:00:08. > :00:09.Good evening from BBC Points West. for the news where you are.
:00:10. > :00:13.Our headlines tonight: The race for our votes.
:00:14. > :00:15.Political parties rise to the occasion with seven weeks
:00:16. > :00:21.The mum-to-be who suffered a vicious dog attack.
:00:22. > :00:25.The police try to find the owner. And you could well see some light
:00:26. > :00:27.rain around tomorrow but, either side of that,
:00:28. > :00:40.As we've been hearing in the national news,
:00:41. > :00:43.MPs voted today to approve a general election on the 8th of June.
:00:44. > :00:46.A third of this region's parliamentary seats changed hands
:00:47. > :00:49.last time around and there's sure to be plenty of close
:00:50. > :00:56.With the story, here's our political editor, Paul Barltrop.
:00:57. > :00:59.This is Chipping Sodbury, part of the Thornbury and Yate
:01:00. > :01:01.constituency which the Conservatives took of the Lib Dems last time.
:01:02. > :01:05.The majority of 1500, though, means it's the West's most marginal.
:01:06. > :01:08.The second closest contest - well, that's Stroud.
:01:09. > :01:11.It's a Conservative seat with Labour as the main challengers.
:01:12. > :01:15.The Tories must also defend Bath, though there it's the Lib Dems
:01:16. > :01:19.And the fourth closest contest is Bristol East -
:01:20. > :01:24.a Labour seat with the Tories as the main challengers.
:01:25. > :01:29.At the Liberal Democrat office in Chippenham,
:01:30. > :01:32.Campaigning already underway for May's local
:01:33. > :01:38.We were already prepared for the game - you warm up
:01:39. > :01:40.before the match starts, and we've been ready
:01:41. > :01:42.in the West Country since the referendum and Mrs May
:01:43. > :01:49.Last year's Brexit vote was very significant for both
:01:50. > :01:56.I joined a few days after the EU referendum result.
:01:57. > :02:00.I have been a Conservative voter before that, but not any more.
:02:01. > :02:03.I've been a member of the party for about 20 years.
:02:04. > :02:09.But this feels quite different - a lot more buzz and
:02:10. > :02:15.Warming up for a summer election are Somerset's Conservatives.
:02:16. > :02:18.They were already busy campaigning to keep control
:02:19. > :02:22.A little bit shocked yesterday, I have to be honest.
:02:23. > :02:25.I've been campaigning for the county for a number of months now.
:02:26. > :02:27.We thought the time had gone for the general election.
:02:28. > :02:31.In both contests, they face strong challenges from the Lib Dems.
:02:32. > :02:33.Fortunately, we've had the county council campaign up
:02:34. > :02:37.and going and we will use the same people, resources
:02:38. > :02:44.We're in a good place to launch the national campaign.
:02:45. > :02:46.Others are still selecting candidates.
:02:47. > :02:50.In Stroud, former Labour MP David Drew is considering standing
:02:51. > :02:58.I'm not sure if it's good for Labour, but it's not necessarily
:02:59. > :03:01.very good for the country because I'm quite worried
:03:02. > :03:04.that we seem to be going on a populist bandwagon,
:03:05. > :03:07.and I don't think that's good for our democracy.
:03:08. > :03:10.He knows party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who last year came campaigning
:03:11. > :03:13.in Gloucestershire, isn't doing well in the polls.
:03:14. > :03:19.It would be nice if we had lots of people out, sticking up
:03:20. > :03:22.bunting and the rest of it, but it isn't quite like
:03:23. > :03:28.Maybe the Conservatives knew it was coming, but I don't even
:03:29. > :03:31.think they knew that this was going to be what we were
:03:32. > :03:36.Campaigning for local elections has been underway for months.
:03:37. > :03:45.When news of a general election first broke yesterday,
:03:46. > :03:49.it came as a surprise to many, but perhaps the bigger surprise
:03:50. > :03:52.was the amount of attention one voter in Bristol received.
:03:53. > :03:56.Our correspondent, Jon Kay, went back to see Brenda.
:03:57. > :04:06.Brenda - 75 years old and suddenly an Internet sensation.
:04:07. > :04:14.Just one comment to BBC News about being fed up
:04:15. > :04:19.with elections and this retired secretary went viral.
:04:20. > :04:25.Somebody here in America's saying, "Well said, Brenda."
:04:26. > :04:49.Quite frankly, no, because I don't possess any form of technology.
:04:50. > :04:59.She's been deluged with media office since the anti-election broadcast,
:05:00. > :05:02.but not all the responses have been positive.
:05:03. > :05:05.There are some people on social media saying,
:05:06. > :05:07.Brenda is wrong here, we fought for the right
:05:08. > :05:12.to vote in elections, we should be proud of doing this.
:05:13. > :05:15.In my very humble opinion, there's hardly anybody
:05:16. > :05:17.in any of the parties that you would put your
:05:18. > :05:27.We need somebody that's got a little bit of guts to get us all going.
:05:28. > :05:30.It seems Brenda has got many of us going -
:05:31. > :05:35.a floating voter, now the unlikely early star of this election.
:05:36. > :05:38.Not since her days in amateur dramatics has Brenda known
:05:39. > :05:49.With election fatigue being expressed by experienced
:05:50. > :05:51.voters like Brenda, I asked Chante Joseph, a student
:05:52. > :05:56.representative at the University of Bristol, how she and her peers
:05:57. > :05:59.feel about getting the chance to vote so soon.
:06:00. > :06:06.I don't really feel like this was done in the best interests
:06:07. > :06:08.of the rest of the country, particularly young
:06:09. > :06:13.This was very much a Conservative opportunity.
:06:14. > :06:17.Labour were announced to be 21 points behind the Conservatives
:06:18. > :06:20.and they have the potential of having a 100-MP lead, so this
:06:21. > :06:23.was very much an opportunity, and I feel like it's thrown a lot
:06:24. > :06:26.of people into an awkward position, now having to go through a general
:06:27. > :06:29.election just after we've had Brexit and people are still
:06:30. > :06:32.trying to process that and what that means for them.
:06:33. > :06:37.Is there an element of voter fatigue amongst young people?
:06:38. > :06:41.I particularly think that a majority, I think it's
:06:42. > :06:44.71% of young people, voted to remain, and I feel
:06:45. > :06:48.like young people were not consulted or spoken to when it came
:06:49. > :06:52.to the decision to leave the EU and we were pushed into a decision
:06:53. > :06:54.that was never really for our benefit in the first place.
:06:55. > :06:58.And so, on top of that, having to go through a general election,
:06:59. > :07:01.just as we weren't listened to then, I feel like a lot of young
:07:02. > :07:04.people are thinking, are they even going to listen to us
:07:05. > :07:08.Will young people be listened to in these negotiations?
:07:09. > :07:11.I feel like a lot of people don't think that's
:07:12. > :07:15.What do you think young people actually want to hear
:07:16. > :07:18.I feel like it's going to be a lot about ensuring
:07:19. > :07:22.that we are at the centre of a lot of the decisions made when you look
:07:23. > :07:24.at things like housing benefit for young people,
:07:25. > :07:26.when you look at things like education and how much that
:07:27. > :07:29.costs, when you look at things like even the Labour policy
:07:30. > :07:31.for free school meals for 11-14-year-olds,
:07:32. > :07:34.things like that, those things that really do affect us and impact us
:07:35. > :07:37.Trying to find work as a young person is very difficult.
:07:38. > :07:40.Are there enough opportunities when we graduate?
:07:41. > :07:43.Are we going to be able to work abroad with all the stuff that's
:07:44. > :07:46.These are the things that young people are concerned
:07:47. > :07:58.Staff at BMW in Swindon went on strike today
:07:59. > :08:02.It's the first in a series of eight 24-hour stoppages
:08:03. > :08:04.by members of Unite Union, who are protesting over
:08:05. > :08:08.BMW says the current setup is unsustainable and they're making
:08:09. > :08:17.changes now to protect existing and future pensions.
:08:18. > :08:19.A heavily pregnant woman and her husband needed hospital
:08:20. > :08:22.treatment after being attacked by two dogs in Wiltshire.
:08:23. > :08:25.Emma Vickery began having contractions after two mastiff-type
:08:26. > :08:33.dogs left her with multiple bite wounds yesterday evening.
:08:34. > :08:42.They were just charging at my stomach. At one point, I was on the
:08:43. > :08:51.ground. I did not see how it would end. We were hoping the dogs would
:08:52. > :08:52.sniff about go away, but the nightmare happened and they started
:08:53. > :08:54.attacking us. Police are now looking
:08:55. > :08:58.for the owner, described as a woman in her 60s who left the area
:08:59. > :09:02.in a Mini. The last Concorde to take
:09:03. > :09:04.to the skies has been unwrapped ahead of the grand opening
:09:05. > :09:07.of a new museum in Filton. Hundreds of metres of film
:09:08. > :09:10.protecting it from the building work The jet will be the centrepiece
:09:11. > :09:15.of the ?19 million Aerospace Bristol centre, which it's hoped
:09:16. > :09:46.will open in August. The rest of the week will be
:09:47. > :09:52.overwhelmingly the dry picture that tomorrow will be one of those
:09:53. > :09:58.exceptions, at least partially so. There will be the prospect of seeing
:09:59. > :10:02.a bit of light rain through the course of the afternoon, but many of
:10:03. > :10:06.you will see none of that and remain under dry conditions. Through the
:10:07. > :10:12.course of the night, we have seen a few spots of rain falling in a few
:10:13. > :10:18.districts, that any areas will remain dry, temperatures 4-7 C. As
:10:19. > :10:23.we head through into tomorrow, the son of view at least, a fairly
:10:24. > :10:28.bright start, sunshine around, but fairly quickly cloud will invade
:10:29. > :10:33.from the north. That is accompanied by a weak warm front with light
:10:34. > :10:39.drizzly rain. No great amounts however. Into the afternoon, many
:10:40. > :10:46.areas dry. Just the chance of one or two showers breaking out. Most of
:10:47. > :10:52.you will see dry weather by the way through. Temperatures tomorrow will
:10:53. > :10:58.get into the low teens, 13 Celsius is fairly typical. As we look
:10:59. > :11:01.towards Friday, a warm day, but a lot of cloud around. It is looking
:11:02. > :11:02.affectively similar story across the UK. Thomas
:11:03. > :11:14.matter has that story. Good evening, before we get to the
:11:15. > :11:20.forecast, I want to show you a map which depicts how dry it has been
:11:21. > :11:25.during the course of April. Brown is below average rainfall, blue is
:11:26. > :11:29.above average. You can see how Brown the map is. Some areas in the south,
:11:30. > :11:33.some counties have only seen a few percent so far in April. Not
:11:34. > :11:34.necessarily a