this is bbc news, i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at 7pm. borisjohnson pledges not to raise income tax, vat or national insurance as he unveils the conservative‘s election manifesto. let's go for sensible, moderate, but tax cutting one nation conservative government and take this country forward. the tories also promise to add 50—thousand nurses to the nhs in england, and restore nursing grants. labour pledges to compensate nearly 4 million women, who lost out when their state pension age rose from 60 to 66. five teenagers arrested after a large brawl at a birmingham cinema. michetes are recovered and vue cinemas pull the gang film blue story.

china's secret brainwashing camps — bbc panorama goes inside the network of high security prisons where inmates are indoctrinated and punished. in sport, sheffield united keep on surprising and a last minute equaliser makes it 3—3 against manchester united. full details in sportsday in half an hour, here on bbc news. good evening. borisjohnson has launched the conservative party's election manifesto, promising to get his brexit deal passed by parliament, as soon as possible after the election, if he wins. in a speech in telford in shropshire, he offered what he called a "route map" to take

the country forward. for the nhs in england there's a pledge to add 50,000 more nurses — and restore nursing grants — that's on top of an existing promise to pump tens of billions more into the health service. he said there'd be no rises in income tax, national insurance and vat for 5 years. and he pledged to raise the threshold at which people start paying national insurance — to £9,500, a saving of £85 a year, per person. 0ur political editor, laura kuenssberg, was at the manifesto launch, and her report contains some flash photography. ahead, but far from clear and away. feeling optimistic ministers? tories out, tories out! the trees know it's theirs to lose, but who would bet the tories know it's theirs to lose, but who would bet

on much these days? this time last year, borisjohnson wasjust a controversial backbencher. now defending his own position as prime minister. and with a list of promises he's making new, trying to secure the conservatives another five years in charge. how is that? can everybody see that? his number one rallying cry, to move on, and leave the eu injanuary. do we want more delay? do we want more dither and drift and deadlock and division? do we want 2020 to be another year of defeatism and despair? no, we don't. get brexit done, and we can restore confidence and certainty to business and two families. to business and to families. get brexit done, and we will see a pent—up title wave of investment into this country. get brexit done, and we can focus our hearts and our minds on the priorities of the british people. the conservatives have already vowed

extra money for the health service, but there is a new promise to recruit more nurses. today, in this manifesto, we pledge 50,000 more nurses and their bussaries, 50 million more gp surgery appointments, and today, we make this guaranteed... cache to scrap hospital parking charges, taxpayers cash to scrap hospital parking charges, taxpayers money for more childcare, and infrastructure funds, all, he claims, without raising taxes. we can do all these things without raising her income tax, vat, or national insurance contributions. that's our guarantee. and in this manifesto... applause there is a vision of the future. borisjohnson says he never wanted this election, but it's both a huge risk and a huge opportunity for him and his party. let's go for a sensible, moderate, but tax cutting one nation conservative government,

and take this country forwards. thank you all very much. you won the leadership of your party by making a big promise on brexit that you then broke, despite saying the buck stops with you, now you are trying to win the country with a whole list of promises and significant extra spending, do you accept that beyond this room, and beyond your party, is a big leap of faith for the country to trust you with a majority? the biggest issue at this election is really whether people have any confidence in politics any more. and i think the reason that confidence and trust in politics has been so undermined is because for three and half years, they have seen politicians engaged in constant prevarication, procrastination, dither, and delay, when the people of this country voted to get brexit done. the tory leader is now right in the fray, right in the middle of this campaign.

but none of the steps spelt out today are designed to create the fireworks he's famous for. there's no doubt that people are asking politicians, will you stick to what you are saying you will be doing? we couldn't be clearer about getting brexit done. we do want to spend more money on our priorities, the nhs, more on the 20,000 police, more in our schools, but we can do that if we keep the economy strong. compared to the labour manifesto, this is a pamphlet rather than a phone book, but it's a document designed to keep the tories out of trouble, rather than shake up the fundamentals of the campaign. is this a winning manifesto, mrjohnson? we are fighting very hard, we are fighting very hard. the big contrast between him and his rivals has been there since day one, borisjohnson would take us out of the eu in less than 70 days, that's the choice, vote to leave at speed, or vote for the chance to stay. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, telford. one of the conservative‘s key new policies is to add 50,000 more nurses to the workforce in england by 2023. here's our health editor, hugh pym,

with some analysis of that pledge. 50,000 more nurses by 2024 was an eye—catching plan set out by boris johnson. what does that actually get up to? well, it's not the same thing as recruiting 50,000 new nurses, it's adding 50,000 to the workforce in england, currently around 300,000, now, there are a lot of vacancies at the moment, it is difficult recruiting, so the conservatives are arguing this is trying to deal with that problem, but that 50,000 figure includes recruitment overseas, and it includes better retention. that is policies to hold onto nurses and try and make or persuade them that it's worth staying with more professional development of their careers rather than leaving early. the recruitment of new nurses is rather less than that, down around between 10,000 — 20,000, based on more training places.

now, the conservative government scrapped a bursary for training of nurses in england back in 2017, that caused a decline in applications. the conservatives say, if elected, they will reintroduce the maintenance grant of up to £8,000 per year for nursing students. though not the fees, the reintroduction of free fees. well our economics editor faisal islam has been taking look at some of the numbers in the conservative manifesto which he says contains no rabbits out of the hat, no huge tax cut rise or new spending item. it's been designed as a steady as she go modest efforts, an equivalent ofa she go modest efforts, an equivalent of a rather low— key budgets, with some targeted help. by design, the tax and spend numbers are just much smaller than the limber dems, and especially the labour party. there is extra nurse recruitment and appointments costing about {1.5 billion a year, on top of existing commitments. that's 600 million a

year on commitments. that's 600 million a year on a commitments. that's 600 million a year on a national skills fund. the national insurance threshold increase costs the exchequer 2.5 billion a year. tax cut. total six and half billion pounds in spending rises in tax cuts. it's pretty modest. and although this spending builds on rises already announced, it doesn't undo ten years of austerity policies. all of that is basically funded by not cutting corporation tax, a tax on business profits two 17p, leaving it at 19p instead. about half a billion is raised from increasing charged to migrants to use the health service. this is not a transfer made of manifesto in terms of taxes and plantings budgets, it's pre—much steady as she goes, take on board the increases announced earlier this year, and then not much in addition. sol year, and then not much in addition. so i think the big take away here is that most of the cuts that we've seen over the last decade will be

baked into spending over the next 3-4 baked into spending over the next 3—4 years, unless more money turns up 3—4 years, unless more money turns up later on. the big picture is several billion a year, not several tens of billions. 0n year, not several tens of billions. on top of all of this, there is investment spending of a billion a yearin investment spending of a billion a year in the last year for things like research and development, and potholes. but they do have space to doa potholes. but they do have space to do a lot more with the new borrowing rules. at the chancellor and prime minister want to keep a tight ship, a bit more spending, yes, bit more tax as well, but less than a fraction of 1% of the size of the economy. faisal islam there. let's take a look at some of the other measures are in the conservative manifesto. well there's a commitment to an extra 20,000 police officers for england and wales — though that would only restore force numbers back to 2010 levels. there's a pledge for the uk to be carbon neutral by 2050, and a promise of 7.1 billion pounds a year for schools in england, by 2023.

0n immigration — the conservatives want to introduce an australian style points system. 0ur chief political correspondent, vikki young, has been gauging the mood in rother valley, in south yorkshire, an area that voted heavily to leave the eu, and where brexit and trust are key election issues. who are voters moving towards in this former mining town, an area that overwhelmingly backed leaving the eu. so is borisjohnson's promise chiming with leave voters? i want out and over so we can get on with the real things that influence the ordinary people like us. who can do that for you? the conservatives or the brexit party. i hope what he is saying he will do happens. will you give him a chance? yes. in this area, labour have always been strong, what is their view on brexit?

they can't decide one way or the other. outside the leisure centre members of this running club are limbering up, many are still undecided about how to cast their vote. it has always been labour, this is an ex mining village, maltby, people voted for labour, but they are changing their views. is that because of brexit? maybe. they promise before an election but then they don't deliver. very up in the air. it has been predominantly labour in this area but i will be backing boris all the way. i do like him as a person. he might not be trustworthy but i do like him. at first glance a seat like rother valley isn't an obvious place for borisjohnson to search for victory, it has only ever been labour. this area voted heavily to leave the eu and the conservatives are hoping their pro brexit message can persuade even traditional labour

voters to switch this time. in this pub, many are sticking to labour this time but it is clear trust is an issue for party leaders. i cannot see myself voting tory but i am loathe to vote forjeremy corbyn. that speaks a lot. would you normally vote labour? i am a member of the labour party. when you see boris johnson on the tv? i used to like him on the tv but i don't see him as a representative for the country. he is embarrassing. i don't trust him. sorry, that's awful to say, but ijust don't trust him. borisjohnson knows he has to turn places like this from red to blue to win the election outright, and brexit could be the key. labour says if it wins the election,

women who lost out on their state pensions when the retirement age was raised, will be compensated. sums of up to 31,000 pounds could be handed out to the nearly 4 million women affected. labour estimates the overrall cost would be 58 billion pounds, over 5 years. today's announcement wasn't part of their manifesto — and both the conservatives and the liberal democrats have described the promise, as uncosted. the liberal democrat leader, jo swinson has said there has "been a squeeze" on her party during the campaign — but that she is "not conceding yet". speaking on the bbc‘s andrew marr show, swinson also attacked jeremy corbyn's neutral stance on brexit — and said the liberal democrats' priority was to stop brexit from happening. well, of course the liberal democrats want to stop brexit and we will be campaigning to stop brexit. ok, if that is the case, jeremy corbyn is offering

a referendum, you may not like every aspect of what he is saying, but he is offering a referendum, and borisjohnson very much isn't, doesn't that mean you are inevitably going to have to lean towards the labour party and help them form a government, vote things through for them, rather than the conservatives? well, first of all, as things stand, as things stand, borisjohnson is on course to get a majority, and liberal democrats are the best placed party to stop it. ah, you think that is what is happening at the moment? if you look at the polls right now, that is what they say. now there is, obviously, two and a half weeks to go in this campaign, and i am working very hard to change that situation... you are not conceding yet, but you think that he is going to win? of course i am not conceding yet. liberal democrats are campaigning hard right across the country, and we are making real inroads, but we need to make sure we win those seats from the conservatives, and we are in a position to do that in a way that labour simply is not. if he doesn't win an overall majority, and he comes to you saying, "listen, jo, i never thought... i don't want to do this, i am doing this through gritted teeth, jo,

but to get my deal through, to get my withdrawal agreement through, i am prepared to offer the liberal democrats a referendum on that deal afterwards", what do you say to him? look, i am not putting borisjohnson orjeremy corbyn into number ten, but if there is a law in parliament... the voters might. if there is a law in parliament that i can vote for that makes sure that the brexit deal is put to the public, with the opportunity to remain, i will vote for that. we have always said we will vote for that. ah, 0k. so if borisjohnson tries to do a deal with you, whereby he gets his withdrawal agreement through the house of commons, he delivers his promise to "get brexit done", but in return for that, he gives you a referendum, you say yes? i am not doing a deal, andrew. i am going to vote for the things that i am standing up for, for the things that i believe in, and i believe we should stop brexit, and it may be that a people's vote is the best way to do that. we have campaigned for that for more than three years and so, as we have said, over the last year, if we can put a specific brexit deal to the british public with the option to remain, liberal democrats will support having a people's vote.

we will vote for that legislation. that was jo swinson speaking that wasjo swinson speaking to injure my earlier. and the leader of the snp, nicola sturgeon, said that scrapping the uk's nuclear deterrent, trident — would be one of her "red—lines" — in the event of her party supporting a labour government. i have a moral objection to weapons of mass destruction, unlikejo swinson, i wouldn't be prepared to press the nuclear button that would kill potentially millions, tens of millions of people, but there is also the opportunity costs of trade—ins, the billions, tens of billions of pounds that are required to renew trident, in my view, better spent on stronger conventional defence that is more effective to protect our country, but also on hospitals, schools, better social security provisions, and these are the choices that we should be thinking very carefully about. you

know, if the snp is in that position of influence, then these are absolutely the kind of policies that we will pursue. that was the snp's nicola sturgeon there. and we'll find out how the conservatives' manifesto launch, the rest of the day's election campaign news — and other stories — are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:30 and 11:30 this evening in the papers — our guests joining me tonight are ros altman and mihir bose. the headlines on bbc news... borisjohnson pledges not to raise income tax, vat or national insurance as he unveils the conservative's election manifesto. the tories also promise to add 50,000 nurses to the nhs in england, and restore nursing grants. five teenagers arrested after a large brawl at a birmingham cinema. michetes are recovered and vue cinemas pull the gang film blue story.

five teenagers have been arrested after a brawl at a cinema in birmingham, in which a number of police officers were injured. fights broke out during attempts to clear around 100 people, from the "star city" leisure complex early yesterday evening. two machetes were seized. here's jenny kumar. screaming chaos and confusion at the star city complex in birmingham early last night 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. it was a frightening atmosphere and it's almost very upsetting because this is a place where families come to enjoy themselves, it's an entertainment complex, these young kids were there last night to see frozen.

police brought tasers to try to contain the incident and several arrests were made for assaulting officers. this happened spontaneously. as we said we are not certain what caused it so we won't get into speculation. it is reassuring we were able to deal with it. this photo has been widely shared on social media. a young boy holding a machete shown here in the blue circle. police believe it was taken at the scene and they want to hear from the families of those in the photo. tonight, the vue cinema chain has confirmed it has pulled the film blue story from all its venues following the trouble here at star city. but the police say they are not sure if the film which is about gang violence is linked to the brawl. five people have been arrested for assaulting officers and failing to disperse, including a 13—year—old girl. jenny kumar, bbc news. leaked documents have revealed how

china is holding hundreds of thousands of uighur muslims in high security detention camps in what uighur groups say is an effort to brainwash them. china claims the camps in the xinjiang region offer voluntary education and training. but papers seen by the international consortium of investigativejournalists and bbc panorama show how inmates are indoctrinated through a regime that controls every aspect of their lives. richard bilton has this report. this is a journey thousands have been forced to make. and china's internment camps. now, we know what's happening inside. this document contains orders written for those who run the camps.

this is an actual piece of evidence. —— actionable. documenting a gross human rights violation. this should be sitting you know, and the files of the prosecutor. in the last three yea rs, of the prosecutor. in the last three years, china has built hundreds of camps across the remote province of xinjiang. they hold at least a million people, mainly uighur muslims. china says they offer training and they stop terrorism. but the document shows why a superpower is really locking up so many people. make remedial mandarin studies top priority. encourage stu d e nts to studies top priority. encourage students to truly transform. inmates are in present until they change their beliefs, their behaviour, and their beliefs, their behaviour, and their language. it's very difficult, on that scale, with more than 1 it's very difficult, on that scale, with more than1 million people in

those conditions, to view that as anything other than a mass brainwashing scheme, designed and directed at an entire ethnic community. the chinese ambassador in london refused to answer our direct questions about the camps. last week, he called a press conference about hong kong, but i wanted to know about the camps of xinjiang. i wrote to you this week, sir, about the camps in xinjiang, i know that there prison camps, why won't you tell me the truth about those camps? first of all, i would say there is no so—called labour camps, as you have described, this is what we call vocational education and training centres. they are there for the prevention of terrorists. with respect, sir, what you're telling me, there is no relation to what i've seen. the so-called documents you are talking is pure fabrication. do not listen to fake news. don't

listen to fabrications. the documents are not fake news. they are evidence of crimes against humanity. china is caging hundreds of thousands of people and brainwashing them in camps will stop and now we know how. and you can see panorama: how to brainwash a million people on bbc one at 8.30 tomorrow night. one of the richest men in the world has jumped into the democratic presidential race. billionaire michael bloomberg, joins an already crowded field of white house contenders. the move is an about—face for the former new york city mayor — who said in march, that he wouldn't run in 2020. in a statement, mr bloomberg said the us "cannot afford 4 more years of president trump's reckless and unethical actions". let's take a closer look at who is michael bloomberg?

he has a net worth of 52 billion dollars — according to forbes — making him nearly 17 times richer than mr trump. he made his money first as a wall street banker, before going on to establish a financial publishing empire. he was originally a democrat. he became a republican to serve as new york city mayor from 2001. but he rejoined the democratic party last year. he's considered running for president in the past, but ruled himself out because he thought americans wouldn't vote for a billionaire new york businessman. clearly that concern no longer applies. earlier i spoke to our washington correspondent, chris buckler, and asked if this decision has come as a surprise? we even saw a week ago, him apologising for a stop and frisk policy that was put into place in

new york, involving the police searching a disproportionately black and latino community. there is a feeling that he is trying his best to think about who he would need support from if he was to win this democratic nomination for president. now, it must be said, he is late to the stage year. in fact, literally late to the stage, because we have already had several debates between the democratic candidates who have already announced, but he does, with some name recognition, and obviously, a lot of wealth. and money matters when it comes to american politics. it's worth pointing out that he has lodged his official bid to become president with a $30 million add campaign, and that of course is just a small amount of his wealth. if he's going to ta ke amount of his wealth. if he's going to take on, of course, the other billionaire in that race, donald trump. if you take a look at the adverts, actually, he is doing his very best to kind of emphasised that he comes from ordinary middle—class american roots, and essentially made to go to becoming a very successful

businessman, philanthropist, and someone businessman, philanthropist, and someone who really cares about issues like climate change, and gun violence, things which are really intended to define him as being different from donald trump, but he is coming to the race late, and as a result, he is pulling single digits as far as democrats are concerned. and we don't really know what he's going to do, because of course, he is only just going to do, because of course, he is onlyjustjoining the race, and the point is that the primaries and caucuses to select the democratic candidate, they are not far away. but what he is doing, which might be clever, is he is making this a battle of the billionaires. he is very firmly putting himself in the position where he is taking on donald trump and making it personal, and make no mistake, from the other side, it's personal as well. donald trump has said there is nobody he would rather beat than as he calls him, little michael, if you take a look at some of the campaign literature that is just being published, i mean michael bloomberg is taking it straight to donald trump. saying, "there are unprecedented risks of him winning another four

years" and describing him as a failed businessman who's companies went bankrupt multiple times, and to build a presidential campaign empty promises and reckless actions and reckless actions in office has harmed americans and weakened our country. let the fight began. that was chris buckler. in hong kong now, there's been a record turnout in local elections, seen as a test of public opinion following six months of pro—democracy protests. 0pposition parties hope public anger over the government's handling of the unrest, will help them to win control of several councils, sending a clear message to beijing. earlier this evening, our correspondent in hong kong, rupert wingfield—hayes, spoke to my colleague clive myrie from one of the places where the votes are being counted. well i am at the city garden, you can see the counter is well under way, it's now one o'clock in the morning here. this is an election, clive, remember, for local seats and

local councils, not for the legislation not for the chief executive, nevertheless, it is the first vote or a chance to vote that hong kong people have had since the pro—democracy protests broke out here about six months ago. because of that, turn out has been truly extraordinary today. the highest in hong kong history. in the eastern district of hong kong island this morning, the queue to vote at this polling station went on and on and on. we are seeing queues like this in districts all over hong kong today. people waiting for an hour, even up to an hour—and—a—half to vote. people are telling us they have never seen anything like this in a local election in hong kong before. translation: we didn't have to line up before. everyone is more enthusiastic. they really want to contribute to the society. half—an—hour. we know this is going to happen, because everyone wants to vote this time. speaks in cantonese.

the passion of those standing for election today is out of all proportion to the power of the local council seats being contested. but for the opposition, today is a referendum on the protests that have rocked hong kong for the last six months. in 2015... david and his mother are on opposite sides of that fight. we can see old people, pro—government regime. they control the power, they control the parties, they control everything, even the economy. so we can take back the control and start to have more strength and power. yes. i say they are doing it the wrong way, so i don't support the movements. but i say, i worry about the students, just like i worry about my son. long lines continued far into the evening, as polling closed, turnout topped 70%, an all—time record for any election in hong kong. that should be good for the opposition. whatever the result, this election will not resolve