and pressure moving into the north and northwest, bringing showers here, but no useful rainfall in the forecast for the south where it will be warming up closer to 30 degrees by sunday. hopefuls begin six weeks of campaigning. rishi sunak was the favourite among his fellow tory mps but now he's got to woo party members. liz truss says she'll do that by making a break from the policies followed by mr sunak and chancellors before him. for the past two decades, there's been a consensus on our economic policy and it hasn't delivered economic growth. so do their economoic plans add up? we'll report what independent analysts are saying. also on the programme... the bbc offers an apology and a big payout to princes william and harry's nanny over false claims made about her private life.

new hope for the thousands like elliot who have the rarer form of haemophilia. british doctors say they have a transformational therapy. the telescope that can see dead stars collide. why do we care? because that's the process that produced heavy metals like gold and platinum. and coming up in sportsday later in the hour on the bbc news channel: it was a special night for the england lionesses. we'll look back at their win over spain and who they could face in the semifinals. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at six. now that the conservative leadership contest has been whittled down to two candidates — rishi sunak and liz truss — the focus is shifting to what each of them stands for. it's early days but the battleground appears to be economic policy. you might think that

would suit mr sunak. after all, he was our chancellor for nearly two and a half years. but ms truss says he got it wrong. speaking to the bbc, the foreign secretary says successive chancellors have pursued polices that have failed to produce growth over the last 20 years. that's quite a claim, given that the tories have been in charge for much of that period. how will her pitch play with party members, who'll have the final say? here's our political editor chris mason. you can tell us whether you like pancakes or not.— pancakes or not. meeting the electorate — pancakes or not. meeting the electorate of _ pancakes or not. meeting the electorate of tomorrow, - pancakes or not. meeting the electorate of tomorrow, liz i pancakes or not. meeting the - electorate of tomorrow, liz truss was in peterborough this afternoon. the foreign secretary's gaze beyond this conversation has been on her opponent, rishi sunak, putting up taxes when he was chancellor, but now, she is extending heard critique. now, she is extending heard critiaue. w now, she is extending heard critiaue. , ., ., critique. the fact is, we have had economic policy, _ critique. the fact is, we have had economic policy, not _ critique. the fact is, we have had economic policy, notjust - critique. the fact is, we have had economic policy, notjust under l critique. the fact is, we have had i economic policy, notjust under this government, for the past two decades, there has been a consensus on our economic policy and it has not delivered economic growth. what

i know about the treasury from having worked there, they do resist change, and what people in britain desperately need now is change. find desperately need now is change. and es, liz desperately need now is change. and yes. liz truss — desperately need now is change. and yes, liz truss was the chief secretary to the treasury for two years. here she is on budget day, five years ago, and here she is, a year later, full of enthusiasm about the then chancellor philip hammond's speech. her opponent rishi sunak was chancellor himself until a fortnight ago. michael gray what gives you the edge over liz truss? his instincts and hers on tax cuts are strikingly different. they both want them but she says they should happen now and rishi sunak�*s supporters say the responsible thing to do is wait. making promises in terms of cutting taxes, basically putting that on a credit card, is the wrong thing and thatis credit card, is the wrong thing and that is what i think we are in danger of doing right now if we follow that philosophy. what we have got to do first is get inflation under control, as rishi sunak said, and then next year, look at cutting

personal taxes as we get things under control.— personal taxes as we get things under control. ~ . . ., under control. what we have here are two competing _ under control. what we have here are two competing visions _ under control. what we have here are two competing visions about - under control. what we have here are two competing visions about what - under control. what we have here are two competing visions about what it l two competing visions about what it actually means to be a conservative. for liz truss, the focus is on cutting taxes, getting rid of regulations and trying to boost the economy. for rishi sunak, the focus is on balancing the books and not cranking up the national debt. when you look at polls and surveys of conservative party members at the moment, liz truss's approach appears to be more popular but this race is onlyjust beginning. for now, both candidates are introducing themselves to the country and conservative party members. doors have been opening in government for liz truss for years. i have been opening in government for liz truss for years.— liz truss for years. i have been here before. _ liz truss for years. i have been here before. she _ liz truss for years. i have been here before. she joined - liz truss for years. i have been here before. she joined the - liz truss for years. i have been - here before. she joined the cabinet here before. she “oined the cabinet as environment — here before. she joined the cabinet as environment secretary _ here before. she joined the cabinet as environment secretary in - here before. she joined the cabinet as environment secretary in 2014. i as environment secretary in 2014. she has beenjustice secretary, do. it is early days of. bud it is early days of. and international - it is early days of. and international trade - it is early days of. and - international trade secretary it is early days of. and international trade secretary as well. liz truss was already in a cabinet when rishi sunak was elected in 2015, but his rise was rapid. he was a minister by 2018 and

chancellor by 2020, and it is his record in thatjob, his response to covid, his outlook on tax, that is serving up their first big skirmish of this contest. chris mason, bbc news, westminster. it's one thing for the prime ministerial hopefuls to be laying out their economic stalls — but do their numbers stack up? today, the independent think tank, the institute for fiscal studies, has been looking at what rishi sunak and liz truss have said so far. here's our economics editor faisal islam. here are the steps in between the foreign office and the treasury. the two departments, in mr sunak�*s case, until very recently, where the mps vying to be our next prime minister ran great offices of state. it's been a very busy time with war in europe and a related inflation crisis. but the debate over who gets to number ten looks like being driven by economics. the backdrop is important here. inflation is at a 40—year high and heading higher.

there's risk of recession and worries of growth slowing, as the economy stutters. and at the same time as all this, the tax burden is at its highest as a share of the economy in 70 years. so between the two candidates, a big choice has opened up. liz truss wants to make huge tax cuts, some from day one. firstly, reversing the only recently enacted national insurance rise — that would cost the exchequer £13 billion a year. then there's not going through with the planned significant rise in corporation tax from next april. that's another £17 billion a year. and on top of that, there's significant changes to energy bills that are not precise but could cost a few billion or several billion, so let's call that 34 billion in total. now, the government's current room for manoeuvre on its spending plans is about £30 billion if it's to hit its borrowing targets. but the government's

budgetary watchdog, the 0br, say that that £30 billion may not even exist. so that would mean more borrowing, and it would take up all of the budgetary room for manoeuvre. to the extent that tax cuts have an effect on inflation, it would be to increase inflation beyond what it would otherwise be. both the bank of england and the office for budget responsibility think that we're at about capacity in the economy, which would imply that putting more money in people's pockets will drive up prices. so it is a balancing act, and for households it could mean immediate lower taxes, with ms truss or at a later moment with mr sunak. some further help with energy bills too, but the risk of stubborn inflation is that interest rates from the bank of england go yet higher. we're yet to hear all the detail, but the number ten race could see a material change in economic policy. faisal islam, bbc news. let's speak now to our political editor chris mason who is in wesminster.

it isa it is a tricky one that the candidates, isn't it? at the moment, it is all about the party members but ultimately, the policies which you have talked about have got to appeal to the country.— you have talked about have got to appeal to the country. that's right, there is the — appeal to the country. that's right, there is the electorate _ appeal to the country. that's right, there is the electorate in _ appeal to the country. that's right, there is the electorate in the - appeal to the country. that's right, there is the electorate in the long l there is the electorate in the long term and the electorate in the short—term and right now, the focus is the short—term and the focus is also on all things economic. rishi sunak wrote a newspaper article this morning which he managed to describe himself as a three times in one sentence. there is a laser—guided focus, absolutely on conservative party members and trying to with m. —— described himself as a thatcherite. but the big moment was this intervention from liz truss, this intervention from liz truss, this big feature economic argument and what she is saying is that there has been in her view a mushy consensus, going back to the new labour years, then the coalition years, the conservatives and the liberal democrats, that has lingered and has not allowed the tory tiger to be let out of its cage, big tax

cuts and also deregulation to try and fire up the economy. that is her pitch and she is describing rishi sunak as mr business as usual. he will say, hang on a minute, how do you will say, hang on a minute, how do y°u pay will say, hang on a minute, how do you pay for these tax cuts and how would you sort out for instances the promises on social care in england? how would you pay for that? these are the big tram tracks of the race just as it begins. it looks like liz truss's message is more popular at the moment amongst conservative party members but there is so much scrutiny, so muchjeopardy still to come. scrutiny, so much jeopardy still to come. ., ~' scrutiny, so much jeopardy still to come. . ~ i. ., scrutiny, so much jeopardy still to come. . ~ ., ., , and the bbc will host a live debate with the two candidates. our next prime minister presented by sophie raworth will be broadcast on monday on bbc one at 9pm. the bbc is to pay substantial damages to the former nanny of prince william and prince harry over false claims about her which were used to obtain a panorama interview with princess diana in 1995. alexandra pettifer, who used to be

known as tiggy legge—bourke, appeared at the high court to hear a public apology from the corporation over the fabricated allegation that she'd had an affair with prince charles, which resulted in an abortion. here's our royal correspondent nicholas witchell. at the time of its transmission, it caused a sensation. now, 27 years later, the panorama interview with diana, princess of wales, is a matter of disgrace to the bbc over the deceitful tactics deployed by its reporter martin bashir to obtain the interview. one of those deceits was to make what the high court heard was a false and malicious allegation against the woman on the left here, tiggy legge—bourke, who at the time was working as the prince of wales' personal assistant. the bbc has agreed to pay substantial damages to ms legge—bourke, or mrs alexandra pettifer as she is now, and the bbc�*s director general tim davie has apologised to her, to the prince of wales, and the dukes of cambridge and sussex.

in a statement, mr davie said... mr davie said the panorama programme would never again be shown by the bbc. he hoped other broadcasters would exercise similar restraint. the bbc will be hoping after the investigation by the formerjudge lord dyson and the compilation of his detailed report last year, and now today's court settlement, that it will finally be possible to draw a line under what, by any account, must surely be regarded as a shocking example of unscrupulous behaviour.

it is my view that the deceitful way the interview was obtained substantially influenced what my mother said. those were prince william's words after lord dyson's findings were published. it was clear that the hurt and the anger were deep. those feelings of a son whose mother was so deceived may have diminished a little by now, but they will surely not have disappeared. nicholas witchell, bbc news. the home office response to the thousands of migrants who've been coming across the english channel in recent years has been branded "ineffective and inefficient" by the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration. but the home office says it has already "transformed" how it deals with migrants arriving in small boats since the report was compiled. our home affairs editor mark easton is here. just how important is this report? the chief inspector, david neil, is actually basically charged by

parliament to hold the home office and the home secretary to account on borders and immigration and his official report on the small boats crisis which has been dominating the news for the last few years was sent to priti patel back in february. he said he had done it quickly, in rapid time, because he wanted to make sure his recommendations could be in place before the next big wave of migrants as the weather improved. but despite that, the home office has only published the report today, five months later, and more than 13,000 migrant arrivals later. it is estimated that this year as a whole, something like 60,000 migrants may cross the channel, and the report, i have to say, is damning, data, it saysis have to say, is damning, data, it says is inexcusably awful, equipment old and unreliable, biometrics often not recorded and on that particular point, the inspector looked at a sample of 227 migrants who were known to have absconded from secure hotels between september last year and january this year and of that

sample, two thirds had not been fingerprinted or photographed on arrival. if we don't have a record of people coming into the country, he says, then we don't know who is threatened or threatening. the home office says that much of the report office says that much of the report is now of a historic character, five months on, perhaps no surprise, and that in their words, the systems have been transformed. but it tells you something, that having been imposed since march last year, and despite numerous requests, the chief inspector of borders and immigration has met priti patel.— has met priti patel. thank you for “oininr has met priti patel. thank you for joining us- _ has met priti patel. thank you for joining us- -- _ has met priti patel. thank you for joining us. -- has _ has met priti patel. thank you for joining us. -- has never- has met priti patel. thank you for joining us. -- has never met- has met priti patel. thank you for joining us. -- has never met priti| joining us. —— has never met priti patel. us presidentjoe biden has tested positive for covid. in a statement the white house said he was experiencing "very mild" symptoms last night and tested positive this morning. the 79—year—old president is fully vaccinated and boosted. he is also taking anti—viral drugs. he will continue to work while in isolation. ina in a tweet, mr biden said he was doing great and keeping busy. here, an inquiry looking into how

the uk has handled the covid—i9 pandemic has launched today. baroness hallett, the former high courtjudge who is leading the inquiry, says it's time forfacts, not opinions — and promised to be resolute in her quest for the truth. so far, nearly 178,000 people in the uk have died with coronavirus. the hearings will begin in september, and the first witnesses will be called next spring. 0ur health editor hugh pym has been speaking to some of those who lost loved ones. john died with covid in april 2020. he was 80. his daughter, sue, says she hasn't been able to grieve — there are still too many unanswered questions. charles says his life has been ruined by covid. he lost his mother, then, six weeks later, his wife, katie. she was a care home manager and only 51 years old. lawrence was 79 when he died with the virus. his daughter, lauren, says an earlier lockdown could have saved him. the pandemic is still with us and there are many

who are still suffering. they listened to the chair of the covid inquiry, baroness hallett, setting out her plans today, promising to be fair and robust. she said she recognised the devastating nature of bereavement. for my part, i will do my very best to undertake the inquiry in a way that acknowledges this suffering and seeks to reduce the scope for others to suffer in the same way in the future. did you feel reassured by what she said? it's... what she said sounds good. it's early days. i am hopeful. they announced the inquiry _ was supposed to happen in the spring and then. . . it's now july. so we kind ofjust want... we're reliving experiences all over again and we just want it done - as quickly as possible, _ have the answers laid out in front of us and finally move - on with our lives because itjust feels like a two—year hell- where we haven't really got any answers for what's happened - to our families and our loved ones. i think bereaved families need to be

at the heart of this, it needs to take in our views. and, yes, it's going to be a long process but i think she's going to be...i think she's going to be thorough. she's going to leave no stone unturned, which is what we really need. baroness hallett said she was determined to conclude the inquiry work as quickly as possible. families say they want answers, not apologies. i don't want an apology from the government. i want them to learn lessons. if they were truly sorry, they'd have been honest in the early days of the pandemic. we want lessons to be learnt, so no one has to go through what we've been going through for the last two years. it won't bring our loved ones back. we know that, but we don't want it to happen to anyone else. we just want our loved ones to finally rest in peace. - i'd like to see them recognise the mistakes that were made and correct them with future pandemic responses so we don't do the same things that we've done this time around, so we don't get it so badly wrong.

the time is 6.18. our top story this evening... the two conservative leadership hopefuls begin six weeks of campaigning with a focus on the economy. and coming up... why teenagers are turning to tiktok and instagram for their news. coming up in sportsday in the next 15 minutes on the bbc news channel... we'll head live to oregon on the seventh day of the world athletics championships. after missing out on a medal in the 100 metres, dina asher—smith defends her 200 metre title. british doctors say a transformational therapy has, in effect, cured people with the bleeding disorder haemophilia b. the treatment corrects a genetic defect that prevents people's blood from clotting properly.

0ur health correspondent sophie hutchinsonjoins me now. haemophilia is a rare inherited bleeding disorder. it makes people bleed more than normal and mainly affects men and boys. forthose normal and mainly affects men and boys. for those people who have it, they lack the protein they need in order to stop them from bleeding. people with haemophilia had very low levels of those clotting proteins. there are two main types of haemophilia, they lack different clotting proteins. 0ne haemophilia, they lack different clotting proteins. one in 5000 men has type a, and one in 30,000 men has type a, and one in 30,000 men has type a, and one in 30,000 men has type b. it is type b this gene therapy seems to correct. an engineered virus was filled with

instructions on how to make the missing clotting factor. nine out of ten people who took part have effectively been cured, although some had side effects. in the uk it is thought around 250 adults with severe haemophilia b could be eligible for this treatment. elliot mason described it as life changing. this treatment i have, i know it's science but it really feels like a miracle for me and i'm going to take full advantage of what it has been able to let me do. researchers are hopeful that advances like this gene therapy and others will help to transform the lives of adults with haemophilia over the next few years. sophie, thank you very much. now a look at some other stories making the news today. a new report on tackling drug addiction in scotland is calling for a major cultural shift in the way the problem is dealt with. the report, which was commissioned by the scottish government, says the approach to drugs should move away from punishment

towards ca re. in 2020, 1,339 people died as a result of a drug overdose in scotland — that's more than three times the rate of the rest of the uk and the highest in europe. the latest figures for the nhs in wales show performance remains well below target on several key measures. the waiting list for hospital treatment grew to a new record for the 25th month in a row and the welsh ambulance service also performed poorly. the welsh government says it is investing millions of pounds to recruit staff for the ambulance service in order to improve response times. today marks the 50th anniversary of bloody friday, when the ira detonated 19 bombs across belfast in the space of an hour. nine people were killed and 130 others were seriously injured. the provisional ira issued an apology in 2002, and said it had not been their intention to kill what it called "non combatants." staying with the troubles, a coroner

has said that the five people, including four teenage soldiers, who died in the guildford pub bombings in october 1974, were unlawfully killed. the ira detonated bombs at two pubs in the surrey town which were known to be used by soldiers. at the inquest the coroner said the main bomb was probably planted by a young couple who were never identified, and it was part of a wider conspiracy. duncan kennedy reports. the coroner richard travers today described this as a violent and devastating blast, followed by darkness, panic and confusion. privates caroline slater and ann hamilton, guardsmen william forsyth and john hunter, and a civilian, paul craig, had, mr travers concluded, been unlawfully killed by the ira. the inquest has been all about filling in the details of what happened in this former pub, 48 years ago. the coroner concluded that the device went off behind this

war and was made of ten pounds of nitroglycerin, placed in a bag or a sack. and he said it was most probably put there by what he called "a young courting couple" who were never identified and never traced. police tried creating artist's impressions of the man and woman but they were never caught. some of the victims' families had wanted the inquest to try to find out who the bombers were, but that was ruled out. private ann hamilton's family refused to take part in the inquest, saying in a statement today, "this was our last chance to engage in a process to produce truth, justice and accountability, but we have been excluded from that process and our voice, on behalf of ann, was not heard." the guildford four were jailed for the attacks, but in 1989, their convictions were quashed. surrey police say they are now seeing if the inquest�*s findings are enough to start a new criminal investigation. alongside the disclosure process,

we have been examining all of the material and assessing it to consider whether a reinvestigation is a viable option. no date has been set yet for that to be finalised but once it is complete, surrey police will consider whether a reinvestigation is a viable option. it has taken half a century and an inquest to answer some of the questions about the guildford pub bombings. but history has brought understanding, not accountability. duncan kennedy, bbc news, in guildford. now, i've been bringing you the news for quite a while and — for the most part — you've made a date tojoin me for the news at six. but as they say, times are changing and a younger generation is finding its news and information elsewhere. that's according to a survey by the broadcast regulator 0fcom. top choice among 12 to 15 year olds is instagram, followed by tiktok and youtube. only then do the traditional broadcasters like itv, bbc one and two come in.

sometimes it's a different version of what you've seen on this programme. here's our correspondent secunder kermani in sri lanka earlier this week. people waiting for days just to get fuel, and whoever takes charge of this country resolving this economic crisis is going to be a massive challenge. and here he is with a similar report on tik tok. crazily long, but we want to see exactly how long it is. i'm going to drive through it right from the start where we are now. but young people also go straight to campaigners or those making the news — doing away with prepared reports. one other thing with these social media platforms is you don't have to wait for an appointed time — you can get george alagiah whenever you want, which may or may not be a good thing. scientists have developed a new telescope to detect

the smashing together of dead suns known as neutron stars — up until now something that ordinary telescopes were unable to do. the collisions are thought to have created heavy metals that formed stars and planets like our own billions of years ago. 0ur science correspondent, pallab ghosh, has had exclusive access to the new telescope and sends this report from la palma in the canary islands. opening to the heavens, high above the clouds, a new telescope scans the skies for one of the most enigmatic objects in the universe — a neutron star. they are the smallest and densest bodies in the cosmos, so heavy that a sugar cube of it would weigh about the same as 8 billion people. scientists have now found a way to detect them. neutron stars have such powerful gravity that they are drawn together until they eventually merge. when that happens, there is a flash of light and a powerful shock wave ripples across the universe.

when that shock wave is detected on earth, the new telescope scrambles into action to find the exact location of the flash. the astronomers have to work fast. the flash of light lasts only a couple of days. computer software is key in this impossibly difficult hunt. researchers compare pictures of the same bit of sky night by night, and any speck of light that was not there before may be the momentary colliding of neutron stars. you would think that these explosions are very energetic, very luminous, it should be easy, but we are having to search through 100 million stars for the one object we are interested in, and we need to do this very rapidly because the objects will disappear on a timescale of a few days. so really, this needle in a haystack challenge almost doesn't cut it. it's a huge challenge. these quick collisions create conditions that take us to the very edge of the laws of physics. it could help to answer the mystery

of how some of the heavier elements, such as gold and platinum, are created in the universe. the british—built telescope, called goto, is nimble, and can rapidly scan every bit of the sky above it. when a real good event comes along, it is all hands on deck to make the most of it, and that, you know, it is a nice sort of feeling, to spring into action. with these instruments, researchers are learning about the cosmos faster than ever before, and are on the precipice of a new age of astronomy. so now we have almost a new way of looking at the universe. we are not hoping for new discoveries. we have been told where to find them and we are getting to uncover, piece by piece, what lays out there in the universe. so far, just one neutron star collision has been detected. now this new telescope can pinpoint them routinely, revealing a new view of the universe that has so far been hidden.

pallab ghosh, bbc news, la palma. back down—to—earth now. time for a look at the weather. here's sarah keith—lucas. temperatures have gradually been coming down and many people will be forcing theirfingers coming down and many people will be forcing their fingers for rainfall. some of us will be seeing rain over the next few days but not everywhere. we have that real mix of some drier and warm weather on the cards but also some showers and thunderstorms. but friday will bring a less humid day and we have seen recently. forthe a less humid day and we have seen recently. for the rest of this evening and overnight we have a lot of cloud around, now producing showers anywhere from southern england through the midlands toward southern scotland as well. temperatures in the north dropping to around 11 degrees. still quite muqqy to around 11 degrees. still quite muggy and humid down to the

south—east with overnight temperatures 17 celsius. tomorrow are few heavy showers around, you can see them cropping up from wales into northern england and some into southern scotland as well. almost anywhere, we could get the odd rumble of thunder through the day. 23 degrees down to cardiff, but aberdeen only 15 degrees with an onshore wind. heading towards the weekend, we see low pressure moving on from the atlantic, but it will be drawing in this southerly flow of air so that will push across many eastern parts of the uk and things will warm up again through the weekend. some rain putting in across northern ireland and then into northern and western parts of britain on saturday, but towards the east you are likely to stay dry and temperatures into the mid to high 20s. up to the high teens in the north. 0n 20s. up to the high teens in the north. on sunday a windy day with heavy showers in the north and west,

but turning hotter