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context on bbc news. 'e >> we are humbly asking permission for the opportunity to change our country and put it back in the service of working for you. >> what he wants you to believe is this election is over before it has even begun. that it is a foregone conclusion. >> this man was a conservative mp this time yesterday. today, he says he will the labor at the german election and he's joining the party. >> she wants to stay, she should be able to stay. she's been a trail blazer 37 years, first black female mp. ♪ >> today on the u.k. election trail. another conservative defects to labor.

mark logan, who until parliament was dissolved, represented the key marginal seat said his decision was because he thought things would only get better under labor. the labour party itself, things have gotten messier when it comes to the confusion of one of their longest-serving mps. can she stand for the party in the july election? we are also on verdict watch with an update from the courtroom in new york as the jury in the trump trial continues deliberations after they asked to hear key evidence again. in any german election campaign, there's the agenda the politicians want to stick to. then there are the unexpected events which throw the carefully planned program right off track. today there has been more of that. rishi sunak was out and about pushing his party's economic

plans. one of his candidates, the mp for baltimore north -- in greater manchester, announced he would be voting for labor at the election. mark logan is not standing on july 4, but he says he's backing as the next prime minister. and for labor, the talk has not been focused on policy either. it has remained on whether diane abbott, the first black woman to become an mp and a labor stalwart, will be able to stand for the party in the election. she said she is being banned. no decision has been taken, but the deputy does not see any reason why diane abbott should not stand. all of that and it is only officially day one of the campaign after parliament was dissolved overnight it will be a long few weeks ahead. here is our political editor, chris mason. >> this was a conservative mp this time yesterday. today, he's saying he will vote labor at the general election and he's joining the party.

>> when i look back to my teenage years, whenever labor came to the forefront, we heard things can only get better. i feel we are at that point again in british politics and british history. that is why i decided i will be going for labor at this next election on the fourth of july. >> there you are quoting labor's anthem and y were a conservative mp 24 hours ago. >> this is not just the last 24 hours. i have been thinking about this for a long time. i believe the labour party has been through a journey in the last few years. >> are you saying the conservative party is unfit to govern? >> i feel the conservative party i joined a decade ago is unrecognizable from the conservative party of today. that is not to say there -- my colleagues from the conservative

party have not been doing hard work or good things. i don't want to be critical. but i think overall, the sense and the hope and optimism is with labor and no longer with the conservative party. >> what do you say to the person who says you should cross it as another of your former conservative colleagues, crossing the floor when you were still an mp. >> i have thought about it. but the thing was i felt more comfortable with my ending as an mp at midnight last night. 12, 24 hours ago. i felt that was the right thing to do. the electorate did vote me and. >> are you going to drop the labour party -- application going in today. >> here's the contrast really labor showing another former conservative mp with diane abbott. she's been a labor mp for decades. she could even be a candidate

for them. >> they just want me excluded from parliament. >> diane abbott was suspended from the labour party after saying jewish, irish, and traveler people do not face she apologized and wasves. re-admitted to the parliament three party. the deputy leader telling sky news diane abbott should be able to stand again for the party. >> if she wants to stay, she should be able to stay. she has been a trail blazer. 37 years, first black female mp in parliament. she has shown people like me you can be yourself. >> -- is sounding more circumspect. >> the situation in relation to diane abbott is no decision has been taken. we have to remember that she was a trail blazer as an mp. >> this labor activist proudly on the left of the party has

been banned. >> i'm so shocked right now to be treated this badly after being such an active member of the party. >> she had been due to run in a crucial london seat. she's apologized for liking a social media post that allegedly downplayed antisemitism. -- is willing to welcome to his party and who he appears rather less enthusiastic about is generating no end of noise. >> that is our political editor, chris mason with a round of today's election hearing. today was the first official day of campaigning after parliament was dissolved. let's take a look back and look at the public mood and polling. joining me is joe twymon, the cofounder of delta. it is early days when it comes to looking at how much movement there has been since the

election was called. what have you seen so far in polls published since? >> if you look across all of the polling, there are a lot of similarities. what everyone is showing, regardless of the particular poster involved, there's been no significant change in the standing of labor or conservative since the election was called. so the polls we are showing at the moment are pretty much where they were before. a delta poll has a 22 point lead for labor. they are on 45%, the conservatives on 23%. that will be enough for a majority of over 250. it's a continuation of trends we have seen not just for weeks or months, but for years. the conservatives have not been ahead in any poll since december 2021. labor have had the double-digit lead since the 26th of september, 2022. there are differences in leads at the ment. anything ranging from a 12 point

lead to a 27 point lead. in all of those cases, the lead has not changed in a significant way and they all point to a large labor majority. >> has there been any specific polling so far when it relates to key marginals? in the end, it is a national election. but there are a lot of elections in every constituency. >> and there has not yet been detailed word on that, at least that has been published. i'm sure they will be looking at that in great detail. it will come down to a handful of constituencies that will be very close and many others will change hands. but it will not be that close. you go back to 1997, the conservatives worst performance in recent memory. there's still 94 seats that had not changed hands since the second world war. i'm sure we will see similar things for both parties. marginal polling will be coming

out. but with five long weeks to go, many things can still change. i imagine that analysis will be of more interest later on in the campaign once more people engage with the issues. >> what are the key issues that according to the polls you have seen are ready are ones that can be deciding factors? we often talk about the cost of living, immigration. but are they what the polls say people want to know about more? >> there are two ways to look at it. you ask the most important issues facing their family or the country as a whole, the cost of living becomes top by some distance. featuring dna and the economy

generally. there is a third if you talk about issues facing the country, immigration comes top and other issues like education, taxation, crime, all in the third tier. another way to look at it is historically, it often comes down to two things. a party -- it has always been the case in every election in modern times tt the party that has been ahead on leadership and the party ahead on economic management wins the most seats at the general election. you can say it is all about that. labor leads both of those by some distance and has for some time. it is not just the voting intention figures that are bad news for the conservatives, it is the underlying data particularly on leadership and economic management that should give significant cause for concern. >> cofounder of delta poll, thank you very much. it is general election season. when you run into posters on london buses, as i did at the weekend. if you want to look at the bbc news poll tracker, we have one running. you can see a screenshot of it.

you can toggle and see how the polling has changed in recent months and years. it is updated every time we get a new poll. so do take a look at that. a topic which always dominates election campaigns is the issue of taxation. the conservatives and labor have both said they would not raise the 18 if they win the general election. value added tax currently stands at 20%. they also said they would not look to raise or income tax. but as our economic editors report, similar pledges from the last election did not stop the tax burden rising to the highest level since the second world war. >> the townhall meetings, the scoops of ice cream, and the campaign water features continue for party leaders. but tod's main stunt

surrounded claim and counterclaim over taxation. the conservatives attempting to seize the initiative with a promise not to raise the 18 and trying to claim labor would do so. a key battleground state, market day. election fever yet to grip here. some signs the economic weather may be getti a little brighter. >> i'm feeling hopeful, and feeling good. >> the tax promises for the main parties now -- what are overwhelmingly the big taxes, income tax, national insurance, and v 18, and two thirds of the entire tax take. the pledge is now the rates of all three will not be raised. but what does that mean? >> very curious, eccentric set from all of the main parties trying to convince voters. even in the past parliament, from now over the next three years, there will be an 11

million pound rise in the tax burden from the ongoing freeze in tax threshold. even if the rates stay the same. that is the equivalent of a penny on the basic rate, the higher rates, and more. it raises the question about whether these tax pledges are worth much to voters at all. >> to look at this in more detail, i'm joined by helen thornley, a technical officer at the association of taxation techniciansnd an independent observer on all of these things. welcome to the context. when you look at what the major parties have proposed so far, what stands them apart when it comes to their pledges on taxes, but specifically national insurance and income tax? it is difficult to pick them apart. especially on vat. they said they were going to keep the main rate the same.

it is worth looking at where is the wiggle room they have not committed to? perhaps worth backtracking it is 20% on most goods and services. but there are other rates available. domestic electricity and gas is at 5%. also certain items like food and children's clothing at zero or exempt so we don't pay vat on it. although they promised to keep the main 20% rate fixed, there is wiggle room in terms of moving things out of the lower rate categories into the main rate. labor in particular have said they would like to take private school fees which are exempt, and move it into the main rate category. they have to constrain themselves in one area. but there's a little bit of movement in the structure of the tax available to the parties. >> what do we know about the positions on income tax, which is what people watch closely?

it can often be quite a dividing line. particularly between labor and conservatives. >> surprisingly, we don't have a great deal of difference between the different parties. my understanding is labor and conservatives have said that they will keep the existing position. what we have at the moment is a freezing of the threshold. sohe thresholds, the point where you start to pay income tax, and the higher rate threshold, which is about 50,000 where you go from 20% to 40%. the promise is to keep that the same. if they keep it the same the next four years, we will end up paying more tax because of the effects of fiscal drag. more people will be -- we will start to go over the personal allowance, more people, like 2.7 million people, will be dragged into higher rates of tax. they are saying the income tax will stay the same. but in practice, it still has a fiscal effect for us in cash

terms. we will still feel it. we will pay more tax over the coming years of the pledges are to keep everything the same. >> helen thornley from the association of taxation technicians. quite the title. thank you for sharing your thoughts on tax policy. around the world and across the u.k., this is bbc news.

>> here on the context, we are moving around nations to get the latest from all corners of the u.k. throughout the election campaign. earlier in the week, we heard from a number of u.k. regional editors. yesterday, we were in wales. tomorrow, we will hear from northern ireland. tonight, let's go straight to scotland. 57 seats up for grabs before parliament was dissolved overnight. the s&p, scottish national party, was the biggest party in scotland with 43 seats. nservatives, labor, and

liberal democrats held just 14 seats combined. after a number -- number of scandals and leadership changes, the contest in scotland is tipped to be much closer. to discuss this in more detail, i'm joined by brian taylor, political commentator and columnist for the herald. i was looking at some of the polls from scotland so far. looking as though labor is going to have a much better time and it will not look good for the s&p. it is just one that i have seen. >> have been a number suggesting that. there was a time in -- not so long ago, a few decades ago, where they used to weigh the labor vote rather than count it. they wernever utterly dominant. that impression was given because they dominated the central belt. in scotland, they were never

utterly dominant, but far ahead. at one point, 50 mps out of the 72 that were then elected. what changed was the advent of the scottish parliament and referendum on independence in 2014. although it was not carried in favor of the independent's argument. there was support for the s&p and those who backed the concept of independence began to roll in behind them. they managed to contrive one more thing, to see if you are standing for scottish interests to be represented more vigorously at westminster, the way to do that was to vote for a party which was linked to scotland. they managed to sustain a fairly decent lead for quite some time in the polls and in the number of mp's and msps where they formed the devolved government. but that is beginning to shift. the labour party winning third place, a poor third place.

a polarized debate in scotland between the main party of the union and the main party of independence. labor are trying to break it down. they want to talk about them both as being an amico to scottish interests. they have overtaken the tories and second-place. now the scottish national party counter it by saying the previous leader said labor issue and across england because of their position. therefore people in scotland are safe to vote. they also argue the only way to kick the tories out of scotland is to kick them out of the six seats they hold. >> just a quick question. independence has often dominated the parliamentary elections, even though it dominates the scottish parliament elections. when we look at this general election, how much do you think independence is going to be a deciding factor given that the polls seem to suggest the

scottish national party is losing support? >> they are losing support, but the polls or perhaps still 50-50. 48-52 in favor of the union. the way independence will be handled is to say the first priori, all priorities are in line with concerns of the people, cost of living. but he will say i will tackle these things as your first minister. he will argue simultaneously how much better things can be from his perspective under independent. >> brian taylor, thank you for bringing us up-to-date on what is happening in the polls in scotland. we will be with him on the context through the course of the election campaign. let's take you to another election we have been watching. let's go to south africa. early results show the african national congress, the party of nelson amendola, was short at the 50% vote share they need to

remain in power without coalition partners. millions of south africans have been voting in what has been seen as one of the most pivotal votes since apartheid ended. the electoral commission says turn up in the general election was high. results are not expected until the weekend. my colleague has been speaking with the first deputy secretary general of the anc. their reaction to the results coming in so far. >> it is still early days in terms of the results coming in from different parts of the country into the national center just outside of johannesburg. what we have seen so far is out of the results posted, the ruling anc party is getting around 43% of the share of the votes. followed on by the d.a., a long-standing opposition party in south africa. this would be a bad result for the anc because it would lose

its majority in the house of parliament. we are joined by the deputy secretary-general of the anc. thank you for joining us. is this a terrible few days for the anc? >> not at all. i think it is too much to say this is a terrible day. today, 30%. we have moved the yonder the one million mark. we are doing well in most of the provinces. it is only 2.2 million of the registered voters and 27 million of those who voted. the anc, we know we have even surpassed what others predicted. and we will quietly sit and get back for our different

provinces. and we will be able to sail through this process. >> you are likely to still be the biggest party in south africa's parliament. the message we heard frovoters through the day yesterday was it has changed. they felt the anc was not providing enough when it came to jobs, electricity, water. do you take on that message of change question mark >> we have taken on the message of change. change in south africa started in 1994. ainge in south africa will be ongoing. it will be opportunistic of anyone to think the removal of the african national congress will change. we ourselves, we want to see change at a faster pace working together with the people of south africa. not just in terms of one actively replacing the other. interventions that were made as the anc, also on the path of

renewal and self correction. we are a party that has been with the people of south africa. not for contest elections, but throughout the struggle for the emancipation of the people of south africa. therefore there is nothing that shows a rejection by the people of south africa. it is because of their hard-earned struggles that there was never even a fight about parties being eligible to contest. and yet today there is no war, all of us came together. >> a report from my colleague who has been covering the sou african election for us. those results will come in this weekend. you're watching the context. i will be back after a short break. announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james.

cunard is a proud supporter of public television. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: get the free pbs app now and stream the best of pbs.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... woman: a successful business owner sells his company and restores his father's historic jazz club with his son. a raymond james financial advisor get to know you,