Summary of the day …
Rishi Sunak has accused Keir Starmer of giving in to Angela Rayner and the left of the Labour party over the selection of Diane Abbott as a Labour candidate, and told Conservative activists in Redcar that if Starmer became prime minister, he would give in to them in government
Keir Starmer has said he will lead from the centre ground if elected prime minister and declared wealth creation to be his “number one mission”. In an interview with the Times, Starmer said the centre ground was “where most people are at” and that “people don’t like the extremes of the right or the left”
The Conservatives have promised to give another 30 towns in the UK £20m each in levelling up funding over the next decade if they win the election. Sunak said the 30 would be added to the government’s long-term plan for towns, which is intended to pay for the regeneration of underfunded areas. Sunak, whose party has been in power for 14 years, denied it was an attempt to buy votes when asked, and said towns were “neglected” under the previous Labour government. Starmer said the Conservative campaign has been “shredding their economic credibility” with daily unfunded policy announcements
Labour announced a Back to Work plan, which aims to get 2 million more people into work. The initiative would include a combined national jobs and careers service, devolved funding and leadership from mayors to “get more people with health conditions and disabilities into work” and opportunities for 18- to 21-year-olds to access training and apprenticeships
Labour and the Conservatives launched a campaign battlebus each, with Sunak in Redcar and Starmer, Rayner and Rachel Reeves in Uxbridge. Starmer joked they needed to check Boris Johnson wasn’t hiding in the fridge of theirs as it visited the former prime minister’s old constituency
The Liberal Democrats are to call for the abolition of voter ID at polling stations, describing the policy as part of a “Tory war on the younger generation”. On a day when Ed Davey rested from campaigning to care for his son, the party also pledged to make some Premier League football games free-to-air on television, with former leader Tim Farron saying “the slide away from accessible football on our televisions over the last generation is an indicator of unfairness and injustice”
A Labour government would “lead to the devastation of employment” in the oil and gas industry in north-east Scotland, first minister John Swinney has said. He also urged people to take part in a “Scottish national service” by using the general election to vote Tory MPs out of office, saying those who had imposed Brexit and austerity on Scotland “deserve the democratic drubbing that is coming their way”
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross accused the SNP of failing rural areas and claimed that Labour and the SNP had “very similar policies”
Rhun ap Iorwerth, the leader of Plaid Cymru, has said the Labour party has not appreciated the situation Vaughan Gething is in, as he faces a no-confidence vote in the Senedd next week. Speaking during a campaign visit to Ammanford in south Wales, he said voters are “absolutely” talking about Gething on the doorstep
Asylum seekers detained by the Home Office and threatened with deportation to Rwanda are set to take legal action against the government after Sunak admitted that no flights will take place before the general election
Liz Truss has told her local newspaper, the Eastern Daily Press (EDP), that Tony Blair was a worse prime minister than her
Thank you for reading, and for all your comments earlier. I hope you get to enjoy the rest of your weekend. Yohannes Lowe will be here tomorrow, and I will be back with you on Monday. Andrew Sparrow returns on Tuesday. Take care.
Police are assessing a further complaint in relation to former Scottish health secretary Michael Matheson’s near £11,000 iPad roaming bill.
PA Media report a Police Scotland spokesperson said: “A complaint which had been received in November 2023 was assessed and no further action was taken. A further complaint has been received which is being assessed.”
Matheson has been banned from Holyrood for 27 days this week for incurring the bill on the parliamentary device when his children were using it as a hotspot to watch football while they were on holiday.
