. the nhs makes the mirror's lead story, with nurses urging the government to end a 1% paycap. the express focuses on what it calls a "dementia crisis", reporting that some families are being forced to pay £100,000 to cover care costs. newsday is coming up at midnight.

now on bbc news it's time for newsnight, with emily maitlis. jeremy! our manifesto will be an offer and we believe the policies in it are very popular. so what will voters make of this offer from jeremy corbyn? tonight, we analyse in full the politics, the policy and the reaction to the leaked manifesto, as we understand it so far. is it really as radical as it looks? it has major spending implications for the country. the voters want to see a bigger state. it's not as if — from what we've seen, at any rate — that they've come up with things that people don't want.