A summary of today's developments
Four men were arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of aggravated trespass at the prime minister’s constituency home in Yorkshire, police said. The suspects were arrested in the grounds of Rishi Sunak’s home in Kirby Sigston, near Northallerton, at around 12:40pm before being escorted off the property, North Yorkshire Police said. The force said the men included a 52-year-old from London, a 43-year-old from Bolton, a 21-year-old from Manchester, and a 20-year-old from Chichester. They remain in police custody and inquiries are ongoing.
The Labour party said it is suspending one of its candidates, Kevin Craig, because he is being investigated by the Gambling Commission. Craig is the party’s candidate in Central Suffolk and North Ipswich. It is understood that Craig is being investigated for betting against himself. He said: “I am deeply sorry to the many dedicated and loyal local Labour party volunteers who have been supporting my campaign. I will comply fully with the investigation.”
The news broke after a day of other developments in the election betting scandal. This morning, after prevaricating for days, the Conservative party said it was suspending two of its candidates who are being investigated over suspect bets placed on the timing of the election. And this afternoon the Metropolitan police said five more of its officers are being investigated by the commission, also over suspect election date bets. The allegation is that bets were placed by people who had access to inside information about Rishi Sunak opting for July. One of the Tory candidates, Craig Williams, has issued a statement saying that, although he made an error of judgment, he did not commit an offence.
Russell George, a Conservative member of the Senedd, has stepped back from the Welsh shadow cabinet as he faces an investigation by the gambling watchdog over alleged bets on the timing of the General Election. George represents Montgomeryshire in the Welsh parliament – the same area that Craig Williams, the Tory candidate who has had party support withdrawn as he faces similar allegations, represented at Westminster.
Keir Starmer has vowed to make tackling knife crime a “moral mission” at an emotional meeting with victims’ families and the actor Idris Elba.
Victoria Atkins, the health secretary, accused Labour of planning “to eradicate women from our national language” as the Conservatives sought to ramp up attacks on Keir Starmer around gender identity issues.
The equalities minister Kemi Badenoch said she “will not shut up” after David Tennant suggested she should at the British LGBT Awards. Badenoch accused the ex-Doctor Who actor of being a “rich, lefty, white male celebrity so blinded by ideology” in a post on X. Tennant, who won Celebrity Ally at a ceremony on Friday, received cheers and applause when he said of the Conservative Cabinet minister: “I don’t wish ill of her, I just wish her to shut up.” Badenoch said in response: “I will not shut up. I will not be silenced by men who prioritise applause from Stonewall over the safety of women and girls.”
Russell George, a Conservative member of the Senedd, has stepped back from the Welsh shadow cabinet as he faces an investigation by the gambling watchdog over alleged bets on the timing of the General Election.
George represents Montgomeryshire in the Welsh parliament – the same area that Craig Williams, the Tory candidate who has had party support withdrawn as he faces similar allegations, represented at Westminster.
Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies said: “Russell George has informed me that he has received a letter from the Gambling Commission regarding bets on the timing of the General Election.
“Russell George has stepped back from the Welsh Conservative shadow cabinet while these investigations are ongoing.
“All other members of the Welsh Conservative Group have confirmed that they have not placed any bets.
“I will not issue further comment on this ongoing process, recognising the Gambling Commission’s instruction for confidentiality to protect the integrity of the process.”
George said he would “co-operate fully” with the inquiry.
In a statement, he said it was “the Gambling Commission, not the media” that has the responsibility and powers to properly probe the matter, and that he would not be commenting further.
The former Tory culture secretary Nadine Dorries said there is a “rottenness at the core of the Conservative Party” which has been allowed to develop over several years.
Dorries told LBC: “The rebuilding of the Conservative Party, which I know many people in the Conservative Party are talking about now, it has to start from the roots up.
“Because there is a rottenness at the core of the Conservative Party which has been allowed to develop over the past number of years, the past six, seven, eight years.”
Four men were arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of aggravated trespass at the prime minister’s constituency home in Yorkshire, police said.
The suspects were arrested in the grounds of Rishi Sunak’s home in Kirby Sigston, near Northallerton, at around 12:40pm before being escorted off the property, North Yorkshire Police said.
The force said the men included a 52-year-old from London, a 43-year-old from Bolton, a 21-year-old from Manchester, and a 20-year-old from Chichester.
They remain in police custody and inquiries are ongoing.
In a statement, North Yorkshire Police said:“We have arrested four people in the grounds of the Prime Minister’s constituency home this afternoon.
“Our officers were with the four men within one minute of them entering the grounds.
“They were detained at around 12.40pm before being escorted off the property and arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass.
“The men aged 52 from London, 43 from Bolton, 21 from Manchester, and 20 from Chichester, remain in police custody for questioning and enquiries are ongoing.”
In a separate incident, a car crashed into the gates of Sunak’s official country residence Chequers in Buckinghamshire, police said.
The incident took place shortly after midday on Tuesday when a white Volkswagen Scirocco hit the barriers at the entrance.
Sunak was not at the manor house at the time and was attending events linked to the Japanese state visit in London.
Thames Valley Police said the driver, who was a 44-year-old man from the county, was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and drink driving, and was the only person in the car.
A spokesperson added the driver “suffered serious injuries” and was taken to hospital, “where he remains”.
“While we are still in the very early stages of our investigation, there is currently no evidence to suggest there was any intention to harm anyone,” the force added.
Updated
A Conservative politician has become the fifth party figure to be investigated by the gambling watchdog for allegedly placing a suspicious bet on the general election date, as the developing scandal continued to overshadow Rishi Sunak’s campaign, writes Pippa Crerar, Vikram Dodd and Kiran Stacey.
The Gambling Commission has informed Russell George, a Tory member of the Welsh parliament who represents the same constituency as Sunak’s closest parliamentary aide Craig Williams, that he is part of its inquiry.
The disclosure came after the Tories finally dropped the two Westminster candidates, including Williams, who are under investigation for allegedly placing bets on a July election, after previously standing by them.
That U-turn came as the Met has also confirmed that five more police officers have been identified by the watchdog – a week after it announced that a protection officer guarding the prime minister had been arrested for allegedly placing a bet.
In a separate development, Labour was also drawn into the gambling row for the first time as the party announced it was suspending Central Suffolk and North Ipswich candidate Kevin Craig after the Gambling Commission launched an investigation.
Four men arrested over aggravated trespass at Sunak’s constituency home
Four men have been arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass at Rishi Sunak’s constituency home in Kirby Sigston, North Yorkshire Police said.
The force said: “We have arrested four people in the grounds of the Prime Minister’s constituency home this afternoon.
“Our officers were with the four men within one minute of them entering the grounds.
“They were detained at around 12.40pm before being escorted off the property and arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass.
“The men aged 52 from London, 43 from Bolton, 21 from Manchester, and 20 from Chichester, remain in police custody for questioning and enquiries are ongoing.”
Updated
From The Times’ Steven Swinford on Kevin Craig.
The Labour candidate suspended for betting against himself in the general election is chief executive of lobbyist PLMR
— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) June 25, 2024
Kevin Craig's company was behind Responsible Gambling Week, 'a nationwide awareness campaign to promote safe gambling'
The equalities minister Kemi Badenoch has said she “will not shut up” after David Tennant suggested she should at the British LGBT Awards.
Badenoch accused the ex-Doctor Who actor of being a “rich, lefty, white male celebrity so blinded by ideology” in a post on X.
Tennant, who won Celebrity Ally at a ceremony on Friday, received cheers and applause when he said of the Conservative Cabinet minister: “I don’t wish ill of her, I just wish her to shut up.”
Badenoch hit back and said: “I will not shut up. I will not be silenced by men who prioritise applause from Stonewall over the safety of women and girls.
“A rich, lefty, white male celebrity so blinded by ideology he can’t see the optics of attacking the only black woman in government by calling publicly for my existence to end.
“Tennant is one of Labour’s celebrity supporters. This is an early example of what life will be like if they win.
“Keir Starmer stood by while Rosie Duffield was hounded. He and his supporters will do the same with the country.
“Do not let the bigots and bullies win.”
Tennant is “one of the LGBTQ+ community’s most fierce allies and supporters”, according to the British LGBT Awards, and “often does red-carpet interviews while wearing pins associated with the community.
Suspended Labour candidate Kevin Craig 'deeply' regrets placing bet
The suspended Labour candidate Kevin Craig said he “deeply” regrets putting a bet on the Tories winning in the Suffolk constituency he is contesting.
Craig added he will “fully comply” with a Gambling Commission investigation.
He wrote on X: “A few weeks ago when I thought I would never win this seat I put a bet on the Tories to win here with the intention of giving any winnings to local charities. While I did not place this bet with any prior knowledge of the outcome, this was a huge mistake, for which I apologise unreservedly.”
Throughout my life I have enjoyed the odd bet for fun whether on politics or horses.
— Kevin Craig for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich (@KevinCraigUK) June 25, 2024
A few weeks ago when I thought I would never win this seat I put a bet on the Tories to win here with the intention of giving any winnings to local charities.
While I did not place this bet…
Updated
Early evening summary
The Labour party has announced that it is suspending one of its candidates, Kevin Craig, because he is being investigated by the Gambling Commission. Craig is the party’s candidate in Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, which used to be a safe Tory seat but which Labour was projected to win, according to some, but not all, MRP polls published recently. It is understood that Craig is being investigated for betting against himself. The news broke after a day of other developments in the election betting scandal. This morning, after prevaricating for days, the Conservative party said it was suspending two of its candidates who are being investigated over suspect bets placed on the timing of the election. And this afternoon the Metropolitan police said five more of its officers are being investigated by the commission, also over suspect election date bets. The allegation is that bets were placed by people who had access to inside information about Rishi Sunak opting for July. One of the Tory candidates, Craig Williams, has issued a statement saying that, although he made an error of judgment, he did not commit an offence. (See 4.15pm.) UPDATE: Kevin Craig has just issued a full statement. He says:
Throughout my life I have enjoyed the odd bet for fun whether on politics or horses.
A few weeks ago when I thought I would never win this seat I put a bet on the Tories to win here with the intention of giving any winnings to local charities.
While I did not place this bet with any prior knowledge of the outcome, this was a huge mistake, for which I apologise unreservedly.
I have so much respect for how Keir Starmer has changed the Labour party and I have been fighting so hard to win this seat and change the country alongside him.
However, it is right that the party upholds the highest standards for its parliamentary candidates – just as the public expects the highest standards from any party hoping to serve in government.
I deeply regret what I have done and will take the consequences of this stupid error of judgment on the chin.
I am deeply sorry to the many dedicated and loyal local Labour party volunteers who have been supporting my campaign. I will comply fully with the investigation.
Victoria Atkins, the health secretary, has accused Labour of planning “to eradicate women from our national language” as the Conservatives sought to ramp up attacks on Keir Starmer around gender identity issues. (See 12.10pm.)
And here is Archie Bland’s Election Edition briefing on today’s events.
Updated
Steve Baker, the Northern Ireland minister, has become the latest Tory to say that he would oppose Nigel Farage joining the party.
In an interview with Times Radio, Baker said:
I know some colleagues want to welcome [Farage] in but in the diverse country that we have today, and particularly in a diverse community like the one that I represent, one must understand how one will be heard when talking about sensitive issues and I’m afraid Nigel just doesn’t, just does not illustrate his capacity to do that. And so for that reason I would not want him within the Conservative party.
David Davis, the Tory former Brexit secretary, said it was stupid for colleagues to bet on the timing of the general election. In an interview with Radio 4’s PM programme, he said:
Even if it’s not criminal, it’s spectacularly stupid … I would have felt betrayed by the people who work for me making any sort of bet of this sort.
But Davis said he thought some sorts of political bet were acceptable.
There are times when it’s appropriate enough to bet on things. I mean, I bet on the Brexit vote because I was so annoyed that people said we were going to lose when I thought we would win, but that wasn’t improper.
.
Aubrey Allegretti from the Times says Labour will return the £100,000 donated to the party by Kevin Craig since Keir Starmer became leader.
I understand Labour will return the £100,000 Kevin Craig has donated to the party under Keir Starmer's leadershiphttps://t.co/m2CNNvg7Wb
— Aubrey Allegretti (@breeallegretti) June 25, 2024
The Labour candidate Kevin Craig is being investigated by the Gambling Commission over an allegation that he bet against himself in his own constituency, Kiran Stacey reports.
BREAKING: Labour candidate Kevin Craig is under investigation by the Gambling Commission because he is understood to have bet against himself in his own constituency.
— Kiran Stacey (@kiranstacey) June 25, 2024
BREAKING: Labour candidate Kevin Craig is under investigation by the Gambling Commission because he is understood to have bet against himself in his own constituency.
Craig himself has not commented on this story. He has been contacted for a response.
UPDATE: See 6.10pm for Craig’s response.
Updated
Here is more from PA Media on Kevin Craig being suspended as a candidate. (See 5.11pm.)
A party spokesperson said after being contacted by the Gambling Commission the party acted immediately to administratively suspend him pending investigation.
A Labour party spokesperson said: “With Keir Starmer as leader, the Labour party upholds the highest standards for our parliamentary candidates, as the public rightly expects from any party hoping to serve, which is why we have acted immediately in this case.”
Labour says it has suspended parliamentary candidate Kevin Craig over Gambling Commission probe
Labour has suspended parliamentary candidate Kevin Craig after being told the Gambling Commission has launched an investigation into him, PA Media reports.
Craig is the candidate in Central Suffolk and North Ipswich. That is a seat Dan Poulter won for the Tories in 2019 with a majority of 23,391. But some of the recent MRP polls have suggested it was on course to go Labour.
And George Osborne, the Tory former chancellor, is one of the 60%. (See 4.40pm.) According to the Telegraph, Osborne told his Political Currency podcast that Rishi Sunak’s response to the betting scandal was “totally inadequate”. The Telegraph quotes Osborne as saying:
What Rishi Sunak consistently fails to do is take difficult situations and try and turn them, if not to your advantage, at least to try and illustrate some of your strengths …
You think you can hide away and that’s presumably what Sunak’s thinking.
Or you try and turn the thing into a moment for you. That’s the kind of raw instinct that I think real political leaders, real strong prime ministers have.
YouGov has published polling suggesting 60% of people think Rishi Sunak has handled the election date betting allegations badly.
How well or badly do you think Rishi Sunak has handled the election betting allegations?
— YouGov (@YouGov) June 25, 2024
Very well: 3%
Fairly well: 13%
Fairly badly: 24%
Very badly: 36%https://t.co/BMbqk0tNc9 pic.twitter.com/mX0Q4umUwT
Starmer does not want Labour 'big beasts' from past coming back into cabinet posts, Mandelson claims
And Peter Mandelson told the Times’ How to win an election podcast that he does not think Keir Starmer will bring back “big beast” former ministers to serve in cabinet.
Mandelson held various cabinet posts, including first secretary of state (de facto deputy PM) under Gordon Brown, but he said he definitely would not be getting a job himself from Starmer.
He told the podcast:
I’m reliably informed that I will not be brought back. That has been made absolutely clear.
They don’t want any big beasts coming back to mark anyone’s homework. I would say that Rachel Reeves is a ‘dead cert’ [to be chancellor] should Labour be elected and be given the privilege to serve. David Lammy, absolutely ‘dead cert’ at the Foreign Office and I think other top jobs, no change.
Asked if he thought Douglas Alexander, a former international development secretary and former shadow foreign secretary, who lost his seat in 2015 but who he is expected to win a new seat, East Lothian, next Thursday, would be recalled to cabinet, Mandelson said: “It won’t happen, no.”
Craig Williams, Tory candidate dropped over election bet, says he committed error, but not an offence
Craig Williams, the Tory candidate in Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr who is no longer officially backed by the party because of the bet he placed on the date of the election, has posted a video on X with a message for his electorate.
He is pleading for his job. He says he committed “an error of judgment, not an offence” and he in effect downplays the significance of the Gambling Commission’s inquiry into what he did, describing it as “routine”.
He also highlights the work he has done for constituents, as MP for Montgomeryshire over the past five years.
Here is an extract.
I just want a quick message to the constituents of Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr. I remain on the ballot paper come July 4 and I hope to secure your support after years of delivery.
I committed an error of judgment, not an offence, and I want to reiterate my apology directly to you.
I am fully co-operating with routine inquiries from the Gambling Commission and I intend to clear my name.
In all these things, due process is important and that is what sets the UK apart from other countries, and the commission must be allowed to do its work.
It’s been a privilege for me to be the member of parliament for the constituency where I was born, raised and now live with my young family.
I have been working hard, helping thousands of constituents with our team with everything from benefits to housing, from potholes to energy bills, as well as securing an unprecedented level of investment in our local businesses, communities and high streets, and finally sticking up for farmers, because without farmers there is no food, and without food there is no future.
For now, however, the most important thing I want to say to you today is I am committed to my campaign to be elected as your member of parliament and your staunch champion.
Statement pic.twitter.com/bXoQm8ARRy
— Craig Williams (@craig4monty) June 25, 2024
In fact, Britain is not the only country with a commitment to “due process” in judicial and judicial-type matters. This is normal for democratic countries.
When Williams says he did not commit an offence, he is asserting that he was not guilty of cheating under the Gambling Act 2005. Cheating is a criminal offence with a maximum penalty of two years in jail. But Kate Bedford, a law professor, has said that there are arguments about what constitutes cheating and, in this analysis, she argues “the standard of proof needed to void a bet [which is what the Gambling Commission does if it concludes a bet was based on inside information] is obviously going to be lower than that required for proceeding with a criminal investigation”.
And while cheating cases do sometimes go to court, there does not seem to be a precedent for a prosecution involving a political bet of this nature.
Daniel Finkelstein, the Tory peer and Times columnist, has said that he thinks Rishi Sunak delayed dropping Craig Williams, one of the Tory candidates accused of suspect betting, because of loyalty. Finkelstein told the Times’ How to win an election podcast:
My guess is that the reason why they didn’t do it earlier is just simply because Rishi Sunak feels a sense of loyalty to Craig. I suspect that’s the real reason why it didn’t happen, but it was an inevitable thing.
Williams was Sunak’s parliamentary private secretary.
Two new polls have shown Reform UK’s support down slightly, Alex Wickham from Bloomberg reports.
Reform's poll rating has dipped slightly in the wake of Nigel Farage's Putin/Ukraine comments
— Alex Wickham (@alexwickham) June 25, 2024
- down 3 points to 15% from 18% with @JLPartnersPolls
- down 2 points to 14% from 16% with @Savanta_UK
- they say it's "the first real wobble of Reform UK's campaign"
Reform’s poll rating has dipped slightly in the wake of Nigel Farage’s Putin/Ukraine comments
- down 3 points to 15% from 18% with @JLPartnersPolls
- down 2 points to 14% from 16% with @Savanta_UK
- they say it’s “the first real wobble of Reform UK’s campaign”
Here are the figures from JL Partners.
NEW: @RestisPolitics / JLP poll, June 21st - 24th 2024
— JLP (@JLPartnersPolls) June 25, 2024
*Reform UK falls back, Labour lead at 16 points*
Change on last week in brackets
LAB: 41% (+1)
CON: 25% (+2)
REF: 15% (-3)
LDEM: 11% (+2)
GRN: 5% (-)
Tables: https://t.co/BozWy47mBb pic.twitter.com/5HsnRa4JCV
And here are the figures from Savanta.
🚨NEW Westminster Voting Intention for@Telegraph
— Savanta UK (@Savanta_UK) June 25, 2024
📉Cons stablising, Reform UK stalling?
🌹Lab 42 (=)
🌳Con 21 (+2)
➡️Reform 14 (-2)
🔶LD 10 (+1)
🌍Green 5 (=)
🎗️SNP 3 (=)
⬜️Other 6 (=)
2,318 UK adults
21-24 June (chg from 19-21 June) pic.twitter.com/C9aCcFn27L
Both these polls show the Conservative vote share rising. Emma Levin, associate director at Savanta, says:
The Conservative death spiral appears to have halted or at least slowed for now, with the first Savanta voting intention in nearly a month which doesn’t show a decrease in their vote share.
Craig Williams, who has been dropped by the Tories as a candidate over betting on the election timing, said he had “committed an error of judgment, not an offence” and “I intend to clear my name”, PA Media reports.
Updated
Hundreds of campaign leaflets for Tory chair Richard Holden have been sent to the wrong constituency, Jessica Paker reports in a story for the BBC.
Rachel Reeves attacks SNP for favouring higher personal taxes, but not Labour's plan for higher windfall tax on energy firms
The chair of BMA Scotland, Dr Iain Kennedy, warned this morning that “very existence of a national health service as we know it” is under threat and that the country was “sleep-walking” to a two-tier system of healthcare.
Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, picked up on this as she promised an “immediate injection of cash” for public services, particularly the NHS, on a campaign visit to Scotland. She said:
The consequentials from cracking down on tax avoidance and tax evasion, making sure that non-doms pay their fair share of tax, are going to be ploughed into the NHS and we would expect the Scottish government to spend that money on NHS in Scotland.
Speaking after a tour of the Chivas distillery in the West Dunbartonshire constituency, one of Labour’s top central belt target seats, she reiterated Labour’s commitments not to raise tax but to grow the economy, pointing out that since 2020 there are 6,000 fewer businesses in Scotland and 44,000 fewer people in work.
Asked about the SNP argument that they need more powers from Westminster to promote growth, Reeves responded:
They’ve got quite a lot of fiscal powers and what are they using them for? They’ve racked up taxes on working people but they refuse to back us on extending the windfall tax on the big profits the energy giants are making.
Both Labour and the Conservatives in Scotland have attacked the SNP during the election campaign for what it describes as progressive income tax rises, while pollsters remain ambivalent about whether pledges not to raise taxes actually impress voters.
Metropolitan police says five more officers under investigation over suspect bets on election timing
The Metropolitan police has announced that five more officers are being investigated in relation to suspect bets on the date of the election, in addition to the protection officer who was arrested. In a statement a Met spokesperson said:
We previously confirmed the arrest of a Met officer on Monday, 17 June for misconduct in public office in relation to bets placed on the timing of the general election.
The officer – a police constable from the Royalty and Specialist Protection Command – is on restricted duties.
It is still the case that only one officer is under criminal investigation.
We have, however, been passed information from the Gambling Commission alleging that five further officers have placed bets related to the timing of the election.
The Gambling Commission continues to investigate these matters. The officers have not been arrested but the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards has been informed.
The officers are based on the Royalty and Specialist Command, the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command and the Central West Basic Command Unit. None of them work in a close protection role.
Decisions on whether they will be subject to any restrictions will be taken in due course.
Lord Frost, the rightwing Tory peer who regularly criticises Rishi Sunak’s leadership of the Tory party, has put out a comment about the party’s decision to drop the two election candidates accused of making suspect bets that is almost identical to what Labour and the Lib Dems are saying. (See 11.19am and 11.30am.)
We get there in the end.
— David Frost (@DavidGHFrost) June 25, 2024
But why did it take so long to come to a decision that seemed so necessary right from the start? https://t.co/jgaysYQFmJ
Footballer would be 'banned from game' for betting like Tory election candidate, Vaughan Gething claims
Vaughan Gething, the Welsh Labour leader and first minister, has claimed that a footballer acting like Craig Williams, the Tory candidate accused of placing a suspect bet on the election date, would be “banned from the game”.
Speaking during first minister’s questions, in response to a question from the Conservative MS (member of the Senedd) Natasha Asghar about his own integrity, Gething said:
If you really want to talk about scandals – and today is a day to do that, is it not, Natasha Asghar – look at former Conservative Senedd staffer Craig Williams, now finally junked as a Conservative candidate.
And let’s be clear if a professional footballer had placed a bet in the way that Craig Williams did, he’d be banned from the game.
That’s what would happen.
As well as working in the Senedd, Williams has represented two Welsh constituencies as an MP, Cardiff North and Montgomeryshire.
In an interview with the broadcaster Talk, Keir Starmer was asked today if he agreed with Gary Lineker’s criticism of Gareth Southgate and the England team in the match against Denmark.
Asked if he thought Harry Kane’s response to Lineker’s comments showed the England team were “over-sensitive”, or if he thought Lineker was right, Starmer backed the team. He replied:
I back the England team on this.
Look, they’re in the middle of this competition. A really important game is coming up. Let’s just get behind the team.
You know, we’ve done this before. England. We sort of never, I don’t think, have a particularly great start to these competitions.
But then we click, we pull together. It’s a fantastic team and I am going to back them all the way.
Updated
In a video posted to Instagram after his meeting with Keir Starmer (see 12.49pm), Idris Elba, the actor and campaigner on knife crime, said he was glad Stamer listened to what families affected by the problem had to say. He said:
We had a very wide conversation about what we need to do as a country to fight this. It was non-political, and I’m making that clear because this is a societal issue.
But as someone that might be taking the hot seat, it was really important to hear what he had to say about his plans … Today he listened. He listened to what the organisations … had to say.
The emperor and empress of Japan were welcomed by the king today on a state visit stripped of political elements due to the forthcoming general election, but retaining the military pomp and pageantry of a ceremonial welcome.
The king and queen greeted their guests, Emperor Naruhito, ruler of the Chrysanthemum throne, and Empress Masako, on Horse Guards Parade in central London.
Also in the welcoming party were Rishi Sunak, foreign secretary David Cameron, and home secretary James Cleverly, as is usual protocol for state visits.
The emperor and empress were then taken by horse drawn carriages along the Mall to Buckingham Palace for lunch.
Missing elements to the visit appear to be the usual Downing Street talks with the prime minister, a speech to the Palace of Westminster by the visiting head of state, and meetings with opposition leaders.
Keir Starmer is expected to attend the state banquet at Buckingham Palace tonight, as is also usual protocol for the leader of the opposition.
During Queen Elizabeth II’s 70-year reign there were no incoming state visits at the same time as a general election.
A Japanese foreign ministry official has said the emperor and empress’s visit would not be a political one and it was hoped it would forge “friendly relations across generations” between Japan’s imperial family and the British royal family.
The state visit previously had to be postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Association of Electoral Administrators has confirmed that there is nothing that can be done to stop Craig Williams or Laura Saunders being listed as Conservative candidates on the ballot paper, even though the party no longer supports them. A spokesperson for the association said:
When a validly nominated political party candidate has their party’s support withdrawn after an election nomination deadline has passed, there is no legal mechanism to remove their name from the ballot paper.
If a candidate in these circumstances has opted to include a political party description and emblem on the ballot paper, by law this must also still be included.
The bottom line is the returning officer has no legal powers to amend the ballot paper or stop the election. Everything must continue as planned in line with electoral law.
Rishi Sunak has been to a large extent disengaged from the election campaign today because he is having to attend events linked to the state visit by Naruhito, the emperor of Japan.
Sunak, David Cameron, the foreign secretary, and James Cleverly, the home secretary, were all at Horse Guards Parade this morning for the welcome ceremony.
Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, was not impressed by Labour’s Nick Thomas-Symonds saying this morning that when the party “opens the books” if it gets into government, it may find the economic situation worse than expected. (See 8.41am.)
Oh dear, oh dear. The old "we may open the books and discover the situation is even worse..."
— Paul Johnson (@PJTheEconomist) June 25, 2024
The books are wide open, fully transparent. That really won't wash... pic.twitter.com/EnQpZdano7
Oh dear, oh dear. The old “we may open the books and discover the situation is even worse...”
The books are wide open, fully transparent. That really won’t wash...
Thomas-Symonds’s decision to employ this argument may be linked to his second career as a historian, and a biographer of Attlee, Bevan and Wilson. In the post-war period, governments did sometimes take office only to learn that the public finances were in a worse state than expected. But, as Johnson says, that is not the case now. The books are open; they get published twice a year by the Office for Budget Responsibility.
A Reform UK candidate in Salisbury was booed at a hustings after he praised Vladimir Putin, the Wiltshire Times reports.
Arguing for a negotiated settlement in Ukraine, Julian Malins said it was wrong to compare Putin to Hitler. “I have actually met Putin and had a 10-minute chat with him and he seemed very good. He is not the Austrian gentleman with a moustache come alive again,” Malins said.
The Wiltshire Times says these comments angered people in the audience in the city, where two Russians were poisoned by novichok in an attack ordered by the Kremlin in 2018. A woman was later killed in a nearby town by novichok from a perfume bottle found in a bin, which is thought to have been linked to the original attack.
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has also been criticised for his stance on Russia. He has argued that the expansion of the EU and Nato provoked Putin into invading Ukraine.
Starmer pledges new law to ban dangerous knives
Keir Starmer said today Labour would pass “Ronan’s law”, legislation to ban the sale and possession of dangerous knives. It will be named after the 16-year-old Ronan Kanda, who was killed with a ninja sword in Wolverhampton in 2022.
According to Labour, the bill will involve “a comprehensive ban on possession of a wider range of lethal weapons which have been used to kill teenagers on Britain’s streets” and an “end-to-end review of online knife sales, from purchase through to delivery, with much tougher enforcement of ID checks”.
Speaking to reporters today as he met families affected by knife crime in London, Starmer said:
The government has announced 16 times that they’re going to ban the online sale of zombie knives. We as the opposition said we support this, bring the legislation, it will go through, they haven’t done it. Knife crime now is up 81% since 2015.
It’s a problem that we all have responsibilities for, so legislation on knives is a government issue and the government has failed on this issue. We will not fail on this issue.
There are other measures, one of the families here their son was murdered by a knife that was sent through the post by a shop, ordered online in ordinary packaging and picked up by a 15-year-old who didn’t need to show any identification.
It’s not rocket science. I will stop that straight away and I think it’s so outrageous that that can even happen.
Victoria Atkins, the health secretary, has said she is “not entertaining any questions about my leadership” amid speculation that she could become a contender for the support of the Conservatives’ centrist ‘One Nation’ wing if it comes to replacing Rishi Sunak.
Atkins, who was also a minister under Theresa May, was speaking at a press conference where she accused Labour of trying to introduce self ID for trans people “by the back door”. (See 12.10pm.)
Asked if taking up a prominent position on a highly polarising issue could damage potential leadership ambitions on her part, she replied:
I am not entertaining any questions about my leadership. Come on. I want to campaign at the moment.
Her comments come after other leadership hopefuls – including business secretary Kemi Badenoch and home secretary James Cleverly – also left the door open to bids in the after the election. Badenoch said yesterday: “We will talk about leadership things after an election.”
Health secretary Victoria Atkins claims Labour 'relaxed about eradicating women from national language'
Victoria Atkins, the health secretary, has accused Labour of planning “to eradicate women from our national language” as the Conservatives sought to ramp up attacks on Keir Starmer around gender identity issues.
Labour plans to ban conversion practices would risk stopping parents, teachers and therapists from “comforting and counselling” children and adults “in gender distress”, the minister claimed at a press conference in London.
In its manifesto, Labour states:
So-called conversion therapy is abuse – there is no other word for it – so Labour will finally deliver a full trans-inclusive ban on conversion practices, while protecting the freedom for people to explore their sexual orientation and gender identity.
The Times, which has been covering prominently criticism of Labour’s stance on trans policy, has this morning splashed on a story about the Labour manifesto pledge to ban conversion practices. It said that Hilary Cass, doctor behind a landmark review of the NHS’s gender identity services for children and young people, had said that a ban on trans-inclusive conversion therapy was likely to prompt concern among medical professionals that they might find themselves in a “test case”.
Atkins picked up on this, telling reporters:
Today it has seeped out that Labour not only wants to introduce self ID by stealth, but also wants to stop parents, teachers and therapists from comforting and counselling children and adults who are in gender distress.
We all agree that so-called conversion therapy in the context of sexuality is dreadful and must be stopped. However, we need a thoughtful conversation about whether additional legislation is necessary and possible without criminalizing those who are doing their best to support people with gender distress. This is ripe territory for the law of unintended consequences.
Referring to language, she said:
What is worrying about the Labour party’s approach to this is that they appear to be changing their script according to who is listening and we have seen in recent days, even the Labour leader himself struggling to define what a woman is. Rather than listening to women in his own party, chooses to quote his predecessor Tony Blair, a man, when it comes to understanding what a woman is …
We are half the population. I, as a woman, when I walked into that maternity unit and I saw that women had been eradicated from the language that midwives and clinicians wanted to use, I felt very upset actually.
And she claimed there was a stark choice at the election.
The choice at this election is clear. A Conservative party that believes everyone should be treated with dignity and respect that will stand up for women’s rights and protect our children, or a Labour party that is relaxed about eradicating women from our national language and sees little need to protect women and girls’ rights, that is refusing to change the law to protect single-sex spaces and will introduce self-ID by the back door.
In response to Atkins, Keir Starmer told reporters on the campaign:
I couldn’t be clearer about this. We are not introducing self identification. We are going to be and are protective of women’s spaces.
On banning conversion practices, the Labour leader said:
Conversion therapy is something which needs to be outlawed. And the government used to believe that it should be outlawed. And there’s many Tory politicians who think it should be outlawed. Conversion therapy is materially different to putting in the support which is needed for people, particularly young people.
Updated
Starmer dismisses Sunak's claim migrants queueing up in Calais waiting for Labour election victory as 'utter nonsense'
Last night Rishi Sunak claimed asylum seekers in Calais were “queueing up” waiting for Labour to win the general election before crossing the channel, because they knew Keir Starmer would abandon the Rwanda policy. In a report this morning the Daily Telegraph says it has spoken to some migrants in northern France confirming that is their position.
In their story Charles Hymas and Connor Stringer say:
Most migrants in the Grand-Synth camp near Dunkirk who were contacted by The Telegraph knew about the Rwanda scheme and said they were worried about the threat of being deported.
While some said they would still attempt the crossing if they got the chance, others said they would prefer to wait until after the election, which takes place on July 4 ….
In northern France, a 43-year-old Peshmerga fighter from Iraq who was imprisoned by ISIS told The Telegraph that he was waiting until after the election to travel to Britain. He said he had spent three months and 17 days in captivity after being arrested and captured by the terror group.
“It’s better to wait for two weeks, I would like to wait for two weeks,” he added. “We need to wait until the new government has arrived. It’s [Rwanda] a really bad decision, it’s more politics and business. Have some mercy on the refugees.”
This morning Keir Starmer said claims that migrants were “queueing up” in France were “utter nonsense from the Tories”.
He went on:
They’re not queueing up in Calais, they’re getting in boats and coming over.
We’ve had record numbers this year. So, I mean, the prime minister really needs to answer for that. Under his watch, we have had record numbers, record numbers coming by boat, we’ve got record numbers of migrants coming to work in this country.
So that’s the situation – we intend to stop that by taking down the gangs that are running this bar trade in the first place. And if the government had done that, we wouldn’t be having this discussion at all.
Small boat arrivals for the first six months of the year are at an all-time record, up 17% on last year.
Updated
Sunak 'dithered and delayed' over candidates subject to betting allegations, say Lib Dems
Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem deputy leader, has also accused Rishi Sunak of waiting too long to drop the two candidates accused of suspect betting.
This should have happened immediately when these scandalous revelations emerged, but instead Rishi Sunak has dithered and delayed.
— Daisy Cooper 🔶 (@libdemdaisy) June 25, 2024
Sunak must confirm immediately that these candidates will not have the Conservative whip if elected. https://t.co/8u7phhKcr0
This should have happened immediately when these scandalous revelations emerged, but instead Rishi Sunak has dithered and delayed.
Sunak must confirm immediately that these candidates will not have the Conservative whip if elected.
'Why didn't that happen a week ago?' - Starmer says Sunak's decision to drop suspect bet candidates too late
Keir Starmer has asked why the Tories did not suspend Craig Williams and Laura Saunders earlier. In response to the CCHQ announcement, he said: “Why didn’t that happen a week ago?”
The Guardian first reported that Williams was being investigated by the Gambling Commisson almost two weeks ago, on Wednesday 12 June.
The following day Rishi Sunak said the news was “very disappointing”, but that he could not act while the investigation was ongoing.
He used a similar line after it was revealed last week that Saunders was also being investigated, and even last night, despite some Tories publicly calling for the two candidates to be suspended, Sunak was saying that he was constrained by what he could do by the need not to compromise the Gambling Commission’s inquiry.
But last night a letter from the commission was released in which it made it clear that it was not blocking CCHQ action. (See 9.26am.)
Who are two candidates disowned by Tories over election date betting allegations?
Craig Williams is the Conservative candidate in Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr. A former MP for Cardiff North, he was elected MP for Montgomeryshire in 2019 with a majority of 12,138. Some MRP polls have implied that Williams could win, but others say that Labour will take the seat, and the betting scandal must make that more likely.
Williams was the first person accused of using inside information to bet on an election happening in July. He was Rishi Sunak’s parliamentary private secretary in the last parliament. As Sunak’s PPS, he was not a key decision maker, but he would have had regular access to the PM and his inner circle.
Williams has not confirmed that he knew about Sunak’s decision when he placed a bet on a July election three days before it was announced, but he has told the BBC he made a “massive error of judgment”.
Laura Saunders is the Conservative candidate in Bristol North West. This is a Labour seat held by Darren Jones, shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, and Saunders was never expected to win. She is married to Tony Lee, who is on leave of absence from his job as the Tories’ campaign director because he has also been accused of being involved in suspect bets. In her only comment on the allegations, Saunders has issued a statement through lawyers threatening to sue the BBC for its report saying she was under investigation.
Williams and Saunders will remain on the ballot paper in their respective constituencies, as Conservative candidates, but the decision announced by CCHQ today means that they will not get any campaign support.
In the unlikely event of their winning, they would not be allowed to take the Tory whip and would sit as independents.
Updated
What Tory party said about why it is no longer backing two candidates accused of suspect bets
Here is the statement from the Conservative party about the two candidates accused of suspect election bets. A spokesperson for the party said:
As a result of ongoing internal inquiries, we have concluded that we can no longer support Craig Williams or Laura Saunders as parliamentary candidates at the forthcoming general election.
We have checked with the Gambling Commision that this decision does not compromise the investigation that they are conducting which is righly independent and ongoing.
Tory party withdraws support from two candidates accused of suspect election date bets
The Conservative party is no longer backing Craig Williams and Laura Saunders, the two candidates who have been accused of making suspect bets on the timing of the election, the BBC is reporting.
The party has taken the decision on the basis of what it has uncovered during its inquiries into the allegations, the BBC says.
Kwarteng admits he is 'partially responsible' for Tories' electoral plight – but argues Sunak to blame too
Kwasi Kwarteng was the chancellor who delivered Liz Truss’s mini-budget, which triggered turmoil in the markets and ultimately brought down her premiership. Labour says it led to mortgage rates soaring and it is the single event that enabled Labour to convert what was roughly a 10-point lead over the Conservatives in September 2022 into a 20-point lead by the end of that year. It has remained that high every since.
As the Telegraph reports, in an interview with GB News, Kwarteng said he felt “partially responsible” for the Tories’ plight. But only partially. He made it clear he was blaming Rishi Sunak too. He told the broadcaster:
I feel partially responsible but I don’t feel responsible for leaving D-day early, I don’t feel responsible for the Reform party which was on 4% in October 2022 being on nearly 20% now.
I don’t feel responsible for the election betting scandal, nor do I feel responsible for the fact that this election has happened way before anyone was expecting it.
Updated
Daily Record urges readers to vote Labour, in its first general election endorsement in 14 years
Labour has received a significant boost in Scotland this morning with an endorsement from the Daily Record.
General Election LIVE: Why the Daily Record is backing Labour.#GeneralElection #GE24
— The Daily Record (@Daily_Record) June 25, 2024
🔽🔽🔽https://t.co/0EvVwOH2M3 pic.twitter.com/AkBbrE4FIU
The Record, which estimates that it reaches 1.5 million readers every weekday along with its portfolio of local titles, has not backed one party at a general election in 14 years, but now splashes “kicking the vile and corrupt Tories out of office”.
It’s not a great surprise – Scottish Labour has developed an increasingly strong relationship with the tabloid under leader Anas Sarwar.
With a front page that appears to be a pastiche of the Tony Blair “demon eyes” attack ad from 1997, it says that “change is coming and Scotland can be a part of it”. Pointedly, it leads with the statement that “this election is not about independence”, chiming with polls which show independence supporters and former SNP voters are now attracted to Labour’s promise of change and the message from Sarwar that how people voted in the 2014 referendum is irrelevant to this election.
But the question remains: how much do newspaper endorsements like this one matter to voters? Jim Waterson, the Guardian’s political media editor, suggests that voters are still intrigued by who well known titles, like the Record in Scotland, or Mail across the UK, are backing even though this is potentially, as he wrote earlier this week, the first post-mainstream media election.
Updated
Gambling Commission rejects call to name election bet suspects – but implies it is not stopping Tories acting
At the weekend Pat McFadden, Labour’s national campaign coordinator, wrote a letter to the Gambling Commission asking it to name people under investigating in relation to the election date betting allegations. He said it was in the public interest for the names to be released.
Andrew Rhodes, chief executive of the commission, has replied to McFadden saying that “to protect the integrity of the investigation, and to ensure a fair and just outcome” it will not be naming the suspects.
He says the commission has asked the people it has been in contact with to treat the matter confidentially – which is cited by Rishi Sunak as the reason why he cannot say more about what happened, and about whether the candidates and officials accused of making suspect bets had advance knowledge about his decision to announce the election.
But Rhodes also says this confidentiality requirement “does not preclude other activity relating to the fact of an investigation taking place” – which implies that, if the Conservative party were to suspend the membership of people under suspicion, the commission would not object.
Two of the suspects are party candidates and, because nominations have closed, the party cannot do anything to stop them being listed on the ballot paper as official Conservative party candidates.
But some in the party have said that Rishi Sunak should disown them as candidates – as Labour did with its byelection candidate in Rochdale who, after nominations closed, was revealed to have suggested at a meeting that Israel allowed the 7 October Hamas massacre to happen. Yesterday Sunak argued that it would be wrong to do this while the investigation into what happened was still going on.
Updated
Labour may 'open the books' and discover public finances in worse state than expected, shadow cabinet minister says
Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, taking over from Helen Sullivan.
Nick Thomas-Symonds, a shadow Cabinet Office minister, has been giving interviews for Labour this morning and on Times Radio he said that if the party got into government, it might discover the public finances to be in an “even worse” situation than anticipated.
Asked about the Institute for Fiscal Studies report yesterday saying both main parties were not being honest about the choices they would face after the election, he replied:
Obviously the government is in a very different position from us, because, as the Institute for Fiscal Studies set out, there are no specific departmental spending plans beyond March of 2025 that’s because the government hasn’t conducted a spending review.
We obviously can’t do that from opposition, and we’ve also been open, always that we may open the books and discover the situation is even worse than it is at the moment. We’ve never hidden from that.
Opposition parties sometimes suggest that, when they get into office and have a chance to “look at the books”, they will discover hidden horrors that will require tax measures not previously planned. In a recent Guardian story, Anna Isaac and Kiran Stacey reported on Labour sources who think that might happen this year. They said:
Labour is planning a major package of measures this autumn, according to party sources, and [Rachel] Reeves is looking for a “doctor’s mandate”: the state of the public finances is so bad, she will argue, that they will need major surgery to correct.
But in reality, particularly since the creation of the Office for Budget Responsibility, which publishes an independent and extremely detailed analysis of the public finances twice a year, most of the key information about the state of the public finances is already in the public domain.
In his Times Radio interview, when asked about the IFS claim that the next government would either have to put up taxes or cut public services, Thomas-Symonds claimed Labour’s focus on growth would make a difference. He said:
We will put that plan on the table, of stability, of investment and of reform. The Office of Budget Responsibility will then look at it so it will be robust, and the snapshot in the autumn will be different. It will then be about growth.
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.
A senior druid and parliamentary candidate named King Arthur Pendragon has called on the public to choose him as their “champion” in Westminster, PA reports.
Pendragon is running for a fifth time in Salisbury, Wiltshire, and hopes to bring “spirituality” and the virtues of “truth, honour and justice” to politics.
Previously John Rothwell, the candidate changed his name in 1986 to match that of the mythical King Arthur – whom he claims to have a spiritual lineage with.
Pendragon is also a pagan priest and, since the 1990s, has been head of the Loyal Arthurian Warband.
Under his leadership, the group, which he refers to as the warrior or political arm of the modern druid movement, has been involved in several environmental protests and campaigns such as fighting against English Heritage’s £15 parking charges at Stonehenge.
The 70-year-old told the PA news agency:
The only message I’d like to share to all the voters out there is vote with your heart, not your head.
Vote for who you want to send to Westminster as your champion.
I think it’s about time we brought a bit of spirituality to politics - I am sworn to the ancient virtues as a senior druid of truth, honour and justice.”
And I, Helen Sullivan, am sworn to the ancient virtues of handing this blog over to Andrew Sparrow.
Liberal Democrat Layla Moran will visit Oxfordshire to launch the party’s six-page mini-manifesto on care, highlighting pledges already made in the party’s main manifesto.
The Lib Dems leader Ed Davey is not expected to be on the campaign trail.
Davey was a carer as a teenager for his mother, and more recently for his disabled son, said:
We are putting forward a bold and ambitious plan to make sure everyone can get the support they need - people who need care, the amazing care workers who provide it, and the unpaid family carers who provide it too.
Home Office minister Michael Tomlinson says he agrees with Cracknell 'frustration' with Tories
Home Office minister Michael Tomlinson has said he agrees with the frustration expressed by former Olympic rower and Tory candidate James Cracknell, PA reports.
Referring to the gambling scandal engulfing the Tory campaign, Cracknell said in a social media video: “And if one of my teammates got caught for cheating, they’d be dead to me” and also described the party as a “shower of shit”.
Asked about the “frustration” expressed by the electorate and Cracknell, Tomlinson told Sky News: “That’s right, and I share his frustration. I agree with the frustration that’s being expressed, more than frustration, the anger as well.”
Earlier when asked about the investigations into Tory members and aides, Tomlinson said:
The lawyer in me knows that there is a process, there’s the independent Gambling Commission. That’s the first thing, and as the Prime Minister said yesterday, there is also an internal process.
But this is important, and it’s important that this happens swiftly. And as you say, anyone who is found to have broken the law or even to have fallen short of the high standards that the Prime Minister and all of us expect, that they should be dealt with severely as well.”
This morning's front pages
It is just before 8am. Let’s take a look at today’s top stories.
The Guardian leads with two reports finding that low wages and price increases under Tory rule have pushed 900,000 children into poverty.
Tuesday's GUARDIAN: Low wage growth 'has pushed 900,000 children into poverty'#TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/KGO09epJpv
— Jack Surfleet (@jacksurfleet) June 24, 2024
The Times headline is Conversion therapy to be banned by Labour
Tuesday's TIMES: Conversion therapy to be banned by Labour#TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/seac2kTuju
— Jack Surfleet (@jacksurfleet) June 24, 2024
The Daily Telegraph reports that Scotland yard was ‘leaked names’ in the Tory betting scandal:
Tuesday's DAILY TELEGRAPH: Scotland Yard 'leaked names' in Tory betting scandal#TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/zMMafnagpY
— Jack Surfleet (@jacksurfleet) June 24, 2024
The FT: Tory and Labour pledges to improve public services ‘essentially unfunded’:
Tuesday's FINANCIAL TIMES: Tory and Labour pledges to improve public services 'essentially unfunded'#TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/w1wYS1LelE
— Jack Surfleet (@jacksurfleet) June 24, 2024
The I: Tories and Labour refuse to rule out 10 tax rises – as IFS urges leaders to come clean
Tuesday's i: Tories and Labour refuse to rule out 10 tax rises - as IFS urges leaders to come clean#TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/tcFPW6KiMl
— Jack Surfleet (@jacksurfleet) June 24, 2024
Scottish Daily Mail: Labour will resurrect SNP’s toxic gender law warns PM
Tuesday's SCOTTISH DAILY MAIL: Labour will resurrect SNP's toxic gender law warns PM#TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/hLFTqRApkq
— Jack Surfleet (@jacksurfleet) June 24, 2024
The Daily Record says that it is backing Labour:
Tuesday's DAILY RECORD backs Labour#TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/7Wb9xXoWRX
— Jack Surfleet (@jacksurfleet) June 24, 2024
Britons think UK is in a bad way, but French more pessimistic, survey shows
Britons are the most likely of seven European nations to say their country is in a sorry state, but the French are the most likely to think things will get worse over the next 12 months, according to a poll weeks before high-stakes elections in both countries.
With the exception of Denmark, however, none of the European countries surveyed by YouGov in late May and early June revealed themselves to be particularly happy with the the way things were going, or overly optimistic for the future.
Asked whether they thought their country was in a bad way at the moment, 80% of respondents in the UK replied “very bad” or “fairly bad” – compared with 71% in France, 70% in Germany, 68% in Italy, 67% in Spain, 49% in Sweden and 25% in Denmark:
Record number of people have crossed Channel in small boats since January
A record number of people seeking asylum in small boats have crossed the Channel in the first six months of this year.
Home Office figures show that 257 people made the journey in four boats on Sunday, taking the provisional total for the year so far to 12,901. The previous record for arrivals in the six months from January to June was 12,747 in 2022. In the first half of 2023, arrivals stood at 11,433.
The 2024 total to date is 17% higher than the number of arrivals recorded this time last year (11,058) and up 8% on the same period in 2022 (11,975).
Last year a total of 29,437 people arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel in small boats, down 36% on a record 45,774 in 2022.
The record figure emerged as Rishi Sunak claimed that Labour would make the UK the “soft-touch illegal migration capital of the world”.
The prime minister stepped up attacks on Keir Starmer’s proposals to curb migration, which the Conservatives claimed would let thousands more into the UK each year.
Met denies leaking names of Tories involved in betting scandal
The Metropolitan Police has responded to a report in the Daily Telegraph claiming that it revealed the names of people being investigated by the Gambling Commission.
In a statement the Met Police denied the allegations, saying: “The allegations that the Met has leaked information are simply untrue.”
“We continue to liaise with the Gambling Commission and are assessing information they have provided.”
The Conservatives have launched their own inquiry into whether politicians or officials gambled on the timing of the election, Rishi Sunak has said, as the prime minister denied that he had placed any bets himself.
Sunak told reporters he was not aware of any further candidates being looked into and was not himself being investigated, saying he had never bet on a political event:
Updated
Home secretary James Cleverly and shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper will go head-to-head in a debate on immigration on LBC at 9am.
Ahead of the debate, Cleverly has claimed that Labour will turn the UK into the “asylum capital of the world” and offer an “amnesty” to people who crossed the Channel in small boats.
Meanwhile, Cooper writes in the Daily Telegraph that Sunak’s policies “are clearly not working”.
Rishi Sunak is unlikely to be campaigning on Tuesday, as he is attending a ceremonial welcome for the Emperor and Empress of Japan, in addition to a state banquet at Buckingham Palace in the evening.
Labour will be talking about knife crime today.
Keir Starmer has pledged to make reducing knife crime a “moral mission” ahead of a visit in central London today, where he will meet with families of victims.
The Labour leader said he wants ministers, victims and tech giants to work together to tackle the sale of weapons online and cut crime on the streets.
It is our duty as political leaders across all parties to work together to end knife crime and keep our young people safe.
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) June 25, 2024
Starmer has pledged to chair an annual summit to track progress in meeting the goal of halving knife crime incidents within a decade.
He said:
For the parents grieving sons and daughters who never came home, action to end this scourge cannot wait.
Far too often we hear the same stories from grieving families who have been subject to these brutal murders carried out by children.”
How Tory neglect flooded Britain’s rivers with sewage
All along the course of the Thames, turning north, meandering south, passing through locks, historic landmarks, Richmond and Kew, swelling beneath the House of Commons with the turning tide, and on to Docklands and beyond – concern for the health of the Thames has led many other ordinary people, who live, work or play on the water, to take up the fight for the health of the river.
The last 15 years of decline in rivers suggests they have much to do. In 2009, a year before the Conservatives first took power in a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, a quarter of English rivers were judged as being of good ecological standard, a marker which examines the flow, habitat and biological quality; by 2022 not one river was in a healthy state.
As politicians take to the doorsteps of towns and villages along the Thames’s journey the question of sewage pollution has become one of the top five issues of concern. Clean water is mentioned in every party manifesto. Along the river’s route in Liberal Democrat target marginals such as Esher in Surrey and the Oxfordshire constituencies of Henley and Witney, where David Cameron was once MP, concerns over sewage pollution could be a swing factor to unseat the Tories.
To trace the decline of the Thames is to tell a story shared by almost every river across the country, more than 30 years after a Conservative government privatised the water industry – creating a sector which, the evidence suggests, has prioritised shareholder dividends over investment in clean water, the environment and public health. For voters, including many in Tory heartlands, the polluting of Britain’s rivers is among the most egregious legacies of 14 years of Conservative rule.
Sunak: 'I was right then, when I warned about Liz Truss. That’s why all of you can trust me now'
On his own appearance at the Sun event, Sunak sought to argue that Labour would be as damaging to the economy as Truss, as he was challenged about the impact of the short-serving prime minister.
The Guardian’s Peter Walker and Eleni Courea report:
Asked if he felt “some responsibility for inflicting Liz Truss on the voters”, Sunak stressed that he had fought Truss for the Conservative leadership and warned against her plans.
“I was right then, when I warned about Liz Truss. That’s why all of you can trust me now,” he said. “I have also warned about the damage that Keir Starmer would do to our economy. I was saying something that no one wanted to hear, but I was saying it because I believed it. And I’m telling you again now, it all seems a bit familiar.
“If Keir Starmer is your prime minister, the economy is going to suffer and all of you are going to suffer. I don’t want to see that happen.”
Starmer defends backing Corbyn
Here’s a look at what happened on last night’s interviews hosted by the Sun.
First, Starmer, who defended serving in Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet, saying he wanted to help preserve the Labour party and that he “always knew there was going to be a day after”.
The Guardian’s Peter Walker and Eleni Courea report:
Speaking in separate interviews hosted by the Sun newspaper that included questions from a watching audience, Rishi Sunak and Starmer underwent at times difficult interrogations, including over migration and the NHS.
Starmer meanwhile gave his fullest answer yet as to why he had endorsed Corbyn in the 2019 election when he did not believe in him, and why he did not quit to serve on the backbenches as some colleagues had.
“Everybody then took a decision about what they did, how we dealt with this,” he said.
“I felt that on issues such as Brexit, which I thought were going to define us for decades to come, leaders are temporary, but political parties are permanent, but it was important to have a voice in the shadow cabinet.
“It meant that I could challenge on antisemitism, and it meant that the Labour party never veered from its position on things that are fundamental, like Nato,” he said.
The entire Corbyn period was, Starmer said, “very difficult for me and for my party”, but he had to look towards the future.
“I knew there would be a day after, where we needed to pick it up, to say to the electorate: ‘In 2019, we got this wrong’, and rebuild – we were all working to that end,” he said. “Everybody knew there was always going to be a day after, when we would have the opportunity for a new party, and to make sure our party was there to face the future.”
Updated
Monday's best campaign photos
Looking pumped despite the odds, jogging casually in a crowded room, sinister shadowy lighting, a casual walk with a gaggle of schoolchildren, obligatory football something, and a rather snazzy jacket – it’s just another manic Monday:
Updated
John Swinney calls on Starmer to 'think again' on climate funding
Scotland’s First Minister has called on Keir Starmer to “think again” and commit to spending £28bn a year on green policies, PA reports:
John Swinney said he was making a “genuine and direct appeal” to Starmer.
A major U-turn in February saw Labour abandon its plans to spend £28bn a year on environmental projects – with Starmer saying at the time his party had had to “readjust” its plans.
Swinney’s comments came ahead of the SNP launching a climate and just transition manifesto, which sets out plans for an annual investment of £28bn. He added: “I would much rather be straight with the British public than make a promise I can’t keep.”
Swinney insisted that spending less than that would be insufficient, given the threat posed by climate change.
The SNP leader said:
Today, I am making a genuine and direct appeal to Sir Keir Starmer to think again and commit again to £28bn of investment to achieve green growth and reach net zero.
We believe that anything that falls below that level of ambition and investment will fail to meet the scale of this challenge and fail to grasp the opportunity of the emerging green economy.”
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However much you check yourself against groupthink, we all swim in the same ocean and meet the same fish. Between the sight of a triumphant Nigel Farage parading around Clacton, the drip, drip effect of vox pops saying all politicians are the same and the spectre of far-right victories in Europe, I missed one minor detail: I’m really excited about the election.
All this work, furiously managing my own expectations, worrying about the future, muttering about Labour and its timidity, and I haven’t extinguished the delight. Whichever way you cut it, we seem on the brink of getting rid of the Tory government. The sound of them on the radio, audible defeat cutting through the habituated pomposity; some day soon, we won’t have to wake up to that:
Tories in election retreat as resources diverted to defend ministers’ seats
The Conservatives are rerouting resources to defend at least three seats held by cabinet ministers with majorities of more than 20,000 as the party retreats to safer ground.
Tory activists and candidates in nearby areas have been diverted to campaign for James Cleverly, the home secretary, Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister, and Steve Barclay, the environment secretary.
Cleverly held his Braintree constituency by 24,673 votes in 2019, but some senior Tories believe the Essex seat, which elected Labour MPs in 1997 and 2001, could be vulnerable.
Barclay held his North East Cambridgeshire seat by 29,993 votes in 2019 and Dowden held Hertsmere in Hertfordshire by 21,313. Neither constituency has ever returned a Labour MP before.
All three seats are in the southern Tory heartlands, which Labour is heavily targeting at this election. They have been altered by the boundary review, but still have Conservative majorities of more than 20,000, according to 2019 modelled results for new boundaries.
Low wages under Tories have pushed 900,000 UK children into poverty
The Guardian’s Hazel Sheffield and Larry Elliott report: The crisis of poverty that has taken root in the UK over the past 14 years has been laid bare in two reports that reveal the devastating effects low wages and price increases on the lives of 900,000 children.
With both main parties proposing tough welfare spending plans, reports have highlighted the link between rising child poverty and slow wage growth under five Conservative governments since 2010 – the slowest growth since the second world war.
Research by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) found that over the past 14 years, an additional 1,350 children a week in households with at least one working parent had been dragged into poverty.
Paul Nowak, the general secretary of the TUC, said: “No child in Britain should be growing up below the breadline. But under the Conservatives we have seen a huge rise in working households being pushed into poverty. We urgently need an economic reset and a government that will make work pay.”
Wage stagnation was part of a “toxic combination” of insecure work and cuts to social security that had had a devastating impact on household budgets, the TUC found, increasing the number of children in poverty with at least one parent in work by 900,000 between 2010 and 2023.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank said on Monday that 30% of children now live in households below the official poverty line, up from 27% in 2010. Over the course of the next parliament, an additional 670,000 children will be affected by the two-child limit, which restricts eligibility to benefits, it said.
Senior Tories call for ban on political bets by MPs after election scandal
Senior Conservatives and campaigners are calling for a ban on political bets by MPs, as the Gambling Commission was urged to look into another £500 wager connected with the growing election gambling scandal, Rob Davies, Jessica Elgot and Matthew Weaver report.
The former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said parties should examine the rules when parliament returns amid growing outrage over Tory candidates and aides allegedly staking money on politics. The former defence minister Tobias Ellwood also said there should be new restrictions.
The Conservatives have launched their own inquiry into whether politicians or officials gambled on the timing of the election. Rishi Sunak was forced to deny having placed any bets himself and told reporters he was not aware of any further candidates under scrutiny.
“We’ve been conducting our own internal inquiries and of course will act on any relevant findings or information from that and pass it on to the Gambling Commission,” he said.
The Gambling Commission has been urged to investigate a flurry of unusual activity around the time Sunak called the election, an industry source told the Guardian.
Study finds ‘huge rise in working households pushed into poverty’ under Tories
Welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the UK General Election with me, Helen Sullivan.
Two reports have revealed the devastating effects of low wages and price increases under Conservative rule on the lives of 900,000 children, the Guardian’s Hazel Sheffield and Larry Elliott report.
Reports have highlighted the link between rising child poverty and slow wage growth under five Conservative governments since 2010 – the slowest growth since the second world war. Both main parties are proposing tough welfare spending plans.
Research by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) found that over the past 14 years, an additional 1,350 children a week in households with at least one working parent had been dragged into poverty.
Paul Nowak, the general secretary of the TUC, said: “No child in Britain should be growing up below the breadline. But under the Conservatives we have seen a huge rise in working households being pushed into poverty.”
More on this shortly. Meanwhile here is what is coming up this morning:
9am: Home secretary James Cleverly and shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper go head-to-head on immigration in an LBC debate hosted by Nick Ferrari.
9.30am: Keir Starmer to visit families of victims of knife crime in London.
9.30am: Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves and Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie will visit a major business in West Dunbartonshire. They will be accompanied by local candidate Douglas McAllister. The Scottish Conservatives are campaigning in Ayrshire.
9.45am: Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex-Cole Hamilton will be in Fife, where he will discuss his party’s plans to get everyone faster access to GPs and create world-class mental health services.
11.30 Scotland’s Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes will be on the campaign trail in East Lothian. She will join the SNP candidate for Lothian East, Lyn Jardine.
11.35am: Rishi Sunak, Foreign Secretary David Cameron and home secretary James Cleverly welcome the Emperor and Empress of Japan, who are on a state visit.
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