welcome to the programme. plenty of elections around the world this year. now know a bit more about what could be happening here in the uk. rishi sunak says the general election is likely to happen in the second half of this year . he didn t rule out it happening earlier but says his working assumption is later this year. take a listen. so, look, my working assumption is we ll have a general election in the second half of this year, and in the meantime, i ve got lots that i want to get on with. that means cutting people s taxes this saturday. that s a tax cut worth £450 for the average person in work. we can do that because we d halved inflation. i want to keep going, managing the economy well and cutting people s taxes, but i also want to keep attacking illegal migration. last year, we got the numbers down by a third, and now we need to get our rwanda schema through parliament, up and running, so we have a full deterrent. and that s how we are really going to solve this
mr sunak said his working assumption is that a poll will be held in the second half of 202a. labour say he s delaying a vote because the tories are unpopular. here s mr sunak earlier. my working assumption is we will have a general election in the second half of this year, and in the meantime i have got lots that i want to get on with. this saturday, we will be introducing a significant tax cut for millions of people in work, worth on average £450 for an average worker, because we have halved inflation and we want to keep managing the economy well and cutting people s taxes. and i also want to keep tackling illegal migration. we cut the number of arrivals last year by over a third, but we have got more to do and we plan to get the rwanda scheme through parliament and up and running. so i have got plenty to get on with and that is what i am focusing on doing, delivering for the british people and it is great to be talking to people here in the east midlands about our progress
victory overjason kubler, whilst elina svitolina came from a set down to beat raducanu our tennis correspondent russell fuller has more on both matches. he s playing well, and its referent meadow, a previous champion. i ve been played matches already and having a third againstjordan thompson, three measures in two days, than for matches in five days, it s exactly what you need when returning to the tour having had a year away. there were two hours and 15 minutes on the part when the third set began my soul being realistic, if you have been out since april and had a few operations, you are going to tie in the third set of a match of that quality and physicality. she was really going for shots, we know this away she plays and wants to play. her defence was very good, and again it s been a encouraging few runs for her, certainly above expectations, given she s had so little tennis in 2023. india have won the second test against south africa in cape town afterjust a day and a h
also on the programme. the latest developments in the middle east. including the funeral of a hamas deputy leader in lebanon. thousands of people were there. prince andrew and bill clinton are named in files relating to sex offenderjeffrey epstein. we ll look at what we ve learnt. and ai terrorism, stethescopes and keyboard keys. all in our weekly look at artificial intelligence ai. decoded is coming up. plenty of elections around the world this year. now know a bit more about what could be happening here in the uk. rishi sunak says the general election is likely to happen in the second half of this year . he didn t rule out it happening earlier but says his working assumption is later this year. opposition labour party leader keir starmer says sunak is squatting in downing street for months on end . here s our political editor chris mason reports. can i welcome to you this morning, rishi sunak, the prime minister? mansfield in nottinghamshire a town the conservatives
you re watching the context on bbc news. i said, look, my working assumption is that we will have an election in the second half of this year, because in the meantime, i have got lots that i want to get on with, and that means cutting people s taxes. squatting in downing street for months on end, differing and squatting in downing street for months on end, dithering and delaying when the country wants change. what s he hiding? suggesting that it will be in the second half of the year rather than the first half. why is he doing that? well, he will hope to ease off some of the speculation and give himself some space to govern. here in the uk, for the first time the prime minister gives some idea when the next general election could be. in the second half of the year is rishi sunak s working assumption at the moment, he says.