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 problem on
hello, i m lewis vaughanjones. 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.
you re watching the context on bbc news. 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. on our panel tonight, andrew fisher columnist for the i paper and former executive director of policy for the labour party and carrie sheffield, a senior policy analyst at independent women s voice. 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.
sunak. now, elections could have been held in the may time. we are expecting it to happen sometime in this year, there can be an election in the first month of next year, but rishi sunak their speaking earlier and was asked a question by a reporter about the timing of the election, plenty of speculation about it and he confirmed that in his mind, his working assumption would be that it would take place in the second half of the year. so, no early general election. we got a response straightaway from the labour party and opposition leaders saying that they wanted an election as soon as possible and they accused rishi sunak of effectively squatting in downing street. we will have plenty more political reaction to that and i will be back with all the headlines injust that and i will be back with all the headlines in just a that and i will be back with all the headlines injust a couple headlines in just a couple of minutes time. stay with us. and the list onjones. this is bbc news.
hello, i m lewis vaughanjones. you re watching the context on bbc news. 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. on our panel tonight, andrew fisher columnist for the i paper and former executive director of policy for the labour party and carrie sheffield, a senior policy analyst at independent women s voice. 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.