tonight at ten: parliament is dissolved, the election period is formally under way, as the conservatives have a difficult start to their campaign. borisjohnson tried to change the mood in birmingham tonight, saying that his brexit deal delivered everything he campaigned for. let's get out of the rut of the last three years and get on with our work as conservatives of making this country the greatest place in the world to live. but the day had started badly for the tories, when the welsh secretary alun cairns resigned over his links to a man who sabotaged a rape trial. we'll have the latest on the day's campaigning, which also brought challenges for labour. tom watson announces his resignation as labour's deputy leader, and says he won't be seeking re—election as an mp. this really is a personal decision.

there is never a right time to go in politics but you can leave it longer than you should. extinction rebellion, the climate protesters, win at the high court as judges rule that police were wrong to ban their protests in london. we report on the events of 30 years ago in berlin when the wall came down in a popular uprising against communist rule. and — a good night for spurs, as they take on red star belgrade in the champions league. and coming up on sportsday on bbc news, double olympic champion nicola adams retires from boxing at the age of 37 over fears she could lose her sight in one eye.

good evening. borisjohnson has launched the conservative election campaign, hours after visiting buckingham palace to meet the queen following the dissolution of parliament. he addressed supporters this evening after a day which saw the resignation of one of his cabinet colleagues. the welsh secretary, alun cairns, stepped down because of his links with a man who'd sabotaged a rape trial. our political editor, laura kuenssberg, was at the conservative launch in birmingham, and we canjoin her now. this is not the backdrop that the conservatives would have chosen for theircampaign conservatives would have chosen for their campaign with the mist of political history and we cannot find any campaign when a serving cabinet minister had to quit. but campaigns are about what goes wrong but also the razzmatazz and there was plenty of that when the prime minister took to the stage in birmingham tonight. he has been one of the best—known politicians in the country for a

decade. but fame and having faith are not the same thing. he may be the tory party darling but he wants you to trust him and to state number 10. i did not want an election, i love myjob, no prime minister wants an election, particularly when i'm enjoying it so much that we want to get on and do but, my friends, we have no choice. the whole brexit delay is holding us all back, it is like a bendy bus! i banned them in london! jackknifed on a yellow box junction. laughter and adoration in this room but if claiming a crop of mps is the answer, why should the new one speak from his side? we get this deal through parliament and get on with the fantastic projects in which this government is engaged, uniting and levelling up the country, giving people opportunity across the country with better education, better infrastructure and new technology. that is what this government is all about. cheering

it's about giving hope. get used to hearing this. this country is aching to move on. let's make next year the year of prosperity and growth, let's get brexit done, my friends come and get brexit done, my friends come and get on with our project of sensible, moderate but tax cutting one nation conservatism, spreading hope and opportunity across the whole of the uk. hang on, a loud cheering crowd does not drown out tory woes. like a small clutch of protesters here tonight, there will be many who just don't buy it. and a minister had to quit this morning. yesterday, the welsh secretary was nervously scratching his head in cabinet. at lunchtime today, he resigned after claims he knew about a former member of staff's role in collapsing a rape trial .1 of your clicks had to quit this morning. i think boris showed he is the right person to be prime

minister, he has got out there, fantastic speech. great reception andl fantastic speech. great reception and i think we are already. there is always noise but at the heart of it, there is a message and here we have there is a message and here we have the clearest possible message. only the clearest possible message. only the conservative party can get brexit done. you can't pretend it has not been a tricky 2a hours. brexit done. you can't pretend it has not been a tricky 24 hours. you know, there are always problems in any campaign. but boris hasjust given us really good reasons to be cheerful. the bright future. glossy mall is one thing but he is risking his all. win and he will get his brexit and may be five years in at numberio, failand his brexit and may be five years in at number 10, fail and jeremy corbyn will be right behind instead. jeremy corbyn. for four years, his ranks of supporters have dreams of him walking through downing street's door but like his rival, he wants to move on from the mess. westminster has not exactly covered itself in glory recently. you are right to feel frustrated with the political

system because it is not working for you. politics should be about your life, your community and yourjob. but on what to do instead, their solutions are different, very different. if the british people elect a labour government on the 12th of december, i will be proud to bea 12th of december, i will be proud to be a labour prime minister. but i have to warn you, it will be very different. because i was not born to rule. none of us in this room were born to rule. the politics that i stand for is about sharing power and wealth with people who don't have a lot of money, don't have friends in high places, so they can take control of their own lives. the two contenders for the top job can both pack a room, both prompted cheers and chanting on their own side, but they both divide as well, and which will govern, that is down to you. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, birmingham. let's speak to our wales political editor, felicity evans, in cardiff, who broke the story about mr cairns yesterday.

iam i am wondering what is your reading of this whole controversy, about alun cairns come on the political landscape in this election in wales? i think the conservative campaign in wales is in some disarray tonight because, as welsh secretary, alun cairns was supposed to be the person leading the campaign. there is no obvious successor to that role. mr cairns himself denies any wrongdoing, and he believes the enquiry into his conduct will clear his name, and he is still standing asa his name, and he is still standing as a candidate in this general election. and obviously, there is some damage that has been done to this campaign inevitably, it is not the start they wanted but conservative candidates around wales will be hoping they can draw a line under this now. the thing is, i'm not convinced that they can. the practice, we simply cannot know what photos will make of the fact that

the welsh conservatives chose to select as a candidate for the welsh assembly a man who a judge accused of sabotaging a rape trial. that man has now been suspended as a candidate of course but the rape victim herself says she is distressed that not a single senior welsh conservative figure has yet apologised for that. i don't think this is going away, huw. felicity, many thanks, felicity evans, and what wales political editor in cardiff bay. as we've heard, the prime minister was in birmingham this evening, but speaking outside number 10 downing street earlier today, mrjohnson set out the broad message of his campaign. so, what is the policy offer from the conservatives at this election? our deputy political editor, john pienaar, has been listening to some of the questions people have been asking. can borisjohnson deliver brexit? of all the main parties, he's the only leader who would take britain straight out of the european union if the tories win outright. no more referendums, no more wrangling over

the withdrawal agreement — that's the terms of divorce. just out. he had a deal and he couldn't get it through parliament. if most mps were tories, he could. but there is the question — what kind of brexit? borisjohnson has said there will be no more extensions. he's also said he wants to break out of the european union like the incredible hulk — remember? and if no comprehensive trade deal is agreed — that's our long—term future relationship — after another tough round of negotiations, we could still face the disruption of a no—deal exit next december. as a mum to a young daughter, my question to the conservative party, what are you doing to our schools and to public services in general? the tories are promising to spend more. who isn't? but borisjohnson has moved on to labour territory by promising he will end austerity and pour cash into hospitals, schools and the police. it's worth noting that the extra £7.1 billion for schools in england,

that's about reversing cuts and keeping pace with growing school rolls. the extra money for the police, it'll recruit another 20,000 officers in england and wales. but it will rebuild forces that were cut under the last tory—led coalition government. and as for the nhs? an extra £34 billion a year eventually — that's a lot of cash. but again, the health service needs it, just to meet growing demand and the rising cost of health care. ijust wanted to know, what does the prime minister mean by, "come with us?" he means trust me, not the other guy. and that is for you to judge. no party leader can be called hugely popular or trusted now. borisjohnson broke his promise to take britain out of the eu, do or die, by october the 31st. political opponents say you can't trust his word. even some tories have their doubts about his command of detail, for example. yes, he was a popular london mayor, but that was before brexit split the country.

his party decided he was the one most likely to win. right now, his personal poll ratings are well ahead ofjeremy corbyn's, but polls can change and that is one reason why this could be as personal and even as nasty a campaign as any we've seen. our deputy political editor, john pienaar. labour's deputy leader, tom watson, is to step down, announcing this evening that he'll not seek re—election as a member of parliament and is also resigning as deputy leader. in his letter announcing his surprise decision, mr watson said his reasons were "personal not political". mr watson has had several public arguments with the leader, jeremy corbyn, and his supporters in recent years, as our political correspondent iain watson reports. the labour party and tom watson have seemed inextricably linked. over three decades, he's been an official, a minister, a shadow minister and deputy leader. he's had an uneasy relationship

with jeremy corbyn, but while he's resigning as an mp, he is not defecting to another party. i'm not walking out on the party, i'm going to be campaigning for our candidates up and down the country until polling day. i will remain deputy leader until then. i want to see a labour government, i want a labour team to triumph, but it's time for me to go to pastures new. applause. he was elected as labour's deputy leader in 2015, at the same time asjeremy corbyn, but he often followed his own distinctive agenda. he won plaudits across the political spectrum for campaigning against phone hacking. and came under pressure recently for having used parliamentary privilege to raise allegations of a paedophile ring at westminster, allegations which were untrue. on brexit, he increasingly called for labour unequivocally to back remain in a new referendum, despite representing an area that voted to leave. cheering.

he was often at loggerheads withjeremy corbyn's supporters, this culminated in a failed attempt to oust him as deputy leader by some on the left on the eve of labour's conference, without his leader's knowledge. and in his letter to jeremy corbyn tonight, tom watson praises his leader's decency and courtesy, even in difficult times. it's a very personal decision, not a political one. i've been in front line labour politics for 35 years. i'm 52 years old, i've been on a health journey in recent years and i want to take a leap and do something new. tom watson was at the head of a group of around 100 moderate labour mps. they've lost their standard—bearer tonight. the question now is whether some will, like him, walk away from westminster or stand their ground. iain watson, bbc news. let's go back to to our political editor, laura kuenssberg, who's in birmingham tonight. i suppose we can draw some kind of

conclusion today, which is no matter how detailed the planning and the strategy that these campaigns, events happen and they can mess things up for the parties? yes, absolutely right. it's one of the old est rules of absolutely right. it's one of the oldest rules of politics. events, events, and no matter how much money political parties spend on putting glossy events like that tonight, even the most confident of a political tribe know they are vulnerable to things going wrong and things that are not in their control, the unforced error or the miss beat of one of their high profile candidates. but it is worth saying, this is not a political party in the conservatives right now that are confident in victory. they are not just that are confident in victory. they are notjust trying to hold onto a majority, they are trying to win one in the first place. remember, boris johnson starts this campaign not capable of forming his own government that they are nervous in tory ranks about what will happen and about whether or not they're very brexit heavy message can actually find appeal across the

country and among different groups. there are some similarities to the referendum here. they run the campaign to be dominated by frustrations over brexit but that is 2019, not 2016. the tories believe that there is a path to them being able to secure a majority and return to downing street with some kind of victory, even if a scrappy one, but they know that that path is steep and narrow and there are plenty of rocks in their way and political enemies and opposition parties champing at the bit to make things ha rd champing at the bit to make things hard for them. laura, thanks again. laura kuenssberg with the latest in birmingham. if we weren't at the start of a general election campaign, today would have been budget day, including the latest assessment of the government finances. instead, both conservatives and labour are putting forward agendas to increase public spending. so, instead of the latest forecasts from the treasury, a leading economic research group, the institute for fiscal studies, has released its analysis of how

the public finances are doing. our economics editor, faisal islam, has more details. it the budget that never was — due today but cancelled by the chancellor, alongside the key updates to forecasts for borrowing. others have done those calculations and they point to a rather different argument over tax, and spend and the difference between them — the deficit — during the election campaign. first up, here's the existing, official forecast for borrowing over the next five years. they come from march and you'll see low deficit, way lower than the 100 billion plus we had a decade ago — basically falling pretty much to zero. and here are what the forecasts could've been, according to the ifs, if the budget had happened today. much higher in every year. in fact, the deficit staying at around £45—50 billion all the way out. let's focus on the current fiscal year — £55 billion.

about half of the increase over the past few months comes from an accounting change to the way that student loans are perceived to be likely to be written off. then, there is the extra spending at spending review on police and schools, and there's also an adjustment for a forecast of lower growth. the question for all the main parties is whether a deficit like this into the future is even considered a problem any more. let's take a look at the existing plans for day—to—day spending over the next couple of years. up, up and away in health, education, the home office, prisons — you'll be hearing a lot about these two years of english spending from the prime minister. but looking at the rest of the last decade of spending cuts, it's a different story. health was spared and is up since 2010, but education spending is still down on 2010, even after the planned rises. and while we will hear a lot about 20,000 new police officers,

this chart shows what caused 21,000 to lose theirjobs. some departments, such as justice, responsible for prisons, still down in funding by over a fifth. but you're also going to hear a lot about a different form of government spending — on infrastructure, on the future, on building up the assets of the nation. investment spending by the tens of billion, or perhaps by the hundreds of billion. and while that would normally be prevented by existing rules to limit the national debt, today's missing budget was set to change them anyway. the main political parties now all arguing that the uk should take advantage of low interest rates to gobble up cheap borrowing to invest more. a new election campaign meaning new rules on budgets too. faisal islam, bbc news. the green party in england and wales has said december the 12th should be "the climate election", arguing the future "wouldn't get another chance".

launching its campaign, the party called for additional borrowing in order to fund £100 billion of spending a year for the next decade, in order to protect the environment. we know these are dark times, it's easy to fear the future. the threat of brexit hangs over our heads, the climate emergency rages, from the amazon to the arctic, and our fragile democracy is under attack. but despite all this, greens don't fear the future. we are the future. let's take a look at some of today's other election news. the snp leader and first minister of scotland nicola sturgeon said demands for a second scottish independence referendum will become irresistible if her party wins most of scotland's 59 westminster seats. she's already set out plans to hold a new vote next year, and said the notion of westminster politicians rejecting a second vote was starting to crumble.

the liberal democrat leader, jo swinson, took to the campaign trail on an electric battle bus with the slogan — stop brexit, build a brighter future. she visited a mental health charity in north london saying her party would pledge £11 billion to mental health services, funded by a penny rise in the basic rate of income tax. with the general election campaign officially underway, how exactly do voters feel about the prospect of heading to the polling station in the run—up to christmas? our home editor mark easton has been to birmingham — a city surrounded by lots of marginal seats, to meet some undecided voters. the nights are lengthening as the uk tilts away from the sun. at this unscheduled winter election, voters will be more in the dark than ever before — literally. so, how does the electorate feel as the campaigning begins? with the help of consultants britain thinks, we've gathered together different strands of public opinion in a former textile factory,

close to where the prime minister was in birmingham today, a balanced group still undecided as to who, in this advent election, should get to open the door to number10. there wasn't supposed to be an election now but here we are. i want to know how you feel about the state of uk politics as we start election 2019? as concerned as i've ever been in my life, if i'm honest. i feel as though there's a... ..it‘s out of control. it's embarrassing, isn't it? i think other countries are looking at us and we're just a laughing stock. i actually don't feel that it's an embarrassment to the country. i'm quite proud, not necessarily of how things are working out at the moment, but that people are stepping back from their own parties and disagreeing with one another. i think the election's needed to sort of make the country decide which route they want to go down. so, this will decide it, do you think? no.

is this election about the brexit divide, leave and remain, or is it about left and right, or something else? it feels like the brexit election to me, a re—run of choosing which side you're on, really. it needs to be about the bigger issues like the nhs, crime, education, but it is going to be about brexit, isn't it, let's face it?! it used to be very much, you knew exactly where you were with the conservative party and with the labour party, and now, i think there's so much extreme within each party. there's parties out there that i would never vote for but, actually, i do like some of their policies, and then the party that i would vote for, i don't quite like some of theirs and that's never happened to me before. with a nod to elections past, we've built ourselves an —ometer and this can test anything we like, we can make it an integrity—ometer. do you think our political leaders, our political parties have got integrity? is this bad? that's bad, yeah. that's quite high, isn't it?

a sincerity—ometer. bring it up to average. i think some are sincere. i think it goes with integrity for me, so it would be down there. now it's an ability—ometer. i would go all the way. really, full marks on ability? these are talented people? it will get done i'm going to bring it down, i think... a bunch of clowns. that's what it is, a bunch of clowns. that's my score there. come election day, birmingham's polling stations will open an hour before sunrise and close six hours after sunset. the question for britain is whether undecided voters like these will bring light out of the darkness. mark easton, bbc news, birmingham. throughout the election campaign, the bbc will be looking at the key issues, explaining the policies that are being talked about — and the subjects that aren't. have a look at some of our online explainers at bbc.co.uk/news or on the bbc news app.

you will see all the content therefore you as the campaign progresses. action taken by the metropolitan police to to prevent extinction rebellion activists protesting in central london last month was unlwaful, according to the high court. the met now faces the prospect of hundreds of claims of compensation after it enforced a ban on protests of more than two people, in an effort to curb the group's so—called "autumn uprising", as our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford explains. for seven days, extinction rebellion protestors brought parts of london to a stand—still. stretching police resources to the limit. on the eighth day, organisers adopted a tactic from the hong kong pro—democracy movement, in which protestors are told to be like water — to flood

a site and then, when police arrive, quickly move on to another location, causing as much disruption as possible. at that point, the superintendent in charge banned all extinction rebellion protests in london, a decision the high court today ruled unlawful. we are delighted with today's result. it vindicates our belief that the police's blanket ban was an unprecedented, unlawful infringement on our right to protest. it also opens the way for those who were detained for breaching the ban to sue the police for unlawful arrest. we're disappointed by the ruling, but clearly we absolutely respect the court's decision. what we need to do now, i think, is, in slow time, carefully consider what it means for us, and review our tactics in light of it. so, the police now have a challenge — how do they deal with the "be water" tactic of protestors, when lots of mini protests keep popping up all over the place? thejudges were clear that a city—wide ban won't wash — it's unlawful.

so, police will have to revert to dealing with each mini protest one by one, with all the implications for resources that that involves. police said today they spent more than £24 million policing extinction rebellion's autumn uprising, and said it had caused unacceptable and prolonged disruption. daniel sandford, bbc news, at new scotland yard. it's 30 years since the fall of the berlin wall — marking the end of the cold war. it was one of a series of momentous events in eastern europe in 1989, when communist regimes were overthrown by popular revolutions. our world affairs editorjohn simpson, who reported on the revolutions of that year, has returned to a now united german capitaland looks back at the events which led to the fall of the wall. the brandenburg gate — thriving, touristy and very relaxed.

but it wasn't always like that. 30 years ago, the eastern side was silent, scary and there was no avoiding the wall which cut the city in two. if you ventured into east berlin, it was like going through the looking glass. few people here had cars, so the streets were mostly empty. life was drab and depressing and the police were everywhere. this was stasi land, the secret police state. the stasi's archives are on public show nowadays. there are 111 kilometres of secret files in all. something like one person in every seven was being watched and reported on. there were spies in every factory, in every office, in every street, in every block of flats. husbands spied on their wives and wives on their husbands. stasi headquarters kept a special eye on a leading dissident called

hans—jurgen misselwitz. 30 years later, he's come to terms with the fact that people he knew, friends even, had spied on him. they were people i knew, yeah. but i had a different... ..or we had a different explanation of what their motives were. some were still convinced that they did the right thing. did anybody who'd informed on you say sorry? he clears his throat. no. the east german crowds were emboldened by the liberal changes in moscow, brought in by the reformist soviet leader mikhail gorbachev. they took to the streets, demanding greaterfreedom and the demonstrations grew bigger and bigger. the police and the stasi used plenty of force,

but it still wasn't clear if they'd actually open fire on the demonstrators. there was no massacre, to the huge relief of protest leaders like jens reich. that was really miraculous, that no violence took place. such a peaceful outcome is really not.. not the usual thing. and there was another miracle. the east german government's spokesman announced live on television that the wall would open that night. thousands of people headed for the crossing points and no one stopped them. and this is november... the last premier of communist east germany, hans modrow, told us that he and his colleagues had no idea this would happen when they took the decision. it was only as he walked home afterwards that some excited young people told him the wall was open. a whole new world was being born.

john simpson, bbc news, berlin. football — and two english sides were playing in the champions league this evening. tottenham had a convincing 4—0 win at red star belgrade. manchester city were also away, but could only manage a draw against the italian side atalanta. olly foster watched the action. manchester city might be playing catch up in the premier league, but they've been perfect in europe. raheem sterling, who scored a hat—trick against atalanta two weeks ago, took five minutes to find the net. just before half—time, there was a penalty shout — handball in the wall. pep guardiola knew it, the video assistant was involved. the easy bit should have been this for gabrieljesus. they'd regret that miss. a rare moment of quality from the italians pulled them back into the match. city had to play with ten men for the last ten minutes claudio bravo sent off.