Rishi Sunak has played down the record number of small boats this year. The Home Office revealed that 882 people the Channel this year, which is the highest figure in two years. reacting to the results, the prime minister said there would always be some days “worse than others”.
Nigel Farage is set to win the Clacton constituency in Essex, according to a poll. Survation pollsters said he could win 42 per cent of the votes granting him the “biggest swing in modern electoral history”.
It comes as Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg said Reform UK’s manifesto is a “whole load of nice-sounding pledges” that don’t add up – then joked the right-wing party had taken his “best policies”.
With only two weeks to go until the general election, the SNP has vowed to deliver Scottish independence and reverse Brexit as the party launched its manifesto in Edinburgh today.
John Swinney said a vote for SNP is a vote for Scotland’s values as the party leader also promised to fight the two-child benefit cap, nuclear weapons and to push for the abolition of the House of Lords.
Pictured: George Galloway launches Workers Party of Britain manifesto in Manchester
Boris Johnson to go on second holiday instead of joining Tory election campaign
Multimillionaire entrepreneur donates hundreds of thousands to Reform
Zia Yusuf, co-founder of Velocity Black, has backed the right-wing party saying the government has “completely lost control of our borders.”
Mr Yusuf told The Telegraph: “Having spent time with Nigel Farage it’s clear to me that he wants the best for Britain and its people, no matter their religion or skin colour.
“No-one is more aware than I am of the contribution immigrants can make. My parents came here 40 years ago and they travelled all over the country to find work and advance their careers.”
Starmer says Tories ‘out of touch’ after senior figures call for Covid amnesty
Sir Keir Starmer has accused the Tories of being “out of touch” after senior party figures called for an amnesty for people convicted over Covid rule-breaking.
It comes after former justice secretary Sir Robert Buckland told the Telegraph that 29,383 people with Covid convictions should have their “slates wiped clean” rather than have their career prospects hampered.
Sir Keir, a former director of public prosecutions, said: “Sorry, let me understand that. Does Rishi Sunak want his fine removed?”
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves added: “What about the one he got for not having his seatbelt on? Does he want that one to be quashed too?”
The Labour leader said: “I mean, seriously, they want Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak’s convictions to be removed in some great amnesty. Come on. Many, many people paid a very high price in that pandemic.
“The now Prime Minister and his predecessor bar one were convicted of breaking the rules that they put in place and if they don’t understand how deep that goes for people, it just reinforces how out of touch they are.”
Farage accuses Boris’ allies of offering him peerages and a knighthood to stand down in 2019
Nigel Farage has claimed that Boris Johnson’s alllies offered him ten peerages and a knighthood to stand aside in the 2019 general election.
The former Brexit Party leader said he declined the offer branding the move “corruption on the most extraordinary level”.
The Reform UK leader told The Sun: “I wouldn’t take a peerage because I said I wouldn’t take a peerage under any circumstances.
He added: “And those that know me when this offer was made said they’d never heard me shout so loudly. I was that angry at total corruption.”
The former prime minister has previously denied the claims and said they are “nonsense”.
Lib Dem policies will not increase immigration, says Davey
Sir Ed Davey has insisted the Liberal Democrats would bring immigration down, rejecting claims some of their policies would see the figure rise.
In an interview with Sky News, the Lib Dem leader said the rise in legal immigration since 2019 was “a massive broken promise by the Conservatives” that had led to “disillusionment in politics”.
He said: “Since we left the EU, immigration has more than doubled, completely against what the Conservatives and the Brexiteers promised. So the question is, how do you bring it down?”
The Liberal Democrat manifesto contains no explicit pledge to reduce overall migration numbers, instead promising a “fair, effective immigration system that treats everyone with dignity and respect”. But Sir Ed denied that these policies would lead to higher migration.
He said that increasing the minimum wage for care workers to £2 above the general minimum wage would encourage British people “who are currently working in, say, an Amazon warehouse or a supermarket” to enter the sector, removing the need for foreign labour. And added that the Conservatives “refuse to pay people properly” and had “issued hundreds of thousands of healthcare visas” instead.
Former Lib Dem MP praises Reform and Farage’s election campaign
Former Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik has praised Reform UK and Nigel Farage for having “plausible charisma”.
Mr Opik told The Telegraph: “I think by far the best campaign has been run by Reform. Compared to the other parties, Reform looks like an adult in a kindergarten.“
Farage has plausible charisma, he looks present, whereas the other ones look vacant. Farage is saying things which are really specific, for example junking net zero, which I find very attractive. There are really clear things that nobody else is saying.
“They are Premier League material in a third division election. I think Nigel has got the best natural leadership, from a theoretical point of view. It’s not going to happen this time, but it could happen in 2029 and as long as he had a good team, at least it would be a change.”
