Keeps rearing its head. When will the general election be . And its not going to be on the 2nd of may because in an interview with itv in the west country on thursday night, rishi sunak said there will not be a general election on the same day as the local mayoral and police and crime commissioner elections, which are happening that day. Now, whether you love or hate speculation about the general election campaign, the fact that there is so much and the way its been going, actually, it is quite revealing about whats happening in politics. So we will kick off with that on this episode of newscast. Newscast. Newscast from the bbc. Hello, its adam in the studio. And it is chris in cardiff today, because theres a splash of democracy and voting going on here, with a new Labour Leader being elected on saturday who will become the new First Minister next week. And talking of other stories that have occurred today, michael gove, the levelling up and communities secretary, unveiled the governme
Good morning. It is going to be fairly cloudy and wet today across the central swathes of the uk. To the central swathes of the uk. To the south of that mostly dry and mild. In the north, blustery showers with gales in north west scotland. Details later. Good morning. Its wednesday, 13th march. Rishi sunak is facing calls to hand back millions of pounds donated to the Conservative Party by a businessman accused of making racist comments about the mp, diane abbott. Tech boss frank hester is reported to have said ms abbott made him want to hate all black women, and that she should be shot. The Prime Minister called the comments racist and wrong. Our Political Correspondent Hannah Miller has more. Hello, rishi. How are you . Very nice to see you. When rishi sunak made this visit to a mill near leeds in november, his Helicopter Ride had been provided by one of his partys biggest donors, frank hester, Who Last Year donated £10 million to the Conservative Party, now alleged to have made com
Final preparations are under way to send the first shipment of aid by sea to gaza. Humanitarian organisations are co ordinating a delivery of about 200 tonnes of food and medical supplies, which will go via a maritime corridor with israels agreement. But its unclear how or where the boat will actually dock, and even if the aid does arrive, some groups are warning of problems in distributing the aid across gaza. Wyre davies reports from jerusalem. In the cypriot port of larnaca, they have been working around the clock. The spanish ship, open arms, is preparing to tow a barge with 200 tonnes of food with medical aid all the way to gaza. Its a precarious, untested plan with obvious risks. Translation yes, we will tow this platform to gaza, where The Last Mile will be the most complicated operation. The disembarkation will be done on a pier that is being built right now by the world central kitchen. How the aid will be unloaded into gaza, where there is no port or functioning harbour, is n