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
they do change their mind, that s a good thing, they are learning from evidence. i think the better line for the tories is, if things start to get a bit rosier for the economy, if progress is made on immigration, i think what they will want to say is, don t risk this because actually, on things like the environment, immigration, public finances, keir starmer and labour, you can t really trust them, they are a bit more radical. so the tories will really be trying to force that dividing line. but the fact is that keir starmer and labour are playing it so safe, they are hiding very close to the tory line, it s going to be difficult for the tories to do that so i don t think it will be successful. find tories to do that so i don t think it will be successful. . . it will be successful. and keir starmer can t it will be successful. and keir starmer can t take it will be successful. and keir starmer can t take the - it will be successful. and keir starmer can t take the young
shooting. we understand one person has been killed. the sheriff office is holding a news conference. let s have a look. we are expecting that to take place at any moment, the state trooper they re addressing the cameras. we thought it was going to start, it is notjust yet. we will return to that as soon as it does. let us get more now on the middle east. the funeral has been taking place in lebanon, just outside beirut, for saleh al arouri, the deputy leader of hamas, who was one of several people killed in an explosion in beirut on tuesday. hezbollah a powerful paramilitary and political group in lebanon the funeral has been taking place in lebanon, hezbollah a powerful paramilitary and political group in lebanon has blamed that attack on what it says was flagra nt israeli aggression. israel has not commented. both hamas and hezbollah proscribed terrorists organisations in many countries have close ties to iran which itself is holding a day of mourning, after
welcome to the daily global, where we ll bring you the top stories from around the world. 2024 is shaping up to be a year of elections. two billion people one in four of the world s population will go to the polls this year in votes that could change the global political landscape. 50 nations will hold elections. starting with bangladesh, the polls include seven out of the world s ten most populous nations india, the united states, indonesia, pakistan, russia and mexico. and the uk will go to the polls at some point this year. british prime minister rishi sunak has said his assumption is that a general election will be held in the second half of this year, despite some speculation it could take place in the spring. opinion polls put mr sunak s conservatives well behind the opposition labour party. with the details, our political editor, chris mason. can i welcome to you this morning, rishi sunak, the prime minister? mansfield in nottinghamshire a town the conservative
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