the this is bbc news. the headlines: the prime minister has insisted that the conservative position on tax hasn't changed — that's after a senior cabinet minister appeared to go further than commitments outlined in the conservative manifesto. oui’ our position hasn't changed from that we sat out —— setter in the ma nifesto. that we sat out —— setter in the manifesto. the conservative party has been and always will be a low tax party. that follows theresa may and jeremy corbyn‘s grilling on a special edition of question time. the prime minister was criticised on nhs funding levels. mr corbyn was heckled when he avoided questions about using nuclear weapons. ariana grande makes a surprise visit to fans injured in the terror attack at her gig last week, ahead of her benefit concert tomorrow evening. hope for ovarian cancer patients, as a new drug shows promising results, shrinking tumours. also in the next hour, beavering away to protect

against floods. how an army of expert engineers are employing the wood gnawing rodent to build flood defences for free. and at 12:30pm: a look at how social media can impact the general election. that's click, coming up in half an hour. good morning and welcome to bbc news. theresa may has insisted the party's position on income tax has not changed, despite the defence secretary claiming that the conservative party would not raise income taxes even for high earners. labour said low errors had had no guarantee over their tax.

the prime minister is speaking at an event in dewsbury and west yorkshire, when the bbc asked her for clarification. our position hasn't changed from that set out the manifesto. what people will know when they go to vote on thursday is that it is the conservative party that has and always will be a low tax party and it is our intention to reduce taxes for ordinary working families. we will raise the personal allowance to 12,500 and raise the 40% threshold up to 50,000. the choice is simple for people on thursday. a conservative party that has always believed in we know means higher taxes for all and ordinary working people paying the price. theresa may and jeremy corbyn have faced tough questions from a tv audience, just days before the general election. they were challenged separately in a special edition of question time in york. mrs may faced uncomfortable questions about nhs funding. while mr corbyn faced a robust exchange over whether he would use the uk's nuclear deterrent.

they came here hoping to persuade people that they have what it takes to lead the country. no—one expected an easy ride but from the start it was clear that this would be a testing evening. theresa may was accused of being untrustworthy, of changing her mind on calling an election and on policies like social care. others were angry about funding for schools and hospitals. my wage slips from 2009 reflect exactly what i am earning today so how can that be fair? we have had to take some hard choices across the public sector in relation to public sector pay restraint. we did that because of the decisions we had to take to bring public spending under control because it wasn't under control under the last labour government. brexit is why theresa may says she called this election. she said she was determined to deliver. we take this opportunity of brexit,

new trade deals around the rest of the world, actually seeing how we can build a more prosperous, stronger and fairer britain. i think we can do that and i think we can do that because i believe in britain and i believe in the british people. forjeremy corbyn, this was a chance to prove he's ready to take the topjob in politics. he was unapologetic about plans to raise taxes for companies and higher earners. where are the skilled workers going to come from tomorrow? where are going to be the consumers of tomorrow? i think it's time that we looked at inequality in our society and used public investment in order to improve services and give real chances to everybody. poverty is a waste. but mr corbyn had his most difficult moment when he was pressed to say whether he'd ever use nuclear weapons to defend britain? would you allow north korea or some idiot in iran to bomb us and then say, oh, we better start talking? you would be too late? you would have to do it first.

no, of course not. the general election is less than a week away and this was a great opportunity for voters to see both the people who want to be prime minister. yes, setting out their vision, but also coming under real pressure over policies and both hope that this will be the moment when the public swings behind them. 0ur political correspondent tom batemanjoins me now from south yorkshire. interesting answer to your question about tax because it sounded pretty different of what michael fallon told the daily telegraph, that high tax earners could be confident of not getting a tax rise. that is not quite what theresa may said to you. yes, he was unequivocal. higher earners could go to the polls in five days' time and be safe in the

knowledge that their income tax rates would not go up. that appeared to go further than what was in the conservative party manifesto which spokein conservative party manifesto which spoke in language a firm intentions and pledged not to increase vat but there was no unequivocal pledge not to raise income tax. theresa may did not reflect michael fallon‘s language when invited to. she spoke of the firm intention to reduce tax rate for ordinary working families but nothing for higher earners or whether they would freeze and contacts across the board. i think there is a tension between the party between the prime minister not wanting to box herself in. the government had to perform a pretty embarrassing u—turn over increases to national insurance earlier in the year when the previous manifesto

said there would be none. theresa may will have that firmly in her mind. with five days to go, on the other hand, they are keen to appeal to the traditional conservative base and those they are worried will not be bothered to vote, by giving clear promises —— but giving clear promises —— but giving clear promises is tricky. an interesting remark earlier, when she reminded her audience, which presumably is full of activists that will turn up, if i lose six seats, i will turn up, if i lose six seats, i will lose my majority. she reflected a lane that she had written in the yorkshire post in an opinion piece yesterday where she said the same thing, that if they

lose six seats, they will have their majority under threat. they have referred to that throughout the campaign, the notion that things could be on a knife edge. the stakes to get those traditional voters to come out and vote. she was asked if she was concerned about the narrowing in the polls. if those are to be believed, it would lead to some concern within the conservative camp and that is why we are seeing them trying to reinforce some of the core m essa 9 es them trying to reinforce some of the core messages as well suggesting what they think will be a doomsday scenario that she would a coalition government that she believes with jeremy corbyn and other parties would be a disasterfor jeremy corbyn and other parties would be a disaster for britain and

she painted that image again here in dewsbury today. so try to reinforce that core message. thanks very much for being with us. let us cross to lincoln werejeremy corbyn is at age concern in lincoln, talking to some of the campaigns volunteers. let's hear what he has to say. i'm not totally fixed on this, that's my general view, but i want to know it is they are. but also that we don't just looked to know it is they are. but also that we don'tjust looked at care homes, we also look at care in the homes, we also look at care in the home and the support given near, because that is often as important. at the moment, people if they need

it gets visits, the visits are often far too short. they are often from agency workers who may be very good oi’ agency workers who may be very good or may not be but they don't get to know the person and has come there one day, do 15 minutes and go. it is a very private thing having a killer come into your home. it is a very private situation any need to build a relationship that the person. i full story for care workers and the distress they are put through. for example, i went to see an old gentleman recently who sadly has passed away now, and he was getting ca re passed away now, and he was getting care and his care worker was very nice and came twice a day for 15 minutes and any had go somewhere else, and he wasn't paid, he was only paid when he got to the place. he showed me has played for the day and it was ludicrous. he was running from place to place for 15 minutes ata time

from place to place for 15 minutes at a time and then came back in the day, unpaid, just to see how he was doing. a really decent guy. and he is paid the minimum wage and it is a highly responsiblejob. is paid the minimum wage and it is a highly responsible job. i is paid the minimum wage and it is a highly responsiblejob. i want is paid the minimum wage and it is a highly responsible job. i want to professionalise the care work but without, and you will understand this because you're in the same union, without taking away what i believe the qualification of experience with a lot of people that have done care work for many years with no specific qualifications but are brilliant at doing it. i'm working with all those that are in it. and encouraging local authorities to run care homes. and when care homes go out of business, and some are, they should be taken over by local authorities. i'm keen to have independent inspection. something things happen in care

homes that is pretty awful at times and has to be an independent form of inspection. everybody must have an independent place to go to to complain about something, that's pa rt complain about something, that's part of a democracy. lama part of a democracy. i am a nurse at the local hospital. elderly people coming every day, they sit for hours on end waiting to see a nurse or doctor, then when they get to the words, the words are not probably staffed. he cannot guarantee them anything. the nurses' wages have been cut and the are getting much training. can you tell us getting much training. can you tell us what you would do about that? nurses have had a pay cut for seven yea rs. nurses have had a pay cut for seven years. all health workers have. there are insufficient statutory protection levels of staffing. i met

a group of trainee nurses at the university in worcester. i met 15 or 20 of them. they were of mixed background, and each range from the mid—20s to the mid—40s and all of them had done otherjobs in different ways before, either in retail or care. they had been in lots of different things. you wanted to ta ke lots of different things. you wanted to take up nursing. brilliant, great, i'm sure they will all be good because they have been round the block about and understood life, which is good. i ask them and all of them said to me about the last bursary that if they were not getting it they would not do the course. 0nly getting it they would not do the course. only one said they could just about manage it. all the others said, i've got children, me and my

husband are just about managing but could not afford the fees. i asked what they would be doing if not this and they said they would go back to working in tesco. that is fine, it isajob, working in tesco. that is fine, it is a job, good, working in tesco. that is fine, it is ajob, good, well done, but she wa nted is ajob, good, well done, but she wanted to be a nurse. if you take the nurse bursary away, where are the nurse bursary away, where are the nursery is —— the nurses tomorrow? they would be a crisis. we will bring back the nurse bursary to bring people back you have life experience and there will be good nurses because of it. i've made that very clear. jeremy corbyn speaking there. dan johnson is outside the office. is there in the sense that the labour party is pushing hard on the older

person's vote because it used to be thought of that everybody is different but the overall older demographic is more inclined to vote for conservative and more inclined to turn out to vote. yes, the liberal party are trying to appeal to both ends of the age spectrum —— the labour party. he is putting the emphasis back on the social care policy because they think that somewhere that the tories are struggling after the policy announcement and theresa may being challenged on that and struggling to a nswer challenged on that and struggling to answer with details. at the same time, labour have made big promises about scrapping student tuition fees. as well as helping older people with care fees and that triple lock on the pension, also making promises to students, particularly about grants and fees.

that is why the conservatives have said that labour's plans are not affordable and they cannot do everything for everyone all the time. but they are feeling positive about last night. they recognise jeremy corbyn was on the back foot at times last night over the nuclear deterrent and the ira. we haven't heard more about this issue of the conservatives promising no tax rises. that is a big issue with jeremy corbyn promising tax rises but only the top 15% of earners earning that —— feeling that rise. he is also putting up corporation tax to pay for the things that he says he needs across the generations including social care. you heard him talking about the pay that nurses get. jeremy corbyn feeling positive

after the debate last night and out and about campaigning but certainly with more to do to prove that his ma nifesto with more to do to prove that his manifesto is delivering and that the numbers add up. properly rebuking me there. it is of course age uk. let's look at the flowers. there is nothing wrong with looking at the flowers on a saturday morning. that isa bargain. flowers on a saturday morning. that is a bargain. if she has got time to stop and buy flowers then she could do worse than getting a cactus. four is to weave or go back to theresa may when we have those pictures later in the afternoon.

liberal democrat candidate simon hughes has unveiled a poster attacking the conservative plans for social care. we will have more election coverage during the afternoon. the singer ariana grande has visited fans in hospital who were injured in the terror attack at her manchester concert. the star spent time with youngsters at the royal manchester children's hospital in a surprise appearance ahead of a benefit concert in the city tomorrow. meanwhile, police investigating the bombing have made another arrest. simonjones reports. the smiles say it all. fans like this eight—year—old lily harrison who was still recovering from her injuries in hospital, meeting the singer who means so much to them. the children had been getting ready for bed when the star arrived unexpectedly, bringing gifts and signing autographs. we were the last room on the ward she came to visit so the excitement was building and heap came skipping in and as you can there were thanks as

well for the nurses. and tomorrow she will perform at a concert to raise funds for the victims and their families. the 22 lives lost have been remembered at saint ann's square which has become the focal point for those wish to pay tribute, to contemplate and to grieve. manchester city council says that this may be the last weekend the flowers remain in place as it needs to look at relocating them respectfully. it will now consider setting up a permanent memorial in the city. it is a must. the 22 who died... ..just have to have something that is a testament to what happened. i think people will want to come forever, just to pay their respects, really because, as i say, it should not have happened and they were babies, weren't they? and should have been the night of their life and it wasn't. it is sad. a big heart with all of the names on the date of birth of all of them would be a good idea.

alongside the remembrance, the police operation goes on. last night a car was taken away which they say could be significant to their investigation. police will be out again in force for tomorrow's concert. the headlines on bbc news: the prime minister has insisted that the conservative position on tax hasn't changed, after a senior cabinet minister appeared to go further than commitments outlined in the conservative manifesto. theresa may and jeremy corbyn's grilling on a special edition of question time. the prime minister was questioned on nhs funding. the labour leader was heckled when he avoided questions about using nuclear weapons. ahead of her benefit concert tomorrow evening, ariana grande makes a surprise visit to the manchester royal childrens hospital, visiting fans injured in the terror attack. an early and small scale trial of a new drug to combat ovarian

cancer has shown promising results, according to researchers. the drug shrank tumours in almost half of the 15 women in the advanced stages of the disease who took part. here's our health correspondent, sophie hutchinson. marianne heath has advanced ovarian cancer. there are very few drugs to treat this type of cancer and the ones that exist can no longer help her. so she says when she was asked to take part in a trial for a new drug shejumped at the chance. well, i decided to go on the trial because there were no other way out for me, there were no options presented so it was the trial orjust radiotherapy so i decided to do the trial first. the trial, run by the institute of cancer research and the royal marsden, aims to test the safety of the new drug known as 0nx—0801. it involved just 15 women all with advanced ovarian cancer. the result, tumours shrank significantly in almost half of the women over the course of five weeks.

one of the fantastic things about this new drug that's being developed here is that it has so few side—effects, compared to traditional chemotherapy. and that's because it specifically targets cancer cells, leaving healthy cells unharmed. this drug attacks the tumour and you see very encouraging tumour responses but you don't see the common side—effects like hair loss or sore mouth or diarrhoea or susceptible to infections as seen with other chemotherapy. but the scientists are urging caution. they say it was a very small study and it's too early to know whether the success could be replicated in a larger group of patients. they now want to plan the next phase of the trial. sophie hutchinson, bbc news. the consumer group which is calling on british airways to create an automatic compensation system for passengers affected by serious flight delays and cancellations.

it comes a week after a major it failure caused hundreds of the airline's flights to be grounded. the images of the week from ba. passengers waiting for flights, some of which ended up being cancelled. the compensation bill could exceed £100 million for the airline. ba says it will treat customers fairly and refund legitimate expenses but consumer advocates say that is not enough. in a letter to the chief executive it says compensation should be automatic for passengers out of pocket. they should not have to apply directly to airlines for a refund. an automated system would save time and money for ba as well as prevent companies from making profit from misery of others. people are entitled to money but they are not given it automatically. passengers are often not realising what they are entitled to. the airlines can pay compensation because they know what flight you were on and what you are entitled to and we think that

should be the rules. there are other sectors in energy and water where you are automatically paid compensation if you do not receive the sevice. in response, ba said it had put additional resources into its call centres to process claims quickly as possible. one group that is not out of pocket are investors in ba's parent company. its shares were up this week despite the woe endured by customers. to understand politics and how people vote in northern ireland, you have to understand just how

important identity is. that is expressed in a whole range of ways like music, dancing, all kinds of culture. most people here regard themselves are coming from one of two traditions. they see themselves as either british or irish. those routes run very deep. the reality is that traditions like this they are important both politically and personally. it does indeed. being part of a band allows me to stand up for what i believe in and make sure our heritage and tradition never goes away. and heritage and tradition are important for all communities. most people —— and most protestants fought for unionist candidates and catholics for irish candidates. but thatis catholics for irish candidates. but that is not always the case. that does give you the idea that there are two separate communities and thatis are two separate communities and that is expressed in different ways. there are different sports played by

different communities and there is also a lot shared across what some people see as a divide. definitely. i believe in the north of ireland that both cultures should be respected equally. no one is greater than the other. i do believe that the nhs and education, especially the recent cuts should be looked at in more detail. that is a political thing in common with the two. beyond that, looking at culture, you can see all things in common. between scots and irish dancers, flute bands and irish traditional musicians. society has a lot that it shares. sometimes it can be difficult for politicians to see across what is seen as a traditional divide. now the weather. those showers heading across

scotland, where they will be heavy and potentially if you some wonder —— thunderstorms. some of the showers will continue, particularly across northern ireland and scotland through the evening, but most of us should turn dry with a relatively cool night. tomorrow, more of the same with sunny spells. more showers across northern england in the morning and plenty in northern ireland and scotland. clouding over across the south west and wales. hello, this is bbc news, the headlines.

the prime minister has insisted that the conservative position on tax hasn't changed, after a senior cabinet minister appeared to go further than commitments outlined in the conservative manifesto. 0ur position on tax has not changed, we set it out in the manifesto. what people will know when they go to vote is that the conservative party a lwa ys vote is that the conservative party always will be a low tax party. that follows theresa may and jeremy corbyn's grilling on a special edition of question time. the prime minister was questioned on nhs funding. the labour leader was heckled when he avoided questions about using nuclear weapons. ahead of her benefit concert tomorrow evening, ariana grande makes a surprise visit to the manchester royal children's hospital, visiting fans injured in the terror attack. more news at the top of the hour,

but now over to mike bushell at the bbc sport centre. good morning. the british and irish lions macro have started their tour with a win over the provincial barbarians, but not as convincing as they liked against a team of five timers. the fireworks in whangarei were part of the build—up, they should have been easy for the tourists, johnny sexton missed a penalty before landing the first point of the tour. blunt in attack, they were brittle at the back, as the baa—baas looked more likely to roar. they fell short at their first attempt, but scored through maintenance engineer sam anderson had. and warren gatland's son, bryn added to the total. resistance was stubborn until 0wen

farrell entered the fray. replacing sexton, he seized his chance to claim the fly—half position, setting up claim the fly—half position, setting up anthony watson for the try, which she then converted. you might have turned the game, but he couldn't add any polish to an overall poor