The conservatives will pledge not to raise the rate of income tax, National Insurance or vat when they publish their election manifesto this afternoon. Borisjohnson has also said he wants to bring his brexit deal back to the commons before christmas, if the conservatives are returned to power. Our Political Correspondent, nick eardley reports. What would he do with power . This afternoon, borisjohnson will unveil the conservative manifesto. His basic message deliver brexit and move onto domestic priorities. He will pledge that the bill that will deliver brexit will be brought back to parliament before christmas if he wins the election. That, he says, would allow the country to move on. So what will the conservatives do on the home front . They will pledge today not to raise rates of income tax, National Insurance, or vat. Thatll make it harder for the government to raise money, but the tories are still pledging to spend. Mrjohnson has already promised money for the health service, for more police, for education. Today there will be costly pensioner friendly projects, too, like keeping the pension triple lock and winter fuel payments. As well as more money for childcare, to fix potholes, and for a skills fund. The manifesto will also pledge to end car Parking Charges at hospitals for protected groups nhs staff on night shifts, disabled patients, the terminally ill and their families. The conservative say their plans are fully costed and affordable and they will spend the next three weeks trying to persuade you that theyve got the best plan on offer. Nick earley, bbc news. Nick eardley, bbc news. Our Political Correspondent tom barton is with me. Lets hear what they have been saying on the political programmes this morning. We have got the chancellor out and about today. Sajid javid has been on the Andrew Marr Show talking about this ma nifesto marr show talking about this manifesto launch. The tories are hoping the policy that will catch people pass eyes will be this triple text log, the freeze on National Insurance, income tax and vat. There is also plenty of promises to spend more money. Where are they getting that money from . If you are making this commitment on tax, National Insurance and vat, you are narrowing your options. Sajid javid was asked about this on sky news a little while ago. He didnt necessarily tell us where the pans are pennies would be coming from. We are very clear, we want to help people with a cost of living wherever we can. Earlier this week we set out our plans to cut taxes and National Insurance for 31 Million People helping the lowest paid. How is it going to add up . Ifi answer helping the lowest paid. How is it going to add up . If i answer the question about the tax lock i will show you exactly how it adds up. We are also announcing today the triple tax lock which is our commitment to giving more Financial Security to hard working people giving more Financial Security to ha rd working people that giving more Financial Security to hard working people that under a conservative majority government, the rates of tax and the three biggest taxes, National Insurance, income tax and vat, will not rise and they can be absolutely certain of that. What are the opposition parties are saying about this . Of course we had labours manifesto and the manifestos of the other uk wide parties. We are still waiting for the snp or. But the liberal party today are saying the labour party is saying you have had our ma nifesto, is saying you have had our manifesto, the great book asjohn mcdonnell likes to refer to it, the costings they have laid out, this morning Andrea Rayner said they are very clear that they know where their money is coming from and it wont hit most people. Well, we have said quite clearly that the top 5 will pay a little bit more. So, anyone who is watching your show who owns less than £80,000 a year will not pay any more. We have also said that corporations will have to pay a little bit more and to put that into context, we are saying that will be at 26 . Under Margaret Thatcher it was 36 and in your piece earlier, i think this is really crucial to say, in your piece earlier you were talking about people being honest with the public. We have been incredibly honest with the public about the fact that in order to have a world class system, Public Service and those jobs of the future than those at the top are going to have to pay a little bit more. The people we always turn to in times of financial promises is the institute for fiscal studies, presumably there are being wheeled out quite a lot in this Election Campaign because of the premises. There are lots and lots of money being promised by both of the main parties and some of the smaller parties and some of the smaller parties as well. Not necessarily so much where the money is coming from. Pauljohnson from the iss has been on the Andrew Marr Show and frankly, he is not terribly impressed by the promises that ill parties are making about how they are going to fund their manifesto commitments. There is really not an enormous amount there. I think the triple tax lock as they call it, not increasing income tax, vat or National Insurance, to come back to bite them as it did before the 2017 election because they had a similar pledge in 2015 and that stopped even modest increases on some very low rates of National Insurance. If we are going to undo austerity to any extent and we are going to cope with the fact we are going to cope with the fact we need more money for the health service, for pensions, at some point over the next decade we are going to have to raise taxes or accept that we have much less in the way of Public Services, the nhs and so on and we are used to. I think Neither Party is taking that serious message to the electorate. If you want better Public Services youre going to have to pay and in labour plasma case they are saying someone else will pay. Conservatives are saying nobody needs to pay. It isa it is a blunt assessment but it is very honest and impartial. Absently, the iss are seen across westminster and beyond as the impartial arbiter is of taxing and spending commitments. In elections and outside. Not a particularly promising assessment of either ma nifesto promising assessment of either manifesto from them. Well be hearing from the ifs ourselves after the launch when they have seen those promised costings that sajid javid was talking about. Thank you very much. We will have full coverage here on bbc news. Well, meanwhile the snp say they will push the next uk government to lift financial restrictions on the scottish governments spending powers. The party claim it will unlock almost three billion pounds over the course of the next parliament, which they plan to use to boost the economy and tackle climate change. Let me bring you some breaking news. This is coming from the police, it is an update from essex police regarding that enquiry into the deaths of the 39 people found the back of the refrigerated lorry on the 23rd of october. About a month ago now they were found. Christopher kennedy who is aged 23 and was arrested on friday of this week in connection with the Police Inquiries into the death of the day minnies nationals without any lorry trailer, the Crown Prosecution Service service is authorising that he could be charged with arranging to facilitate the travelling of people with a view to exploitation and conspiracy to facilitate the commission of a breach of uk immigration law. Mr kennedy is from cou nty immigration law. Mr kennedy is from County Armagh in northern ireland, he will appear at the magistrates tomorrow. That is christopher kennedy, 23 year old man who has been charged with conspiracy to arrange and facilitate the travel of people with the view to expectation and conspiracy to facilitate the breach of uk immigration law. The view to exploitation. In hong kong voters are taking to the polls in local elections today. The authorities have threatened to suspend voting if theres any serious trouble from protesters, but pro democracy campaigners have told their supporters not to cause any disruption. This vote is the first to take place since protests and clashes with police started back injune. So it will be a test of support for pro democracy and pro bejing candidates. 0ur correspondentjonathan head sent this report. The queues formed early and ran long. Right around the block here. Just a local ballot, true, for relatively powerless district councils. But the significance of this first full test of Public Opinion since hong kongs crisis began more than five months ago was not lost on these voters. There is so much people here. We know that many people actually are waiting for this opportunity to say something. It is like approving or disapproving the legitimacy of the protest. It is an action, one way or the other. So itjust shows that people in hong kong believe in elections. And thats very important. Its not long since the police were doing nightly battle with black clad protestors. Today they were deployed to secure the polling stations. But there was no sign of trouble here. The opposition wants this election to go smoothly, in the hope that a decisive swing in its favour might force chief executive carrie lam, here casting her vote, to make the concessions she steadfastly refused to make in the face of protest that had brought hong kong to its knees. The impressive turnout weve seen here shows that although these are just local elections, hong kongers do want to use them to express their views about the government and the protests. But theres Something Else about this act of civic duty that gets to the very heart of hong kongs crisis. Here there is a free vote with a real choice of candidate, something you dont see in the rest of china. The University Campus which saw such dramatic confrontations only a week ago is quiet now. Ringed by police, the last few determined activists are hiding on its upper floors, refusing to surrender. This stage of the protests is all but over. But once the election is done the Anti Government campaign will surely resume somewhere else. Jonathan head, bbc news, hong kong. And werejoined live now byjonathan head from hong kong. In terms of the significance of this election, presumably the councils dont have any significant powers. But what do you think will be the implications, given the turnout has been so high and they are fielding so been so high and they are fielding so many candidates, the pro democracy parties are able to muster a significant showing . There are some consequences because if they win a majority of the seats, and they have never done this before in the local councils, they get seats in the body that uses the chief executive. For the first time, the pan Democratic Alliance would have a say over who gets to run hong kong but the final say is china. This is the nub of the whole thing. Hong kong is turning out with spectacular numbers because they treasure the right to vote, something you dont see elsewhere in china. It has been an impressive turnout but they know however strongly signalled they sent to the government, and we think that is what is likely to happen, the turnout suggests a lot of Anti Government sentiment is going to be expressed. Carrie lam cannot budge or make concessions unless the government of china tells her she can. There is an air of frustration in hong kong that they cant change anything however much they express their views and that raises the prospect that we will see a resumption of protests. The street i am standing in now, this bank here was burnt down in previous protests. The streets are calm because it is a quiet day. For the first time, were not seeing any protests this weekend but there is no doubt they will resume at this election does not lead to some kind of change from the government and i am afraid past experience suggests that it is unlikely whatever the result. In the end, i suppose, unlikely whatever the result. In the end, isuppose, beige unlikely whatever the result. In the end, i suppose, beige and can argue that hong kong is not taiwan, it is not a government with separate governments. Although china would say taiwan should be regarded part of china. Hong kong is being handed back and that was part of the agreement. Yes, and that is supposed to happen in 28 years time. That is what has concentrated the minds of the Younger Generation who have led these protests, it is more real to them than it was to their parents generation but it is still under treaty, this unique system of one country, two systems, which protesters argue is being eroded too fast. It is extraordinary how passionately they are arguing for quite modest demands, universal suffrage. It is the kind of things you would expect to be normal concessions from any government in trouble in any country, but in the end of 28 years hong kong gets handed back. When you talk to protesters, ordinary people from hong kong, people from voting, there isa hong kong, people from voting, there is a sense of fatalism. They are trying so hard to get their feelings across to trying so hard to get their feelings a cross to preserve trying so hard to get their feelings across to preserve the precious freedoms they have now with the full knowledge in 28 years to come to an end and they become another part of china. We hope to be talking to one of the leaders of the brazing party leaders. Pro beijing leaders. Five teenagers have been arrested after a large brawl at a cinema in birmigham yesterday evening which saw a number of Police Officers injured. Fights broke out as police attempted to clear around 100 people from the star city leisure complex. Two machetes were seized in the incident. 0ne witness described it as one of the scariest momemts of their life. A former head of the uk border force has told the bbc that unless ports and Ferry Companies start to work with the authorities, he fears more migrants could be killed trying to get to the uk. Tony smiths warning comes a month after 39 people were found dead in a container in essex. Jane Frances Kelly reports. Its a month on since the discovery of 39 bodies in a sealed refrigerated container in essex. All those that died were vietnamese. They had sailed from the belgian port of zeebrugge on a cargo ferry hoping for a better life in britain. The former head of the uk border force says there needs to be more cooperation between the authorities and private firms such as hauliers and the Ferry Companies, to stop further deaths. A co ordinated attempt between ourselves, the uk border force, and of course our colleagues in french, belgium and dutch customs. Thats whats required, a collaborative, co ordinated effort along all of those routes, which will require a good deal of investment, but i fear if we dont do it then, im afraid, we will see more tragedies. His warning comes after three separate incidents in less than a week when migrants were found in containers. On thursday afternoon, irish police found 16 people in a sealed container on a ferry from france to ireland. Ten were found on the m25 in essex. Five days ago a group of 25 migrants were found in a refrigerator container on a ferry travelling from the netherlands to england. The challenges remain constant. On a daily basis migrants attempt to get in the back of lorries, drivers have to remain vigilant. People smugglers seem to be the only ones benefiting from the misery. Jane Frances Kelly, bbc news. Well lets get more on the hong kong elections. James tien is the former chairman and leader of the pro beijing, pro business liberal party and joins me now from hong kong. What is your assessment on how these elections have gone because the turnout seems to be very high compared to four years ago . Exactly, never since 1997 has our turnout rate been so high. At around 4pm hong kong time more people voted than the previous election. I think the message could give the government and beijing is that the people of hong kong really care because of the recent protests and riots we had to get the extradition laws. A lot of people have views. I think either the pro establishment, the pro government side, and the pro democracy protesters side have heavily voted and i think that is a good site. I think it will get them off the streets which means doing it in the democratic way. You talk of the democratic way, the difficulty is partly generational. Many hong kongers of your generation have decided it is best to work with the system, many of the Younger Generation seem to feel that is not enough because they are worried that when this period expires in 20 or so yea rs when this period expires in 20 or so years time, all the things they have been used to in growing up will disappear. How can you convince them thatis disappear. How can you convince them that is not the case, especially if beijing seems to be so intransigent . I think beijing seems to be so intransigent . Ithink in beijing seems to be so intransigent . I think in the past people took it for granted, if they dont get to vote for the chief executive, they just give up. I think through the district election there will be 118 votes that the district councillors could elect, that is the Election Committee to vote whether chief executive in that is very important. If they can take control of that and beijing were to listen to the young people about what they want to be achieved, that is a chance they will work within the system which is better than going on