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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

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

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

We are closing this live blog now but you can read all our UK politics, including our general election coverage, here and please join us tomorrow for further developments.

Patrick Wintour, the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, says David Cameron’s decision to cut short a trip to Albania yesterday so that he could attend a cabinet meeting and a Tory election rally has gone down badly in Tirana.

Lord Cameron did not just miss some Union Jacks when he went home early from Albania to hear in person that told Rishi Sunak had decided to being forward his appointment with a firing squad. The FS [foreign secretary] cut meetings with the President and Chief Special Prosecutor on Anti-Corruption and Organised Crime. A big effort was being made to improve relations with UK and the discourtesy has not been received well.

Late this afternoon, Police Scotland confirmed that they have submitted their report on Peter Murrell, who was charged last month in connection with embezzlement of funds from the SNP, to the Crown Office.

This was trailed by chief constable Jo Farrell a few weeks ago, so comes as little surprise - it’s a standard procedural development – but it reminds the SNP how hard they will have to work in this election campaign to escape the long shadow of the police investigation, and how much pleasure their opposition opponents will take in reminding the electorate of it at every turn.

A Crown Office spokesperson confirmed that related investigations into Nicola Sturgeon and Colin Beatty, former SNP treasurer, remains ongoing.

Professional prosecutors will now review the report and decide on the next steps. The spokesperson insisted that prosecutors “are not influenced by political events”.

Piers Morgan says Sunak has admitted he's lost bet on Rwanda policy, and challenges him to pay up to charity

The broadcaster Piers Morgan has posted a message on X saying Rishi Sunak owes the British Red Cross £1,000. Morgan interviewed Sunak in February and bet him that he would not be able to get Rwanda flights off the ground before the general election. Sunak seemed to accept. But this morning he said flights would not leave before polling day. (See 8.21am and 10.37am.)

Dear Prime Minister @RishiSunak @10DowningStreet .. following your admission today that no flights will take off to Rwanda before the election, please send £1000 to @BritishRedCross
- Kind regards, Piers

Home Office confirms graduate visas not being culled

The graduate visa route - allowing international students to stay in the UK for two to three years after graduation - will remain intact, according to the Home Office.

Announcing new measures in response to the Migration Advisory Committee’s report on the graduate visa route, the Home Office said it would begin “cracking down on rogue recruitment agents” by requiring universities sign up to a code of conduct, as recommended by the MAC.

Other measures are to require international applicants to have more financial support before coming to the UK. But the Home Office didn’t confirm reports that graduate visa applicants would face mandatory language tests, merely that the government was “reviewing English language assessments”.

James Cleverly, the home secretary, said:

We have taken decisive and necessary action to deliver the largest cut in legal migration in our country’s history. Applications are already falling sharply, down by almost a quarter on key routes in the first four months of this year compared to last, with the full impact of our package still to be seen.

But we must go further to make sure our immigration routes aren’t abused. That’s why we are cracking down on rogue international agents and, building on work across government, to ensure international students are coming here to study, not work.

The announcement will come as a relief to the higher education sector, which feared that international recruitment would be greatly damaged by restrictions on the graduate visa route.

Tim Bradshaw, chief executive of the Russell Group of leading research universities, said:

We welcome the news that the graduate route remains in place. As recognised by the MAC’s recent report, international students bring huge value to our universities, our communities and our economy.

The actions that the government has laid out today, such as additional regulations on agents, will help to protect the quality and integrity of the UK’s education offer and we are ready to work with government and colleagues across the sector to implement these. Stability is now needed in student migration policy to enable universities to plan for a long-term, sustainable future and protect quality and choice for all students.

Updated

Huw Merriman, the rail minister, has announced he is standing down. Aged 50, he has been MP for Bexhill and Battle in East Sussex since 2015. He had a majority of 26,059 at the last election.

Journalists covering Rishi Sunak’s visit to south Wales today were told not to ask him about national issues, the WalesOnline political editor Ruth Mosalski reports.

But you wonder why. In a delightfully waspish write-up, Mosalski says she hardly got any time with him anyway.

We asked [Sunak], quite simply: “Why should people bother to vote for your party?” He replied: “Because we’re living in the most uncertain and challenging times our country has seen in decades and that’s clear to everyone around the world. And the impact that’s having here at home, on our bills, on our streets, that’s why this election is important. This election is about ensuring we have a secure future for everyone, their families, and our country and that’s what I’ll deliver. I’m able to deliver that because I’m able to do bold things.”

But what about Wales?” I interjected. Given that he had made the effort to come here I felt he should at least mention it.

“I’m working to a clear plan and that’s how you deliver a secure future for everyone in Wales by being willing to do bold things, by having a clear plan, and security right now is important in an insecure world – whether that’s financial security for families, energy security, and not [being] held hostage by dictators like Putin” …

He came to Wales for 90 minutes. We got our 90 seconds. I’m sure someone somewhere considers that a good use of everyone’s time.

Lib Dems accuse Sunak of 'lying' about 40 'new hospitals' promised by Tories being on schedule

Rishi Sunak is “lying” by claiming that the “40 new hospitals” Boris Johnson pledged in 2019 will be ready by 2030, the Liberal Democrats claim.

They were responding to the prime minister’s interview on BBC Breakfast in which he insisted that the 40 new hospitals in England would be completed on time as promised by 2030.

Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem deputy leader, said:

It’s day one of this campaign and already Rishi Sunak is lying like Boris Johnson.

People will see right through this swindle. The Conservatives promised 40 new hospitals five years ago and instead we’ve seen them left to crumble.

It’s an insult to voters that some of these supposed new hospitals don’t even have planning permission yet, let alone spades in the ground.

In his interview Sunak seemed unaware that in recent weeks two NHS trusts have confirmed that the new hospitals they hope to get will not after all be finished by 2030.

Barts Health trust admitted at its recent board meeting that repeated delays to the plan to rebuild Whipps Cross hospital in east London mean that “our previous assumptions, of beginning construction on the new hospital in 2025 and completing it before the end of the decade are now highly unlikely”.

A week later the Princess Alexandra Hospitals trust in Essex said () that its planned new hospital in Harlow would also not be built by the 2030 deadline. Finishing it by 2032 appears “more achievable”, it said.

The Health Service Journal first reported both these delays to key schemes in the government’s new hospitals programme, which crystallised Johnson’s pledge – which he often repeated during the 2019 general election campaign – to build “40 new hospitals” by 2030.

A report last November by the Commons public accounts committee also shows that Sunak’s claim today is inaccurate.

In an unusually strongly-worded report the PAC voiced “extreme concern at the new hospitals programme’s lack of progress, given the prominence and importance of the 2020 commitment to build 40 new hospitals by 2030”.

The committee also highlighted that the department of health and social care had abandoned last May the commitment to have finished all 40 projects by 2030, a fact the PM also seemed unaware of.

Compass, the leftwing group committed to pluralistic politics, has urged Labour to stand aside in seats where it has no chance of winning.

Responding to a LabourList report saying Labour has still not selected candidates in around 100 seats, a Compass spokesperson said:

In delaying selection for up to 100 seats until the last minute, Labour has given the game away: under first past the post, some seats are simply unwinnable and Labour votes don’t count.

If Labour HQ thought it had a chance of winning in these constituencies, it would have fast-tracked selections and begun campaigning already, as it has elsewhere in the country.

Now, it should go one step further and stand aside in seats where other progressive candidates are the only party that can beat the Tories to prevent possible progressive tragedies and ensure a progressive government after the next election.

Senior figures in the shadow cabinet are more popular than their Tory opposite numbers in government, new polling by Savanta suggests.

Savanta has also released separate polling this afternoon suggesting only 35% of people thought the Conservative campaign launch went well, and 44% thought it went badly. Even amongst Tory voters, only 48% of them thought it went well.

Campaigners have expressed concern at the news that the tobacco and vapes bill, which was ban future generations from being able to buy cigarettes, seems set to be one of the many bills culled as parliament dissolves early for the election. (See 12.53pm and 1.44pm.) But they said they hoped it would get passed after the election.

Sarah Sleet, chief executive of Asthma + Lung UK, a lung charity, said:

It’s incredibly disappointing that the tobacco and vapes bill is not currently on the agenda for parliament before the general election. The potential benefits to the health of future generations are too great to let this bill slip through our fingers now.

And Deborah Arnott, chief executive of ASH (Action on Smoking and Health) said:

While the tobacco and vapes bill appears to be a victim of a snap election, all is not lost. This bill has the strong support of the chief medical officers of all four nations in the United Kingdom, as well as the overwhelming majority of the public.

We are confident that whoever forms the next government this bill will return, and its passage will be expedited.

Eleanor Laing, the Commons deputy speaker and Tory MP for Epping Forest, is stepping down at the election. She says, after 27 years as an MP, it is time to move on. She had a majority of 22,173 over Labour at the last election, and the seat is expected to stay Conservative on 4 July.

Peter Walker is covering Simon Case’s evidence to the Covid inquiry today, and there is a very good and extensive round-up of the highlights on his X feed.

Here is his story about the evidence from the morning.

And here are some of his more recent tweets.

NEW: Simon Case says he knew nothing about Rishi Sunak’s ‘eat out to help out’ Covid hospitality scheme until the day it was announced - despite being both permanent secretary and the head of the government’s taskforce.

Case says he also had no idea about the public health worries until August 2020, when it was already running.

Hugo Keith: “Barnard Castle....

“ Simon Case, off-screen: *loud sigh*

Simon Case says both the Dominic Cummings/Barnard Castle jaunt and No 10 parties would “feel like a terrible insult” to bereaved families. He says government polling at the time showed Barnard Castle badly damaged public confidence in abiding by Covid rules.

Blimey - Hugo Keith says Simon Case’s witness statement says some failings under Boris Johnson and his team amounted to “the worst governing ever seen”. Asked about this, Case again becomes emotional: “There were some dark days when it felt that we just couldn’t get it right.”

Questioners at Sunak warehouse speech turn out to be Tory councillors

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, Rowena Mason reports.

Here is the clip of Rishi Sunak asking a group of voters in Wales if they are looking forward to the Euros, which Wales aren’t in. (See 1pm.)

“Change” is Labour’s election slogan, but it is also the message adopted by most or all of the other opposition parties. At an event in Cheltenham today, Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, said the election was “our chance to win the change our country desperately needs”. He went on:

These Conservatives have got to go. And in so many parts of the country, we have shown that it is the Liberal Democrats who can get them out.

But this election is about more than a change of government.

We must transform the very nature of British politics itself, so that we can…

Fix the health and care crisis.

Get our economy back on track.

End the sewage scandal.

And give people the fair deal they deserve.

The Tory MP for Cheltenham is Alex Chalk, the justice secretary. But he had a majority of just 981 over the Lib Dems in 2019 and the Lib Dems are now expected to win the seat easily.

John Swinney urges Scots to vote SNP to protect NHS, saying he's 'alarmed' by Tory and Labour health rhetoric

John Swinney, the SNP leader and Scottish first minister, has said that he is relishing the prospect of fighting the election campaign.

Speaking at a news conference, he said:

I’m relishing the opportunity to campaign across this modern, diverse and beautiful country.

I can’t, of course, make any promises about the outcome, that’s for the voters to decide, but I can promise you this – the SNP will be fighting an energetic, optimistic campaign full of enthusiasm, a campaign infused with hope for a better future.

I’ll be leading that campaign from the front – I’ll travel the length and breadth of Scotland bringing that campaign of hope and unity.

I can’t wait to get started – let’s get out there and put Scotland first.

Swinney said that “never has a government deserved to lose more than Rishi Sunak’s.”

And he said he would be urging people to vote SNP to protect the NHS. He explained:

On the NHS, I don’t know about you, but I’m alarmed by the language that is coming not just from the Tories, but from Labour at Westminster, very alarmed indeed.

So, I’m asking you to vote SNP to send a very clear message – let’s unite Scotland to protect the National Health Service.

When talking about Labour, Swinney was referring to comments from Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, who has backed using private healthcare providers to treat NHS patients and who has said the NHS needs reform more than extra money.

Updated

The Conseratives want Rishi Sunak to debate Keir Starmer every week from now until election day, Ben Riley-Smith from the Telegraph reports.

Exclusive

The Tories are challenging Keir Starmer to debate Rishi Sunak **every week** in the campaign.

That would be six TV debates, a record.

Source close to Sunak tells me: “We will do as many as we can get. We will do one every week if he wants

Weekly debates will almost certainly not take place. Keir Starmer has said he is willing to debate Rishi Sunak “any time”, but candidates who are ahead in election campaigns have little or no incentive to take part in debates, and it has been reported that Labour wants to keep the number of debates to a minimum.

In practice, debates rarely make much difference to campaign outcomes anyway.

Sunak decided on summer poll after local elections because he thought Tory prospects wouldn't improve, Osborne claims

George Osborne, the Conservative former chancellor, has claimed that Rishi Sunak decided to call a summer election after the local elections at the start of this month. Discussing the announcement on his Political Currency podcast, which he co-hosts with Ed Balls, the former Labour shadow chancellor, Osborne said:

I am told by the people I’ve been speaking to that there was a wide circle of up to 40 people involved in the planning of this, ever since the local elections.

The prime minister made a decision after the local elections that he was going to go for an early poll. It was a pretty brilliantly-held secret. And a secret held from most of the cabinet and from a lot of the broader Tory family …

This is what Downing Street is thinking. Things are basically not going to get any better for the prime minister. Nothing is shifting the polls. They’ve tried a series of announcements from defence spending to national insurance, tax cuts – things haven’t shifted.

He’s often accused of dithering, of overanalysing things and not taking bold decisions. He’s taken a bold decision to shift the dial, to get the campaign underway to force the choice to make people focus on the argument.

The alternative of waiting through the summer was only going to make things worse because the mood in the country about ‘a time for a change’ would only have grown.

In the same episode, Balls said that he thought Labour would get a majority, but that it would be “very, very hard” for the party to get “a big majority of something over 60”.

Updated

Here is Rishi Sunak inspecting a bottling machine on his visit to the Vale of Glamorgan brewery in south Wales. The Tory MP for Vale of Glamorgan, Alun Cairns, is with him. Cairns had a majority over Labour of 3,562 at the last election. According to the YouGov MRP poll from April, Labour is on course to win easily, with 48% over the Conservatives’ 29%.

Labour says early election leaves many government commitments and bills 'in the bin'

Penny Mordaunt, the leader of the Commons, did not mention the tobacco and vapes bill when she made a business statement in the Commons covering bills that are expected to be passed in the “wash-up”. (See 12.53pm.)

She said that MPs were due to pass the finance bill, the digital markets, competition and consumers bill., and the Post Office (Horizon system) offences bill today. And she said tomorrow the victims and prisoners bill is due to get rushed through.

Lucy Powell, the shadow leader of the Commons, said that Mordaunt seemed to be suggesting that the government would not be passing Martyn’s law, the legislation to tighten venue security named in honour of one of the victims of the Manchester Arena bombing. But she suggested that, if Labour won the election, they would introduced Martyn’s law “as soon as possible”.

Powell said other government promises were being left “in the bin” too. She said:

[Rishi Sunak’s] abrupt dissolution of parliament means that he’ll start the campaign leaving many government commitments and bills up in the air or in the bin: his pledge on a smoke-free generation, plans for a football regulator [see 11.51am], promises to renters and leaseholders, and protections for our broadcasters now all at risk.

I’m pleased that very important commitments to the victims of the Post Office and infected blood scandals will be honoured in our final business this week.

Updated

Rishi Sunak called the election now because he was scared of the threat from Reform UK, Richard Tice claimed this morning.

Speaking at a campaign launch, the Reform UK leader claimed Sunak had “bottled it” by calling a summer election instead of holding on for the autumn.

He said Sunak was “absolutely terrified” by his party’s upward progress in the polls at a time when the Tories have slumped. “He was terrified as to where this may end up,” Tice claimed.

Reform is averaging around 11% in the polls, ahead of the Liberal Democrats.

The party will stand in 630 seats across England, Scotland and Wales “no ifs, no buts”, Tice said.

Updated

Tom Larkin from Sky says that Rishi Sunak made a bit of a gaffe on his visit to Wales when he asked workers at a brewery if they were looking forward to the Euros. Wales did not qualify, Larkin points out.

FMQs at Holyrood was fiery this lunchtime, with John Swinney coming out fighting for his “friend and colleague” Michael Matheson, who is facing losing his salary for 54 days and suspension as an MSP after wrongly claiming £11,000 in expenses for streaming football matches on holiday.

Swinney was accused of “demeaning himself and the office of first minister” by Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar after the SNP leader accused the process that decided the sanction as “prejudiced”.

Swinney claimed that Tory members of the standards committee had “pre-judged” the issue and that this was bringing the parliament into disrepute. He said that therefore he would not support the sanction.

Tory leader Douglas Ross said Swinney’s response was shocking and “defending the indefensible”. He went on:

In the real world [Matheson] would have lost his job for what he did and what he claimed.

Swinney insisted:

Michael Matheson has made mistakes, he resigned from the cabinet, he lost his job as a member of the cabinet and he paid the roaming costs in question.

There was no cost to the public purse and as a consequence of the issues that have been raised here about the conduct of this process I do not believe that this is a sanction that can be applied.

Sunak's flagship anti-smoking bill 'set to be dropped in pre-election wash-up'

In his speech outside No 10 yesterday Rishi Sunak included his bill to plan to stop anyone 15 or younger ever being able to buy cigarettes legally in his list of government achievements. “We will ensure that the next generation grows up smoke free,” he said.

But the bill – which, arguably, was set to be Sunak’s most significant legislative achievement – won’t become law before the election, Jason Groves from the Mail reports. He says it won’t be passed in the “wash-up” – the process that involves non-contentious legislation being rushed through parliament ahead of the election.

Rishi Sunak’s flagship anti-smoking legislation will be lost as a result of the snap election. Govt sources confirming there is no mechanism for pushing through a free vote bill in the pre-election wash-up

Labour is in favour of the bill. But it has not committed to passing it after the election, and a new Labour government may decide that it has other priorities.

Rishi Sunak has arrived in Wales, PA Media reports. PA says he is on a “whirlwind tour of the UK’s four nations”.

Sunak is visiting a brewery, the BBC reports.

Former Scottish deputy first minister Lord Wallace is to act as campaign chairman for the Scottish Liberal Democrats in the election, the party has announced. As PA Media reports, Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said he has asked Lord Wallace – who twice served as acting first minister – to take charge of the campaign because “he is a proven election winner”.

More than 4,000 people have signed up to volunteer on Labour’s election campaign over the past 24 hours, Daniel Green reports at LabourList. He says the party now has almost 65,000 volunteers lined up to help.

Jo Churchill, the employment minister, has announced that she is standing down at the election for family reasons. She has been MP for Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk since 2015. She had a majority of almost 25,000 at the last election, making this a rare example of a Tory safe, or safeish, seat. (The YouGov MRP poll suggests the Conservatives are on course to hold it, beating Labour by 38% to 28%. The boundaries have changed a bit, and it is being renamed Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket.)

The Institute for Government is keeping a tally of MPs standing down. Philip Nye, a data specialist at the IfG, had the total at 108 before Churchill’s announcement.

UPDATE: A reader points out that Churchill dated her letter a month ago, suggesting that she was asked to delay news of her decision to stand down. It has been reported that Tory whips did not want MPs all saying they were standing down at the same time because that would make it look as if they had all lost faith.

Updated

Plans for an independent regulator for English football will not proceed further through parliament, it is to be announced, with the football governance bill paused as a result of the general election. Paul MacInnes has the story.

James Cleverly claims ONS figures suggesting net migration falling shows Tory plan is working

The Office for National Statistics published figures this morning suggesting net migration is now on a downward trend. It says:

Long-term net migration (the number of people immigrating minus the number emigrating) was provisionally estimated to be 685,000 in the year ending (YE) December 2023, compared with our updated estimate of 764,000 for the YE December 2022; while it is too early to say if this is the start of a new downward trend, emigration increased in 2023, while new Home Office data show visa applications have fallen in recent months.

James Cleverly, the home secretary, said the figures showed the government’s plan was working. He explained:

The latest migration statistics show a 10% fall in net migration last year, with visa applications down 25% so far in 2024.

This shows the plan under Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives is working but there is more to do. That is why we must stick to the plan, not go back to square one.

But Yvette Cooper, his Labour shadow, said net migration had more than trebled since the Conservatives promised to bring it down at the 2019 election. She added:

14 years of Conservative failure on both the economy and immigration has led to around a 50% increase in work migration in the last year alone because they have disastrously failed to tackle skills shortages. The Tories can’t even manage to clean up their own chaos.

Simon Case tells Covid inquiry his scathing WhatsApp messages about Boris Johnson's team 'not the whole story'

Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, is giving evidence to the Covid inquiry today. He was meant to appear last year, but he was ill. The inquiry has already seen plenty of evidence from his private WhatsApp messages showing that he did not have a high opinion of the team running No 10 under Boris Johnson’s premiership. “I’ve never seen a bunch of people less well-equipped to run a country,” one of his messages said.

You can watch the hearing on the Covid inquiry’s YouTube channel.

Case started this morning by saying, in response to a question about his critical WhatsApp messages, that they did not tell the whole story.

They are very raw, in-the-moment human expressions – they’re not the whole story but I recognise they’re part of the story. Many of them now require apologies for things that I said and the way I expressed myself.

Case was also asked about a message where described colleagues as pygmies. This is from the BBC’s Jim Reed.

Asked if he was referring to people in the Cabinet Office and No 10 when he talked about pygmies, Case said that he could not remember, but that that would be “a fair conclusion to draw”

The Liberal Democrats have ruled out any pact that would keep the Tories in power, Daisy Cooper, their deputy leader, confirmed on Sky News this morning. She said:

We have ruled out doing any deal whatsoever with this Conservative Government because it is really quite clear that there are lifelong Conservative voters who can no longer stomach voting for this Conservative Party, they simply don’t recognise it anymore.

When it was put to her that Nick Clegg said the same thing before going into coalition with the Tories in 2010, Cooper replied: “A lot of water has gone under the bridge since then.”

Cooper did not rule out some sort of post-election arrangement with Labour.

Starmer claims Sunak holding election now because he knows Rwanda policy won't work

Echoing the line from Yvette Cooper (see 10.37am), Keir Starmer claimed this morning that Rishi Sunak is holding the election now because he knows the Rwanda policy will fail. He said:

Rishi Sunak clearly does not believe in his Rwanda plan. I think that’s been clear from this morning, because he’s not going to get any flights off.

I think that tells its own story. I don’t think he’s ever believed that plan is going to work, and so he has called an election early enough to have it not tested before the election.

Sunak rejected a version of this suggestion when it was put to him in an interview this morning. (See 9.36am.)

There is some evidence suggesting Sunak did not support the Rwanda policy when it was announced during Boris Johnson’s premiership in 2022. In January the BBC said it had been leaked government papers from that period showing Sunak, then chancellor, did not think it would have a deterrent effect.

Updated

Michael Matheson, former health secretary in the Scottish governmen, has been suspended from Holyrood for 27 days and will lose his salary for 54 days after racking up a near-£11,000 data roaming bill, PA Media reports. PA says:

Matheson was found to have breached the MSP code of conduct by attempting to use expenses and office costs to cover the bill for a parliamentary device.

Later announcing he would cover the costs himself, Matheson revealed his children had used the device as a wifi hotspot to watch football during a holiday in Morocco.

Labour says Sunak's admission Rwanda flights won't leave before election show scheme 'a con'

Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said this morning that Rishi Sunak’s statement that deportation flights to Rwanda will not leave until after the election was extraordinary. She said:

The prime minister’s own words this morning show this whole Rwanda scheme has been a con from start to finish.

With all the hundreds of millions they have spent, it would be extraordinary if ‘symbolic flights’ didn’t take off in early July, as the Tories planned.

But Rishi Sunak’s words confirm what we’ve known all along: he doesn’t believe this plan will work and that’s why he called the election now in the desperate hope that he won’t be found out.

In an interview with LBC this morning, Sunak said: “If I’m elected, we will get the flights off … after the election.” Asked to confirm that meant no flights before the election, Sunak confirmed that was correct.

Updated

Here is Rishi Sunak doing a Q&A with workers from the West William distribution centre in Ilkeston this morning. He seems more comfortable doing campaign events in small settings like this, than doing large, platform speeches (Jeremy Corbyn-style).

But that might also be because the Tories can’t get the numbers to fill a big venue. Last night Sunak was speaking at the ExCeL centre in east London. It is a vast conference space, but the Tory event was taking place in something not much bigger than a broom cupboard.

The Labour party finds it easier to drum up a crowd, but even they can’t rustle up big numbers at short notice on a weekday morning. There is a picture at 9.58am showing the size of the crowd at the Starmer rally this morning.

Starmer is now running through Labour policy proposals. He summarises the proposals in Labour’s six pledges.

And he talks about about being able to increase opportunities for people in Somers Town, a deprived ward in his constituency. It’s an argument he used in his speech last week announcing the pledges.

Starmer has now finished.

He and Rishi Sunak have both spoken this morning, and they were both delivering stump speeches. Readers will have noticed that neither of them said anything very new. A stump speech is meant to be the distillation of your core message. It is what we are going to hear every day for the next six weeks. It is not where political leaders make news.

Starmer says election is opportunity to end 'chaos' of Tory years and chance to 'change the country'

Starmer says the election is a chance to end the “chaos and division” of the Tory years, saying that for the last 14 years the country has been “going round and round in circles”.

He says his parents were not well off. But they could take comfort from the knowledge that things would get better for their children.

But do people feel like that now? Starmer says he does not think so.

For a government to leave, after 14 years, our country with living standards worse than when they started is absolutely unforgivable.

Starmer says the only plan the Tories have is for an £46bn unfunded tax cut.

(He is referring to Rishi Sunak’s plan to get rid of employees’ national insurance, which Sunak claims is a long-term aspiration, not a firm commitment.)

Starmer says he has experience of changing a public service (the CPS). And he has changed Labour.

We changed the Labour party to put it back in the service of working people. All we ask now humbly is the opportunity to change our country and put it back in the service of working people.

(There is an echo here of John Smith’s most famous quote.)

Updated

Keir Starmer is about to speak at a rally in Gillingham in Kent. He is with Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader.

Naushabah Khan, the Labour candidate, is introducing them.

Rehman Chishti, the Conservative, had a majority of 15,119 here at the last election.

The April YouGov MRP poll suggested Labour is on course to win the seat, beating the Tories by 40% to 32%.

Updated

Labour suggests that, if Tories were re-elected, they might replace Sunak with alternative leader

Pat McFadden, Labour’s national campaign coordinator, was giving interviews this morning. He suggested that, if the Conservatives were to win the general election, Rishi Sunak could be replaced with another Tory leader. He told BBC Breakfast:

They’ve had 14 years, all they’re offering is five more years of the same as what we’ve had in the last 14, more chaos.

I mean, if the Conservatives were to win, do we even know if Rishi Sunak would remain as prime minister, be subject to one of the bouts of leadership challenges that always takes them over? So we’re not surprised that they will throw personal attacks at Keir Starmer.

Sunak rejects claim he is holding election now because he expects inflation to rise again later this year

Rishi Sunak did quite an extensive interview round this morning. The main news was his admission that he does not expect Rwanda deportation flights to leave before polling day. Here are the other main lines.

  • Sunak rejected claims that he was holding the election now because he expected inflation to rise again later this year, or a spike in small boat arrivals. Asked if this was the case, he told BBC Breakfast:

No, that’s not the real reason.

And when it comes to the economy, of course I know there’s more work to do. I know that people are only just starting to feel the benefits of the changes that we’ve brought.

And for some people when they look at their bank balance at the end of every month it will still be difficult, but we have undeniably made progress and stability has returned.

  • He was unable to confirm that important pieces of legislation, like the renters reform bill, or the Martyn’s law legislation to improve venue security in the wake of the Manchester Arena attack, would become law in the “wash-up” before parliament is dissolved. On the legislation for compensation for victims of the infected blood scandal, Sunak said he could not guarantee that would become law because other parties had to agree.

It requires a conversation with parties across parliament … But I will do absolutely everything in my power to make sure that we do get that through.

And, on Martyn’s law, he said:

Again, these are all conversations that need to be had with other parties across parliament.

  • He made a joke out of the fact that he got drenched giving his speech in the rain yesterday. He told LBC:

I’m not going to deny that it was a bit wet. I’m not a fair-weather politician.

He also claimed that it was traditional for PMs to give major statements outside No 10.

I believe very strongly in the traditions of our country. And when you’re making a statement of that magnitude as prime minister, I believe in just doing it in the traditional way, come rain and shine, in front of the steps of Downing Street.

He did not explain why he did not stand under an umbrella.

Updated

Farage says he won't stand as Reform UK candidate, and that helping to get Trump elected in US more important to him

For months Nigel Farage, who is honorary president of Reform UK (as well as its owner – it’s a company, and he is the majority shareholder) has been playing a ‘will he, won’t he?’ tease with the rightwing media, refusing to say whether he not he will be a candidate at the general election.

In a statement out this morning, Farage says he won’t stand.

What is significant is quite what a lukewarm endorsement of Reform UK this is. Farage just says he will “do my bit to help” – which does not sound like he is really going to make much of an effort.

Also, he says helping to get Donald Trump elected in the US is a bigger priority for him.

Updated

Rishi Sunak is now speaking at an event in Ilkeston in Derbyshire. It is in the Erewash constituency, where the Tory MP Maggie Throup had a majority of 10,606 at the last election.

He repeats the claim that a Labour government would cost every family £2,000.

This figure is based on an analysis of Labour’s plans published by the Conservative party last week. For the record, this is what they said:

Labour’s spending promises cost £16 billion per year in 2028-29, or £58.9 billion over the next four years.

But their revenue raisers would only collect £6.2 billion per year in 2028-29, or £20.4 billion over the next four years.

This creates a black hole in Labour’s spending promises of £10 billion per year in 2028-29, or £38.5 billion over the next four years …

They do not have a plan to fill this gap. As a result, to avoid breaking their fiscal rules, Labour will have to raise taxes equivalent to £2,094 per working household. Labour must explain whether they will raise income tax, national insurance, VAT or other taxes on the British people.

This analysis has not been endorsed by any serious, independent economic commentators. Labour said there were 11 mistakes in the Tory costings document. The party has said it would like taxes on working people to be lower.

Swinney says holding election on 4 July shows 'lack of respect' to Scotland because of school holiday timings

John Swinney, the SNP leader and Scottish first minister, has said that Rishi Sunak’s decision to hold the election on 4 July shows “lack of respect” for Scotland. That comes after some Scottish school holidays have started, which is a time when many Scottish families take holiday. Swinney told BBC Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme:

I don’t really think the arrangements in Scotland for the school holidays have really been anywhere near the calculations made by the prime minister …

I think it would be respectful if that was the case but it’s pretty typical of the lack of respect shown to Scotland that we’re an afterthought from the Westminster establishment and particularly the Conservative establishment.

What it means is that people who are going to be on holiday at the start of the school holidays in late June, early July have got to arrange a postal vote so that they can exercise their [right to] vote and be participants in our democracy, so that’s got to be put in place pretty quickly by folk.

Sunak says he spoke in rain yesterday because it's traditional for PMs to make big statements outside No 10

Q: You say you have a plan. Why did you not have a plan for bad weather yesterday? Why did you not have an umbrella?

Sunak says he is not a “fair weather politician”.

And he claims he was honouring a tradition.

I believe very strongly in the traditions of our country. And prime ministers make important statements like that, they do it on the steps of Downing Street, come rain or shine. And I believe in those traditions, and that’s why I did what I did.

And that’s the end of the interview.

Q: Keir Starmer says stop the chaos. He has a point, doesn’t he? Why should the Tories get another term?

Sunak suggests Robinson should not not focus on Liz Truss’s 49 days in office. He says he is happy to talk about the record over 14 years.

Labour had bankrupted the economy, they left a note saying and laughing about the fact that there was no money left.

Since then we’ve created more jobs than. pretty much anywhere in Europe, grown the economy, reformed our school so our kids are the best readers in the western world. we’ve halved crime, we’ve got Brexit done and ensured we’re one of the biggest export economies in the world, we’ve increased defence spending, we’ve continued investing in the NHS we’ve reformed the welfare system, so I’m proud of that record.

Sunak claims Starmer has changed his mind “on almost every major issue I’ve had to debate with him over the last 18 months”.

Q: Are you saying Starmer is a threat to security?

Sunak says security is an issue in the campaign.

Q: You are not answering the question.

Sunak repeats the point about the world being dangerous. So it is right to ask who is most likely to protect people. He says he has decided to increase defence spending by 2.5% of GDP. Sunak says Starmer has not matched that pledge. He says that is the answer to the question.

Robinson says Sunak is failing on NHS waiting lists.

Sunak says they have not fallen by as much as he would like.

Robinson says they have not fallen at all. They are higher than when Sunak took office.

Sunak says they have been falling recently.

Sunak confirms Rwanda deportation flights will not leave until after the election

Q: When you became PM you set out a plan. You had a plan to stop the boats. Are the numbers going up or down?

Sunak says in the last 12 months the numbers are down by a third. This year they are up, mainly because of people arriving from Vietnam.

When he became PM, Albania was responsible for rising numbers. He addressed that, with a deal with Albania.

He says he wants flights to go to Rwanda. And 15 other European countries agree with the approach. Keir Starmer doesn’t, he says.

Q: When will the flights go?

In July.

Q: After the election?

Sunak does not contest that. But he says he has a plan. He is the only leader who will deliver that, he says.

Q: So you are saying you have not done it yet, you are having an early election, but you are asking people to trust you that the flights will take off later?

Sunak says he has done the preparatory work. If he is re-elected, the flights will leave. They won’t under Keir Starmer. He will just offer an amnest to illegal migrants, he claims.

(That is not Labour’s policy.)

Robinson says other EU countries are not proposing the same policy. They are only talking about processing asylum seekers’ claims in third countries.

Sunak says that is not true. He has just returned from Austria, he says. He says the statement from EU countries shows they favour returning illegal migrants to safe third countries.

Updated

Q: You say the UK is growing faster than the US. But that is only true if you look at one quarter. If you look at growth over a year, the US is growing more quickly.

Sunak says “the facts are the facts”. He quotes an economist from the ONS who said recently the economy was going “gangbusters”.

Stability is back, he says.

But he says the election is about the future. We are living in an uncertain world. That demands bold action to deliver security.

Sunak interviewed on Today programme

Nick Robinson is interviewing Rishi Sunak. He says the PM is in the “warm and dry”, which prompts some nervous laughter from the PM.

Q: Why are you having the election now?

Sunak says the economy is recovering. There is more work to do. But “we have turned a corner”, and so now is the time to think about the future.

Q: But why now is still a puzzle. Why not wait until you can show the plan is working? Won’t people suspect that you know it won’t work by January?

Sunak says he is not claiming the job is done.

But he has brought economic stability back, he says.

Good morning. It is the first day of the general election campaign, and Rishi Sunak has been doing an interview round. He is about to appear on the Today programme. Earlier, on BBC Breakfast, he appeared to admit the first Rwanda deportation flights will not take off before the election on 4 July. He told the programme:

The first flights will go in July. If I’m re-elected as prime minister on July 5, these flights will go, we will get our Rwanda scheme up and running.

Here is Pippa Crerar’s morning story about the campaign.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9am: Keir Starmer is holding a campaign event in Kent.

9.15am: Sunak is campaigning in Derbyshire, where he is due to take part in a Q&A. He is also visiting south Wales and, at around 5.30pm, the Inverness area with Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader.

9.30am: The latest immigration figures are published.

10am: Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, gives evidence to the Covid inquiry.

11am: Richard Tice, the Reform UK leader, holds a press conference.

1.30pm: Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, is campaigning in Cheltenham,

If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line (BTL) or message me on X (Twitter). I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word. If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use X; I’ll see something addressed to @AndrewSparrow very quickly. I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos (no error is too small to correct). And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.

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