07/05/2017 BBC Weekend News

We're live in Paris this evening, where the polls will close

within the next couple of hours, as millions of French voters decide

For the centrist Emanuel Macron, a strong supporter

of the European Union, victory would mean his first

experience of elected office, at the age of 39.

And for Marine Le Pen, a win for the hard right

would signal a dramatic new direction for France, with much

And also on the programme this evening:

An election pledge from Labour, if it wins on June the 8th it

won't raise income tax for anyone earning less than ?80,000 a year.

The Conservatives focus on mental health, promising to recruit another

10,000 staff in England if they're re-elected.

But as long as you live for other people's opinions you'll never

How the poet Kate Tempest is at the helm of this

Good evening from Paris, where the polls will close

within the next couple of hours, and the people of France

will discover who their next president will be.

Tens of millions of voters have been visiting the polling stations today,

after a deeply divisive campaign, with Emmanuel Macron

and Marine Le Pen offering radically different visions,

Tonight's result will also have a direct impact on the future

direction of the European Union, in the years ahead,

as the Brexit process unfolds, so the relevance of the outcome,

to France's neighbours, is very clear.

This report on polling day in France, is by our Europe

There is some flash photography coming up.

A cheer this morning for the man promising optimism for France.

He's just 39 years old, a nervous moment, hovering

Emmanuel Macron's is an extraordinary political story.

The collapse of France's main parties and his message

open internationalists, pro-EU have propelled his rise.

France's election has exposed the same fault lines that have riven

On one side, there's comfortable with globalisation.

On the other, there's anxious, angry, faced by a changing world.

His rival, Marine Le Pen appeals to them.

This was another shock of this election.

France's far right leader in the final run-off.

She's anti-EU, wants to ditch the euro, reinstate border controls

and painted her campaign as another fight against out of touch elites.

A win for her would plunge Europe into new political uncertainty.

Mr Macron headed for Paris this afternoon.

He's a former banker and briefly economy minister.

The reason many may decline to vote for him.

The two candidates have radically different views

on questions of identity, immigration, openness to the world.

So this election will be highly consequential, not just for France

Will this be the next domino to fall, or will it mark

And there were signs today the turnout was down,

compared to the first round of these elections.

I just voted for the candidate I thought was less

But I think I had to do it because the other one for me was not

We know what happened in the US, Brexit as well, so it's very,

Sorry, my heart is actually beating really fast now.

A Macron win would be a trying for Europe's centrists,

Some have reported down out -- turnout was down. Will that

translate into the result? In a moment we'll speak

to our Europe editor Katya Adler, following the Macron campaign,

but first to our Europe correspondent James Reynolds,

who is with the Le Pen campaign. James, your sense of the mood in the

Le Pen campaign this evening? It is quiet so far, her supporters are

arriving. The final polls on Friday had had behind Emmanuel Macron.

Eddie Bate was criticised in the week. They define success in a

different way. This is a movement which measures its progress over

decades. For years this was a fringe movement on the Marine Le Pen's

father, ignored or boycotted by much of France, but that has changed. If

Marine Le Pen gets 40% of the vote, she establishes the party as a

lasting, political force. Ranking very much. One hour and 20 minutes

before the polls close, what is your sense of things there? There is a

lot of excitement and anticipation amongst Macron supporters. They have

not been allowed in yet, but Macron president is what they like to shout

because that is what they have been led to believe by the opinion polls

and before these elections. They are waiting for their man, this

39-year-old relative political novice, his political party is only

one-year-old, to bring change to this change hungry nation. Even if

he does win the election, Emmanuel Macron would have to win over the

French people. Not just the supporters of Marine Le Pen. We know

many who have voted Macron today did not vote because they are convinced

of him to stop his far right rival. Thank you both.

There'll be live coverage of the presidential results

as they come in from 6.30 this evening on the BBC News Channel

and we'll be back here on BBC One with the outcome

and all the reaction, at 10:00pm tonight.

But for now let's join Mishal for the day's other main news.

Labour says it will not raise income tax for anyone earning less

than ?80,000 a year as part of an election pledge

The Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, said those earning

over the ?80,000 threshold would be asked to pay "a bit more" to help

The Conservatives say they have no plan to raise income tax but have

so far refused to completely rule it out.

Our political correspondent Ben Wright reports.

It was a slogan used by Tony Blair, now revived

Setting out what he called a big deal to upgrade the economy,

John McDonnell promised not to raise VAT or national insurance

for anyone, but said the top 5% of earners would pay more.

If Labour is elected next month, we will guarantee for the next five

years, there will be no income tax rises, for all those earning less

Labour is now the party of low taxes for middle and lower earners.

Mr MacDonnell said people earning more than ?80,000 a year would pay

a modest amount more but the rates and details would have

The Conservatives have promised not to raise VAT but have so far made no

matching pledge on national insurance or income tax.

Today, the Tories said Labour was going back to the past.

They want to raise taxes, they want to penalise business,

they want to penalise wealth creation and I think they will end

up wrecking the economy as they have done in the past.

The total amount of income tax raised in 2016 is

The top 5% of UK earners, Labour's target group paid

just over 47% of that, close to ?80 billion.

You cannot make a really big change to the amount of money

that is available just by focusing on people over 80,000 the year,

that is available just by focusing on people over 80,000 a year,

partly because they already pay an awful lot of tax and a lot more

than they did a few years ago, but partly because if you really

want significant amounts of money, you have to do something

the politicians don't like doing, which is hit the majority of people,

which is where VAT and the national insurance and a lot of income

You are pledging to increase tax on high earners have to pay

for public services and borrow billions for infrastructure,

but that has been Labour's message since Jeremy Corbyn became leader.

Why do you think it can turn things around for Labour in the last four

weeks of this general election campaign when it seems it

I think there is an opportunity now in the general election campaign

which we have not had before Jeremy Corbyn was leader.

I think we can turn the polls around and I genuinely think we can secure

Many of the bankers and financiers who work here would pay more income

tax under Labour's plan and this is the first general

election for many years, when there is a stark choice

developing between Labour and the Conservatives with how

the economy should be run and how money should be raised and spent.

The Conservatives say reforming mental health legislation in England

and Wales will be a priority if they win the election.

Theresa May said a new law would tackle discrimination

and the unnecessary detention of vulnerable people.

There would also be a boost to the number of mental health

The Liberal Democrats said they would raise more money per health

and social care by putting an extra penny on income tax.

Theresa May has already talked of transforming the way mental

health problems are dealt with across society.

Now there are more details of what she wants to do if she gets

The Conservatives said there are concerns that individuals,

including young people, are detained unnecessarily

in police cells and secure mental health wards,

so the Mental Health Act, which dates back more than 30 years,

If you have a child that has severe mental health problems

and you find that child, instead of being treated by the NHS,

actually ends up in a police cell, it's a terrible thing for the child,

probably make their condition worse, but it's also very bad

But the Liberal Democrats criticised the Conservative government's

When I come across families who are waiting desperately

for their children to receive the care they need, they feel badly

So for me, it's empty rhetoric at the moment.

The Conservatives also said they want to increase staffing

levels in all areas of mental health care in England, with 10,000

Currently, there are 200,000 in a variety of roles,

but according to government figures, the number of mental health nurses

Mental health charities welcome the aims, but are doubtful

We've got to resource the front line so that there are enough beds

and enough people and we wonder if the 10,000 people promised

will be trained by 2020, will be sufficient to meet such demand.

Labour said there appeared to be no extra funding and warm words

from Conservatives wouldn't help tackle the injustice of unequal

More than 80 Nigerian schoolgirls, freed in a prisoner swap,

have met with the country's President in the capital.

The girls from Chibok were among more than 200 kidnapped three years

ago by the Islamist militant group, Boko Haram.

The government says they'll be given medical checks before being reunited

Over 100 are still being held by militants.

She's an artist and a poet, and now Kate Tempest is at the helm

of the Brighton Festival, the largest curated multi arts

This year the festival's theme celebrates what she calls

the "Everyday Epic" and encourages the audience to take a walk

Our Arts Editor Will Gompertz has been speaking to her.

A warm welcome in Brighton for Kate Tempest. Your age is told in months.

There's things I hope you will learn, things I am sure I learned

once. The poets, performer and for this year only, guest director at

the annual three-week's Festival. Outside is busy, people are excited.

You have three weeks of this. What do you want people to take from it?

I hope what happens is, this is what happens to me and it is the thing of

what I like the most of what the arts can do, you leave the theatre,

the cinema, the gallery or the community centre, where ever you

have been watching the performance and you go back out into the street

and suddenly, everything is a bit brighter. You are looking at faces

more clearly and allowing yourself to connect with experience a bit

more openly. It just reaches your senses a little bit.

A central theme is arts, access for all. We are hopefully coming to the

end of a time when ideas about high culture and low culture are very

much ingrained in ideas about class, and I hope we are coming out of that

now. The truth has lost its way... I think what is important is to

remember that creativity is an extremely valuable and necessary

part of our mental health. It makes us human. It is, for me, one of the

humanising principles and as life becomes increasingly synthetic, it

is probably one of our most important vehicles and cultivators

of empathy and connection, connection to ourselves and also to

each other. A sentiment shared by this appreciative audience.

Earlier, Liverpool missed a penalty as they were held to a goalless

In the later game taking place right now, Arsenal lead

England striker Danny Welbeck scoring the second goal

That's it, we are back with the late News at Ten o'clock,

now on BBC One its time for the news where you are.