good afternoon. jeremy corbyn has defended his decision to remain neutral in any future brexit referendum if labour wins power. he told last night's bbc question time leaders‘ special he wouldn't campaign to leave or remain in the eu. the labour leader said it would allow him to "credibly" carry out what voters then decide. prime minister boris johnson questioned how mr corbyn could be "indifferent" on the issue. our political correspondent tom barton reports. he knows which side he's on in this fight between workers and the multinational corporation, but, on the fight between leave and remain, jeremy corbyn says he's not picking sides. if he becomes prime minister holds another referendum he will, he says, remain strictly neutral. being

an honest broker and listening to every one is actually a sign of strength and a sign of maturity. our country has to come together, we cannot go on forever being divided by how people voted in 2016. his decision to remain neutralfirst revealed in last night's question time leaders' special.” revealed in last night's question time leaders' special. i will adopt, ifiam time leaders' special. i will adopt, if i am prime minister, a neutral stand so i can credibly carry out the results to bring our community and country together. a bruising encounter for and country together. a bruising encounterfor all and country together. a bruising encounter for all involved, including the lib dem peers macrojo swinson. you think revoking article 50 which involved millions of people is stupid on the web voting for? that doesn't mean that you or anybody like you are stupid, it means we disagree. nicola sturgeon suggested the snp would pile the pressure on labour to offer another independence referendum?m pressure on labour to offer another independence referendum? in terms of what i would seek to win from a

minority labour government, obviously i would ask for and expect jeremy corbyn to respect the right of the scottish people to choose their own future. it is not for westminster to decide, it is for the people of scotland. while the prime minister faced people of scotland. while the prime ministerfaced questions people of scotland. while the prime minister faced questions on trust. how important is it for someone in your position of power to always tell the truth? it is absolutely vital and i think the issue of trust in politics is central to the selection. and, fundamental to the corrosion of trust in politics. the tory leader's performance today defended by one of his ministers. tory leader's performance today defended by one of his ministersm one of the critical questions of our time at brexit, we have a plan agreed with the eu ready to go. and in sharp contrast to what we saw in the debate last night, jeremy corbyn saying he has decided to be indecisive on brexit. jo swinson also unimpressed by the labour leader's new stance. they want a

leader, not a bystander. itjust beggars belief that somebody who is standing for the role of leading our country can say on the biggest issue we have faced for generations, they are not going to take a position. it isa are not going to take a position. it is a total abdication of leadership. jeremy corbyn will have hope to have put this question behind him. his opponents want it to remain front and centre. tom barton, bbc news. in other election news... the conservatives have promised to double the funding for dementia research over the next decade. the extra £83 million a year has been described by the party as the "largest boost to dementia research ever." more than 850,000 people suffer from dementia in the uk. labour has pledged to put an extra tax on foreign companies and trusts buying property in the uk. if they win the general election, the party would charge offshore organisations an extra 20% on their purchase. labour says the extra £35 billion a year raise by the measure would go towards public services.

gps have voted to reduce visits to patients' homes, saying they "no longer have the capacity" to offer them. doctors supported the proposal at a meeting of english local medical committees yesterday. but the health secretary, matt hancock, said the idea of taking home visits out of gps‘ contracts was a, "complete non—starter". jenny kumah reports. family doctors say their workload is on the rise and this, coupled with falling gdp numbers, mean something has to give. one of the daily pressures that gp practices are under is the obligation to do home visits. what would be much better is if we had a dedicated home visiting tea m if we had a dedicated home visiting team with people with the time to be able to do this throughout the day, rather than gps having to squeeze it in. under the proposals home visits would not be scrapped completely but delivered by a separate service. similarto delivered by a separate service. similar to the way out—of—hours care has been contracted out. sometimes a

gp has to go and see someone and they might be too frail to travel. and that has always been part of the vocation of being a gp and it will continue. so these proposals won't go any further, but what we will do is train, fund and recruit more gps. meanwhile, labour is promising more cash to help out. they are saying, asa cash to help out. they are saying, as a point of desperation, they can no longer continue those home visits. this is a call to all of us, that the funding of the nhs has to be increased so that gps can undertake those home visits. doctors say they recognise that vulnerable, complex and end—of—life patients will need home visits. theyjust wa nt to will need home visits. theyjust want to see a change of policy to ensure patients get a suitable service. jenny kumah, bbc news.

millions of people in hong kong are preparing to vote in local elections tomorrow. it's being seen as a gauge of public sentiment after almost six months of pro—democracy protests and clashes between demonstrators and police. the authorities have threatened to suspend voting if there's more violence. stephen mcdonell is in hong kong for us now. stephen, how important is this election? it is pretty quiet in hong kong this weekend, apart from that truck! as people prepare to go to the ballot box rather than the barricades. candidates and their supporters are still out in the street asking for support in crucial district council elections tomorrow. they are being seen as a barometer of sentiment in the city, which is in its sixth month of political crisis. candidates backing the protesters, those calling for broad democratic reforms are hoping to do well because people are upset with the way carrie lam's administration has handled this crisis. however, those

in the pro establishment camp are saying, if you are fed up with the chaos of constant protest, you should choose our the government says if any polling place is sufficiently disrupted, voting will be suspended there. for that reason, people are trying their best to not give the authorities any excuse to call off the elections and it is more peaceful than it has been four months here. stephen mcdonell live in hong kong, thanks very much. with all the sport now, here's jon watson at the bbc sport centre. good afternoon. new zealand have taken control of the first test with england after bj watling's century gave them a iii—run lead. there were few highlights for england on day three, this one of them, joe root with the wicket of henry nicholls this morning. that was one of just two wickets that fell today. ben stokes had earlier missed a catch to dismiss watling on 31, before he went on to finish the day unbeaten on 119, as new zealand closed on 394—6.

new zealand's day, all day long. it was a terrific response from new zealand. they were under pressure and at the end of day two, i had england in the driving seat. but new zealand responded with real character today and fight and determination and that was let by watling. what an excellent hundred he scored. jose mourinho's first match as tottenham manager is under way and it's going well so far. it's tottenham who lead at the london stadium against west ham. 1—0, the score. mourinho will be tasked with improving the fortunes of a club which finds itself down in 14th place in the premier league. the lawn tennis association has given away almost 1,000 tickets for great britain's davis cup semifinal against spain this evening. it's in madrid, so they were attempting to even up the crowd. andy murray urged fans to make as much noise as possible, but he may not be playing later.

it's not like it used to be, he has to play. it's not like that now and that's a good thing to be in. i think you can see, you can see today, look how andy is supporting those guys out there. he is standing up those guys out there. he is standing up at every point but getting behind them. i said at the start, the squad is really strong now. this weekend, the new international swimming league arrived in britain for the first time, as teams bid for places in next month's grand final in las vegas. olympic champion, adam peaty, is among those competing for home team london roar and he believes this new event is helping to transform the sport. the bbc‘s 0lympic sports reporter nick hope reports from the london aquatics centre. traditionally, swimmers have their moment in the spotlight every two yea rs. moment in the spotlight every two years. through the world championships or the olympic games. but this generation demands more, which has led to the creation of the

international swimmingly. they compete for teams rather than nations, meaning more races and money. the athletes in the past have been worried about how the sport has been worried about how the sport has been handled, world championships and 0lympics every two and every four years is not enough. that didn't change over the last 20 yea rs, if didn't change over the last 20 years, if not longer. it gives us hope the sport can be entertaining, fast and they are on tv more and it is great. the build-up to the launch of the series was dominated by a battle between the organisers and the spot‘s international governing body, who didn't like someone else muscling in on their territory. there were boycott threats, bans or even muted but those relations have improved between the two in recent months and the swimmers say that it is essential it continues to grow the sport. we don't want to create friction between fina and isl, we wa nt to friction between fina and isl, we want to bring the sport of swimming forwards. that is giving athletes more opportunities to race and be

commercially viable, but also for audiences to be able to watch more swimming. for me at the swimmers out there who don't get paid that much, it isa there who don't get paid that much, it is a start for us where things will get bigger for us and travelling the world and to be part of that in the first season, is amazing. the 2019 campaign will conclude with a grand final in las vegas next month. although some have questioned the isl‘s stability, for these athletes, there has never been a better time to be a swimmer. nick hope, bbc news. that's all the sport for now. that's it. the next news on bbc one is at 5:15. bye for now. hello. you're watching the bbc news channel. barclays has become the latest big company to withdraw support

from prince andrew's business mentoring scheme. the duke has faced a growing backlash since his interview with the bbc‘s newsnight last weekend. 0ur correspondent, simon jones has been outside buckingham palace. well, prince andrew is on the front page of many of today's newspapers, once again, following his decision to step back from public life. one of the papers calls him the duke of nothing. it is a week since that interview with newsnight in which he spoke about his friendship with the disgraced financierjeffrey epstein, a convicted sex offender. yesterday, prince andrew was seen out riding with the queen, but the number of people and organisations wanting to disassociate themselves with the prince is now continuing to grow. we have had the royal philharmonic 0rchestra saying he is no longer their patron. we have also had barclays pulling support for a scheme called pitch at palace which was being run by prince andrew.

that was designed to give a helping hand to businesses starting out in the world of enterprise. if the duke is trying to keep out of the public eye in future, he may still have some more problems ahead, though, because the bbc says it is going to broadcast a special edition of panorama at the start of next month which is going to examine that relationship. it is also going to hear, for the first time on british television in the first tv interview, from virginia roberts. now, she is the woman who said that she was forced to have sex with prince andrew. that is an allegation that he has always totally denied. in last week's interview, he said he couldn't even recall meeting her. but the fact broadcast is impending is likely to cause further consternation here at the palace. simonjones there. this christmas many children supported by barnardo's will go without presents and a festive meal, according to a survey of hundreds

of the charity's front line workers. in the survey, 43% of barnardo's staff said people they support who celebrate christmas were unlikely to receive any presents, or enjoy a traditional meal. earlier i spoke to barnardo's director of fundraising, jennie york about their survey. well, in the survey that you reference, a lot of front line staff who work with children and young people every day are concerned that a lot of the children they work with who would normally celebrate christmas won't be receiving presents this year and a lot of them won't receive a hot meal on christmas day. in addition to that, they are concerned about increases in mental health issues and loneliness with children and young people. so people might wonder why, for example, a child can't get access to a hot meal even on christmas day if they are being cared for by family, if there are supposed to be the normal levels of support around them. could you just explain what it is that people are living with? so a lot of the parents that we work with are struggling to access the benefits that they needed to support their families. we are seeing from recent reports

from the trussell trust who run food banks that there is a 25% increase in people accessing food banks and a third of those people are children and young people. and they are living in a range of different setups? yes. many will be living at home but there are also a number of young people who are living in care and also there is over 10,000 young people who leave care every year who won't have a supportive network of a family so will be lonely and potentially alone this christmas. as i said, we see these appeals every single year, is nothing improving? unfortunately, we are seeing that child poverty is on the increase. over a third of children in the uk are living in poverty now and there is much more that needs to be done. barnardos, we work with over 300,000 children, young people and their families,

but there are still so many more that we need to reach, not just at this time of year, but all throughout the year, and that is why it is really important for us to raise more vital funds to reach vulnerable children. so if people do want to help, what are you asking for this year? we have launched a really exciting christmas campaign. we are asking people to come together with friends and family, have fun, be a little bit silly. it is a very important time of year. people tell us that they are worried about the over commercialisation of christmas but they are concerned about children and young people not receiving food and presents at this time of year, so we are asking people to... the campaign is called kidsmas and we are asking people to throw kidsmas parties with their friends and families to raise funds or to build an online snowman which is a fundraising page in which you ask people to donate to you. labour have set out measures to tackle what it calls "tax and wage cheat culture" of multinational companies. speaking outside a amazon

warehouse in sheffield, jeremy corbyn said he would tackle companies who ripped off workers and will force them to pay their fair share in tax. the proposal also include charging offshore companies and trusts an extra 20% on buying property in the uk. well, the head of amazon uk, doug gurr spoke to me after that visit saying his company was already following good practice it was great to have jeremy outside one of our sites. as you can see, i am actually in that site right now. as i say, great to hear him and a lot of what he says, we would agree with. of course companies should make a contribution, but i think it is important people get their facts right, because we do. since 2010, here at amazon, we have invested over £18 billions here. we have created over 29,500 full—timejobs, 2,000 this year alone, and we do pay our taxes here in the uk. we published the numbers a couple of months ago. last year, we made a tax

contribution of over £793 million. we are absolutely here and absolutely happy to contribute. to clarify on the jeremy corbyn visit. was that done with your cooperation? otherwise, it would seem somewhat inflammatory. we got a call very late last night and we discovered jeremy was visiting. we are always delighted... but he didn't come inside? i don't believe he came into the building, no. he was just outside the building but he would have been welcome to come inside, as indeed anybody is welcome to come inside. we run public tours of the sites. we are incredibly proud of the safe operating environment we offer, the greatjobs we create, the wages we pay, we actually do pay, depending on the area, £9.50 or £10.50 an hour, and we create massive opportunities for people to learn and develop their careers, either directly with us or through programmes we run like career choice where we will pay for people to retrain. or even with apprenticeships, where we have made a commitment to create over 1,000 apprenticeships this year. so, delighted to have

anybody visit, as i say. we always say come and see. jeremy corbyn, it would seem, was making the point that he would like more multinationals to behave in a way that is more fair and to erase what he calls the tax and wages cheat culture. how many minimum wagejobs do you have and do you use zero—hours contracts? as i said, we are incredibly proud of the safe great working environment we create. hopefully you can see behind me. it is not a victorian warehouse. it is a clean and safe environment. we do not use zero—hours contracts. we pay either £9.50 or £10.50 an hour, that is why we have attracted so many people. we have 29,500 full—time employees here in the uk. 2,000 of them created this year alone. no zero—hours contracts, £9.50 or £10.50 an hour, plus development and training. i totally agree that all employers should look after their workforce and we believe we do. the call for multinationals to pay tax more fairly and honestly

on the profits that you make in this country and not to offset them somehow, are you supportive of the moves that labour is announcing? that they are going to clamp down and be much tougher on the multinationals. i think it is always important to get your facts right here. we have been here for 20 years. we have invested over £18 billion since 2010. we do pay our taxes here in the uk. we have been doing so for many, many yea rs. last year alone, we made a tax contribution here in the uk of £793 million. the head of amazon uk speaking to me earlier. as we've been reporting, the conservatives launch their manifesto this weekend , and one policy area that may come under scrutiny is social care. in 2017, the party were embroiled in controversy after theresa may u—turned on their manifesto promise

around the so—called ‘dementia tax‘. earlier this week, the conservatives said they would invest an additional £1 billion per year to recruit staff to deal with the issue, but will this be enough? 0ur reality check correspondent sophie hutchinson has been looking at why social care poses such a problem. there is no question that social ca re there is no question that social care is a growing issue. in the past decade, the number of older people asking for help with washing and dressing, eating and taking medication has risen. unlike with the nhs, social care is means tested and there are different rules across the uk. when it comes to paying for a care home, the most generous policies are in scotland. in terms of getting help at home, in wales and northern ireland, those expenses are capped. and england has the least generous system of all. have a look at this. this graph shows the number of people in england receiving long

term support from councils from 2010 through to 2019, and you can see a sharp decline here. it was 600,000, it comes down to around 400,000 people. after that, the way the data is collected changed so we can't really compare. this is what age uk had to say about it. there are about 1.5 million older people who have unmet needs for social care, and in lots of cases, these people have really very significant needs. they need help getting out of bed, getting dressed, washed, having something to eat, so all of those fundamentals that many of us take for granted live a decent life. in many cases people are often receiving help from family and friends. it is just receiving help from family and friends. it isjust not enough. people cannot do it on their own and they are being let down by a failing system. so is the problem all about the money? well, have a look at this graph. this is spending by local authorities in england on adult

social care going back from 2006 all the way up to 2019. you can see there is a slight decline but, on the whole, spending levels have remained pretty static. what isn't it a static, though, are the costs. listen to what the think tank the health foundation had to say about it. obviously, a large part of providing care is to do with wages of staff and, of course, they have been going up, particularly since, i think around 30% of people are on the nationl living wage and that has been increasing so that puts on care providers. and have a look at these costs. the nhs estimates that in 2016, 2017, the average weekly cost of residential care for a pensioner was £565. now, if we move just one year on, it becomes £604, quite a hike. if you look at the numbers of elderly people from 200910 2018, the numbers in the population rose by 16.3% for those aged 65 and over.

in terms of the very elderly population, throughout the same time period, 2009 to 2018, increase was 17.4%. with the population getting very elderly, they needs are more complex and, of course, more intensive care is needed, and so that becomes more expensive. age uk is saying if the current situation continues and there isn't an improvement, we risk having more than 2 million elderly people without their social care needs met in the next ten years. a group of orphaned british children, caught up in the war in syria, are said to be in good spirits, after they were brought back to the uk. they're the first to be repatriated from an area in the north east of the country, which was formally controlled

by the islamic state group. 0rla minogue is from the charity save the children. there are 60 british children remaining in these camps in north—east syria, all of whom need to come home urgently, given the state of affairs in the camp. the conditions that are desperate. we are talking about a 68 very young children. what has been the blockage to that happening so far? there have been delays on the side of the british government in terms of making the decision to repatriate. having said that, we welcomed very much the shift in policy on the government's part over the last month. to say that they would take steps to repatriate orphaned and unaccompanied children as a matter of urgency and that they would look at other children on a case—by—case basis. we have had reports that a group of children have now been repatriated, demonstrating that it is possible and feasible. now is the time to bring home all the rest of the children. how difficult are the conditions there? the conditions in the camp are desperate. there is severe overcrowding. there is 70,000 people in one of these camps alone

so it is very chaotic, people are living in flimsy tents on top of one another with very little access to clean water to services. a lot of the children are sick, they have severe injuries from the bombing and shelling that they have experienced, not to mention the psychological distress that these children have lived through and are going through now, given that they are spending their formative years growing up in syria. what about people who say they are worried about these children who have been in the care of radicalised parents, who could be teenagers, perhaps some of them might pose a threat if they are brought back here? what we would say to that is the british government has a duty of care to all british children, including these children who have found themselves caught up in a war through no fault of their own. in the camps where save the children is present, the vast majority of children are under the age of 12 and we know that of the 9,000 foreign children overall, half of them are under five. what about the mothers? again, some of them may have been radicalised and if they are brought back here, would they be charged, would they have to go through a criminal process? absolutely. the assumption is that there be assessments that would take

place back here in the uk as to what should happen next, so whether that is weather for the women to go through the justice system where that is deemed most appropriate, as to what would happen to the children in terms of separation from the parents etc. those decisions will need to be made here in the uk. very briefly, people again might say this is going to be expensive and complicated, why should britain do this because these families chose to act in the way that they did which was abhorrent. certainly these 60 british children currently struggling in camps in syria made no such choice and should be brought home. let's have a look at the weather now for the weekend. what is it like up there? thank you very much. not particularly pleasant outside at the moment. for the second half of the weekend, things will be drier across the uk but through the rest of today, there is a lot of cloud around. low cloud. we have had a fair bit of rain earlier on today in the south—west of england. that is easing to a certain extent. further north, the rain in the north—east of england has been turning steadier

there is a risk of some localised flooding. see how the rain is turning more showery. the more persistent rain is heading northwards. there is rain coming into the south—east from the continent. typical temperatures will be nine or 10 celsius. ray never too far away but mild. away from the north—east of scotland, most places will become dry but as the wind eases, we will have mist and fog patches forming. it should be a frost free night. we are in between weather systems. this is the next area of low pressure to arrive. mostly rain will be after dark. we have rain in the morning for

north—eastern scotland and perhaps into the afternoon for the northern isles. 0n the whole, it will be dry. a lot of cloud around, the money will be grey and misty and murky. the best chance of such out towards the south—east and east anglia. temperatures similar to this afternoon. there is our next area of low pressure next week. we have the jets dream more furs the south for this time of year. that will feed in more low this time of year. that will feed in more low pressure this time of year. that will feed in more low pressure and rain next week. we have the rain and strengthening winds pushing northwards mainly affecting england and wales. i think there will be patchy rain in scotland. it will be on the mild side, 12 or 13 celsius. we start with mild weather and we keep that through tuesday and wednesday but it comes with cloud and outbreaks of rain. as we head towards the latter part of the week,

low pressure should move away, pressure should start to rise, it will get cooler but drier.