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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Jacob Phillips and Rachael Burford

General Election 2024 LIVE: Rishi Sunak rides campaign 'choppy waters' catching lobster in Devon

Rishi Sunak has joined a group of fishermen catching lobster during a campaign visit in North Devon - after Sir Keir Starmer was grilled on Labour’s tax plans in an LBC phone-in.

The Prime Minister met Torridge and Tavistock candidate Sir Geoffrey Cox on the beach in Clovelly, where they talked to local Conservative supporters.

He took a brief trip out on a fishing boat amid choppy waters to look at lobster pots before returning to shore.

Earlier, Sir Keir refused to directly rule out council tax increases under a Labour government.

The Labour leader said he has no plans to put more financial pressure on working people and vowed that income tax, national insurance and VAT would not rise if he becomes Prime Minister next month.

But pressed about a raid on council taxes, he declined to promise the same.

During an LBC phone-in he said: “We’ve been really clear we’re not going to be raising tax on working people...What I’m not going to do is sit here two weeks before the election and write the budgets for the next five years.

“What I can say is that none of our plans require a tax rise. And that is for a reason and the reason is our focus is on getting our economy going, on building, on growing, on raising living standards and creating wealth.”

Sir Keir did also not directly rule out changing council tax bands, which bases payments on what a house was worth more than 30 years ago.

Meanwhile Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is due to be campaigning in south-west England as his Environment Secretary accused Labour of treating farmers with "contempt".

The Tories have talked up their promises to rural communities, including increasing the farming budget to £1 billion and keeping inheritance tax relief for farmers.

Former prime minister Boris Johnson has also stepped into the general election battle as the Tories continue to desperately try to stop voters deserting them for Nigel Farage’s Reform.

Mr Johnson was writing letters and doing campaign videos for some candidates, including in the so-called “Red Wall”.

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