at times, they'll be tough. with theresa may, britain has 3 prime minister with the strength to lead britain through these negotiations, and make a success of the future. the outcome of those negotiations over the next two years is deeply uncertain at the moment. the manifesto reasserts that the conservatives think no deal with the eu is better than a bad deal. so the eu negotiations will probably do more than anything else in the next parliament to determine the health of the british economy, and the chances for any political party to put their promises into practice. let's go back now to our assistant political editor norman smith, in halifax. what more have we learned about theresa may's vision for britain?” think we've learned that theresa may does not want to just be the brexit prime minister. she wants to leave a

much bigger, more ambitious legacy, till just be defined much bigger, more ambitious legacy, tilljust be defined by brexit, even though that would probably determine whether she is viewed as a successful or unsuccessful prime minister. i think we learned that this is mrs may's moment, this, shebelieves cup if she wins the election is her moment of maximum power, when she can drive through the radical changes to social care, intervening in the energy market, taking on gps and consultants in the nhs. this is, if you like, peak may. norman smith, thank you. time for a look at the weather. here's ben rich. if you are caught in a deluge yesterday, we were talking about how dry was in april. it's exceptional to refresh your memory, three millimetres in edinburgh, six millimetres in edinburgh, six millimetres in edinburgh, six millimetres in south—west london. with the rain yesterday and more wet weather in may, things are looking healthier this month, particularly

towards the south—east. it's not been entirely balanced picture. still not that much rain across eastern and northern and eastern parts of scotland. as we have gone through today, we have lost the first batch of rain from yesterday, but there is some more cloud on the way down to the south. an area of low pressure which is going to be throwing some more rain in our direction, but only really getting into the south—east later today. everywhere else, it's a mixture of sunshine and showers. neither particularly wet nor completely dry. some of the showers are quite heavy, gci’oss some of the showers are quite heavy, across northern ireland and western scotla nd across northern ireland and western scotland there could be the rumble of thunder. some hefty showers at times across western fringes of england and wales. further east, across parts of the midlands and lincolnshire, fewer showers, more dry weather and some sunshine, lifting temperatures to around 16-17. it will be lifting temperatures to around 16—17. it will be clouding over across the far south—east, parts of kent, into east anglia will the splashes of rain later this afternoon. there is some uncertainty about how far west the wet weather

will get. as we go through this evening and tonight it looks like the heaviest burst of rain will be confined to the far south—east, east anglia, maybe lincolnshire. further west, the showers fade away. we see clear spells and it will be cold enough for a touch of ground frost in places. there could be the fog patch as well. tomorrow, eastern areas of england will be contending with wet weather. the heaviest burst is likely to be out at sea. patchy rain scraping up the east coast. further west, sunny spells and showers. some of the showers heavy, maybe thundery, particularly towards the south—west. temperatures in the mid teens. saturday, a similar day on the face of it, persistent rain in north and east scotland, elsewhere it is sunshine and showers. some of the showers on the heavy side. temperatures 14—18. as we get into the second half of the weekend, it looks like high pressure will build in from the south, killing off most of the showers. a chilly start on sunday morning. a dry day for many with spells of sunshine and temperatures in the

south—east could get up to 20 celsius. good afternoon i will perry with the latest from the bbc sports centre. players who dive in english football could face bans from next season. the fa will vote on retrospective action at its annual general meeting later today and is expected to approve the proposal. the governing body would need the backing of the premier league, the english football league and the pfa , but they're said to already be in agreement. crystal palace manager sam allardyce isn't as impressed though. well, it is ought of rubbish. because, what about lab that gets books that did not die. what we do with that? what will they do with that? -- with that? what will they do with that? —— that did not die. they will say it is unlucky. the lab that

dives that gets put on it but the lad who did not die of will get publishers. they will have the reserve that somehow. and then bring a sin bin in so we can put him in the sin bin for ten minutes and put him back on and stop paying all these people money to do will be situations in the game. that is ought of rubbish. jose mourinho has asked manchester united fans not to ‘kill him' for fielding a weakened team against crystal palace in their final premier league match on sunday. the united manager wanted the game moved forward a day to give him more time to prepare his side for the europa league final the following wednesday, he also wants sam allardyce's who he's called a good friend to ‘go soft‘ on what's likely to be a second string united side. i never saw any details of trying to be, or trying to care about the

english teams involved in european competitions. i never saw that with chelsea, or manchester united and never saw that with manchester city. last year, i never saw. so, ithink it isjust a lost battle. we have to acce pt it isjust a lost battle. we have to accept the way it is. a swedish top—division fixture between gothenburg and aik has been postponed after an alleged match—fixing attempt.the fixture was due to be played at gothenburg's stadium this evening. the swedish fa claims an aik player was "offered a considerable sum" if he contributed to losing the match. the swedish fa's general secretary described it as a "very serious attack against swedish football", adding, "we will never let this happen." swedish police have started an investigation into the allegation. this is the first instance on this top level we've had about. this has happened quite a bit but in basketball and football in the lower leagues. in 2016 the lower division

had almost 43 players accused of participating in match fixing. to rise to this level is very surprising. the secretary general of the federation says they are decisively to prevent this in the future and they believe the fact that they are educated players on what to do when they are pretty the reason this script in the bud. and european professional club rugby have announced changes to champions cup qualifying and one or more nations could miss out. scotland, ireland, wales and italy currently each have one champions cup spot guaranteed every season. five days after saracens lifted the trophy, it's been confirmed that the top 7 from the pro 12 regardless of nationality will qualify. the top 6 from the premiership and top 6 from the french league will qualify automatically, with the 20th place going to the challenge cup winner. the silver spot you can keep up—to—date on the bbc sports website will stop —— that is all the sport

up—to—date. will stop —— that is all the sport up-to-date. venus williams has taken the first set 6—1. we will have more of the eu in the next ala, see you then. the conservative party has launched its general election manifesto. addressing a crowd in halifax in west yorkshire, the prime minister, theresa may, said her party's aim is to build a ‘stronger, fairer and more prosperous‘ britain and create ‘a great meritocracy‘. her commitments include a strong economy with a pledge to balance the budget by the middle of the next decade.she talked about brexit saying there would be ‘no half in, half out of europe‘ the manifesto also stipulates that a second scottish referendum cannot take place until after the brexit process is complete. and there‘s a fresh commitment to bring down net migration, she said leaving the eu would allow more control. she talks of the rising cost of social care in england due to an ageing society, new plans say no—one will have to sell their property in their lifetime to fund residential or home care, but there will be a new floor of £100,000.

and she said nhs spending would increase by a minimum of £8 billion in real terms over the next five years. the manifesto commits more money to schools — partly paid for by ending free lunches for infants. theresa may outlined her policies on social care and public services earlier. the government i lead will build a briton in which the economy is strong. to support world—class public services with the most ambition is programme of investment in technology and building the nhs has ever seen. record and the funding for schools. real technical education for young people in the first ever proper plan to pay for and fired social care. because strong public services do notjust

provide security and in hands opportunity, they are vital local and national institutions the first ever proper plan to pay for and fired social care. because strong public services do notjust provide security and in hands opportunity, they are vital local and national institutions that bring us all together. labour leaderjeremy corbyn also gave his reaction to the conservative policy on social care. he was speaking to radio two‘s jeremy vine very, very bad idea. social care costs can be enormous, as much as 50,000 a year for somebody to be looked after in a care home. we have a million people who are not getting the social care they need. they are often in desperate situations. we have people unable to leave hospital, often frail and elderly because they do not have a social ca re because they do not have a social care package available for them because the budget and cut so much. and we have adults with learning difficulties, or with multiple disabilities or extreme needs who do

not get the support they need. somebody in the family has to give up somebody in the family has to give up thejob, theircareer somebody in the family has to give up the job, their career in order to look after them and it is nearly always women. if this policy the a nswer to always women. if this policy the answer to the last, to say if you have a house we will take off the value of your own house? it is actually a tax on a tax on people that got extreme needs and i think we as that got extreme needs and i think weasa that got extreme needs and i think we as a society should extend the principle of the national health service that we want to make sure we ca re service that we want to make sure we care for everybody. let‘s discuss these issues further, and talk to drjon stanley a health research fellow at the centre right thinktank the bow group. hejoins us now from our studio in edinburgh thank you. what do you make of the conservative‘s policies on social care. everyone knows it is an area of policy that needs to be addressed. this is the conservative party‘s answer.

addressed. this is the conservative party's answer. i think given that it is such an important area it is disappointing that we seem to have gone at least seven years back if not further. we had a report out that was meant to give reassortment is against catastrophic haircuts, and to value home ownership and it was meant to restore intergenerational contracts. —— catastrophic curb cuts. we see a continuation of this idea that you either pay everything or nothing at all. all that is really happened is that they have increased the amount you are allowed to keep from 23 £200,000. but, there is no paper on that. if you have very high kenny ts, that. if you have very high kenny ‘s, if you had a dense stroke, and you have an asset base of £300,000, you have an asset base of £300,000, you can burn your way down to £100,000 in less than four years. what we would like to see in our

group is that there should be a cap on costs but not by asset is its should be by tapping all costs after five years, making sure the nursing component is provided by the nhs. i think that given the pace of the election campaign that this could have had more attention paid to it when huge amount of work was done by david cameron, george osborne and by the liberal democrats in coalition. we seem to throw in the whole lot in the bin. they does not seem to be much of a plan to replace it. your concept of a cap, as an alternative, could the country afford that? yes, we‘ll look at the data the whole point of a five—year cap is that very few people ever need to get beyond five years in long—term care, but if they do they can be that the

many years maybe ten years. the very small cost which will in the end only cover a small number of people you end up giving everyone the peace of mind that they are protected. in some cases it might be up to half £1 million. the conservative manifesto and the conservative party say they are providing more peace of mind because they are saying that he will because they are saying that he will be able to pass on to your children at least £100,000 that is ring fenced? is the whole point about conservatism is that you have capitalism and you have family together, there was nothing wrong with succeeding in life. in the home counties, for example if you pass on £100,000 to maybe two children, that will not even cover the deposit for basic house. whereas in the past families worked hard, they strive and they put money away is they could invest in their families so that each generation improved. it is

the intergenerational capitalism thatis the intergenerational capitalism that is the core of conservativism and we seem to have missed this here. very interesting. and today at 5.30pm on bbc news we will be putting your questions about the conservative manifesto to iain duncan smith, the former cabinet minister and of course tory party leader. you can get in touch via twitter, you can text us your questions and you can text us your questions and you can text us your questions and you can e—mail us. many gp surgeries across the uk are on the "brink of collapse" because of underfunding and staff shortages, according to the doctors‘ union. the chair of the british medical association‘s gp committee will use a speech in edinburgh to accuse politicians of a "callous disregard of the health needs of citizens", as our health correspondent jane dreaper reports. individual gp practices have become

frighteningly vulnerable according to their union. the bma says that doctors are facing an avalanche of work which is piling up and that all parts of the uk have struggled to recruit sufficient numbers of gps. leaders of the uk‘s 51,000 family doctors are calling on the next government to increase nhs funding and give general practice a bigger share of it. the gp service is precious and overstretched. it needs to be used responsibly but more than anything else you need the resources to be able to provide a proper health service if proper health you are to try and deliver the aims of any civilised nation. health ministers in all parts of the uk have run programmes to recruit more gps and nhs england announced a funding plan to support general practice a year ago. but the bma say there have been delays and in that money reaching some areas. it says patients can play their part as well

by using services responsibly. almost 2,000 species of plants have been discovered in the past year but many are already at risk of extinction. the royal botanic gardens at kew has released its annual assessment of the state of the world‘s plants and is calling for more to be done to protect them as helen briggs reports. into the forest in search of new plants. anything rare that has not been seen before is taken back to be nurtured and studied. from tiny waterlilies to strange, carnivorous plants. plants underpin all aspects of human living, from the air we breathe that to medicine and fuel. all life on earth relies upon plants. we have to take extinction very seriously. we still tend to put plants into the category of looking nice in the garden.

we need to think about them as being fundamental to what we are. they are the natural capital of life on earth for humans. almost 2000 species of plant have been discovered in the past year alone. here in kew, there are many of the world‘s most precious plants. some are as endangered as the white rhino. scientists say we have a better picture than ever before the value of the world‘s plants. and we have a duty to protect them. about 20% of the world‘s plants are at risk of extinction. the race is on to stop some being lost for good. in a moment a summary of the business news this hour but first, the headlines on bbc news... theresa may has launched the conservative manifesto

in halifax, announcing plans for a major shake—up of social care funding in england, a watering—down of the government‘s pensions guarantee, and the introduction of means testing for the winter fuel allowance. president trump has said a special prosecutor appointed to lead a probe into alleged russian interference in last year‘s election will find there was no collusion by his campaign team. the former tv presenter rolf harris is being released on bail from stafford prison tomorrow. the veteran entertainer is currently on trial accused of indecently assaulting three girls between 1971 and 1983. hello, good afternoon. the business news. spend, spend,, spend. that seems to be what we are doing. retail salesjumped 2.3% in april from the previous month and by 4% compared with april last year. the office for national statistics said sales rose thanks to easter falling later this year.

the year—on—yearjump was far higher than expected and was helped by warmer weather, according to retailers. we‘ll have more on this shortly. sterling jumped on news of the april rebound in retail sales, which followed official data in march showing that sales suffered their biggest fall in seven years. the value of sterling rose, hitting $1.30, its highest level since 29 september. royal mail‘s annual profits have jumped 25% thanks to better—than—expected growth in its parcel delivery business. parcel deliveries rose 9% thanks to shoppers‘ insatiable appetite for online shopping, although the number of letters posted fell by 6%. warmer weather helped retail sales to rise by more than expected last month, according to official data. the figures from the office for national statistics revealed that retail sales rose by 2.3% compared with the month before. that‘s helped the pound to rise above $1.30 against the us dollar. the surge in retailfigures came

as a surprise to analysts, beating expectations after the 1.4% fall in the first quarter of the year. joining me now is diane werhle retail analyst, spring board. the figures are well a bit of a roller—coaster, dipping in march, up in april, we find more not? we were buying more in april, certainly in volume which is what the figures show. i think there are a number of factors. certainly, the low figures in march and the high figures in april suggests somewhat of a deferral of spending. the weather was poor in march, easter was deferred and although the figures are seasonably adjusted, there is discussion as to whether they are adjusted enough. there was some shifting in spending towards later in the next month. so, with that in

mind, how much of an indicator can we ta ke mind, how much of an indicator can we take this latest set of figures as far of the health of the economy as far of the health of the economy asa as far of the health of the economy as a whole. it is a little bit early to look at this one and say it is a boom, boom, boom. some of the factors that play our part of consumers trying to out when inflation. buying goods now as they know inflation will increase later. what we‘re seeing is that the figures represent football, people are certainly visiting stores and the late easter helped and the wea kness the late easter helped and the weakness of the pound meant we had a lot more overseas tourists is which helped for four and the sales numbers. also, people stayed at home so numbers. also, people stayed at home so rather than going abroad because it cost more there were more staycations. we saw the impact in volumes of activities in coastal pounds and historic towns. interesting those factors you touch on, because yesterday we had figures

out showing the average wage increases do not keep up with price roaches, logic would suggest that people would not be spending because they do not feel as well off the figures suggest the opposite. yes, they do for this month and think there is a certain amount of trying to beat inflation and buy products that people have been wanting for a while and looking at and comparing an instant. buying it now before the prices rise as it is all forecast to do so over the next humans. wire think you. —— over the next few months. staying with retail as like—for—like sales at supermarket giant asda were down in the first quarter. they are slightly better than the decline in the final three months of 2016 and considerably better than the 5.8% slide in the three months to september. greggs has served up a good start to the year, helped by growing demand for its £2 breakfast deal and for

its salads and wraps. total sales rose in the first 19 weeks of 2017, with like—for—like sales up 3.6%. however, the high street bakery chain said the prospects for sales "remains uncertain in the context of slowing growth in disposable incomes". and facebook is being fined 100m euros by the european commission for giving misleading information over its purchase of whatsapp in 2014. calling it a "proportionate and deterrent fine", the european commission said facebook claimed it could not automatically match user accounts with those on whatsapp, but two years later launched a service that did just that. the ftse 100 is down in common with all the main european markets today reflecting losses on the us markets like the dow and asian markets overnight, because of the political turmoil in washington dc. we‘re seeing a stronger pound too — partly because the dollar has weakened — but also because of those strong uk retail sales figures.

a strong pound tends to weigh on the ftse100, because a lot of multinational companies listed earn revenue abroad and so they get fewer pounds when they convert those earnings into sterling. royal mail shares are up thanks to the increase in parcel deliveries. that‘s all the business news. signed, sealed, delivered. laughter thank you. a member of japan‘s royal family, princess mako, is to surrender her royal status by marrying a former university classmate. princess mako, who is the eldest granddaughter of emperor akihito, is getting engaged to 25—year—old law firm worker, kei komuro. japan‘s imperial law requires a princess to leave the royal family after marrying a commoner. the move is expected to re—ignite debate on royal succession, as the 83—year—old emperor is expected to abdicate soon. much more coming up from me at the

top of the hour. time for a look at the weather... good afternoon we have had some particularly dry weather in recent weeks and months. yesterday we had some particularly wet weather. you can see this big lump of cloud that swept can see this big lump of cloud that swe pt a cross can see this big lump of cloud that swept across many parts of the country, heavy rain was the south—east. on the face of it we have lost that wet weather but there is another lump of cloud waiting in the wings down here across the near continent and that will be printing some rain across southern and eastern parts of the country later on today. before that there will be some dry weather, sunshine, that was the scene in south lanarkshire. some shower clouds bubbling up. we will see some sunshine and showers this afternoon. some heavy showers across northern ireland, northern and western scotland. some good sunny brea ks western scotland. some good sunny breaks in between. some of the showers across the western fringes of wales in the south—west of

england will be a heavy side. the midlands, lincolnshire into east anglian not many showers more dry. generally, the still be clouding over with rain which will set in for some as we go into the evening. the heaviest will remain confined in areas to the east of london, and east anglia. whether west just areas to the east of london, and east anglia. whether westjust past the derry patchy rain. further west, the derry patchy rain. further west, the showers fade. temperatures will be low enough for a touch of frost. in two to marry eastern areas of england will have to content with the heaviest rain will be out in the north sea. just some patchy rain clipping across the east coast. further west another day of sunshine and showers, some heavy side maybe with a run of thunder particularly down to the south and south west. temperatures 15, 16 but a bit chillier stuck across the cloud on the east lost. saturday, cloudy and wet weather goes to scotland.

elsewhere sunshine and showers. some showers will be heavy. temperatures 12-18 showers will be heavy. temperatures 12 — 18 degrees. the second half of the weekend will see the high pressure building its way to the south and will give a chilly night saturday into sunday. it also means on sunday day are a lot of dry weather, a fair amount of sunshine, perhaps a cloud and rain into the far west. and more of the southerly wind which will feel a bit warmer. 20 degrees across the south—east. the weekend can be summed up like this, not completely dry but not wet either. the mixture of sunshine and showers. that is all by me, for now. this is bbc news. i‘m ben brown. the headline at 2pm. theresa may launches the conservative manifesto with a promise to tackle the "big challenges" facing britain, including a shake—up of social care. on brexit — the prime minister promises a fair deal — but predicts the next 5 years will be "among the most challenging in our lifetime". come with me as i lead britain,

strengthen my hand as i fight for britain, and stand with me as i deliver for britain, and stand with me as i deliverfor britain. britain, and stand with me as i deliver for britain. i'm sophie long live in halifax where the prime minister unveiled a raft of policy pledges and asked voters to strengthen her hand as she fights for britain. also this hour — more pressure on president trump. a former fbi boss is brought in to investigate russia‘s role in the us election — and its ties with him.