diane abbott, is free to stand for election in her north london constituency. it follows days of wrangling over her future, following suspension from the party, over comments she made about how jewish, irish and traveller people, experience racism. she was re—admitted to labour on wednesday. ms abbott has yet to say, if she'll stand. here's our political correspondent, helen catt. the story that's been rumbling on for most of this week has now come to a sort of conclusion after sir keir starmer said that diane abbott, a very long—serving labour mp, she was the first black woman elected to parliament, is free to stand as a labour mp at this election. she had claimed she was being blocked by the party. so what we're waiting to hear from in the next few days is to hear from diane abbott herself. she hasn't commented publicly since sir keir starmer said this yesterday, so we're waiting to hear from her to confirm if she will indeed do so. the crucial thing, though, is that it is now very clearly her choice, not that of the party. now, labour will be hoping, i think, that that story, that row, has concluded enough that it stops being a distraction from the campaign messages that it's trying to put out. and today we are going to hear from keir starmer on the topic of benefits and employment support. he is going to say that under labour those who can work will work. now those sound like strong words, but labour is not going to set out the sort of crackdown that we've heard of from the conservatives in recent months, the idea of bringing in more sanctions on people who refuse to look for work. what keir starmer is going to outline instead is a reform to the system. he's going to talk about the creation of a combined national jobs and careers service and what labour is calling a youth guarantee to get 18—to—21—year—olds into training and employment. they say that by getting more people into work, that'll bring the benefits bill down. the conservatives will be announcing 30 towns that they would extend an existing government fund to if they win the election, a government scheme. these towns would get £20 million each for long—term projects to improve things like high streets and transports as a form of levelling up. the snp is campaigning in north east scotland. no big policy push from them today. they will instead be focusing on their appeal to voters to kick out the tories who they say are who backed boris and brexit. and the liberal democrats will be talking football. they'll be pushing their policy of forcing ten premier league games to be shown on free to air tv every season. they say that's because of the cost of season tickets and subscription services to view them all is rising. there are some questions about how this might work in practice. that's leading the conservatives to say that there isn't a proper plan for this. that was our political correspondent. she was talking about the conservative party. rishi sunak has pledged to give 30 towns across the uk £20 million each if the conservatives are re—elected. the prime minister says the money would go towards the long—term regeneration of the areas, under the government's levelling up scheme. let's speak to our political correspondentjessica parker. i believe you are in the north—east of england. talk us through what we can expect from the conservative party today. can expect from the conservative party today-— can expect from the conservative pa toda . ., , party today. good morning. yes, we are auoin party today. good morning. yes, we are going to — party today. good morning. yes, we are going to be _ party today. good morning. yes, we are going to be following _ party today. good morning. yes, we are going to be following the - party today. good morning. yes, we are going to be following the prime | are going to be following the prime minister around the north—east. yesterday we were in the north west of england, where he did a variety of england, where he did a variety of events, including as we were chatting about, heading to a farm and feeding some lambs with milk bottles, and then heading on to a steam train as well. today, we are expecting some sort of rally with conservative party members, and the topic for conservative party have announced today involves reviving a phrase that perhaps many people would associate with rishi sunak�*s predecessor, levelling up. they're talking about the conservatives giving up to £20 million for 30 towns across the uk as part of long—term regeneration projects. this is an expansion of an existing policy, an existing fund. there have been conservatives lobbed at the conservatives today though as to whether this is a bit of a gimmick, whether this is a bit of a gimmick, whether as well they are skewing the money towards conservatives areas as we head towards polling day onjuly the 4th. they are very much rejected this, but the policy has come under criticism from labour for example, same the communities have felt the impact of conservative decline, while liberal democrats say that local councils, very central to local councils, very central to local communities, have been left begging for scraps over recent years during the conservative government. that is the topics we expect rishi sunak to be pushing out today, as people might have noticed, as election campaigns get under way what happens is that parties come up with policies and then tying them day by day to make announcements as they want to push certain messages, whether it is a big policy like the national service one that we got about a week ago from the conservatives that raised a lot of eyebrows and caused a lot of interest, or these more vocal immunity neighbourhood policy is that we have been seeing in the last couple days. we that we have been seeing in the last coume dam-— that we have been seeing in the last coule da s. ~ . ., _, ., ., that we have been seeing in the last coule da 5_ . ., ., u, ., ., ., couple days. we have a commentator a little bit earlier _ couple days. we have a commentator a little bit earlier saying _ couple days. we have a commentator a little bit earlier saying that _ couple days. we have a commentator a little bit earlier saying that we - little bit earlier saying that we are hearing a lot of new policies, described as shiny policies. you touched upon the national service suggestion. these are very new compared to what we have previously been hearing from the conservative party — they seem to be coming up with a lot of new ideas? i party - they seem to be coming up with a lot of new ideas?— with a lot of new ideas? i think what is interesting _ with a lot of new ideas? i think what is interesting is _ with a lot of new ideas? i think what is interesting is obviouslyj what is interesting is obviously rishi sunak called this election taking a lot of people by surprise. there was a lot of discussion as to why he has gone now when the polls are looking so bad for the conservatives pretty consistently, although, of course, all the usual because it —— all the usual caveats with poles should apply. then there is the national service policy where some would do part time volunteering over the course of the year. when the conservatives have been trying to do because they are so far behind in the polls is try and catch people's attention with these kinds of ideas. what might cause dismay, and i think is causing some dismay in conservative ranks is that despite policies like that certainly catching a lot of people's attention, and when i was at an event two days ago, trying to recall exactly where was, with the prime minster, two of the questions from audience members on the factory floor at a cherry picker manufacturing plant, a few of the questions were about national service. there is a lot of interest in that particular policy. as i say, there is dismay but this doesn't seem to have led to any kind of significant shift in the polls. labour still have the substantial lead from what we can see. i think after a first full week of campaigning, that might cause a little bit of disappointment in conservative ranks. that is something i put the prime minister yesterday. i did the broadcast pull clip that broadcasters share out on a regular basis, and rishi sunak�*s reply was that there is only one poll that matters, the one injuly the 4th. poll that matters, the one in july the 4th. , ., ., , poll that matters, the one in july the 4th. , a, a, , , the 4th. indeed. understandable why he would say — the 4th. indeed. understandable why he would say that. _ the 4th. indeed. understandable why he would say that. jessica _ the 4th. indeed. understandable why he would say that. jessica parker- the 4th. indeed. understandable why he would say that. jessica parker in l he would say that. jessica parker in north yorkshire, in the north—east. jess was mentioning the polls. we have a special poll tracker on the bbc website where you can see how the different parties again. that was jess park with the the different parties again. that wasjess park with the conservative party. damian grammaticas with the labour party who we spoke to earlier, and damien was telling us about that clip that sir keir starmer had done this morning. jess was talking about the clip she did with the prime minister. different broadcasters come together, they all decide the different questions they want to put forward, and those of the ones that get put forward by one journalist. let's turn to the liberal democrats. they say that if they win the election, they will ensure ten premier league games per season are available to watch on free—to—air television. the party's leader, sir ed davey, said the plan was aimed at "tearing down the paywall" of high stadium ticket and tv subscription prices, and "giving premier league football back to the country". let's speak to our political correspondent, ione wells. it is headline grabbing when it comes to ideas, policy suggestions, proposals, but in terms of what they are doing today, ed davey is spending time with the kids? that is ri . ht, spending time with the kids? that is riaht, he is spending time with the kids? that is right, he is taking _ spending time with the kids? that is right, he is taking today _ spending time with the kids? that is right, he is taking today out - spending time with the kids? that is right, he is taking today out to - right, he is taking today out to look after his son, who he says has learning disabilities, so he would like to spend some time with family. the party in general are continuing campaigning today. they've got some of the other team out and about today, up and down the country, campaigning. as you mention, they're big policy announcement today is that if they were in government, they would change the law to mandate they would change the law to mandate the premier league to show at least ten games per season on free to air television, including for example bbc, or itv, ratherthan television, including for example bbc, or itv, rather than on subscription, paid for services. they argue that their logic behind this is that at the moment, people fork out a lot of money if they want to go and see premier league games in person because of rising season ticket prices, or if they want to watch them online because now premier league games are shown on various different paid for subscription services, swivel if they want to watch all of them, they need to have multiple difference inscriptions. that is the liberal democrats' argument, singling out clubs like nottingham forest, who have put up their season ticket fees by about 15%. they also say clubs like arsenal charged over £1000 for season tickets, so putting that on a price range that is inaccessible for some people. they say they would do this by essentially amending the law to deem some of these games in the national interest, which means they would have to show some of them on free to air television. in practice, they would probably need a majority of mps in order to be able to change a law like this, so they would either need the support of other parties or to be the largest party in parliament in order to try and achieve this. it is likely, as well, that any attempt to change the law would be subjected to quite fierce opposition but from the premier league itself but some of those paid for subscription services and broadcasters, who no doubt, if this were ever to become law, would take quite a severe financial hit from this. ~ ., . this. we document the mean particle arties, this. we document the mean particle parties. which _ this. we document the mean particle parties, which tell— this. we document the mean particle parties, which tell us _ this. we document the mean particle parties, which tell us what _ this. we document the mean particle parties, which tell us what else - this. we document the mean particle parties, which tell us what else we i parties, which tell us what else we need to look out for this weekend. have covered the liberal democrats, but in terms of other political parties, the conservatives are pledging to increase their towns fund, say they will go up to 30 more towns £20 million in order to regenerate their high streets to be used by local people to bump up their areas. this that would help with their levelling up agenda, and they have denied that this is purely electioneering, because the highest proportion of towns on their new list are areas that are currently held by the conservatives. in the science minister, and regressive, was speaking to lucy earlier, as it is not to do with politics but about levelling up different parts of the country. labourare levelling up different parts of the country. labour are launching their election bus today and their big tour of the uk as well. they're quite keen to move on from a week thatis quite keen to move on from a week that is quite difficult for them, managing different headlines around whether or not the veteran mp diane abbott would be able to stand again as a labour candidate. the labour leader, sir keir starmer, said eventually she would be able to stand. they move the conversation back to policy, talking about a new plan to essentially reform the way the benefit system and employment support work. they want to bring together job support work. they want to bring togetherjob centres and career advice to help more young people get into work and bring what they say would be millions of people off benefits and into work again. one of the ways they are pledging to do this as well is by giving more powers to local mayors to try and create job employment schemes in their local areas. and in all parties are wanting to switch the topic back to policy, we are expecting more and incidents in the coming weeks as we wait for all parties to release their manifest where they get more details of some of their plans. where they get more details of some of their pim— of their plans. thank you for talkin: of their plans. thank you for talking through _ of their plans. thank you for talking through all _ of their plans. thank you for talking through all of - of their plans. thank you for talking through all of that. l of their plans. thank you for - talking through all of that. what's more, as you would imagine, on our website. we also have a live page monitoring the various different activity throughout the day, and don't forget, we have that poll tracker, what you can see how the polls have been changing over the last few months but especially when you up—to—date with how they are looking now. as the general election approaches, political parties are looking to secure seats by talking about the issues that matter to voters. of course, these issues can depend on who you are and where you live. one key demographic for many of the political parties is rural communities. in somerset, for example, many are keen to hear the different parties agenda for farming and the countryside. 0ur reporter dave harvey has been speaking to prospective voters at the royal bath and west show. 0ur champion at the 2024 royal bath and west british blue section... - they know what they want from a prize heifer, and they're pretty clear on farming policy too. promote britain. stop importing. because at the end of the day, if anything serious happened, we saw during covid that we had shortages... do we want to repeat that? pete davis won everything going with his beautifully reared traditional hereford cattle, now a rare breed. the french, they all look after theirfarmers. we don't. this country doesn't. take us for granted. needed us during lockdown, didn't they? everybody was buying british because they couldn't get any continental stock. now it seems to be going back to that way of buying. definitely need to support the pig farmer, that's for sure. yeah, just with current feed prices, it's hard for a small holder to keep going. definitely. we're in a really pivotal time now for the future of food production in this country. confidence has fallen off a cliff. tom bradshaw'sjob is to be the farmers' champion, battling with politicians for a better deal. we're really proud to produce to the standards we do in this country, but they feel they're being undermined by those trade deals that have been put in place. one of the asks in our manifesto is about the introduction of core standards, which would make it illegal to bring in that product which has been produced to lower standards than ourselves. we can't simply offshore our production and have this out of sight, out of mind, approach to food. question is, though, can farmers get a hearing in a busy general election? the question i put to a wiltshire farmer who's tried — former nfu president minette batters. i think it's going to be difficult if i'm honest. i think you know, such a short time frame and so much going on and certainly i'm not hearing that much about food production or the countryside, really, from any party at the moment. they love old stuff here, but they want farming to thrive, not simply become a quaint piece of industrial heritage. dave harvey, bbc news. there's new data on an issue which is shaping up to be key this election campaign. a record number of migrants have crossed the channel in small boats in the first five months of this year. 10,4118 have now made the journey — that's according to the latest home office figures. that's a 37% increase on the same period last year. earlier this year, strict rules came into force about the ownership of american xl bully dogs, following a number of attacks. however, since the laws were introduced, there have been several more incidents — some fatal — involving the animals. 0ur reporterjayne mccubbin has been looking at the issue. in the space ofjust over a week, a five—year—old boy was treated for head injuries after being attacked in hull. firearms officers are called to a street in caerphilly after a 15—year—old is attacked. and a woman in her 50s is killed in london. scared, you know, the fact that this has happened in our neighbourhood to a lady that obviously was very kind and loving. the fact that that's happened with her own dogs is scary, it's very scary. dog barks. behind those injuries and this death is a dog just like this, an xl bully. ian langley, ian price, 17—month—old bella—rae birch, ten—year—old jack lis, and grandmother esther martin, they all died in the jaws of an xl bully. and their deaths led to a ban right across great britain. that means it is illegal to sell or pass on the breed, but owners can still keep their pets if they were registered before a national deadline. the dogs behind this latest fatality in london were registered. that meant they had to be muzzled when outdoors, but not at home. the new laws mean prosecutions are taking place for attacks like this in birmingham, but attacks are