Labour says early general election leaves many government commitments ‘in the bin’ – as it happened

Rishi Sunak speaks with brewery workers during a visit to the Vale of Glamorgan Brewery in Barry, south Wales. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/AP

6.19pm BST

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6.00pm BST

Early evening summary

• Rishi Sunak has said deportation flights to Rwanda will not leave before the general election, prompting ridicule from Keir Starmer and despair from Tories on the right of the party.

• Rishi Sunak’s landmark law to ban smoking for future generations looks likely to be dropped after it was not included in the set of bills being rushed through before the next general election.

• Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer have kicked off their election campaigns on Thursday, six weeks before the country goes to the polls.

• Nigel Farage says he will not stand in the UK general election, dealing a blow to his Reform party on the first day of its election campaign.

• Rishi Sunak has taken questions from two men dressed in hi-vis clothing at a warehouse in Derbyshire who turned out to be Conservative councillors.

• The former Post Office boss Paula Vennells killed a review that would have exposed the Horizon IT scandal more than 10 years ago after being told it would make “front-page news” but insisted she was not part of a cover-up.

• Rishi Sunak’s flagship “eat out to help out” hospitality scheme was launched without the knowledge of Simon Case, the top civil servant who was in charge of Covid policy at the time, the official inquiry into the pandemic heard.