tv BBC News BBC News June 12, 2024 2:00pm-6:01pm BST
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live from london, this is bbc news. the defence secretary warns of what he calls a labour supermajority if they win big at the election. the prime minister denies he has given up prime minister denies he has given up hope of victory. the labour leader says if you want change you have to vote for it. the green party is pending tax increases to fund investment in health and social care. i am investment in health and social care. iam nicky investment in health and social care. i am nicky schiller live in one suffolk village. as the greens publish their manifesto, we will look at the issue of offshore wind farms and how you bring that energy back onto land. new figures show no growth in britain's economy in april with wet weather partly to blame.
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how long could you last without your smartphone? we met —— we meet at the teenagers swapping there is for a brick phone forfive teenagers swapping there is for a brick phone for five days. hello, i'm geeta guru—murthy. let's take a look at the main election developments this hour — the prime minister has said he has not given up hope after his defence secretary warned the electorate not to give labour what he called a supermajority at the next election. he said a big victory at the polls could give labour �*unchecked power�*. the labour leader sir keir starmer has responded saying if you want change — you have to vote for it. labour have been pushing their policies for drivers today. they have pledged to fill1 million potholes. the greens have launched their manifesto with a plan to boost
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health and social care spending by £50 billion a year — partly paid for by a wealth tax. the liberal democrats have outlined more details behind its plan to replace water industry watchdog ofwat with a "tough new regulator". com plete complete with an ed davey photo op! with a round—up of the main developments so far today, here's our political correspondent jess parker. from a rainsoaked election kick—off to handing some d—day duties to his foreign secretary, the tory campaign has had its awkward moments. and now a rallying cry from one of rishi sunak�*s top team, seemingly not for a conservative victory but warning against a labour rout. you don't want to have somebody receive a super majority, and in this case of course the concern would be if keir starmer were to go into number ten — it will either be rishi sunak or keir starmer, there is no other outcome to this election — and that power was in some way unchecked, it would be very bad news for people in this country.
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even more unusual is that these comments come just a day after the tory manifesto launch, an occasion that is meant to energise. while rishi sunak has again been accused of being out of touch after, in an interview recorded last week, he was asked about what he had had to go without as a child. like lots of people, there will be all sorts of things that i would have wanted as a kid that i could not have. famously, sky tv! that was something that we never had growing up, actually. but there are lots of things, but again, that's... my experience is obviously going to be what my experience was, what is more important is my values and how i was raised, and i was raised in a household where hard work was really important. the prime minister told reporters today off—camera that he has not given up on victory. rishi sunak said he will fight for every vote but his repeated efforts to try and eat into labour's significant poll lead just don't appear to be working. what's more, his campaign since it started has built up an undesirable reputation, one of being prone to political
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gaffes and unforced errors. at a car repair training centre, labour has been talking about tackling potholes — and sir keir starmer has faced his own bumps in the road, notably rows over candidate selection, while the tories say labour's policy offer is thin. i am not complacent about this, i know that every single vote has to be earned, nobody has cast a vote in this election yet but it is important, i think, for the country that we have change, and i think for change, we need a mandate. tomorrow, labour publishes its manifesto. with three weeks until polling day, they may have the momentum, but politics can move, and fast — nothing is locked in. jessica parker, bbc news, in westminster. let's speak to our political correspondent harry farley,
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who's with the conservative campaign. where are you, and why? i'm in grimsby. _ where are you, and why? i'm in grimsby. the — where are you, and why? i'm in grimsby, the prime _ where are you, and why? i'm in grimsby, the prime minister- where are you, and why? i'm in | grimsby, the prime minister has where are you, and why? i'm in - grimsby, the prime minister has been campaigning in the nearby area and hasjust campaigning in the nearby area and has just arrived campaigning in the nearby area and hasjust arrived for campaigning in the nearby area and has just arrived for the sky news tv debate tonight against sir keir starmer, the labour leader, facing questions over whether he has already conceded defeat. you heard in that package from jess that the defence secretary grant shapps said that labour should not be given a supermajority, appearing to argue that people should vote for conservatives not to get a conservatives not to get a conservative government but to limit the scale of a labour victory. we spoke to the prime minister on the tory campaign bus on the way to lincolnshire, he denied he had conceded defeat, he said he was fighting hard for every vote but i suspect that is something we will hear more from him later. one of the
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messages from sir keir starmer and the labour party, given their lead in the polls has been against complacency, they have been warning their candidates, their officials, by campaigners against complacency and against assuming they have already won this election. this shift from the conservatives, from grant shapps in particular, are good people should vote conservative to limit a labour majority, that is a challenge to that sense of complacency and keir starmer arguing that no votes are in and that if people want change they need to vote for it. it is an interesting shift in the conservative campaign tactic. a shift, are there still separate, conflicting voices? we have to also speu conflicting voices? we have to also spell out that the polls are not fully accurate, we saw with theresa may losing the size of her majority,
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we saw david cameron winning a majority, against some predictions, so we must be incredibly careful? yes, you are right, things can change. obviously theresa may went into the 2017 election with quite a healthy lead in the polls and everything changed. we are only halfway through this campaign, we must remember there is a long way to go. we should not skip over the grant shapps comments, it was quite notable a shift. i have spoken to a number of conservative candidates through the day asking for their reaction and all of the ones i had spoken to have told me that is just the reality on the ground and they are deploying that argument on the doorstep, they are staying —— saying to voters that they are essentially saying keir starmer will be the prime minister, who do you want holding into account, they have been
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repeating that on the doorstep. i want to raise something else that is emerging on the conservative campaign front, one of the candidates, dave andrea jenkyns, has written on x, or twitter, defending one of her election leaflets. it is at the top left of that screen, she is pictured with andrewjo nigel farage, no pictures of her and the prime minister —— she is pictured with nigel farage. she says all conservatives must be prepared to come together to prevent a socialist supermajority at the end of britain as we know it. i supermajority at the end of britain as we know it— as we know it. i think this is a reflection. — as we know it. i think this is a reflection, andrea _ as we know it. i think this is a reflection, andrea jenkyns - as we know it. i think this is a | reflection, andrea jenkyns has as we know it. i think this is a - reflection, andrea jenkyns has been a long—term critic of rishi sunak, we should bear that in mind, was one of the very small number to admit she had written a letter of no confidence in him. not a fan of
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rishi sunak, a long—term critic, and it is a spokesperson for andrea jenkyns who said she is a patriot, she fought hard for brexit alongside politicians from all parties and is proud of being able to transcend party politics, so that is the view from andrea jenkyns, no response that i had seen any way from the conservative party but it is a reflection i suppose of the concern from some conservative mps about the threat from nigel farage's party, reform uk, and many of those on the right of the party wanted the manifesto we saw yesterday to go further, particularly on the european court of human rights, wanted tougher language around that and perhaps even a commitment to leave the echr if its block to the rwanda scheme. we did not see that language so there was frustration from some on the right of the party about that and the leaflet from andrea jenkyns reminding us all
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about the breadth of opinion in the conservative party, worth bearing in mind she has been a long—time critic of rishi sunak. for mind she has been a long-time critic of rishi sunak.— of rishi sunak. for now, thank you very much. — of rishi sunak. for now, thank you very much. harry _ of rishi sunak. for now, thank you very much, harry farley. _ more now on the launch of the green party's election manifesto, which includes pledges to invest tens of billions of pounds in public services and clean energy. the money would come from increased taxes on higher earners and the wealthy. the parties' co—leaders said the greens represented "real change" and would "invest to mend broken britain". and would "invest to mend broken britain." the party's co—leader, carla denyer, spelled out the key issues for the party. our manifesto lays out a bold but simple plan — to bring our water companies, our railways and the big five retail energy companies into public ownership. this would end the rip—off of rising bills, appalling service and shareholders trousering millions. we were to restore our ailing high streets too — urban and rural — and recognise their value to the communities they serve by investing in support of small and medium—sized businesses. we would overhaul our tax
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system to make it fairer. at the heart of this would be a tax on the very richest, the top 1% of people, requiring them to pay a bit more into the pot. let's go live tojenny hill, who is in hofer in east sussex. tell us more about what the greens have announced. —— in hove in east sussex. announced. -- in hove in east sussex. , ., , ., ., sussex. their vision is for a fairer, sussex. their vision is for a fairer. more _ sussex. their vision is for a fairer, more sustainable i sussex. their vision is for a - fairer, more sustainable society, but even they admit that their ambitions come with a really hefty price tag. some of the big purchase like, for example, as they would put it, fixing health and social care in england and wales, they say they would have to spend £50 billion a year to do that. they are pledging to scrap tuition fees and restore student grants, they have a green energy transition which would also
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cost tens of billions of pounds. it is a huge amount of money, they say their premises are fully funded and they say it is for the richer in society to shoulder more of the burden so you will have heard a lot about this wealth tax they propose which would see assets over 10 million tax charge 1%, 80% levy on assets over 1 million tax charge 1%, 80% levy on assets over1 billion —— a 2% levy on assets over 1 assets over1 billion —— a 2% levy on assets over1 billion. people earning over £50,000 would be expected to pay a bit more in terms of national insurance contributions. there is a lot being promised, a lot of climate change policy press, but you know that this party will not be running the country, it has had one mp, they hope to quadruple that number, they say that however small the number of mps they return to parliament, they will be holding the next government to account. jenni;
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next government to account. jenny hill, thank you — next government to account. jenny hill, thank you very _ next government to account. jenny hill, thank you very much. - to take a closer look at some of the claims made in the green manifesto launch, here's ben chu from bbc verify. on verify we are asking the same questions of all the parties and their election manifestos this week. so today, what's in the green party manifesto and does it add up? well, their key spending pledge is £50 billion extra per year for health and social care, and to pay for it an increase in taxes, which they say would raise up to £70 billion. so which taxes should go up? well, among them are national insurance, capital gains tax, carbon taxes and a wealth tax, a new wealth tax, which they say would raise £15 billion. so let's focus on this last one. so the greens say it would be levied at a rate of 1% on the assets
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of people with more than £10 million, and 2% on those with more than £1 billion. would that work? well, a lot would depend on the design of this new wealth tax, and some tax experts are sceptical that it would raise the amount claimed year after year. but the wealth tax expert arun advani of the university of warwickjudges that aiming to raise this total amount of new tax — over £50 billion — including from new wealth taxes, is economically credible, although the merits of doing so are, of course, a matterfor voters. it's also worth putting the size of the green party's manifesto tax and spending package in the context of other parties we've heard from so far. here's the liberal democrats with £27 billion of tax rises and additional spending, and here is the conservatives, £18 billion. that's mainly tax cuts. the greens tower over that with £70 billion of tax rises and new spending. they say they're being more radical because they're being more honest about the scale of the economic challenges facing the country.
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their opponents will say they're doing it to distinguish themselves and because they'd be unlikely to form the next government. by the way, labour's tax and spending commitments are expected to be smaller than these, so we'll find that out tomorrow and verify will, of course, be here to bring you full analysis. energy is a key issue. nicky schiller is in the suffolk coastal constituency. you nicky schiller is in the suffolk coastal constituency.- nicky schiller is in the suffolk coastal constituency. you 'oin me in the villa . e coastal constituency. you 'oin me in the village of — coastal constituency. you 'oin me in the village of friston _ coastal constituency. youjoin me in the village of friston about - coastal constituency. youjoin me in the village of friston about 20 - the village of friston about 20 miles from ipswich and there are around 200 residents here. the greens have launched their manifesto and they suggest phasing out nuclear energy and looking at renewables,
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that issue is very close to the heart of the villagers here. bbc suffolk reporter ben parkerjoins me. the greens targeting a seat but green issues at play?— green issues at play? greens had done really _ green issues at play? greens had done really well _ green issues at play? greens had done really well in _ green issues at play? greens had done really well in local- green issues at play? greens had done really well in local elections here in_ done really well in local elections here in the last couple of years, but has — here in the last couple of years, but has not _ here in the last couple of years, but has not translated to general election— but has not translated to general election results yet but they are heavily — election results yet but they are heavily targeting one seat in suffolk, _ heavily targeting one seat in suffolk, putting a lot of energy and resources — suffolk, putting a lot of energy and resources. we will see whether that works _ resources. we will see whether that works for— resources. we will see whether that works for them. on energy creation, the reason _ works for them. on energy creation, the reason we are in friston, a village — the reason we are in friston, a village not _ the reason we are in friston, a village not on the coastline, the issue _ village not on the coastline, the issue was— village not on the coastline, the issue was offshore wind, how you get that to _ issue was offshore wind, how you get that to plug _ issue was offshore wind, how you get that to plug into our homes, and the current— that to plug into our homes, and the current proposals to build what was a pretty— current proposals to build what was a pretty gigantic industrial substation in a farmer's field behind — substation in a farmer's field behind us. that has got lots of pe0ple's— behind us. that has got lots of people's backs up. there are also plans— people's backs up. there are also plans to _ people's backs up. there are also plans to build a converter station, another— plans to build a converter station, another nearby big site, and there
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are plans — another nearby big site, and there are plans to link up the suffolk coast _ are plans to link up the suffolk coast with the netherlands to transfer— coast with the netherlands to transfer energy there, and also kent, _ transfer energy there, and also kent, so — transfer energy there, and also kent, so there is the cumulative effect _ kent, so there is the cumulative effect of— kent, so there is the cumulative effect of these industrial projects on a rural— effect of these industrial projects on a rural part of suffolk. it is effect of these industrial pro'ects on a rural part of suffolk.�* on a rural part of suffolk. it is a ciant on a rural part of suffolk. it is a giant substation _ on a rural part of suffolk. it is a giant substation that _ on a rural part of suffolk. it is a giant substation that is - on a rural part of suffolk. it is a | giant substation that is planned. liz has lived here for 12 years and carol has been here for two. what are your concerns about the plans for the substation? taste are your concerns about the plans for the substation?— for the substation? we are a very rural village. _ for the substation? we are a very rural village, we _ for the substation? we are a very rural village, we are _ for the substation? we are a very rural village, we are a _ for the substation? we are a very rural village, we are a hamlet - for the substation? we are a very ruralvillage, we are a hamlet in l rural village, we are a hamlet in fact, _ rural village, we are a hamlet in fact, not— rural village, we are a hamlet in fact, not a — rural village, we are a hamlet in fact, not a village, and the national— fact, not a village, and the national grid has ridden roughshod over us_ national grid has ridden roughshod over us to — national grid has ridden roughshod over us to get their power station in here _ over us to get their power station in here it — over us to get their power station in here. it will fracture our village, _ in here. it will fracture our village, split the village and two and we — village, split the village and two and we will have to put up with all the traffic— and we will have to put up with all the traffic and the noise and the disruption — the traffic and the noise and the disruption in our village, and this is a very— disruption in our village, and this is a very tiny, quiet power of suffolk— is a very tiny, quiet power of suffolk and we will suffer for theirs — suffolk and we will suffer for theirs -- _ suffolk and we will suffer for theirs. —— very tiny, quiet part of suffolk — theirs. -- very tiny, quiet part of suffolk. ,., ., ., theirs. -- very tiny, quiet part of suffolk. ., ., _, .,
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suffolk. the power had to come from somewhere. — suffolk. the power had to come from somewhere. so _ suffolk. the power had to come from somewhere, so is _ suffolk. the power had to come from somewhere, so is this _ suffolk. the power had to come from somewhere, so is this not _ suffolk. the power had to come from somewhere, so is this not in - suffolk. the power had to come from somewhere, so is this not in my - suffolk. the power had to come fromj somewhere, so is this not in my back yard? somewhere, so is this not in my back ard? ., ., ., , yard? there are other and better 0 tions yard? there are other and better options which — yard? there are other and better options which lots _ yard? there are other and better options which lots of _ yard? there are other and better options which lots of the - yard? there are other and better i options which lots of the continent are using — options which lots of the continent are using the— options which lots of the continent are using. the national— options which lots of the continent are using. the national grid - options which lots of the continent are using. the national grid and l are using. the national grid and scottishpower_ are using. the national grid and scottishpower are _ are using. the national grid and scottishpower are not— are using. the national grid and scottishpower are not looking. are using. the national grid andj scottishpower are not looking at them, _ scottishpower are not looking at them, by— scottishpower are not looking at them, by the _ scottishpower are not looking at them, by the sound _ scottishpower are not looking at them, by the sound of— scottishpower are not looking at them, by the sound of it. - scottishpower are not looking at them, by the sound of it. i- scottishpower are not looking at them, by the sound of it. i am . scottishpower are not looking at . them, by the sound of it. i am just a villager— them, by the sound of it. i am just a villager living _ them, by the sound of it. i am just a villager living here, _ them, by the sound of it. i am just a villager living here, i— them, by the sound of it. i am just a villager living here, i do - them, by the sound of it. i am just a villager living here, i do not - a villager living here, i do not know— a villager living here, i do not know the _ a villager living here, i do not know the ins _ a villager living here, i do not know the ins and _ a villager living here, i do not know the ins and outs, - a villager living here, i do not know the ins and outs, but i a villager living here, i do not. know the ins and outs, butjust a villager living here, i do not - know the ins and outs, but just for us the _ know the ins and outs, but just for us the loss— know the ins and outs, but just for us the loss of— know the ins and outs, but just for us the loss of value _ know the ins and outs, but just for us the loss of value of _ know the ins and outs, but just for us the loss of value of our - know the ins and outs, but just for us the loss of value of our homesl know the ins and outs, but just forl us the loss of value of our homes is notiust_ us the loss of value of our homes is notjust monetary, _ us the loss of value of our homes is notjust monetary, it _ us the loss of value of our homes is notjust monetary, it is _ us the loss of value of our homes is notjust monetary, it is personal- notjust monetary, it is personal and human _ notjust monetary, it is personal and human. well—being, - notjust monetary, it is personal and human. well—being, we - notjust monetary, it is personal. and human. well—being, we cannot sell our— and human. well—being, we cannot sell our houses, _ and human. well—being, we cannot sell our houses, maybe, _ and human. well—being, we cannot sell our houses, maybe, cannot - and human. well—being, we cannot. sell our houses, maybe, cannot move their families — sell our houses, maybe, cannot move their families or— sell our houses, maybe, cannot move their families or for— sell our houses, maybe, cannot move their families or for your _ sell our houses, maybe, cannot move their families or for yourjob. - their families or for yourjob. there — their families or for yourjob. there are _ their families or for yourjob. there are people _ their families or for yourjob. there are people trying - their families or for yourjob. there are people trying to i their families or for yourjob. i there are people trying to sell their— there are people trying to sell their houses— there are people trying to sell their houses here _ there are people trying to sell their houses here at _ there are people trying to sell their houses here at the - there are people trying to sell i their houses here at the moment there are people trying to sell - their houses here at the moment you need to— their houses here at the moment you need to move — their houses here at the moment you need to move for— their houses here at the moment you need to move for health _ their houses here at the moment you need to move for health reasons - their houses here at the moment you need to move for health reasons and | need to move for health reasons and it is taking _ need to move for health reasons and it is taking a — need to move for health reasons and it is taking a huge _ need to move for health reasons and it is taking a huge toll— need to move for health reasons and it is taking a huge toll that _ need to move for health reasons and it is taking a huge toll that other- it is taking a huge toll that other people _ it is taking a huge toll that other people are — it is taking a huge toll that other people are just _ it is taking a huge toll that other people are just not _ it is taking a huge toll that other people are just not seeing - it is taking a huge toll that other people are just not seeing who i it is taking a huge toll that other. people are just not seeing who are living _ people are just not seeing who are living there — people are just not seeing who are living there-— people are just not seeing who are living there. fiona callum moore is from celtic — living there. fiona callum moore is from celtic energy _ living there. fiona callum moore is from celtic energy action - living there. fiona callum moore isj from celtic energy action solutions which looks at the wider area of renewables and offshore wind farms. we had to get this power, if it is
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generated by the wind farms offshore, back on so we can plug things in? offshore, back on so we can plug thins in? ., . , ., , things in? totally, we need to use brownfield sites _ things in? totally, we need to use brownfield sites close _ things in? totally, we need to use brownfield sites close to - things in? totally, we need to use brownfield sites close to demand, j brownfield sites close to demand, closer— brownfield sites close to demand, closer to — brownfield sites close to demand, closer to london. we need to pool our ehergv— closer to london. we need to pool our energy at sea like germany, holland, — our energy at sea like germany, holland, belgium and denmark we need an offshore _ holland, belgium and denmark we need an offshore solution, offshore platforms. it is cheaper, we will save _ platforms. it is cheaper, we will save £2 — platforms. it is cheaper, we will save £2 billion in east anglia. it is faster. — save £2 billion in east anglia. it is faster, you won't have to build half of— is faster, you won't have to build half of the — is faster, you won't have to build half of the onshore infrastructure. and it _ half of the onshore infrastructure. and it is _ half of the onshore infrastructure. and it is better because you don't destroy— and it is better because you don't destroy the communities, the villagers— destroy the communities, the villagers like friston and you don't destroy— villagers like friston and you don't destroy the economy. we could lose £1 destroy the economy. we could lose it billion _ destroy the economy. we could lose fi billion of— destroy the economy. we could lose £1 billion of tourism over 12 years of construction. we can't afford to do that, _ of construction. we can't afford to do that, it — of construction. we can't afford to do that, it is— of construction. we can't afford to do that, it is too great a burden when _ do that, it is too great a burden when there _ do that, it is too great a burden when there is a better solution and the north— when there is a better solution and the north sea countries across the way are _ the north sea countries across the way are going with that upshaw —— an
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offshore _ way are going with that upshaw —— an offshore grid. you way are going with that upshaw -- an offshore grid-— offshore grid. you can see the issues are _ offshore grid. you can see the issues are at _ offshore grid. you can see the issues are at play _ offshore grid. you can see the issues are at play in _ offshore grid. you can see the issues are at play in terms - offshore grid. you can see the issues are at play in terms ofl offshore grid. you can see the i issues are at play in terms of the offshore wind farms and how you bring that energy onshore. we are in the suffolk coastal constituency, these are the candidates standing in this constituency and a reminder that wherever you are in the country, if you want to check the candidates standing in your constituency then you can do that on the bbc news website, just type in your postcode and it will tell you the candidates standing, it will even tell you where you can vote on july the 4th. studio: thank you, we will see you a bit later, nicky schiller. the liberal democrats are promising a tough new water regulator for england and wales if they are elected. party leader sir ed davey
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said the clean water authority would be given new powers to regulate the industry with firms required to publish data on the amount which theyjump into rivers. he announced this on a visit to an outdoor adventure centre in warwickshire and for the first time in this campaign it did not take him —— and not for the first time in this campaign it did not take it too long to test the waters. ed davey explains why he sees the need for water reform. there is a sewage scandal, water companies allowed by the conservatives to keep pumping filthy sewage into rivers, lakes, the beaches at the seams, it has to end. it keeps coming back to them, i'm not apologising, we will explain how serious the problem is to the environment, to hell. it affects leisure activities. we are having some fun here that millions of people like swimming, paddle boarding, other water sports and if we do not clean the water properly you will not be able to enjoy that, as well as it being damaging to the
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environment and health. so we will have a tougher new regulator we will call the clean water authority which backs up all of our promises to end this sewage problem. tam backs up all of our promises to end this sewage problem. tom symonds is ossibl on this sewage problem. tom symonds is possibly on the — this sewage problem. tom symonds is possibly on the way — this sewage problem. tom symonds is possibly on the way back _ this sewage problem. tom symonds is possibly on the way back from - possibly on the way back from warwickshire, travelling on the bus. we are seeing these daily campaign events from the lib dems, some might criticise it as a photo opportunity, a stunt, but it is showing a different side to the lib dem leader, getting them a hearing from the public, and they still want to drive home this very serious message. drive home this very serious message-— drive home this very serious messaue. . �* , ., , message. that's right, we are 'ust about to head fl message. that's right, we are 'ust about to head into i message. that's right, we are 'ust about to head into woking i message. that's right, we are 'ust about to head into woking for“ message. that's right, we are just about to head into woking for yet| about to head into woking for yet another stop on these sir ed davey roadshow which has been all about photocalls, as you say. at least a few days i have spent on the birth, there have been very few occasions during which the public can see sir
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ed davey, asking questions, make their political point to them. of this has been organised with liberal democrat campaigners and candidates enclosed off areas with the media there, and the liberal democrats clearly have to try to communicate over the heads of the bigger parties of the conservatives and labour and try to get attention in this crowded political ad space. they are doing that by trying to get the idea that sir ed davey is a guy who likes a bit of fun, he is campaigning for things like clean water, today announcing the new clean water authority for england to wales that they would like to bring it which would ban water company bonuses and remove licences for companies not performing, and also set legally binding targets for sewage discharges. but every time they get some kind of coverage like this, people are still likely to consider them as a possible vote. there are
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reasons why they think the liberal democrats could be important in the final outcome of this election. if, as we have heard, labour was to get some kind of supermajority, the lib dems say, we would be a great party to offer a position to labour. the conservatives, they say, after an election, will be in disarray, we are cohesive and we can do the job of holding the government to account. they have had small success, it is one poll but they have had a four point bump since the manifesto on monday. it could be an outlying poll, they hope it is not. thank you, tom symonds. more now on the labour campaign, amid denials from sir keir starmer that it's a foregone conclusion that labour will win a majority. asked by reporters for his response to grant shapps warning people not to give labour a "supermajority," sir keir said he wasn't going to be complacent. let's hear what he had to say to the bbc. we will set out our manifesto tomorrow.
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it will be a positive case in detail about the future of the country, how we renew and how we rebuild. i'm not complacent about this, i know that every single vote has to be earned. nobody has cast a vote in this election yet. but it is important, i think, for the country, that we have change, and i think for change we need a mandate so that we can go forward, turn our back now on the chaos, the division and the failure of the last 1a years, and start to rebuild our country with the first steps that we will start on on day one. so i'm seeking to earn those votes, and i say to every voter, if you want change, you have to vote for change. we need a mandate to change the country and take our country forward. we will be speaking to a labour shadow cabinet minister later this
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hour. the economy and the cost of living are some of the things that people are some of the things that people are looking at when they think about polling. new figures show the uk economy flatlined in april, with zero growth as the wet weather put off shoppers and slowed down construction. the latest data from the office for national statistics follow figures betweenjanuary and march, when the economy recorded its fastest growth in two years. here's our chief economics correspondent dharshini david. the wettest april in 12 years put the boot in many plans and activities. a trip to the beach was off the menu. hi, it's nice to meet you. so tell me about this place. in margate, laurie installs tooth gems, which have soared in popularity. businesses like hers aim to make this a year—round destination, but the weather can be an issue. the rain does put people off, but we do get the people who come out and they go, oh, you know, never mind. we'lljust find something to do. the train strikes for sure have been a bit of a problem for us because a lot of the town itself
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is reliant on tourism. things do seem to be brightening up as many people start feeling better off despite the wet weather putting a bit of a dampener on economic activity in april. however, we've got a lot of catching up to do. some say that we could be up to £11,000 worse off than we might be because growth over the last 15 years, because of things like the pandemic, the war in ukraine has been a fraction of what it was before. so have we turned a corner? in newcastle, experiences are mixed. i'm not complaining because i know there's a lot people worse off than me. ijust think it's getting worse for people. you know, i think the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, in my opinion. but i don't think anything changes really, does it? things willjust start moving in the economy again. - people have more money— in their pockets spending, spending it in the economy, which that just feeds growth, etc.. - so yeah, i'm positive. i think things will turn - in a couple of months' time.
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rising incomes should lift the recovery over the summer, but if we are to recapture the sparkling growth of the past, more attention will have to turn to areas like investment in skills, technology and transport. a challenge for all those vying to govern the country. darshini david, bbc news, margate. a second man has denied illegally felling the uk's most famous tree. 31—year—old adam carruthers appeared at newcastle crown court today charged with causing criminal damage to both the tree at sycamore gap in northumberland and hadrian's wall in september last year. 38—year—old daniel graham from carlisle daniel graham from ca rlisle previously daniel graham from carlisle previously denied both offences. the prosecution in the retrial of convicted killer lucy letby says her status as a multiple murder and attempted murder is an important piece of evidence which should be
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taken into account. she is accused of the attempted murder of a baby at the countess of chester hospital in 2016. she denies the charge. judith moritz gave us this update from the court in manchester. we have had the case opened this morning by nick johnson casey who was leading the prosecution, and the jury has been told about the trial which lucy letby featured in last year, they were told it was a very long trial and at the end she was convicted of murdering seven babies at attempting to murder a further six at the countess of chester hospital. prosecuting nickjohnson kc said to thejury you should prosecuting nickjohnson kc said to the jury you should not convict her because of what she did in other cases, the other cases i have mentioned have an importance in this case because it gives you significant evidence, he suggested, as to her intention at the time that we are led she did something to be k. in a nutshell, he says her status
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as a multiple murderer and attempted murder is an important piece of evidence you should take into account. thejury in evidence you should take into account. the jury in this case has been told the charge faced by lucy letby now it's one charge upon which the jury at her last child could not decide, a charge of attempting to murder a baby decide, a charge of attempting to murdera baby girl decide, a charge of attempting to murder a baby girl in february 2016. she is in the dock of courtroom number seven, the former nurse denies the charge against her and the case will continue to be open after lunch. this is bbc news, the headlines. the green party delivers its election manifesto after a senior tory warned about the risk of labour in securing a supermajority. in response the labour leader says if you want change you have to vote for it.
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the green party delivers its election manifesto for england and wales — pledging tax increases to fund investment in health and social care. the us secretary of state says that hamas has in its response to a gaza ceasefire and a hostage ceasefire deal. mr blunkett said the hamas changes were workable but others went beyond what the group had previously accepted in talks for a ceasefire. he said it was time for the haggling to stop and the ceasefire to start. hamas has described its response is positive saying it opens a white pathway to reaching an agreement with israel.
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hamas has proposed numerous changes to the _ hamas has proposed numerous changes to the proposal that was on the table — to the proposal that was on the table we — to the proposal that was on the table. we discussed the changes last i'iili'it table. we discussed the changes last night with— table. we discussed the changes last night with different colleagues, and to date, _ night with different colleagues, and to date, with the prime minister. some _ to date, with the prime minister. some of— to date, with the prime minister. some of the changes are workable, some _ some of the changes are workable, some are _ some of the changes are workable, some are not. here, in a nutshell is where _ some are not. here, in a nutshell is where we _ some are not. here, in a nutshell is where we stand. a deal was on the table. _ where we stand. a deal was on the table. it— where we stand. a deal was on the table. it was— where we stand. a deal was on the table, it was virtually identical to a proposal— table, it was virtually identical to a proposal that hamas made on me the six. a proposal that hamas made on me the six a _ a proposal that hamas made on me the six a deal— a proposal that hamas made on me the six. a deal that the entire world was behind. a deal that israel has accepted — was behind. a deal that israel has accepted. and hamas could have answered — accepted. and hamas could have answered with one single word, yes. instead, _ answered with one single word, yes. instead, hamas waited nearly two weeks. _ instead, hamas waited nearly two weeks, and then propose more changes, — weeks, and then propose more changes, a _ weeks, and then propose more changes, a number of which go beyond positions _ changes, a number of which go beyond positions it— changes, a number of which go beyond positions it had previously taken and accepted. french president emmanuel macron has kicked off his parliamentary election campaign with a press conference outlining his campaign plans.
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macron announced a snap election the morning after a major swing to the right in last week's european election. marine le pen's far right anti—immigration party, the national rally scored a dramatic victory on sunday, winning more than double the votes for macron's alliance. the results prompted macron to dissolve parliament and call for a first round of voting at the end of the month. translation: this is why, - in my view, the answer could not lie in changes of government or coalitions which are not possible in parliament, as the last few days have very clearly shown, but in a dissolution which is the only way to clarify matters. because we are at a time when our country must rise to a number of challenges and cannot be blocked by the extremes. and because it is an act of confidence in our people, in democracy, in the republican spirit and in the national common sense. in my view, in this context, returning to the sovereign people is the only republican decision. an invasive species of mosquito
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is thought to be behind a rise in dengue fever cases across the european union, with the insects found in countries like france, spain and greece. the european centre for disease prevention and control says climate change is creating more favourable conditions for the tiger mosquito to spread. our health reporter philippa roxby has been investigating. mosquitoes have become a growing threat in europe over the past two decades. the particularly invasive asian tiger mosquito has now set up home in 13 countries in europe. including france, spain, germany and greece. warm humid conditions are encouraging it to spread further north and west. and with it, diseases like dengue, the director of the european centre for disease prevention and control told a press conference in sweden what they are seeing. conference in sweden what they are seeina. , _, . ., seeing. there is the connection between a _ seeing. there is the connection between a higher— seeing. there is the connection between a higher temperature | seeing. there is the connection i between a higher temperature in summer. — between a higher temperature in summer. a— between a higher temperature in
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summer, a milderwinter, and the spread _ summer, a milderwinter, and the spread of— summer, a milderwinter, and the spread of the mosquitoes further in areas _ spread of the mosquitoes further in areas where they are not present right— areas where they are not present right now — areas where they are not present riaht now. , ., :: g; areas where they are not present riaht now. , ., :: ,': , ., ., right now. figures for 2023 show a si . nificant right now. figures for 2023 show a significant rise _ right now. figures for 2023 show a significant rise in _ right now. figures for 2023 show a significant rise in people _ right now. figures for 2023 show a significant rise in people infected i significant rise in people infected locally and through international travel. with the olympic games bringing large numbers to paris this summer, experts are warning of the risk of more outbreaks. advice is to use repellent and remove stagnant water from gardens where use repellent and remove stagnant waterfrom gardens where mosquitoes can breed. if climate change progresses at the pace it has so far, a recent report warns that dengue could be transmitted in the uk within a0 years. how long do you think you could last without your smartphone? a few hours? a day? we've followed a group of teenagers to see how they cope without their smartphones for five days as part of a bbc radio 5 live project. our reporter kristianjohnson joined them to see how they got on. on friday, i received
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a79 notifications. it's fair to say some teenagers are pretty glued to their phones. 0k, guys. point of no return. thank you very much. but this group of students are doing the unthinkable — locking them away for almost a week. you said your goodbye? yes. good. no tiktok, no snapchat, no whatsapp. so, guys, these are your new... oh, my god! ..mobile phones. instead, they'll be using these for the next five days. the only way of communicating — texts and calls. i'm on a nokia. guys, do you want to see something? mum, this is weird, i don't like it! oh, my gosh! they're going to have to learn a whole new set of skills - for the next week to be able . to adapt and continue their life as close to what it used to be. but with that mobile - phone underpinning most of their activities, _ it's going to be a real challenge. so, in the mornings, usually, i'll, like, search up the travel times, because then i know, "oh, yeah, i need to
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leave in five minutes. oh, yeah, i've got a little bit of time before i need to leave." but with, like, without a phone, i've got no way of knowing when the next tram will be. and not being involved in group chats means it's harderfor ruby to meet up with friends. i feel like with the nokia, i'm kind of missing out a bit more on social interaction. like, we always go bowling or something. we've not organised anything so far. 0k. so i'm 52 hours into the detox. i'm finding it ok. i don't think it's difficult oranything, like. two days into the journey, and while ruby's coping well, charlie has already given into temptation. it's genuinely hard when you don't have it. it's like having, like, a comfort item for how many ever years and itjust goes... it was really stressful. some others are struggling too. not knowing what's going on in, like, a group chat, itjust makes me like, "what am i missing out on?" but most are focusing on the positives. without my phone, i feel like i'm actually learning stuff and engaging more — noticing stuff around me, which i probably should be doing anyways but i'm just too addicted
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to my phone. usually before i go to bed, i usuallyjust watch, like disney+ for like an hour and then just drift off. but since then, i've just gone straight to sleep and it's weird. feels much better. the more time goes on, i it like becomes a lot easier to think of things to do _ because you've not got your phone, so you're like, "oh, new message." will's journey home takes over an hour. announcement: this is l a service to etihad campus. a tram first, then a bus. so in terms of not having a smartphone, it makes it more difficult because i can't check the timetable. and when they say it's been delayed or something, i could at least ring my dad and ask for a lift, you know? will's mum, alison, admits not being able to use family tracking apps like life360 is a hindrance, but she's noticed big changes in her son just three days into the detox. it's actually quite nice seeing you without headphones. i don't see that much normally. no.
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i think it's just become the norm. whereas actual social interaction does require you to put these things away, and... yeah. ..engage a little bit more. five days later, it's the end of term and time to get those smartphones back. got yours? yeah. maybe i'll put my phone away in the car and i'll put my phone away, like, when i'm around my friends. but in general, like, going on to tiktok and everything, i'm still going to do that. like, ifanything, i'm going to do it more now. i think it's been pretty difficult without a smartphone, - but i've managed to get through it all right. - i'll try and use less - of tiktok, that's for sure. i know my screen time is quite high on that. i judging by their initial reaction, perhaps the students aren't quite ready to give up their smartphones entirely, but the detox might start to slowly change their habits. kristian johnson, bbc news. lucy grey is in warrington — at bbc radio five live's teen summit — and she's with two girls who took
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part in that digital detox: i am with grace and nell who took part in that smartphone detox. they swapped their smartphones for these phones. grace did her best, didn't you? with this terrible... tried to make it a bit cooler. but i think it's fair to say it was tricky, wasn't it? talk me through, first of all, nell, tell me how much you were on your phone before you took part in the detox. a bit too much. i'd say, like, above average, like 12 hours a day, 10 hours a day, which is... even when you're in lessons? oh, yeah. even when i'm in lessons, like, i'll still be on my phone. like, its bad. it's really bad. like, sometimes ijust wish, like, i genuinelyjust didn't have one or didn't ever get one. you listen to your earphones under your hair. everyone does it, like, you know, stick an airpod in and not really pay attention or anything. but teachers over here, they know that. they know that now — they're going to be looking for this. no! 0k. so it was difficult. it was really difficult so talk me through how it was from day one and for five whole days.
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i think day one, like, the initial reaction of everyone getting their phones taken off them, everyone wasjust like, oh, my god, the five days off my phone, what am i going to do? we were all laughing, you know, like, calling each other at the table, give me your number, you know? you had a few games on it, didn't you? tetris, snake, all of them. like, i didn't really take it that serious at first. and then i think after i saw mr grant come in and take my phone, like, the realization sunk in and i was like, oh my gosh, i've got a nokia brick for five days. what am i going to do? and what did you do? i don't even really... like, because it was a very big range of things i did because it's like you really get into like the creative things you've done or do and it's like i did a lot of art. i tried to listen to music on my alexa and then it just didn't really work. and then i watched a lot of tv and shows and stuff, but i don't know, it's just... did you miss out on anything, do you think? i reckon i have to put this nokia off. no. well, i don't think i missed out on that much because i feel
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like lots of people that week weren't really doing anything. but i did kind of get a bit of fomo like, what's everyone saying without me there? and you had better conversations with your dad, i understand. tell me about that, poor dad who's not been talked to for years. shout—out to my dad, guys, he... i remember, like, he kept bothering, because i've not got a phone, no distraction. so ijust live with him. it'sjust me and my dad. so i thought, hmm, let me go bother him. so i stood in his room. i was going, dad, tell me something fun about yourself. he was like, "get out my room" and i'm going, no. tell me about yourself. what did you learn about him? you learnt loads, didn't you? 0h, right. so he was telling me that him and my uncles used to be in a dance group together, they used to go break dancing and he didn't do his gcses because he was travelling the world with that breakdancing group. and you didn't know any of this, i didn't know any of this. and then ijust found out he was so interesting, like, and then he told me he used to be a world title boxer and then he was a dj.
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like, not having a phone, it'sjust like made me realise my dad is actually cool, which i would have never thought my dad is cool. it's not a sentence i would have ever come out my mouth, but my dad is cool. saying it on the telly now as well. i hope he's watching. well, it's so brilliant, isn't it? now, what about you in terms of what are you doing now that's different because your screen time has gone down, hasn't it? it's gone down a lot. and ifeel like i'm just really starting to think, ok, let's do things which are productive. and that will benefit me genuinely, because it's like me sat there on my phone on tiktok for like three hours at a time. that's not like, how is that benefiting me? shall i give you this back, then? i really, really... i'll have mine back gladly. yeah, i wouldn't. 0k. well, so massive difference in terms of what you realise about yourself and one person has found out they've got a cool dad, so there is somelt resu in all of this. trust and confidence in uk politics has never been worse — that's the stark finding of a new report which examined the public�*s perception of governments from the 19705 to the present day. the analysis also suggests a record
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number of voters "almost never" trust politicians to tell the truth. our home editor mark easton has more. jingle: radio humberside. what do you want to hear from the politicians ahead of the general election? let me know. the voters of hull tend not to get excited about elections. the city had the lowest turnout at the last one of anywhere in the country, and it doesn't take long to find out why. the hopelessness is just, what's the point? it doesn't matter who i vote for, it's all going to be the same. will you be voting? me? it's a waste of time. waste of time, voting. i have no faith in any of it. none. tony martin, hull born and bred, contacted the bbc�*s your voice your vote because he feels so angry that politicians are taking people for fools. i am absolutely fed up to the back teeth of not hearing the truth. politicians in every party seem to treat us like idiots.
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you obviously feel really strongly about this. i do. i've never known the decline that we've experienced, notjust this year, but probably for the last ten or 20 years. it's notjust yorkshire skepticism. a new report from the national centre for social research finds that across the country, trust and confidence in politics and politicians has never been lower. this election is being held amid a collapse of faith in our democratic systems. the report finds a5% of voters would almost never trust the government to put the country before their party — the highest proportion ever. 58% would almost never trust politicians to tell the truth when in a tight corner — a figure that's never been higher. changing the electoral system under which we'll all be... the report's author, the doyen of election analysis, professor sirjohn curtis, told me he's detected a sense
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of desperation among the electorate. these figures mean that we are now less trusting, less confident in our system of government than we have been at any point during the last 40 or 50 years. the report suggests voters think the way we're governed is broken. eight in ten say the system needs improving quite a lot or a great deal, with more than half wanting the voting system changed to one which is fairer to smaller parties. it's not boiling hot. it's not freezing cold. so what is the answer? many of the parties promised to give more power to the people. this part of yorkshire is due to have its own regional authority and most manifestos propose to devolve more control to such bodies. but hull is at the forefront of a grassroots movement to counter political apathy by creating people's assemblies. people need to have the power to make decisions for themselves. they've lost faith in politics from the top, and they need to really feel ownership over a movement that's coming from the bottom — something that
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meets their needs where they are. all sorts of people from a local community, who wouldn't - normally necessarily meet, - come together and discuss what's important and what they might do about things. i disillusionment over brexit, political scandal and economic crisis — all are blamed for the lack of trust. whoever wins the election will have an urgentjob to restore the nation's faith in its democracy. mark easton, bbc news, hull. the social democratic party has published its manifesto for the 37 years. it published its manifesto for the 37 ears. ., , published its manifesto for the 37 ears. . , ., ., , , years. it wants to address the family breakdown _ years. it wants to address the family breakdown proposing i years. it wants to address the l family breakdown proposing tax relief forfamilies raising children relief for families raising children and relief forfamilies raising children and saying married couple should have priority for council houses. if have priority for council houses. if you are a couple raising children, you are a couple raising children, you will not pay any tax for the first £25,000, that would make a massive difference to household budgets and take some of the
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pressure off parents raising children. b. pressure off parents raising children. �* ., pressure off parents raising children. �* . , . ., children. a man has been charged after objects _ children. a man has been charged after objects were _ children. a man has been charged after objects were thrown - children. a man has been charged after objects were thrown at - children. a man has been charged after objects were thrown at nigel farage, the incident occurred while he was campaigning in bardsley in south yorkshire yesterday. the man has been charged with threatening behaviour and released on bail to appear before magistrates later this month. we are hoping to hearfrom a member of the labour shadow cabinet but we are going to move away from politics for a moment because campaigners are calling for more action to stop fires culled by faulty lithium iron batteries. the charity electrical safety first says new laws should be a priority for the next government. the campaign is being backed by scott pea—den whose partner and two children died in a fire, believed to have been started by a faulty e—bike battery. tim muffett has this report. i screamed, "gemma, pass me the keys, pass me the keys." and i heard a voice from her saying, "i can't get out."
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lastjune, scott peden lost everything. he'd bought a replacement battery online for his e—bike. the following week, a blaze ripped through his home. cambridgeshire fire and rescue service believes it was caused by the battery that had been left on charge overnight. in november, scott described how, afterfour weeks in an induced coma, he was told what had happened. my mum and my dad broke the news to me. and, yeah, i lost my girlfriend, my son, my daughter, and our two dogs. scott's partner, gemma, was 31. his daughter, lily, was eight. his son oliver was four. scott, it's nearly a year ago, isn't it, since the terrible fire happened? this morning on breakfast, scott backed calls by safety campaigners for tougher safety regulations when it comes to the sale of lithium ion batteries. i want to save the next person's brother, sister, mother, father, daughter from having to go through what i've gone through.
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no one should go through what i've gone through. lithium ion batteries contain a large amount of energy in a small space. this is thermal runaway, demonstrated in a lab. if a cell in a faulty battery heats up uncontrollably, a devastating chain reaction can follow. we've seen a 70% increase in fires in 2023, from - about four fires a week. we are calling on government and all parties, really, - to work together to bring in urgent safety measures so that batteriesl that are sold have been tested and confirmed to be safe - by a third party. at the moment we have got - manufacturers who are able to self certify, self—declare - that their products are safe. we believe that needs to stop. people are modifying them to gain that little extra power to make it like new and selling it on. and they're not being clear enough to say that it's been modified.
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scott suffered serious burns, broken bones and lung damage in the fire. he says he is taking each day as it comes, but he hopes tougher safety laws will spare others the devastation he has suffered over the past year. lets go back to the election coverage. rishi sunak has said the conservatives are fighting hard for every vote after his defence secretary grant shapps suggested labour could be on course to win a supermajority at the general election. he said it would be very bad news for the country if keir starmer was handed what he called unchecked power. iam joined by starmer was handed what he called unchecked power. i am joined by the shadow business secretary, how do you feel about grant shapps apparently looking at the possibility of labour supermajority? do you agree? i possibility of labour superma'ority? no you agreeafi possibility of labour superma'ority? no you agrooafi possibility of labour superma'ority? do you agree? i think it's nonsense, i don't do you agree? i think it's nonsense, i don't know— do you agree? i think it's nonsense,
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i don't know what _ do you agree? i think it's nonsense, i don't know what they _ do you agree? i think it's nonsense, i don't know what they are _ do you agree? i think it's nonsense, i don't know what they are playing i i don't know what they are playing at. to state the obvious, we are sometime away from anyone being able to cast any vote in the general election, the idea that the result is a foregone conclusion is nonsense. i have been across all parts of the uk in this campaign, understandably, a lot of people have not made their minds up. i would simply say we are going to continue to make the case that we have been making, if people want change, please give us your support, give us a mandate to deliver that change, our manifesto is out tomorrow and do not listen to the stuff from the conservative party. pore not listen to the stuff from the conservative party.— not listen to the stuff from the conservative party. are you saying the oolls conservative party. are you saying the polls are _ conservative party. are you saying the polls are not _ conservative party. are you saying the polls are not right _ conservative party. are you saying the polls are not right from - conservative party. are you saying the polls are not right from your . the polls are not right from your own experience and the campaigns experience? i'm sure labour has its own internal polling. i experience? i'm sure labour has its own internal polling.— own internal polling. i have been to lots of places. _ own internal polling. i have been to lots of places. i _ own internal polling. i have been to lots of places, i am _ own internal polling. i have been to lots of places, i am pleased - own internal polling. i have been to lots of places, i am pleased with i lots of places, i am pleased with how the campaign is going, i'm pleased with the arguments labour is making at the response, but it's more about the fact that anyone who thinks there is no substantial movement of opinion within elections, i have been an election is myself or people thought the result was going to go one week and you end up in a different place. you
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cannot be complacent, you can never take the support of people for granted, we will never do that in the labour party and we will continue to make a positive case for the sets of proposals we are putting forward and give the uk the changing needs. i5 forward and give the uk the changing needs. , , , , ., forward and give the uk the changing needs. , , ,, ., i. forward and give the uk the changing needs. , , ,, ., needs. is the pressure on you come u n needs. is the pressure on you come u- with a needs. is the pressure on you come up with a manifesto _ needs. is the pressure on you come up with a manifesto that _ needs. is the pressure on you come up with a manifesto that is - up with a manifesto that is eye—catching because for many commentators on the feedback from polls, the way that the faults are shaping up, they are more about protesting against the conservative government than any real sign of enthusiasm for labour? genmark i accept and would make the case that this has been a particularly pure government. the this has been a particularly pure government-— government. the record of the conservative _ government. the record of the conservative party _ government. the record of the conservative party for - government. the record of the conservative party for the i government. the record of the conservative party for the last | government. the record of the l conservative party for the last 14 conservative party for the last 1a years is dreadful. anyone who thinks she can win an election by one side being per and automatically coming across to you, that is not the case, if we had not had the humility to face up to the defeat labour had in 2019, we would not be in the position that we are in now. and thatis
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position that we are in now. and that is a job that keir starmer has done as leader. when it comes to the proposals coming forward, i am confident in what is in the manifesto in terms of the change that it represents and the change that it represents and the change that britain needs but it is also about delivery. the british public do not want to hear things that are fanciful, that they do not believe can be delivered, they want deliverable change, meaningful change, and for many people in the uk, having a decent place to live, having a good job, as occurred in the workplace, looking after your family, those things made available to more people would be quite radicalfrom where we to more people would be quite radical from where we are right now. as with public services that are working as they should. you will know that the _ working as they should. you will know that the iss _ working as they should. you will know that the 155 has _ working as they should. you will know that the 155 has said i working as they should. you will know that the 155 has said that l working as they should. you will. know that the 155 has said that they know that the iss has said that they are looking at the projected numbers and saying to the all add up? can the voters trust the parties on what has been presented so far? also asking the question about whether tax should be the focus are whether the parties should front up with the public about how much is needed to
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pay for improved public services. isn't being too cautious? i do not think so. isn't being too cautious? i do not think so- you _ isn't being too cautious? i do not think so. you have _ isn't being too cautious? i do not think so. you have to _ isn't being too cautious? i do not i think so. you have to acknowledged tax is on a 70 year high, the recent public services are not performing well despite the tax burden being high is because the economy has not performed anything like it should have done for the last 1a years, growth has to be the focus. we should not accept the baseline is the dire performance of the last 1a years. in the labour manifesto there is a set of proposals, real meaningful things i would make a difference. if the economy had grown under this conservative government, even at the average of how it grew under the last labour government, we would not have this conversation, they would be billions of pounds available to spend on public services. yes, iaccept available to spend on public services. yes, i accept the analysis saying how difficult things are, my job is to improve that, ourjob is to improve that. i do not want to continue on the path the uk has been on. it is the change we are pretty fabric that can make the difference to that. .,, .
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fabric that can make the difference to that. ., ., , ., ., ., to that. postal votes are going out soon, to that. postal votes are going out soon. when _ to that. postal votes are going out soon. when you — to that. postal votes are going out soon, when you so _ to that. postal votes are going out soon, when you so you _ to that. postal votes are going out soon, when you so you do - to that. postal votes are going out soon, when you so you do not i to that. postal votes are going out. soon, when you so you do not know what the tories are doing, i'm sure you do, they are trying to galvanise their pay support to come out for their pay support to come out for the conservatives. there is a point about needing healthy opposition. if you don't have a supermajority as grant shapps has suggested, is there any danger in that for labour? what would you do with it? brute any danger in that for labour? what would you do with it?— any danger in that for labour? what would you do with it? we are seeking a mandate for— would you do with it? we are seeking a mandate for change. _ would you do with it? we are seeking a mandate for change. the _ would you do with it? we are seeking a mandate for change. the fact i would you do with it? we are seeking a mandate for change. the fact it i would you do with it? we are seeking a mandate for change. the fact it is l a mandate for change. the fact it is the labour party that is competitive and fighting for seats from the western isles to cardwell and every corner of the uk, i take a lot of pride in that. there are many communities in this country who want change and if they wanted, they should vote labour for it. we would be seeking with that mandate change. changes in our manifesto tomorrow to make a difference, whether to public services, living standards, the economy, growth, securejobs, good infrastructure, that is what it is about and we are not going to be
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knocked off course by the conservative party. we are very confident in our ability to deliver that if people put their trust in us. ., ~' that if people put their trust in us. ., ~ , ., y that if people put their trust in us. ., ~' , ., , . that if people put their trust in us. . ~' i., , . ., that if people put their trust in us. thank you very much for “oining us. thank you very much for “oining us. nick robinson i us. thank you very much for “oining us. nick robinson continues i us. thank you very much forjoining us. nick robinson continues his i us. nick robinson continues his series of interviews, he isjoined byjohn swinney on panorama at seven o'clock on bbc one and speaking to played company. that is all available online later. let's catch up the weather. hello. it is another unseasonably cool day across the uk. temperatures in most locations a few degrees below the average for the time of year. the air mass chart showing this relatively cool air in place now tomorrow brings a change, a change in wind direction. some warmer air heading our way. but with that, this frontal system bringing clouds and outbreaks of heavy rain, brisk winds as well. so i think actually in terms of the feel of the weather, it's still going to feel rather cool and turning wet and windy for many of us as we head into tomorrow.
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but back to today, some showers around, particularly across eastern parts, but those becoming increasingly few and far between. in fact, some brighter conditions developing, especially out towards the west, but temperatures north to south, 10 to 17 degrees. so still a few degrees below the seasonal average. and actually it's going to turn quite chilly overnight under this slice of clear skies. we could see a few mist and fog patches developing here and there. temperatures well down in single digits. some parts of scotland in the countryside down to around two or three degrees, a little bit milder out towards the west because here cloud and rain will be arriving. so, many places getting off to a dry starts tomorrow morning, but across the south west of england and wales, it's going to turn really wet. some areas could see 20 to 30 millimetres of rain or more. and these are the wind gusts, unusually strong winds for the time of year, gusts of 50 miles per hour or more for some coasts. that rain spreading across the isle of man into north west england, across northern ireland, into south western and central parts of scotland.
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with those brisk winds, temperature—wise, 15, 16, 17 degrees covers it for most of us. but it will feel particularly chilly if you're stuck under the cloud and the rain. now, that frontal system will weaken and it will push through as we head into friday. still some persistent rain left behind across the north of scotland and further south. yes, we'll see some spells of sunshine, but also we'll see some showers erupting, some heavy thundery ones likely. so a very unsettled complexion to the weather. temperatures may be a little bit higher, 13 to 19 degrees, but that's still a touch below where we'd expect to be at this time of year. into the weekend, does look quite unsettled. showers or longer spells of rain, not quite as cool as it has been over the last few days.
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live from london, this is bbc news. rishi sunak insists he has "absolutely not" lost hope of winning the general election — after a senior tory warned against a labour "supermajority". the labour leader keir starmer says if you want change you have to vote for it. the green party delivers its election manifesto for england and wales — pledging tax increases to fund investment in health care and clean energy. in other news, new figures show no growth in britain's economy in april — with wet weather partly to blame. and how long could you last without your smartphone? we meet the teens swapping theirs for a brick phone for five long days. hello, i'm geeta guru—murthy.
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let's take a look at the main election developments this hour — the prime minister has said he has not given up hope after his defence secretary warned the electorate not to give labour what he called a supermajority at the next election. grant shapps said a huge victory could give sir keir starmer "unchecked power" and put the uk in "a dangerous place". the labour leader responded, saying "if you want change, you have to vote for it". labour have been pushing their policies for drivers today — pledging to fill a million potholes. meanwhile, the green party have launched their election manifesto, with a plan to boost health and social care by £50 billion a year — partly paid for by a wealth tax. and, complete with ed davey photo op, the lib dems have outlined more details of their plan to clean up the uk's waterways, by creating a "tough new regulator" to replace ofwat. with a round—up of the main developments so far today, here's our political correspondent jess parker. from a rainsoaked election kick—off
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to handing some d—day duties to his foreign secretary, the tory campaign has had its awkward moments. and now a rallying cry from one of rishi sunak�*s top team, seemingly not for a conservative victory but warning against a labour rout. you don't want to have somebody receive a super majority, and in this case of course the concern would be that if keir starmer were to go into number ten — it will either be rishi sunak or keir starmer, there is no other outcome to this election — and that power was in some way unchecked, it would be very bad news for people in this country. even more unusual is that these comments come just a day after the tory manifesto launch, an occasion that is meant to energise. while rishi sunak has again been accused of being out of touch after, in an interview recorded last week, he was asked about what he had had to go without as a child. like lots of people,
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there will be all sorts of things that i would have wanted as a kid that i could not have. famously, sky tv! that was something that we never had growing up, actually. but there are lots of things, but again, that's... my experience is obviously going to be what my experience was, what is more important is my values and how i was raised, and i was raised in a household where hard work was really important. the prime minister told reporters today off—camera that he has not given up on victory. rishi sunak said he will fight for every vote but his repeated efforts to try and eat into labour's significant poll lead just don't appear to be working. what's more, his campaign since it started has built up an undesirable reputation, one of being prone to political gaffes and unforced errors. at a car repair training centre, labour has been talking about tackling potholes — and sir keir starmer has faced his own bumps in the road, notably rows over candidate selection, while the tories say
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labour's policy offer is thin. i am not complacent about this, i know that every single vote has to be earned, nobody has cast a vote in this election yet but it is important, i think, for the country that we have change, and i think for change, we need a mandate. tomorrow, labour publishes its manifesto. with three weeks until polling day, they may have the momentum, but politics can move, and fast — nothing is locked in. jessica parker, bbc news, in westminster. some controversy emerging in the last hour or so for the conservatives on a campaign leaflet from andrea jenkyns, you can notice the picture of the reform party leader nigel farage and the absence of any obvious conservative party leaders. our parliamentary correspondent sean curran is here.
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why is this getting some attention? it is very unusual for a candidate not to have a picture of their own leader. a feature of election leaflets over the years is normally a photo opportunity that has been arranged by the party where the candidate is shaking hands with the prime minister, or even better, if you are standing for the prime minister's party, if they have come to your constituency. it andrea jenkyns' leaflet, nigel farage said two photographs, the bigger is when dame andrea jenkyns was at nigel farage's birthday party earlier this year, and nigel farage is not only a candidate in this election but also the leader of a rival reform uk. it has to be said that rishi sunak is probably not going to be sending any birthday invitations to dame andrea
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jenkyns because last year she became one of the first conservative mps to say he should stand down as conservative leader, making it public she had sent a letter of no confidence to the venture of the 1922 committee sir graham brady. she is not a fan of rishi sunak, but nevertheless this is unusual. dame andrea has defended her decision, saying it is important that all conservatives come together to prevent what she calls a socialist supermajority and the end of britain as we know it. supermajority and the end of britain as we know it— as we know it. have the conservatives _ as we know it. have the i conservatives responded? is it as we know it. have the - conservatives responded? is it a problem to have this sort of image in terms of party rules and party loyalty? in terms of party rules and party lo al ? ~ ., in terms of party rules and party lo al ? ~ . ., ., ., ., loyalty? we are waiting to hear from the conservatives, _ loyalty? we are waiting to hear from the conservatives, we _ loyalty? we are waiting to hear from the conservatives, we have - loyalty? we are waiting to hear from the conservatives, we have not i loyalty? we are waiting to hear from the conservatives, we have not had l loyalty? we are waiting to hear from | the conservatives, we have not had a comment yet, but it is very unusual
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to see a candidate posing with the leader of a rival party in any election, but dame andrea jenkyns' argument is i campaigned for brexit, she was an enthusiastic campaigner for brexit, and i campaigned for practice —— full brexit alongside nigel farage and politicians from all parties. she said she was looking ahead to conservative politicians, that is conservative with a small c come together, but she has said that she is standing as a conservative with a big c candidate, the conservative party. and grant shapps has been warning about a labour supermajority. he is about a labour supermajority. he is a very, very experienced campaigner. obviously rishi sunak says he is still fighting for victory but it is the conservative party split on the
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messaging or is this a deliberate twin track approach? the defence secretary grant _ twin track approach? the defence secretary grant shapps _ twin track approach? the defence secretary grant shapps is - twin track approach? the defence secretary grant shapps is known i twin track approach? the defence i secretary grant shapps is known as a safe pair of hands, as they say, some on the government can rely on to get its message across in the media, so it is very hard to think he did not know exactly what he was saying with those comments. we are exactly in the middle of the election campaign, three weeks ago today was when rishi sunak came out and announced he was calling a general election. we have three weeks to go. i think it is unusual at this point in a campaign, just one day after the conservatives' manifesto launch, for a party to be saying, we think the other side are in the running for, as he put it, a supermajority, you need to start thinking about us so we could act as a brake on their ambitions. but it is not unusual within the context of a campaign for parties to sometimes
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talk up the chances of their opponents, with a view to encouraging voters to come out. clearly that lies behind grant shapps' comments, he is trying to infuse conservative voters micro, people who have decided how they are going to vote and they don't want to see a labour government. but in my experience this is the sort of message you might get later in a campaign, not at this stage. thank ou ve campaign, not at this stage. thank you very much. — campaign, not at this stage. thank you very much, sean _ campaign, not at this stage. thank you very much, sean curran. i campaign, not at this stage. thank you very much, sean curran. we . campaign, not at this stage. thank. you very much, sean curran. we have heard from the labour leader sir keir starmer and his response to grant shapps' warning, he said if you want change, you have to vote for it. our political correspondent ione wells is travelling with the labour campaign. ione wells is travelling with the labourcampaign. i ione wells is travelling with the labour campaign. i spoke tojonathan reynolds in the last few minutes, obviously labour have repeatedly urged caution internally, publicly, they don't want this kind of message
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from the conservatives?— from the conservatives? that's riuht. i from the conservatives? that's right- ithink— from the conservatives? that's right. i think when _ from the conservatives? that's right. i think when you - from the conservatives? that's right. i think when you speak. from the conservatives? that's| right. i think when you speak to people within labour, whether that at some of the candidates, members of the campaign team, privately they are feeling confident and that things are going very well for them so far in the campaign and they are getting a positive response in the way that they hoped, but crucially they do not want to be seen as overly compilation —— overly complacent and there is some nervousness because some of them have gone through many, many elections now where they have been unsuccessful and for them they almost do not feel like the polls can be real, i think that is something they are slightly nervous about, but there is a degree of public messaging, they don't want to be seen to be complacent. when i spoke to keir starmer earlier he said he wanted a strong mandate, he said he wanted a strong mandate, he said he wanted a strong mandate, he said he has been saying to people on the campaign trail but if they want a change of leadership they had to
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vote for it, and i think there is potentially concerned within labour that if the polls suggest a labour majority, will people think it is a foregone conclusion and not think necessarily that they have to turn out to vote. but a concern among the labour campaign, out to vote. but a concern among the labourcampaign, but out to vote. but a concern among the labour campaign, but privately they are feeling more confident than in previous years, but some labour figures wondering whether they want to let themselves believe thatjust yet. to let themselves believe that 'ust et. . , ., , to let themselves believe that 'ust yet. labour is highlighting potholes toda , it yet. labour is highlighting potholes today. it might _ yet. labour is highlighting potholes today, it might seem _ yet. labour is highlighting potholes today, it might seem like _ yet. labour is highlighting potholes today, it might seem like a - today, it might seem like a relatively small issue but it is a very real issue for many people who drive a lot. their manifesto as being announced tomorrow. any hints on whether that is likely to be pretty safe, or any surprises? i think one of the things we have heard repeatedly in the last couple of dates with senior labour party figures is that when it comes to the economy, for example, there will not be what they have described as tax
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surprises, they have ruled out raising any of the three major personal taxes, they have insisted all policies will be fully costed and fully funded. i do not think we will see any huge surprises because i think there is caution at play, as you suggest, but we had seen a couple of their announced policies already that will feature tomorrow. everybody will be wondering if there are final surprises that come out in the manifesto launch. before that the manifesto launch. before that the labour leader sir keir starmer has another head—to—head debate with prime minister rishi sunak later, another chance for him to try to get some of his key messages across, the labour leader. in the last one there was the big clash particularly over tax where rishi sunak tried to hammer a message accusing labour of being a party that would put up taxes, but was heavily disputed by the labour party, so we may see some of those arguments crop up again this evening but it's a major challenge for both party leaders
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ahead of the labour manifesto launch tomorrow. ., ., ahead of the labour manifesto launch tomorrow. ., ,, , ., ahead of the labour manifesto launch tomorrow. ., ~' , ., ., ahead of the labour manifesto launch tomorrow. ., ,, , ., ., . , more now on the launch of the green party's election manifesto, which includes pledges to invest tens of billions of pounds in public services and clean energy. the money would come from increased taxes on higher earners and the wealthy. the parties' co—leaders said the greens represented "real change" and would "invest to mend broken britain." the party's co—leader, carla denyer, spelled out the key issues for the party. our manifesto lays out a bold but simple plan — to bring our water companies, our railways and the big five retail energy companies into public ownership. this would end the rip—off of rising bills, appalling service and shareholders trousering millions. we would restore our ailing high streets too — urban and rural — and recognise their value to the communities they serve by investing in support of small and medium—sized businesses. we would overhaul our tax system to make it fairer. at the heart of this would be a tax on the very richest, the top 1% of people, requiring them to pay a bit more into the pot.
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carla denyer. iam joined by ed matthew, campaigns director at the independent climate think tank e3g. what did you make of the greens manifesto? it what did you make of the greens manifesto?— what did you make of the greens manifesto? . , , , , , manifesto? it was very impressive and commensurate _ manifesto? it was very impressive and commensurate with _ manifesto? it was very impressive and commensurate with the i manifesto? it was very impressive and commensurate with the scale| manifesto? it was very impressive l and commensurate with the scale of the climate crisis we are facing, it requires a significant increase in investment in the uk and even the climate change committee has said we have two triple investment levels over the course of the next five years. it is refreshing, they are coming forward and saying we need to make this an economic priority. i make this an economic priority. i don't know whether you have had chance to look at the economics of how they would fund these changes, just looking at initial reports from the institute for fiscal studies
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they are also asking whether the sums add up, frankly, whether they can raise enough revenue from these measures, but that has been a question about most of the parties, i think. some of these proposals are eye—catching, but perhaps you can be eye—catching, but perhaps you can be eye—catching when you are not likely to be in government? i eye-catching when you are not likely to be in government?— to be in government? i think that is the lucky position _ to be in government? i think that is the lucky position the _ to be in government? i think that is the lucky position the greens - to be in government? i think that is the lucky position the greens find . the lucky position the greens find themselves in, to some extent. they know they will not be in charge of 10 downing street. however, ithink they have an incredibly important role to play in telling the other major parties some home truths about the scale of the (inaudible) that we are facing, and they should have to step up to the plate. it is potentially devastating in terms of
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its impact. politicians have not addressed it because (inaudible) . if we don't get a grip on it, and the greens are obviously calling for it to be a major policy, it could be devastating. they are quite right to say it has to be a priority and they have to move now. do say it has to be a priority and they have to move now.— say it has to be a priority and they have to move now. do you think the greens' messaging, _ have to move now. do you think the greens' messaging, some _ have to move now. do you think the greens' messaging, some of - have to move now. do you think the greens' messaging, some of the - have to move now. do you think the i greens' messaging, some of the ideas we have seen, will have any impact on the other parties? obviously labour has scaled back the finance element of what they are pledging, what do you make of that position? the tory manifesto without this week and with four also has a very different position. it and with four also has a very different position.— and with four also has a very different position. it has been interesting — different position. it has been interesting to _ different position. it has been interesting to see _ different position. it has been interesting to see how- different position. it has been interesting to see how the - different position. it has been - interesting to see how the climate change issue has played out. on the one hand the conservatives launch their manifesto yesterday, i think it was by far the most unambitious
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manifesto we have ever seen from the conservative party and climate action. it was very disappointing, they did not censor rate, which means they are risking losing out of a huge economic opportunity. with four are obviously playing at about 12% in the polls —— reform hour. they have been anti—action and want to scrap targets despite the fact that most of the people who support reform actually supports ambitious action on climate change. labour and the lib dems have been much more ambitious, we will see the labour manifesto tomorrow i get the detail but they had set out an ambitious target and setting up gp energy, a state investment vehicle, to speed up state investment vehicle, to speed up the transition to a low carbon economy. i think the opposition parties are, on the whole, ambitious, except for reform, and thatis ambitious, except for reform, and that is what we need, it is notjust about dealing with the climate
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crisis, if we do not get on the front foot we will become economic laggards in the world because other countries like the us, regions like europe, the likes of china, they are forging ahead and if we do not make it a primary economic mission for this country we will lose jobs, the less competitive and not have the tax revenue we need to repair the public services. ed tax revenue we need to repair the public services.— public services. ed matthews, campaigns — public services. ed matthews, campaigns director _ public services. ed matthews, campaigns director at - public services. ed matthews, campaigns director at the - campaigns director at the independent climate think tank e3g, thank you. there was more on the website about what the greens suggesting, have policies without price tags including banning domestic flights for journeys which would take less than three hours by train and moving to a four—day working week. energy is a key issue in suffolk, in the east of england where the green party believes it has strong support. and this afternoon our correspondent nicky schiller is in the suffolk coastal constituency. he has been speaking to voters. you
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'oin me in he has been speaking to voters. you join me in the _ he has been speaking to voters. w'm. join me in the village of he has been speaking to voters. gm, join me in the village of friston, about 20 miles from ipswich, and there are around 270 residents here. as you mention, the greens have launched their manifesto and one of their suggestions is phasing out nuclear energy and looking at renewables, but it's one of the issues very close to the heart of villagers here. bbc suffolk reporter ben parkerjoins me. the greens targeting eight seats, green issues at play? upload the greens have had an interesting story and survey, they have done very well in local elections, it has not translated to general elections but they are heavily targeting one seat in suffolk with lots of money, effort and resources, we will see on election night whether that works. the reason we are in friston, not on the coastline, — the reason we are in friston, not on the coastline, its offshore wind, because — the coastline, its offshore wind, because how do you get that to plug
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into our— because how do you get that to plug into our homes? the current proposal is to build _ into our homes? the current proposal is to build what is a pretty gigantic— is to build what is a pretty gigantic industrial substation and a farm at's_ gigantic industrial substation and a farm at's field behind us over there — farm at's field behind us over there it _ farm at's field behind us over there. it has got the bug up of lots of people. — there. it has got the bug up of lots of people, it is not the only energy issue. _ of people, it is not the only energy issue. there — of people, it is not the only energy issue, there are plans to build a converter— issue, there are plans to build a converter station, another big sites nearby— converter station, another big sites nearby and — converter station, another big sites nearby and plans to link up the suffolk — nearby and plans to link up the suffolk coast with the netherlands to transfer energy there and also to ctench. _ to transfer energy there and also to ctench. so_ to transfer energy there and also to clench, so there is cumulative impact — clench, so there is cumulative impact potential of industrial proiects_ impact potential of industrial projects on what is a real rural parts — projects on what is a real rural parts of— projects on what is a real rural parts of suffolk. it projects on what is a real rural parts of suffolk.— parts of suffolk. it is a giant substation _ parts of suffolk. it is a giant substation that _ parts of suffolk. it is a giant substation that is _ parts of suffolk. it is a giant substation that is planned. l parts of suffolk. it is a giant l substation that is planned. liz parts of suffolk. it is a giant - substation that is planned. liz has lived here for 12 years, carol has been here for two, what are your concerns about plans for the substation here? we concerns about plans for the substation here?— concerns about plans for the substation here? ~ . . , ., substation here? we are a very rural villare, in substation here? we are a very rural village. in fact _ substation here? we are a very rural village. in fact a _ substation here? we are a very rural village, in fact a hamlet, _ substation here? we are a very rural village, in fact a hamlet, not - substation here? we are a very rural village, in fact a hamlet, not a - village, in fact a hamlet, not a village, — village, in fact a hamlet, not a village, and the national grid has ridden— village, and the national grid has ridden roughshod over us to get the power— ridden roughshod over us to get the power station in here. it will fracture _ power station in here. it will
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fracture the village, split the village — fracture the village, split the village and two and we will have to put up _ village and two and we will have to put up with— village and two and we will have to put up with the traffic and the noise — put up with the traffic and the noise and _ put up with the traffic and the noise and the disruption in our village, — noise and the disruption in our village, and this is a very tiny, quiet — village, and this is a very tiny, quiet part— village, and this is a very tiny, quiet part of the stuff we will suffer— quiet part of the stuff we will suffer for this.— quiet part of the stuff we will suffer for this. carol, the power has to come _ suffer for this. carol, the power has to come in _ suffer for this. carol, the power has to come in somewhere - suffer for this. carol, the power has to come in somewhere so l suffer for this. carol, the power| has to come in somewhere so is suffer for this. carol, the power i has to come in somewhere so is it suffer for this. carol, the power - has to come in somewhere so is it a case of not in my back yard?- case of not in my back yard? there are other and _ case of not in my back yard? there are other and better— case of not in my back yard? there are other and better options, - case of not in my back yard? there are other and better options, parts of the _ are other and better options, parts of the continent _ are other and better options, parts of the continent is _ are other and better options, parts of the continent is using _ are other and better options, parts of the continent is using them. - are other and better options, parts| of the continent is using them. the national— of the continent is using them. the national grid — of the continent is using them. the national grid and _ of the continent is using them. the national grid and scottishpower. of the continent is using them. the| national grid and scottishpower are not looking — national grid and scottishpower are not looking at — national grid and scottishpower are not looking at them, _ national grid and scottishpower are not looking at them, by— national grid and scottishpower are not looking at them, by the - national grid and scottishpower are not looking at them, by the sound i national grid and scottishpower are | not looking at them, by the sound of it. i not looking at them, by the sound of it i am _ not looking at them, by the sound of it i am just— not looking at them, by the sound of it lamiusta— not looking at them, by the sound of it. i am just a villager— not looking at them, by the sound of it. i am just a villager living - it. i am just a villager living here, — it. i am just a villager living here, i_ it. i am just a villager living here, i do— it. i am just a villager living here, i do not— it. i am just a villager living here, i do not know- it. i am just a villager living here, i do not know the - it. i am just a villager living here, i do not know the ins| it. i am just a villager living - here, i do not know the ins and outs, _ here, i do not know the ins and outs. lrut— here, i do not know the ins and outs. but for— here, i do not know the ins and outs, but for us _ here, i do not know the ins and outs, but for us here _ here, i do not know the ins and outs, but for us here the - here, i do not know the ins and outs, but for us here the loss. here, i do not know the ins and| outs, but for us here the loss of value _ outs, but for us here the loss of value of— outs, but for us here the loss of value of our— outs, but for us here the loss of value of our homes _ outs, but for us here the loss of value of our homes is— outs, but for us here the loss of value of our homes is not- outs, but for us here the loss of value of our homes is notjust . value of our homes is notjust monetary— value of our homes is notjust monetary but _ value of our homes is notjust monetary but personal- value of our homes is notjust monetary but personal and i value of our homes is notjust - monetary but personal and human. well being. — monetary but personal and human. well being. we— monetary but personal and human. well being, we cannot _ monetary but personal and human. well being, we cannot sell- monetary but personal and human. well being, we cannot sell our- well being, we cannot sell our houses, — well being, we cannot sell our houses, we _ well being, we cannot sell our houses, we cannot— well being, we cannot sell our houses, we cannot move - well being, we cannot sell our houses, we cannot move near| houses, we cannot move near families, — houses, we cannot move near families, cannot _ houses, we cannot move near families, cannot move - houses, we cannot move near families, cannot move for- houses, we cannot move near| families, cannot move forjobs. there _ families, cannot move forjobs. there are — families, cannot move forjobs. there are people _ families, cannot move forjobs. there are people in— families, cannot move forjobs. there are people in the - families, cannot move forjobs. there are people in the villagel there are people in the village trying — there are people in the village trying to— there are people in the village trying to move _ there are people in the village trying to move house - there are people in the village trying to move house for- there are people in the villagel trying to move house for health reasons — trying to move house for health reasons and _ trying to move house for health reasons and it _ trying to move house for health reasons and it is _ trying to move house for health reasons and it is taking - trying to move house for health reasons and it is taking a - trying to move house for health reasons and it is taking a hugel reasons and it is taking a huge toll~ _
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reasons and it is taking a huge toll. . and if you're wondering which candidates are standing in the suffolk coastal constituency, here is a full list. you can get more details on parties and candidates on the bbc website. the liberal democrats have outlined details to replace the water industry watchdog, ofwat, with what they call a "tough new regulator" for england and wales, if they're elected. party leader sir ed davey said the clean water authority would be given new powers to reform of sewage they dump into rivers. sir ed launched the policy on a visit to an outdoor adventure centre in warwickshire and — not for the fist time during this campaign — it didn't take too long for him to test the water quality directly. here's ed davey explaining to our reporter tom symonds why water reform is a lib dem priority. what we are trying to get over is the fact that there is a sewage
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scandal, water companies being allowed by the conservatives to pump filthy sewage into rivers, lakes, beaches and seas, it has to end. we keep coming back to them, i don't apologise, we have explained how serious the problem is to the environment and public health and it affects leisure activities. yeah, we're here having fun, but millions of people like going into water, paddle boating, swimming, dealing other water sports, and if you do not clean the water properly they will not be able to enjoy that. so we are saying let's have a tougher new regulator, we are calling at the clean water authority, it backs up all of the liberal democrat policies to end this sewage scandal. our correspondent tom symonds has the latest from the lib dem battlebus. we are about to head into woking for yet another stop on the sir ed davey roadshow which has been all about
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photocalls, as you say, very few, at least a few days i have spent on the bus, occasions during which the public can see sir ed davey, ask questions, make political points to him. lots has been organised with liberal democrat campaign and candidates alongside, in off areas, with us, the media, though. the liberal democrats clearly had to communicate over the heads of the bigger parties, the conservatives and labour, and try to get attention in this very crowded political airspace. they are doing that by trying to get the idea that sir ed davey likes to have fun, is campaigning for things like clean water, as you say, today announcing the new clean water authority for england and wales that they would like to bring it which would ban water company bonuses and remove the licences of companies which are not performing, and also set a legally binding targets for sewage discharges. but every time they get
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some kind of coverage like this, people are still likely to consider them as a possible vote. there are reasons why they think the lib dems could be important in the final outcome of this election. if, as you have been hearing, labour was to get a supermajority, the liberal democrats say they would be a great party to offer opposition to labour. they say the conservatives will be in disarray after an election, we are cohesive, we can do the job of holding the government to account. they have had small success, it is one poll but they have had a four point bump on apple since the launch of the manifesto on monday. it could be an outlier, they are hoping it is not. ., ., , , , ., not. tom symonds. new figures show the uk economy _ not. tom symonds. new figures show the uk economy flatlined _ not. tom symonds. new figures show the uk economy flatlined in _ not. tom symonds. new figures show the uk economy flatlined in april- the uk economy flatlined in april with zero growth as the wet weather put off shoppers and slow down construction. the latest office of
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national statistics data follows figures from january and march when the fastest growth in two years was immense. here is dharshini david. the wettest april in 12 years put the boot in many plans and activities. a trip to the beach was off the menu. hi, it's nice to meet you. so tell me about this place. in margate, laurie installs tooth gems, which have soared in popularity. businesses like hers aim to make this a year—round destination, but the weather can be an issue. the rain does put people off, but we do get the people who come out and they go, oh, you know, never mind. we'lljust find something to do. the train strikes for sure have been a bit of a problem for us because a lot of the town itself is reliant on tourism. things do seem to be brightening up as many people start feeling better off despite the wet weather putting a bit of a dampener on economic activity in april. however, we've got a lot of catching up to do. some say that we could be up to £11,000 worse off than we might
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be because growth over the last 15 years, because of things like the pandemic, the war in ukraine has been a fraction of what it was before. so have we turned a corner? in newcastle, experiences are mixed. i'm not complaining, because i know there's a lot of people worse off than me. ijust think it's getting worse for people. you know, i think the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, in my opinion. but i don't think anything changes really, does it? things willjust start moving in the economy again. - people have more money. in their pockets, spending it in the economy, which... that just feeds growth, etc. so yeah, i'm positive. i think things will turn - in a couple of months' time. rising incomes should lift the recovery over the summer, but if we are to recapture the sparkling growth of the past, more attention will have to turn to areas like investment in skills, technology and transport. a challenge for all those vying to govern the country. darshini david, bbc news, margate.
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a second man has denied illegally felling the uk's most famous tree. 31—year—old adam carruthers from wigston appeared at newcastle crown court today accused of charging criminal damage to both the tree at sycamore back —— sycamore gap in northumberland and hadrian's wall last year. daniel graham from carlisle, aged 38, previously denied both charges. the prosecution in the retrial of lucy letby has said her status as a multiple murder and attempted murder is an important piece of evidence which should be taken into account. she is accused of the attempted murder of a baby in 2016. she denies the charge. judith moritz gave us this update from court in manchester. we have had the case opened this morning by nick johnson kc leading the prosecution. thejury
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johnson kc leading the prosecution. the jury have been told about the trial which lucy letby featured in last year. they were told it was very long and at and she was convicted of murdering seven babies and to murder a further six at the countess of chester hospital. prosecuting, nickjohnson kc said to thejury you should prosecuting, nickjohnson kc said to the jury you should not convict her because of what she did in other cases, but the other cases i have mentioned have an importance in this case because it gives you significant evidence, he suggested, as to her intention at that time, but we allege that she did something to baby k. in a nutshell, he said, we say her status as a multiple murder and attempted murder is important is evidence that you should take into account. the jury has been told that the charge faced by lucy letby now is one charge upon which the jury at her last trial could not decide, a charge of attempting to murder a baby girl in
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february 2016. she is in the glass—walled dock of court number seven, the former nurse denies this charge and the case will continue to be open after lunch. this is bbc news, the headlines: rishi sunak has insisted he has "absolutely not" lost hope of winning the general election — after a senior tory warned about the risk of labour securing a "supermajority". the labour leader says if you want change you have to vote for it the green party delivers its election manifesto for england and wales — pledging tax increases to fund investment in health and social care. liberal democrat leader ed davey jumps back in to campaigning — pledging to replace water industry watchdog ofwat with a new regulator. and how long could you last without your smartphone? we meet the teens swapping theirs for a brick phone for 5 long days.
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trust and confidence in uk politics has never been worse — that's the stark finding of a new report which examined the public�*s perception of governments from the 19705 to the present day. the analysis also suggests a record number of voters "almost never" trust politicians to tell the truth. our home editor mark easton has more jingle: radio humberside. what do you want to hear from the politicians ahead of the general election? let me know. the voters of hull tend not to get excited about elections. the city had the lowest turnout at the last one of anywhere in the country, and it doesn't take long to find out why. the hopelessness is just, what's the point? it doesn't matter who i vote for, it's all going to be the same. will you be voting? me? it's a waste of time. waste of time, voting. i have no faith in any of it. none. tony martin, hull born and bred, contacted the bbc�*s your voice your vote
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because he feels so angry that politicians are taking people for fools. i am absolutely fed up to the back teeth of not hearing the truth. politicians in every party seem to treat us like idiots. you obviously feel really strongly about this. i do. i've never known the decline that we've experienced, notjust this year, but probably for the last ten or 20 years. it's notjust yorkshire skepticism. a new report from the national centre for social research finds that across the country, trust and confidence in politics and politicians has never been lower. this election is being held amid a collapse of faith in our democratic systems. the report finds 45% of voters would almost never trust the government to put the country before their party — the highest proportion ever.
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58% would almost never trust politicians to tell the truth when in a tight corner — a figure that's never been higher. changing the electoral system under which we'll all be... the report's author, the doyen of election analysis, professor sirjohn curtis, told me he's detected a sense of desperation among the electorate. these figures mean that we are now less trusting, less confident in our system of government than we have been at any point during the last 40 or 50 years. the report suggests voters think the way we're governed is broken. eight in ten say the system needs improving quite a lot or a great deal, with more than half wanting the voting system changed to one which is fairer to smaller parties. it's not boiling hot. it's not freezing cold. so what is the answer? many of the parties promised to give more power to the people. this part of yorkshire is due to have its own regional authority and most manifestos propose to devolve more control to such bodies. but hull is at the forefront
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of a grassroots movement to counter political apathy by creating people's assemblies. people need to have the power to make decisions for themselves. they've lost faith in politics from the top, and they need to really feel ownership over a movement that's coming from the bottom — something that meets their needs where they are. all sorts of people from a local community, who wouldn't - normally necessarily meet, - come together and discuss what's important and what they might do about things. i disillusionment over brexit, political scandal and economic crisis — all are blamed for the lack of trust. whoever wins the election will have an urgentjob to restore the nation's faith in its democracy. mark easton, bbc news, hull. good afternoon. this is a very stark report. do you think this is
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surprising given the turbulence of recent politics or is it as you expected? recent politics or is it as you exnected?_ recent politics or is it as you exected? h , , . expected? it's pretty much as i exnected. _ expected? it's pretty much as i exnected. to — expected? it's pretty much as i expected, to be _ expected? it's pretty much as i expected, to be honest, - expected? it's pretty much as i expected, to be honest, one i expected? it's pretty much as i j expected, to be honest, one of expected? it's pretty much as i - expected, to be honest, one of the reasons why, we suspected something had changed given that after the 2019 election and the delivery of brexit, there had in fact been a marked improvement in trust and confidence at least amongst those who had voted in favour of leaving the european union. the last couple of years have been particularly difficult following on from the pandemic, without the cost of living crisis, the russian ukraine war, the impact all of that has had on peoples lives, together with the demise of not only one, but two prime ministers in pretty unprecedented circumstances. to that extent, at least, now, we were anticipating may be indeed this had affected people's trust and confidence. other people have suggested that was the case and
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given we have the longest time series, we thought it was worth checking out whether that was what had happened. checking out whether that was what had happened-— had happened. your report says disillusioned _ had happened. your report says disillusioned over _ had happened. your report says disillusioned over brexit - had happened. your report says l disillusioned over brexit amongst lead voters is one of the reasons for this collapse. tells more about the. ., , ~ for this collapse. tells more about the. . , ~ ., the. immediately in the week of the delive of the. immediately in the week of the delivery of brexit, _ the. immediately in the week of the delivery of brexit, much _ the. immediately in the week of the delivery of brexit, much of- the. immediately in the week of the delivery of brexit, much of the - the. immediately in the week of the delivery of brexit, much of the rise | delivery of brexit, much of the rise in trust and confidence that occurred in the wake of the 2019 election, virtually all of it occurred amongst leaf voters, only around 17% of them thought that the system of governing britain was working reasonably well, that rose to 41% working reasonably well, that rose to a1% in the wake of the delivery of brexit, all the way back down again to little more than it was then, down to 24%. amongst leave voters. similar patterns for the questions about trust in politicians, and what we know about leave voters, even if the back
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staying out of the european union and many still do, you will find that around two in five of them think that the economy is worse off as a result of brexit, that is not what most of them had anticipated four years ago, and equally, nearly half of them think that brexit has resulted in an increase in immigration, the very opposite of what most of them wanted. it is these leave voters in particular whose views on the country and its politicians has changed so much. they are disappointed, some of them perhaps feel brexit was a mistake and others clearly feel that the politicians have failed to deliver on brexit what they thought they had been promised and surprisingly, they are disenchanted as a result. [30 been promised and surprisingly, they are disenchanted as a result.- are disenchanted as a result. do you think there are _ are disenchanted as a result. do you think there are any _ are disenchanted as a result. do you think there are any moves _ are disenchanted as a result. do you think there are any moves anyone i are disenchanted as a result. do you | think there are any moves anyone can make to reverse this? do you think the country will naturally move on after the election?—
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after the election? elections tend to be aood after the election? elections tend to be good for— after the election? elections tend to be good for trust _ after the election? elections tend to be good for trust and - after the election? elections tend l to be good for trust and confidence so i would not be surprised if we get a boost as a result of election. there is a broad issue here. improving the economy, improving the health service, get fewer people out of poverty, all of these things will help. politicians also need to think about the style of their politics. they may need in difficult times to be more willing to be honest with the electorate about some of the choices that face them because one hears many voters saying frankly, i do not believe any of them during the course of their selection. more broadly, the need to be more careful about the number of occasions in which they criticise their opponents. when one of their opponents. when one of their opponents gets into an ethical or financial trouble, we have had 30 years of this, ever since the sleaze allegations againstjohn major's government in the 1990s, collectively, it does note note do
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politicians any good because there are always people on both sides of the political fence who occasionally fall below the high standards of political behaviour. that should be stopped, but perhaps we should not be trying to take political advantage of it. it’s be trying to take political advantage of it. it's quite depressing _ advantage of it. it's quite depressing if _ advantage of it. it's quite depressing if you're - advantage of it. it's quite depressing if you're an i advantage of it. it's quite - depressing if you're an active politics if you feel the public does not trust you, there is a danger in that, if you cannot attract people go into the job whether as a local councillor or at international level. ., ., councillor or at international level. . ., , ., councillor or at international level. . ., ., , level. there are a couple of honest dancers, level. there are a couple of honest dangers. a — level. there are a couple of honest dangers. a poor— level. there are a couple of honest dangers, a poor turnout, _ level. there are a couple of honest dangers, a poor turnout, it- level. there are a couple of honest dangers, a poor turnout, it doesn't help, and the second thing you then discover that some of those populist arguments like we shouldn't trust expertise at all, we should look at the wisdom of ordinary people, the political elite are conspiring against the ordinary public, those kinds of arguments that we do here around the edges of our politics, they are as a result of this kind of
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satisfaction —— dissatisfaction to have resonance, and also at the end of the day, one of the things we need to remember ourselves, remind ourselves that in the opinion polls at the moment we are talking about the labour leader and the conservatives, we are not talking about that we are going to have five political parties fighting every constituency, this'll be the first time that has happened. we are looking at a rather more fractured politics as well as the politics are apparently one more party is currently dominant. that is an indication perhaps that the public may be looking for some of them at least for wider choice than both labour and the conservatives are currently offering.— labour and the conservatives are currently offering. social media has been blamed. _ currently offering. social media has been blamed, it's _ currently offering. social media has been blamed, it's liberating - currently offering. social media has been blamed, it's liberating in - currently offering. social media has| been blamed, it's liberating in many ways because it gives everyone a voice, but it has been blamed by many for making politics, running anything more difficult because it puts people into silos. that
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anything more difficult because it puts people into silos.— puts people into silos. that is often discussed, _ puts people into silos. that is often discussed, social- puts people into silos. that is often discussed, social media puts people into silos. that is i often discussed, social media is puts people into silos. that is - often discussed, social media is not going to explain why leave voters in particular disenchanted with the way we now governing. social media have not created the waiting lists in the nhs. those are the things above all that are raising questions in peoples minds about the quality of our government.— peoples minds about the quality of our government. delivering. thank our government. delivering. thank ou ve our government. delivering. thank you very much _ our government. delivering. thank you very much indeed. _ our government. delivering. thank you very much indeed. i _ our government. delivering. thank you very much indeed. i am - our government. delivering. thank you very much indeed. i am sure i our government. delivering. thank| you very much indeed. i am sure all the parties will be looking at that report with interest. and if you're keen for more politics, nick robinson continues his series of interviews with the party leaders tonight. he'll be joined by the snp's john swinney on panorama at 7 o'clock on bbc one and iplayer. he'll also be speaking to plaid cymru's rhun ap iorwerth earlier i spoke to the shadow business secretary, i asked him about one of our top stories today,
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grant shapps, the defence secretary saying that he is urging tory supporters to vote conservatives to stop the labour supermajority as he puts it. i stop the labour superma'ority as he uts it. ~ �* . stop the labour superma'ority as he utsit. ~' 3 ., , , puts it. ithink it's nonsense, i really do- _ puts it. ithink it's nonsense, i really do- i— puts it. ithink it's nonsense, i really do. i do _ puts it. ithink it's nonsense, i really do. i do not _ puts it. ithink it's nonsense, i really do. i do not know - puts it. ithink it's nonsense, i really do. i do not know what| puts it. ithink it's nonsense, i. really do. i do not know what the conservative party is playing out with us. to state the obvious, we are sometime away from anyone being able to cast any vote in the general election. the idea that the result is a foregone is complete nonsense. i have been across all parts of the uk already in this campaign, understandably, a lot of people have not made their minds up. i would say we are going to continue to make the case that we have been making, if people want change, please give us your support, people want change, please give us yoursupport, please people want change, please give us your support, please give us a mandate to deliver that change, our manifesto is out tomorrow, do not listen to the stuff by the conservative party.- listen to the stuff by the conservative party. listen to the stuff by the conservative pa . �* , ., conservative party. are you saying the olls conservative party. are you saying the polls are _ conservative party. are you saying the polls are not _ conservative party. are you saying the polls are not necessarily - conservative party. are you saying the polls are not necessarily right| the polls are not necessarily right from your own experience and the experience of the campaign and labour has its own internal poll?
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such a knack i have been to lots of different places, i am pleased how the campaign is going, i am pleased with the arguments? is making, but it's more about the fact that anyone who thinks there is not substantial movement of opinion and elections, i have been elections myself or people thought the result was going to go one way, and you end up in a different place.— one way, and you end up in a different place. you cannot be complacent. _ different place. you cannot be complacent, you _ different place. you cannot be complacent, you cannot - different place. you cannot be complacent, you cannot take l different place. you cannot be i complacent, you cannot take the support of people for granted. we will never do that in the labour party. we will continue making the positive case for the sets of proposals put forward, we will give you cake the changing needs. the ressure you cake the changing needs. the pressure on _ you cake the changing needs. the pressure on you tomorrow is to come up pressure on you tomorrow is to come up with the manifesto is eye—catching because for many commentators on the feedback from polls, the way that the votes are potentially chipping up more about protesting against the conservative government than any real sign of enthusiasm for labour? i government than any real sign of enthusiasm for labour?— government than any real sign of enthusiasm for labour? i accept and would make — enthusiasm for labour? i accept and would make the _ enthusiasm for labour? i accept and would make the case, _ enthusiasm for labour? i accept and would make the case, it _ enthusiasm for labour? i accept and would make the case, it has - enthusiasm for labour? i accept and would make the case, it has been i enthusiasm for labour? i accept and would make the case, it has been a | would make the case, it has been a particularly pure government, the record of the conservative party
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over the last 1a years is dreadful. anyone who thinks she can simply win an election by one side not been very good, and automatically coming across to you, that is not the case, if we had not had the humility to face up to the defeat labour had in 2019, we would not be in the position we are in now. that is a job that keir starmer has done as leader. when it comes to the proposals, i am very confident in what is in the manifesto in terms of the change that it represents, that britain needs, but it's about delivery. the british public do not want to hear things that are fanciful, that they do not believe can be delivered. they want deliverable change, meaningful change, and to be frank, for many people in the uk, having a decent place to live, a good job, is a coachin place to live, a good job, is a coach in the workplace, looking after your family, coach in the workplace, looking after yourfamily, those coach in the workplace, looking after your family, those things coach in the workplace, looking after yourfamily, those things made available to more people actually would be quite radicalfrom where available to more people actually would be quite radical from where we are right now. as with public services that are functioning as they should. services that are functioning as they should-— services that are functioning as the should. ,, ., ., they should. keir starmer was also asked about _
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they should. keir starmer was also asked about the _ they should. keir starmer was also asked about the comments - they should. keir starmer was also asked about the comments by - they should. keir starmer was also asked about the comments by the | asked about the comments by the defence secretary, he said he was not going to be complacent about any election outcome. let's hear what he had to say. we election outcome. let's hear what he had to sa . ~ ., ., election outcome. let's hear what he had to say-— had to say. we have our manifesto tomorrow. — had to say. we have our manifesto tomorrow. it _ had to say. we have our manifesto tomorrow, it will— had to say. we have our manifesto tomorrow, it will be _ had to say. we have our manifesto tomorrow, it will be a _ had to say. we have our manifesto tomorrow, it will be a positive - had to say. we have our manifesto| tomorrow, it will be a positive case in detail about the future of the country, how we renew and how we rebuild. i am country, how we renew and how we rebuild. iam not country, how we renew and how we rebuild. i am not complacent about this, i know that every single vote has to be earned, nobody has cast a vote in the selection yet. it is important, i think, for the country, that we have change, and the change we need a mandate so we can go forward, turn our back on the chaos, the division, the failure of the last 1a years, and start to rebuild our country with the first steps that we will start on day one. i am seeking to earn those faults. i say to every voter, if you —— to earn those vote. you need a mandate to change the country to take the
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country forward. the change the country to take the country forward.— change the country to take the country forward. change the country to take the count forward. . ., , ., country forward. the election is not a foregone — country forward. the election is not a foregone conclusion, _ country forward. the election is not a foregone conclusion, as _ country forward. the election is not a foregone conclusion, as the - a foregone conclusion, as the project. let's look at something very different, probably a key factor in all the political campaigns this week. smartphones. how long do you think you could last without your smartphone? a few hours? a day? we've followed a group of teenagers to see how they cope without their smartphones for five days as part of a bbc radio 5 live project. our reporter kristianjohnson joined them to see how they got on. on friday, i received a79 notifications. it's fair to say some teenagers are pretty glued to their phones. 0k, guys. point of no return. thank you very much. but this group of students are doing the unthinkable — locking them away for almost a week. you said your goodbye? yes. good. no tiktok, no snapchat, no whatsapp. so, guys, these are your new... oh, my god! ..mobile phones.
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instead, they'll be using these for the next five days. the only way of communicating — texts and calls. i'm on a nokia. guys, do you want to see something? mum, this is weird, i don't like it! oh, my gosh! they're going to have to learn a whole new set of skills - for the next week to be able . to adapt and continue their life as close to what it used to be. but with that mobile - phone underpinning most of their activities, _ it's going to be a real challenge. so, in the mornings, usually, i'll, like, search up the tram times, because then i know, "oh, yeah, i need to leave in five minutes. oh, yeah, i've got a little bit of time before i need to leave." but with, like, without a phone, i've got no way of knowing when the next tram will be. and not being involved in group chats means it's harderfor ruby to meet up with friends. i feel like with the nokia, i'm kind of missing out a bit more on social interaction. like, we always go bowling or something. we've not organised anything so far. 0k.
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so i'm 52 hours into the detox. i'm finding it ok. i don't think it's difficult oranything, like. two days into the journey, and while ruby's coping well, charlie has already given into temptation. it's genuinely hard when you don't have it. it's like having, like, a comfort item for how many ever years and itjust goes... it was really stressful. some others are struggling too. not knowing what's going on in, like, a group chat, itjust makes me like, "what am i missing out on?" but most are focusing on the positives. without my phone, i feel like i'm actually learning stuff and engaging more — noticing stuff around me, which i probably should be doing anyways but i'm just too addicted to my phone. usually before i go to bed, i usuallyjust watch, like disney+ for like an hour and then just drift off. but since then, i've just gone straight to sleep and it's weird. feels much better. the more time goes on, i it like becomes a lot easier to think of things to do _ because you've not got your phone, so you're like, "oh, new message." will's journey home takes over an hour.
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announcement: this is l a service to etihad campus. a tram first, then a bus. so in terms of not having a smartphone, it makes it more difficult because i can't check the timetable. and when they say it's been delayed or something, i could at least ring my dad and ask for a lift, you know? will's mum, alison, admits not being able to use family tracking apps like life360 is a hindrance, but she's noticed big changes in her son just three days into the detox. it's actually quite nice seeing you without headphones. i don't see you that much normally. no. i think it's just become the norm. whereas actual social interaction does require you to put these things away, and... yeah. ..engage a little bit more. five days later, it's the end of term and time to get those smartphones back. got yours? yeah. maybe i'll put my phone away in the car and i'll put my phone away, like, when i'm around my friends.
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but in general, like, going on to tiktok and everything, i'm still going to do that. like, ifanything, i'm going to do it more now. i think it's been pretty difficult without a smartphone, - but i've managed to get through it all right. - i'll try and use less - of tiktok, that's for sure. i know my screen time is quite high on that. i judging by their initial reaction, perhaps the students aren't quite ready to give up their smartphones entirely, but the detox might start to slowly change their habits. kristian johnson, bbc news. iamjoined by i am joined by the director of this well—being podcast. we are completely addicted, and we do not want to be, i guess. we are talking about teenagers here with growing brains and that's a worry for so many parents. brains and that's a worry for so many parents-— brains and that's a worry for so man arents. , . . many parents. there is a term which has been coined _ many parents. there is a term which has been coined when _ many parents. there is a term which
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has been coined when you _ many parents. there is a term which has been coined when you do - many parents. there is a term which has been coined when you do not. many parents. there is a term which l has been coined when you do not have your mobile phone, a sense of agitation which young people are describing in that video. with this conversation, it's important to say the experts have not come to a definite conclusion about screen time and telephones, paediatrics and child health have decided not to give a number in terms of screen time guidelines, but more focus on the quality of that interaction rather than the quantity. and to recognise that it might be more about whether or not smartphones are impacting teenagers sleep, their interactions, pitting family time and activities before mobile phones. there are some studies which show associations with depression or anxiety or agitation, there are lots of things are in comparison, body image on social media for example, the pressure to be socialising, the pressure to always be online is really key. it sensed that those emotions of agitation or irritability if we do not have our
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telephones. there are negatives and positives, with this conversation, there are nuances that we need to focus in on and deep down delve into those and talk to young people themselves. talk to the digital platform, the people who make the devices, talk to government and policy makers and to parents and teachers, we need to have a well—rounded conversation about smartphones and their impact on all of us. . ., . . smartphones and their impact on all ofus. ,, of us. there is a push back at the moment from — of us. there is a push back at the moment from parents _ of us. there is a push back at the moment from parents wanting i of us. there is a push back at the i moment from parents wanting their children not to have phones necessarily to young an age, even learning in schools now is done on screens in so many places. do you think as the research continues, will get information that might actually lead to legislative change at some point if we find that so much screen time is really damaging? is that possible? the much screen time is really damaging? is that possible?— is that possible? the key thing is we need more — is that possible? the key thing is we need more research - is that possible? the key thing is we need more research and - is that possible? the key thing is we need more research and we l is that possible? the key thing is - we need more research and we need to do studies and gather information to make a sensible conclusion. for the time being, quite rightly, as you
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said, we are living anywhere that is dominated by technology, and we have given young people these devices, and yet not necessarily given them the right strategies or support to help them navigate how to use those. there are three elements of that, why are they picking up their phone? what are their emotions when they pick it up? sometimes it's boredom or anxiety orfeeling pick it up? sometimes it's boredom or anxiety or feeling lonely for example. and want to think about the what? what are they looking at? what is on their feet? how can we control and support them? and also the how? when are they doing it and how much time at this spending? we have teamed up with bbc bitesize to create video episodes, we are going to talk about well—being and wider issues about how young people can support themselves with their emotions, theirfeelings, and manage things like self—care. manage their day—to—day life which i don't think we've done a very good job of supporting so far. we've done a very good “0b of supporting so fanfi we've done a very good “0b of supporting so far. we've done a very good “0b of su -aortin so far. ., ~' ,, . supporting so far. thank you so much for our supporting so far. thank you so much for your time — supporting so far. thank you so much for your time today. _
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supporting so far. thank you so much for your time today. it's _ supporting so far. thank you so much for your time today. it's a _ for your time today. it's a fascinating study. thank you. a five—year—old girl is being hailed as a little hero after she sat with her unconscious mother overnight before walking to school in her princess dress and wellington boots to get help. her mother was suffering from septic shock when her daughter raised the alarm. our reporter reports. a massive hug from the little girl who saved her life. you are my hero. i love you. poppy is a typical— you are my hero. i love you. poppy is a typical five-year-old _ you are my hero. i love you. poppy is a typical five-year-old girl. - is a typical five—year—old girl. earlier this year, she did something completely remarkable. dad was at work and she was home alone with her mother who had been feeling unwell for a few weeks after an operation. i collapsed on the floor, my daughter stayed with me the night.
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she curled up beside me and slept beside me. in the morning, she waited for the school to open, she put her wellington boots on and her crown and her princess dress, she unlocked the door, went out and went through the school gate. she told her teachers that mummy was on the floor and she couldn't wake her up. mummy was on the floor, i couldn't wake _ mummy was on the floor, i couldn't wake her— mummy was on the floor, i couldn't wake her up — mummy was on the floor, i couldn't wake her up. did mummy was on the floor, i couldn't wake her up— mummy was on the floor, i couldn't wake her up. did you go to school by ourself? wake her up. did you go to school by yourself? was _ wake her up. did you go to school by yourself? was it _ wake her up. did you go to school by yourself? was it scary? _ wake her up. did you go to school by yourself? was it scary? it _ wake her up. did you go to school by yourself? was it scary? it was - yourself? was it scary? it was sca . yourself? was it scary? it was scary- she _ yourself? was it scary? it was scary- she was _ yourself? was it scary? it was scary. she was rushed - yourself? was it scary? it was scary. she was rushed to - yourself? was it scary? it was . scary. she was rushed to hospital and was in _ scary. she was rushed to hospital and was in septic _ scary. she was rushed to hospital and was in septic shock, - scary. she was rushed to hospital and was in septic shock, her- scary. she was rushed to hospitalj and was in septic shock, her body was shutting down. she fought for her life and woke up from her coma. she said my life. she her life and woke up from her coma. she said my life.— she said my life. she is recovering and doinr she said my life. she is recovering and doing well. — she said my life. she is recovering and doing well, she _ she said my life. she is recovering and doing well, she will _ she said my life. she is recovering and doing well, she will have -
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she said my life. she is recovering and doing well, she will have to i and doing well, she will have to have part of both of her feet amputated in the months ahead but she feels lucky to be alive. all thanks to poppy, the superhero. that's an amazing story. let's catch up the weather with ben rich. hello. it is another unseasonably cool day across the uk. temperatures in most locations a few degrees below the average for the time of year. the air mass chart showing this relatively cool air in place now on the face of it. tomorrow brings a change, a change in wind direction. some warmer air heading our way. but with that, this frontal system bringing clouds and outbreaks of heavy rain, brisk winds as well. so i think actually in terms of the feel of the weather, it's still going to feel rather cool and turning wet and windy for many of us as we head into tomorrow. but back to today, some showers around, particularly across eastern parts, but those becoming increasingly few and far between. in fact, some brighter conditions developing, especially out towards the west, but temperatures north to south, 10 to 17 degrees.
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so still a few degrees below the seasonal average. and actually it's going to turn quite chilly overnight under this slice of clear skies. we could see a few mist and fog patches developing here and there. temperatures well down in single digits. some parts of scotland in the countryside down to around two or three degrees, a little bit milder out towards the west because here cloud and rain will be arriving. so, many places getting off to a dry starts tomorrow morning, start tomorrow morning, but across the south west of england and wales, it's going to turn really wet. some areas could see 20 to 30 millimetres of rain or more. and these are the wind gusts, unusually strong winds for the time of year, gusts of 50 miles per hour or more for some coasts. that rain spreading across the isle of man into north west england, across northern ireland, into south western and central parts of scotland. with those brisk winds, temperature—wise, 15, 16, 17 degrees covers it for most of us. but it will feel particularly chilly if you're stuck under the cloud
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and the rain. now, that frontal system will weaken and it will push through as we head into friday. still some persistent rain left behind across the north of scotland and further south. yes, we'll see some spells of sunshine, but also we'll see some showers erupting, some heavy thundery ones likely. so a very unsettled complexion to the weather. temperatures may be a little bit higher, 13 to 19 degrees, but that's still a touch below where we'd expect to be at this time of year. into the weekend, does look quite unsettled. showers or longer spells of rain, not quite as cool as it has been over the last few days.
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live from london, this is bbc news. rishi sunak insists he has absolutely not lost hope of winning the general election after a cabinet minister warned against the labour supermajority. labour leader sir keir starmer says if you want change, you have to vote for it. both leaders arrive in grimsby ahead of the sky tv event, said to begin at 7pm. the green party delivers its manifesto for england and wales, pledging tax rises to fund investment in health care and clean energy. new figures show no growth in britain's economy in april, which wet weather partly to blame. how long could you last without your smartphone? we meet at the teenagers swapping theirs for something
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simpler. hello, i'm geeta guru—murthy, welcome to bbc news. we will start with the main election development this hour. the prime minister has insisted he has "absolutely not" given up hope of a conservaive victory, after his defence secretary warned voters not to hand labour what he called a "supermajority" in paliament. grant shapps said a huge victory could give sir keir starmer "unchecked power" and put the uk in "a dangerous place." the labour leader responded, saying "if you want change, you have to vote for it." labour have been pushing their policies for drivers today — pledging to fill a million potholes. both main party leaders are due to hold a tv election debate later in grimsby. meanwhile, the green party have launched their election manifesto, with a plan to boost health and social care by £50 billion a year — partly paid for by a wealth tax. and complete with ed davey photo op, the lib dems have outlined more details of their plan to clean up the uk's waterways,
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by creating a "tough new regulator" to replace ofwat. with a round—up of the main developments so far today, here's our political correspondent jess parker. from a rainsoaked election kick—off to handing some d—day duties to his foreign secretary, the tory campaign has had its awkward moments. and now a rallying cry from one of rishi sunak�*s top team, seemingly not for a conservative victory but warning against a labour rout. you don't want to have somebody receive a supermajority, and in this case of course the concern would be that if keir starmer were to go into number ten — it will either be rishi sunak or keir starmer, there is no other outcome to this election — and that power was in some way unchecked, it would be very bad news for people in this country. even more unusual is that these
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comments come just a day after the tory manifesto launch, an occasion that is meant to energise. while rishi sunak has again been accused of being out of touch after, in an interview recorded last week, he was asked about what he had had to go without as a child. like lots of people, there will be all sorts of things that i would have wanted as a kid that i could not have. famously, sky tv! that was something that we never had growing up, actually. but there are lots of things, but again, that's... my experience is obviously going to be what my experience was, what is more important is my values and how i was raised, and i was raised in a household where hard work was really important. the prime minister told reporters today off—camera that he has not given up on victory. rishi sunak said he will fight for every vote but his repeated efforts to try and eat into labour's significant poll lead just don't appear to be working. what's more, his campaign since it started has built up an undesirable reputation,
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one of being prone to political gaffes and unforced errors. at a car repair training centre, labour has been talking about tackling potholes — and sir keir starmer has faced his own bumps in the road, notably rows over candidate selection, while the tories say labour's policy offer is thin. i am not complacent about this, i know that every single vote has to be earned, nobody has cast a vote in this election yet but it is important, i think, for the country that we have change, and i think for change, we need a mandate. tomorrow, labour publishes its manifesto. with three weeks until polling day, they may have the momentum, but politics can move, and fast — nothing is locked in. jessica parker, bbc news, in westminster. our political correspondent harry farley, is travelling with the conservative campaign. so i'm in grimsby at the moment. the prime minister has been
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campaigning in the nearby area and he's just arrived for the tv debate tonight on sky news against sir keir starmer, against the labour leader, obviously facing questions about whether he has already conceded defeat. you heard in that package there from jess that the defence secretary grant shapps saying the labour shouldn't be given a super majority, appearing to argue that people should vote for conservatives not to get a conservative government but to limit the scale of a labour victory. well, we spoke to the prime minister on the battle bus, the tory campaign bus on the way up here to lincolnshire. he denied that he conceded defeat. he said he was fighting hard for every vote. but i suspect that's something we'll hear more from later. obviously, one of the messages from keir starmerfrom the labour party, given their lead in the polls has been against complacency. they've been warning
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their candidates, they've been warning their officials, their campaigners against complacency and against assuming they have already won this election. and this, i suppose, shift from the conservatives, from grant shapps in particular, arguing that people should vote conservative to limit a labour majority. that shift is a challenge to that sense of complacency, and keir starmer has just mentioned there, arguing that no votes are in and that if people want change they need to vote for it. so it's an interesting shift, i suppose, in the conservative campaign tactic today. and is it a shift? are there still separate, slightly conflicting voices on this? and we do have to also spell out that the polls aren't always fully accurate. we've seen when theresa may, for example, lost the size of her majority, we saw david cameron winning a majority against some of the predictions. so we have to be incredibly careful with this, don't we? yes, we do. and you're right, things can change.
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obviously, theresa may went into that election in 2017 with quite a healthy lead in the polls, and then everything changed. there is still... we are only half way through this campaign, we should remember, and there is a long way to go. so there is... but i think we shouldn't sort of skip over that grant shapps comment. it was quite a notable shift and interestingly, i've been speaking to a number of conservative candidates through the day today, asking them for their reaction and all of them, all of the ones that i've spoken to anyway, have told me that that is just the reality on the ground. and actually they are deploying that argument on the doorstep. they're saying to voters when they speak to them, they're essentially saying keir starmer is going to be prime minister. who do you want holding him to account? so they've been repeating that argument on the doorstep. and, harry, ijust want to raise something else that is just emerging on the conservative campaign front, because one of the candidates, dame andrea jenkyns,
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has written on twitter defending one of her election leaflets, which you can just about see sort of at the top left of that screen. i think she's pictured there with nigel farage, no pictures of her and the prime minister. and she's written saying lots of excitement in my leaflet today. all conservatives must be prepared to come together to prevent a socialist supermajority and the end of britain as we know it. any further reaction, or how difficult could this be? well, i think it's a reflection. i mean, andrea jenkyns has been a long time critic of rishi sunak, we should bear that in mind and was one ofjust a very small number to admit that they that she had written as she had written a letter of no confidence in him. so not a fan of rishi sunak, a long time critic of his. i noticed a spokesperson
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for andrea jenkyns said that she is, above all, a patriot. she fought hard for brexit alongside politicians from all parties and is proud of being able to transcend party politics. so that's the view from andrea jenkyns. no response yet from the conservative party that i've seen, anyway. but as you say, it's a reflection, i suppose, of the concern from some conservative members about the threat from nigel farage's party from reform uk and many conservatives, particularly on the right of the party, wanting that manifesto that we saw yesterday to go further than it did, particularly on issues like the european court of human rights wanting tougher language around that than we saw, wanting even a commitment to leave the echr if it blocked the rwanda scheme. and we didn't see that language, so there was frustration from some on the right of the party about that. and i think that leaflet from andrea jenkyns, i suppose, reminding us all about the breadth of opinion in the conservative party, but worth bearing in mind that she has been a long time critic
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of rishi sunak. harry farley. and of course a full list is online of all of the candidates there. more now on the labour campaign, amid denials from sir keir starmer that it's a foregone conclusion that labour will win a majority. asked by reporters for his response to grant shapps warning people not to give labour a "supermajority," sir keir said he wasn't going to be complacent. our correspondent lone wells spoke to me from the labour campaign bus about the feeling within the labour party. when you speak to people within the labour party, whether that's some of the candidates, whether that's members of the campaign team, obviously, privately, they are feeling confident. they are feeling like things are going very well for them so far in the campaign and they're getting a sort of positive response in the way that they hoped for. but, as you say, crucially, they don't want to be seen to be being overly complacent. and there is a real nervousness, i think, among some members of the shadow cabinet, because some of them
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have gone through many, many elections now where they have been unsuccessful. and for them, they almost don't sort of feel like the polls can be real. that's something they, i think, are slightly nervous about. but i think there is also a degree of sort of public messaging at play here. they don't want to be seen to be complacent. when i spoke to keir starmer earlier, he said that he wants to get a strong mandate from people. he said that he's been saying to people on the campaign trail that if they want a change of leadership, then they have to vote for it. and i think there is certainly potentially a concern as well within the labour camp that if the polls are suggesting a labour majority, then will people think it's a foregone conclusion and decide that they don't necessarily need to turn out and vote? that certainly is a concern, i think, among some in the labourcampaign. but, as i say, privately, they are of course feeling much more confident than they have done in previous years, although, yes, some senior figures still wondering whether they quite want to let themselves believe that just yet. and today labour are highlighting potholes, which might seem like a relatively small issue, although it's a very real issue for many
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people who drive a lot. and of course their manifesto is being announced tomorrow. any hints on whether that is likely to be pretty safe, or any surprises? well, i think one of the things that we've heard quite repeatedly in the last couple of days from senior figures in the labour party is that when it comes to the economy, for example, there aren't going to be what they describe as tax surprises. they've ruled out raising any of the sort of three major personal taxes — vat, national insurance, income tax. they've insisted that all their policies are going to be fully costed, fully funded. i don't think we're necessarily going to see any huge, big surprises, because i think there is a degree of caution at play here, as you suggest. but i think we've seen a couple of policies, of course, that they've announced already that will feature tomorrow. i think everyone will, of course, be wondering if there is any sort of final surprises that come out in their manifesto launch. before that, though, of course, as well, the labour leader, sir keir starmer has got another head to head debate with the prime minister rishi sunak later this evening. that again a chance for the labour
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leader to try and sort of get some of his key messages across. in the last one there was that really big clash, particularly over tax, where rishi sunak tried to sort of hammer a message accusing labour of being a party that would put up taxes, which was then heavily disputed by the labour party. so i think we may see some of those arguments crop up again this evening and that is the kind of major challenge, first for both party leaders ahead of labour's manifesto launch tomorrow. lone wells. more now on the launch of the green party's election manifesto, which includes pledges to invest tens of billions of pounds in public services and clean energy. funding would come from increased taxes on higher earners and the wealthy. the parties' co—leaders said the greens represented "real change" and would "invest to mend broken britain". co—leader carla denyer spelled out the greens' priorities. our manifesto lays out a bold but simple plan — to bring our water companies, our railways and the big five retail energy companies into public ownership. this would end the rip—off of rising bills, appalling service and
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shareholders trousering millions. we would restore our ailing high streets too — urban and rural — and recognise their value to the communities they serve by investing in support of small and medium—sized businesses. we would overhaul our tax system to make it fairer. at the heart of this would be a tax on the very richest, the top 1% of people, requiring them to pay a bit more into the pot. the co—leader of the green party, there. ben chu, from the bbc verify team, has been analysing the green party's pledges and how they say they'll fund them. on verify we are asking the same questions of all the parties and their election manifestos this week. so today, what's in the green party manifesto and does it add up? well, their key spending pledge is £50 billion extra per year for health and social care, and to pay for it an increase in taxes, which they say would raise up to £70 billion.
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so which taxes should go up? well, among them are national insurance, capital gains tax, carbon taxes and a wealth tax, a new wealth tax, which they say would raise £15 billion. so let's focus on this last one. so the greens say it would be levied at a rate of 1% on the assets of people with more than £10 million, and 2% on those with more than £1 billion. would that work? well, a lot would depend on the design of this new wealth tax, and some tax experts are sceptical that it would raise the amount claimed year after year. but the wealth tax expert arun advani of the university of warwickjudges that aiming to raise this total amount of new tax — over £50 billion — including from new wealth taxes, is economically credible, although the merits of doing so are, of course, a matterfor voters. it's also worth putting the size
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of the green party's manifesto tax and spending package in the context of other parties we've heard from so far. here's the liberal democrats with £27 billion of tax rises and additional spending, and here is the conservatives, £18 billion. that's mainly tax cuts. the greens tower over that with £70 billion of tax rises and new spending. they say they're being more radical because they're being more honest about the scale of the economic challenges facing the country. their opponents will say they're doing it to distinguish themselves and because they'd be unlikely to form the next government. by the way, labour's tax and spending commitments are expected to be smaller than these, so we'll find that out tomorrow and verify will, of course, be here to bring you full analysis. the liberal democrats have outlined details to replace the water industry watchdog, ofwat, with what they call
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a "tough new regulator" for england and wales, if they're elected. party leader sir ed davey said the clean water authority would be given new powers to reform the industry, with firms required to publish data on the amount of sewage they dump into rivers. sir ed launched the policy on a visit to an outdoor adventure centre in warwickshire and — not for the fist time during this campaign — it didn't take too long for him to test the water quality directly. here's ed davey speaking to our reporter tom symonds — explaining why he sees a need for water reform. what we are trying to get over is the fact that there is a sewage scandal, with the water companies being allowed by the conservatives to keep pumping theirfilthy sewage into our rivers, our lakes, into our beaches and seas, and it's got to end. so we keep coming back to them, i'm not going to apologise for that. we have explained how serious the problem is to our environment, to public health, and it affects leisure activities. so here we are, having some fun, yeah, but making the point that millions of people
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like going into water — like swimming, like paddle boarding, like doing other water sports — and if we don't clean the water properly they won't be able to enjoy that, as well as it being damaging to the environment and public health. so what we're saying today, let's have tougher new regulator, we are calling it the clean water authority, and it backs up all the liberal democrat policies to end this sewage scandal. our correspondent tom symonds has the latest from the lib dem battlebus. i spoke to him earlier. we're actually just about to head into woking for another stop, yet another stop on the sir ed davey road show, which has been all about photo calls, as you say, very few, at least the few days i've spent on the bus, occasions during which the public can see sir ed davey, ask him questions, make their political points to him. a lot of it has been organised with liberal democrat campaigners and candidates alongside in closed off areas with us, the media there. and the reason for that i think is that the liberal democrats clearly have to try to communicate over the heads of the big bigger parties, the conservatives
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and labour, and try to get some attention in this very crowded political airspace. they're doing that by trying to get the idea that sir ed davey is a guy who likes a bit of fun, who is campaigning for things like clean water, as you say, today, announcing the new clean water authority for england and wales that they would like to bring in, which would ban water company bonuses, for example, and remove the licences of companies which are not performing and also set legally binding targets for sewage discharges. but every time, they think, every time they get some kind of coverage like this, people are still likely to consider them as a possible vote. and there are reasons why they think the liberal democrats could be important in the final outcome of this election. if, as we've been hearing, labour was to get some kind of a supermajority, the liberal democrats say we'd be a great party to offer opposition to labour. the conservatives, they say, after an election
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will be in disarray and therefore we're cohesive, we can do the job of holding the government to account and they have had some small success. it's one poll, but they have had a four point bump in their poll since the launch of the manifesto on monday. it could be an outlier poll. they're hoping it's not. tom symonds on the lib dem campaign. and if you're keen for more politics, nick robinson continues his series of interviews with the party leaders tonight. he'll be joined by the snp's john swinney on panorama at seven o'clock on bbc one and iplayer. he'll also be speaking to plaid cymru's rhun ap iorwerth. that is all available on the iplayer, of course. some venues now. new figures show the uk economy flatlined in april, with zero growth as the wet weather put off shoppers and slowed down construction. the latest data from the office for national statistics follow figures betweenjanuary and march, when the economy recorded its fastest growth in two years. here's our chief economics
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correspondent dharshini david. the wettest april in 12 years put the boot in many plans and activities. a trip to the beach was off the menu. hi, it's nice to meet you. so tell me about this place. in margate, laurie installs tooth gems, which have soared in popularity. businesses like hers aim to make this a year—round destination, but the weather can be an issue. the rain does put people off, but we do get the people who come out and they go, oh, you know, never mind. we'lljust find something to do. the train strikes for sure have been a bit of a problem for us because a lot of the town itself is reliant on tourism. things do seem to be brightening up as many people start feeling better off despite the wet weather putting a bit of a dampener on economic activity in april. however, we've got a lot of catching up to do. some say that we could be up to £11,000 worse off than we might be because growth over the last 15 years, because of things
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like the pandemic, the war in ukraine has been a fraction of what it was before. so have we turned a corner? in newcastle, experiences are mixed. i'm not complaining, because i know there's a lot of people worse off than me. ijust think it's getting worse for people. you know, i think the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, in my opinion. but i don't think anything changes really, does it? things willjust start moving in the economy again. - people have more money. in their pockets, spending it in the economy, which... that just feeds growth, etc. so, yeah, i'm positive. i think things will turn - in a couple of months' time. rising incomes should lift the recovery over the summer, but if we are to recapture the sparkling growth of the past, more attention will have to turn to areas like investment in skills, technology and transport. a challenge for all those vying to govern the country. darshini david, bbc news, margate.
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the prosecution in the retrial of convicted killer lucy letby has said her status as a multiple murderer and attempted murderer is an important piece of evidence and should be taken into account. she's accused of the attempted murder of a baby at the countess of chester hospital in 2016. she denies the charge. our north of england correspondent judith moritz gave us this update from the court in manchester. yes. 0h, oh, sorry, we don't have that report at the moment, but there is more online. campaigners are calling for more action to stop fires caused by faulty lithium ion batteries. the charity electrical safety first says new laws should be a priority for the next government. the campaign is being backed by scott peaden, whose partner and two children died in a fire, believed to have been started by a faulty e—bike battery. tim muffett has this report. i screamed, "gemma, pass me the kids, pass me the kids!" and i heard a voice from her saying,
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"i can't get out." lastjune, scott peden lost everything. he'd bought a replacement battery online for his e—bike. the following week, a blaze ripped through his home. cambridgeshire fire and rescue service believes it was caused by the battery that had been left on charge overnight. in november, scott described how, afterfour weeks in an induced coma, he was told what had happened. my mum and my dad broke the news to me. and, yeah, i lost my girlfriend, my son, my daughter, and our two dogs. scott's partner, gemma, was 31. his daughter, lily, was eight. his son oliver was four. scott, it's nearly a year ago, isn't it, since the terrible fire happened? this morning on breakfast, scott backed calls by safety campaigners for tougher safety regulations when it comes to the sale of lithium ion batteries.
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i want to save the next person's brother, sister, mother, father, daughter from having to go through what i've gone through. no one should go through what i've gone through. lithium ion batteries contain a large amount of energy in a small space. this is thermal runaway, demonstrated in a lab. if a cell in a faulty battery heats up uncontrollably, a devastating chain reaction can follow. we've seen a 70% increase in fires in 2023, from - about four fires a week. we are calling on government and all parties, really, - to work together to bring in urgent safety measures so that batteriesl that are sold have been tested and confirmed to be safe - by a third party. at the moment we have got - manufacturers who are able to self certify, self—declare - that their products are safe. we believe that needs to stop. people are modifying them to gain that little extra power to make it
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like new and selling it on. and they're not being clear enough to say that it's been modified. scott suffered serious burns, broken bones and lung damage in the fire. he says he is taking each day as it comes, but he hopes tougher safety laws will spare others the devastation he has suffered over the past year. an invasive species of mosquito is thought to be behind a rise in dengue fever cases across the european union, with the insects found in countries like france, spain and greece. the european centre for disease prevention and control says climate change is creating more favourable conditions for the tiger moquito to spread. our health reporter philippa roxby has been investigating. mosquitoes have become a growing threat in europe over the past two decades. the particularly invasive asian tiger mosquito has now set up home in 13 countries in europe, including france, spain, germany and greece.
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warm, humid conditions are encouraging it to spread further north and west. and with it come diseases like dengue. dr andrea ammon, a director of the european centre for disease prevention and control, told a press conference in sweden what they're seeing. there is a connection between a higher temperature in summer, milderwinters and the spread of the mosquitoes further in areas where they're not present right now. figures for 2023 show a significant rise in people infected locally and through international travel. with the olympic games bringing large numbers to paris this summer, experts are warning of the risk of more outbreaks. advice is to use repellent and remove stagnant water from gardens, where mosquitoes can breed. if climate change progresses
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at the pace it has so far, a recent report warns that dengue could be transmitted in the uk within a0 years. philippa roxby, bbc news. a second man has denied illegally felling the uk's most famous tree. 31—year—old adam carruthers from wigton appeared at newcastle crown court today charged with causing criminal damage to both the tree at sycamore gap in northumberland and hadrian's wall in september last year. 38—year—old daniel graham, from carlisle, previously denied both offences. this is bbc news. the headlines.
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this is bbc news, the headlines: rishi sunak insists he has "absolutely not" lost hope of winning the general election — after a cabinet minister warned against a labour "supermajority". the labour leader keir starmer says if you want change you have to vote for it. both leaders are rife in greece be ahead of their sky news event which at seven o'clock. let's return to the election now — and trust and confidence in uk
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politics has never been worse — that's the stark finding of a new report which examined the public�*s perception of governments from the 19705 to the present day. the analysis also suggests a record number of voters "almost never" trust politicians to tell the truth. our home editor mark easton has more. jingle: radio humberside. what do you want to hear from the politicians ahead of the general election? let me know. the voters of hull tend not to get excited about elections. the city had the lowest turnout at the last one of anywhere in the country, and it doesn't take long to find out why. the hopelessness is just, what's the point? it doesn't matter who i vote for, it's all going to be the same. will you be voting? me? it's a waste of time. waste of time, voting. i have no faith in any of it. none. tony martin, hull born and bred, contacted the bbc�*s your voice your vote because he feels so angry that politicians are taking people for fools. i am absolutely fed up to the back
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teeth of not hearing the truth. politicians in every party seem to treat us like idiots. you obviously feel really strongly about this. i do. i've never known the decline that we've experienced, notjust this year, but probably for the last ten or 20 years. it's notjust yorkshire skepticism. a new report from the national centre for social research finds that across the country, trust and confidence in politics and politicians has never been lower. this election is being held amid a collapse of faith in our democratic systems. the report finds 45% of voters would almost never trust the government to put the country before their party — the highest proportion ever. 58% would almost never trust politicians to tell the truth when in a tight corner — a figure that's never been higher.
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changing the electoral system under which we'll all be... the report's author, the doyen of election analysis, professor sirjohn curtis, told me he's detected a sense of desperation among the electorate. these figures mean that we are now less trusting, less confident in our system of government than we have been at any point during the last 40 or 50 years. the report suggests voters think the way we're governed is broken. eight in ten say the system needs improving quite a lot or a great deal, with more than half wanting the voting system changed to one which is fairer to smaller parties. it's not boiling hot. it's not freezing cold. so what is the answer? many of the parties promised to give more power to the people. this part of yorkshire is due to have its own regional authority and most manifestos propose to devolve more control to such bodies. but hull is at the forefront of a grassroots movement to counter political apathy by creating people's assemblies. people need to have the power
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to make decisions for themselves. they've lost faith in politics from the top, and they need to really feel ownership over a movement that's coming from the bottom — something that meets their needs where they are. all sorts of people from a local community, who wouldn't - normally necessarily meet, - come together and discuss what's important and what they might do about things. i disillusionment over brexit, political scandal and economic crisis — all are blamed for the lack of trust. whoever wins the election will have an urgentjob to restore the nation's faith in its democracy. mark easton, bbc news, hull. the electoral expertjohn the electoral expert john curtis conducted the electoral expertjohn curtis conducted that report. i asked him earlier whether he was surprised by the rules or if it is what he expected. i5 the rules or if it is what he expected-_ the rules or if it is what he exected. , , , . ., expected. is pretty much what i expected. _ expected. is pretty much what i expected. to — expected. is pretty much what i expected, to be _ expected. is pretty much what i expected, to be honest, - expected. is pretty much what i expected, to be honest, it - expected. is pretty much what i expected, to be honest, it is i expected. is pretty much what i l expected, to be honest, it is one expected. is pretty much what i - expected, to be honest, it is one of the reasons that we suspect it may
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be something had changed. given that after the 2019 election and the delivery of brexit, there had in fact been a marked improvement in trust and confidence at least amongst those who had voted in favour of leaving the european union. the last couple of years have been particularly difficult following on from the pandemic, we've had the cost of living crisis, the russian ukrainian war, the impact all of that has had on people's lives together of course with the demise of notjust one but two prime ministers in pretty unprecedented circumstances. to that extent, now, we were anticipating that may be indeed this had affected people's trust and confidence. other people's trust and confidence. other people have suggested that was the case and given with pretty much got the longest time series, we thought it was worth checking out whether that's what happened. ihleu’r it was worth checking out whether that's what happened.— that's what happened. new report sa s that's what happened. new report says disillusioned _ that's what happened. new report says disillusioned amongst - that's what happened. new report says disillusioned amongst brexit| says disillusioned amongst brexit leave voters is one of the reasons for this collapse. $5
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leave voters is one of the reasons for this collapse.— for this collapse. as i was saying, immediately _ for this collapse. as i was saying, immediately in _ for this collapse. as i was saying, immediately in the _ for this collapse. as i was saying, immediately in the wake - for this collapse. as i was saying, immediately in the wake of - for this collapse. as i was saying, immediately in the wake of the i immediately in the wake of the delivery of brexit, much of the rise in trust and confidence that occurred in the wake of the 2019 election, virtually all of that occurred amongst leave voters, for example, only around 17% of them thought that the system of governing britain was working reasonably well, that rose to a1% in the wake of the delivery of brexit, and when all the way back down again to little more than what it was then, is down to about 24% amongst leave voters. other patterns for the questions about trust in politicians, and what we know about leave voters, even if the still back to staying out of the european union and many still do, you would find that i read two in five of them think that the economy is worse off as a result of brexit, thatis is worse off as a result of brexit, that is not what most of them had anticipated four years ago, and
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equally, nearly half of them now think that brexit has resulted in an increase in emigration, the very opposite of what most of them wanted. it is these leave voters in particular his views on the country and its politicians has changed so much. essentially, they are disappointed, theyjust feel, some of them perhaps and i feel brexit was a mistake, but others clearly feel that politicians have failed to deliver on brexit what they thought they had been promised and surprisingly, they are disenchanted as a result. ldale surprisingly, they are disenchanted as a result. ~ ., . surprisingly, they are disenchanted as a result. ~ . , ., as a result. we have been hearing about the green _ as a result. we have been hearing about the green party _ as a result. we have been hearing about the green party manifesto i about the green party manifesto launch. energy is a key issue in suffolk, in the east of england where the green party believes it has strong support. and this afternoon our correspondent nicky schiller is in the suffolk coastal constituency. the view you can see is of the orwell bridge. this is the main in
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and out of suffolk, you will see a lot of lorries on that bridge because felixstowe, one of the big ports here in suffolk, as you say, we have been here all day, we focus on energy this morning. we moved inside because it started raining, ben parker is still with me, he is the political reporter for bbc suffolk. the greens are targeting a seatin suffolk. the greens are targeting a seat in suffolk, what is the political landscape and the issues you have been hearing about? the reneral you have been hearing about? the general election in 2019, the conservatives had a clean sweep, 107 seats _ conservatives had a clean sweep, 107 seats with _ conservatives had a clean sweep, 107 seats with healthy majority by winning — seats with healthy majority by winning over 20,000 votes in some places _ winning over 20,000 votes in some places it _ winning over 20,000 votes in some places it is — winning over 20,000 votes in some places. it is going to be more interesting this time around, labour are targeting two seats in the county, — are targeting two seats in the county, ipswich and lowestoft. the greens— county, ipswich and lowestoft. the greens are — county, ipswich and lowestoft. the greens are targeting waverley valley — greens are targeting waverley valley. they are putting a lot of time _ valley. they are putting a lot of time and — valley. they are putting a lot of time and resource into that seat. it's going — time and resource into that seat. it's going to be really interesting, election— it's going to be really interesting, election night to see if anything is different— election night to see if anything is different to five years ago. you
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mention— different to five years ago. you mention some of the issues, the 0rwell— mention some of the issues, the orwell bridge is one of them. voters talk to— orwell bridge is one of them. voters talk to me _ orwell bridge is one of them. voters talk to me about this all the time. back— talk to me about this all the time. back row— talk to me about this all the time. back row deals with thousands of lorries _ back row deals with thousands of lorries and — back row deals with thousands of lorries and cars every single when that bridge causes through accidents or bad _ that bridge causes through accidents or bad wind, all of that traffic to id or bad wind, all of that traffic to go through ipswich which is the busiest — go through ipswich which is the busiest town in the county. i have sat in— busiest town in the county. i have sat in that — busiest town in the county. i have sat in that traffic, the roads are not made — sat in that traffic, the roads are not made for it, really struggles. there _ not made for it, really struggles. there were — not made for it, really struggles. there were proposals for a bypass, there _ there were proposals for a bypass, there was— there were proposals for a bypass, there was not a huge amount of political— there was not a huge amount of political support and money was an issue _ political support and money was an issue for— political support and money was an issue. forany political support and money was an issue. for any wannabe mp talking about— issue. for any wannabe mp talking about infrastructure, particularly the a14 — about infrastructure, particularly the a14 and the are well bridge will cut through to voters. we the a14 and the are well bridge will cut through to voters.— the a14 and the are well bridge will cut through to voters. we are in the third hole, — cut through to voters. we are in the third hole, it— cut through to voters. we are in the third hole, it has— cut through to voters. we are in the third hole, it has a _ cut through to voters. we are in the third hole, it has a restaurant, - cut through to voters. we are in the third hole, it has a restaurant, it. third hole, it has a restaurant, it has a nice place where you can buy local produce. the director of the suffolk food hall is all very, what is the key issue in suffolk that you want politicians to address? ldale is the key issue in suffolk that you want politicians to address? we have not heard enough _
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want politicians to address? we have not heard enough about _ want politicians to address? we have not heard enough about how- want politicians to address? we have not heard enough about how local. not heard enough about how local decisions — not heard enough about how local decisions could _ not heard enough about how local decisions could be _ not heard enough about how local decisions could be made. - not heard enough about how local decisions could be made. i- not heard enough about how local decisions could be made. i am - decisions could be made. lam interested _ decisions could be made. lam interested to _ decisions could be made. lam interested to see _ decisions could be made. lam interested to see how - decisions could be made. lam interested to see how regional devolution _ interested to see how regional devolution will— interested to see how regional devolution will play _ interested to see how regional devolution will play out - interested to see how regional devolution will play out with l interested to see how regional. devolution will play out with the next government. _ devolution will play out with the next government. because - devolution will play out with the next government. because i- devolution will play out with the next government. because idol devolution will play out with the - next government. because i do think some _ next government. because i do think some of— next government. because i do think some of the — next government. because i do think some of the things _ next government. because i do think some of the things we _ next government. because i do think some of the things we want - next government. because i do think some of the things we want to - next government. because i do thinkj some of the things we want to solve, we have _ some of the things we want to solve, we have the — some of the things we want to solve, we have the ability— some of the things we want to solve, we have the ability to _ some of the things we want to solve, we have the ability to solve - some of the things we want to solve, we have the ability to solve it - we have the ability to solve it ourselves, _ we have the ability to solve it ourselves, but _ we have the ability to solve it ourselves, but we _ we have the ability to solve it ourselves, but we need - we have the ability to solve it. ourselves, but we need support we have the ability to solve it - ourselves, but we need support from westminster~ — ourselves, but we need support from westminster. too _ ourselves, but we need support from westminster. too often, _ ourselves, but we need support from westminster. too often, things- ourselves, but we need support from westminster. too often, things get. westminster. too often, things get locked _ westminster. too often, things get locked up— westminster. too often, things get locked up in— westminster. too often, things get locked up in some _ westminster. too often, things get locked up in some darkened - westminster. too often, things get locked up in some darkened room, | locked up in some darkened room, some _ locked up in some darkened room, some department, _ locked up in some darkened room, some department, and _ locked up in some darkened room, some department, and we - locked up in some darkened room, some department, and we do - locked up in some darkened room, some department, and we do not. locked up in some darkened room, . some department, and we do not get the support— some department, and we do not get the support to — some department, and we do not get the support to solve _ some department, and we do not get the support to solve issues _ some department, and we do not get the support to solve issues which - the support to solve issues which might— the support to solve issues which might be — the support to solve issues which might be a — the support to solve issues which might be a rent— the support to solve issues which might be a rent infrastructure. i might be a rent infrastructure. added — might be a rent infrastructure. added to — might be a rent infrastructure. added to we _ might be a rent infrastructure. added to we also _ might be a rent infrastructure. added to we also need - might be a rent infrastructure. added to we also need a - might be a rent infrastructure. - added to we also need a programme to rationalise _ added to we also need a programme to rationalise what _ added to we also need a programme to rationalise what the _ added to we also need a programme to rationalise what the regional— added to we also need a programme to rationalise what the regional and - rationalise what the regional and local government _ rationalise what the regional and local government is _ rationalise what the regional and local government is because - rationalise what the regional and| local government is because here rationalise what the regional and i local government is because here in suffolk, _ local government is because here in suffolk, we — local government is because here in suffolk, we have _ local government is because here in suffolk, we have too _ local government is because here in suffolk, we have too many- local government is because here in suffolk, we have too many tiers - suffolk, we have too many tiers of local— suffolk, we have too many tiers of local government, _ suffolk, we have too many tiers of local government, none _ suffolk, we have too many tiers of local government, none is - suffolk, we have too many tiers of| local government, none is because here in— local government, none is because here in suffolk, _ local government, none is because here in suffolk, we _ local government, none is because here in suffolk, we have _ local government, none is because here in suffolk, we have too - local government, none is because here in suffolk, we have too manyl here in suffolk, we have too many tiers— here in suffolk, we have too many tiers of— here in suffolk, we have too many tiers of local — here in suffolk, we have too many tiers of local government, - tiers of local government, nannies consolidating. _ tiers of local government, nannies consolidating, potentially- tiers of local government, nannies consolidating, potentially within i consolidating, potentially within that devolution _ consolidating, potentially within that devolution and _ consolidating, potentially within that devolution and directly- consolidating, potentially within i that devolution and directly elected process _ that devolution and directly elected rocess. ., that devolution and directly elected rocess. . ,, ., ., ,, , ., ~ process. paul simon from the suffolk chamber of commerce, _ process. paul simon from the suffolk chamber of commerce, he _ process. paul simon from the suffolk chamber of commerce, he joins - process. paul simon from the suffolk chamber of commerce, he joins us. i chamber of commerce, hejoins us. same question to you, what is it that matters here in suffolk? is infrastructure that we've been talking about the key issue? the business community is core, we need a 21st _ business community is core, we need a 21st century infrastructure as opposed — a 21st century infrastructure as opposed to the one we have which is
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60 or— opposed to the one we have which is 60 or 70 _ opposed to the one we have which is 60 or 70 years out of date, whether it be the _ 60 or 70 years out of date, whether it be the are — 60 or 70 years out of date, whether it be the are well bridge, the14, east _ it be the are well bridge, the14, east west— it be the are well bridge, the14, east west rail or mobile connectivity infrastructure, we have been _ connectivity infrastructure, we have been very— connectivity infrastructure, we have been very pulitzer. we are looking for on _ been very pulitzer. we are looking for on the — been very pulitzer. we are looking for on the newly elected come the 5th of— for on the newly elected come the 5th ofjuly— for on the newly elected come the 5th ofjuly two gather with the chamber, with local councils to make sure the _ chamber, with local councils to make sure the government gives and all of those _ sure the government gives and all of those projects that have been stuck in whitehall and westminster. without — in whitehall and westminster. without suffolk prospering there is no national prosperity.— no national prosperity. people who live in cities _ no national prosperity. people who live in cities forget _ no national prosperity. people who live in cities forget that _ no national prosperity. people who live in cities forget that some - no national prosperity. people who live in cities forget that some of i live in cities forget that some of the villages we have been in today, there is no mobile phone signal. suffolk is a county dominated by micro—business, by start—ups, and many— micro—business, by start—ups, and many of— micro—business, by start—ups, and many of those are in the market towns. — many of those are in the market towns. and _ many of those are in the market towns, and in the rural areas. the their— towns, and in the rural areas. the their competitiveness and ability to .row their competitiveness and ability to grow is— their competitiveness and ability to grow is hamstrung by a third—rate
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mobile _ grow is hamstrung by a third—rate mobile connectivity infrastructure. we want _ mobile connectivity infrastructure. we want a — mobile connectivity infrastructure. we want a fair share not only for suffolk— we want a fair share not only for suffolk to — we want a fair share not only for suffolk to jamaica contribution, a full contribution to national prosperity. full contribution to national prosperity-— full contribution to national --roseri . . , , , ,, prosperity. ok, that is the business is, the 're prosperity. ok, that is the business is. they're getting _ prosperity. ok, that is the business is, they're getting ready _ prosperity. ok, that is the business is, they're getting ready and - prosperity. ok, that is the business is, they're getting ready and the - is, they're getting ready and the the evening service. they talk to the evening service. they talk to the staff. if you are looking at the politicians, what is the number one issue for you?— issue for you? probably the situation — issue for you? probably the situation around _ issue for you? probably the situation around health - issue for you? probably the l situation around health care. issue for you? probably the - situation around health care. they talk about — situation around health care. they talk about the nhs, i am at the age where _ talk about the nhs, i am at the age where sadly our parents are getting slightly— where sadly our parents are getting slightly ill, that sort of age where i want _ slightly ill, that sort of age where i want them to be looked after and i want them — i want them to be looked after and i want them to have in a quick manner, the waiting _ want them to have in a quick manner, the waiting times, getting appointments, things like that. everyone — appointments, things like that. everyone is banging the same drum. it is a _ everyone is banging the same drum. it is a big _ everyone is banging the same drum. it is a big issue for everyone around _ it is a big issue for everyone around the country, not only in suffolk, — around the country, not only in suffolk, but at my age, it's seeing her parents — suffolk, but at my age, it's seeing her parents have to wait a lot of time _ her parents have to wait a lot of time to— her parents have to wait a lot of time to even get to see anyone. nhs for ou.
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time to even get to see anyone. nhs for you- what — time to even get to see anyone. nhs for you- what is — time to even get to see anyone. hhs for you. what is your number one issue? �* . for you. what is your number one issue? �* , ., for you. what is your number one issue? �*, ., ., issue? it's more about the fact that the don't issue? it's more about the fact that they don't really — issue? it's more about the fact that they don't really seem _ issue? it's more about the fact that they don't really seem to _ issue? it's more about the fact that they don't really seem to care - issue? it's more about the fact that| they don't really seem to care about they don't really seem to care about the younger— they don't really seem to care about the younger generation— they don't really seem to care about the younger generation and - they don't really seem to care about the younger generation and what . they don't really seem to care aboutj the younger generation and what we want and _ the younger generation and what we want and we — the younger generation and what we want and we are _ the younger generation and what we want and we are the _ the younger generation and what we want and we are the future. - the younger generation and what we want and we are the future. we - the younger generation and what we want and we are the future. we arel want and we are the future. we are what _ want and we are the future. we are what is _ want and we are the future. we are what is going — want and we are the future. we are what is going to _ want and we are the future. we are what is going to be _ want and we are the future. we are what is going to be left _ want and we are the future. we are what is going to be left when - what is going to be left when everyone _ what is going to be left when everyone else _ what is going to be left when everyone else is _ what is going to be left when everyone else is gone. - what is going to be left when everyone else is gone. you i what is going to be left when - everyone else is gone. you would think— everyone else is gone. you would think that — everyone else is gone. you would think that they— everyone else is gone. you would think that they would _ everyone else is gone. you would think that they would take - everyone else is gone. you would think that they would take us - everyone else is gone. you would think that they would take us into consideration— think that they would take us into consideration more, _ think that they would take us into consideration more, but- think that they would take us into consideration more, but i- think that they would take us into consideration more, but i feel- think that they would take us into| consideration more, but i feel like they are _ consideration more, but i feel like they are not _ consideration more, but i feel like they are not. fire _ consideration more, but i feel like they are not-— consideration more, but i feel like the are not. ., ., ., they are not. are you going to vote? no, iwill they are not. are you going to vote? no, i will be — they are not. are you going to vote? no, i will be voting. _ they are not. are you going to vote? no, i will be voting. is— they are not. are you going to vote? no, i will be voting. is that - no, i will be voting. is that because — no, i will be voting. is that because you _ no, i will be voting. is that because you think- no, i will be voting. is that because you think they - no, i will be voting. is that i because you think they won't no, i will be voting. is that - because you think they won't deal with issues that matter to you? i don't think they want to listen to us, they— don't think they want to listen to us, they see _ don't think they want to listen to us, they see us _ don't think they want to listen to us, they see us as _ don't think they want to listen to us, they see us as children. - don't think they want to listen to | us, they see us as children. what don't think they want to listen to us, they see us as children. what is the number — us, they see us as children. what is the number one _ us, they see us as children. what is the number one issue _ us, they see us as children. what is the number one issue for _ us, they see us as children. what is the number one issue for you? - us, they see us as children. what is the number one issue for you? it'sl the number one issue for you? it's the number one issue foryou? it's the housing situation. it's a universal— the housing situation. it's a universal matter for most people, trying _ universal matter for most people, trying to— universal matter for most people, trying to get onto the property ladder. — trying to get onto the property ladder, trying to apply for a mortgage, it's a pain. foryoung people— mortgage, it's a pain. foryoung people like— mortgage, it's a pain. foryoung people like myself, trying to do those _ people like myself, trying to do those things, it is much harder for us now— those things, it is much harder for us now than— those things, it is much harder for us now than it 50 years ago. health care, us now than it 50 years ago. health care. worrying _
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us now than it 50 years ago. health care, worrying about _ us now than it 50 years ago. health care, worrying about voting - us now than it 50 years ago. health care, worrying about voting and - care, worrying about voting and housing, some of the issues from the young people who are here in suffolk. we are in the south suffolk constituency, you can get a full list of all the candidates who are standing here on the bbc news website, where ever you are in the country, you can head there, type in you your postcode and it will give you your postcode and it will give you a list of the candidates in your area and where you can vote onjuly the 4th. he isjoined by he is joined byjohn he isjoined byjohn swinney on panorama tonight at seven o'clock. and he will be speaking to the plaid cymru leader. the us secretary of state antony blinken has said that hamas has proposed numerous changes in its response to the latest proposal for a gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal. speaking in qatar on his latest trip to the region, mr blinken said that some of the hamas changes
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were workable , but others went beyond what the group had previously accepted in talks for a ceasefire. mr blinken said it was time for the haggling to stop and for the ceasefire to start. hamas has described its response as "positive", saying it opens a "wide pathway" to reach an agreement with israel. hamas has proposed numerous changes to the proposal that was on the table. we discussed those proposals last night with egyptian colleagues and today with the prime minister. some of the changes are workable, some are not. here, in a nutshell, is where we stand — a deal was on the table that was virtually identical to the proposal that hamas put forward on may the 6th. a deal that the entire world is behind, a deal that israel has accepted and hamas could have answered with a single word, yes. instead, hamas waited nearly two weeks and then proposed more changes, a number of which go beyond the positions it previously
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had taken and accepted. hamas has issued its first formal response to a ceasefire plan outlined by president biden, and backed by the un security council. a statement from the group said it is ready to deal positively with efforts to reach an agreement — but an unnamed israeli official has accused hamas of changing key parts of the draft deal to such an extent that it amounted to a rejection. our middle east correspondent, yolande knell, gave us the latest from jerusalem. well, this hamas response definitely falls short of an outright acceptance, hamas indicating that it wants some amendments here. and that's not really very surprising because we have had hamas leaders in recent days expressing wariness that israel would move from the first phase of this plan which would see a six—week truce in exchange for many of israel's hostages being released from gaza, moving on to a second phase that is supposed to work towards a permanent end to fighting
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and a full withdrawal of israeli troops. the job of mediators including the us now is really to study that hamas reply in detail and see if they think that there is a gap that they can bridge between the two sides with ongoing negotiations. now, this lunchtime, we have had a real reminder of how high the stakes are here. a reminder that they stretch beyond israel and gaza with the lebanese armed group hezbollah firing big barrages of rockets into northern israel, most of them intercepted. that, after israeli forces killed a senior hezbollah commander overnight. israel has been retaliating for the rockets. but really, you know, for world powers, they want so much to have a ceasefire in gaza just to bring down tensions in the region and to stop this real danger of a wider regional war. how long do you think you could last without your
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smartphone? a few hours? a day? we've followed a group of teenagers to see how they cope without their smartphones for five days as part of a bbc radio 5 live project. our reporter kristianjohnson joined them to see how they got on. on friday, i received 479 notifications. it's fair to say some teenagers are pretty glued to their phones. 0k, guys. point of no return. thank you very much. but this group of students are doing the unthinkable — locking them away for almost a week. you said your goodbye? yes. good. no tiktok, no snapchat, no whatsapp. so, guys, these are your new... oh, my god! ..mobile phones. instead, they'll be using these for the next five days. the only way of communicating — texts and calls. i'm on a nokia. guys, do you want to see something? mum, this is weird, i don't like it! oh, my gosh! they're going to have to learn a whole new set of skills - for the next week to be able . to adapt and continue their life as close to what it used to be.
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but with that mobile - phone underpinning most of their activities, _ it's going to be a real challenge. so in the mornings, usually, i'll, like, search up the travel times, because then i know, "oh, yeah, i need to leave in five minutes. oh, yeah, i've got a little bit of time before i need to leave." but with, like, without a phone, i've got no way of knowing when the next tram will be. and not being involved in group chats means it's harderfor ruby to meet up with friends. i feel like with the nokia, i'm kind of missing out a bit more on social interaction. like, we always go bowling or something. we've not organised anything so far. 0k. so i'm 52 hours into the detox. i'm finding it ok. i don't think it's difficult oranything, like. two days into the journey, and while ruby's coping well, charlie has already given into temptation. it's genuinely hard when you don't have it. it's like having, like, a comfort item for how many ever years and itjust goes... it was really stressful. some others are struggling too.
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not knowing what's going on in, like, a group chat, itjust makes me like, "what am i missing out on?" but most are focusing on the positives. without my phone, i feel like i'm actually learning stuff and engaging more — noticing stuff around me, which i probably should be doing anyways but i'm just too addicted to my phone. usually before i go to bed, i usuallyjust watch, like disney+ for like an hour and then just drift off. but since then, i've just gone straight to sleep and it's weird. feels much better. the more time goes on, i it like becomes a lot easier to think of things to do _ because you've not got your phone, so you're like, "oh, new message." will's journey home takes over an hour. announcement: this is l a service to etihad campus. a tram first, then a bus. so in terms of not having a smartphone, it makes it more difficult because i can't check the timetable. and when they say it's been delayed or something, i could at least ring my dad and ask for a lift, you know? will's mum, alison, admits not
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being able to use family tracking apps like life360 is a hindrance, but she's noticed big changes in her son just three days into the detox. it's actually quite nice seeing you without headphones. i don't see you that much normally. no. i think it's just become the norm. whereas actual social interaction does require you to put these things away, and... yeah. ..engage a little bit more. five days later, it's the end of term and time to get those smartphones back. that yours? yeah. maybe i'll put my phone away in the car and i'll put my phone away, like, when i'm around my friends. but in general, like, going on to tiktok and everything, i'm still going to do that. like, ifanything, i'm going to do it more now. i think it's been pretty difficult without a smartphone, - but i've managed to get through it all right. - i'll try and use less - of tiktok, that's for sure. i know my screen time is quite high on that. i judging by their initial reaction,
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perhaps the students aren't quite ready to give up their smartphones entirely, but the detox might start to slowly change their habits. kristian johnson, bbc news. we lost a little bit of sound there. lucy grey is in warrington — at bbc radio 5 live's teen summit — and she's with two girls who took part in that digital detox. i am with grace and nell who took part in that smartphone detox. they swapped their smartphones for these phones. grace did her best, didn't you? with this terrible... tried to make it a bit cooler. but i think it's fair to say it was tricky, wasn't it? talk me through, first of all, nell, tell me how much you were on your phone before you took part in the detox. a bit too much. i'd say, like, above average, like 12 hours a day, 10 hours a day, which is... even when you're in lessons? oh, yeah. even when i'm in lessons, like, i'll still be on my phone. like, it's bad. it's really bad. like, sometimes ijust wish, like, i genuinelyjust didn't have one or didn't ever get one. you listen to your earphones under your hair.
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everyone does it, like, you know, stick an airpod in and not really pay attention or anything. but teachers over here, they know that. they know that now — they're going to be looking for this. no! 0k. so it was difficult. it was really difficult so talk me through how it was from day one and for five whole days. i think day one, like, the initial reaction of everyone getting their phones taken off them, everyone wasjust like, oh, my god, the five days off my phone, what am i going to do? we were all laughing, you know, like, calling each other at the table, give me your number, you know? you had a few games on it, didn't you? tetris, snake, all of them. like, i didn't really take it that serious at first. and then i think after i saw mr grant come in and take my phone, like, the realization sunk in and i was like, oh my gosh, i've got a nokia brick for five days. what am i going to do? and what did you do? i don't even really... like, because it was a very big range of things i did because it's like you really get into like the creative things you've done or do and it's
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like i did a lot of art. i tried to listen to music on my alexa and then it just didn't really work out. and then i watched a lot of tv and shows and stuff, but i don't know, it's just... did you miss out on anything, do you think? i reckon i have to put this nokia off. no. well, i don't think i missed out on that much because i feel like lots of people that week weren't really doing anything. but i did kind of get a bit of fomo like, what's everyone saying without me there? and you had better conversations with your dad, i understand. tell me about that, poor dad who's not been talked to for years. shout—out to my dad, guys, he... i remember, like, he kept bothering, because i've not got a phone, no distraction. so ijust live with him. it'sjust me and my dad. so i thought, hmm, let me go bother him. so i stood in his room. i was going, dad, tell me something fun about yourself. he was like, "get out my room" and i'm going, no. tell me about yourself. what did you learn about him? you learnt loads, didn't you? 0h, right. so he was telling me that him and my uncles used to be
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in a dance group together, they used to go break dancing and he didn't do his gcses because he was travelling the world with that breakdancing group. and you didn't know any of this, i didn't know any of this. and then ijust found out he was so interesting, like, and then he told me he used to be a world title boxer and then he was a dj. like, not having a phone, it'sjust like made me realise my dad is actually cool, which i would have never thought my dad is cool. it's not a sentence i would have ever come out my mouth, but my dad is cool. saying it on the telly now as well. i hope he's watching. well, it's so brilliant, isn't it? now, what about you in terms of what are you doing now that's different because your screen time has gone down, hasn't it? it's gone down a lot. and ifeel like i'm just really starting to think, ok, let's do things which are productive. and that will benefit me genuinely, because it's like me sat there on my phone on tiktok for like three hours at a time. that's not like, how is that benefiting me? shall i give you this back, then? i really, really... i'll have mine back gladly. yeah, i wouldn't. 0k. well, so, massive difference in terms of what you realise about yourself and one person has
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found out they've got a cool dad, so there is some result in all of this. that was a result. the acropolis in athens is to close during the hottest hours of today, as greece experiences a heatwave. temperatures are expected to reach 43 celsius over the next couple of days. officals say the archaeological site will close from midday to 5pm, during the first heatwave of the year in greece. schools will remain closed in several regions on wednesday and thursday, while the work ministry has advised public sector employees to work from home. let's catch up the weather with ben rich. hello. it is another unseasonably cool day across the uk. temperatures in most locations a few degrees below the average for the time of year. the air mass chart showing this relatively cool air in place. now, on the face of it, tomorrow brings a change, a change in wind direction. some warmer air heading our way. but with that, this frontal system bringing clouds and outbreaks of heavy rain, brisk winds as well. so i think actually in terms of the feel of the weather,
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it's still going to feel rather cool and turning wet and windy for many of us as we head into tomorrow. but back to today, some showers around, particularly across eastern parts, but those becoming increasingly few and far between. in fact, some brighter conditions developing, especially out towards the west, but temperatures north to south, 10 to 17 degrees. so still a few degrees below the seasonal average. and actually it's going to turn quite chilly overnight under this slice of clear skies. we could see a few mist and fog patches developing here and there. temperatures well down in single digits. some parts of scotland in the countryside down to around two or three degrees, a little bit milder out towards the west because here cloud and rain will be arriving. so, many places getting off to a dry start tomorrow morning, but across the south west of england and wales, it's going to turn really wet. some areas could see 20 to 30 millimetres of rain or more. and these are the wind gusts, unusually strong winds for the time of year, gusts of 50 miles per hour
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01’ more for some coasts. that rain spreading across the isle of man into north west england, across northern ireland, into south western and central parts of scotland. with those brisk winds, temperature—wise, 15, 16, 17 degrees covers it for most of us. but it will feel particularly chilly if you're stuck under the cloud and the rain. now, that frontal system will weaken and it will push through as we head into friday. still some persistent rain left behind across the north of scotland and further south. yes, we'll see some spells of sunshine, but also we'll see some showers erupting, some heavy thundery ones likely. so a very unsettled complexion to the weather. temperatures may be a little bit higher, 13 to 19 degrees, but that's still a touch below where we'd expect to be at this time of year. into the weekend, does look quite unsettled. showers or longer spells of rain, not quite as cool as it has been over the last few days.
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live from london. this is bbc news. rishi sunak insists he has "absolutely not" lost hope of winning the general election ? after a cabinet minister warned against a labour "supermajority". the labour leader keir starmer says if you want change you have to vote for it. both leaders arrive in grimsby ahead of their sky tv leaders event — set to begin in two hours' time. i'm here is the parties make their final preparations before grilling by a live studio audience. the green party delivers its election manifesto for england and wales — pledging tax increases to fund increases to fund investment in health care and clean energy.
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and — how long could you last without your smartphone? we meet the teens swapping theirs for a brick phone hello. let's take you through the main election developments today. and the prime minister has insisted he's "absolutely not" given up hope of a conservative victory, after his defence secretary warned voters not to hand labour what he called a 'super? majority�* in parliament. grant shapps said a huge victory could give sir keir starmer "unchecked power" and put the uk in "a dangerous place". the labour leader responded, saying "if you want change — you have to vote for it". labour have been pushing their policies for drivers today — pledging to fill a million potholes. meanwhile, the green party have launched their election manifesto, with a plan to boost health and social care
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by 50 billion pounds a year — partly paid for by a wealth tax. complete with ed davey photo op — the lib dems have outlined more details of their plan to clean up the uk's waterways, by creating a "tough new regulator" to replace ofwat. and, we're gearing up for the next head?to—head between rishi sunak and keir starmer facing questions from voters on sky news in grimsby this evening. with a round—up of all the campaign developments, here's our political correspondentjess parker. from a rainsoaked election kick—off to handing some d—day duties to his foreign secretary, the tory campaign has had its awkward moments. and now a rallying cry from one of rishi sunak�*s top team, seemingly not for a conservative victory but warning against a labour rout. you don't want to have somebody receive a supermajority, and in this case of course the concern would be that if keir starmer were to go into number ten — it will either be rishi sunak or keir starmer, there is no other outcome to this election —
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and that power was in some way unchecked, it would be very bad news for people in this country. even more unusual is that these comments come just a day after the tory manifesto launch, an occasion that is meant to energise. while rishi sunak has again been accused of being out of touch after, in an interview recorded last week, he was asked about what he had had to go without as a child. like lots of people, there will be all sorts of things that i would have wanted as a kid that i could not have. famously, sky tv! that was something that we never had growing up, actually. but there are lots of things, but again, that's... my experience is obviously going to be what my experience was, what is more important is my values and how i was raised, and i was raised in a household where hard work was really important. the prime minister told reporters today off—camera that he has not given up on victory. rishi sunak said he will fight for every vote but his repeated efforts to try and eat into labour's significant poll lead just don't
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appear to be working. what's more, his campaign since it started has built up an undesirable reputation, one of being prone to political gaffes and unforced errors. at a car repair training centre, labour has been talking about tackling potholes —and sir keir starmer has — and sir keir starmer has faced his own bumps in the road, notably rows over candidate selection, while the tories say labour's policy offer is thin. i am not complacent about this, i know that every single vote has to be earned, nobody has cast a vote in this election yet but it is important, i think, for the country that we have change, and i think for change, we need a mandate. tomorrow, labour publishes its manifesto. with three weeks until polling day, they may have the momentum, but politics can move, and fast — nothing is locked in. jessica parker, bbc news, in westminster.
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to grimsby now, where rishi sunak and sir keir starmer are preparing to be quizzed by sky news political editor beth rigby, as well as members of the public — in this evening's live debate show, starting at seven. expect more questions on key issues such as the cost of living, the nhs and immigration. let's speak to our political correspondent, hannah miller, who is inside the spin room, wherejournalists and politicians will be dissecting the leaders' performances. isaid i said debate earlier, but the format is different tonight. talk her through it we are expecting. ih her through it we are expecting. in some ways that could be one of the most interesting things about this evening, the fact it isn't a debate as such, it will more be a one on one grilling. keir starmer will go first, then rishi sunak. that was decided in a fa cups style draw yesterday, very much at random. they will face questions over 20 minutes from political loader beth rigby and then there will be a grilling by the audience is well here it grimsby
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were there we'll get to put their questions to the leaders. i think having got slightly longer period of time then we've seen in some of these debates so far, perhaps might mean that they have to book slightly more on the spot, slightly more into detail with some of their answers or be quizzed on some of the more challenging areas of the things that they want to say and in that sense, very much it will perhaps have a different tone to some of these events that we've seen before. hand events that we've seen before. and we've seen — events that we've seen before. and we've seen in _ events that we've seen before. and we've seen in recent weeks that immediately after the show you obviously get both teams then putting their spin on it, both sides claiming they've done their best. will get more on that tonight and do we have any more information from the polling companies on how these events actually shift the dial on how people vote? the events actually shift the dial on how people vote?— how people vote? the kind of messages _ how people vote? the kind of messages that _ how people vote? the kind of messages that come - how people vote? the kind of - messages that come through from how people vote? the kind of _ messages that come through from them over the following day, the
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following 24 hours or so, the bits they get clipped out, the messages that members of the public see, it's not necessarily that everyone who sees moments of this debate will be watching it go out live tonight but they will then see it go out on social media and that phrase that's used a lot in politics about what cuts through to the public, what changes people's votes, is often after the event itself rather than necessarily while it's happening live and that's why those advisers, shadow cabinet members, cabinet ministers here as well this evening to take any opportunity to really add to those moments are there to spin things here in the spin room as it's called to say oh, well, he didn't really mean that, what he really meant was this, gone slightly wrong, or if it's something they can hammer home against their opponents. so there will be that reaction after the event later this evening, we'll see what comes through from this debate whether the key issues are
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the same once again we heard last time, didn't we? an awful lot of the conservatives trying to talk about tax and the labour party trying to talk about the conservatives' record in government and see if anything else comes through. and we'll see what those moments are later on. hand what those moments are later on. and hannah, what those moments are later on. and hannah. there — what those moments are later on. and hannah, there are public questions, do we know how the evidence has been selected because mark so they have been selected to be representative, so that they are not kind of biased in favour of one party or another. we just had in favour of one party or another. wejust had a in favour of one party or another. we just had a very quick glance inside the room before we came into the spin room and it looks like an interesting set up, the audience will have a great view of the leaders, being able to see them up close and personalfor leaders, being able to see them up close and personal for the leaders, being able to see them up close and personalfor the people who come here tonight will of course be an interesting experience for them as well.— be an interesting experience for them as well. . . ~ ., ~ them as well. hannah miller, thank ou ve them as well. hannah miller, thank you very much _ them as well. hannah miller, thank you very much indeed. _ more now on the green party's election manifesto, which includes pledges to invest tens
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of billions of pounds in public services and clean energy. funding would come in part from increased taxes on higher earners and the wealthy. the parties' co leaders said the greens represented "real change" and would "invest to mend broken britain". co leader, carla denyer, spelled out the greens' priorities. our manifesto lays out a bold but simple plan — to bring our water companies, our railways and the big five retail energy companies into public ownership. this would end the rip—off of rising bills, appalling service and shareholders trousering millions. we would restore our ailing high streets too — urban and rural — and recognise their value to the communities they serve by investing in support of small and medium—sized businesses. we would overhaul our tax system to make it fairer. at the heart of this would be a tax on the very richest, the top 1% of people, requiring them to pay a bit more into the pot.
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the liberal democrats have... replace ofwat if they are elected. the water authority would be given powers to reform the industry with the amount of sewage theyjump into rivers. it didn't take him long to test the water directly himself. here is ed davey speaking to the reporter tom symonds to why he needs a need for water reform. what we are trying to get over is the fact that there is a sewage scandal, with the water companies being allowed by the conservatives to keep pumping theirfilthy sewage into our rivers, our lakes, into our beaches and seas, and it's got to end. so we keep coming back to them, i'm not going to apologise for that. we have explained how serious the problem is to our environment, to public health, and it affects leisure activities. so here we are, having some fun, yeah, but making the point
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that millions of people like going into water — like swimming, like paddle boarding, like doing other water sports — and if we don't clean the water properly they won't be able to enjoy that, as well as it being damaging to the environment and public health. so what we're saying today, let's have tougher new regulator, we are calling it the clean water authority, and it backs up all the liberal democrat policies to end this sewage scandal. the highest overall crime rate on england and wales this year, no crime is falling, but what does it feel like for communities living underfrequent threat?
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abc news looking at the big issues of the selection, one of them is crime, what's it like here? tony is born and bred here and he's had enough. born and bred here and he's had enouah. , . born and bred here and he's had enouah. , , ., ., enough. they 'ust escalated from there to enough. theyjust escalated from there to there _ enough. theyjust escalated from there to there there. _ enough. theyjust escalated from there to there there. his - enough. theyjust escalated from there to there there. his biggest| there to there there. his biggest issue is the _ there to there there. his biggest issue is the damage _ there to there there. his biggest issue is the damage being - there to there there. his biggest issue is the damage being done. what's happened there? people hanging out, at the fence. abidd what's happened there? people hanging out, at the fence. add he showed us — hanging out, at the fence. add he showed us around _ hanging out, at the fence. add he showed us around these - hanging out, at the fence. add he | showed us around these teenagers wanted to talk. what is it like living here as a kid? are you vaping? police have imposed dispersal orders and roasted children as young as 12 and cameras across the estate.— children as young as 12 and cameras across the estate. cctv there, there come a place — across the estate. cctv there, there come a place is _ across the estate. cctv there, there come a place is being _ across the estate. cctv there, there come a place is being covered, - across the estate. cctv there, there | come a place is being covered, being watched. ., , , ., , ., ., watched. tony showed us home after home with smashed _ watched. tony showed us home after home with smashed out _ watched. tony showed us home after home with smashed out windows. . watched. tony showed us home after. home with smashed out windows. and that's wh home with smashed out windows. inc
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that's why this home with smashed out windows. sinsc that's why this is your number one issue this election, crime. everyone in middlesbrough would agree with that as well. she in middlesbrough would agree with that as well-— that as well. she said she being tarieted. that as well. she said she being targeted. one _ that as well. she said she being targeted. one day _ that as well. she said she being targeted. one day we _ that as well. she said she being targeted. one day we had - that as well. she said she beingj targeted. one day we had every single _ targeted. one day we had every single window in the house boarded up. single window in the house boarded u -. single window in the house boarded u n . ., ., single window in the house boarded up. living next door to this is robbie. up. living next door to this is robbie- so — up. living next door to this is robbie. so you _ up. living next door to this is robbie. so you have - up. living next door to this is robbie. so you have been - up. living next door to this is - robbie. so you have been targeted as well? he works full time raising a young family. i’m well? he works full time raising a young family-— well? he works full time raising a young family. i'm a builder, that's my garden- _ young family. i'm a builder, that's my garden- you — young family. i'm a builder, that's my garden. you were _ young family. i'm a builder, that's my garden. you were grafted - young family. i'm a builder, that's my garden. you were grafted fori young family. i'm a builder, that's. my garden. you were grafted for all of this? ., , ., ,., . ., of this? you phoned the police on what happens? — of this? you phoned the police on what happens? not _ of this? you phoned the police on what happens? not a _ of this? you phoned the police on what happens? not a thing, - of this? you phoned the police on what happens? not a thing, not i what happens? not a thing, not a thin. what happens? not a thing, not a thing- you're _ what happens? not a thing, not a thing. you're serious? _ what happens? not a thing, not a thing. you're serious? give - what happens? not a thing, not a thing. you're serious? give it - what happens? not a thing, not a thing. you're serious? give it to i thing. you're serious? give it to the landlord so he can claim insurance. mi the landlord so he can claim insurance.— the landlord so he can claim insurance. . ., , . ., insurance. all of this has changed how they live- _ insurance. all of this has changed how they live. as _ insurance. all of this has changed how they live. as soon _ insurance. all of this has changed how they live. as soon as - insurance. all of this has changed how they live. as soon as i - insurance. all of this has changed how they live. as soon as i get i insurance. all of this has changed i how they live. as soon as i get them comini how they live. as soon as i get them coming in--- — how they live. as soon as i get them coming in... all— how they live. as soon as i get them coming in... all of _ how they live. as soon as i get them coming in... all of us. _ how they live. as soon as i get them coming in... all of us. you _ how they live. as soon as i get them coming in... all of us. you can't i coming in... all of us. you can't step— coming in... all of us. you can't
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step over— coming in... all of us. you can't step over your doorstep sometimes, she's— step over your doorstep sometimes, she's to _ step over your doorstep sometimes, she's to come in saying somebody has been stabbed to the police have just called _ been stabbed to the police have just called me _ been stabbed to the police have just called me. but been stabbed to the police have 'ust called me. �* ,, ~' ., called me. but if you like politics are the answer— called me. but if you like politics are the answer to _ called me. but if you like politics are the answer to the _ called me. but if you like politics are the answer to the problem? | called me. but if you like politics i are the answer to the problem? it's the drugs, people need to knock down on the _ the drugs, people need to knock down on the drugs. two the drugs, people need to knock down on the drugs-— on the drugs. two miles away in north 0rmsby- _ on the drugs. two miles away in north ormsby. we _ on the drugs. two miles away in north ormsby. we are - on the drugs. two miles away in north ormsby. we are told i on the drugs. two miles away in | north ormsby. we are told some on the drugs. two miles away in - north ormsby. we are told some shops are robbed here every day. one has started publicly naming and shaming people they accused of stealing. others say theft, shoplifting, is now normal. others say theft, shoplifting, is now normal-— now normal. around here it's horrific- _ now normal. around here it's horrific. they _ now normal. around here it's horrific. they went _ now normal. around here it's horrific. they went in - now normal. around here it's horrific. they went in there i now normal. around here it's i horrific. they went in there and inched horrific. they went in there and pinched chocolate. _ horrific. they went in there and pinched chocolate. today? i horrific. they went in there and i pinched chocolate. today? today. horrific. they went in there and - pinched chocolate. today? today. it was all captured _ pinched chocolate. today? today. it was all captured on _ pinched chocolate. today? today. it was all captured on cctv. _ pinched chocolate. today? today. it was all captured on cctv. the - was all captured on cctv. the mountain men walked on the road, covered theirfaces, mountain men walked on the road, covered their faces, seconds later they are gone. with chocolate bars. it's scary them coming in on stuff, obviously— it's scary them coming in on stuff, obviously there are going to take the money... obviously there are going to take the money-"— the money... what was it like witnessing — the money... what was it like witnessing what _ the money... what was it like witnessing what you - the money... what was it like witnessing what you listen - the money... what was it like - witnessing what you listen witnessed today? it’s witnessing what you listen witnessed toda ? �* , , witnessing what you listen witnessed toda ? h , , ., witnessing what you listen witnessed toda? �*, , ., witnessing what you listen witnessed toda? fl, ., , witnessing what you listen witnessed toda?, ., ,| today? it's 'ust the usualfor us. i
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can't today? it'sjust the usualfor us. i can't believe _ today? it'sjust the usualfor us. i can't believe you're _ today? it'sjust the usualfor us. i can't believe you're saying - today? it'sjust the usualfor us. i can't believe you're saying that. l can't believe you're saying that. no, no. .,, , can't believe you're saying that. no, no. , , can't believe you're saying that. no,no. _ , , no, no. close by is legends bar. sarah is desperate. _ no, no. close by is legends bar. sarah is desperate. one - no, no. close by is legends bar. sarah is desperate. one and - no, no. close by is legends bar. sarah is desperate. one and a i no, no. close by is legends bar. i sarah is desperate. one and a half thousand pound machine, i've been tagged five times ago, they came through the ceiling, they came to the back shudder. once they even came in and pinched my kp. you can't kee auoin came in and pinched my kp. you can't keep going on — came in and pinched my kp. you can't keep going on like _ came in and pinched my kp. you can't keep going on like this. _ came in and pinched my kp. you can't keep going on like this. are _ came in and pinched my kp. you can't keep going on like this. are you - keep going on like this. are you aware of any of the criminals being prosecuted or found guilty? nobody has been prosecuted, _ prosecuted or found guilty? nobody has been prosecuted, nobody. - prosecuted or found guilty? nobody| has been prosecuted, nobody. north ormsb is has been prosecuted, nobody. north 0rmsby is one _ has been prosecuted, nobody. north ormsby is one of— has been prosecuted, nobody. north ormsby is one of the _ has been prosecuted, nobody. north ormsby is one of the most _ has been prosecuted, nobody. north ormsby is one of the most deprived words. most of the currency went unsolved. as we walk around... an example of modern demands on our police. do you enjoy policing around here? it’s police. do you en'oy policing around here? �* , ' , police. do you en'oy policing around here? 3 ' , ,�* here? it's different every day isn't it? it's not — here? it's different every day isn't it? it's not a _ here? it's different every day isn't it? it's not a crime, _ here? it's different every day isn't it? it's not a crime, a _ here? it's different every day isn't it? it's not a crime, a welfare - it? it's not a crime, a welfare check on _ it? it's not a crime, a welfare check on kimberly. _
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it? it's not a crime, a welfare check on kimberly. i'm - it? it's not a crime, a welfare check on kimberly. i'm adhdj it? it's not a crime, a welfare - check on kimberly. i'm adhd bipolar and... the really _ check on kimberly. i'm adhd bipolar and... the really nice _ check on kimberly. i'm adhd bipolar and... the really nice and _ check on kimberly. i'm adhd bipolar and... the really nice and they - check on kimberly. i'm adhd bipolar and... the really nice and they fit. and... the really nice and they fit you in. and... the really nice and they fit ou in. ., ., . , ., you in. cleveland police is dealing with some of _ you in. cleveland police is dealing with some of the _ you in. cleveland police is dealing with some of the highest - you in. cleveland police is dealing with some of the highest rates . you in. cleveland police is dealing with some of the highest rates of| with some of the highest rates of violence in england and wales. feet. violence in england and wales. feet, arms down- — violence in england and wales. feet, arms down. will _ violence in england and wales. feet, arms down. will you _ violence in england and wales. feet, arms down. will you be _ violence in england and wales. feet, arms down. will you be alive? - violence in england and wales. feet, | arms down. will you be alive? people told us again — arms down. will you be alive? people told us again and _ arms down. will you be alive? people told us again and again _ arms down. will you be alive? people told us again and again that _ arms down. will you be alive? people told us again and again that drug - told us again and again that drug dealing was the dealing why —— the reason why so many are living in misery. how much of that could you sell in a week? hundreds, hundreds. crack cocaine on the streets being sold by teenagers. how old were you lot when you started dealing drugs? 16. fill lot when you started dealing drugs? 16. , ., lot when you started dealing drugs? 16. y . ., , lot when you started dealing drugs? 16. y . lot when you started dealing drugs? 16. y. ' lot when you started dealing drugs? 16. , ., .,, ., ' you've 16. oh yeah, i was about 14. you've seen a shooting? _ 16. oh yeah, i was about 14. you've seen a shooting? yeah, _ 16. oh yeah, i was about 14. you've seen a shooting? yeah, yeah. - 16. oh yeah, i was about 14. you've seen a shooting? yeah, yeah. and | 16. oh yeah, i was about 14. you've. seen a shooting? yeah, yeah. and in da liuht seen a shooting? yeah, yeah. and in daylight they — seen a shooting? yeah, yeah. and in daylight they showed _ seen a shooting? yeah, yeah. and in daylight they showed us _ seen a shooting? yeah, yeah. and in daylight they showed us this. - seen a shooting? yeah, yeah. and in daylight they showed us this. that's| daylight they showed us this. that's quite big. are you are prepared to use that? {131 quite big. are you are prepared to use that? .., , ,., quite big. are you are prepared to use that? .., , y., ., ., use that? of course, you have to. if
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ou don't use that? of course, you have to. if you don't stabbed _ use that? of course, you have to. if you don't stabbed them _ use that? of course, you have to. if you don't stabbed them they'll - you don't stabbed them they'll stop you. you don't stabbed them they'll stop ou. , , , you don't stabbed them they'll stop ou. �* . ., you. the bobbies can't change it. how many _ you. the bobbies can't change it. how many houses _ you. the bobbies can't change it. how many houses have - you. the bobbies can't change it. how many houses have you - you. the bobbies can't change it. - how many houses have you smashed up here? politicians are saying they are going to sort out crime and what they mean by that is sorting out people who are dealing drugs. so what would you want to say to the politicians? politicians, catch us if you can. does this general election mean anything to you? what's going to change? i do enough for myself. _ what's going to change? i do enough for myself, that's how it is. and this is the _ for myself, that's how it is. and this is the challenge _ for myself, that's how it is. jifuc this is the challenge for the for myself, that's how it is. 2:1c this is the challenge for the next government. selling more crimes, making your streets safer. for people like tony it's an urgent crisis. �* , .. people like tony it's an urgent crisis. �* , ~ ., crisis. it's like we are nonexistent. - crisis. it's like we are nonexistent. just - crisis. it's like we are i nonexistent. just saying crisis. it's like we are - nonexistent. just saying all crisis. it's like we are _ nonexistent. just saying all that crime, we see it a lot. but nonexistent. just saying all that
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crime, we see it a lot. well, the latest bbc polls tracker shows labour with a commanding lead over the conservatives here it is in fact support for the tories has fallen since rishi sunak called the general election. meanwhile, reform uk have seen a bounce in the polls since nigel farage returned as party leader last week. let's speak to director of polling firm, jl partners, for more of an insight into this.. just give us a sense of where the parties are at the moment. 50 just give us a sense of where the parties are at the moment. so for the campaign _ parties are at the moment. so for the campaign has _ parties are at the moment. so for the campaign has been _ parties are at the moment. so for the campaign has been quite - parties are at the moment. so for| the campaign has been quite static when you look at the polls, labour lead maintaining about 20 points and 15 points you get a range of average about 20 points. the only real movement we've sent so far across a lot of posters is the increase in reform vote share, especially since
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nigel farage announced he will be starting in the race. find nigel farage announced he will be starting in the race.— starting in the race. and is there evidence historically _ starting in the race. and is there evidence historically that - evidence historically that manifestos, tv debates, the campaign itself does change the way people vote? , �* ., , ., . vote? there isn't actually that much evidence historically, _ vote? there isn't actually that much evidence historically, it _ vote? there isn't actually that much evidence historically, it can - evidence historically, it can happen. normally when things are going badly actually. if you think about theresa may's campaign in 2017 which was eventually all tanker campaign. a number of reasons, voters and persons of the parties are pretty much baked in. we actually saw that even if you look at the question of who would make the best per minister, critical question, rishi sunak was pretty much unchanged after they the da day disaster, he did fall in the eyes of 2019 conservative voters, but overall it didn't really change their dynamic, it seems like voters have artie made up their minds about keir starmer and rishi sunak. especially if we had the
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conservative manifesto yesterday, i don't think that's going to pull change voters minds, we've heard time and time again that voters will bejudging on what time and time again that voters will be judging on what the conservatives have done what not what they're saying they'll do in the future, these voters aren't saying that rishi sunak is competent, they don't think he's honest, they don't even think he's honest, they don't even think he's honest, they don't even think he can make a sunday roast, why would they listen to what he says he's going to do on the economy?— says he's going to do on the econom ? . , , ., ., economy? that implies that all the covera . e economy? that implies that all the coverage at — economy? that implies that all the coverage at all _ economy? that implies that all the coverage at all the _ economy? that implies that all the coverage at all the campaigning . economy? that implies that all the coverage at all the campaigning is| economy? that implies that all the | coverage at all the campaigning is a complete waste of time and the leaders could just stay at home because what you're saying the public are basically the siding of the evidence of their own daily lives rather than what they watch or read online, any conversations they have with people knocking on their doors. , , . ., , have with people knocking on their doors. ,, .. , ., ., have with people knocking on their doors. ,, , ., ., , doors. especially for that last bit knockin: doors. especially for that last bit knocking on _ doors. especially for that last bit knocking on the _ doors. especially for that last bit knocking on the door, _ doors. especially for that last bit knocking on the door, a - doors. especially for that last bit knocking on the door, a good . doors. especially for that last bit - knocking on the door, a good ground operation is absolutely crucial especially when it comes to turning out voters, especially when voters looking apathetic which they are doing at the moment. but no, i think in some senses you're right, there
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are no obvious piece of events that might change the dynamic of the election, other things can happen though so if you have things that you are not expecting i actually don't think last time this week —— this time last week, nobody was expecting the edge of a rush to enter the race in the way he did, there will be some things that can turnit there will be some things that can turn it in one direction or another but whichever way you look at it it will be very hard for rishi sunak and his party to come back from the deficit they are currently facing which means the result is sort of pointing in one way, it's a question of the scale of the outcome, so how big the labour majority might be, how few conservative mps they might be left with. this how few conservative mps they might be left with. , ., ., be left with. this warning from grant shapps. _ be left with. this warning from grant shapps, about _ be left with. this warning from grant shapps, about a - be left with. this warning from grant shapps, about a labour. be left with. this warning from - grant shapps, about a labour super majority as he's put it, do warnings like that of fact, in what you've seen it in terms of evidence, can that affect how people vote for? will turn out at all whether people will turn out to vote or tactical
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voting? will turn out to vote or tactical votin: ? �* , . will turn out to vote or tactical votina? v . , will turn out to vote or tactical votin? �*, ., , , ., ~ ., voting? it's a very stark warning wasn't it. _ voting? it's a very stark warning wasn't it, from _ voting? it's a very stark warning wasn't it, from grant _ voting? it's a very stark warning wasn't it, from grant shapps, i voting? it's a very stark warning i wasn't it, from grant shapps, and voting? it's a very stark warning - wasn't it, from grant shapps, and it stood out really is an appeal to voters. it's quite unusual to have a governing party or indeed any party in election say we are going to do extraordinarily badly therefore we need your help which is basically what he was trying to say to voters. it may work, it may work trying to win back some of those reform voters at the moment, you want reform but you don't want a keir starmer government, and that's what you're going to do by voting in the next most popular party in that state. if you look at the data we've had recently it shows that nigel farage is a plus 80 positivity with conservative and reform voters, more popular than the late queen. rishi sunak is 419, incredibly unpopular, even less popular with the liberal
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democrat leader will perform voters. these voters, i'm sure they might get some back but they will not have an easy text. just get some back but they will not have an easy text-— an easy text. just on lib dems and the greens — an easy text. just on lib dems and the greens and _ an easy text. just on lib dems and the greens and other _ an easy text. just on lib dems and the greens and other smaller - the greens and other smaller parties, what is the trend been so far? ., ., parties, what is the trend been so far? . ., ., , , parties, what is the trend been so far? . . ., , , ., far? the trend again has been a relatively static _ far? the trend again has been a relatively static one, _ far? the trend again has been a relatively static one, some - far? the trend again has been a| relatively static one, some polls have shown a lib dem increase, most of them including us actually have been holding pretty steady at around 10% now. that can sound a bit misleading, that doesn't mean the lib dems can't do very well in the selection in terms of the number of seats they get because their votes are stacked up in areas where there are stacked up in areas where there are no more likely to win —— more likely to win, potential of 60 seats, even if it's only 10% of the vote. greens are the big question though, we have them at about 5%, we have seen some interesting movement especially from younger voters going over to the green party and it may be under green party are able to
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capitalise on a sort of general sense of distrust in both parties in different parts of the country at the selection. just different parts of the country at the selection.— the selection. just quickly in a sentence. _ the selection. just quickly in a sentence, the _ the selection. just quickly in a sentence, the majority - the selection. just quickly in a sentence, the majority now. the selection. just quickly in a sentence, the majority now inj the selection. just quickly in a - sentence, the majority now in the current voting productions like the bbc polls, but will that translate to in the number of mps? it’s bbc polls, but will that translate to in the number of mps? it's very difficult to extrapolate _ to in the number of mps? it's very difficult to extrapolate from - to in the number of mps? it's very difficult to extrapolate from vote | difficult to extrapolate from vote share to the number of mps, pollsters have a range of anything from the conservatives on about 60 seats to about 150. i think the big? at the moment, we don't quite know where it will end up but that's broadly speaking if you're broadly looking at it, one of the bus pulls in terms of seat projections of the conservatives had recently still had their worst result for 100 years which shows just what a dire situation they are in. which showsjust what a dire situation they are in. scarlett ma . uire situation they are in. scarlett maguire from _ situation they are in. scarlett maguire from jl _ situation they are in. scarlett maguire from jl partners - situation they are in. scarlett i maguire from jl partners polling company, thank you very much. nick robinson continues his series of interviews with the party leaders tonight. he'll be joined by the snp's john swinney on panorama at seven o'clock on bbc one and iplayer.
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he'll also be speaking to plaid cymru's rhun ap iorwerth. new figures show the uk economy flatlined in april, with zero growth as the wet weather put off shoppers and slowed down construction. the latest data from the office for national statistics follow figures betweenjanuary and march, when the economy recorded its fastest growth in two years. here's our chief economics correspondent dharshini david. the wettest april in 12 years put the boot in many plans and activities. a trip to the beach was off the menu. hi, it's nice to meet you. so tell me about this place. in margate, laurie installs tooth gems, which have soared in popularity. businesses like hers aim to make this a year—round destination, but the weather can be an issue. the rain does put people off, but we do get the people who come out and they go, oh, you know, never mind.
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we'lljust find something to do. the train strikes for sure have been a bit of a problem for us because a lot of the town itself is reliant on tourism. things do seem to be brightening up as many people start feeling better off despite the wet weather putting a bit of a dampener on economic activity in april. however, we've got a lot of catching up to do. some say that we could be up to £11,000 worse off than we might be because growth over the last 15 years, because of things like the pandemic, the war in ukraine has been a fraction of what it was before. so have we turned a corner? in newcastle, experiences are mixed. i'm not complaining, because i know there's a lot of people worse off than me. ijust think it's getting worse for people. you know, i think the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, in my opinion. but i don't think anything changes really, does it? things willjust start moving in the economy again. i people have more money.
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in their pockets, spending it in the economy, which... that just feeds growth, etc. so, yeah, i'm positive. i think things will turn - in a couple of months' time. rising incomes should lift the recovery over the summer, but if we are to recapture the sparkling growth of the past, more attention will have to turn to areas like investment in skills, technology and transport. a challenge for all those vying to govern the country. darshini david, bbc news, margate. the us secretary of state antony blinken has said that hamas has proposed numerous changes in its response to the latest proposal for a gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal. speaking in qatar on his latest trip to the region, mr blinken said that some of the hamas changes were workable but others went beyond what the group had previously accepted in talks for a ceasefire. mr blinken said it was time for the haggling to stop and for the ceasefire to start. hamas has described its response as "positive", saying it opens
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here's what blinken said. hamas has proposed numerous changes to the proposal that was on the table. we discussed those proposals last night with egyptian colleagues and today with the prime minister. some of the changes are workable, some are not. here, in a nutshell, is here we stand — a deal was on the table that was virtually identical to the proposal that hamas put forward on may the 6th. a deal that the entire world is behind, a deal that israel has accepted and hamas could have answered with a single word, yes. instead, hamas waited nearly two weeks and then proposed more changes, a number of which go beyond the positions it previously had taken and accepted.
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france's president emmanuel macron has launched his party's campaign for the snap poll he called after a major swing to the right marine le pen's far right anti immigration party, the national rally scored a dramatic victory on sunday, winning more than double the votes of macron's alliance. the results prompted macron to dissolve parliament and call for a first round of voting at the end of the month. translation: this is why, - in my view, the answer could not lie in changes of government or coalitions which were not possible in parliament, as the last few days have very clearly shown, but in a dissolution, which is the only way to clarify matters. because we are at a time when our country must rise to a number of challenges and cannot be blocked by the extremes and because it is an act of confidence in our people, in democracy, in the republican spirit and in the national common sense. in my view, in this context,
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returning to the sovereign people is the only republican decision. this is bbc news. the headlines... rishi sunak insists he has "absolutely not" lost hope of winning the general election after a cabinet minister warned against a labour "supermajority". the labour leader keir starmer says if you want change you have to vote for it. both leaders arrive in grimsby ahead of their sky tv leaders event set to begin at 7pm. of their sky tv leaders event let's of their sky tv leaders event have a quick break fr( that let's have a quick break from all of that and catch up with the sports. here is mark. hello from the bbc sport centre. we're going to start in the premier league, where erik ten hag will remain as manager of manchester united following a post—season review by the club's board. that review began immediately
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after united's fa cup victory last month and there had been a huge amount of speculation that the dutch manager would be leaving old trafford following a disappointing league campaign. however it is now understood they are talking to ten hag about extending his contract, which is about to enter its final season. you have to remember he has come into the club, he has had two years at manchester united, won two trophies. there are only for managers in the history of manchester united that have won trophies in successive seasons. that is a fairly exclusive club and it put him in a position of semi—strength and it has also made the people at ineos, sirjim ratcliffe, think twice before making a change. scotland are gearing up for the opening match of euro 2024 against the hosts germany in munich on friday. scottish midfielder billy gilmour is looking forward to testing himself against the likes of toni kroos and with the competition getting ever closer the brighton player is embracing the excitement.
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scotla nd scotland is so passionate, especially about football. we are all rooting for the country and everyone wants us to do well, and for us, we give it everything we've got back to the fans, loads of scottish fans coming over. there will be loads at home as well watching. so there is a real buzz around the country. i thank you can tell that straightaway, everything you see. england meanwhile prepare to face serbia in gelsinkirchen on sunday and one player who could feature is adam wharton. it's been an incredible year so far for the crystal palace midfielder. for the crystal palace injanuary, he was playing in a blackburn rovers side struggling in the championship. fast forward five months and the 20—year—old is in the mix for a starting spot at england's opening euro 2024 match it's a surreal feeling. honestly, i wasn't _ it's a surreal feeling. honestly, i wasn't really expecting it. i've obviously— wasn't really expecting it. i've obviously onlyjust gone into the premier— obviously onlyjust gone into the premier league, so wasn't expecting anything _ premier league, so wasn't expecting anything it_ premier league, so wasn't expecting anything. it was more just sort of a bonus_
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anything. it was more just sort of a bonus kind — anything. it was more just sort of a bonus kind of thing if i did get in, so absolutely delighted. yeah, i 'ust so absolutely delighted. yeah, i iust get— so absolutely delighted. yeah, i just get to do what i love at the top stage _ just get to do what i love at the top stage. you can't beat it. england cricket coach matthew mott says he hopes josh hazlewood's comments were "tongue in cheek", after the australian bowler suggested they could potentially have a hand in knocking england out at the group stage of the t20 world cup. australia reached the super eights unbeaten, after a nine—wicket win over namibia, leaving england and scotland to fight it out for second place in the group. australia play scotland next — and the scots' run—rate could see them through. in this tournament you potentially come up against england and as i said, they are one of the top few teams on the day. we have had some real struggles against them in t20 cricket. if we can get them ahead of the tournament, that's in the best interest of ourselves but it will be interesting to see. we have never been in this position before as a team. whether we have discussions or not, we willjust play the way we did tonight. rory mcilroy will play
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alongside scottie scheffler and xander schauffele in an eye—catching group during the first two rounds of the us open at pinehurst. the world's top three players will tee off at 6:14pm uk time tomorrow. world number three mcilroy, masters champion scheffler and schauffele, the pga champion, also played alongside each other at the masters in april and mcilroy says that scheffler will be hard to beat in north carolina this week. imean, the i mean, the word that i describe it is as relentless. itjust seems like every time he shows up, he is the guy to beat and deservedly so. this run that he has been on, you know, i think he has played 111 times this year, 13 times this year, one side of the top ten. seems like he's always in contention. undoubtedly the best player in the world at the minute by a long way. and it's up to us to try to get to his level. and that's all the sport for now.
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how long do you think you could last without your smartphone? a few hours? a day? we've followed a group of teenagers to see how they cope without their smartphones for five days as part of a bbc radio 5 live project. our reporter kristianjohnson joined them to see how they got on. on friday, i received 1179 notifications. it's fair to say some teenagers are pretty glued to their phones. 0k, guys. point of no return. thank you very much. but this group of students are doing the unthinkable — locking them away for almost a week. you said your goodbye? yes _ good. no tiktok, no snapchat, no whatsapp. so, guys, these are your new... oh. my god! _ ..mobile phones. instead, they'll be using these for the next five days. the only way of communicating — texts and calls. i'm on a nokia. guys, do you want to see something? mum, this is weird, i don't like it! oh, my gosh! they're going to have to learn a whole new set of skills i for the next week to be able i to adapt and continue their life as close to what it used to be.
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but with that mobile i phone underpinning most of their activities, _ it's going to be a real challenge. so in the mornings, usually, i'll, like, search up the travel times, because then i know, "oh, yeah, i need to leave in five minutes. oh, yeah, i've got a little bit of time before i need to leave." but with, like, without a phone, i've got no way of knowing when the next tram will be. and not being involved in group chats means it's harderfor ruby to meet up with friends. i feel like with the nokia, i'm kind of missing out a bit more on social interaction. like, we always go bowling or something. we've not organised anything so far. 0k. so i'm 52 hours into the detox. i'm finding it ok. i don't think it's difficult oranything, like. two days into the journey, and while ruby's coping well, charlie has already given into temptation. it's genuinely hard when you don't have it. it's like having, like, a comfort item for how many ever years and itjust goes... it was really stressful. some others are struggling too.
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not knowing what's going on in, like, a group chat, itjust makes me like, "what am i missing out on?" but most are focusing on the positives. without my phone, i feel like i'm actually learning stuff and engaging more — noticing stuff around me, which i probably should be doing anyways but i'm just too addicted to my phone. usually before i go to bed, i usuallyjust watch, like disney+ for like an hour and then just drift off. but since then, i've just gone straight to sleep and it's weird. feels much better. the more time goes on, i it like becomes a lot easier to think of things to do _ because you've not got your phone, so you're like, "oh, new message." will's journey home takes over an hour. announcement: this is i a service to etihad campus. a tram first, then a bus. so in terms of not having a smartphone, it makes it more difficult because i can't check the timetable. and when they say it's been delayed or something, i could at least ring my dad and ask for a lift, you know?
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will's mum, alison, admits not being able to use family tracking apps like life360 is a hindrance, but she's noticed big changes in her son just three days into the detox. it's actually quite nice seeing you without headphones. i don't see that much normally. no. i think it's just become the norm. whereas actual social interaction does require you to put these things away, and... yeah. ..engage a little bit more. five days later, it's the end of term and time to get those smartphones back. got yours? yeah. maybe i'll put my phone away in the car and i'll put my phone away, like, when i'm around my friends. but in general, like, going on to tiktok and everything, i'm still going to do that. like, ifanything, i'm going to do it more now. i think it's been pretty difficult without a smartphone, - but i've managed to get through it all right. i i'll try and use less - of tiktok, that's for sure. i know my screen time is quite high on that. i judging by their initial reaction, perhaps the students aren't quite ready to give up their smartphones
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entirely, but the detox might start to slowly change their habits. kristian johnson, bbc news. ina bbc in a bbc interview, tom describe the submission —— situation in sudan is horrific. the fighting has been intensifying over the past month and hundreds of graves have been discovered. across the country, more than 15,000 people are estimated to have been killed since the conflict started in april 2023. almost 9 million have been forced to flee their homes. this is now the daily reality in el fasher, the latest frontline in sudan's yearlong war. no—one is safe here any more. there has been a spike
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in arson activity. at least eight villages have been razed, the homes of mainly the zaghawa ethnic group. evidence, investigators say, of ethnic targeting by the rapid support forces. this mother and herfamily survived the recent shelling. she doesn't know if the blood on her toddler's face is his, his siblings or father's. they are injured and are receiving emergency treatment at this health center, one of the last facilities still running. the medics here are stretched. they only attend to the most severe cases, so volunteers from the community have come together to support them. translation: from our own efforts and the efforts - of well—wishers, we managed to get some emergency medicines from some contributors. those who could not provide medicines gave us money to buy the drugs from the market. they are constantly changing things here, expanding or repairing the facility as the crucial work of saving lives continues.
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so we managed to continue our activities, but of course with lots of difficulties and also we will need replenishment very, very soon, so some supply to arrive. if not, it will be very complicated to continue the activities indeed. there was another setback last weekend. this is what was left of the south hospital after rsf fighters stormed in, opened fire and looted it on saturday. staff and patients escaped. now the referral facility, which saw 1,300 wounded patients in the past month, has been shut. and there are fears things could get worse should the city fall. we need this to end. we are working towards a local ceasefire, as many are. we need cooler heads to prevail and get this particular battle paused while we also don't take our eye off of other parts of sudan. it's sudan's civilians who bear the biggest brunt in this war, a conflict described
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by some as senseless, the result of a political fallout between two generals which has left thousands dead, millions displaced, and nearly a third of the country facing food shortages. anne soy, bbc news. the prosecution in the retrial of convicted killer lucy letby has said her status as a multiple murderer and attempted murderer is an important piece of evidence and should be taken into account. she's accused of the attempted murder of a baby at the countess of chester hospital in 2016. she denies the charge. our north of england correspondent judith moritz gave us this update from the court in manchester. we can't actually bring you that, but there is more online. a second man has denied illegally felling the uk's most famous tree. 31 —year—old adam carruthers from wigton appeared at newcastle crown court today charged with causing criminal damage to both the tree at sycamore gap, in northumberland and hadrian's wall in september last year.
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38—year—old daniel graham, from carlisle, previously denied both offences. returning to the uk election. ——let�*s return to the election now and trust and confidence in uk politics has never been worse that's the stark finding of a new report which examined the public�*s perception of governments from the 1970s to the present day. the analysis also suggests a record number of voters "almost never" trust politicians to tell the truth. our home editor mark easton has more. jingle: radio humberside. what do you want to hear from the politicians ahead of the general election? let me know. the voters of hull tend not to get excited about elections. the city had the lowest turnout at the last one of anywhere in the country, and it doesn't take long to find out why. the hopelessness is just, what's the point? it doesn't matter who i vote for, it's all going to be the same. will you be voting? me?
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it's a waste of time. waste of time, voting. i have no faith in any of it. none. tony martin, hull born and bred, contacted the bbc�*s your voice your vote because he feels so angry that politicians are taking people for fools. i am absolutely fed up to the back teeth of not hearing the truth. politicians in every party seem to treat us like idiots. you obviously feel really strongly about this. i do. i've never known the decline that we've experienced, not just this year, but probably for the last ten or 20 years. it's notjust yorkshire skepticism. a new report from the national centre for social research finds that across the country, trust and confidence in politics and politicians has never been lower. this election is being held amid a collapse of faith in our democratic systems.
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the report finds 115% of voters would almost never trust the government to put the country before their party — the highest proportion ever. 58% would almost never trust politicians to tell the truth when in a tight corner — a figure that's never been higher. changing the electoral system under which we'll all be... the report's author, the doyen of election analysis, professor sirjohn curtis, told me he's detected a sense of desperation among the electorate. these figures mean that we are now less trusting, less confident in our system of government than we have been at any point during the last 40 or 50 years. the report suggests voters think the way we're governed is broken. eight in ten say the system needs improving quite a lot or a great deal, with more than half wanting the voting system changed to one which is fairer to smaller parties. it's not boiling hot. it's not freezing cold. so what is the answer? many of the parties promised to give
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more power to the people. this part of yorkshire is due to have its own regional authority and most manifestos propose to devolve more control to such bodies. but hull is at the forefront of a grassroots movement to counter political apathy by creating people's assemblies. people need to have the power to make decisions for themselves. they've lost faith in politics from the top, and they need to really feel ownership over a movement that's coming from the bottom — something that meets their needs where they are. all sorts of people from a local community, who wouldn't i normally necessarily meet, - come together and discuss what's important and what they might do about things. i disillusionment over brexit, political scandal and economic crisis — all are blamed for the lack of trust. whoever wins the election will have an urgentjob to restore the nation's faith in its democracy. mark easton, bbc news, hull. as we have heard, the prime minister insists he's
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he has "absolutely not" given up hope of a conservative victor that's despite his defence secretary warning voters not to hand labour what he called a 'supermajority�* in parliament. let's speak to the security minister, tom tugenhadt. thank you for your time today. are you expecting a labour supermajority? l you expecting a labour supermajority?- you expecting a labour suerma'ori ? ., , ., superma'ority? i am focused on t in: supermajority? i am focused on t in: to supermajority? i am focused on trying to win — supermajority? i am focused on trying to win this _ supermajority? i am focused on trying to win this election, i supermajority? i am focused on trying to win this election, if i supermajority? i am focused on | trying to win this election, if you don't mind. i think what we need to don't mind. i think what we need to do is make sure we focus on what the offer is to the british people, why it is that we have, you know, the responsibility to set out the agenda, and if you look at our record and fantastic achievements on education from universal credit, support for helping british people being more safe at home, you can see why it is that we've set out an agenda that builds on that security, securing our future, agenda that builds on that security, securing ourfuture, making sure that we work on bringing down taxes and helping the self employed to have the opportunity to start businesses. all these areas are incredibly important and that is what i am focused on today. so why did grant shapps — what i am focused on today. so why did grant shapps talk _ what i am focused on today. so why did grant shapps talk about - what i am focused on today. so whyj
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did grant shapps talk about warning against a labour supermajority and unchecked power? l’m against a labour superma'ority and unchecked power?i against a labour superma'ority and unchecked power? i'm afraid you have to ask him about _ unchecked power? i'm afraid you have to ask him about that. _ unchecked power? i'm afraid you have to ask him about that. i've _ unchecked power? i'm afraid you have to ask him about that. i've been i to ask him about that. i've been knocking on doors and talking to people across notjust tunbridge but actually around the uk the last few days about the kind of policies and politics that matter to them. and you will be unsurprised to hear people are very focused on what matters to their families, to their businesses and communities. 50 matters to their families, to their businesses and communities. $0115 businesses and communities. so is grant shapps _ businesses and communities. so is grant shapps wrong? _ businesses and communities. so is grant shapps wrong? look, - businesses and communities. so is grant shapps wrong? look, you i businesses and communities. so is l grant shapps wrong? look, you have to talk to him about _ grant shapps wrong? look, you have to talk to him about what _ grant shapps wrong? look, you have to talk to him about what he - to talk to him about what he said, i'm afraid. what i am focused on is trying to win this election and trying to win this election and trying to win this election and trying to get the conservative government returned to westminster. and i hope to win a seat in tunbridge at the same time. you will know of course _ tunbridge at the same time. you will know of course that _ tunbridge at the same time. you will know of course that mr _ tunbridge at the same time. you will know of course that mr schaap i tunbridge at the same time. you will know of course that mr schaap says i tunbridge at the same time. you willj know of course that mr schaap says a very experienced campaigner, very experienced politician. is this another mistake in the conservative campaign to have him saying that but the prime minister and you insisting that you are focusing on winning the campaign? haste that you are focusing on winning the camairn? that you are focusing on winning the camai-n? ., that you are focusing on winning the camairn? ., ., ., that you are focusing on winning the cam-rain?. ., ., ., , that you are focusing on winning the cam-1ain? . ., ., ., , ., campaign? we can go over and try to slit hairs, campaign? we can go over and try to split hairs. if — campaign? we can go over and try to split hairs. if you _ campaign? we can go over and try to split hairs, if you like. _ campaign? we can go over and try to split hairs, if you like. it's _ campaign? we can go over and try to split hairs, if you like. it's not - split hairs, if you like. it's not s-1littin split hairs, if you like. it's not splitting hairs. _ split hairs, if you like. it's not splitting hairs, really. -
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split hairs, if you like. it's not splitting hairs, really. it's i split hairs, if you like. it's not. splitting hairs, really. it's quite a big divergence in the message. to look. i think the key message that grant also said in that interview seems to be being dropped is this is fundamentally a choice between two people. right? it's a choice between keir starmer and rishi sunak. and rishi sunak has set out an agenda that supports the growing economy and make sure that we invest in our future and support the british people in the challenges ahead. and i'm afraid sir keir starmer has set out no agenda, but all his promises add up to thousands of pounds in tax rises for every family across the united kingdom. do you believe the current opinion polls, which have for some time shown a very big labour lead. another conservative candidate has told the bbc today that he believed the uk could be sleepwalking into a one—party socialist state. sleepwalking into a one-party socialist state.— sleepwalking into a one-party socialist state. you have heard politicians _ socialist state. you have heard politicians say _ socialist state. you have heard politicians say before, - socialist state. you have heard politicians say before, and i i socialist state. you have heard | politicians say before, and i will say it again, you know, the only opinion poll that matters is on the
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11th ofjuly. and we've got to make sure that the case we are making is one that is heard by people across the united kingdom. i am very happy to talk about this, inside baseball, if you like of politics. but what's really important is not what i think where you think i'm it's what british people think about the opportunities forfamilies, for opportunities for families, for homes, opportunities forfamilies, for homes, communities around the united kingdom. and that's where seeing uk education change is so important. look at reading in england, the best in the western world. look at the achievements of universal credit in the united kingdom. it has meant that we've been able to support people at a moment of national emergency in covid when many other countries struggled. and look at the comparison between the health care, the health service in wales on the health service in england. you see the difference between the ability to treat people more quickly in england and the huge, huge delays in welsh and scottish, sorry, in labour run wales, forgive me. we see real
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challenges across the united kingdom and the real answer is to focus on what we can do to help people. should dame andrea jenkyns be allowed to stay within the conservative party, despite putting another party leader on her campaign literature? l’m another party leader on her campaign literature? �* ., ., another party leader on her campaign literature? �* . ., ., �* literature? i'm afraid i haven't heard anything _ literature? i'm afraid i haven't heard anything about - literature? i'm afraid i haven't heard anything about that. i literature? i'm afraid i haven't| heard anything about that. you literature? i'm afraid i haven't i heard anything about that. you have not seen the — heard anything about that. you have not seen the tweets _ heard anything about that. you have not seen the tweets she _ heard anything about that. you have not seen the tweets she has - heard anything about that. you have not seen the tweets she has done i not seen the tweets she has done on that? well, she... yellow like i've been talking to people. i don't spend my day... been talking to people. i don't spend my day- - -_ been talking to people. i don't spend my day. . .- put i been talking to people. i don't spend my day. . .- put a i been talking to people. i don't spend my day... sheep put a poster spend my day. .. sheep put a poster of spend my day... sheep put a poster of niel spend my day... sheep put a poster of nigel frost _ spend my day... sheep put a poster of nigel frost on _ spend my day... sheep put a poster of nigel frost on her _ spend my day... �*ufiv put a poster of nigel frost on her campaign poster today. of nigel frost on her campaign postertoday. is of nigel frost on her campaign poster today. is that within the conservative party rules? i poster today. is that within the conservative party rules? i that to the chief whip. — conservative party rules? i that to the chief whip. forgive _ conservative party rules? i that to the chief whip. forgive me. - conservative party rules? i that to the chief whip. forgive me. i've i conservative party rules? i that to l the chief whip. forgive me. i've two jobs to do one is to get myself elected in tunbridge on the second is to get to the conservative party elected in westminster. and also x—ray of a third job which is i am still the security minister and there are challenges around the world that we still need to get there. ~ , ,., , world that we still need to get there. ~ ,,., , ., world that we still need to get there. , , ., , , there. absolutely, of course they are, and government _ there. absolutely, of course they are, and government continues l are, and government continues throughout this period. can i ask
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finally whether you've spoken to the prime minister? it's been a very difficult, some would say, period, with the criticism over d—day and pretty strong language and some quarters over the weekend. then him being criticised, you know, talking about not having sky television criticised for not being in touch, not showing empathy on these issues. have you spoken to him? is he still feeling up for the fight? yes. have you spoken to him? is he still feeling up for the fight?— feeling up for the fight? yes, i soke to feeling up for the fight? yes, i spoke to him _ feeling up for the fight? yes, i spoke to him just _ feeling up for the fight? yes, i spoke to him just before the l spoke to him just before the manifesto launch on tuesday and he was absolutely... he is championing ideas that i think will make the british people, the british economy, the british country safer and more prosperous. and i think all of these things matter. this is about making sure that we serve our country and our community and the best way possible. and that is exactly what the agenda we have got to set out and i'm very pleased that that's what he's done.— and i'm very pleased that that's what he's done. ~ ., ., ,, _ what he's done. what would you say about the criticism _ what he's done. what would you say about the criticism that _ what he's done. what would you say about the criticism that he _ what he's done. what would you say about the criticism that he is - what he's done. what would you say about the criticism that he is a - what he's done. what would you say about the criticism that he is a bit i about the criticism that he is a bit out of touch he says one of the
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things he didn't have when he was younger was not having access to sky tv. does that show that he really is in touch with the country which is worried about the cost of living? look, this is a guy who was brought up look, this is a guy who was brought up in southampton, he has demonstrated a desire to serve our country in politics now for the last nine years and who has been extremely attentive to making sure that british homes and families are supported through covid and again supported through covid and again supported when the energy prices started to rocket because of the aggression against ukraine. so, i think, you know, he and the conservative party have demonstrated time and again that what we are trying to do, consistently trying to do is to support british people at a time when life has become very difficult for many.— difficult for many. 0k, thank you very much _ difficult for many. 0k, thank you very much indeed _ difficult for many. 0k, thank you very much indeed for— difficult for many. 0k, thank you very much indeed forjoining - difficult for many. 0k, thank you very much indeed forjoining us i very much indeed forjoining us today. much appreciated and it is a very busy period. so thank you. lots to discussjoining me now catherine macleod, ?former labour special adviser to alistair darling and former political editor of the herald, and kirsty buchanan, ?former number ten and ministry
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ofjustice conservative special adviser and director of stonehaven. ifi if i can just if i canjust come if i can just come to you as a conservative party member, if you are still a member... conservative party member, if you are stilla member... i conservative party member, if you are still a member. . .— are still a member... i have never been a member— are still a member... i have never been a member of— are still a member... i have never been a member of the _ are still a member... i have never. been a member of the conservative party. been a member of the conservative pa . ~ ., ., , ., been a member of the conservative pa . ~ ., ., , party. 0k. what do you make of this sort of diverging _ party. 0k. what do you make of this sort of diverging message _ party. 0k. what do you make of this sort of diverging message that - party. 0k. what do you make of this sort of diverging message that we i sort of diverging message that we have had from him there and from the prime ministers saying they are still looking, fighting for every seat, looking for victory end yep, grant shapps, very experienced campaigner saying, you know, they are wanting a believer super majority. what do you make of that split message? it’s majority. what do you make of that split message?— split message? it's quite extraordinary, _ split message? it's quite extraordinary, isn't - split message? it's quite extraordinary, isn't it? . split message? it's quite l extraordinary, isn't it? we split message? it's quite - extraordinary, isn't it? we have seen one major leader 's debate. there is another one tonight, rishi sunak introduced the manifesto yesterday, the conservative manifesto and an absolute blizzard of policies and promises around tax—cutting and still those polls are not shifting. i don't believe
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that an experienced operative flight grant shapps has done not by mistake. i think getting into an increasing entrenched position with the conservatives where they have to get into a position where they remind people that a vote for reform, a vote for anybody else is likely to see that that result that we see again and again and again in the run—up to the election and now throughout the election campaign will become the reality of a very substantial labour majority. so in their attempt to try to shore up their attempt to try to shore up their core vote, you are going to get messages like this come out. they might get pushed back a bit from the prime minister, but nevertheless, we have heard this already, actually. i'm surprised this got picked up today. we've heard other ministers say something similar during the course of this campaign. if you vote for reform, which is where the conservatives are losing an awful lot of their support right now, you are going to have a
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likely substantial labour majority. that is not good for democracy. it's not good for scrutiny. that is the kind of argument. it sounds increasingly desperate this far into a campaign. increasingly desperate this far into a campaign-— a campaign. catherine for labour, that is a worrying _ a campaign. catherine for labour, that is a worrying message - a campaign. catherine for labour, that is a worrying message to -- i that is a worrying message to —— message from the conservatives because there we worried about apathy, turnout, tactical voting. i think it willjust bolster the labour— think it willjust bolster the labour campaign, there will be ever more _ labour campaign, there will be ever more determined to get out and try to get— more determined to get out and try to get the _ more determined to get out and try to get the votes in. i think christie _ to get the votes in. i think christie is— to get the votes in. i think christie is absolutely right. grant shapps— christie is absolutely right. grant shapps didn't do this by mistake. but once — shapps didn't do this by mistake. but once you've been a government for 14— but once you've been a government for 14 years _ but once you've been a government for 14 years and have made a mess of every— for 14 years and have made a mess of every single _ for 14 years and have made a mess of every single aspect of life in the uk, actually nothing else to talk about— uk, actually nothing else to talk about but — uk, actually nothing else to talk about but diversionary tactics. rishi — about but diversionary tactics. rishi sunak's manifesto launch is, you know. — rishi sunak's manifesto launch is, you know, just following very much in the _ you know, just following very much in the footsteps of liz truss,
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promising _ in the footsteps of liz truss, promising unfunded, making unfounded promises _ promising unfunded, making unfounded promises right across the board, and he, remember, was made prime minister— he, remember, was made prime minister because liz truss was deemed — minister because liz truss was deemed to have messed up the economx — deemed to have messed up the economy. well, until he comes out with tletter— economy. well, until he comes out with better figures or has something more _ with better figures or has something more to— with better figures or has something more to say for himself, i'm afraid he is _ more to say for himself, i'm afraid he isiust_ more to say for himself, i'm afraid he isjust carrying on the way more to say for himself, i'm afraid he is just carrying on the way he started — he is just carrying on the way he started. and it's very surprising because — started. and it's very surprising because he's made a great deal of not _ because he's made a great deal of not and — because he's made a great deal of not... and being somebody else. i think— not... and being somebody else. i think that — not... and being somebody else. i think that this must be a tactic adopted — think that this must be a tactic adopted. i'm not sure it will work because — adopted. i'm not sure it will work because they are not speaking the language — because they are not speaking the language that people in the streets are speaking. if you look around in this country. — are speaking. if you look around in this country, prisons are full, there's— this country, prisons are full, there's a _ this country, prisons are full, there's a waiting list in hospitals, schools— there's a waiting list in hospitals, schools crying out for money, there's — schools crying out for money, there's potholes on every single road _ there's potholes on every single road you — there's potholes on every single road you travel on. that's what people — road you travel on. that's what people want to talk about, not the process _ people want to talk about, not the process of — people want to talk about, not the process of what is going to happen on election— process of what is going to happen on election day. gnlgr process of what is going to happen on election day.— on election day. only a couple of minutes.
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on election day. only a couple of minutes we _ on election day. only a couple of minutes. we have _ on election day. only a couple of minutes. we have the _ on election day. only a couple of minutes. we have the tory - minutes. we have the tory manifesto yesterday, labour tomorrow. minutes. we have the tory manifesto yesterday, labourtomorrow. do you think is going to make any difference how people vote? the votes to difference how people vote? the votes go out _ difference how people vote? tue votes go out next difference how people vote? t'te votes go out next week, difference how people vote? tte votes go out next week, i difference how people vote? t'te votes go out next week, i think difference how people vote? tte votes go out next week, i think of an awful lot of people will have already made up their mind. the labour manifesto is not going to be full of detailed policy. it doesn't feel like either the tory manifesto or the labour one will be game changer. t or the labour one will be game chanaer. ~ , or the labour one will be game chanaer. ~' , ., ., ., changer. i think they do matter a lot, not everybody _ changer. i think they do matter a lot, not everybody will _ changer. i think they do matter a lot, not everybody will read - changer. i think they do matter a | lot, not everybody will read them from _ lot, not everybody will read them from cover— lot, not everybody will read them from cover to cover, but the direction _ from cover to cover, but the direction of travel is there and more — direction of travel is there and more importantly probably when they .et more importantly probably when they get into— more importantly probably when they get into government, they can be held to _ get into government, they can be held to account because of what was in their— held to account because of what was in their manifesto, so i think they should _ in their manifesto, so i think they should be — in their manifesto, so i think they should be taken very seriously. if should be taken very seriously. labour are should be taken very seriously. tt labour are still ahead in the polls and they did get a big majority, should they continue with what many see as this very cautious approach on policy? t see as this very cautious approach on oli ? ~ ,., see as this very cautious approach on oli ? ~' ,., ~' see as this very cautious approach on oli ? ~ ,., ~ ., on policy? i think so. i think that labour will— on policy? i think so. i think that labour will be _ on policy? i think so. i think that labour will be very _ on policy? i think so. i think that labour will be very much - on policy? i think so. i think that i labour will be very much aware that they've _ labour will be very much aware that they've got — labour will be very much aware that they've got a lot of enemies out there _ they've got a lot of enemies out there in— they've got a lot of enemies out there in the media and especially there in the media and especially the print— there in the media and especially the print media in this country is
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very— the print media in this country is very much— the print media in this country is very much against the labour party. ithink— very much against the labour party. i think they— very much against the labour party. i think they know they should air on the side _ i think they know they should air on the side of— i think they know they should air on the side of caution because they are waiting _ the side of caution because they are waiting for— the side of caution because they are waiting for them to make even the very slightest mistake. they don't want _ very slightest mistake. they don't want any— very slightest mistake. they don't want any headlines about bombshells or anything else. xtt'ery want any headlines about bombshells or anything else-— or anything else. very quickly, rishi sunak, _ or anything else. very quickly, rishi sunak, he _ or anything else. very quickly, rishi sunak, he has _ or anything else. very quickly, rishi sunak, he has to - or anything else. very quickly, rishi sunak, he has to do - or anything else. very quickly, rishi sunak, he has to do a - or anything else. very quickly, - rishi sunak, he has to do a strong fightback rishi sunak, he has to do a strong fight back today, doesn't he? at least to rally his own troops a bit. we saw him perform well in the first leadership debate. the issue that the soon x have got to of the reasons they called an early election was to force people to focus on the choice that they have. i'm not sure anybody is listening any more and that is the biggest challenge regardless. he did that well. his argument was based on a lie. �* ,., well. his argument was based on a lie. �* , ., ., ., lie. am so sorry, we are out of time, lie. am so sorry, we are out of time. hope _ lie. am so sorry, we are out of time. hope we _ lie. am so sorry, we are out of time, hope we get _ lie. am so sorry, we are out of time, hope we get to - lie. am so sorry, we are out of time, hope we get to speak i lie. am so sorry, we are out of - time, hope we get to speak again. both very politically experienced, so thank you very much indeed for your time today on bbc news. that is it from me for now. we will taken
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out to the six o'clock news with my colleague. today at six. a special report on the communities living with crime, day in and day out. from street crime to shoplifting — we speak to people on both sides of the divide in the area with the highest overall crime rate in england and wales. next time it happens, do i even ring the police, do ijust leave it? i get up and i think, why are we bothering? and the other main stories on today's programme. rishi sunak insists the election is still all to play for, after one of his ministers warns of the possibility of a labour supermajority. quite the suggestion from a defensive sounding defence secretary today, as rishi sunak and keir starmer arrive here in grimsby for the latest leader's tv special tonight. as england prepare for theirfirst
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