and stay with us here on bbc news for continuing coverage and analysis from our team of correspondents in the uk and around the world. hello. tomorrow will be a significant day in the princess of wales' recovery, while undergoing treatment following her cancer diagnosis. she'll be making her first public appearance in months, at the king's birthday parade, also known as trooping the colour. along with a new picture, kate posted a personal message this evening, saying she's making good progress, but adds that "as anyone going through chemotherapy will know, there are good days, and bad days". she's also warns she's not "out of the woods" yet. jonny dymond has our top story. a new picture of the princess from the palace to mark a new stage in herjourney. it has been almost three months since the princess revealed that she was undergoing chemotherapy, something that followed surgery earlier in the year. the surgery was successful. however, tests after the operation found cancer had been present. my medical team therefore advised that i should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy and i am now in the early stages of that treatment. since then, prince william has worked alone, and the palace has remained silent, although last week, when asked about kate's progress, the prince said she was getting better. she would have loved to have been at the d—day commemorations, he said. from the princess this evening, a message about these past long months. "i am making good progress," she wrote, "but as anyone going through chemotherapy will know, there are good days and bad days. on those bad days, you feel weak, tired, and you have to give in to your body resting. but on the good days, when you feel stronger, you have got to make the most of feeling well." "my treatment," she wrote, "is ongoing and will be for a few more months." tomorrow is the king's birthday parade, trooping the colour, one of the biggest days of the royal year, and the princess says she will be there, back in the public eye, with her children. there may be more public engagements to come this summer, but each one will depend on the princess's health. "i am," the princess wrote today, "not out of the woods yet". but from windsor comes a message and a picture that speak of hope for days to come. jonny dymond, bbc news. helena wilkinson is in windsorfor us tonight. the trooping the colour ceremony tomorrow taking on an added significance now for the royal family? significance now for the royal famil ? , , ., family? yes, absolutely, and the photograph _ family? yes, absolutely, and the photograph you _ family? yes, absolutely, and the photograph you saw _ family? yes, absolutely, and the photograph you saw of _ family? yes, absolutely, and the photograph you saw of catherine | family? yes, absolutely, and the - photograph you saw of catherine was taken here, near the family home in windsor earlier this week. what is striking isjust windsor earlier this week. what is striking is just how personal that statement that we heard is from catherine. she talks about how she feels on the good and bad days and i think that will really resonate with people who have been affected by cancer. she has been missed, very much missed from public life, so the news that she will be attending trooping the colour is positive news. herfather in trooping the colour is positive news. her father in law, trooping the colour is positive news. herfather in law, the king, king charles, has said he is delighted that catherine will be able to attend tomorrow. after tomorrow we might see catherine at some public engagements over the summer months, but it all depends on how she feels. she is still undergoing treatment, so very much the focus going forward still is on her recovery. mil the focus going forward still is on her recovery-— her recovery. all right, helena wilkinson. _ her recovery. all right, helena wilkinson, live _ her recovery. all right, helena wilkinson, live in _ her recovery. all right, helena wilkinson, live in windsor, - her recovery. all right, helena i wilkinson, live in windsor, thank you. rishi sunak has warned conservatives considering voting for reform uk in the election that they risk "handing labour a blank cheque". his comments come after one opinion poll put reform ahead of the tories for the first time. other polls maintain the conservatives are still second to labour. chris mason has the latest. so, here he is. it might only be one poll and it might only be a marginal lead, but it's what's making headlines on the campaign trail today, and mr farage is going to find a microphone. that poll from yougov suggests reform uk are ahead of the conservatives. now, we should always be sceptical of one newsworthy poll, but the reason i want to take you to this event today is reform, the poll suggests, have undoubtedly been gaining support in this campaign. they have, it appears, been catching up the conservatives, with labour miles and miles ahead. the election is over. who is going to be the opposition voice to labour in the house of commons and in the country? now, i wonder who he's got in mind? are you dreaming of the moment of being the leader of the opposition, standing there at the dispatch box potentially throwing questions at a prime minister starmer, if he wins? i will be very, very happy if somebody younger, better than me, comes along. but right at the minute, i do see myself as being that person. yes, i do. steady on. reform are an upstart party, this lectern�*s past its first flush of youth, and that is sticky tape holding up their logo. are they even ready for this campaign? not really. the only way we can do this is we have to get the total number of votes well up over that 6 million figure, and if we do that, we will start to break through and win seats. and that's because it's usually incredibly difficult for smaller parties to win seats at westminster, even when lots of people across the country support them. there's another question too. is he trying to overtake the conservative party, take over the conservative party, or finish it off? how are you? are you all right? the prime minister's been doing what prime ministers do today. he's at a meeting of world leaders in italy, but proceedings at the g7 summit took an unorthodox twist... leaders sing: # happy birthday dear olaf # happy birthday to you. # the leaders of the world's biggest economies offering the german chancellor many happy returns in the only way they knew how. anyway, where were we? oh, yes — in the last hour or two, rishi sunak took some questions from reporters, including from vicki young, from our team. why do you think so many are turning to nigel farage instead of you? look, i think we're only halfway through this campaign and the conservative party and me are going to fight for every single vote until the last day, and what i would say is, you know, if that poll and all these things were replicated on election day, what that would be is handing a blank cheque to keir starmer. rishi sunak claiming a vote for reform would help labour, who have their own views about mr farage themselves. one thing i'd say to people - about nigel farage is that he's never been tested on actually delivering on the change - he campaigns for. he's never had that responsibility. if people want to see i change in our country, change they can believe in, i change the country can afford, the only way to deliver that change is by voting for labour— onjuly the 4th. the grinning tormentor is revelling in all of this, but there have been false dawns for nigel farage before. the question is whether this time will be different. we'll see you very, very soon. chris mason, bbc news. let's have a look at the latest polling. how much weight should be given to suggestions reform are ahead of the conservatives, and what is the picture more widely with the parties? ros atkins is here he has been digging into the numbers. thank you. first, let's look at the trends that are emerging in the polls. this is the bbc�*s poll tracker — it uses a range of polls, and shows the average support for each party through the campaign. labour has a substantial lead. but both the conservatives and labour are slightly down. smaller parties are up. the lib dems and reform uk. though i should emphasise here, it's eight points behind the tories. what about the yougov poll putting reform uk ahead of the conservatives? here is professor sir john curtice. fist conservatives? here is professor sir john curtice-— conservatives? here is professor sir john curtice. at the moment at least none of the — john curtice. at the moment at least none of the ulster _ john curtice. at the moment at least none of the ulster pollsters - john curtice. at the moment at least none of the ulster pollsters show- none of the ulster pollsters show reform ahead of the conservatives and not every poll has identified any increase in reform support at all so we need to be careful about just focusing on the one poll. through the campaign you are sending us questions about the election to your voice, your vote and recently richard in ramsgate asked, as the polls stand how would that relate to the numbers of seat won by each party? and of the first past the post electoral system smaller parties rarely have a number of mps that matches their percentage of the national vote, so reform uk's position in the polls is unlikely to translate to an equivalent number of seats. some bigger polls called mrp polls do project how the house of commons could look. they project how each constituency will go and all of those recent polls give labour a majority of well over 100, some higher still, though, as with all polls, these projections should be treated with caution. clive. thank you, ros atkins, our analysis editor. sir keir starmer says he's prepared to make enemies over issues such as planning, in order to pursue economic growth. in an interview with the bbc�*s nick robinson, the labour leader also said he would look again at britain's relationship with the european union, to boost trade, although he ruled out rejoining the eu. here's leila nathoo. if you would like to take a chair overthere. - his poll lead intact, his manifesto launched, but still questions for sir keir starmer about difficult decisions on tax and spending that he could face within weeks. his answer, to go after the prize of economic growth. this, his case for reform of the planning system. are you prepared to make enemies to make the economy grow? - yes. we are going to have to be tough. we are going to have to change the way things are done. i'll give you one short example. i won't take long but it makes my point. i spoke to the ceo of an energy company, saying, "how long would it take you to put a wind turbine farm up?" he said, i could do it in two years. he said, "you wouldn't get any power out of it for 13 years because i would lose five years to planning and another six or seven years before the grid connected." we cannot go on like that. could he boost growth through more trade with the eu? unlike the last election, brexit has not been top of the agenda this time. keir starmer said there would be no going back into membership, but a suggestion he could look again at britain's relationship with brussels. i do think we can do better than the botched deal that we got under boris johnson. i think every business thinks that. so if there are businesses that are watching this, yes, i hear what you say about the barriers to trade and we are going to do something about that. but the second thing, i think this is important, is if you look at the problems for growth over the last 1a years, they were there, or many of them were there, before brexit, so the idea that the sort of single silver bullet is simply the relationship with the eu is not something i accept. 0k. the conservative claim is that keir starmer is not being truthful about the tax rises he is planning. the labour party are going to take the tax burden in our country to the highest level it has ever been in our history. that's not me saying that. that is independent analysis saying that. so that is the choice for everyone. i believe low taxes are good because people should be able to keep more of their hard earned money. that is what we will deliver. the labour party don't believe that. they are going to put your taxes up. keir starmer has promised only targeted tax rises so far, and none on working people. the labour leader insists he has a new approach. this is a party of wealth creation, of growth. and therefore, this boxing in that everyone is trying to do, particularly in recent days, that the only levers available to a labour government or a labour prime minister is to sort of put up tax or pull spending, i reject that. understood. growth is the lever that i intend to pull. and if he does pull that off and kick—start the economy, he will have succeeded where others before him have not. leila nathoo, bbc news. chris is here. i suspect there may be some folk out there throwing rotten venture at the telly. why are you obsessing with polls, why are we all obsessing with polls? it's an issue, isn't it? its all obsessing with polls? it's an issue, isn't it?— issue, isn't it? its a good question. _ issue, isn't it? its a good question, when - issue, isn't it? its a good question, when i- issue, isn't it? its a good question, when i woke i issue, isn't it? its a good| question, when i woke up issue, isn't it? its a good - question, when i woke up and i issue, isn't it? its a good _ question, when i woke up and i was looking at this poll i was thinking what do we do in terms of reporting it because the first rule of looking at polls asjohn curtice was saying, if it's newsworthy, exciting or noteworthy, it's probably a lot like the others and therefore treat it with caution and we have done in the way that we've attempted to responsibly report it today, and the reason we have, two things, one is reform have been growing in support so in that sense it's in line with that, but secondly, polls make the political weather and you can't ignore the political weather in a campaign. they shake the psychology of a campaign and notjust ones like the one we have been touching on tonight, all of them as ross was talking us through, because the parties have their own private polls and that shapes how they approach the campaign. the curious thing with reform uk and it's a challenge for the smaller parties, the liberal democrats wrestle with this as well, is that you can do very well in terms of the number of votes you get, you kip in 2015 had nearly 4 million votes and got one mp for it, liberal democrats... as far as the tories are concerned, they hope this is a honeymoon for nigel farage, they hope this poll is an outlier, they hope this poll is an outlier, they say they canvass returns when they say they canvass returns when they knock on doors and there are lots of don't knows so they hope they can tempt some of those back in they can tempt some of those back in the direction of the conservatives. the good news if you are a sceptic about polls is it soon won't be as much about the polls because landing on doormats pretty soon in the coming days for people who have registered for a postal vote will be the postal votes that we are counting down to two weeks on thursday, very soon, for up to a fifth of people who will vote, the general election will be happening. the polling card will be on the kitchen table and a decision will be being made. mil kitchen table and a decision will be being made-— kitchen table and a decision will be bein: made. �* , a, ,., being made. all right, chris mason, our political— being made. all right, chris mason, our political thank _ being made. all right, chris mason, our political thank you. _ at the euros in germany, it's been a sobering night for scotland. playing the hosts in the first game of the tournament, they lost 5—1 and were down to ten men by half—time. well, dan roan is live in munich with the gory details. hello, scottish football had been waiting a long time for this moment, after an impressive qualifying campaign. they had come here to germany in expectation of perhaps springing a surprise but despite huge level of support, it was not to be. it was the biggest party scottish football has enjoyed in a generation. the tartan army taking over, with tens of thousands descending on munich. many without tickets filling the city fan park by mid—afternoon. those lucky enough to have one hoping to witness something very special. not since 1998 have scotland savoured a major finals overseas. a magical month ahead. and now, like then, they would help get the tournament under way. # and in the past- they must remain...#. this time against the hosts, no less. the three times champions carrying the weight of a nation on their shoulders. germany may not be the footballing force they once were, but if they were feeling the pressure, it did not show. it's in! within ten minutes, florian wirtz getting the tournament off to the perfect start. shortly after, fellow youngsterjamal musiala extending the hosts' lead. good feet, 2—0. germany managerjulian nagelsmann's investment in youth paying off. scotland being handed in a reality check. but at a time when they needed cool heads, what they got was a moment of recklessness. after angus gunn had saved well, ryan porteous lunged at ilkay gundogan. it looked bad and the var agreed. a red card duly followed before kai havertz completed a first half to forget for the chasing visitors. for the chastened visitors. germany in dreamland. for scotland, this was now about damage limitation. goodness me, what a finish that is! but they could do nothing about niclas fullkrug's ferocious shot. gunn given no chance. germany four up and in total control. the visiting fans could at least cheer a late goal, albeit if the last touch came off a german defender. but it was scant consolation. and the hosts won't finish, emre can with a fifth. scotland had come in hope of a famous result, and instead, they leave humbled by the hosts and must regroup quickly if their stay here is not to be a short one. that was scotland's heaviest defeat at a major tournament for some 70 years. a chastening evening and a huge disappointment for the huge tartan army that had travelled here to support their side, and emotion replicated of course back home in scotland where lorna gordon is with the fans in cumbernauld. thousands of fans came to the stadium in cumbernauld, lots of families and young children. you know, scotland fans are ever optimistic but they have been left hoping that their team will find a way to come back. come on, scotland! young faces and ho es. come on, scotland! young faces and hopes- from — come on, scotland! young faces and hopes. from then _ come on, scotland! young faces and hopes. from then on _ come on, scotland! young faces and hopes. from then on stilts _ come on, scotland! young faces and hopes. from then on stilts to - come on, scotland! young faces and hopes. from then on stilts to men . come on, scotland! young faces and j hopes. from then on stilts to men in kilts, as kick—off got closer, the noise and the optimism was overwhelming.— noise and the optimism was overwhelming. noise and the optimism was overwhelmina. ., , , .., noise and the optimism was overwhelmina. ., , , .. ., overwhelming. hopefully we can do it toda . i'm overwhelming. hopefully we can do it today. i'm positive _ overwhelming. hopefully we can do it today. i'm positive and _ overwhelming. hopefully we can do it today. i'm positive and optimistic - today. i'm positive and optimistic but we will have to wait and see. pretty confident. come on, scotland! the rainy— pretty confident. come on, scotland! the rainy weather had not dampened spirits but with first one, then a se