Into claims of electoral fraud, after the brexit party said its candidates had been offered inducements by conservatives to stand down. The labour partys executive Committee Meets to finalise what policies it will put to voters in the general election. Two people have been hurt in a large fire at a Student Accommodation building in bolton. More than 200 firefighters were brought in to tackle the blaze at 11 30am, tts dateline with my colleague carrie gracie, shell be talking about trump, the crisis in hong kong, and floods and fires. Hello, good morning. In an unprecedented interview, Prince Andrew has told the bbc that he let the royal family down by staying at the home of the convicted sex offender, jeffrey epstein. Speaking to Newsnights Emily Maitlis at buckingham palace, the duke addressed accusations that hed had sex with a 17 year old american girl. He said he couldnt remember meeting Virginia Roberts and denies allegations of inappropriate conduct. Our royal correspondent, Nicholas Witchell reports. He is continuing with royal duties. Last sunday, he was at the cenotaph, laying a wreath with his nephews. And yet, for month after month, hes been the focus of troubling questions. Prince andrew, the queens second son, one moment seen waving from the doorway of the new york home of a convicted child sex offender, jeffrey epstein, and photographed strolling through central park with him. Buckingham palace has consistently denied any impropriety by Prince Andrew. Now, hes decided to speak for himself to bbc Newsnights Emily Maitlis. But you were staying at the house of a convicted sex offender. It was a convenient place to stay. I mean, ive gone through this in my mind so many times. At the end of the day, with the benefit of all the hindsight that one could have, it was definitely the wrong thing do but at the time i felt it was the honourable and right thing to do. And i admit fully that myjudgment was probably coloured by my tendency to be too honourable but thatsjust the way it is. And then theres andrews alleged friendship with the then 17 year old Virginia Roberts who was on epsteins payroll. Shes alleged that andrew seduced her. One of epsteins accusers, Virginia Roberts, has made allegations against you. She says she met you in 2001. She says she dined with you, danced with you at tramp nightclub in london. She went on to have sex with you in a house in belgravia belonging to ghislaine maxwell, your friend. Your response . I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady. None whatsoever. You dont remember meeting her . No. It was in 2001, according to Virginia Roberts, that she had sex with andrew on three occasions, including one orgy. The palace has denied that. In 2008, epstein was convicted of procuring for prostitution a girl under the age of 18. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison. It was in 2010, after epstein had been released from prison, that andrew visited him in new york and stayed at his mansion. How does he explain that . The problem was the fact that once he had been convicted. You stayed with him. I stayed with him. And thats the bit that that, as it were, i kick myself for on a daily basis, because it was not something that was becoming of a member of the royal family, and we try and uphold the highest standards and practices, and i let the side down. Simple as that. But nothing about this story is simple. Jeffrey epstein cant answer questions he took his own life in august. As for andrew, the us authorities will undoubtedly very much like to hear his account of everything he witnessed. Nicholas witchell, bbc news. Earlier i asked former bbc royal correspondent michael cole what he thought of the interview. Good for the bbc, big scoop. Bad for buckingham palace, big mistake. I dont know who is giving Prince Andrew pr and legal advice but it is not very good, i have to tell you. This interview. Kudos to emily. Well done, you. This brings a tremendous number of problems to him because it raises more questions than it answers and even raises questions of taste, his phraseology, saying it is unbecoming of a member of the royal family to stay for an extended period of time in the new york town house of a convicted child abuser. Well, its unbecoming of any decent human being to do that and, of course, it was more than a mistake, it was a tragic error. And, of course, at the heart of this, Prince Andrew talks a lot about his own failings and own reactions but there is a very vulnerable, as she was in 2001, aged 17, from an ordinary home in america, there is a woman called Virginia Roberts at the heart of it and she seems to be a little bit forgotten. But the most serious thing is, and it is impossible to exaggerate the seriousness of this, this entangles Prince Andrew in the american legal system and they dont take any prisoners. Be you ever so high, the law is above you. There is an fbi enquiry. Interviews are neither here nor there really. If Prince Andrew wanted to put this matter out of his life forever, he would be well advised to sit down in a Lawyers Office in london with his own criminal lawyers around him and give a sworn statement, given interview, give a deposition, to be deposed by the american lawyers. It can happen in london as easily as it can happen in new york. Only by doing that will he scotch these rumours. In fact, as i say, this interview raises more than it actually answers. Interview raises more than it michael interview raises more than it cole there. And you and you can see the full interview in a bbc newsnight special on bbc two, tonight at 9pm and also on the iplayer. Police say theyre assessing two allegations of electoral fraud , after claims that the conservatives offered peerages and government jobs to Brexit Party Candidates to stand aside in the upcoming general election. The tories deny the allegations. Joining me now is Political Correspondentjohn 0wen. On the surface very serious allegations and they prompted the former labour lord chancellor to contact police. Yes, significant intervention by him. He says the allegations raise serious questions about the integrity of the election and says there may have been a breach of the representation of the people act. So pretty serious stuff. As you know, the brexit party has agreed to stand down in areas of the country that already have conservative mps in order to avoid splitting the pro brexit vote in these areas. But that has led to pressure for the conservative party to stand down elsewhere as well. In a video posted earlier this week on twitter nigel farage said that he and other brexit Party Figures had been offered jobs for the next stage of the brexit negotiations and there had been hints of peerages as well for standing down in other seats. And widdecombe, former conservative minister and now a brexit party candidate, she says she would swear ona candidate, she says she would swear on a bible that she had been offered a role in the next stage of brexit negotiations. In response the Prime Minister has said this is all nonsense and speaking on the bbc this morning michael gove says he has no knowledge of any such offer being made. Im completely unaware of any of these conversations of the kind that you mention. The conservative party is not interested in pacts, or deals, or arrangements of this kind. We are standing in every seat across the United Kingdom because we want people to have a chance to vote for conservatives, so we can have a working conservative majority to get Parliament Working again. A vote for any other party risks letting Jeremy Corbyn into downing street with the paralysis and division that would follow. Ina in a statement, the metropolitan police say they have received two cases of electoral fraud and malpractice and they are both currently being assessed. Labours manifesto is set to be finalised today, in what is known as the clause v meeting. The partys executive committee is meeting to discuss what policies it will put to voters in the general election. 0ur Political Correspondent iain watson has more. Good morning. If you look at the big picture there is an increasing distance between the labour opposition and the conservative government. 0ne opposition and the conservative government. One of the things they wa nt to government. One of the things they want to champion is a greater role for the state in a british economy but also to argue that this is championing the rights of consumers. Theyre doing that with the broadband announcement yesterday and also ending privatisation of the railways, nationalising the water industry in england. Some individual policies have been quite contentious. 0n policies have been quite contentious. On his way in here Jeremy Corbyn was greeted by demonstrators asking him to stick with the confidence policy to extend freedom of movement of workers. He wa nted freedom of movement of workers. He wanted to, naturally enough, talk about the Bigger Picture of the ma nifesto about the Bigger Picture of the manifesto which they will be talking about in the building behind me. We will decide on the contents of our manifesto. It will be a document that will be transformative to the lives of people across this country. Lam lives of people across this country. I am looking forward to a really good day of discussions. So Jeremy Corbyn went in and he is discussing the manifesto. Members of the shadow cabinet and the executive are reading numbered copies of it, they dont want it leaked as happened in 2017. Some of the contentious issues like freedom of movement, some of the demonstrators, hardly a mass demonstration, but some of them here we re demonstration, but some of them here were engaging with members of the executive. 0ne were engaging with members of the executive. One of them was asked if they would extend freedom of movement and he said he would putting more money into the health service. Len mccluskey, the leader of the biggest labour supporting trade union. He is here as well. The demonstrators said they believed he was trying to stop labour putting on a manifesto of Free Movement in that document today. He said they were quite wrong about that. He was trying to protect british and Migrant Workers but he was not against freedom of movement. Many trade Union Delegates i have spoken to do not like the idea that freedom of movement would be extended. They think that there is a gift to conservatives. So the wording of the ma nifesto conservatives. So the wording of the manifesto will be quite careful. But there will be a much stronger commitment to changing employment laws in britain to tell people they wont be undercut by migrant labour. I dont think they will glow as far as abolishing fee paying schools. But many of the big policies have already been announced but i am told they will also be a radical policy aimed at women who are affected by the increase in the state pension age from 60 to 66. That was speeded up age from 60 to 66. That was speeded up this decade and some of them feel they have missed out and labour will discuss much stronger protections for people who have been affected, perhaps more than 3 million women, 3 million voters. And the Prime Minister is out campaigning today. 0ur news correspondent danjohnson is there with him. At least theyve let you into the warm of the bus. Yes, a cold morning here in north nottinghamshire. The Prime Minister has been in mansfield this morning knocking on doors and putting leaflets and letterboxes. Getting brexit done is the big slogan on the side of the bus. Perhaps not the place you would expect to see a conservative Prime Minister, mansfield which is a former mining town and industrial area, but this seat switched from a lwa ys area, but this seat switched from always having a labour mp to having always having a labour mp to having a conservative mp, who is now seeking the election here. This is a sign that the conservatives are really intent on protecting their gains in the next election. Another brexit party have stood aside in seats like this, it is forjohnson and the conservatives to really campaign hard here to stop the seats moving back to labour. The Prime Minister is supposed to be moving to a farm minister is supposed to be moving to afarm on minister is supposed to be moving to a farm on the edge of mansfield here to talk about his environmental policies. He is announcing today that he will plant more than 30 Million Trees over the next five yea rs if Million Trees over the next five years if he is still Prime Minister. That is something that has really come into the Election Campaign agenda over the first week or so with Jeremy Corbyn saying agenda over the first week or so withJeremy Corbyn saying that his policies are all about decarbonising oui policies are all about decarbonising our economy and the liberal democrats saying that they would plant 60 Million Trees. So we already have a game of one upmanship trying to get one up on each other. I spent half of the week up to my knees in floodwater in South Yorkshire and a lot of people there as well as talking about flood defences, talking about how important it is to plant trees further up to prevent rainwater so it doesnt flood the rivers and lower lying areas. I dont think this policy is just in response to that but it is certainly something that but it is certainly something that people who have been affected by flooding this week will see as a positive if it is to be achieved in the next five years. Time and time again we have seen with environmental targets they have been promised and not delivered. 0ne thing that might disrupted as Campaign Agenda is this serious fire in bolton. The Prime Minister has tweeted a message that his thoughts are with all those affected by that fire and he is thankful to the Emergency Services to the brave response and he is in touch with the chief fire officer to make sure they have everything they need. We will just see what impact that will have on the Prime Ministers plan today. Danjohnson on the Prime Ministers plan today. Dan johnson in mansfield, on the Prime Ministers plan today. Danjohnson in mansfield, thank you very much. Emergency crews have worked through the night, to tackle a fire at a student block of flats in Greater Manchester. tx the fire service said the flames spread across all six floors of the university accomodation building in bolton. Two people were treated for their injuries at the scene. Afnan gohar is a student at the university and lives in the block. She told bbc breakfast what happened last night. I was just in my room at first with my friends and we had heard a fire alarm go off. We didnt really like take notice of it until a girl came running and, like she banged on the doors and screamed, telling us to get out. We didnt believe her at first and my friend went outside and checked and she confirmed it was true. So all of us ran away as soon as we could. Then we just saw, basically, that building, the shared apartments, the actual building on fire. I live in studios but they are pretty close to each other. While we were going down the stairs, we saw the entire shared apartments going down in flames, basically. The Greater Manchester fire and rescue service have issued a helpline number for anyone concerned about welfare friends or relatives its 01204 903733. Thats 01204 903733. Voting is under way in sri lanka to elect the countrys next president. Its been a campaign dominated by concerns over security and the economy. The election comes just seven months after a co ordinated terrorist attack on churches and hotels killing 259 people. Police say voting has been largely peaceful although gunmen atacked a convoy of buses taking mainly muslim voters to a polling station. No one was injured. The bbcs Yogita Limaye is with a group of monitors who are looking into reports of violence around the country as voting takes place. We are not allowed close to polling booths so i am close to the headquarters of a body that has been looking at violence today. Theyre getting information where have been violation of the code of conduct. So far they have had 70 complaints. The big incident of violence from the north west of the country even before the polls open today, gunmen fired at buses carrying muslim voters to polling booths. They set tires on fire and threw stones as well. The police are still investigating who is behind those attacks. They say there were no casualties but there is a certain sense of fear about whether minority communities in particular are being able to vote freely in this election. National security after the Easter Sunday bombings is the big issue on peoples mines. The first time voter i spoke to today said she believes the country has been unstable so she wants to vote in the leader who can turn that back. Yogita limaye in sri lank