this is bbc news the headlines at six the former chancellor rishi sunak looks is set to officially enter the conservative leadership race after securing the backing of more than 100 mps rivals of borisjohnson dismiss claims by his allies that he's also reached 100 backers, with speculation rife he could enter the contest. the leader of the commons, penny mordaunt, is the only person to formally announce that she's running, but has fewer supporters. ukrainian officials say around a million and a half households are without power following a new wave of russian attacks in other news — two mayors are calling for more funding for train operators in the north of england — it's after passengers face disruption to services you just can't keep up with all the

cancellations. even when you're training isn't cancelled, you are often on a really, really packed service. and england's lionesses will face china and denmark at next year's women's world cup in australia and new zealand good afternoon. rishi sunak has become the first leadership contender to secure the public support of 100 tory mps — that's the number needed to enter the race to be the next conservative leader and prime minister. but he's yet to announce publicly whether he will bid for the top job — after losing to liz truss last month. meanwhile, borisjohnson has flown home from a caribbean holiday, as his supporters claim he now also has 100 mps backing him, although others have said this is �*hogwash.’ so far, penny mordaunt is the only

contender to have officially launched a campaign. 0ur political correspondent damian grammaticas has more. are you running for the leadership? he was tight—lipped this morning but rishi sunak clearly has a well of support among conservative mps. more than 100 now publicly backing him. and that sets up the extraordinary possibility he could face off against the man he helped bring down. borisjohnson, flying back from a caribbean holiday for a possible political comeback. it is just over four months since mrjohnson faced a revolt by his own mps and a confidence vote. then vote in favour of no confidence in boris - johnson as leader is i 211 votes and the vote against him was 148 votes. more than 40% of his mps had no confidence in him then. dozens then resigned from his government. some now say they want him to return. we have seen in the last few days is that some

of the mps who resigned, some of the mps who called for boris to go at the start of the summer, have now said they would like to see him put himself forward. they have admitted they were wrong and i know there are many others waiting to hear on if he makes the decision to run before they go public. thank you very much for coming! those who want him back rememberthis, boris johnson is a vote winner. many tory mps have not forgotten what followed, lockdown parties that broke the law. parliament will soon begin hearings into whether mr johnson lied about this. that is why the man he was a deputy prime minister is backing rishi sunak. i think the country needs a prime minister who is focused 100% of them and i just don't see as a practical matter that that can be boris if he is then dealing with all of those issues, and i say that as someone who would love to see boris return to front line politics. i think he can but i don't think he can until he has addressed those issues don't like the first candidate to declare she was running was penny mordaunt,

last night, but she has far fewer public declarations of support. lam backing penny because she is the candidate i think that cannot only just bring the conservative party and parliament together but actually the whole country. she has got a proven track record working across eight departments in her 12 years in parliament. this was borisjohnson injuly, to the right, rishi sunak. later that day, rishi sunak resigned as chancellor, saying people needed competent, serious government. three days later, mrjohnson was out of office. so the choice facing tory mps may come down to two men with a bitter history or an untested alternative compromise candidate. damian grammaticas, bbc news. currently the bbc estimates that more than half of tory mps have gone public with their support. as you've heard, rishi sunak has passed the key threshold of 100 backers and is on 117, borisjohnson has 52 and penny mordaunt 22. it's worth pointing out

that these are the numbers the bbc can verify — others may have different information. some of these mps are making it public and posting on social media to try to build support for their preferred candidate. borisjohnson�*s former chief of staff, steve barclay, says he's backing rishi sunak — saying the former chancellor is best placed to deal with the country's economic challenges. ex—home secretary, priti patel has tweeted her support for borisjohnson, saying he can "bring together a united team" and "lead britain to a stronger and more prosperous future". meanwhile andrea leadsom, previously business secretary and leader of the commons, says she wants penny mordaunt to become leader, saying she has "experience, compassion and determination to be our next prime minister". former secretary of state liam fox says rishi sunak "has the judgment to heal our economy and unite our party". previous culture secretary, nadine dorries, has unsurprisingly backed boisjohnson, saying he's the "one person labour fear the most".

and george freeman, who helped run penny mordaunt�*s last campaign, says "britain needs stability and unity, not a soap opera" and ms mordaunt will bring "unity, stability and economic responsibility". joining me now is our political correspondent damian grammaticas. thank you forjoining us, damien. rumours abound whether borisjonnson has reached the magic 100. this rumours abound whether boris jonnson has reached the magic 100.— has reached the magic 100. this has come from the _ has reached the magic 100. this has come from the boris _ has reached the magic 100. this has come from the boris jonnson - has reached the magic 100. this has come from the boris jonnson camp. | come from the borisjonnson camp. that put out that they believed they had 100 backers come immediately, the response has been lots and lots of deep scepticism from the other camps who have been saying, show us the names, and i think the implication there that they are making is this actually a sort of attempt by the boris jonnson making is this actually a sort of attempt by the borisjonnson camp to look like they have momentum and push, you know that their candidate is pushing forward, even though he

obviously is not formally declared yet. so they have been saying show us the names. it's worth saying that the rishi sunak camp, we know he has more than 100 publicly declared to him and they are prepared to share names. borisjonnson, the figures you arejust showing, names. borisjonnson, the figures you are just showing, what we know publicly around 50 or so publicly declared names. 0ne publicly around 50 or so publicly declared names. one interesting thing i should say to you, in the past few minutes, that sunday times say they have an article coming out with an endorsement for rishi sunak given by... she of course stood back in the summer, seem to have done quite well in that. didn't progress to the very later stage as. she's on the right of the party, so a very interesting endorsement. she'd been brought into government by liz truss. an interesting endorsement. you might think they would be attempted to, you know, look at a borisjonnson camp. she has said, apparently in an article she's

written in the sunday times saying we need someone who can do the same as mrs thatcher, who won the publics trust by making it about us, not about her. i believe that person is rishi sunak. about her. i believe that person is rishi sunak-— about her. i believe that person is rishi sunak. thank you for bringing us u- to rishi sunak. thank you for bringing us up to date _ rishi sunak. thank you for bringing us up to date with _ rishi sunak. thank you for bringing us up to date with that. _ rishi sunak. thank you for bringing us up to date with that. our - us up to date with that. our political correspondent fair. let's stay with that story. bim afolami is the conservative mp for hitchin and harpenden — he's supporting rishi sunak. i'v e i've got to ask you, thank you for joining us, first of all, but i've got to ask, rishi sunak is not without its share of controversy including over his wife's tax affairs and defined for lockdown parties and he lost at the last contest. why are you backing him for prime minister?— prime minister? because he is the riaht au , prime minister? because he is the right guy. he _ prime minister? because he is the right guy. he is — prime minister? because he is the right guy, he is the _ prime minister? because he is the right guy, he is the right _ prime minister? because he is the right guy, he is the right guy - right guy, he is the right guy because we are fundamentally in an economic crisis which has led to a political crisis. an economic crisis of our country. rishi is undoubtedly the economic... he set out over the

summer against liz truss. he lost against her over the summer, but he set out in her terms, it's not everything that people wanted to hear, what might happen, and those things did happen. he has got to plan for the economy, and if we can start our economic problems out to... �* . , start our economic problems out to... �* ., , , ., start our economic problems out to... �* ., , ~',, to... and what is it you think about his lan to... and what is it you think about his plan that _ to... and what is it you think about his plan that will _ to... and what is it you think about his plan that will fix _ to... and what is it you think about his plan that will fix the _ to... and what is it you think about his plan that will fix the economy? | his plan that will fix the economy? what do you think he will do to fix the economic crisis at the moment? aha, the economic crisis at the moment? couple of things. first thing is unrelenting focus on making sure that inflation comes down in interest rates come down. that is what he is focusing on. secondly, sustainable economic growth. liz truss was not wrong to think about growing our economy, to make sure everybody owns a bit more and has more opportunity to start businesses, get a betterjob, etc. but we've got to do that in a sustainable way. and rishi sunak understands how to do that. boris

jonnson's allies _ understands how to do that. boris jonnson's allies claimed _ understands how to do that. boris jonnson's allies claimed he - understands how to do that. boris jonnson's allies claimed he has the backing of 100 mps. 0f jonnson's allies claimed he has the backing of 100 mps. of course, that is yet to be season. we haven't seen any of those names. but does that worry you that you've got a potential rival in borisjonnson? now. the reason it would worry me is because first of all... they are coming out to say so. i don't know why that would be the case. but putting that to the side, rishi sunak is the best candidate, many other people are supporting him in doing the same. 0verwhelmingly, what we are hearing from people is we need somebody serious, competent and sober to get us through this very, very tough economic time for the country. i know this is a conservative party leadership contest, but what really matters is our nation, and rishi is the guy to manage that. our nation, and rishi is the guy to manage that-— our nation, and rishi is the guy to manaue that. . ~' ,, . ., manage that. thank you so much for our manage that. thank you so much for your thoughts _ manage that. thank you so much for your thoughts on _ manage that. thank you so much for your thoughts on that. _ manage that. thank you so much for your thoughts on that. thank - manage that. thank you so much for your thoughts on that. thank you. i

the mp for hitching. two labour mayors are calling on the government to immediately increase funding for the train operators, transpennine express and northern in the north of england — because of what they've described as "rail chaos." the greater manchester mayor, andy burnham and the liverpool city region mayor, steve rotheram were late for their own news conference because their train was cancelled. once they arrived, mr burnham said poor services were causing misery for people in the region. transpennine express has apologised following a large number of rail cancellations passengers say they've been left frustrated by the problems. jake zuckerman reports. i woke up basically to find that from 7:35 when the last direct train from manchester picadilly departed, there was a six—hour gap until the next train. the experience ofjust one transpennine express customer last week. the operator's services between hull and manchester and cleethorpes have been hit by one cancellation after another. to give you a sense of the scale of the problem that people

are facing here every day, we have come down to hull paragon station. the 12:06 is still running to manchester piccadilly but the next two services, just after one o'clock, and just after two o'clock, they have both been cancelled already, so if you want to catch the transpennine to manchester, you are going to have to wait until three o'clock before you can catch the next train, and people here are just getting fed up of it. i know my train has been cancelled on the way back today, which i am not happy about. i suffer anxiety, so i can't switch from one train to the next to the next. it is appalling, really, it is the heartbeat of the nation, the m62 corridor, especially for this northern powerhouse. on tuesday, every single train to manchester from five o'clock until nine o'clock was cancelled so i don't know how people are expected to get home at this point. the company has apologised to customers. there is a range of reasons for the spike in cancellations, predominantly sustained levels of sickness, so high levels of sickness, alongside a big

training programme that is ongoing for our drivers. transpennine has promised it will work towards providing a more consistent service, but customers are already losing their patience. jake zuckerman, bbc look north, hull. meanwhile ava nti west coast is running a reduced timetable because of strike action by members of the rmt union. the dispute is about rosters. services from cities including liverpool, glasgow, and manchester are affected. a 12—year—old boy has died after a wall collapsed at a house in essex. emergency services were called to the property in clacton last night after a garage attached to the house collapsed. a man in his 30s was pulled from the rubble with an arm injury. the headlines on bbc news... sources close to the former chancellor rishi sunak say he's secured the backing he needs to enter the conservative leadership race.

meanwhile borisjohnson arrives back in the uk as speculation grows he'll join the leadership contest the leader of the commons, penny mordaunt, is the only person to formally announce that she's running. nearly 1.5 million households across ukraine are without electricity. a ukrainian government official said russian missile strikes had continued to target its energy infrastructure. ukraine's energy distribution company said it would limit the power supply in several regions — including kyiv; outages have been reported across the country. 0ur correspondent, hugo bachega, is following developments from kyiv. the ukrainian presidential office said around 1.5 million households across the country are without power following this morning's attacks, and the ukrainian airforce said russian forces had fired 33 cruise missiles, but that 18 of those missiles had been intercepted by the air defence systems.

today's attacks targeted energy infrastructure in regions away from the front line, like lutsk in the north—west, cherkasy in central ukraine, and also 0desa in the south, where at least three people were injured as a result of those attacks. officials say the damage caused by the latest air strikes might exceed the consequences caused by last week's attacks that were carried out by russia, targeting sites across the country. officials say more than a third of the country's power stations have been damaged as a result of these attacks. reacting to the latest air strikes, the president's chief of staff, andriy yermak, said russia was fighting against civilian infrastructure and people and that ukrainians are getting angrier by the day. he said these attacks would lead to a much stronger ukrainian response. back to our top story and the conservative leadership race.

the new italian government has been sworn in in rome. italy's first female prime minister and the country's first far right leader since world war ii. her party, brothers of italy, when last monthmy collections ofjust brothers of italy, when last monthmy collections of just over a brothers of italy, when last monthmy collections ofjust over a quarter of the vote. she will had a right—wing coalition. she sought to reassure western allies that italy's foreign won't change. bloomberg's political correspondent in italy talk to us about the challenges she will be facing. talk to us about the challenges she will be facing-— will be facing. she's got plenty of measures that _ will be facing. she's got plenty of measures that require _ will be facing. she's got plenty of measures that require urgent - measures that require urgent attention, starting from energy, the italian government positioning when it comes to the russia's invasion of ukraine, but also tackling inflation and giving italians a clear view, a clear understanding of what her government will be like because as of now, everyone has been guessing

whether she will be a far right politician or a more air compromising leader. she's not her predecessor, clearly. and european partners like emmanuel macron and schultz in germany, they have been questioning the change of leadership in the middle of an energy crisis with so many international situations going on. everyone will really watch carefully her first moves, and the employment of the foreign minister is sending a clear message outside italy, which is a message outside italy, which is a message of reassurance, even if the party for italia, he is very pro—european, pro—ukraine anti—russia politician. so that is said to reassure international

partners. said to reassure international artners. ~ , ., ., , partners. we 'ust want to bring you u . partners. we 'ust want to bring you u- at that partners. we just want to bring you up at that breaking _ partners. we just want to bring you up at that breaking news _ partners. we just want to bring you up at that breaking news that's - partners. we just want to bring you i up at that breaking news that's come to us, reports from the sunday times that boris jonnson to us, reports from the sunday times that borisjonnson and rishi sunak our meeting today, due to meet. this is in relation to the conservative party's leadership contest. we have been reporting all day how rishi sunak has had the minimum threshold, which is 100 mps backing him and borisjonnson has yet to publicly step forward and say he's running, as is rishi sunak. but his allies have said that he has reached the threshold of 100, but that's not the figures we had. what we are getting now is this report by the sunday times according to the tweet come if you want to have a look at it on twitter is that borisjonnson and rishi sunak are due to meet. of course, we will bring you developments as we get that. in the

meantime, what do voters make up all of these turbulent events in westminster? that's the question, isn't it? jessica has been speaking to people in south yorkshire to find out. as mps are back in their constituencies this weekend, many will find out if what's happening in westminster is the talk of their town. i think that we've lost faith in all the politicians, labour or conservative, and i think it's time that we need to get a bit more stance within the country again, a bit of stability back. i've been in spain last week on holiday and all the spanish people and german people keep saying, "what's wrong with your country? " well, we've been. talking nothing else. it is the backstabbing and that's the problem. this constituency has this rural market town of penistone and the industrial steelworks in stocksbridge nearby. historically labour, it turned conservative in 2019. the local mp, miriam cates, says she has huge admiration for borisjohnson, but she's backing rishi sunakfor leader.

but some business owners say they're more bothered about getting support soon. the main thing is energy bills at the moment, that's what's crippling us. our quarterly has gone up from £270 to £990 for three months. for a little shop like this, it's difficult. is that electric and gas? just electric, we've got no gas, so it's crippling us big time. so stuff like that needs sorting out. whatever does happen over the next few days, it's certainly giving people a topic to chew over here. jessica lane, bbc news, in penistone. hate crimes recorded against lgbt people are the highest they've ever been, according to new figures for england and wales. more than 30—thousand homophobic and transgender hate crimes were recorded in the 12 months until march of this year — and many more are thought to go unreported. our lgbt and identity correspondent, lauren moss, has been finding out more.

my very turning up somewhere is something that's enough to create anger in people. shea is transgender. she says she and her family experience some form of abuse almost every single day. i've been shouted at on the street. i've been yelled at when my kids are with me. i've had things thrown at me, i have had one violent assault. in march, shea says she was physically attacked, leaving her with a knee injury and too scared to travel alone. i was pushed to the ground and kicked several times. a clearly transphobic incident, but by the time i realised that it had happened, i was alone on the pavement bleeding. looking back now, i should have reported it, but ijust wanted to go home. a hate crime is defined as any criminal offence perceived to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a personal characteristic such as race, religion,

sexual orientation, disability or transgender identity. the latest figures show there were more than 4000 recorded hate crimes against transgender people in england and wales in one year — a 56% rise. the home office suggests the discussion of what it's called "transgender issues" on social media may have led to an increase. there is absolutely no way you can say that what we've seen, particularly in the last 18 months, in the media hasn't contributed heavily to the way trans people are being treated, and it's not a nice thing to have to address, but it's the truth. was it a difficult decision to choose to speak me about this today? yes. i will anger some in my community. we tend to think we live in a tolerant and accepting nation, but hate crimes are at the highest level ever recorded. the home office says this could be driven by improvements in police recording, but hateful attacks must be fully investigated.

three of them were just stamping on my head, stamping on me, asking for my phone, beating me. nathan was heading for the train home early one morning in august after a night out at a gay bar in london when he and his friend were attacked by a group of teenagers on a bridge. he says they shouted homophobic abuse, beat him and stripped his clothes off. one of them was saying, you know, "we have to get rid of him". and he was obviously trying to grab hold of me and pull me towards the river thames. were you worried at that point that you were going to die? i was, 100%. still now, even now. recorded homophobic hate crimes have also risen to more than 26,000 — a a1% increase in one year. in nathan's case, two teenagers were charged with robbery. they were sent to a youth offender panel for 12 months and given a three—month night—time curfew. nathan says hate crime still isn't treated seriously.

you can ask almost every lgbt person — i'm sure 90% of them have had something happen to them. they've reported it and nothing's happened. it is hard to hear. pc hayleyjones specifically focuses on lgbt hate crime in the capital — a new role created by the metropolitan police this year. as part of the community myself, i recognise there are people who do not trust the police and i can understand where they're coming from. and by listening to their concerns, i'm hoping to develop those relationships and to build that trust again, but i also recognise how easily that trust can be destroyed. pcjones is a link between police and victims. despite the rise in reports, she says many still don't come forward. i think there is still underreporting and the severity of the crimes seems a lot higher. anti—abuse charity galop say they too have seen an increase, and have recently launched a mobile phone app where people can report crimes and receive support. whenever our community is more

visible, we are more likely to experience abuse and violence, and those words used against our community do translate into violence and abuse in real life. what we have seen in our service over the last six months is a nearly 20% increase in demand, and what we are seeing coming through our service is the highest levels of violence we've ever seen. for shea and nathan and those behind the latest statistics, the scars from what they have been through may take a long time to heal. lauren moss, bbc news. england will face denmark and china in the group stages of the women's world cup next year. the european champions are in group d and will also play either senegal, haiti, or chile. the lionesses will be based in australia, with group games in brisbane, sydney, and adelaide. the england head coach sarina wiegman is confident of getting to the knock—out stages.

if we perform at our highest level next summer, then we should absolutely get through this group stage and we will see. you know, as we said in the euros, it's going to be the case also in the world cup. very good opponents. every country is improving so much is going to be really tight. so it should be a very great tournament next summer, and i hope we will be successful again. and the republic of ireland have a tough group for their first world cup appearence. they'll face co—hosts australia, olympic gold medalists canada, and nigeria. a former eastenders actor has died backstage after performing in a play. josephine melville — who played a radical student, tessa parker, in the early days of the soap — died at the nottingham playhouse despite efforts by paramedics and an audience member to save her. how do you respond when your best friend randomly decides to call time

you are watching bbc news. it's coming up to 20 minutes past six p:m.. how do you respond when your best friend randomly decides to call time on your life—long friendship? well that's the plot of the film, the banshees of inisherin set in the 1920s, on a fictional remote island off the coast of ireland. our entertainment correspondent lizo mzimba has been talking to its stars, colin farrell and brendan gleeson. have you been rowing? dark and quirky. what the hell's going on with you and me brother? he's dull, siobhan. but he's always been dull. humourous and compelling. you're behaving awful unusual. the film tells the story of a lifelong friendship that suddenly ends. people have responded to it in such a positive way and it's meant something to the people that i've spoken to that have seen it — there's been a kind of relatability or personalisation of this film in regard to their own lives and their own experience of whether it's friendship, loss or isolation had to be dealt with, so it means a lot, it's lovely. yeah, breaking up and all that kind of stuff, like, we've all had a bit of it. it's hitting home with people in

a way that's quite moving and stuff. you just kind of feel, "wow, this is one that has worked the way it should." do you know who we remember for how nice they was in the 17th century? who? absolutely no—one. yet we all remember the music of the time. everyone to a man knows mozart's name. i don't, so there goes that theory. one of the central themes is how much people should sacrifice in order to create meaningful art, with both actors drawing on their own experiences. through the years, i've missed things. i've missed funerals of people who meant a lot to me, i missed... you know, i have two children — i missed the birth of one, i was there for the birth of the other one, but only because i wasn't gainfully employed at that time, thank god! so at least i was there for one of my boys being born, but you miss really important, fundamentally important moments. at one stage, i was nearly seven months away over the year in three different jobs. it was too much for my kids, it was breaking my heart to be there, and i said, "l'm notm _ there's a certain level,

i'm missing too much". so it's a constant line you're trying to walk. how gratified are you to be talked about as oscar contenders? if you got a nomination or something like that and i didn't, we'd have a laugh with it. we would. we would have a laugh with it, and then we would...it�*d be business as usual, do you know what i mean? and then it'd would be business as usual, you know, afterwards. no, but it'd be great! it'd be a laugh. yeah, yeah, yeah. "i want it," is what he's saying! "i want it! "when do we find out?" well, oscar nominations are still three months away, but when they are announced, many expect to see the names gleeson and farrell on that list. lizo mzimba, bbc news. returning briefly to the top story, the tory leadership contest because a moment ago i mentioned this report about borisjonnson and rishi sunak, two of the candidates meeting that's been reported in the sunday times

can i want to have a look at the tweets that we mentioned earlier. as he can see that is a tweet from tim shipman and it says... just to make clear, that is not our picture of borisjonnson, it is the image, a caricature that's come with the article there. of course, boris jonnson hasjust article there. of course, boris jonnson has just returned from holiday. those two, borisjonnson rishi sunak at the two main candidates in the contest to become the next prime minister. this is being reported by the sunday times. what tim shipman is saying is that the meeting had been delayed from earlier on saturday and may now take place later this evening. if we get any more on that, we will bring it to you. now it's time for a look at the weather. hello, it stays mild through the second half of the weekend and into next week. we've got further rain in the forecast, and this is much more likely to be thundery as this area of low pressure extends its way north and eastwards through tonight and into tomorrow.

the showers that we have had this afternoon across the south of the uk