11/05/2017 BBC News at Ten

Labour's election manifesto is formally approved

by the party leadership and will be published within days.

After a four-hour meeting, Jeremy Corbyn said the programme had

been unanimously agreed, carefully costed and would be "very popular".

The likely offer to voters includes nationalising

the entire rail network and abolishing university

An offer that will transform the lives of many people

in our society and ensure that we have a Government

in Britain, on June 8th, that will work for the many,

But earlier Mr Corbyn had failed to attend

Labour's big poster launch, amid confusion over a leaked version

We'll be looking at some of Labour's policies in more detail and we'll be

Also tonight: A squeeze on consumer spending in prospect,

and the Bank of England downgrades its forecast

Official figures suggest waiting times for some NHS services

in England are the worst in five years.

He's a showboat, he's a grandstander.

President Trump lays into his former FBI director and says he always

And Manchester United keep their Champions' League dream alive,

Andy Murray is knocked out of the Madrid Open in the last 16 by Borna

Coric, so he's failed to reach the quarter-finals in two of his last

Labour's election manifesto has been formally approved

by the party leadership and will be published next week.

Jeremy Corbyn said the policies would be fully costed

and would prove to be "very popular" with voters.

Some of the main parts of the manifesto had already

found their way into the public domain, after a version of

It included proposals to re-nationalise the railways

and to scrap university tuition fees in England.

Our political editor, Laura Kuenssberg, has more

They wondered what exactly was going on, and you might too.

This was meant to be the grand unveiling of a Labour poster,

albeit on a waste ground in south London.

But the party leader was nowhere to be seen.

Jeremy Corbyn should have been selling the slogan.

But after the astonishing leak of a draft of Labour's

We were told he had other things to do.

Mr Lavery, Mr Gwynne, where's Mr Corbyn?

He was meant to be here, but things happened and Mr Corbyn is...

Do you know who leaked your manifesto, Mr McDonnell?

Mr Corbyn's closest ally was promising great things.

This is an extremely modern, progressive set of proposals.

It is looking to the long term future and most people

are extremely excited at what they have seen.

The 45-page draft we have seen spells out plans

to nationalise the railways, Royal Mail and parts

of the energy industry, to abolish tuition fees in England,

to restore some welfare benefits and scrap the bedroom tax

and to provide ?8 billion for social care.

There are allegations that your staff leaked the manifesto...

In a frenzy over who told the world...

REPORTER: Are you responsible for the leak?

Labour shadow ministers, officials and union bigwigs were due

We are here today to decide the final version and I'm sure it

will be an exciting programe that will attract as many voters

I am absolutely certain that ordinary Labour voters want

an increase in the minimum wage, the abolition of zero hour

contracts, agency workers dealt with, investment...

Eventually, the leader sped in to "dot the i's

Inside, Labour's top brass discussed tax rises

for the very wealthiest and big business, a ban

on fracking, ending arms sales to Saudi Arabia,

And, after four hours, it was eventually agreed,

a plan described as the biggest intervention in the state

"I'm naturally to the centre," he says.

But for how Labour will pay for his grand plans,

We have just concluded our joint meeting of the Shadow Cabinet

and the National Executive, and we have discussed our manifesto

Our manifesto will be an offer, and we believe the policies

in it are very popular, an offer that will transform the

The details will be set out to you, including the costings of all

But the national manifesto, this seeming chaos, for some

of his candidates makes not much difference.

The Tories are 20 points ahead in the polls.

It is the Tory manifesto people need to be focussing on and seeing

We Labour MPs are trying to save as many good

Labour MPs as possible so we have a semblance

Manifesto timing slip-ups aside, this is less radical

than Jeremy Corbyn and his core supporters might have wished.

The task now to persuade voters of its merits.

Ultimately, what matters is not the clamour over the leak,

but what YOU make of what Labour has to offer.

Jeremy Corbyn's hope is that the more people

understand him, the more they will like.

His internal rivals in the Labour Party fear

the opposite is true, and it's already been

Laura Kuenssberg, BBC News, Westminster.

One of the policies that Labour believes will appeal to a broad

section of the public is the plan to renationalise

In the draft manifesto document, the party talks of making

a publicly-owned rail system "the backbone" of its

It would be a gradual process of taking over commercial

Labour is also proposing to freeze rail fares.

Our transport correspondent, Richard Westcott, has been looking

at Labour's rail plan and how it might work.

Britain's railways are bitty and complex.

Most of the tracks, signals and stations

It's effectively a nationalised company, spending public money.

The trains are run by a mixture of private companies

and foreign state railways, including France, Germany,

At the moment, different companies can bid to run different rail

services for a limited number of years, it's called a franchise.

What Labour seems to be suggesting is that, as each of those

franchises runs out, rather than having a new bidding

process, the Government will take over those services instead.

The first one, South West Trains, comes up for renewal in August.

Overall, 11 franchises, including famous names

like Great Western Railways, could be taken into public ownership

But some contracts don't finish until well into the 2020s

and the Caledonian Sleeper service won't be renewed until 2030.

Opinion polls suggest nationalisation is popular.

I'm for nationalisation becuase I think it'll make it cheaper

I think it's been proven in the past that nationalised rail services

don't meet the standards of customer expectations and they've had safety

The old publicly-owned British Rail had a mixed reputation,

so why do campaigners think nationalising the trains

We'd be able to reduce fares and improve services.

We could add carriages, we could reopen lines.

In 2009, East Coast Services were taken over by the Government

for a few years because a private company made a mess

Labour's often hailed it as proof that nationalising a line can

improve the service, but the former boss of that

It was a success, yes, but I would say that was despite

being in the public sector rather than because of it.

It was quite hard to do it, but we ran it as if it was

We returned over ?1 billion in profit to the Treasury

during the time that we were running it, but the new franchisee that

replaced us has promised far more money over a longer period of time,

with new trains to introduce new services.

A slow take over of passenger services is the cheapest option

But if Labour wants to buy back the privately-owned trains,

One of the other major elements of Labour's draft manifesto

is education and the pledge to abolish university

They were first introduced by the Labour government

in 1998 but in 2012, under the Conservative-Lib Dem

coalition, they were increased to ?9,000 a year.

Our education editor, Branwen Jeffreys, reports

on the likely impact of scrapping tuition fees and how much

Universities like Nottingham Trent are part of a revolution.

Tuition fees have paid for many more places,

but it's students who face 30 years of paying back loans,

so do they welcome the idea of scrapping fees?

I think it'd be a good thing, but how are they going to pay for it?

Getting rid of them doesn't really make a difference.

It's more the living costs that would probably sway people

Well I think, obviously, that's brilliant if they actually do

it for everyone who's going into education.

But obviously for me, I'm going to graduate

A quarter of students here are from England's poorest

families, managing on less than ?15,000 a year.

So does it matter who pays for their courses?

From a university point of view, we want enough money to provide

Whether that comes from Government grants or student loans is a matter

I think it's great that this debate is now part of

Each time tuition fees go up, applications initially drop,

but in the long term it hasn't put young people off.

In 2007, when fees were ?3,000, 305,000 students accepted a place.

By 2016, when fees were ?9,000, 394,000 signed up.

It would cost around ?7.5 billion to replace loans

The reason it isn't more is taxpayers are still

The majority of students will never fully repay their loans.

Tuition fee increases have provoked protest.

The outrage overflowed when they tripled under the Coalition.

Tuition fees have become a symbol of fairness between the generations.

Students look at older people and see they got a free

university education, cheaper housing, better pensions.

They ask why they're not getting the same deal.

Scotland is the only part of the UK with no tuition fees.

The number of university places is limited.

Wealthier students are more likely to get places,

Food for thought in the tuition fee debate.

Labour says its programme is "modern and progressive",

not a return to the past, as some critics have alleged

and that voters will respond positively in the coming weeks

Our deputy political editor, John Pienaar, has been to York,

a Labour seat being targeted by the Conservatives,

to see what voters are saying there.

True believers, spreading the word of socialism,

in places like York, with it's 7,000 Labour majority, the

So much of Labour's programme - divisive - could cause potential

Labour, they don't want to put a clear limit on

Are you happy with that, or are you unhappy?

They are just coming to use the NHS for free.

They get housing funding for free, benefits for

I agree with that but if they are coming over to

get and job and pay their way, that's fine.

And for so many it's about the economy, isn't it always,

more taxes if you can easily afford it, or would that

Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party are

saying get more tax out of people who earn the most, what due think?

I think if you go to university, do a Masters, work hard, you should

If you've got more money, why not pay a bit more

Because you have done essential things to earn that.

If I was earning that much, I'd want to

Like, I don't need that much money in my life.

As for returning more power to the unions...

I remember going to work and literally working in candle

light, to go home just in time for everything to go there as well.

Do you think this will be a step down

I think it will because again you are going back to the few

We love our railways, when they're running

Why not renationalise Royal Mail too.

Well, maybe going back to a state-owned rail service

is rather sentimental, even an eccentric idea?

Well, the state did a reasonable job in the past but

previously the private corporations have done perhaps an even better

I think the guys who are more motivated to do the job should be

Why do you think a lot of people are happy with the

But in a pick-and-mix of Labour policies,

The investment hasn't gone in over the years, so if the private

sector can't do it then it's left to the public sector.

I for one, I'd be fine with that, no problem.

If this election was a shopping trip,

there's a lot of Labour policy people seem to fancy.

Nationalise the railways, tax the rich but the

hardest currency on approximately day is public trust and Jeremy

Corbyn needs to do better in that marketplace than he's done in the

past, if Labour ideas are to count for much on June 8th.

John Pienaar is back at Westminster tonight.

We have heard Mr Corbyn say this has been carefully costed. Set out in

the manifesto. What do you make of the political challenges? You have

always seen, idea by idea, there is a lot in this plan which is

potentially popular, which are people and corporations pay more in

tax. Hard-pressed schools and hospitals getting more money getting

more money after seven long years of austerity. Never imagine these ideas

are there simply because they may be vote catchers. Jeremy Corbyn

believes deeply that society is unfair. That markets have failed

that the deck has been stacked by and for the house and they have not.

His belief is socialism which is unshakeable and he will carry on

believing whatever happens in this election. The challenge is to

convince the unconvince these plans are practicable and affordable.

There is still more we want to see in that. How much will higher

earners have it pay in tax. What about wealth and property tax. ?

What more is there to learn about that? There are deeper plans, could

this plan shake sterling, share prices, interest rates and

ultimately livelihoods and jobs? In the end, Huw, it comes to faith,

which Jeremy Corbyn has in abundance and in public trust, which as of now

he pleasant lilacs and needs to build up, if this whole plan is to

become a radical plan for Government and in the simply end up as a sort

of curiosity left over as a failed political experiment on June 8th.

Thank you very much. A reminder, you can keep up to date

with all the developments throughout the campaign and live

events on the BBC news And if you're on the move

you can follow the election The Bank of England has warned

of a squeeze on household incomes this year, as the cost of living

rises faster than wages. The Bank's governor, Mark Carney,

said he expected only moderate Looking further ahead,

he said better prospects depended on the Government securing

a "smooth" exit from Our economics editor, Kamal Ahmed,

is here with more details. Today's report actually can be

summed up in about seven words. Global growth is looking better,

and the Bank says its working on the asumption that EU deal

will work out. But, the governor started with

a warning about where we are now. Well, this is going to be a more

challenging time for British households over the course

of this year. Real income growth, to use our

terminology, will be negative. To use theirs, wages

won't keep up with prices. Consumers are split

between the worried and those that No matter what you go in to buy

nowadays, even in the shops or even for the animals,

no matter what, everything I do think it's going to get worse

when Brexit hits hard. So, I would say, I'm not

really looking forward We're seeing stability in the UK

and that's a positive thing. I think the economy is actually

on the turn, on the way up. I think you've got no

choice but to, kind of, look where your money is going,

in terms of, like, Holiday prices, obviously,

going up as well. It's those rising prices

the Bank is focussing on, saying it expected inflation to rise

to 2.8% by the end of the year. That is in sharp contrast

with the rise in earnings, Over the next two years more

positive news, with a growth upgrade The Bank also insists wage

growth will bounce back. Governor, you've spoken about this

sharp squeeze on living standards this year,

why are you so confident that that will come to an end and that wage

growth will hit 3.75%, We're conditioning on a smooth

process, smooth Brexit process, and to the extent

to which uncertainty over that process is temporarily weighing

on wages, that should dissipate. If the economy does strengthen,

the Bank said rates might go up more But, as Mr Carney made clear,

that all depends on achieving that Huw. Kamal, thanks very much again.

Kamal Ahmed there, our economics Editor.

Hospital waiting times in England are at the worst

level for five years, according to a study

The Health Foundation, a charity which conducts specialist

research into health policy, said key targets were being missed,

and there were longer waits for Accident Emergency,

cancer treatment and routine operations.

Our health editor, Hugh Pym, has been examining the findings.

Jim has prostate cancer, he faced long delays

between seeing his GP, going for tests and then

He's one of a growing number of patients in England facing long

It affected my personal life, my work life because you're waiting

around and it becomes more and more clear that you've got

So I went for so long without any treatment at all.

At least 85% of patients should start cancer treatment within 62

days of being referred, but that target hasn't been met

In a civilised country, the NHS has to do better

People shouldn't be waiting more than 62 days for treatment,

According to the Health Foundation think-tank, waiting times for key

services in England were the worst in five years.

26,000 patients had to wait longer than the two month target

That compares with 14,300 in 2011-12.

The number waiting more than the four-hour target

for being treated or assessed in A was 2.5 million, a sharp increase

on the 725,000 with long waits five years before.

Against a backdrop of rising patient numbers and stretched resources,

it's getting harder for the NHS in England to hit its key

performance targets, which are supposed to provide

reassurance of high quality care for patients.

More and more people are needing to use the NHS.

That's not new and it's not unexpected.

As a population we're getting older, there are more of us and our health

But demand on the NHS has historically risen by around

4% per year whereas, from 2009-10, funding has only risen

NHS England said the March figures were better than proceeding months,

but over recent years there's been a steady decline.

Whoever forms the next Government will have to face up to that.

Three women, including a mother and daughter,

have appeared in court in London charged with terrorism offences

It's believed to be the first alleged all-female

One of them was shot during the operation

The three were accused of planning a knife attack

President Trump appears to have changed his explanation for sacking

the head of the FBI, James Comey.

The White House had insisted that Mr Trump acted on the advice

But in a television interview this evening,

intending to sack Mr Comey in any case because the agency

Our North America editor, Jon Sopel, is in Washington.

R Jon, it's the President's first interview since this cry sirs sis

first broke? Yes, it is. The President was in characteristically

forthright mood. There will be one day I will say he pulled his

punches. He didn't in this interview. He accused James Comey of

being a showboat, a grandstander. He had left the FBI in turmoil. What I

thought was most interesting was the explanation. On Tuesday night,

Wednesday, we were being told the reason he was fired was because the

Deputy Attorney General had recommended there needed to be

change at the top. In Donald Trump's letter sacking Comey he said, "I

have received the tachd letters recommending your dismissal. I've

accepted their recommendation. " Listen to what he says in the

interview. On Monday you met with the Deputy

Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein. What I did is, I was

going to fire Comey. It was not - You had

made the decision before There's no good time

to do it, by the way. Because in your letter you said,

"I accepted their recommendations." Yeah, well they also - But you had

already made the decision? The White House also said that one

of the reasons that he was fired was that the rank and file ebbs m of the

FBI were unhappy with him as their leader. But that was contradicted

today by the Acting Director, who was giving testimony before a Senate

committee. The White House have also said today that the other thing that

President Trump wanted to do was to see the Russia investigation

completed. Yet the President has tweeted this evening that the

Russian investigation is making America look like a laughing stock

to the Russians. You pays your money and you take your choice, Huw.

Indeed, Jon. Jon Sopel there with the latest for us in Washington.

Michael Barnier, the man who will lead the Brexit

negotiations on behalf of the European Union, has warned

that one of the consequences of the UK leaving the EU could be

the introduction of customs controls between Northern Ireland

Mr Barnier, speaking in Dublin today, said he was aware

of the concerns and said he'd work to avoid the creation of what's

Our special correspondent, Fergal Keane, has travelled

from Belfast to Dublin to hear what people think about the possible

As they have every spring, Brexit or no Brexit, the Orangemen

No longer do these marches bristle with the menacing energy

of the Troubles years, but there is mounting uncertainty.

At the same time as the collapse of power-sharing here,

nationalist resentment over Brexit has spurred demands

for a referendum on Irish unity, leaving unionists uneasy.

Do you ever think, at the back of your thoughts, that eventually

I think it's always a possibility there but, I have to say, I think

I've heard people recently say, who've surprised me,

who've said, you know, would I be any worse off?

But, hopefully, the unionist community will see through those

things and get back to where their first love

is, and that remains the Queen and country.

The armed conflict has been over for 20 years,

the agony brought to an end by a compromise which allowed

all sides to feel their aspirations were respected.

40 miles south of Belfast, on the border, the debate has

And I as a child remember sitting in the back,

turning that corner we've just turned, looking down this

Damian McGinty is a South Armagh farmer.

..of maybe about 18 or 20 paratroopers or four or five RUC.

This militarised frontier vanished with the Troubles.

But any kind of hard border, with customs posts and identity

checks, could be economically costly and politically divisive.

What happens if you get a hard border here again,

Now, if you stick any kind of a hard border along that 300 mile stretch,

you're saying to a sizeable chunk of the population, young people

here, that this country is being repartitioned.

The Republican dead memorialised on a border road heading south.

Now nobody I met feared a return to violence,

but Irish history is an enduring lesson in unintended consequences,

of how political decisions play out in the long run.

Dublin has persuaded the EU to guarantee membership

A former Cabinet Minister makes the economic case for unity

Do you think that in our lifetime, there will be a united Ireland?

See, you wouldn't have said that ten years ago, would you?

Ten years ago I would have thought that a united Ireland was a very

distant possibility, now I think it's a more real

possibility and the reason I believe that is that the economic interests

of the people of both sides in Northern Ireland and both parts

of Ireland are coming together rather than being divided.

I think that Brexit underlines the common interest that Irish

people have as opposed to the interests of

But unity doesn't inspire universal enthusiasm in the South.

In my home city of Cork, Na Piarsaigh Hurling Club was named

after the rebel martyr, Patrick Pearse.

The club's symbol - The Red Hand of Ulster,

but minus a thumb - symbolises a divided Ireland.

Do people around here really care about a united Ireland?

Well, I suppose, some people do, like.

But, in this area, the people are more worried with more

hand-to-mouth and how they exist day-to-day rather

So from day-to-day it doesn't really affect us here, like, you know.

For 60 years, Eamon de Valera was the most prominent political...

The old story of Britain and Ireland was one of often

bitter entanglement, as the graves at Glasnevin Cemetry

remind us, but there are more recent memorials here to the sacrifice

of Irish Catholics and Protestants in the Great War.

Peace has made joint remembrance possible.

Some much of Ireland's history is interred in this place,

from revolution to reconciliation in our time.

Walking through these graves, it's still possible to marvel

at the fact that peace has been achieved on this island and that

healing between divided communities has begun.

It's not that a new armed conflict looms, but that,

in an atmosphere of uncertainty, the trust needed for lasting

Protecting the gains of peace is the great challenge

Fergal Keane, BBC News, on the island of Ireland.

Last Saturday, 82 girls were released by the Islamist

militant group, Boko Haram, three years after they were

kidnapped at gunpoint from their school in

But they have yet to be reunited with their families.

Another 21 girls, released last October by the militants,

Our correspondent, Alistair Leithead, reports now

The Chibok girls are now young women and getting used to being freed

After being kidnapped by the Islamists, they spent three

years in the forest and are now a little overwhelmed

by their new surroundings and by all the attention.

The Yakubu Nkeke is the families representative, we met him

in north-eastern Nigeria, heading back to Chibok.

He saw the girls and has the job of identifying all of them.

Among the 82 released was his daughter.

When I fist saw her, she jumped and grabbed for me.

I hold her hands, started dancing around with her.

He'll show the families his pictures and prepare for their big reunion.

The girls told him life was hard under Boko Haram,

There are some of them who had been given in marriage but,

according to them, it's not forceful and when you decide to marry

What do you think about the Boko Haram fighters

Oh, Boko Haram fighters, personally now, I would forgive them.

It's not just the 276 Chibok girls and their families

Here, in north-eastern Nigeria, thousands of other women and girls

Most of those rescued have been left deeply traumatised and there's

a real stigma associated with anyone who's lived under Boko Haram.

These are the girls rescued last year, they've been kept under

the supervision of the security services for more than six months.

They seem healthy, some families just want them home,

others believe they're better off in the capital.

The parents agreed we did not compel anybody that your child

It's wrenchingly tough for the families waiting for news.

We showed the Samuel family video footage of the released girls.

They were looking for their Sarah, hoping to catch a glimpse.

Sarah, sadly, is still being held by Boko Haram with more

than 100 others but, with so many freed and negotiations

still going on, there's new hope they too will soon be released.

Alastair Leithead, BBC News, Yola, north-eastern Nigeria.

Football, and Manchester United have beaten the Spanish side Celta Vigo

to secure a place in the final of the Europa League.

The United manager, Jose Mourinho, has called it "the most important

game of the club's history" because winning the final

will guarantee United a place in the Champions League next season.

From Old Trafford, Andy Swiss reports.

You could have your photo with a fake trophy at Old Trafford.

But there is no substitute for the real thing.

Tonight, United have the only silverware they've never lifted

The Europa League may be Europe's secondary

tournament, but it's become United's top priority.

Winning it, their best chance of Champions

1-0 up after the first leg, the final seemed to beckon.

Sergio Romero forced into an early save.

Then Marcus Rashford's vision met Marouane Fellaini's forehead,

United in control, the final within touching distance.

Just before the break, one nearly arrived.

With just five minutes left, Celta Vigo finally struck.

A melee resulting in a red card for United's Eric Bailly and Roncaglia.

But United clung on by the skin of their teeth

Yes. United fans will be breathing a hefty sigh of relief. That was some

scare. They are through to the final. They will play Ajax. United

have a chance of another trophy and that all-important Champions League

qualification. Huw. Andy Swiss with the match report at Old Trafford.

Newsnight is on BBC Two. Here's Emily.

So how radical is the Labour manifesto?

Tonight, a detailed look at the politics, the policy

and the reaction to Corbyn's vision for Britain.

That's Newsnight with Emily. Here on BBC