this is bbc news. the headlines at 11:00: ten candidates have been confirmed tonight after gaining enough support from fellow tory mps. they face the first ballot on thursday. vying for the top job — some launched their campaigns today. the winner should be in place by the end ofjuly. the end of free tv licences for most over 75s, but the bbc says the poorest pensioners still won't have to pay. a nurse has been rearrested by police investigating the deaths of babies at the countess of chester hospital's neonatal unit one person has died after a helicopter crashed onto the roof of a high—rise building in new york.

and at 11:30 we'll be taking an in—depth look at the papers with our reviewers katy balls, the deputy political editor at the spectator, and the political commentator, lance price. good evening. the race to become the next conservative leader and prime minister is officially under way. the names of the ten candidates who have gained enough support from fellow tory mps were announced this evening in westminster. they all now face the first ballot on thursday, when conservative mps will cast their votes. the result of the first round will be known by lunchtime. the candidates will be whittled down further by tory mps in three more ballots , ending on the 20thjune — when just two candidates remain. then the conservative party membership gets its say — around 160,000 of them can vote from the 22nd june.

the final result will be announced in the week ofjuly 22nd, when we should have a new prime minister. 0ur political editor laura kuenssberg reports. a wet monday morning in central london, the first official day of the rest of all of our lives, in a way. time to meet the tribe of tories who want to be the next prime minister. i am an optimist, because i believe in people. the health secretary, matt hancock. isn't it extremely optimistic to imagine you might ultimately win this race? what this country needs is to turn a page, to move forward, to have that energy and to reignite politics again. because, frankly, it has been stuck in a rut. but there are plenty of others vying for attention. believe it or not, the next

event is just downstairs. the man who already tried to negotiate brexit, but quit over the deal, is running, too. applause now he says he will take a tougher approach. we won't deliver brexit with bluff and bluster. i am a conviction brexiteer with a plan, the discipline and the focus to lead us out by the end of october. you say you can get a different deal with the eu, which they have completely ruled out again and again. 0r leave without a deal, which parliament probably wouldn't allow, unless you really are serious about suspending the house of commons. the one thing i haven't done, which other candidates have, is take things off the table, which only weaken our negotiating leverage in brussels. the candidates have some things in common, beyond of course being all ambitious tories. they have all held office, five are in the current cabinet and for all of them, untangling the brexit mess is the biggest question.

even for the big hitters, there is no easy way through. i think they understand... to a packed room of the tory establishment. the foreign secretary said he would try to change the brexit deal again. we need tough negotiation, not empty rhetoric. having talked to many european leaders, i believe that if we show determination, ingenuity, and confidence, there is a deal to be done. he'd try to change the brexit deal again. what is it that european leaders are saying to you privately about the possibility of a new deal that is the opposite to what they say publicly, which is that there cannot be? i had conversations last week with angela merkel, emmanuel macron, and there is a willingness to engage. one of those braving the rain and the race says none of the other candidates are being realistic. i still haven't heard anybody else set out a credible plan to deliver brexit.

i'm the only candidate that has been honest enough to say that we have to keep no deal on the table, but we are not going to leave on the 31st of october. but a candidate who quit the cabinet over brexit insists it can be done. what we need now is a leader who can deliver on brexit by the end of october, and then take us into the amazing future that awaits the united kingdom. and she's not the only one. esther mcvey, who also resigned over europe, said it has to happen. the trust with the public was broken when we didn't come out on the 29th of march. equally, that corrosive uncertainty for business and individuals has come from this never—ending what are we doing. you could hardly move round here for people who want to be prime minister. upstairs, sajid javid, the home secretary, who's in the middle of the pack. for my colleagues and, i think, the members of the party, they are all listening, they are all listening to the messages that are coming from the candidates

and they will decide. at what they want ultimately is an election winner. and i think i can prove that. because it will be tory members and mps, not you or me, who choose the next prime minister. 1.3 million views. even though this candidate is travelling all around the country making his case. i am the only person who is not making huge unfunded spending and tax promises. everybody seems to be competing like a bizarre bonanza. whether they or you like it or not, boris johnson is still the frontrunner. are you confident? thank you so much. still keeping carefully schtum for now, bundled away by his supporters. michael gove! applause there is no escaping the vitriol from the race last time, already raising its head from his rival, then and now. mrjohnson, whatever you do, don't pull out. laughter. i know you have before.

laughter. and i know you may not believe in your heart that you can do it. but the conservative party membership deserve a choice. so let's have a proper race. he has his own trouble, though, admitting cocaine use nearly 20 years ago. i have acknowledged i made a mistake. i also believe that if you made a mistake and you have fallen from high standards, you shouldn't subsequently lower the standards, you should reflect on your mistake. now, the tory backbench ruling body has made it official. and the first ballot will be held on thursday... mps will campaign and collude in earnest. the contest that started so long ago is now properly under way. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. the central issue for all ten candidates is of course brexit. so where do they all stand on that and other policy areas? here's our chief political correspondent vicki young. well, it is a pretty crowded field. here they all are hoping to be our

next prime minister. the first round of voting for conservative mps is on thursday and before that many are using campaign launches to lay out some of their key messages. now, of course, their approach to brexit is going to be one of the most scrutinised areas. one group argues that the uk must leave the eu on the 31st of october, with or without a deal. they include boris johnson, dominic raab and andrea leadsom. there are those who say they would consider a delay if a deal is close, but would be willing to leave without a deal. this group includes michael gove and jeremy hunt. and two of the candidates say we should only leave with a deal. they are rory stewart and matthew hancock. now, what about life beyond brexit? there's a pretty lively debate under way about other policies. borisjohnson wants a tax cut for those earning over £50,000. he said he'd use money currently set aside for a no—deal brexit. what aboutjeremy hunt? amongst his promises,

a pledge to provide 1.5 million new homes for young people. and then there's michael gove. he wants to replace vat with a lower, simpler sales tax. then there's the home secretary, sajid javid. he wants to delay balancing the books and pump billions into schools instead. dominic raab, he wants to reduce employees‘ national insurance, so they pay less. and matthew hancock, he wants to increase the national living wage to more than £10 an hour. so, let's have a look at how much support each of them have from conservative mps. the number of declared backers is changing all the time. this was the bbc‘s tally earlier. and many have yet to make a public commitment. as you can see, boris johnson out in front. and that means the other candidates are focused on exposing his perceived weaknesses. now, if you want a closer look at some of the key policies

and pledges, visit our website, bbc.co.uk/politics. vicki young there, our chief political correspondence. earlier on spoke to henry hill talking to him about the various contenders. what we have seen is that borisjohnson is currently streets ahead with the membership, despite whatever else they think about him, they think is serious about delivering breakfast operators and partly because they fear nigel farage in his new brexit party? the brexit party are knocking the conservatives to such a terrible result in the european elections has sent a bolt of lightning through the race. and he says that the conservative party had space to reposition, then you have a new party hot on their heels. think mps, especially mps worrying we were facing an imminent election, will wa nt facing an imminent election, will want a leader who they think gives them the best chance of holding the seat. and they think it's boris johnson. that means, assuming mr

johnson. that means, assuming mr johnson get through to the final two, he is pretty much a shoe in for party leader and prime minister?m is dangerous to say that with a leadership contest. they always go not according to plan. but, yes, if buyers get through to the final two, then barring an extraordinary performance from his opposite number, he will become the next prime minister. people often say that the conservative mps are quite duplicitous. they don't always do what they say they are going to do and that also mrjohnson isn't necessarily the popular among fellow conservative members of parliament. well, there's true to an extent. there are a couple of problems. the first is that the antivirus opinion is to find another candidate and currently they did have that in michael gove and it looks like his campaign is losing momentum and they are going to jeremy campaign is losing momentum and they are going tojeremy hunt. but it doesn't look like they will have the votes to keep boris out. they can get somebody in if they coalesce, but they can't get two people over the line. the other problem for mps

is that now that it looks like there will be an imminent general election, boris's star power, his ability to win over leave voters, is bringing of mps who did not back him in 2016 and may not have backed him if they thought the next election was in 2022, but they do think he will help them hold their seats in a spring general election. you mention michael gove, do you think knows revelations about his cocaine past, is revelations on the, has appollonio for his campaign —— has that blown it? it is important to remember thatjeremy hunt was originally, two weeks ago, looking like the frontrunner of the north boris candidates. then he made those comments about how he thought a no—deal brexit would be economic suicide. then he seemed to run out of stea m. suicide. then he seemed to run out of steam. now you have michael gove coming in. michael gove had a difficult weekend. jeremy hunt has important new endorsements from

amber rudd and penny mordaunt. if it looks likejeremy amber rudd and penny mordaunt. if it looks like jeremy hunt amber rudd and penny mordaunt. if it looks likejeremy hunt is the man to be with an undecided as swing voters among the conservative mps will go to his and it will be difficult for michael gove to get back in the race. more than 3.5 million people over the age of 75 who have been getting a free tv licence will now have to pay for one from next year. but the bbc says the licence, which costs £154 a year, will still be free for the poorest pensioners — households where someone is claiming pension credit. our home editor mark easton reports. right, jack, what garbage are we watching today? older people are the biggest users of bbc services. since the year 2000, the licence fee has been free for the over 75s, but not for much longer. in a year's time, over three million people aged 75 and over will have to start paying again, because the corporation believes that to protect services only those on low incomes and receiving pension credit should be eligible. oh, that's the high chaparral!

we think that's fair to those over 75, but fair also to all our audiences, for whom there is no appetite for the level of cuts that would have been necessary if this concession had been extended to everybody. some people are going to really struggle. just over the pension credit level, they're going to really struggle with all the bills they've got, now they'll see this as an extra tax. i accept that. but i think the decision around pension credit is one for the government. in 1999, labour chancellor gordon brown announced free tv licences for the over 75s. in 2015, conservative chancellor george osborne said the bbc, not the government must pick up the bill.

is that some pensioners should have to pay for the licence again. in north london, there was a mixed response from pensioners at this exercise class. i'm not on pension credit, but i'm not rich. for me, that is going to be a bit of an effort. i can afford to pay the fee, so i'm quite happy, one way. but i would like quality programmes. by opting for a means tested measure set by parliament, the bbc hopes to avoid the criticism that it's making its own judgements about poverty. currently, single pensioners with a weekly income of £167 or less, £255 for a couple, are eligible for pension credit. but the numbers are actually going down. the prime minister blames the bbc for a very disappointing decision. labour blames the government. this is a broken tory party manifesto pledge from the 2017 general election.

they promised to give over 75s free tv licences for the duration of this parliament, and this represents a breach of trust. so you're actually putting older people really at risk. they will be practical help for those affected, although bbc managers say they can't rule out taking legal action against those who don't pay. mark easton, bbc news, broadcasting house. i have been discussing this with the director—general of the bbc who told me that public and the parliament should have a say in the license fee to dig why we announce this now is to dig why we announce this now is to give people one year and we want to give people one year and we want to work with groups representing pensioners, on bringing in this change ina pensioners, on bringing in this change in a years time to dig what is interesting about pension credit is interesting about pension credit is that there are, in fact, approximately 1.5 million people could be getting a pension credit to dig at the moment is about 900,000 to soi dig at the moment is about 900,000 to so i think one of the perverse results of this is maybe the free television licence concession linked

to pension credit will lead to more people demanding and getting the thing they are entitled to, namely pension credit. could be an unexpected result of what we announce today and i would have to say a good result in terms of getting to people who really need it. age uk are saying that sick and disabled people in the 80s and 90s who are completely dependent on the cherished television for companionship and news will simply be forced to give it up. companionship and news will simply be forced to give it uplj com pletely be forced to give it uplj completely understand the role we have with many people above 75 years old who we are there companion. radio on the television another companion. they are your biggest audience. they are a large audience group. but we have had a dilemma which is how do we fare, and fairness is important to those over 75 and there are people who are willing to pay and can pay, compared to what is fair for the rest of the people paying for the bbc don't want

see radio 4, radio 5 live being cut. and in the consultation, more or less everybody said that the bbc of the scale and the scope it is at the moment is something we believe in. so there is a dilemma here. who have you consulted with? how did you choose the? this has been the biggest consultation the bbc has ever done. 193,000 people, many people have also written in and many other people have been consulted in roundtables. so you got the answer you wanted and some people will be suspicious of that. the answer has been quite mixed but the overall conclusion was that we should reform and it should be around pension credit. and why have people gone for that? because people want the concession of a free television licence to carry on for those who really are in need. and it is the

government ‘s judgement about those who are in need. let me also say as people have said on this programme, if the government came back and said you know what? we will pick up the bill to continue with free television licences, of course we would do that. we will have a new prime minister soon. would your message be to them that that is what you want them to do? we have been told by the government to consult on this and this is what we have done and the bbc has made up its mind about what seems fair. i would like to make one other point. we have now had two licence fee settlements done behind closed doors done over a matter of days behind closed doors. that is not right and what saying today quite strongly is that we now need to get to a point where people asa need to get to a point where people as a whole, the people who pay for this, licence fee payers and parliament have a say. these two settle m e nts parliament have a say. these two settlements have been wrongheaded in that sense. we need a better system for the future.

that was long—haul, the director—general of the bbc talking to me earlier. —— lord hall. a nurse has been re—arrested by police investigating the deaths of 17 babies at a hospital in chester. lucy letby was first arrested last july on suspicion of murdering eight babies and the attempted murder of another six between 2015 and 2016 at the countess of chester hospital. 0ur correspondent danny savage sent this update from the hospital lucy letby was arrested lastjuly and questioned on her property surged but she was subsequently bailed as the investigation continued and the situation stayed the same until this morning when the police issued an update saying the healthcare professional they arrested last year has been rea rrested arrested last year has been rearrested again on the same charges of suspicion of the same charges she was arrested on last year but in addition the attempted murder of three additional babies. lucy letby is currently in custody and being

questioned by detectives in connection with the long—running investigation here at the countess of chester hospital into the deaths of chester hospital into the deaths of 17 babies between 2015 and 2016. the hospital says it is cooperating fully with this investigation. lucy letby is in custody at the moment but i think the statement from the police at the moment sums it up saying at the heart of this there area number of saying at the heart of this there are a number of aggrieved families seeking answers as to what happened to their children and that is what this investigation is about and it continues to police will lead us over the next few days. —— police will update us. a drop in car production this year contributed to a slow—down in growth for the uk economy. gross domestic product — the total value of all goods and services — contracted by 0.4% in the month of april according this means growth slowed to 0.3% in the first quarter of 2019, a sharper fall than expected. let's get more on this

from our reporter nina nanji. nina, are these figures a surprise? yes, definitely. this was worse than expected. economists thought that april would be weak and that was on the back of all the stockpiling that we saw in the first couple of months of the year going into the expected brexit deadline and then a sort of rewinding of that. even so, this number took people by surprise. if we break down the numbers we can see that manufacturing was the real drag, falling by 4% in a month and within that, car production was the source of that week as. what we saw happen is that many car companies saw that the deadline for brexit was originally supposed to be much 29 and they said, well, we don't know how we will trade and what will happen so normally they have these shutdowns later in the year, like a summer shutdowns later in the year, like a summer holiday in august. but many of them brought it forward this time so of them brought it forward this time so they had those shutdowns in april. as a result, car reduction

fell off a cliff this month. fl in the drag down manufacturing and economic growth as a whole. what else is going on in manufacturing industries? the broader decline in the manufacturing industry was also visible from these numbers and that we have what i mentioned earlier in terms of stock piling. what that means is that companies basically we re means is that companies basically were unsure how they would trade with the eu after brexit which was meant to be in march so they started stockpiling and building up inventory. they had more materials and goods and so on over here so that if there was a no deal brexit and the uk ended up crashing out of the eu without a deal they would be prepared for that. of course brexit was delayed but companies would not know that that was the case. and they now have huge inventory and

most economists expect is that that will continue to drag on economic growth. still a lot of uncertainty over brexit. what is the prognosis? what can we predict about what will happen next in the economy and in terms of gdp? difficult to predict based on one month but if you look at the sort of three months rolling average of the uk economy is still growing. that is important to know. but if we look at it by sector, so manufacturing within that, it is not just grappling with brexit uncertainty but it also has issues around new environmental standards, new models et cetera that it is dealing with. so the auto sector could continue to struggle and that will pay up —— play a part in what comes next. there is a new brexit deadline of halloween so companies are preparing for that and saying 0k, there was no cliff edge brexit in march and they may not be one in 0ctober. what happens there is dependent to some extent on the tory

leadership contest and we have seen some candidates saying that come what may we are living on may 31 —— 0ctober what may we are living on may 31 —— october 31 and some say that we may ta ke october 31 and some say that we may take it back a few days because to ensure that we get a best possible deal. so that word with roll round, uncertainty, business does not like that. there is declining construction is well in this month ‘s figures and also in the services that that is somewhat flat. services isa that that is somewhat flat. services is a huge part of the uk economy. what happens there really does matter. the bank of england has a 1.596 matter. the bank of england has a 1.5% growth target for the year. it can still be achieved but if we see another decline like the one we saw todayit another decline like the one we saw today it may seem to be overly domestic. —— optimistic. one person has died after a helicopter crashed onto a high—rise building in new york. it's believed bad weather forced the pilot to attempt an emergency landing onto a roof, causing a fire. the city's mayor says there's no suggestion the incident is terror related.

thousands of children suffer from serious undiagnosed conditions needing intensive care hospital treatment and it can take years to find out what's wrong. now a groundbreaking trial to diagnose rare conditions at a much earlier stage could dramatically change that. from next year the nhs in england will offer to sequence the entire genetic code of all seriously ill children if the cause of their illness is unknown and the dna of their parents will also be looked at to find if conditions are inherited. the research from addenbrookes hospital in cambridge could result in better and faster treatment in future. fergus walsh has this exclusive report. this is life at its most vulnerable, made even more perilous when the cause of a baby's sickness is unknown. in some cases it can take months or even years to get a diagnosis,

but that is set to change, because of genome sequencing. milly mae and her parents claire and chris each had their genome, their entire genetic code, sequenced, to try to discover why she was having life—threatening seizures. the results showed she has a rare form of epilepsy caused by a single gene error not inherited from her parents. it led to immediate improvements in her care. since we've had the diagnosis it's been a lot better. we had to change one of her medications due to the fact that the one that she was on was obviously aggravating the type of epilepsy that she has. we saw a big difference as soon as that change was made. it's priceless. that one test result obviously allowed us to put all the correct people in place and make the best for her. sequencing the billions of letters

of dna code that make up a genome used to be hugely expensive. now it costs less than £1,000. scientists in cambridge analysed the genomes of 350 children in intensive care, comparing it to the dna of their parents. they found one in four children had a genetic disorder and were able to give the diagnosis in two weeks. this study shows conclusively that whole genome sequencing is of real benefit to patients, speeding up diagnosis and helping to find the right treatment. from next year, throughout england the nhs will offer whole genome testing to all babies and children where the cause of their illness is unknown — the first national health service in the world to do so. parents will no longer have to suffer this agonising diagnostic odyssey of often going to multiple different specialties, repeating the same story, and by having an early diagnosis

we can use that time and that professional time much more focused on really thinking about the care of that child as opposed to trying to find the diagnosis. rhys is a healthy five—month—old, but his elder sister seren died atjust 13 weeks from an inherited condition. genome sequencing revealed that katie and ian had each passed on a rare faulty gene, and inheriting both meant she had a fatal condition. knowing the reasons helped her parents cope. there is nothing we could have done. it made no difference to seren, if unfortunately her fate was already determined, but it gave us closure for her and for us and gave us hope for the future as well. hope, but fear too. there was a one in four chance that rhys might have inherited the fatal condition, but another test during pregnancy confirmed he was healthy. it was a hugely emotional moment for everybody.

we just sat and cried of happiness, and sadness, because of what we'd gone through with seren. for rhys‘ generation, having your genome sequenced will eventually be the norm, benefiting individuals from cradle to grave, ensuring the treatment they get is right for their unique genetic code and helping researchers find better medicines in future. fergus walsh, bbc news. and we'll be taking an in—depth look at the papers with our reviewers, katy balls, who's the deputy political editor at the spectator, and the political commentator, lance price. that's coming up just after the headlines at 11:30. mark easton, bbc news, broadcasting house. several weather warnings are in place for parts of south—east and eastern england tonight. that is after a month's worth of rain fell in the space ofjust a few hours