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 CorrespondentHannah 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 comments that the Prime Minister spokesperson has described as racist and wrong. Its like trying not to be racist. But you see diane abbott on the tv, frank hester is reported to have said in 2019, and you just want to hate all black women because shes there, and i dont hate all black women at all, but i think she should be shot. Mr hester has apologised and said that he abhors racism. In a statement he said that he accepts that he made comments that were rude about diane abbott, but said his criticism had nothing to do with her gender, nor the colour of her skin. The Prime Minister has suggested that he accepts that apology, but today hes likely to face questions about what will happen to the money frank hester donated. Labour are calling for it to be given back. Theyre absolutely reprehensible comments. Rishi sunak should now apologise to diane abbott, and the £10 million the tory party have taken from this individual, rishi sunak should order that money to be paid back. Last night a leading member of one conservative Pressure Group suggested it could be used to promote ethnic minority groups. I would hope that actually hq would use that money to invest in grassroots. There are so many bame activists in the Conservative Party, there are bame groups and forums, and i think that actually, so many of them are so under supported, that it would be a perfect opportunity to actually improve that engagement. Diane abbott has described the alleged comments as frightening, and reported them to the police unit tasked with investigating alleged crimes against mps. But for rishi sunak, a Prime Minister who stood in Downing Street and warned against racism and extremism in politics, questions remain about the language used by some of those who support him. Hannah miller, bbc news. Some of those questions are likely to be asked at Prime Ministers questions today. Henry is there at Downing Street. This questions today. Henry is there at Downing Street. Downing street. This is likely to dominate . Downing street. This is likely to dominate . Almost Downing Street. This is likely to dominate . Almost certainly. I Downing Street. This is likely to i dominate . Almost certainly. There are two questions. 0ne dominate . Almost certainly. There are two questions. One is about the money donated to the Conservative Party by frank hester. And the other is about rishi sunak pass judgment. Lets start with the money. Frank hester gave £10 million to the Conservative Partyjust hester gave £10 million to the Conservative Party just last year. By Conservative Party just last year. By only ones yardstick, that is an awful lot of money. In practical terms, especially in an Election Year, you can understand why the conservatives would be so reluctant to hand it back. But those calls to do so are certainly going to intensify at Prime Ministers questions today. I would be shocked if sir keir starmer doesnt mention at this row. It may well even form the basis of his six questions. I would be shocked if other labour mps do not take the opportunity to grill rishi sunak about it. Getting to the question of rishi sunak pass judgment, i think his ability to defend himself, to defend the Conservative Party because my position on this, has been made harder by the topsy turvy handling of this row yesterday. The Conservative Party initially, via mel stride, a cabinet minister, embraced frank hester� s defence of the comments alleged to have been made in the guardian. We should note that we have not independently verified those comments for ourselves. Even conservative mps i spoke to yesterday, who thought the conservatives shouldnt give the money back, was surprised they adopted frank hester� s zone defence. It flood like an error ofjudgment then. Given rishi sunak ended up calling the comment races, by the end of the day it clearly was seen as an error ofjudgment in Downing Street. When you read this far behind in the polls, you cant afford that many errors ofjudgment. Thank you. We will talk about that later. We will also talk to a Government Minister about this and other things. There is another big issue the government wanted to focus on, sally. Yes, it is this. The government is introducing new legislation to automatically quash convictions relating to the post office it scandal. A Compensation Scheme will also be extended, to help Branch Managers who were not convicted of crimes. But who lost money due to flaws in the horizon system. Colletta smith reports. Its been nearly three years since the first 39 subpostmasters won the legal victory at the Court Of Appeal to overturn their convictions. But despite the legal precedent, its been a painfully slow process for others to follow suit and have their criminal records cleared. Rather than opening the floodgates, theres only been a quiet drip of people being exonerated. The post Office Minister told bbc breakfast in january that things were going to change. When the first convictions were overturned in 2021, we thought there would be a huge wave of people coming forward to overturn those convictions. We probably hadnt anticipated some of the nervousness around people might have about reopening their case, about going back through a legal process, about interacting with the post office again. So thats why wed be looking at different options in terms of overturning these convictions more rapidly, and indeed compensating people more rapidly. Janet skinner was one of those who won that high court battle. But shes been less than impressed with whats happened since then. Is the government going to take back control over the post office . Currently, the post office, they are orchestrating convictions, who has a conviction overturned. Theyre in control of the compensation. They are now classified as the criminals. So why are they having the power to control everything . Today that question has begun to be answered. The law being introduced means that hundreds of people still living with wrongful convictions for theft, fraud and false accounting, will now be automatically cleared. If they come forward, therell be no Court Process needed, and theyll get access to immediate interim compensation. Those not convicted, but who lost money because of the horizon scandal, can now receive a sum of £75,000, and anyone whos already settled for less than that can have their payments topped up to this level. A gradual unpicking of years of injustice. Collette smith, bbc news. Failed Asylum Seekers are to be offered up to £3,000 to move to rwanda under a new voluntary home office scheme. The plan is aimed at migrants and foreign criminals with no legal right to remain in the uk, but who cannot be sent back to their home country. Labour said the public would treat the plan with scepticism. The labour party has promised to allow a vote on Assisted Dying if it wins the next General Election. Sir keir starmer made the pledge in a phone call with the broadcaster and campaigner dame esther rantzen, who has stage four lung cancer. The issue was last voted on by mps nine years ago. Two people, arrested in connection with an investigation into a Funeral Directors in hull, have been released on bail. The bodies of 35 people, and whats thought to be the ashes of a number of others, have now been removed from the site. Police have called the incident horrific and traumatising. The first minster of wales, Mark Drakeford will give evidence to the Covid Inquiry today. Hes expected to face questions over the speed of his response to the pandemic, and tensions between his government and Downing Street at the time. Our wales correspondent, Hywel Griffith reports. As the man leading wales through the pandemic, Mark Drakeford gained unprecedented power over peoples daily lives, announcing where they could go and who they could see. Gradually, his government took a different path to the rest of the uk. By the autumn of 2020, that involved wales having its own separate firebreak lockdown. We have now reached the difficult decision to introduce a two week firebreak. That decision, and others like banning the sale of nonessential goods, were lauded by some and lamented by others, as Mark Drakeford stressed the need for caution, moving more slowly out of lockdown than other parts of the uk. At his first appearance before the inquiry, the First Minister accepted there were flaws in the Welsh Governments pandemic planning, distracted by brexit and other things. Since then, the inquiry has heard his government moved slowly, even after the virus arrived in europe. His relationship with the former Prime Minister, borisjohnson, has also been laid bare. Months went past in the pandemic without the meeting. The inquiry will want to know what went wrong, and if Party Politics played a part. The questions come just as mr drakeford prepares to leave the political stage. Next week hell stand down as First Minister. The inquiry then gives him a last chance to frame his legacy. Hywel griffiths, bbc news. A bbc investigation has found dog attacks across england and wales increased by more than 20 last year, compared to the previous 12 months. Experts cite a rise in Behavioural Problems owed to puppies bought during lockdown, who have been missing out on normal socialising. Us President Joe Biden and his predecessor donald trump have both secured their parties nominations for novembers president ial election prompting a rematch of the 2020 race. Our North America correspondent david willis joins us now. So, Here We Go Again . Absolutely. It is deja vu all over again. Now these ladies formally said for a repeat of the 2020 american president ial election, trump versus biden. In the last couple of hours both candidates haveissued last couple of hours both candidates have issued a statement saying they are honoured to be there partys nominee. Joe biden faced only token opposition in his bid to land the Democratic Party nomination. Donald trump won 1a of the 15 State Contest at Super Tuesday last week. And he has done extremely well, proving something of a juggernaut through this whole process, despite the fact he is facing currently more than 90 criminal charges stemming from four separate criminal cases. Now what remains to be seen, of course, is what the voters will make of all of this. Recent Opinion Polls have shown that the age of the candidates is an issue. Donald trump is 77, joe biden 81. And the majority of those questioned for a recent poll said they would have preferred other candidates, and that they believe at 81 years of age, joe biden would simply be too old for another four years in the white house. David, thank you. The United States says it expects a Transitional Council to be appointed in haiti soon, following the resignation of the Prime Minister ariel henry. It comes as the country continues to suffer from a wave of gang violence. Our Central America correspondent will grant has more. This is the dajabon crossing between the Dominican Republic and haiti. And weve already seen the dominican authorities Deporting Haitians back into the poorest country of the americas, at a time that its facing its most acute humanitarian crisis since the 2010 earthquake. Its also that theyre being deported into a political vacuum. Prime minister ariel henry stood down, citing the fact that his situation was untenable, given the violence on the streets of the capital, Port Au Prince. His decision came after the Caricom Group of caribbean nations, and the us secretary of state, held an emergency meeting injamaica, and made clear that they saw the road map towards a Transitional Administration in haiti, starting with his resignation. So what happens next . Well, the truth of the matter is that, unfortunately, things can still get much, much worse in haiti. The gangs are going to feel considerably emboldened by the fact that they have forced mr henry from power, and they already control around 80 of the capital, Port Au Prince. And the hopes for a 1000 strong kenyan led Security Force are beginning to hit difficulties, as the kenyan authorities themselves are saying that you do not Deploy Police to the streets of Port Au Prince without a sitting administration. Researchers say the planets largest trees, the Giant Redwood, are thriving in britain where they can now be found in a bigger number than in their native california. The trees which can grow up to 90 metres tall have a staggering 3,000 year life span. They arent quite as big as those found in california. Its just they havent been here quite as long only about 150 years but they may soon become the tallest trees in the uk. Looks like they already have what i dont understand is how come they love it here so much when actually, california is where they would be most at home . I think there is one person who can help us with this. Carol, have we got a californian weather coming . Sadly not. This picture tells its own story. The ground is saturated. More rain in the next few days in different parts of the country. Good morning. We do have more rain. The other thing you will notice in the next few days is it is going to turn that bit milder. Temperatures in parts of the south east could reach 17 degrees tomorrow, and again on sunday. It has been a wet start to the day to day. You can see the Rain Pouring In Across Scotland and Northern Ireland, getting into Northern England and also northern parts of wales. That rain is going to very slowly push southwards through the course of the day. Ahead of it there will be a of cloud. Some drizzle, particularly marquee on the coasts and hills, windy as well. On the other side of it we are looking at brighter conditions, sunny spells, and blustery showers across scotland and Northern Ireland, with gales developing in the north west. Temperatures today ranging from eight in the north to 15, possibly 16 in the south east. That is higher than we would expect at this time of the year. Through this evening and overnight this band of rain resting by then across Northern England and northern wales, Retreat Northwards once again. To the south of that there will be a lot of cloud, showers in the west, and to the north of it, eventually the showers becoming confined to the north west. Here only very slowly will the strong winds gradually started fees. Another mild night in prospect, not as mild as last night, but you can see these temperatures, four to about 10 d