with last night's performance. now on bbc news — talk of the train: election express. britain's railways join up the country. coach b? coach b isjust this one here. bbc news has been travelling on the east coast main line and speaking to people about the issues that matter to them in the uk general election. who are you thinking of voting for? this is when it gets spicy. i'm just... i'm fed up with westminster. we've listenend in on these serious discussions. the nhs, there's so many immigrants in there. imagine the nhs without immigrants. the housing crisis, like even

i can't get on the property ladder at the moment. and we've heard people's, well, unfiltered opinions. our national health service, it's gone right down. it's just gone to pot, hasn't it? i'm undecided because they're all— sorry, he told me not to swear. it's all aboard the bbc election express to discover more about the views and opinions of the passengers travelling on board. bringing in national service, i personally think that would be good for a lot of kids because it would give them discipline. i think that's a terrible idea. do you? it's a sunny morning at london's king's cross station, and a group of people who haven't met before had come together met before have come together to board a special train.

bbc news asked an independent polling company to find seven voters from across the country who support a broad range of political parties. i live in scotland and i came down on the train last night. hello! hi! they'll be travelling on board the bbc�*s election express to talk the bbc�*s election express to talk about what matters to them when they head to the polls this year. it looks like they're getting on — for now. over on platform six, train manager karen is getting passengers ready for departure. what we'll do, we'lljust help with the boarding, put luggage away, make sure our luggage is all safe. good morning, this is your 10:45 lumo service to edinburgh. once we depart, we'll then check all the luggage has been stored correctly, we'll do a ticket and railcard

inspection and then we'll offer an at—seat refreshment service. which coach are you looking for, sir? we've always got to prepare for the unexpected. obviously it's going to be exciting having yourselves on board, doing the filming as well. our group of seven voters support uk parties with a significant stake in this year's election. labour, the conservatives, scottish national party, liberal democrats, greens, reform uk and plaid cymru. pink, yellow, different colours, totally different colours. good morning. a very warm welcome to each and every one of you. my name is karen and together with sal and sam, it's a pleasure to be your on board ambassadors alongsidejames, our driver, today. the group don't know how one another are voting and will only find out

as they begin to share and discuss the issues important to them. will they be able to mind the gap — in their political opinions? i'm shondelle and i've come from croydon. so you didn't have farto come, then? no, not at all. yes, it was literally about half an hour on the train. the first group of voters are getting acquainted. where are you from? i'm from... well, i'm glaswegian but i live in the hills near macclesfield, in the peak park, and i've lived there for about 30 years. right, your turn now. i'm tom. i live in hamilton in scotland but originally i lived down i in london and surrey, - but i moved up to scotland when i was about 30. you don't sound it. no, i... laughter i'm chidi, i live in bromley in south london. oh, notfar. i've always lived in london. it's going to be an interesting journey. and here is the second group, cosying up in the carriage. hi, i'm april, i come from hertfordshire, so today to get to the station, it only took me about 15 minutes.

oh, that's nice. my name is kissy and i come from nottingham. so, getting here, it took around maybe two hours. i took the train up _ from cardiff central to paddington and then i got a taxi, - a london cab, which was pretty cool because it's one - of the things i wanted to do, go in a london cab. good morning, just checking your tickets. are you watching the - football at the moment? yes. i watched a bit of the highlights on my phone yesterday - in the hotel room. i like watching it when it's like one of the bigger games, like, you know the world cup or euros, but when it's one of the more smaller games, i don't really like watching it as much. i get bored faster. what about you ? i don't watch football. laughter so, what made you move to scotland from surrey? i got married. oh, ok, so love moved you there? yeah, but then i got divorced. laughter with the icebreakers out of the way, shondelle is keen to talk about an issue close to her heart — housing. will the problems she and her family face fall on sympathetic ears? what are you thinking

about this election? well, my main thing is that something needs to change, doesn't it? it's obviously not working. obviously the housing crisis, like, even i can't get on the property ladder at the moment. housing prices are crazy in the south east. - but everywhere is — _ it's a problem everywhere now. yes, it's actually, like, debilitating. so, i live at home currently with my mum but i did move out during covid, but energy prices went up, rent went up and i just couldn't afford to do it any more. i lived in a house share, as well, a three—bedroom flat in hackney and i was paying about over £1,000 a monthjust for a room and ended up getting myself into debt so i ended up having to move home and i am still there now. does your mum own the house? no, she doesn't, it's a council flat. now we've had to convert the living room, which is luckily a really big space, into, like, a bedroom basically for me. i now have a partner and we have looked at renting but ijust think that it's out of control. i think that there needs

to be more controls around landlords and how much they can charge and what's reasonable. as team landlord, unfortunately, sorry, apologies, i have to maybe give the other side of the argument from the landlord's point of view. i'm a private landlord and i agree with you that rent is out of control but it is not all the landlords' fault. so, in the first place, the government changed the rules. you're taxed on your income rather than your mortgage, so for the sake of argument, if i'm charging £1,000 in rent and my mortgage is £500, i'm taxed on the £1,000, not on the £500 i have left after paying the mortgage. and then there is a lot of landlord licensing schemes going in which is hundreds of pounds for essentiallyjust filling in forms. sometimes you need to be a member of the landlords' association, so there are a lot of costs involved, and then again, our good friend, liz truss, came in and did something

interesting and the mortgage rates went up and in my personal house, i'm paying more than when i first bought the house and it's now the same with every single one of my properties where, as i remortgage, it goes to an insane amount and i have had some really bad tenants who will never pay and you have to evict them but you can't evict them and again, it goes back to the whole point we have been making about the massive dysfunction in the system. there were over 1.6 million journeys made on uk trains in 2023, and these passengers have some things they want to get off their chest. tickets, please! well, this is a little afternoon tea for me and my sisters. what does maureen think about the campaign so far? i'm undecided because they are all— sorry, he told me not to swear. but they all promised this, that and the other, but when they get in, they hardly deliver. i'm red. yes, labour, so... laughter

maureen's sister, carol, thinks it's time for a change, especially with the nhs. it's not going to change _ straightaway because there is a lot of rubbish to clear out. that's being polite. our national health service has gone right down. - it'sjust gone to pot, hasn't it? you have to wait. all these people lying on beds outside in the corridors. - if you had, like i had, _ breast cancer 30 years ago, treated. i couldn't fault my - surgeon or the hospital. i now it'sjust a long waiting list. and so much waiting time to have breast screening and all that. elliott is travelling home to newcastle after some time spent with family, and has been watching the campaign unfold. it sounded like a lot of posh people squabbling. again, they're taking digs at each other and it's very personal and,

again, i'm not that fussed with the kind of personal lives of politicians. i want to see actual change for the majority of the country who are not these... you don't relate to these people in power. people like myself who rely on benefits and stuff, i don't feel like they're out for me. elsewhere on the train, some people simply want to pass the time with a word search. i've been looking for that one for ages. as the train hurtles through the great british countryside, discussions amongst our squad of voters are in full swing. hertfordshire mum april is concerned about the increase in crime in her local area. since my children have become older, one of the biggest and most pressing issues to me at the moment is about crime and safety. i worry letting my children go out. unfortunately, the time we're living in, it's not safe. is that an issue for you as well?

yes, like, as a uni student, since i'm living alone, away from home, my mum, she's always been a very protective person, but now that i'm living alone, she's more scared. i understand her being protective but i also want to be free. i've not heard anyone, any of the politicians l talking about crime. no, i think the only thing they're really looking at trying to do, which they say every election, is that they want more police, and they're going to fund more police. carroll, who lives in cheshire's peak district, runs a business with her husband. ran a business with her husband. she has a grown—up son too and has an opinion on one of the main party's policies relating to young people. it's not really a deterrent because once they are actually accused, taken into jail, they're let out again because they haven't got the room. i know in cheshire, that's what it's like. i think in a way, i mean, lots of different reasons, but one thing rishi sunak has said is bringing in national service. i personally think that would be good for a lot of kids because it would give them discipline that they haven't had all the way through. i think that's a terrible idea.

do you? i agree. laughter iagree! that's fine. we all disagree with things, which is good. yeah, but ijust feel it could discipline some children. chidi served in the armed forces, so understands more than a thing or two about how national service might work in practice. there isn't the capacity or the space in the armed services or any form of government, to train these people, to look after them. secondly, in today's society, you know, authority is consistently questioned. while our voters take on the issues facing the country, our election express welcomes new passengers on board. do you know what? i'm still deliberating, but i don't know... i think that i'm really disillusioned, actually, with the two big parties so i'm actually looking at the smaller parties. i'm quite conscious of the failure of, currently the snp and also the tory governments within the uk, of reaching any climate objectives they have set for themselves.

i guess it's got its problem also with people coming i across the channel, which seems to be getting very expensive - and difficult to solve. that really needs fixing one way or the other. i the one policy that i'm sorry that the conservatives didn't get through, and it was a rishi sunak one, was about smoking and basically increasing the age at which people could legitimately buy cigarettes. my vote would probably be directed towards the green party, even if that's not necessarily a viable voting choice in this voting system. i really feel like there's a lack of a party for normal people. the same with people that are claiming benefits - and shouldn't claim benefits, and we are having to - pay it as taxpayers. my natural instinct is to be a labour voter. i didn't vote labour, in fact, in the last general election and i'm also not planning to vote labour this time so i will be tactically voting lib dem to make sure that the snp doesn't get elected. i might do a protest- reform party vote, possibly.

a group of voters have moved the discussion on the hot topic of immigration. is anybody going to move that ballot box sign? basically, scotlandl needs immigration. i think something like 30%, - more than 30% of people are 55 and over in scotland, _ so we need younger people to come in to help the economy. it depends on immigration, i and a lot of that immigration was taken away when we had brexit forced upon us in scotland. - i'm quite supportive of scottish - independence because at least then we can control immigrationl to an extent, we can control the numbers coming into scotland. how would scotland react to the kind of numbers that you need to come in without building the infrastructure that you need to integrate people ? you know, you've already got the protestant and the catholic issue, you've got the english and scottish issue, if you bring

in people with different cultures, different religions, are you not going to import more issues? i don't think immigrationj is a problem in scotland, because i think that really people welcome people from _ abroad with open arms. i mean, particularly— in the national health service, but i think that's one way to look at it, but i think immigration - with the boats and all - that is a totally different thing. you're bringing in people - who are trained, who want to do something, whereas the boats are totally different. _ there is a massive issue with the boats, and i think that, you know, like we say, in terms of immigration with skilled workers, a lot of our doctors are asian and a lot of our nurses are african and i think that we need more of that. the promise of brexit, wasn't it, that we take back control, and instead it's actually made the chaos worse. i do think there needs to be control over it, but again, ijust feel as though no one's got an answer for it. i do think we are very generous to people who come on boats. oh, absolutely. i mean, whenever they arrive, other countries don't give them money,

they don't give them phones. i mean, you just see the way they're treated whenever they do arrive and that's why they want to come here. i want wales to get stronger, because i'm welsh and i think i'm for immigration. i'm not, like, with the rhetoric of nigel farage where he is saying, like, you know, he is making populist kind of right—wing comments about immigration. if you take away immigration from britain, you know, so manyjobs would go. exactly, like the nhs, there's so many immigrants in there. imagine the nhs without immigrants. mum of three april works for a company that makes greetings cards. anything from the trolley, anyone? fresh mint, snacks? she's been thinking a lot about who she's going to vote for. so, i actually... this is when it gets spicy. i actually think i am probably going towards reform. wow. i thought it was really interesting what you were both saying and i thought, "should i say anything, should i not?" i don't agree with everything

that nigel farage says. i'm not a sort of crazy british supporter. i'm not like that, but i live here and i also want what's best for the country and having the nhs drive is really important. thrive is really important. if those workers come from international countries, amazing. i use the nhs, we all do, i've got no problem with that. i don't think the party does either, itjust says that if you come over here, can you add something to the country? my heritage isn't england, i come from eastern europe. when my family came over here, we were heavily persecuted, we had to flee, so i completely understand what it's like to have to flee somewhere that's war—torn or you have the threat of death. i think the conversation is coming through the proper channels, coming through the front door rather than the back door. those that are on benefits. a lot of british people, they're not working, those that are on benefits. it's kind of unfair to have this belief that they have to be skilled or there is no point of them coming.

i'm not saying that's what you said, but you know, british people as well. because some british people, theyjust live completely unemployed and are not contributing to the country at all, so if an immigrant isjust moving into the country, i feel like it'sjust fair to let them build themself, then when they're ready, start a job and everything. it's nearly time for lunch. cup of soup? we've got tomato or chicken cup of soup. j while these passengers may be parched, their thirst for political opinion is unquenchable. bills are so expensive and the student loan often didn't cover and it was very hard. where i grew up, it was very tory, so the first past the post system is... it doesn't really make that much different that much different who you vote for, right? it's just voting for the right - people and the correct person, especially with our environment and the community. _ meanwhile, train manager louise, who got on at newcastle, is making sure the service

is running smoothly. good afternoon to those passengers in coaches b and a. we're just making sure the passengers are comfortable, answer any questions they have, we'll bring a trolley through with various ranges of drinks and snacks. we will be shortly passing through with the catering trolley. make sure if there's any delays, that then they're kept up—to—date, and yeah, once we get to our destination, we'll disembark the customers and then secure the train. when we get back to newcastle, that's pretty much our shift over and done with, we go home. in carriage a, our group of seven decided to have their lunch break, a much—needed recharge after all this election talk. you like bananas. laughter protein bars. yeah, they're quite nice.

ihaven't had one of them, no, i'm quite happy- with the nuts at the moment. would you like anything from the trolley? labour have kind of set out in their manifesto how they're going to raise the funds for a lot of their policies, and one of those things is raising vat on private schools so that they can fund teachers for state schools, which i think is good, because, you know, as we were saying, a lot of the conservatives, they've probably all been to private school, they've all got money, and if you go to private school, nine times out of ten, there are some people that have scholarships and bursaries and stuff like that, but nine times out of ten, you've got a lot of money. i think the problem is not attacking private schools, it's increasing the quality of the state schools, but we need to have a clear idea of how that's going to happen, otherwise, again, it'sjust a gimmick, it's one of those kind of tax the rich... sorry i'm interrupting, i know a lot of kids - who go to private school, i'm not being funny, -

but a lot of parents really, i really save up to send those children to private school, and that 20%, i can thinkl of at least ten kids - who are going to come out of the private system and go into the normal- system, the state system. the rich will still go to the private schools. the rich will still afford it. you're taking it away from the people that you're mentioning, people who are just struggling to get in there. i'm from radyr, right? it's quite a conservative area of cardiff. i'm quite well—off, you know, i'm lucky. and i went to state school in radyr because it wasn't private, but i've always been brought up, you know, the labour, everyone is equal, and i think if you have a private school mentality, you have this elitism and they get like 80% of the top jobs and there's only a certain percentage of people go to private school, which is shocking. this particular thing of taking this 20% off, i think it's the wrong way to deal with it. some of our voters have already shown their political colours,

but some aren't beating around the bush any longer. we're all chatting. who are you thinking of voting for? i'm going to vote for snp. right, ok, best of luck. i'm just fed up with westminster. i don't think their policies. are helping scotland at all. i think scotland's - better off on its own. look at hsz, for instance, you know? itheyjust abandoned that and it'sl like they're abandoning the north. who are you going to vote for, carol? out of the parties, i would say probably conservative. right. just for what they are putting forward, a certain amount of their policies, i do agree with. but as i said, we will wait and see, but more than likely. so, after all this conversation, who do you guys think you are going to vote for? i'm going to vote for labour because i think they are for the working class, i think they are for young people. personally, i think the main competition is between, and always has between, labour and conservative and my main view isjust...

my main concern isjust taking power away from the conservatives and making sure there is a change and they don't just manage to sail through again. so, i'd vote for the lib dems, . mainly because they're the only of the big three parties that, i they most likely will never get into power so i will not be held accountable for my vote. - laughter but also because i'm not a big fan of labour, - they don't have any really radical, good policies that i think - will change things. they're just, carry on as they are. i went to plaid, because wales, you know, since brexit, it's has been a mess. everyone was lied to and we thought, like, oh, great britain, go back to the old days and will have more power and stuff and it'sjust ruined us, you know? it wasn't worth it. yes, it's been rubbish, and like plaid cymru and the liberal democrats and the greens, labour, who should go back because it would be better for them, would mention nothing about going

back into europe so i liked played back into europe so i liked plaid because of the things on gps and giving more money to have health because we've been talking about that and how there is a lack of gp appointments for people. and getting wales stronger. what about you ? i'm going to put green, just because i feel- like they have the country's best interests at heart and i like their take on climate change, education, taxation and overalljust cost - of living and i think it is really important, especially now. i and that's a wrap. laughter as the bbc election express reaches its destination the passengers have some final moments to reflect on their journey together. it's actually been really nice today. i woke up this morning actually feeling quite nervous. i wasn't sure who was going to be on the journey or how it was going to be, if it was going to be more of a debate, but everyone's been really nice and it's actually quite refreshing, because even some politicians can't do that. laughter

politics, it canjust cause unnecessary fights. yeah, arguments. i was saying earlier, like, you know, with some family and stuff, you just can't even have conversations about politics. exactly, that's my. family, it's too much. i'd ratherjust not say anything at all. you don't want to end up with, like, serious debates where you're shouting at each other. yes, exactly, throwing gravy across the dinner table. laughter we hope you enjoyed yourjourney on board the election express. please take all political opinions with you when leaving the train. goodbye.

hello, the weather has been pretty mixed and i think we will see the best of the sunshine today and a bit cloudy for tomorrow with some rain here and there. it has been a glorious last few days for glastonbury, today has seen good sunny spells, 21 degrees, but a chance of thicker cloud, maybe a spot of rain as we move through sunday. all courtesy of these weather fronts which have been pushing in from the west through the course of this morning, bringing thicker cloud for northern england, large parts of wales and the north midlands. some splashes of rain here. to the north of it, some sunshine, improving picture for northern ireland, breezy with showers for northern scotland, best of the sun shines through the afternoon will be across the south—east quadrant of england where it could be up to 25

degrees but cooler under the thicker cloud further north. that area of cloud and rain begins to ease as it pushes its way southwards, it weakens but it will bring a cloudy night for the south—east quadrant so a milder night to come here, further north clearer skies so a few chilly spots there, patchy cloud, just the odd shower here and there. so, into part two, this ridge of high pressure building in, that will kill this weather front which will sink southwards. there could be the still the odd shower here and there across the far south—east, some early sunshine. but i think clouds will be isolated for most. south—west england up to 21 degrees, temperatures a little disappointing. across into the continent, the euro football continues, england play slovakia later on sunday, looks like we could have a few heavy thundery showers on the earlier part of the game and then as we head towards the latter part of the evening, it should turn a bit drier. back home, we've got a weather front pushing into northern and western areas for monday.

we start off dry with early sunshine, skies will turn cloudy and we will see splashes of rain pushing their way eastwards through the course of the day, eventually reaching the south—east after dark. disappointing temperatures again in those north—westerly breezes — 14—19 celsius, not much improvement through the rest of the week, low pressure always close by, wetter in the north—west, drier further south and east.

live from london, this is bbc news. reform uk drops three election candidates for derogatory comments. leader nigel farage told the bbc he wanted "nothing to do with them". president biden vows to fight on after his poor debate performance against donald trump but the new york times joins calls for him to leave the race. a renewed search for missing teenagerjay slater is under way in tenerife after spanish police appealed for expert volunteers to help. and the countdown begins for coldplay to take to the stage for their record fifth glastonbury headline slot.

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. welcome to the programme. we begin with a developing story here. reform uk hasjust dropped three candidates standing in thursday's general election. it's because of offensive comments they had made in the past. but it is too late for their names to be removed from the ballot paper. speaking on the bbc on friday, leader nigel farage had said he wanted nothing to do with them. well our political correspndent ben wrightjoins me now on set. with me is our political correspondent ben wright. bring correspondent ben wright. us up to date on this particular bring us up to date on this particular issue. fin bring us up to date on this particular issue.— bring us up to date on this particular issue. on a couple of fronts, particular issue. on a couple of fronts. nigel — particular issue. on a couple of fronts, nigel farage _ particular issue. on a couple of

fronts, nigel farage is - particular issue. on a couple of fronts, nigel farage is under . particular issue. on a couple of. fronts, nigel farage is under real pressure, underfire