susana mendonca, bbc news. a little earlier, with more details about that letter from british mps urging the government to ensure julian assange is extradited to sweden. so we have got, as you say, mps and peers from different political parties, most of them are labour, but you have also got some conservatives in there, some of them from change uk, the new independent group, also liberal democreats, all basically saying that they think that if sweden were to request the extradition ofjulian assange, that's where he should be sent, rather than him being sent to the united states. that is because they feel that those accusations against julian assange, the sexual assault accusations are more serious in terms of potential criminality than the hacking charges in the united states. essentially this is what the mps are saying, they are asking the home secretary to think about the victims of sexual violence when he makes his decision. because, at the moment, there is only an extradition request from the united states.

we're joined from our london newsroom by our political correspondent susana mendonca.r the labour leader to navigate here. what's going to happen? it is difficult. we know the nec ruling body of labour will decide on tuesday what is going on its manifesto which probably is the reason behind the timing of this letter because these mps and meps wa nt to letter because these mps and meps want to make sure that labour basically in that manifesto commits itself to this idea of holding another what they confirm —— referred to as a confirmatory referendum or vote for people to say whether they support the deal that is done, no—deal has been done so far with the government on brexit. the problem for labour is that on one side they have got labour mps and meps and labour members who want the party to commit to another referendum but then on the other side there are mps in constituencies in the north of england and a lot of labour voters in constituencies that are marginal ones that labour really need to get in order to win a general election where people voted for brexit and wo

our political correspondent susana mendonca has been giving me more details.around 100, and med is on the labour side saying that they want to party to offer a clear commitment that it is committed to having a vote on a brexit deal at that they wanted to be part of the manifesto ahead of the european elections which are due to be held on the 23rd of may provided that we do have european elections because we know the prime minster hopes that she can get a deal done before then, it might not happen. presuming the election goes ahead, we are expected labour to come out with their manifesto next week, finalising it. they are trying to push for that and it comes off the back of a week when we have had a bit of concerns raised by some of those within labour, because there was a draft those within labour, because there was a d raft leaflet those within labour, because there was a draft leaflet that was revealed in the week which had no mention of a referendum on the brexit deal. we have since discovered today that labour—intensive to change that leaflet, it plans to

with me is our political correspondent, susana mendonca. tell me about the letter, who signed it?5, a lot of them are labour but also from other political parties, the independent group and some liberal democrat mps. it was posted on social media by stella creasy and urges the home secretary to stand with the victims of sexual violence to ensure the rape case againstjulian assange is investigated. it says if sweden decides to go down the route of calling for extradition to get him there to face those charges, britain should give them give him to them first rather than the us which also wa nts to first rather than the us which also wants to extradite him for charges of hacking. in terms of that case againstjulian assange is on the rape allegations he denies, these we re rape allegations he denies, these were put in a few years ago to him, the case was dropped in 2017 because the case was dropped in 2017 because the swedish authorities were not able to formally notify him because he was in the ecuadorian embassy in london. as far as we know the swedish authorities are looking at whe

here's our political correspondent, susana mendonca.ed up in london's ecuadorian embassy, julian assange is now in the hands of british justice, but the question of where he should go next is becoming increasingly politicised. and 70 members of the house of commons and house of lords have put their names to a letter to the home secretary, sajid javid, to request that he do everything he can to champion action thatjulian assange be extradited to sweden. they also urge him to stand with the victims of sexual violence and seek to ensure the case againstjulian assange can now be properly investigated. the swedish authorities have been pursuing julian assange for years over accusations of rape, coercion and molestation, which he denies. the wikilea ks founder claimed he would be extradited to the us if he went to sweden and instead sought asylum ecuador‘s embassy. the swedish prosecutor stopped pursuing the case in 2017, but now they have until august next year to restart the rape investigation. at the same time, the united states wants juli

elections which are due to take place in less than four weeks' time, as our political correspondent susana mendoncas — around 100 mps and meps on the labour side saying that they want the party to offer a clear commitment that it is committed to having a vote on a brexit deal, and that they want that to be part of the manifesto, ahead of the european elections, which are due to be held on 23 may, provided that we do have european elections, because we know the prime minster hopes that if she can get a deal done before then, it might not happen. in their view, that would make them the only viable alternative to the brexit party. now labour have a real challenge here. within the labour party, there's a lot of controversy over whether they should be going for that clear message on the referendum, or whether they can actually deter labour voters, for people who perhaps voted for brexit in the referendum in 2016. so there are those who think labour should not be going down that road. just to clarify, it is not a given that we will be taking part clinics offering cosmetic surgery such as botox and filler

earlier i spoke to our political correpsondent susana mendonca about why the letter was written. deciding on tuesday what goes in the manifesto for the european elections, which of course are going to be held or are likely to be held next month unless the prime minister comes up with a deal. and so because they are going to be holding that meeting they will be deciding what goes on and they will have those meps and mps trying to get in there first and make clear that they want this confirmatory referendum to be part of the offer put to people. what has got some riled is that earlier on in the week there was a draft leaflet that would go out to homes across the country which didn't include any reference to a confirmatory referendum or any kind of referendum and that is something that labour mps had been riled about and some were very concerned about because they want to put across that message that they are a party that would actually offer some kind of say for people on what the final deal is. the problem for labour is that while you have got mps who want that and you have got th

our political correspondent susana mendonca joins us now from our london newsroom.now? we have had this letter from 70 mps asking the home secretary to stand with the victims of sexual violence and make sure the case againstjulian of sexual violence and make sure the case against julian sanchez of sexual violence and make sure the case againstjulian sanchez properly investigated. as well as facing calls from the us for him to be extradited there in order to face charges around hacking, julian assange is also faces charges of sometime ago in sweden against rape against one woman and molestation against one woman and molestation against another and he was not tried because he was in the ecuadorian embassy in london so sweden dropped those charges. sweden is now looking at whether to resume those charges, it hasn't yet asked for his extradition but these mps say if he is going to be extradited it should be to sweden. we heard from various people, some people say it should be a matter for the courts and not politicians. thank you for that. the general who led a coup in

we're joined from our london newsroom by our political correspondent susana mendonca.hat are they asking for here? they wa nted what are they asking for here? they wanted to be a confirmatory vote on whatever deal is arrived at, if a deal is arrived at indeed. so effectively it is another referendum but basically to give people the opportunity to say whether or not they support the deal or whether or not they want to stay in the european union. this is something a lot of labour mps and members want the party to stick to. in terms of what the party policy is, the party policy is to keep everything on the table including the idea of supporting a confirmatory vote, but in the past week there has been a lot of concern that perhaps this is not going to be made clear in the european referendum campaign because there was a draft copy of a leaflet that was supposed to go out which didn't include any reference to another referendum, and so you have these mps basically saying to the labour ruling body which is going to be meeting on tuesday to decide its ma nifesto for be meetin

our political correspondent, susana mendonca, joins us now from our london newsroom.gh this step—by—step. it is not directly related to the request from america, but is to do with the potential charges he faces but denies from sweden. yes, so america wants him for accusations of hacking, which is a different issue. sweden were trying to get hold of julian assange to deal with accusations against him of rape and molestation. he denies this and says it was an attempt to get him out of the embassy. he didn't leave the embassy, and as a result those charges were dropped because authorities were not able to get a hold of him. authorities are now looking at whether or not they are going to press charges against him. but these mps are saying that if the swedish authorities do decide to press charges, the british government should extradite him to sweden to face those accusations rather than sending him to the us. there are a number of mps, mainly labourmps, there are a number of mps, mainly labour mps, but also some from other parties, saying to the home secretary that he sh

our political correspondent susana mendonca joins us now from our london newsroom. now? we have 70 mps, mainly labour but from a range of parties, who have written to the home secretary asking him to stand with the victims of sexual violence and ensure the case againstjulian assange is is properly investigated. the us wants him on claims he was involved in computer hacking but there is also a case in sweden which was dropped against him two years ago because he was inside the embassy and the swedish authorities couldn't get to him, but we understand they are now looking at whether to make charges against him again on whether or not he raped individuals in sweden. julian assange has denied those accusations, he said they were designed to get him extradited to the us, he's defending himself but mps are now putting pressure on to make sure if he is extradited it is not to the us but to sweden. the general who led a coup in sudan to overthrow long—time leader 0mar al—bashir has stepped down, after just 2a hours in charge of the country. general awad ibn awf made the ann

our political correspondent, susana mendonca, joins us now from our london newsroom.od morning, susanna. it is rather extraordinary about what happens next now. yes, and with these mps adding their voice about what they think should happen, it adds strength but of course it is the courts who will decide what happens to julian assange. the courts who will decide what happens tojulian assange. mainly labourmps, happens tojulian assange. mainly labour mps, but happens tojulian assange. mainly labourmps, buta happens tojulian assange. mainly labour mps, but a number of others, said in this letter to sajid javid that he should stand with the victims of sexual violence and ensure that the case ofjulian assange is properly investigated. they are referring to accusations in sweden ofjulian assange being involved in rape and molestation. these are accusations that he has denied, he said they didn't happen and it was all a ploy against him in order to get him extradited to the us eventually where he is also facing potential charges on hacking. the reason it was dropped is that