HAND SIGNALS FOR VOLLEYBALL OFFICIALS PLUS

The government has chosen to avoid a showdown with MPs on the ratification of its new treaty with Rwanda, after the House of Lords voted to delay the finalisation of the deal. Sky News spoke to pollsters about the factors the prime minister will be weighing up in making his decision - and when they think the election should be. The phrase 'working assumption'does give Mr Sunak wriggle room should circumstances change, and he has not ruled out a spring election.

HAND SIGNALS FOR VOLLEYBALL OFFICIALS PLUS

This would be five years from the day since the current parliament first met (17 December 2019), plus the time required to run an election campaign. UK general elections have to be held no more than five years apart, so the next one must take place by 28 January 2025 at the latest. Speculation has been rife for months about when the prime minister will choose to go to the polls, with some pundits believing he would call one in May to coincide with the local elections. Rishi Sunak kicked off 2024's political season with a hint at when the next general election will be - saying earlier this month that it's his 'working assumption' it will happen in the second half of the year. Join us again tomorrow from 6am for the very latest political news. More substantively, Emily Thornberry also failed to say that Labour would spend more on defence.The shadow attorney general said she stands by calling Trump a 'sexual predator' and 'racist'.Labour MP Tahir Ali issued an apology to the PM after saying he has 'blood on his hands' as he has not called for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.Lord David Cameron spent the day in Israel and the West Bank as the government pushes for humanitarian pauses in the Israel-Hamas war.Lee Anderson, who quit as Tory deputy chairman to vote against Rishi Sunak's Rwanda bill and then ended up abstaining because Labour MPs were laughing at him, has now said he should have voted in favour of the bill.The man himself gave an interview in his own defence after backlash from his colleagues, saying that 'no one like the guy shouting iceberg'.

Rishi Sunak faced PMQs, with Sir Keir Starmer mocking Tory disunity after Sir Simon Clarke called on him to resign.Broader concerns have been expressed about the UK's readiness for an armed conflict, with Lord Alan West, former first sea lord and chief of the naval staff, telling Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge that Britons have been 'lulled into a false sense of security' and that Putin will think the UK is 'not serious' about defence.But No 10 poured cold water on that suggestion, saying the government has 'no intention” of conscripting Britons, despite warnings over the small size of the army.Outgoing chief of the defence staff General Sir Patrick Sanders triggered a bit of a storm after warning that the public could face a call-up to the army in the event of a war with Russia.Thank you for joining us on the Politics Hub for another busy day in Westminster. 'That's the danger when you don't have sufficient defence,' he said. He gave the example of Argentina feeling comfortable invading the Falklands in 1982 and the vast expense of the ensuing battle to retake them. He said when Putin looks towards the UK, he'll think 'they're obviously not that serious about it', citing our smaller naval capacity and lack of fighter jets to sit on board aircraft carriers. 'But one of the ways of ensuring these things don't happen, for example, is if countries like the UK and in Europe spend money on defence because then when Putin looks, he thinks those people are taking it seriously.' 'I wouldn't want to frighten the horses by saying these things are going to happen,' he said. Putin will think UK 'not serious' about defence Lord West went on to say it is 'naïve to think these events around the world aren't going to impact on us', noting the war in Ukraine and the consequences of any war between NATO and Russia. He said the public have not noticed warnings from military people like him that 'we're letting our defence capability decline' because 'there are other things they're focused on'. The 'reality', he said, is 'it's the most dangerous and unpredictable world I've known in the 50-60 years that I've been on the active list'. He told Sophy the UK population has been 'lulled into a false sense of security that there aren't that many threats and dangers to them personally, even though things are going on in the world'. On tonight's edition of Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge, we heard from Lord Alan West, former first sea lord and chief of the naval staff.

Hand signals for volleyball officials