tonight at 10 — the conservatives and labour set out their election pitch to voters. sorting brexit is the key to driving the country forward — says borisjohnson as he calls for people to give the conservatives a majority so they can deliver it. it's the blue peter deal — here's one i made earlier. all we need is a working majority, all we need is working majority in parliament to make parliament work. meanwhile, labour focuses on the nhs vowing to outspend the tories with an extra multi billion pound cash boost for the health service. labour will end austerity to bring waiting lists down, stabilise our accident and emergency services and deliver the quality cancer care patients deserve. we'll have the latest from the campaign trail.

also tonight... the army arrives in south yorkshire to help with flood relief as some in the worst—hit areas are told it could be weeks before they can return home. extraordinary floods in venice, the worst for more than 50 years — the mayor says the city is on its knees after water rose more than 6 feet. the first public hearings in donald trump's impeachment inquiry begin in washington, broadcast live on tv. and seven months after the devastating fire at notre dame cathedral the first tv pictures show the extent of the damage. and coming up on sportsday on bbc news... world number one rafa nadal staged a stunning comeback to beat daniil medvedev in the deciding set to keep his hopes alive for the last four of atp finals.

good evening. the conservatives and labour have been outlining their main pitch to voters. the prime minister, in his first major speech of the campaign, said a conservative government would unite the country and "level up" the prospects for people with massive investment in health, better infrastructure, more police, and a green revolution. but he said the key issue to solve was brexit. meanwhile, labour vowed to outspend the tories on the nhs in england, promising an additional £6 billion a year by 202a. wales, northern ireland and scotland would get the same percentage increase. but it's not been an easy day on the campaign trail as our political editor laura kuenssberg reports. voters tried to take charge today. you took your time, boris, haven't you?! where have you been?! the prime minister in yorkshire, given a talking to by people whose lives have been turned upside—down by floods. is there anything in particular that you would like us to do? no, thank you! no? no. too late, his offer of help, they said.

it is a little bit too late. yeah, it's a little bit too late, in‘t it? while... do you think the man that's going to be prime minister of this country should be a terrorist sympathiser? ..the labour leader was confronted on the campaign trail in glasgow. aye, he's running away! and even the lib dems' battlebus was blocked in. can we observe a minute's silence for the victims of austerity, and jo swinson? in a well—heeled part of north london, protest at decisions they took in coalition with the tories years ago. this is the smoother side of the campaign the conservatives want you to see. promising a greener government and, again and again, borisjohnson‘s vow to take us out of the eu without delay. it is done, it is complete, it is ready to go. it's the blue peter deal, here's one i made earlier. all we need is a working majority, all we need is a working majority in parliament to make parliament work, just nine more seats.

none of his answers are good enough for one of his former colleagues, who will stand as an independent and thinks you should think about voting lib dem. traditional conservative voters like me should lend their support to the liberal democrats, but i think i'm best placed to run as an independent. today we have seen voters in yorkshire be very unimpressed by your handling of the floods and several of your former colleagues, who were even conservative ministers, suggested people should think seriously about voting lib dem. do you think you're in control of this campaign? your second question was about the election. i made clear that the government stands ready to support in any way that we can. i hope that people understand the messages of reassurance we have been giving. your second question was about the election. and all i would say there, laura, is, look, of course we need to get brexit done, i make no apology for mentioning it. because it has been paralysing politics for three and a half years.

i am afraid to say the only way to get brexit done at this election is to vote for the conservatives and hope we can get a working majority. the trail looks the same, but this is the strangest, least predictable and most important election in a long time. all of the parties will try to stick to their favourite subjects, but as they clock up the miles and criss—cross the country, every leader is likely to be pushed well beyond their comfort zone. labour wanted to concentrate on the extra—big cheque they would write for the nhs. with a labour government, there will be £26 billion extra in real terms for our nhs. change is coming for patients and nhs staff. vote labour for our nhs. thank you very much. but there was confusion, too. thejohn on the left said this morning that nhs staff would not be part of their promise for a four day

week, but thejohn on the right? at the labour conference, mr mcdonnell, you suggested a hugely ambitious policy to put everybody on a four—day working week. this morning, john said it was nonsense to suggest that could include the nhs — which is it? we work to live, we don't live to work. cheering and applause that will apply to everybody. it is early in this campaign. the parties' official manifestos won't emerge for another week. but all sides have been forced already to go off the script. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, coventry. so under labour a big increase in spending on the nhs in england — £6 billion a year on top of the extra £20 billion already promised by theresa may. what difference could the extra money make for patients and nhs staff? our health editor hugh pym has been looking at the figures. once again, the nhs is front and centre in the run—up to polling

day, with the parties vying to outspend each other. the conservative government's already promised an extra £20 billion a year after inflation, by 2023 in england. labour have said they will add another £6 billion to that, bringing the annual increase to £26 billion, and spend some of that on cutting waiting times for patients. are you ready? that's it. here. frances, who has arthritis, is finding life a lot easier after a hip replacement, but she had to wait more than six months to get it done, two months longer than the official nhs target. she says the delay affected her in many ways. waiting that extra time was hard. i mean, i was deteriorating. almost week by week, i could do less and less and less. so, not only had i problems with my left hip, but, basically, my right hip and right knee were taking an awful lot of the strain. and they were playing up, big time, as well. so, i was in a really bad physical shape.

whether it's a hip operation or managing a long—term health condition, the big challenge for the nhs is keeping up with increasing demands for patient care. and finding the money for that is never easy. government spending this year on the health service in england is £139 billion. that sounds like a lot — and has been an upward trend for total spending over the last decade. but spending per person actually fell for a while, once you've adjusted for the needs of a growing and ageing population. that's the bottom line. it's only started picking up in the last couple of years. and, as a percentage of gdp — that's the uk's national income — you can see here that uk health spending has actually fallen over recent years. labour plans higher spending than under the conservatives, though slower increases than under tony blair and gordon brown. funding is one thing, but workforce planning, with more done to retain staff, is what many in the nhs says top priority.

laura, who's a matron on a children's ward, told us the pressure was relentless. it's exceptionally challenging at the moment. we struggle day in, day out, and looking after our patients. we do our absolute best for our patients at all times. but there just aren't enough of us to keep things going at this level. the politicians will have to persuade us they really are serious about supporting the people at the heart of the nhs. hugh pym, bbc news. let's take a look at some of today's other election news. the liberal democrats are promising a £500 million per year increase in funding for youth services in england to help tackle what their leader jo swinson called an "epidemic" of knife crime. unveiling the plan at a boxing gym, she said the hope is to stop young people falling into violence by co—ordinating help from teachers, health professionals and social services. scotland, wales and northern ireland would also receive extra money.

nigel farage — who also chose a boxing theme for his campaign speech — has again refused to stand down brexit party candidates in labour marginal seats. he's been under pressure to withdraw from some constituencies where conservatives fear he could split the leave vote. on monday, he withdrew brexit party candidates from all of the seats won by the tories at the last election. the labour leaderjeremy corbyn has faced questions over his position on allowing a second referendum on scottish independence. today at the start of a two day tour of scotland he said wouldn't allow one in the first term of a labour government, but later rowed back saying it wouldn't be a priority in the early years. jeremy corbyn began his visit in glasgow as the party fights for seats in scotland — which a decade ago was a labour heartland. in 2010, labour won 41 of the 59 seats. but in 2015, the year after the first independence referendum, the snp swept the board, leaving labour with just one seat north of the border. 2017 saw the party make a slight comeback, returning seven scottish labour mps.

but jeremy corbyn‘s chances of becoming prime minister depend on winning back more. here's our scotland editor sarah smith. a tartan scarf and the gift of some brand—new gloves may well be required for winter campaigning in scotland, where labour's facing a tough election. the choice is quite simple — a tory government or a labour government. he didn't mention the snp or the demand for another independence referendum, but that's the big question in scotland. no referendum in the first term for a labour government, because we need to concentrate completely on investment across scotland. but that's not quite official policy, his advisers rushed to clarify. labour might allow another vote after 2021. when would you allow another referendum on independence, mr corbyn? i've answered that question about ten times today already. thank you very much. so what exactly is the formal position? in the early years of a labour government i want to concentrate totally on investment across the uk,

including the 70 billion... and that means no to a referendum on independence? it means saying in the early years, let's say no to that and concentrate on what matters. independence matters in scotland, and you need to know where you stand. labour will have to work really hard to try to win any new seats in scotland. in truth, they are hoping to hold on to the few they already have. with its proud industrial heritage, central scotland used to be rock—solid labour, but the machinery‘s now in a museum and, in the cafe, voters have moved on, too. my political outlook has always been slightly left of centre. that hasn't changed. the labour party, to me, is drifting off into yesterday's politics. i would vote for labour if they were a separate party in scotland, and if they represented what they used to represent. probably a choice between boris johnson and jeremy corbyn, who would you rather see in no 10?

jeremy corbyn. do you look forward to the idea of a jeremy corbyn prime ministership? i would dread it less than the alternative. snp leader nicola sturgeon says she would work with a minority labour government to keep the tories out of power, only ifjeremy corbyn allows an independence referendum. i won't help him in power, to get to power, to stay in power, if he doesn't accept the principle that whether there is a referendum in scotland and what the timescale of that referendum should be, should be determined by the people of scotland. she knows she can't become prime minister but nicola sturgeon doesn't want to be left out of the argument. she is taking legal action, demanding to be included in televised leaders' debates. sarah smith, bbc news, coatbridge. 0ur political editor laura kuenssberg is on the campaign trail — the president of the european council donald tusk gave a speech and seemed to suggest that brexit

might not actually happen? that's right, our viewers will be familiar with donald tusk as somebody who has been the top official in brussels over these last tricky few years. he is standing down and gave something of a farewell speech in which, as you suggest, he made it pretty clear that he believes brexit could still be stopped, and he said he wanted to give hope to people on that side of the argument. it's hard to see that as anything other than backing for one side in this election. 0n as anything other than backing for one side in this election. on that other side, though, i understand that the government is to make it clear to brussels that, despite repeated requests from the eu, they are not going to put forward a british name to be the uk commissioner when there is a big change of all the teams in brussels that are in charge of the important decisions. now, brussels has been asking the british government to do this for some time now. boris johnson promised that he would not. but i understand tonight sir tim barrow, our eu ambassador in brussels, has written to the

commission, saying this will not happen because of the guidelines during the election, essentially saying that the government cannot make big, sensitive political decisions. but this has been something of a fraught exchange between the eu in the uk, and it may between the eu in the uk, and it may be in the morning that there are some raised eyebrows in brussels over the decision that the government is taking here. so, even though the outcome of this election is really unclear, there are still many weeks to go. the wrangling over brexit is absolutely still alive and kicking. the prime minster has been confronted by angry residents in south yorkshire during a visit to some of the towns and villages affected by flooding. mrjohnson told residents in stainforth and fishlake that he understood their angish. he promised the government would "do more" to help those who have lost their homes and businesses. 0ur north of england correspondent judith moritz is in fishlake for us this evening.

you can see here, six nights after the floods begin to —— began, fishlake is still deep under water, and some of the residents feel let down by the authorities and some of the frustration boiled over today and was directed in some quarters at the prime minister. is that a promise? boris johnson might have hoped for a warm response but others vented their anger. you did not see them, little girls from fishlake with no shoes on their feet. five days too late, they should have been down here on saturday helping these poor people of fishlake, saturday helping these poor people of fishla ke, it saturday helping these poor people of fishlake, it should not be left to the bite of the community. pamela

webber was also very keen on sharing her true feelings to boris johnson. isaid, her true feelings to boris johnson. i said, please, mr her true feelings to boris johnson. isaid, please, mrjohnson, come and see what is happening, i can tell you what is happening, you can't see it and feel it for yourself. pam got her wish and steered the prime minister towards the relief sensor, and inside he saw something of the community response —— centre. they have been people who are angry today, can you understand that? of course, and i got massive sympathy with people whose lives have been so badly affected. clearly we are going to do everything we can to help them. but some people and businesses are not insured and there has been criticism of the amount of money on offer to help. is £500 per household

available going to be enough? there will be more available and i have made that clear to the people today. he has said no one will suffer as a consequence as a result of this and i will hold him to task. there is an extra reassu ra nce i will hold him to task. there is an extra reassurance with the arrival of troops, drafted in to shore up flood defences ahead of more forecasted rain. people here tell me they are just thankful that the army has come because some of their homes have been underwater now since the weekend and the thought of further flooding as more rain comes down is unbearable. tonight they have been racing to pump water out before more rain falls, the community has already suffered so much, they can't afford to take any chances. judith moritz, bbc news, fishlake. the first televised hearings

in president trump's impeachment inquiry have got underway in washington after weeks of testimony behind closed doors. donald trump is accused of pressuring ukraine to dig up damaging information onjoe biden — a possible presidential rival in next year's elections. the impreachment inquiry could eventually see trump removed from office. he denies any wrongdoing. 0ur north america editor jon sopel has been watching. history in the house... this is like the super bowl for politics, the daily impeachment hearings go public and, coast—to—coast, all the us tv networks are gearing up for the unfolding drama that could be the decisive moment of the trump presidency. early this morning, in the white house residence, the light is on, and the tweets are angry. in the committee room it's a scrum an hour before the hearing gets under way. first up, this man, george kent, a senior state department official, overseeing ukraine affairs. i do not believe the united states

should ask other countries to engage in selective politcally associated investigations or prosecutions against opponents of those in power, because such selective actions undermine the rule of law. in other words, the president ordered a halt to military aid to ukraine until it agreed to dig dirt on burisma, a gas company that hunter biden, son of former vice presidentjoe biden, and donald trump's potential 2020 rival, was a director of. next up, bill taylor, acting ambassador to ukraine. he says the president was trying to strong—arm kiev. by mid—july, it was becoming clear to me that the meeting that president zelensky wanted was conditioned on the investigation of burisma, and alleged ukrainian interference in the 2016 us elections. the republican strategy seems to be to cast doubt on everything and everyone involved in this impeachment enquiry, including the undermining of these lifelong public servants. ambassador taylor and mr kent,

i would like to welcome you here and congratulate you for passing the democrats' star chamber auditions held for the last weeks in the basement of the capital. it seems you agreed, wittingly or unwittingly, to participate in a drama. republicans have dismissed much of the evidence as hearsay and complained that the whistle—blower hadn't been called. now there is one witness that they won't bring in front of us, they won't bring it in front of the american people, and that is the guy who started it all, the whistle—blower. i'd be glad to have the person who started it all come in and testify. president trump is welcome to take a seat right here. laughter a rare moment of humour in a sour partisan hearing. impeachment is the mechanism by which a sitting president can be removed from office for high crimes and misdemeanours. the first stage is a vote in the house of representatives which has to be carried by a simple majority.

if that's passed, the articles of impeachment go to the senate, and here, the president is put on trial, with the 100 senators acting as the jury. for donald trump to be removed from office, two thirds of senators would have to find him guilty, a threshold that's never been reached before. on this blockbuster wednesday, donald trump is meeting president erdogan of turkey at the white house. i'm too busy to watch it. it is a witchhunt, it is a hoax. i'm too busy to watch it, i'm sure i will get a report. donald trump has railed against the unfairness of the process and has insisted repeatedly he's done nothing wrong. jon is at the white house. an extraordinary day on capitol hill, what happens now? they will be another ten days of public hearings and then it will come to a vote. as it stands, i would say there is a new 100% certainty that donald trump will be impeached, something that offends his sense of self and something that has left him very angry indeed, and i would then say as things stand

there's more or less 0% that the senate, the upper house, will convicting and remove him from office, and the democrats are on a high wire —— will convicting him. they are hoping if they can persuade the republicans to change their minds, they are hoping public opinion might force the republicans to go in and convict the president. what you are hearing from republican senators is that this is second hand information that they are getting, that no one directly involved has given testimony, and there is a reason for that, donald trump has prevented them from testifying and one person you can be sure won't testify is donald trump himself. this is high wire and the stakes couldn't be higher either. jon sopel couldn't be higher either. jon sopel, thanks for joining couldn't be higher either. jon sopel, thanks forjoining us. venice has been hit by severe flooding after the highest tide in more than 50 years. water levels in the canals rose by more than six feet. the city's mayor said venice was on its knees and the cost of repairing the damage would run

into hundreds of millions of euros. here's our rome correpsondent mark lowen. italy's city of water has succumbed to it. venice, submerged by its highest tide in over 50 years. six feet, the second—highest since records began. st mark's square, with its byzantine basilica, drowning in water, its 12th century crypt flooded, no word yet on the priceless frescoes and mosaics inside. a city blessed with canals now cursed by them as fierce winds whipped the torrential rain. even the gondolas that glide beneath the rialto couldn't cope. hotels and shops have been hit, the damage will cost hundreds of millions. a floodgate project under way could have saved them but has been plagued by corruption and overspend. translation: they've done nothing. in italy, that's how it is. 0ur politicians are all thieves. they should be injail.

translation: everything is damaged. look at what we are living through. there's really something to cry about. some reaped the benefit... a swim with a view. with rising seas and over—tourism, venice is fighting to survive, a city of art and love no match for our changing climate. mark lowen, bbc news. let's take a look at some of today's other news. royal mail has won its high court battle to block a series of strikes by postal workers which would have caused major disruption in the run—up to the general election and christmas. members of the communication workers' union had voted in favour of a walkout in a dispute overjob security and employment terms. but royal mail brought legal action, arguing the ballot was unlawful. a court order protecting the identity of two police officers charged in connection with the death of a former aston villa striker has been lifted. dalian atkinson died

after he was restrained by police and tasered in 2016. west mercia police constable benjamin monk is charged with murder. a second officer, mary ellen bettley—smith, is charged with assault causing actual bodily harm. more and more people are buying electric cars in a bid to cut carbon emissions. the key ingredient for the car batteries is cobalt — and that could mean new mines being opened up on the ocean floor to extract it. environmental groups are worried that mining the deep ocean will cause lasting damage — so research is underway off the coast of spain into its impact. our science editor david shukman has had exclusive access. in the waters off malaga, an experiment with a strange—looking machine, lowered underwater to test a new and controversial kind of mining on the ocean floor. a camera on the machine monitors its advance over the sea bed. a soft coral stands in its path.

mining would involve excavating rocks down here, and no—one knows the implications. the project is run from this spanish research ship, funded by the eu to find new sources of important metals. it's a challenging operation, but there's momentum behind an emerging industry. what this project shows is how the technology is advancing in a way that makes deep sea mining seem much more plausible, which confronts us with a very difficult question. is it the right thing to do, given how little we know about the potential impact it could have on life on the ocean floor? operating underwater, mining the sea bed has never been tried before. it would destroy whatever‘s directly in front of the machines and they'd create clouds of sand and silt, which could smother marine plants and creatures even a long way away. so, it's actually sands

or sediments from the sea floor being whipped up by the tracks and creating big clouds. sabine haalboom is one of the researchers studying the effects of the experiment to see what might happen when mining starts for real in the pacific. so, normally in the deep pacific, at four or five kilometres depth, there's hardly any material in the water, so the water is crystal clear. but if you then make a massive plume of a cloud of sediments, all the animals that are living there aren't used to it so, yeah, they will probably suffocate. but there's growing pressure for mining to start. rocks like these, billions of them, are the target. because they're amazingly rich in important metals, especially cobalt, which is needed for batteries. the future is electric. so the boom in electric cars means there's growing demand for cobalt, and mining companies think the deep ocean could provide it.

if you want to make a fast change, you need cobalt quick, and you need a lot of it. if you want to make a lot of batteries, you need the resources to do that. and there's a lot of it in the ocean? and there's a lot of it in the ocean. this is a trial device. the machines that will actually do mining will be about ten times bigger. dozens of ventures are planning to open mines on the sea bed. this is a glimpse of how they might look. david shukman, bbc news, in the bay of malaga. the first television pictures have been broadcast tonight showing the extent of the damage inside notre dame cathedral in paris after the devastating fire in april. the images — broadcast by france—trois — show the huge task ahead to rebuild it. our paris correspondent lucy williamson reports. behind its familiar towers, the shape of notre dame has changed. its soaring spire now a gaping hole.

lead melting into new sculptures on its grizzled face. walking into notre dame was always humbling. philip villeneuve is one of very few to see how the cathedral looks today. it's silent, floodlit by sunlight, the charred remains of the collapsing spire still piled on the floor. translation: the wood continued to burn on the ground and burned to the bases of these two columns. if they weren't reinforced like this to stop them shattering, they could have collapsed and taken the walls and vault with them. it would have been a catastrophe. firefighters say they came close to losing notre dame that night but the reconstruction could risk its survival again. architects here say there's still a major risk of the vaults collapsing because of the effect of intense heat and water on the stones. teams are working to stabilise the structure over the next few