good afternoon. the conservative party will launch its general election manifesto later — with a pledge not to raise income tax, national insurance or vat. in a speech in shropshire, borisjohnson will pledge to bring his eu withdrawal deal back to the house of commons before christmas, if he wins the election next month. our political correspondent, tom barton, reports. he wants to keep the top job. and later this afternoon, he'll set out what he says he's got to offer. central to the conservatives‘ manifesto — bringing the law that would make brexit happen back

here before christmas and getting it agreed before the brexit deadline at the end of january. beyond that, there's the question of getting a trade deal agreed. michael gove today confident that would happen next year. we've done a huge amount of work already, alongside the withdrawal agreement, in the political declaration, which lays the groundwork for the deal that we want. across europe, there is an appetite to ensure that we tie up the loose ends, we conclude a relationship based on free trade and friendly cooperation. away from brexit, the conservatives are promising to freeze national insurance, income tax and vat — what they are calling a triple lock. but they are also making some expensive promises, including maintaining the levels of pensioner benefits as well as spending more money on childcare, on fixing potholes, and on a skills fund. the manifesto will also pledge to end parking charges at hospitals

for long—term patients and theirfamilies, and for nhs staff on night shifts. but if they're promising not to raise taxes, where is the extra cash going to come from? it's pretty clear that our economy will be in a stronger position if we get brexit done, and our economy will be in a weaker position if we have the economic paralysis that comes from not having brexit done. we have an oven—ready deal. we can make sure that if we have a working conservative majority, parliament can get working again, we can then ensure that with that good brexit deal, we are in a stronger position and our economy will be in a stronger position to invest in the people's priorities, and to provide people with tax security. borisjohnson says that if he's going to get on with delivering voters‘ priorities at home, he has to deliver brexit first. a pitch he hopes will resonate when he launches his manifesto this afternoon. tom barton, bbc news. live now to telford, where the manifesto is being unveiled.

our assistant political editor, norman smith, is there. norman, what are we expecting? well, i don't think it is going to be an allsinging, i don't think it is going to be an all singing, all dancing, hallelujah chorus kind of manifesto with big, bold policy announcements designed to make a splash. the signs are it will be pretty cautious, pretty risk averse. why? well, because so many tories were badly burned by theresa may's disastrous manifesto launch less time on the so—called dementia tax. this time, the tories have been through the manifesto line by line to ta ke through the manifesto line by line to take out anything that might cause them similar difficult headlines. also, they want to keep the focus on brexit, brexit, brexit. they don't want other distracting noises. and i think they take the view that with a commanding lead in the polls, they don't have to take risks. so the thrust of this ma nifesto, risks. so the thrust of this manifesto, i think, risks. so the thrust of this manifesto, ithink, is more risks. so the thrust of this manifesto, i think, is more likely

to be about reassurance. reassuring taxpayers there is not going to be an increase in income tax or vat or national insurance. reassuring pensioners that triple lock will stay in place. and reassuring brexiteers that the brexit bill will be back in the commons before christmas. one senior tory person said this morning, it's not going to bea game said this morning, it's not going to be a game changer. and it's not going to be a game changer because the tories think they don't need a game changer. they are quite happy with the way this election is going. norman smith, in telford, thank you. the shadow chancellor, john mcdonnell, has insisted that labour would be able to find the money for its plan to compensate women who lost out on their state pension, when their retirement age was raised. the change affected nearly four million women. labour says if it wins the election, it would pay sums of up to £31,000 to those affected. the overall cost is estimated by the party at £58 billion overfive years. five teenagers have been

arrested after a brawl at a cinema in birmigham, during which police officers were injured. fights broke out as police attempted to clear around 100 people from the star city leisure complex early on saturday evening. two machetes were seized. simonjones reports. it's not what these cinema—goers were expecting to see — chaos and confusion at the star city complex in birmingham, as the police tried to restore order. officers were called following reports that a group of people armed with machetes had arrived at the cinema. fights broke out as the police tried to move around 100 people. a number of officers were wounded, though their injuries are not thought to be serious. one girl punched this girl in the face, started slapping her. the audience watching was getting involved. next thing you know, the police rush in with their batons, telling everyone to get out and stay away. there were kids crying on the floor with their mums because, obviously, the frozen film was out.

yeah, it was just really sad to see. another eyewitness described it as one of the scariest moments of her life. several people have been arrested for assaulting officers and failing to disperse. simon jones, bbc news. live now to our correspondent jenny kumah, who's in birmingham. at star city. what's the latest? well, as you heard in a simon's report, there were many families hit with young children watching the new frozen film. and police say when they arrived here at this leisure park in birmingham, they were confronted by hostility and they had to use tasers in order to restore order. they say that the police sustained minor injuries. and that they have made a number of arrests, including a 13—year—old girl, he was arrested on suspicion of assaulting police. the 14—year—old boy and a

14—year—old girl, and a 19—year—old man, were also arrested. a 14—year—old boy was also arrested on suspicion of obstructing the police. the police say they are trying to find out the reasons for the trouble and they are asking anyone with video or photographs to forward it on to them so they can make more arrests. jenny kumah, in birmingham, thank you. a 23—year—old man has ben charged in connection with the deaths of 39 vietnamese migrants in a lorry trailer in essex in october. christopher kennedy, from county armagh, in northern ireland, will appear before magistrates tomorrow charged with offences related to a conspiracy to traffick people and break immigration law. in hong kong, there's been a record turnout in local elections, which are being seen as a test of public opinion after six months of pro—democracy protests. opposition parties hope public anger over the government's handling of the unrest will help them to win control of councils, and send a message to beijing.

our correspondent, jonathan head, joins me from hong kong. jonathan, the evening has arrived and presumably a while yet before we get the results. how optimistic are the pro—universal suffrage parties that they can win these elections?” think they are pretty hopeful after this really spectacular turnout. turnout normally at local elections is not that high and they don't have much power, they have always been dominated by pro—government parties. this time, the opposition took the trouble to contest every single seat, they have been campaigning as ha rd seat, they have been campaigning as hard as they can and there is no doubt the meat we got from people showing up from very early in the morning with impressive lines to vote, for many of them, this was about a lot more than just local services, it was about sending a message. and we assume for a lot of them, it was sending a message to them, it was sending a message to the government about how happy they are over its handling and in particular, how unhappy they are about the governorship of chief executive carrie lam, very much a

hate figure now. and one has to wonder if the votes go very strongly in the opposition‘s way and they get a majority of the seats in the councils, which will give them a much bigger say over the choice of chief executive in the future, how carrie lam will survive. she has enjoyed unpopularity, massive violence in the city and huge demonstrations against her. but you have to remember in all in all of this, everything has to depend on china. will china be and allow the government to make the kind of concessions the opposition parties and the protesters are demanding? up to now, it hasn't budged an inch. jonathan head, in hong kong, thanks very much. in tennis, great britain lost their davis cup semi—final against the hosts, spain, but not without a fight. rafael nadal and feliciano lopez needed two tie—breakers to beat neal skupski and jamie murray in the deciding doubles match. spain will face canada in the final later. those are the main stories.

the next news on bbc one is at the earlier—than—usual time of az50pm. bye for now. hello, you're watching the bbc news channel. more now on the news that there's been a record turnout for local council elections in hong kong where police have been deployed to polling stations. the vote is being seen as a test of support for the territory's embattled chief executive, carrie lam, after months of pro—democracy protests. a little earlier i spoke to claudia mo — a member of the hong kong legislative council and pro—democracy campaigner. she told me about the significance of today's election. it's utterly amazing today

that the turnout and turnover could be quite so high. by midday, we got almost, well, almost a third more than a third of the voters had already voted. become completely un—susceptible to hong kong people and her —— carrie lam has become completely un—susceptible to hong kong people and her government have completely mistaken for the last half a year and beijing should have her replaced and removed as soon as possible. she has become such an unpopular, almost evil icon in hong kong. i also spoke to james tien — the former chairman and leader of the pro—beijing liberal party — i asked him what issues where compelling hong kong

residents to vote. of course, it is not full democracy, but i think it is a step better than right now where the people don't get to vote. let's say there are two or three who are pro—government or pro—beijing, that the candidate that 4.1 million people can vote. during the debate, i think a lot of people will argue that, "hey, what are you going to do for us about hong kong autonomy, with all the things that are going on, not only housing, education and social welfare programmes, but about our relationship with beijing?" i think what we can get through this kind of election, is maybe the way to get a higher degree of autonomy. the chief executive seems to only have one boss and that is beijing, so maybe they should have two bosses. one boss in beijing and one boss, the hong kong people. we heard earlier that police investigating the deaths of 39 vietnamese nationals in a lorry

in essex have charged a man with human trafficking. now a former head of the uk border force has warned that unless ports and ferry companies start to work with the authorities, he fears more migrants could be killed trying to get to the uk. jane—frances kelly reports. it's a month on since the discovery of 39 bodies in a sealed refrigerator container in essex. all those that died were vietnamese. they had sailed from the belgian port of zeebrugge on a cargo ferry hoping for a better life in britain. the former head of the uk border force says there needs to be more cooperation between the authorities and private firms such as hauliers and the ferry companies to stop further deaths. a co—ordinated attempt between ourselves, the uk border force, and of course our colleagues in french, belgium, and dutch customs. that's what's required, a collaborative, co—ordinated effort along all of those routes, which will require a good deal

of investment, but i fear if we don't do it then, i'm afraid, we will see more tragedies. his warning comes after three separate incidents in less than a week when migrants were found in containers. in a sealed container on a ferry from france to ireland. ten were found on the m25 in essex. five days ago a group of 25 migrants were found in a refrigerator container on a ferry travelling from the netherlands to england. the challenges remain constant. on a daily basis, migrants attempt to get in the back of lorries, drivers have to remain vigilant. people smugglers seem to be the only ones benefiting from the misery. jane—frances kelly, bbc news. more now on the news that there's been a record turnout for local council elections in hong kong where police have been deployed to polling stations. let's talk to nathan law — he was one of the student leaders of the umbrella movement. he's a former lawmaker and co—founder of the pro—democracy organisation demosisto whojoins me via skype from yale, new haven.

is been a long day for you with polling stations being open and the effort to get the boat out. the numbers are high. what do you deduce from that. the high turnout rate has a lwa ys from that. the high turnout rate has always been seen as one of the signs that democrats could get more votes because what we call a project beijing's camp always get their vote m, beijing's camp always get their vote in, but high turnout rate could a lwa ys in, but high turnout rate could always attract more mobile and fluid voters in voting for the democratic camp. ithink voters in voting for the democratic camp. i think for now the turnout has been unprecedentedly high and the democratic camp is quite optimistic about it. if it is as you predict and you end up with a majority of the seats, what would that mean for the efforts to

convince beijing to change course? well, i think if you compare to the previous result in the last election, there were only around 1a of the seats won by —— one quarter of the seats won by —— one quarter of the seats won by the democratic camp. if we can get more than half of the seats which we have progressed on we could definitely prove the public opinions on the protest is' side. do you have much confidence given you have spent yea rs confidence given you have spent years campaigning for changes now and have had to endure all of the ignominy and abuse that comes with trying to push that argument? are you optimistic that would happen? that beijing will change?” you optimistic that would happen? that beijing will change? i think it is always a difficult battle and evenif is always a difficult battle and even if we can have a landslide win

in the district council, we don't know, but beijing's first priority is power. it is difficult to ask them to do something that could open them to do something that could open them up and have checks and balances on them and this is what hong kong people want. it is an uphill battle and we still hang on and do anything we can do to send a message to the international community and to the beijing's government. britain were signed up as the joint guarantor of the one country two systems. what do you think a british engagement on this at governance level? has there been enough pressure applied by london to beijing? well, of course we feel like britain has an

obligation to the one country to system agreement because of the occupation, but we feel they should be more vocal engagement from the british cup and on current issues in hong kong. there is always more things to do and the current government in britain has been so entangled in issues like brexit and the relationship of china that it seems like there is a phenomenon or relu cta nce seems like there is a phenomenon or reluctance of engaging on the hong kong issue and this is not the way it should go. there will be no street protests this weekend thus far, how confident are you that this can bea far, how confident are you that this can be a managed solution, not one that leads to the sort of potentially chaotic weekends we have seenin potentially chaotic weekends we have seen in the last six months? if you

look at the reason why there is no protest or conflict now it is because we have the vote. it is because we have the vote. it is because people are exposing their opinion in the most peaceful way. but if the government rejects opening up the possibility, democratic reform on giving us the opportunity not only for a district council, but for our religious status, and our chief executive, the conflict will continue. i think this is an excellent example of how democracy resolves conflict, resolves, well, antagonism and antagonistic situations in a peaceful manner. that should remind the international community that the government, if they want to resolve the current plight, they should allow unilateral action on the current election.

the headlines on bbc news... the conservatives will pledge not to raise income tax, national insurance contributions or vat when they publish their election manifesto this afternoon. labour has pledged to compensate nearly four million women who lost out when their state pension age rose from 60 to 66. voters in hong kong have turned out in large numbers to vote in local elections — seen as a test of support for the territory's chief executive, carrie lam. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here'sjohn watson. good afternoon. england's cricketers are in big trouble in the first test in mount manganooee, having fallen well behind on day four. they'll need to bat out the final day tomorrow to force a draw, with only seven wickets in hand. bj watling continued his brilliant innings, making 205, alongside mitchell sa ntner who hit a century, as they declared on 615—9 — their highest score against england.

santner then took three england wickets for just six runs, leaving joe root‘s side on 55—3 at the close — that's 209 runs behind. they'll struggle to recover after that impressive display from the kiwi batsmen. it was a terrific partnership that has put new zealand in a fantastically strong position to dominate this game. england now, there are only thoughts of trying to save it. unfortunately they have lost three wickets towards the end of the day, so with one day to go england have it all to do. rangers are bidding to pull level with celtic at the top of the scottish premiership with a victory. they're in action against hamilton, leading 2—1. ryan kent with a brilliant second to restore their advantage having taken the lead early in the first half.

manchester united will attempt to haul themselves up from 10th in the premier league table this afternoon, when they face sheffield united, who're two places above them. a win for united would still leave them seven points adrift of the champions league places. it is a clear gap in the league between the top four and i don't know how many teams within a range of three or four points. for us it is about consistency now and getting as many points on the board as we can. we turned a corner, we felt, performance—wise and results—wise, after the last international break. but then again, it is so tight, as you say, i'm just looking forward to this game. we need to have a good performance and results. we want to push them all of the way and will not be arrogant, we know we have to play well and work extremely hard, have a balance of the ball in the game.

we are in good nick and we are enjoying life in the premier league and we want this to continue and not take a backwards step and certainly don't want to take a backward step on sunday afternoon. the first of the day's women's super league games are under way and manchester city have the lead at bristol city — tessa wullaert with the goal after 21 minutes. it's half—time and you can watch that match live on the bbc sport website. there was a thrilling finish to the final event on golf‘s european tour as spain'sjohn rahm won the tour championship and in doing so clinched the season long race to dubai title. he was vying with england's tommy fleetwood for the honours, with the pair level as rahm headed up the last, a hole he had to birdie to beat him — which he did rolling in this three foot putt to finish on 19 under. that means he finishes as europe's number one golfer for 2019, handing him close to £4 million in prize money.

tyson fury will get his rematch with deontay wilder in february, after wilder beat luis ortiz to retain his wbc world heavyweight title for the 10th time in las vegas. it was a shaky start for the champion, who was out—boxed by ortiz for six rounds. but in the seventh, wilder's devastating right hand left ortiz on the canvas, unable to beat the count. afterwards he said tyson fury was definitely next, and then he wanted a unification bout with whoever wins the rematch between anthonyjoshua and andy ruinunior. that fight is in saudi arabia on december the 7th. britain's dave ryding crashed out of the opening slalom race of the world cup season, at levi in finland. he was in second place after the first leg, as he looked for his first victory — but he fell towards the end of the second leg. there's never been a british winner of an alpine skiing world cup event.

that's all the sport for now. president trump's lawyer — rudy giuliani — has said he's not concerned about being indicted for crimes now being investigated by the impeachment inquiry. this is after the us state department released records relating to the trump administration's dealings with ukraine which show repeated contacts between secretary of state mike pompeo and mrgiuliani. are you afraid, mr mayor, that you could be indicted? oh, wow. how long have you know me? i've known you several years. you think i'm afraid? i don't know. you think i get afraid? well... i did the right thing, i represented my client ina very, very effective way. i was so effective that i've discovered a pattern of corruption that the washington press has been covering up for three or four years.

there were a dizzying number of testimonies in the impeachment inquiry over the past few days. anthony zurcher helps us digest this week's hearings. that says to me this president believes he is above the law. welcome to the fifth day of this circus. the president of the united states has five pinocchios on a daily basis. so, let's not go there. he quote, "loves your ass," unquote. after two weeks of public impeachment hearings, what stood out? we've heard from 12 witnesses over 50 hours. the biggest bombshell came from this man gordon sondland, the us ambassador to the eu. he confirmed that there was a quid pro quo between the united states and ukraine, promising this in exchange for that. mr giuliani's requests were a quid pro quo. he says his team were told to work

closely with rudy giuliani, the president's personal lawyer, by order of donald trump himself. giuliani wanted to pressure ukraine to investigate trump's democratic rivaljoe biden and his son. and he said everybody in the white house knew about it. everyone was in the loop. for democrats, this is a trump doter saying he knew the white house visit was being used as leverage and he presumed the same went for suspended us military aid. but trump and his republican defenders picked up on a different part of sondland's testimony, about a conversation he had with the president. i want nothing. that's what i want from ukraine, that's what i said. so, trump's off the hook? well, those instructions were given in september, just days before the ukraine dealings went public. was donald trump just covering his tracks? i'll call you back. phone calls were a recurring theme this week. on tuesday we heard from jennifer williams,

a state department official, and lieutenant colonel alexander vindman of the national security council who both listened in on the now infamousjuly 25th phone call between donald trump and ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky. both thought the call was inappropriate. it involved a discussion of what appeared to be a domestic political matter. there were also revelations about a new phone call the very next day between donald trump and the eu ambassador where they talked about investigations. that conversation was overheard by david holmes, another witness, and confirmed by sondland himself. the initial part of the call, ambassador sondland, sort of, when the president came on the call, he sort of winced and held the phone away from his ear. yeah, sounds like something i would say. the call indicates how deeply involved donald trump was in all of this. so what does this mean for trump? a lot of foreign policy professionals and government were concerned about what was going

on in the white house and one of the men at the centre of the controversy, gordon sondland, has now testified that they were right. american viewers have been tuning in by the millions, but it is still too early to tell whether enough minds have been changed to put donald trump at serious risk. that's it from me. rachel schofield will be here in a few minutes with full coverage of the conservative manifesto launch. now it's time for a look at the weather with darren bett. good afternoon. next few days will remain mild but there is going to be a lot of cloud around and some more rain too. the rain is dry then it was yesterday but it is pretty great out there still. quite misty, some hill fog up out there still. quite misty, some hillfog up in out there still. quite misty, some hill fog up in the pennines and also

over the welsh hills. there has been some sunshine. in the extreme south—east of england, here in kent. that is the exception to what has been a generally cloudy rule. we are seeing skies brightening in a few places and the rain is clearing away from the north—east of scotland. there is rain arriving by the end of the day and this is where we will see the weather changing, overnight tonight around that area of low pressure with rain coming in from the south—west and picking up the breeze as well, helping to break the cloud. it should be frost—free and a mild mitral temperatures of four to 10 degrees. the range northward and eastward tomorrow. some rain tomorrow in the morning for northern ireland and most of the rain is for england and wales. it brightens up tomorrow in the far south—west and the best chance of sunshine likely to be in the far north of scotland temperatures at 13 degrees. is that web front moves away, another one

arrived with quite a