this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at 11:00: 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 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. i think being an honest broker and listening to everyone is actually a sign of strength and a sign of maturity. a number of arrests have been following a mass fight involving over 100 people at the biggest cinema complex in the west midlands. police say some of their officers were assaulted outside starcity in birmingham.

and we'll be taking an in—depth look at the papers with our reviewers, evening standard home affairs correspondent, martin bentham, and broadcaster, lynne faulds—wood. stay with us for that. good evening. jeremy corbyn has defended his decision to adopt a neutral stance in the event of a future brexit referendum — calling it a sign of strength and maturity. he told last night's bbc question time leaders‘ special he would not campaign for leave or remain if his party wins power — in order to allow him to credibly carry out what voters decide. his opponents have questioned his position as our political correspondent nick eardley reports.

applause 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? yes. first heard here on question time. first heard here on question time. some see that as weak, others indecisive. but mr corbyn disagrees. 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. boris johnson 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. 0n 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. she faced pressure last night from some who branded that anti—democratic, but the lib dem leader says she, and not

jeremy corbyn, is the champion 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 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. it's 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 that they 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 thatjeremy 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. that was nick eardley.

the conservative party is to launch its manifesto tomorrow, with pledges on brexit, tax, and investment in public services. among the pledges included are: a promise from the prime minister to bring his withdrawal deal back to the commons before christmas if he wins the general election. an announcement that there will be no rises in income tax, national insurance, or vat. plans to keep the pension triple lock and winter fuel payments. and a promise of more money for childcare, a pothole filling programme and a national skills fund. 0ur political correspondent nick eardley is following the story. boris johnson's bits borisjohnson‘s bits the country tomorrow will feel very familiar to the pt has been making for months 110w. the pt has been making for months now. unsurprisingly, at its heart will be that pledged to deliver brexit. the conservatives will see tomorrow that if they win a majority

brexit bill, the withdrawal agreement bill, will be back in parliament before christmas. all pa rt parliament before christmas. all part of a strategy to make sure that the new deadline of the end of january is met. what mrjohnson will call an early christmas present to the nation. now, his opponents will point out that even if we do leave at the end of january there will still be months, potentially years of trade talks to come. but the conservatives believe that the simple act of leaving will allow the uk to start focusing instead on domestic priorities. tomorrow we will see what mrjohnson thinks that they are. now, he will promise big pledges on tax. no rising income tax. no rise in national insurance payments. no rise in vat. all of which will make it harder for the government to raise money. and at the same time there will be big spending pledges. again friendly policies like keeping the pension triple lock, keeping winter fuel payments, keeping free bus passes for the elderly. we already know

that mrjohnson‘s talking about more money for the health service, for police, and for schools. tomorrow there will be 1 billion for childcare, 2 billion to fill potholes in england, 3 billion for skills. now the tory say all of this ma nifesto skills. now the tory say all of this manifesto promise will be fully costed. we will find out tomorrow exactly how they will pay for it. but an election where the cheque—book has been opened, the tories are no different. nick ea rdley. labour has pledged to put an extra tax on foreign companies and trusts buying property in the uk. if labour win the general election — the party says it would charge offshore organisations an extra 20% on their purchase. labour says the extra £3.3 billion a year raised by the measure would go towards public services. a number of police officers have been assaulted while trying to break up a large fight at a birmingham cinema. west midlands police were called to the star city complex in nechells late this afternoon

following reports of a group carrying machetes. a spokesperson for the force said fighting broke out as officers tried to clear a group of more than 100 people from the area. several arrests have been made. well, earlier i spoke to rachael allison, who was there and said the fight broke out right in front of her as she stood in the queue. 0ne one girl punched this girl in the face, started slapping her. the audience watching was getting involved. this man held the girls back and the next thing you know the police rush in with their baton ‘s, telling everyone to get out and stay away. 0k, telling everyone to get out and stay away. ok, so what can you tell us about this report of machetes?” can't confirm machetes, but they can confirm there was laser guns. they

held taser guns, sorry, in their hands. what happened once the police arrived, what then happened? the police came in with baton ‘s, taser guns in their hands, telling eve ryo ne guns in their hands, telling everyone to please evacuate the cinema, and it took a good ten minutes for everyone to come out of the actual cinema. the guards came in. and then there were still people lingering around, just hanging around. and, yeah, they were also consulting young kids. there were kids crying on the floor with their mums, because obviously the frozen cinema, the film. a take it that at that time, it would have been pretty crowded. there were loads of people there. thousands as you can see on there. thousands as you can see on the tv. a lot was going on all at once. but the police reacted very quickly and i don't know how well

the young people took to it, because it wasn't as if... i don't think they realised what mayhem they were causing as well. so do you think this was just a fight between young people that then escalated, because there were reports that there were fights then that then turned onto the police. i can't say there were fights on police. 0tto witnessed it was young people fighting young people. i reckon it wasjust arguments between themselves. young kids with nothing to do, you know, the lack of youth centres that there are today, kids are just hanging around on the streets. this new film is out, so they could have been going to see that. but it's just, it's a shame. i suppose you are home 110w. it's a shame. i suppose you are home now. the video you have got there, we saw a lot of police cars around star city. are they still there?

yeah, i'm home now, but as i was leaving there was still more police ca i’s leaving there was still more police cars arriving. i definitely saw at least 20 police cars, guard dogs everywhere, and the kids were still hanging around on the streets stop at one moment while i was waiting in the queue a bunch of kids started running towards the bus station and the police were following. so i don't know if there was another fight happening which i didn't witness, but there was just so much going on all at once. rachel, how would you feel about going back there again? i don't know. well, i didn't get the chance to see the film. a pre— booked my ticket. i will be getting a refund and probably going to another cinema, because it just probably going to another cinema, because itjust seems to be a hanger about area. that was rachel ellis and their speaking to me earlier. —— rachel alison. 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. in 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're saying, as a point of desperation, they can no longer continue those home visits. this is a siren call to all of us, a siren call 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 want to see a change of policy to ensure patients get a suitable service. jenny kumah, bbc news. for the first time in weeks hong kong is quiet this weekend, as the government and pro—democracy protesters call on their supporters to go out and vote in local council elections. this is the first chance people in hong kong have had to vote

since the mass anti—government protests broke out nearly six months ago. many of the young protesters are standing as candidates and our correspondent rupert wingfield hayes has been out on the streets with some of them. and just a warning, there are some flashing images in his report. at the height of the hong kong protest this summer, this was benson's daily routine. donning the black clothes of protest and taking to the streets. twice, this 22—year—old has been arrested. but today he has dispensed with a black outfit and is fighting instead for election. his goal, he tells me, to reject the pro—government incumbent from his local council. translation: i am running for election because i want to carry on the demands of the protest movement. we, the hong kong people, must get rid of this government. we need democracy and universal suffrage.

benson is not alone, there are dozens of young protesters now running for office here. 23—year—old jocelyn chow is another. a few nights ago, she was punched in the head while canvassing for votes. this is video of the man she said attacked her. she says she is undeterred. translation: we need to have the younger generation fighting for democracy. this is our time. that is why more young people running in this election. the older generation are not worried about our future. this weekend, hong kong is quiet. but it is only days since scenes like this were taking place here. this election is of course being overshadowed by what happened last week here at the hong kong polytechnic university, the siege at the university

is in fact still going on, there may be dozens of students, we don't know how many for sure, still holed up inside the university buildings. the way that the hong kong government and the police here have dealt with the siege of the university has caused tremendous anger, and that anger is now being directed towards pro—government candidates. the only pro—government candidates who would agree to talk to the bbc is paul dett. he says everyone else is too frightened to come out onto the streets and campaign. it is very difficult. this campaign has been very difficult in the sense that there is so much uncertainty, so much risk involved here. and i am one of the very bold ones, to be able to do our evening campaigning activity like this, all of my colleagues are not doing it because it is so risky. anything could happen at any time. this election is being seen by many as a referendum on the six month long protest movement.

if the opposition wins on sunday, it will be hailed by them as a vindication of the movement and its demands. if it fails, the hong kong government and beijing will claim it shows only a minority continue to support the protesters' goals. rupert wingfield—hayes in hong kong. 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. a number of arrests have been following a mass fight involving over 100 people at the biggest cinema complex in the west midlands. police say some of their officers were assaulted outside starcity in birmingham.

sport now, and for a full round—up from the bbc sport centre. hello, gavin. good evening. jose mourinho's reign at tottenham got off to the perfect start after they beat west ham in the day's early premier league game. spurs took the lead just after the half—hour mark through son heung—min, lucas moura added a second goal before harry kane got their third. despite a late fight back from west ham, spurs held on for a 3—2 victory. it's nothing about me, is about the players and the club. we have gone too long without a victory, i think there is too much pressure on the boys also in relation to that. it's very important, three points, we have a champion in the table and it's more important than that, it's for the players never smile, go home with the music on, smile on their faces, happiness and that is very, very important.

liverpool won a thrilling match against crystal palace. 2—1, the final score there. but they needed an 85th minute goal from roberto firmino for the win — it means the league leaders maintain their eight point advantage at the top. palace looked like coming away with a point after wilfred zaha had equalised a few minutes earlier. but liverpool's victory means they have now gone 30 games unbeaten in the premier league. we wanted, and i think that is absolutely 0k, we wanted, and i think that is absolutely ok, you cannot have two run the boys' had survived you only run the boys' had survived you only run in the brilliant games. i liked a lot of the performance, not everything, but i know why some things went there and we will work on their more often dash on them. manchester city responded to liverpool's win, by coming from behind to beat chelsea 2—1 at the etihad. riyad mahrez struck the winner to move the champions above chelsea into third place. but they're still nine points off the top of the table. pressure continues on arsenal head coach unai emery after arsenal rescued a point to draw

2—2 with southampton. everton‘s struggles continue — they lost 2—0 at home to norwich — who move off the bottom of the table. elsewhere there were wins for wolves, leicester city, and burnley. great britain are playing the deciding match of their davis cup semifinal against spain. kyle edmund won his match earlier but then rafael nadal beat dan evans to level the scores at 1—1. that left jame murray and neal skupski with the challenge of beating nadal and felciano lopez in the doubles. they lost the first set in the tie—break and i just starting the second set. -- and arejust starting. the winners play canada in the final tomorrow. england perhaps have a mountain to climb if they are to get anything back from that match there. and in rugby union's

european champions cup, and holders, saracens, returned to winning ways with a bonus—point victory over 0spreys, they won 411—3. sarries were beaten by racing 92, in their opening game. but two tries from rotimi segun including this, secured a bonus point victory over the welsh region. exeter, northampton and harlequins also won. england's women scored ten tries as they crushed italy 60—3 in bedford to complete a clean sweep of victories from their autumn internationals. world player of the year, emily scarratt, was on the scoresheet. england finish the year with 12 wins from 13 games and extend their run of victories on home soil up to 17. that's all the sport for now. thank you very much. 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, he's 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 in 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 gets 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. that was chris buckler. the us vice president, mike pence, has made an unannounced visit to iraq to try to reassure kurdish leaders there of america's continued support. he flew into erbil in kurdistan in the north of the country. the us troops withrdrew from kurdish areas in neighbouring syria last month. that withdrawal was criticised by syrian kurds who say it was a betrayal. after the us military left, turkey moved into the border area around tal abyad and other kurdish—controlled towns. thousands of people have marched in paris and nearly 70 cities across france to condemn violence against women. the marches come at the end of nearly three months of consultations with the government which campaigners hope will produce a set of measures against domestic violence. more than 100 women are believed to have been killed by their spouses in france so far this year. those protesting say they want

to have their voices heard. translation: the government must do something to help us. we get punched, we get humiliated, insulted, raped, hit, and this must. the government must really listen to us. the government must really listen to us. the police must stop the courts must listen to us, because we are hardly heard. the south yorkshire village of fishlake, 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 fishla ke has not been cancelled, 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 and 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 £250,000. contamination now, fuel burst, central heating tanks out the village. all that fuel‘s 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 which you you could get from flooded 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 fishlake residents. away from the water for a little while and a break 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, fishlake. now it's time for a look at the weather with alina jenkins. sticking with the weather theme, let's check in with alina. we have had more rain today on already saturated ground, as much as 20 millimetres across some parts of suppers england, wales, north—west england as well and even more of a higher ground. this is where it has been following of the last few hours, you can see the rain across england are starting' northwards. 0ver england are starting' northwards. over the next rise becomes confined to north england and then into eastern scotland overnight. we still have the met office warnings and lazier. elsewhere it starts to turn drier, but we have a lot of cloud, some mist and merrick and hill fog stop clear skies across east anglia

and south england but this in turn will lead to dense patches of fog. it's not too cold a night, tomorrow, briefly we have a weak ridge of high pressure coming across the uk. still an area of low pressure across the south—west, that will its presence felt as we go through the evening. eventually, the northern isles will be quite wet and windy for much of the day, things do turn drier but we are going to have a lot of cloud, some mist and merrick, some fog through the morning, which will be slow to lift. and when it does, sunshine really at a premium. mild, 9- 12 sunshine really at a premium. mild, 9— 12 celsius tomorrow. through the evening we look at the south—west, that next band of rain approaches and pushes its way through the evening and overnight, getting into wales and the midlands by dawn on monday. monday is going to be another fairly unstable day, an area of low pressure pushing its way

north and east words. that is going to bring some heavy and persistent rain initially across england under. patchy as it arrives into northern ireland and scotland, a good backup for a time ireland and scotland, a good backup fora time in ireland and scotland, a good backup for a time in northern ireland. more met office warnings. another mild day, 9— 13 celsius. we get rid of one area of low pressure than another one arrives as we go into tuesday. this has the remnants of what was tropical storms sebastien. the timing could change so keep an eye over the next few days. see wet and windy weather pushing its way across much of the uk. 0verall, it's an unsettled, wet, windy day with all of those warnings in place on the met office. all of those warnings in place on the met 0ffice. 10— all of those warnings in place on the met office. 10— 1a celsius the top temperature on tuesday. more rain on wednesday then as the week progresses things that you turn

drier but also colder. a return of the overnight frost. hello. this is bbc news with lukwesa burak. and my guests who will be taking me and themselves through some of the sunday papers. first off a reminder of the headlines. 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