of more than 100 mp5 who say they won't contest their seats at the general election. the announcements came as the parliamentary session was officially closed last night, allowing full—scale campaigning to get under way. party leaders have already begun touring the country as they take their message directly to voters. our political correspondent hannah miller has the latest. through the brexit campaign, borisjohnson�*s friend, but at times his greatest foe, michael gove wasn't afraid to make enemies, pushing through education reforms and serving underfour prime ministers over nearly 20 years in parliament. but he says he's now concluded, "there comes a moment when you know "it's time to leave, that a new generation should lead. "rishi has the plan our country needs," he added, "i will do everything i can to support him." but as rishi sunak toured the titanic quarter in belfast,

the list of mps jumping ship continued to grow. among more than 100 other mps standing down, the former prime minister theresa may, the former leader of the house of commons andrea leadsom, and former defence secretary ben wallace. while the conservatives are now seeing more mps walk away than in 1997, labour's losses are less substantial. keir starmer took his campaign to glasgow, hoping scotland will pave his way to a win. after mps lined up to mark the close of parliament last night, the campaign is well and truly under way, with both potential prime ministers constructing their arguments to the country as they try to build up support to win. hannah miller, bbc news. let's speak to our political correspondent harry farley who is in the west midlands now. with keir starmer, i imagine. what is he up to and what will be the

focus? �* , , ., ., focus? i'm in the bellwether seat of stafford, a seat _ focus? i'm in the bellwether seat of stafford, a seat at _ focus? i'm in the bellwether seat of stafford, a seat at the _ focus? i'm in the bellwether seat of stafford, a seat at the labour- focus? i'm in the bellwether seat of stafford, a seat at the labour party| stafford, a seat at the labour party need to take back of the conservatives if they are going to win that majority in the general election. we are expecting sir keir starmer to arrive in the next few minutes, we got labour activists here ready to speak to him and i'm told a few voters as well who voted conservative at the last election and are deciding to switch to labour, so a campaign visit for sir keir starmer here in what we call bellwether seat, that means the kind of area that usually votes in an mp from the party that goes on to win the general election so a really key target for labour in this general election. ~ . , , ., election. what will be the focus for him, will it — election. what will be the focus for him, will it be _ election. what will be the focus for him, will it be the _ election. what will be the focus for him, will it be the economy - election. what will be the focus for him, will it be the economy today? you will be seeing that rachel reeves has been writing in the daily mail today, sending out a message saying, "i won't play fast and loose with your money." do you think he

will be going along similar lines? exactly, i think the economy is the focus for both parties. you mentioned that article from rachel reeves, making a pitch to their readers, promising that they will be responsible with the economy, that core message from the labour party about economic stability. we also heard from jeremy hunt in the telegraph today, talking about tax cuts, presumably to national insurance, and also talking about inheritance tax, saying it is a profoundly conservative thing so the economy is the key battleground, i suppose for both parties —— inheritance tax is a profoundly unconservative thing. both parties

will face a choice, given the state of the economy, between imposing tough spending cuts for department such as the courts or prisons, or increasing taxes or borrowing, so that's the reality of whoever wins the election. we will have a chance to speak to keir starmer about that later. ~ ,, to speak to keir starmer about that later. �* ,, ., to speak to keir starmer about that later. ~ ,, ., u, later. the afs have called the current financial _ later. the afs have called the current financial situation - later. the afs have called the current financial situation a i later. the afs have called the l current financial situation a dark cloud hanging over the election. i expect they will want to make a lot of how many tory mps are deciding not to stand at the election. we have seen _ not to stand at the election. - have seen now, more than a 1997 when tony blair won that landslide majority, more conservative mps have said that they are standing down at the election. there are all sorts of individual, personal reasons why different mps might choose to stand down but as you say, the number of those making that decision perhaps

paints a picture of maybe, some might say, mps deciding to move on to do something else, jumping ship even. labour mps are standing down but it's more conservative mps who have chosen to leave. we had from michael gove last night, a prominent cabinet minister, supporter of rishi sunak, deciding that he's had enough and is going to step back from his seatin and is going to step back from his seat in surrey, he is honestly a key target for the liberal democrats. he made a point of praising rishi sunak in his resignation letter, saying that he is exactly the kind of man and exemplified the best of the conservative party. we heard from dame andrea leadsom, another prominent figure who run for leadership of the conservative party in the past so a large number of mps, particularly conservative ones, choosing to call time on their

career as an choosing to call time on their careeras an mp. let's cross to the newsroom and speak to our political correspondent jack fenwick. it's a busy day of campaigning today, isn't it? talk us through where the other leaders are and what their focus is. where the other leaders are and what theirfocus is. we where the other leaders are and what their focus is-— where the other leaders are and what their focus is— their focus is. we 'ust be hearing about keir— their focus is. we just be hearing about keir starmer's _ their focus is. we just be hearing about keir starmer's movementsj their focus is. we just be hearing - about keir starmer's movements from harry and it's fair to say that for rishi sunak, it's a bit of a quieter day than he's had in the last few days, he's been sitting around all areas of the country. we've probably had what we are going to hear from him today, he was doing some meetings with veterans up in the north of england who probably —— and we probably won't hear from the prime minister throughout the day but the party leaders are out in force. ed davey for the lib dems isn't one of his party's target seats, we are waiting to hear from him shortly. we expect he is quite keen to talk about water quality, that'll be a real theme of the liberal democrat campaign right

throughout the selection. in scotland for first minister and snp leader, john sweeney is campaigning as part of a national day of action as part of a national day of action as the snp are calling it. in terms ofthe as the snp are calling it. in terms of the economy, _ as the snp are calling it. in terms of the economy, we _ as the snp are calling it. in terms of the economy, we were - as the snp are calling it. in terms of the economy, we were talking l of the economy, we were talking about the labour side of things, focusing on telling people they don't need to worry about the economy, they won't play fast and loose with your money, rachel reeves saying she believes in keeping public spending under control. for the conservatives' part, it's about saying they want to bring in tax cuts so it's a broad promise in a way but nothing too specific. that's riaht, way but nothing too specific. that's right. we've — way but nothing too specific. that's right, we've heard _ way but nothing too specific. that's right, we've heard from _ way but nothing too specific. that's right, we've heard from jeremy - way but nothing too specific. “trust�*s right, we've heard from jeremy hunt, he has done an interview with the daily telegraph this morning and he has been saying he wants to be able to bring in more of the sort of tax cuts we have seen from him in recent months, things like the national

insurance cut, he specifically said he wants to target tax cuts for workers and i think that's going to be a real theme of the conservative election campaign as we go on through the next few weeks. they are obvious ago to point to things like the inflation figures we saw the other day, although inflation has started to come down from being extremely high, and that's partly to do with what the bank of england have done but the conservatives are keen to say they have been working closely with them and i think that will crop up today and in following days. i will crop up today and in following da s. , , , ., , days. i guess they will all be lookin: days. i guess they will all be looking at — days. i guess they will all be looking at the _ days. i guess they will all be looking at the weather - days. i guess they will all be - looking at the weather forecast, it seems very important that they don't have another situation where they are standing in the rain. i wonder how closely that will be monitored! i'm sure the politicians and their advisers will also be looking at the weather forecast to see what the pictures of them might look like on the tv and in photographs in newspapers and websites! rishi sunak, when he was meeting veterans this morning, was actually asked about that moment in downing street

the other day when he announced the election, it was raining heavily, he was keen to make the point that come rain orshine, he was keen to make the point that come rain or shine, he wants to go on but clearly that is something that has stuck in voters' mind is that he was meeting this morning.— meeting this morning. thanks for now, meeting this morning. thanks for now. jack- _ let's quickly show you some pictures, there is a sir keir starmer at that event in the west midlands, arriving to make a speech as our correspondent was telling us. he's going to be making a speech shortly and i believe we are going to be able to bring you some of that speech. i think he's on his way there. these pictures are quite shaky so they might not be the best but you can see him arriving at this event. i asked lizzy buchan, deputy political editor at the daily mirror and james hanson, times radio presenter and political

commentator, what they thought of the latest election developments. it's become quite dramatic in the last two days. so we've been tracking the number of mps standing down for a while. there was a sort of steady drip of conservatives in the last six months, and there's lots of people who've been employed for a long time. it's been a very turbulent parliament. you can see that some people might want to go and do something else, but obviously the timing of the general election was sprung on a lot of conservative mps and there's been this sudden influx of people deciding they've had enough and they they don't want to fight the election. so it's a bit destabilising for the prime minister, but i expect, you know, there are some people who think five years more, i'm not sure i'm not up for it. james, how big a loss is michael gove to rishi sunak, do you think? i mean he's been there for such a long time and right at the front, hasn't he? he has. and a lot of people inside whitehall, even though he's a very divisive figure, would say that he has probably been

the standout minister of the past 14 years of conservative—led government because he does have a reputation for being a real reformer and being on top of his brief have been very good at delivering in government. but the fact he's standing down is a symbol of the fact that many leading conservatives simply don't think there is any chance they're going to be back in office after the next election. so if you're michael gove, you are young enough to go off and do something else after this election. there have been all kinds of rumours about him returning to fleet street, for instance, so clearly he's decided that is preferable to sitting out his time on the backbenches in opposition. well, should we talk about the economy, then? that seems to be the one that they're going on principally. i see rachel reeves writing in the mail today, the shadow chancellor, saying "i won't play fast and loose with your money". i suppose, lizzie, in terms of what labour are wanting to sort of get across is that they are the party to be trusted on the economy, aren't they? meanwhile, we have the conservatives promising tax cuts, although we don't have anything specific on that. what do you make of rachel

reeves comments today? labour will be very pleased to see those comments splashed on the front page of the daily mail. you know, they've thrown everything at trying to show that labour is a party to be trusted on the economy. they've tried to capitalise on everything that happened during liz truss's premiership and they've tried very hard to not make any unfunded spending commitments to repeatedly say that they can be trusted. so, you know, talking about sound money, that's the key message that they're going to want to be landing with voters, that that labour aren't scary, they're not going to do anything that means you're worse off. and those voters in the mail on some of the kind of more right—leaning papers are people that labour still needs to convince, to make sure that they can, you know, to ensure that they can win a majority at the next election. yeah, and yes, go ahead, james. do you want to come back in? no, i completely agree with lizzie, to be honest. you know, the big hurdle, the big fear for labour is, is this going to be 1992 all over

again when despite dissatisfaction with the conservative government, the tories were able to accuse labour of planning tax hikes after the election. we remember those posters, labour's tax bombshell and the fallout from john smith's shadow budget. now, i think this election actually is going to be very, very different to 1992. but you speak to labour insiders, that's their big fear that you might have a repeat of that. so they're being incredibly cautious, keir starmer and rachel reeves, to avoid any such a piece of that. so do you think, james, that we will see specific promises on tax cuts from the conservatives? i see this warning from the ifs, the think—tank, the institute for fiscal studies, today, talking about how the current financial situation is a dark cloud hanging over the election and basically talking about how anybody is going to have to increase borrowing. and in terms of the tax cuts, it looks very like a challenging prospect. do you think we'll hear specifics in the run up to the election from the conservatives on that front? well, what we're waiting for now, of course, is the manifesto launches, and there may well be in the tory manifesto

a commitment to reduce taxes. for example, the headline rate of income tax will move the threshold by the end of the next parliament. but there is a risk for rishi sunak because one of the reasons many people say he chose to go for this july election as opposed to wait until the autumn, is that he actually thought there wouldn't be what they call the fiscal headroom. they wouldn't be able to afford to make tax cuts in the autumn, they wouldn't be able to do another mini budget. and that actually it might backfire because a bit like liz truss found out in 2022, you may get forecasters saying, actually, these are unaffordable, so there are risks here, but i think given where the conservatives are in the polls and given a very difficult first few days of campaigning for rishi sunak, it wouldn't surprise me if they do decide to gamble and put some kind of commitment for tax cuts over the course of the next parliament into the manifesto. yeah, and how much is decided by voters in an election campaign, how much is what is said between now and and six weeks' time actually listen? i know that they will be repeating their slogans over and over again in the hope of getting their messages across, but how much do you think in terms of if somebody is turning away from a party, the damage

has already been done. yeah. i think that's the real battle, particularly for the conservatives, is to try and get their voters to turn out, to hold on to people who backed them in 2019, particularly the people who had never voted conservative before, who sort of came in to where borisjohnson's kind of get brexit done message appealed to them and they moved over and it wasn't a natural space for them. there's a huge amount of disillusionment. you can see it sort of anecdotally and in the polls that people are really fed up and it's going to be very difficult to get people, get voters to really listen to all of this stuff when they feel that politicians aren't really doing anything from them anyway and it's just more of the same. and particularly with the timing, obviously, you know, a summer election people weren't expecting. there are other things going on at the moment. there's the football. there's, you know, looking ahead to the summer holidays,

people do have other things on their mind. so it is going to be a real battle, i think, tojust make sure that those messages are getting across. the tv debates, as well. do they do they make a massive impact? i'm not sure. i mean, in 2010 they certainly appeared to do so, but it depends on whether people actually want to watch them. i mean, the conservatives were trying to challenge labour, keir starmer to do six, whichjust seemed an excessive number to me. i mean, even politicaljournalists don't want to watch that many, so i don't know why a normal person would. the european union's top diplomat says the bloc will have to make a choice between supporting israel, or international institutions and the rule of law. josep borrell was speaking after the un's highest court ruled that israel had to halt its military offensive in rafah in response to a case brought by south africa. they've accused israel of violating the un genocide convention in gaza. israel has said no power on earth will stop it going after hamas. 0ur diplomatic correspondent paul adams is injerusalem.

there's certainly no sign yet of a letup in israel's military campaign in the southern gaza strip. we've heard reports this morning of fresh air strikes in the rafah area. what we don't yet know is the situation on the ground. we know that israeli troops and armour are poised very close to the center of rafah, but they haven't yet gone into the center of that built—up area. and we don't know exactly what the military�*s plans are. israel continues to say that the operation is limited. it highlights the fact that it has given civilians lots of opportunity to move out of harm's way. but the un's humanitarian affairs boss, martin griffiths, tweeted last night that there is nothing limited about this campaign. he said, and i quote, "the ground incursion in rafah has displaced more than 800,000 people, fleeing once again in fear for their lives and arriving in areas without adequate shelter, latrines and clean water". so the un's view is that this is having a major impact

on the civilian population of the southern gaza strip and one that is not being properly addressed from the point of view of aid and shelter and everything else that people need. of course, there is still the fear of what happens to the hundreds of thousands of people who are still in rafah, who have yet to flee, who have yet to be told to flee by the israelis. what happens to them if indeed a full—scale invasion of the city takes place? 0ne slight development on the aid situation last night following a call betweenjoe biden and the egyptian leader abdel fattah el—sisi. egypt has agreed to send trucks that were backed—up, waiting to go into through the rafah crossing, which is closed has been for the last two or three weeks, egypt has agreed to send those trucks round to the kerem shalom crossing, that is the israeli crossing nearby that could help the flow of aid into the southern gaza strip, but it's

a little early to know. now it's time for a look at today's sport with paul scott. manchester united manager erik ten hag is preparing his side for the fa cup final against manchester city this afternoon, with reports emerging that he could be sacked whatever the outcome of the match at wembley. united are refusing to comment on the situation. bbc sport understands there has been no contact with ten hag or his representatives by united. the dutchman is adament his side are making progress. as far as city are concerned they're aiming to do the "double—double" — winning the league and fa cup twice in a row.

we will be in a different place on saturday if we are in europe and not a trophy, three finals in two seasons, that's very good because this club when i entered was not in a good state, absolutely not. i think we improved a lot and even when you consider all the injuries we have, it's a horrible season for us, and that has to change. ina long in a long period, we have been better— in a long period, we have been better than we have in years. every game. _ better than we have in years. every game, we — better than we have in years. every game, we were there. but the one game, _ game, we were there. but the one game, everything can happen, and the players _ game, everything can happen, and the players know it and feel it, and i hope _ players know it and feel it, and i hope we — players know it and feel it, and i hope we are ready to play the last game _ hope we are ready to play the last game of— hope we are ready to play the last game of the season. the fa cup is wow, _ game of the season. the fa cup is wow, it's _ game of the season. the fa cup is wow, it's nice, it's the fa cup, so thrat's— wow, it's nice, it's the fa cup, so that's why— wow, it's nice, it's the fa cup, so that's why deserves all of her focus — that's why deserves all of her focus -- _ that's why deserves all of her focus. —— ourfocus.

it's also cup final day in scotland, with celtic and rangers meeting in the showpiece event for the first time in more than 20 years. celtic remained unbeatenagainst rangers in their four premiership games this season, but gers boss phillipe clement is confident his side can deal with the league champions. it's been one goal difference at the end of two games that we lost and one where you come back after 2—0. so it's not that we lost with a lot of difference but it was always close until the last second of the game, we were in the game. it's now about taking these moments and to be better than we were in those games so i want to see more quality from the team. to the supporters, it is everything, they live _ to the supporters, it is everything, they live their life for celtic, especially a celtic and rangers game, — especially a celtic and rangers game, so _ especially a celtic and rangers game, so to be able to do that for them _ game, so to be able to do that for them would be great. the players for them would be great. the players for the rewards, what their discipline has been — the rewards, what their discipline has been this season, discipline is one of— has been this season, discipline is one of the — has been this season, discipline is one of the key elements of not just

the football on the pitch but off the football on the pitch but off the pitch. we stayed very focused. it could be another tricky weekend for formula one world champion max verstappen. he complained his car was "bouncing like a kangaroo" as he finished fourth in practice for the monaco grand prix. he believes home favourite charles leclerc is "miles ahead" of the field, after the ferrari driver topped the time sheets in friday practice on the tight and twisty street circuit in his home town. lewis hamilton was second for mercedes in one of his best performances of the season. the winner of cycling's first grand tour of the year, the giro d'italia will be decided on today's penultimate stage — as sunday's final stage to rome is pretty much a ceremonial affair. barring an accident — or misfortune — worse than the crash he suffered yesterday, geraint thomas will be hopeful of finishing at least third, the runner�*s up spot is also within his reach.

slovenia's pogaca leads by more than seven minutes and is almost certain to win the race. with the french open getting under way tomorrow, novak djokovic's preparations suffered a blow as he was beaten once again. the world number one went down in three sets, in the semi—finals of the geneva open to czech opponent tomas machac, who's through to an atp final for the first time in his career. djokovic, who hasn't reached a final this year, begins the defence of his french open title against home favourite pierre—hugues herbert. and that's all the sport for now. we are waiting for sir keir starmer to do a speech in stafford and we will bring that to you when it starts. there is plenty going on today. just some use to bring you, some data from the home office shows that our migrant arrivals attempting to cross the english channel in small boats without permission to enter the uk has risen above 10,000, that's in the year to date. by thursday, the figure was 9882 on the

friday data was 288, so the total is now 10,170 people who have arrived across the channel in small boats without permission to enter the uk in this year so far. rishi sunak making stopping the boats one of his major policy pledges in the run—up to the election onjuly the 4th. he has been out and about today, rishi sunak. you can see him in yorkshire. this was yesterday in belfast. today, he has been to a pub, meeting veterans in yorkshire very early in the morning, for a pub visit. they are all having their cups of tea. keir starmer is in the west midlands, he is expected to focus on the economy, how labour plans to tackle the rising cost of living, there he is yesterday. ed davey is

in chichester and winchester launching the sewage policy for the liberal democrats. we will stay across all of that here on bbc news. stay with us. hello, there. plenty of sunny spells around at times this bank holiday weekend. today is probably the best looking day for the vast majority of the next few. a lot of sunshine to start off the morning here in north yorkshire. we will be seeing some showers. most of those showers will pop up on sunday and bank holiday monday and they could be heavy, thundery and also slow moving too. a little bit of wet weather around, as well, this afternoon across parts of norfolk, into lincolnshire, stretching up through the east midlands with plenty of cloud here. another weather front out towards the south—west of england bringing outbreaks of rain here. but there will be a lot of dry weather around. one or two isolated showers. sunny spells developing, variable amounts of cloud and highs in the best of the sunshine of 20 or 21 degrees celsius.

through this evening and overnight, outbreaks of rain will continue to spread their way further northwards. it's quite a wet night to follow with plenty of cloud, a milder night than we saw last night. temperatures for the most part will stay in double figures as we head into sunday morning. on sunday, well, it's quite a disappointingly wet start to the day. we've still got these weather fronts around, so we are likely to see further outbreaks of rain. we'll see some some thundery showers spark off where we get the brightest spells. for much of the northern half of the uk there will be a lot of cloud around through the morning, with some outbreaks of rain. if we do see those brighter skies, then watch out for some cloud building, heavy, thundery downpours developing, but they will be mostly across the south of england and wales. some of those showers will be slow moving, as well. largely dry across the far north of scotland. here we could see highs of around 20 degrees celsius yet again. further south, of course, underneath the cloud

and the rain it's always going to be feeling cooler. still that leftover weather front as we head into bank holiday monday, so again we're expecting some heavy, thundery showers to develop as we head through the day, but also some sunny spells, it won't be raining all the time. in fact, a lot of those showers will be towards the north, they'll track eastwards, so towards western parts of the united kingdom we could even see a mostly dry end to the day perhaps. another slight drop in temperature, but still round about the seasonal average, which is where our temperatures will probably stay as we head through the week. it's half—term, of course. it won't be raining all the time, there will also be some sunny spells. bye— bye.

this is bbc news. the headlines... party leaders hit the campaign trail in the uk's general election and there's a growing list of tory mps who say they'll be standing down. the eu's top diplomat says the bloc will have to choose between supporting israel or international law. that's after the un ruled that israel must stop its assault on rafah. with south africa's general election just days away, will nelson mandela's legacy be enough to secure another anc win, or will voters turn away? increasing numbers of england and wales' most vulnerable children are being detained in sometimes unregulated conditions by local authorities under measures known

as deprivation of liberty orders. the use of them has increased twelvefold since 2017 with over 1,200 applications in the last year. for the first time young people who have lived under these orders have spoken publicly to our reporter, ashleyjohn—baptiste. hanging with friends, making music, posting on social media, everyday things for many young people. but this girls childhood was far from normal. he was in care before she even started school. i normal. he was in care before she even started school.— normal. he was in care before she even started school. i 'ust remember bein: even started school. i 'ust remember being hungry. _ even started school. i 'ust remember being hungry. a _ even started school. i 'ust remember being hungry. a iei_ even started school. i 'ust remember being hungry, a lot of— even started school. ijust remember being hungry, a lot of fighting, - being hungry, a lot of fighting, seeing my mother getting beat up and stuff like that. having no food, having to eat dog food, sexual abuse, stuff like that. its, having to eat dog food, sexual abuse, stuff like that. a decade of failed foster _ abuse, stuff like that. a decade of failed foster placements _ abuse, stuff like that. a decade ofj failed foster placements followed, she repeatedly ran away,