this is bbc news, i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at 7. the health secretary says he'll block any attempts by gps to have home visits removed from their contracts. it isn't going to wash, it isn't going to happen. they say they want to negotiate to end home visits, but of course gps need to do home visits. the conservaitves and lib dems attackjeremy corbyn, for saying he'll stay ‘neutral‘ in any future brexit referendum. but the labour leader says it's the right thing to do. i think being an honest broker and listening to everyone is actually a sign of strength and a sign of maturity. the authorities in hong kong threaten to suspend voting in tomorrow's local elections — in case of serious disruption at polling stations. back on track —

the model display destroyed by vandals — now on show once more — thanks to help from sir rod stewart and thousands of other supporters. and coming up on sportsday at 7.30 — jose mourinho‘s first game in charge at tottenham, ends in a 3—2 win at west ham. 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 gp numbers, mean something has to give. at his surgery in leeds this doctor is well aware of the challenges facing surgeries like his. 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 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. 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. they are saying, as a point of desperation, they can no longer continue those home visits. this is a siren 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. they just want to see a change of policy to ensure patients get a suitable service. jenny kumah, bbc news. 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, nick eardley reports. whatever your priority at this election, brexit is one of the biggest issues facing the country. for months, labour has walked a political tightrope, trying to keep everyone, leave and remain happy. ifjeremy corbyn wins power, he's promising a new deal and another referendum. but he's now confirmed he won't pick a side. you're telling us tonight you will remain neutral on the issue of whether or not we should remain within the eu. first heard here. some see that as weak, others indecisive. mr corbyn says it's the opposite. i think being an honest broker and listening to everyone is actually a sign of strength and a sign of maturity. our country has to come together.

we can't go on forever being divided by how people voted in 2016. borisjohnson faced pressure, too, on the question of trust, and he would love to keep the election focus on brexit, saying his deal is ready to go. and after months of bitter splits, his party is uniting around it. on the critical question of our times on brexit, we've got a clear plan agreed with the eu ready to go. and in sharp contrast to what we saw in this debate last night ofjeremy corbyn saying that he has decided to be indecisive on brexit. absolutely. yeah. she agrees even if she is on the other side of the debate. jo swinson says she'll stop brexit right away in the unlikely event she wins power. last night, she faced pressure from some who'd branded that anti—democratic, but the lib dem leader says she did not. dem leader says she and not jeremy corbyn is the champion of laws who want to cancel brexit. of those who want to cancel brexit.

they want a leader, not a bystander. i think it is just beggars belief that somebody who is standing for the rule of leading our country can then say that on the biggest for the role of leading our country can then say that on the biggest issue that we have faced for generations they're not going to take a position for a total abdication of leadership. the snp, who could be crucial in a hung parliament, are scathing too. i do think people have a right to expect from somebody aspiring to be prime minister, say where they stand on the issue of should the uk be in or out of the european union? and i think that sort of statement of so—called neutrality will simply feed the suspicion that maybe people have that jeremy corbyn actually wants the uk to be out the european union, but simply isn't willing to say that. because we know whose side we the labour party are on. jeremy corbyn has been taking sides on many issues, promising to take on the elite on behalf of what he calls the many. but on brexit, the labour leader is keeping his cards close to his chest. our political correspondent, nick eardley is here with more.

what you make of the timing of that statement? he has that a lot of pressure over the last week, he was asked repeatedly what he would do if there is a referendum. it was an uncomfortable question for the labour leader because by not answering it he looked equivocal on what is perhaps the biggest issue facing the country but at the same time he has been walking a tightrope for some time and is essentially continuing with that balancing act and what he has announced. we know many labour candidates including some of his closest allies in the shadow cabinet, people who will be central and a labour government effort is one, they want to remain, they have made clear they will back remain matter what, they are not going to change their mind. at the same time there are others at the top of the labour party including in the shadow cabinet who have made

clear they think we need to see through the result of the 2016 referendum, they don't want to be seen to betray voters by turning their back on that. jeremy corbyn has the same balancing act when it comes to the electorate, he wants to win the votes of people who want to stay in the eu, perhaps those in the south of england for example who are desperate for another referendum, offering them that but at the same time doesn't want to alienate those people and live voting leave supporting areas who do not want to have a leader who is turning as they see it telling them back on the referendum results. it is a continuation of that policy, the danger some in the labour party think as mr corbyn looks uncertain. the 20 manifesto will be revealed tomorrow, —— the tory manifesto. i

was on borisjohnson‘s campus bus last week and time again here the message of get brexit done and an alicia britain's potential. that is the camping message and you will hearin the camping message and you will hear in what one of that tomorrow. it will be borisjohnson saying ephedra not deliver on the referendum, for do not leave the eu be able to talk about all those domestic priorities every party is talking about. we'll be hearing new things? i suspect rebel. that is a ma nifesto things? i suspect rebel. that is a manifesto launch, always something new but watchable be hearing new is a big pledge on national insurance which some thought would be a centrepiece of the manifesto launch but which managed to find it's weird through the medium of mrjohnson on

wednesday instead. thank you. join us wednesday instead. thank you. join us at10:30pm wednesday instead. thank you. join us at 10:30pm for the paper review. 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. the promise of more investment in dementia research from the tories follows another pledge earlier this week — to spend an additional billion pounds per year, on social care in englan — over the next five years. 0ur reality check correspondent, sophie hutchinson, has been looking at why social care is now attracting so much additional attention. 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. 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 presures on care providers. 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, of elderly people from 2009 to 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 very elderly, their needs are more complex and, of course, more intensive care is needed, and so that becomes more expensive. and we‘ll find out how these stories — and many others — are covered in tomorrow‘s front pages at 10:30 and 11:30 this evening in the papers. our guests joining me tonight are — evening standard home affairs correspondent, martin bentham — and broadcaster, lynne faulds—wood. millions of people in hong kong

are preparing to vote in local elections on sunday. the vote is being seen as an important measure of public feeling, after almost 6 months of pro—democracy protests. earlier this week, there were more violent clashes between demonstrators and police — outside hong kong‘s polytechnic university. the authorities have threatened to suspend voting — if there‘s more violence. earlier, our correspondent stephen mcdonnell, gave us this update. 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 streets asking for people‘s support in crucial district council elections tomorrow which are being seen as a barometer of sentiment in the city which is now in its sixth month of political crisis. those candidates backing the protesters, those calling for broad democratic reforms are hoping to do well because people are upset with the way

in which 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 and constant protest, you should choose our tickets. the government says if any polling places are sufficiently disrupted, voting will be suspended there, so for that reason people are trying their best do not give the authorities any excuse to call off the elections and it is more peaceful than it has been for months here. the headlines on bbc news... the health secretary says he‘ll block any attempts by gps to have home visits removed from their contracts. the conservatives and lib dems attackjeremy corbyn for saying he‘ll stay ‘neutral‘ in any future brexit referendum. but the labour leader says, it‘s the right thing to do.

the authorities in hong kong threaten to suspend voting in tomorrow‘s local elections — in case of serious disruption at polling stations. 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 northeast of the country — which was formally controlled by the group that called itself, islamic state. 0rla minogue is from the charity save the children — earlier she spoke to my colleague, geeta guru—murthy. there are as many as 60 british children remaining in these camps in north east syria, all of need who come home urgently, given the state of affairs that‘s in the camp. the conditions there are desperate, so we are talking about 60 very young children. what has been the blockage to that happening so far? well, there have been delays on the side of the british government, in terms of making the decision to repatriate.

having said that, we welcome the shift in policy on the government‘s part over the last month, to say they would take steps to repatriate orphaned and unaccompanied children as a matter of urgency, and they would look at other children on a case by case basis. we have heard that a group of children have been repatriated, demonstrating that it‘s possible and feasible. now is time to bring home the rest of the children. how difficult are the conditions there? the conditions in the camp are desperate. there is severe overcrowding, there‘s 70,000 people in one of these camps alone. it is chaotic. people are living in flimsy tents, with little access to clean water or health services. a lot of the children are sick, they have severe injuries from the bombing and shelling they have experienced, not to mention the psychological distress they have lived through and are going through now, given they are spending their formative years growing up in syria. the us state department has released documents — setting out contacts between president trump‘s personal lawyer, rudy giuliani

and the secretary of state, mike pompeo — at a key point in the administration‘s attempts to put pressure on ukraine. the papers were obtained by the group, ‘american 0versight‘ — which claims they show a clear paper trail in the drive to smear the american ambassador in kiev. 0ur washington correspondent, chris buckler, explains the significance of these newly released documents. i‘m very aware always with this impeachment inquiry there are so many names, so many allegations, but very, very simply here‘s the whole issue. we are seen over the last few days the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, being dragged into this impeachment inquiry. he is essentially trying to keep himself out of this. and many of the allegations have been about donald trump‘s personal attorney, rudy giuliani, who seems to have been leading this foreign policy or shadow foreign policy in ukraine, in which he‘s been pushing the ukrainian government

to investigate donald trump‘s own personal political rivals in the us, including, of course, joe biden, who is one of the leading democrats looking to challenge him in 2020. now, the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, has tried to stay out of that. but what we‘ve seen in testimony over the last week is suggestions, for example, from the us ambassador to the european union that actually mike pompeo knew what was going on. he basically said that everyone was in the loop and suggested mike pompeo was one of those. and what we‘re seeing from these documents is there certainly seems to have been contact between donald trump‘s point man for this shadow foreign policy and ukraine, rudy giuliani and mike pompeo. what i would say we‘ve got to be careful about is that these documents don‘t reveal exactly what was discussed in these calls. and while american oversight has been saying that, as far as it‘s concerned, it kind of links mike pompeo to a smear campaign against the us ambassador to the ukraine, potentially get him

involved in all of this, we don‘t know what was in the phone calls and therefore, we don‘t know how involved he was. more now on politics — we‘ve already heard big pledges from all of the major parties — and tomorrow we‘re expecting the conservatives to unveil their official manifesto — in the west midlands. but, what policies would persuade people — in one of the south—west‘s most deprived constituencies — to vote for borisjohnson? jon kay has been finding out. avonmouth, an old port on the bristol channel, in a seat the conservatives hope to win back. on a corner, we find danny. battery flat, as well as his mood. 0rdinary working people like me just don‘t want to know. don‘t want to know the conservatives. danny‘s the kind of traditional labour voter that boris johnson needs to win over.

the tories‘ manifesto promises on services and the nhs will be aimed at him. completely lost faith in them. but he will take some persuading. seen some new hospitals built, and it‘s lovely that we‘ve got them but they haven‘t got enough beds. the a&es aren‘t big enough. they haven‘t got enough staff. my daughter‘s a staff nurse at hospital. she keeps getting tickets on her car because there is nowhere for the staff to park. it‘s just a never—ending round of hollow promises, as it seems to me. facing west, towards america, borisjohnson says this could become a free port after brexit, creating jobs in one of the more deprived areas of south—west england. oh, look! little baby rolls. would you like them? ajob is something emma would welcome. we find her at the food bank. a single mum, she wants policies on schools and welfare, but the most important thing she wants sorted... oh, to be honest, right, brexit.

oh, it's doing my head in. it's worse than a child screaming in your ear for about five years. she tells me she might vote green, but will consider the conservative manifesto because of borisjohnson. the conservatives have been in power for nearly a decade now and you‘re here today using a food bank. some people might be surprised to hear somebody in your position saying you quite like borisjohnson. you like what he stands for? it's not even what he stands for. it's him. he will fight for what he believes in. we've got lots of food. as emma heads home with enough for herfamily, we hit the road. there are wealthy parts of bristol north west, and as well as needing labour voters, the conservatives also need to keep their traditional base. the friendly club. most of the members here are tory supporters. i‘m quite happy, really.

i‘m very fortunate that i am happy where we are. i think there should be more funds provided for the elderly, especially those who are in need, living alone. loads of things that have been let to go down under this austerity. but for once, i'm winning! look at this lot! christine, the gin rummy queen. whatever the manifesto deals out on social care and tax breaks, she‘s voting blue forjust one reason. couldn't care less about the tories and their policies. i'm voting to get out of europe. and then, there‘s hilda. i‘m a conservative by heart. i have been for years. but now, i‘m living like this. she‘s wary of tory manifesto pledges. where‘s the money coming from? it‘s just a load of fibs, as far as i can see. 0r bypassing the truth, shall we say. yeah. i‘d like to punch him. punch him! well, he‘s been boxing, hasn‘t he? so maybe you could have a match.

let‘s have some boxing lessons! jon kay, bbc news. these are all of the candidates standing in bristol north west. and you can find out which candidates are standing in your constituency on the bbc news website. the south yorkshire village of fishla ke has held its christmas fair today — barely a fortnight after devastating floods left many people homeless. for many local residents — it was a break from the flood clean—up. alasdair gill reports. christmas in fishlake has not been canceled, at least the local fair hasn‘t. and it‘s a warm and welcome respite from flood recovery for the village‘s residents. as you can see, it‘s very full and very busy because of the determination

here within fishlake to rebuild what we had to do our best to keep it alive. 11 days ago, much of this farm was under water. today looks a lot better, but the hidden cost is huge. farmer steven gilliard reckons he‘s looking at a bill of around a quarter of a million pounds. contamination now, fuel burst, central heating tanks out. all that fuel flowed to me. and now sat all over the grassland, which we need to graze and we're pedigree breeders, we're now going to vaccinate for diseases. what you could get them from the grazing land. who pays for that? looking at me at this moment. community spirit here is what is getting people through. last week, the sheffield steelers ice hockey team came to lend a hand. tonight, they‘ve given free match tickets to fish lake residents. away from the water for a little while at bay from reality, which is absolutely wonderful.

we‘re hugely grateful to them. those tickets and the christmas fair are relatively small things, but they are a welcome escape from the hard realities so many people here are now facing. alister gill, bbc, look north fishla ke. now a story to gladen the heart of model makers everywhere. in may, decades of hard work was destroyed in a matter of minutes — after a group of teenagers broke into a school hall in market deeping in lincolnshire — and smashed up the model railways. the display was valued at 30 thousand pounds. members of the market deeping model railway club, refused to admit defeat. now, thanks to their dedication — and the generosity of other model railway enthusiats — including a certain sir rod stewart it‘s all aboard once again. nicola gilroy reports. a mindless attack that left more than the trains and layouts broken.

my emotions took the better of me, i must admit. you can't replace the time you spent building these things. but six months on, the modellers from market deeping are back in business, displaying here at the largest model railway show in europe. this is the premier model railway exhibition in the country, and to be invited is really important. and it‘s even more special because the layout on display was one of those damaged in the attack. these buildings were totally wrecked, and rebuilt, part of the scenery damaged. some of the track down here has been relaid, and the wiring was pulled out from underneath. it has taken 1000 hours of hard work and dedication to repair this layout. it‘s nearly 20—odd years since i was last here with a layout, and to come back again to this with it is a wonderful thrill. i'm very proud of what the guys have done.

it's tremendous. the club continues to be overwhelmed with support, with £100,000 raised in crowdfunding, 10,000 from rod stewart, and next week they‘ll be able to say thank you in person when they appear with the man himself on the one show. nicola gilroy, east midlands today, birmingham. coming up after the weather we‘ll bring you all the latest sport — including a successful start to jose mourinho‘s tenure at tottenham — after spurs win 3—2 at west ham. that‘s coming up on sportsday. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with alina jenkins. it is been a very wet day in places, more rain in areas which do not need at. slow drying over the next 24—hour is but through this evening still heavy rain across england and wales are starting to ease, becoming

confined to north—east england and eventually eastern scotland, still met office rain warnings in place. dryer elsewhere, clouds and mist and fog and poor visibility but temperatures above freezing across the country, between four and eight overnight. tomorrow a brief and weak ridge of high pressure, keeping this in being but not for long but for many to moderately dry and they of the weekend, grey in places, mist and patchy fog and cloud lifting slowly, centring at a premium. heavy rain and eastern scotland becomes confined to the northern isles, wet and windy here but elsewhere fairly cloudy but at least mainly dry and temperatures tomorrow between nine and 13.