BBC Sunday Politics

The election result is no longer heading to the "foregone conclusion" that looked likely a few weeks ago, a Conservative minister has said.

James Wharton told the Sunday Politics North East and Cumbria that the election had got "very serious".

"At the beginning of the election, it looked like it was going to be an easy win for the Conservatives and Theresa May, but that is not now the case," he told regional political editor Richard Moss.

"I'd love to sit here and say we're going to glide to victory," the international development minister added.

"The polls have narrowed, this election is very serious and the big issue that'll affect us for a generation is who's going to negotiate Brexit, and there voters have a clear choice between Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn."

The major broadcasters will be offering additional programmes and debates with just over a week left in the general election campaign.

On Monday evening, Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn will separately face Jeremy Paxman and an audience for 45 minutes, with Sky News political editor Faisal Islam moderating the studio audience.

And on Wednesday, the BBC is hosting a 90-minute debate fronted by Mishal Hussian in Cambridge, with SNP, Plaid, Green, UKIP and Liberal Democrat leaders, plus Amber Rudd for the Conservatives, but no confirmation of the Labour guest.

Fans of Question Time will see several shows in the coming days. There will be a traditional programme on Thursday evening from East Barnet at 22:45 BST.

On Friday there will be a leaders' special with the Conservative and Labour contenders for PM facing an audience for 45 minutes each, starting at 20:30 BST.

And there will be another special next Sunday tea-time with the SNP's Nicola Sturgeon and Lib Dem leader Tim Farron.

Andrew Neil is nearly mid-way through a series of five interviews with party leaders.

Those with Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn have already happened but can still be caught on iPlayer, while he will be speaking to Nicola Sturgeon on Sunday from 18:00, Pail Nuttall from 19:30 on Monday, and Tim Farron from 19:00 on Thursday.

And Jo Coburn will host Election Questions next Sunday evening with UKIP's Paul Nuttall and Caroline Lucas for the Greens, while viewers in Wales with then see an interview with Leanne Wood immediately after this.

As well as these additional programmes, the Daily Politics returns after the bank holiday and will run every weekday at 12:00 on BBC2, Andrew Neil presents This Week on Thursday from 23:45 and Sunday Politics from 11:00 next weekend, with Newsnight on weeknights from 22:30, and Radio 4's Any Questions from 20:00 on Friday.

The latest line-up for extra election programmes:

Sun 28 May, 18:00: Andrew Neil interview with Nicola Sturgeon (BBC1)

Mon 29 May, 19:30: Andrew Neil interview with Paul Nuttall (BBC1)

Mon 29 May, 20:00: Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn (Sky News and Channel 4)

Wed 31 May, 1930: BBC debate with key figures from seven parties (BBC1)

Thu 1 June 19:00: Andrew Neil interview with Tim Farron (BBC1)

Fri 2 June, 20:30: Question Time with Theresa May (BBC1)

Sun 4 June, 18:00: Question Time with Nicola Sturgeon and Tim Farron (BBC1)

Sun 4 June, 22:35: Election Questions with Paul Nuttall and Caroline Lucas (BBC1)

Sun 4 June, 23:35: Election Questions with Leanne Wood (BBC1 Wales)

Here are the morning's main events as politicians took to the airwaves on the Sunday panel shows:

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott told Andrew Marr she had changed her views on the IRA over the years, just as she had changed her hairstyle.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd hit back, saying she had changed her hairstyle many times but hadn't changed her views on how to keep people safe.

Jeremy Corbyn would not be drawn on the subject, saying: "Diane's hairstyle is a matter for Diane."

He also said he'd met former IRA prisoners with "my eyes open" and all sides deserved credit for the Northern Ireland peace process.

Reality Check

The claim: The Liberal Democrats say that tribunal fees "prevent many from pursuing good cases".

Reality Check says: There is evidence for this and charging fees for employment tribunals has led to a bigger fall in the number of claims than the government expected.

Read more.

Here's a guide to the political parties and, where they've been published, their manifestos.

Jo Coburn
Daily Politics presenter

Image source, bb

Why is the UK such a generous global aid donor and should it be? The coalition government legislated to ensure Britain spent 0.7% of its national income on international development and it is now one of the very few countries to meet this United Nations target for such spending.

With financial pressures on public services at home remaining acute, presenter Jo Coburn asks why most politicians still support the idea, despite public criticism and press campaigns about wasted money.

She investigates the history of the UK's support for overseas aid and examines what makes so many politicians willing to risk voters' displeasure on the issue.

Analysis airs from 20:30 BST on Monday.

BBC Sunday Politics

BBC Sunday Politics

Speaking to Jo Coburn on BBC1’s Sunday Politics, the Security Minister Ben Wallace said the government had used recent emergency powers to require social media companies to take down extremist material, but argued that some corporations were still “being difficult”.

Jo Coburn asked:

Ben Wallace:

Home Secretary Amber Rudd responds to Diane Abbott saying terrorist legislation was counter-productive.

Five polls were published last night. Overall, they reinforce Thursday night's surveys which suggested that the Conservative lead over Labour had shrunk since last weekend, but there are quite large differences between the pollsters' figures.

ICM and ComRes have a larger gap between the two main parties than the other companies. They put it at 14% and 12% respectively. The others have it at 6%-10%.

There will no doubt be some talk about the fact that Labour has dropped two points in YouGov's poll compared with the one they published on Thursday. But that still means the gap is narrower than they found last weekend and it would be unwise to read too much into a small change between two individual polls.

The general trend is clear. The Conservatives are still ahead but the gap is not as large as it was.

Read more from political analyst Peter Barnes,

BBC Sunday Politics

Confronted with criticism of the Conservatives' proposed immigration target from the Evening Standard, now edited by George Osborne, Iain Duncan Smith says: "He was the one who came up with the tens of thousands idea so you don't mind if I don't engage with him on that."

He says "the idea that the economy won't survive without uncontrolled immigration is total nonsense".

The Manchester suicide bomber, 22-year-old Salman Abedi, was born in the UK, a fact which has raised questions about the effectiveness of the UK's counter-extremism policy.

The Sunday Politics heard from Douglas Murray, of the Henry Jackson Society, and Sara Khan, author of The Battle for British Islam and chief executive of the counter-extremism organisation Inspire.

The both made a short film with their views on how to confront the problem of Islamist extremism.

Image source, Reuters

Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood has urged Welsh voters to give her party a "mandate" in the 8 June general election, so that she can give Wales a voice in Parliament, as the SNP has for Scotland.

She said successive Westminster governments had been able to ignore Wales because its 40 MPs could never form a majority in the House of Commons.

But she said that the Scottish National Party's success in winning 56 out of 59 seats north of the border in the 2015 election had shown how a bloc of MPs could give their nation a voice in Westminster.

With Conservatives hoping to make headway in Wales, the Plaid Cymru leader warned that simply adding to the ranks of Tory MPs would be a "threat to Wales".

BBC Sunday Politics

Former Conservative cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith says London has become safer under his party, but "nothing is absolute".

The Conservatives have "massively reinvested" in security and intelligence.

He backs spending cuts which have been made to the police, pointing out: "The way you're effective doesn't depend on how much you spend but on how you deploy your resources."

Diane Abbott's reference to her comments on the IRA changing along with her hair style is attracting a lot of talk on twitter.

In case you missed it earlier, she told Andrew Marr that: "I had a rather splendid afro at the time. I don't have the same hair style, I don't have the same views - it is 34 years on."

But not everyone on social media is sure about linking political support to hair fashion.

Labour's shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon says that his party will deliver on its promise to add 10,000 extra police.

He failed to answer how the party would fund the pledge, saying: "We can't do security on the cheap - austerity has to stop at the police station door."

And asked what powers Labour would give to police, he said: "We need to listen to the security services, to the intelligence community, to the armed forces, to the Police Federation and to the police about how they think our communities can be made safer."

Nick Robinson
Presenter, Radio 4 Today

Nick Robinson hears from the former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith about politicians and decision-making on security.

And he discusses the political power of the press with the editor of the London Evening Standard, George Osborne.

The presenter also talks to the former Radio 4 controller Mark Damazer and former Ed Miliband adviser Stewart Wood, about the week's big campaign interviews.

BBC Sunday Politics

Security Minister Ben Wallace says we're seeing that social media companies "do respond to pressure - they have the capability to change algorithms they use to prioritise safety".

"We have evidence they are trying," he continues, but Theresa May is "right to step up" her challenge to them.

Asked what kind of content would be banned, he says "you have to look at the context".