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Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer dismissed Rishi Sunak’s national service plan as a “teenage Dad’s Army”.Mr Sunak has vowed to bring the controversial National Service scheme for 18-year-olds if he wins the general election.Giving his keynote speech on Monday (27 May), Sir Keir said there was “desperation” behind the policy which would be “paid for by cancelling levelling-up funding and money from tax avoidance that we would use to invest in our NHS”.“All elections are a choice and this is a clear one: levelling-up and the NHS with Labour or more desperate chaos with the Tories. That is the choice.” More

Rachel Reeves has ruled out increases to income tax or national insurance if Labour are elected in this year’s general election.Speaking on BBC One’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg on 26 May, the shadow chancellor pledged that there would not be a “return to austerity” under their government, noting that she would not put forward “unfunded proposals”. Ms Reeves has joined Sir Keir Starmer in his view that taxes on working people should be lower.”I don’t want to make any cuts to public spending which is why we’ve announced the immediate injection of cash into public services,” she added. More

A Sky News presenter clashed with Nigel Farage after the former Ukip leader claimed there are British Muslims who “loathe” much of what the country stands for in a live interview on Sunday, 26 May.The Reform UK founder told Sir Trevor Phillips: “Some of the recent surveys [say] that 46 per cent of British Muslims support Hamas.”Sir Trevor previously wrote in the Times that his family heritage is Fulani and Mandinka Muslims.Clashing with Mr Farage, Sir Trevor asked the former politician: “Put yourself in the shoes of a British Muslim, can you imagine how offensive that feels?”Mr Farage responded by asking: “How many people from your community fail to speak English?” More

Rishi Sunak has explained the Conservatives’ justification for their plans to introduce National Service for 18-year-olds if they are voted back in at the 4 July general election.Young people will be required to complete a full-time placement in the armed forces for 12 months or spend one weekend a month for a year “volunteering” in their community, the Tories said.In a new video on Sunday, 26 May, the prime minister described how National Service would give teenagers “valuable skills” and “make our country more secure.”“Britain today faces a future that is more dangerous and more divided,” he said. More

A Tory minister has said it is “reasonable” for long-serving MPs to stand down as a post-war record of 78 Conservative MPs have announced they will not seek re-election.Speaking to Sky News, economic secretary to the Treasury Bim Afolami said: “It’s reasonable after people spending time doing a job for 20 to 30 years… that they choose to do something else.”Housing minister Michael Gove cited the “toll” of public office as he announced he was stepping down as an MP after almost 20 years.The total number of Tory MPs stepping down has surpassed the previous high of 72 who quit prior to Labour’s 1997 landslide. More

Sir Keir Starmer has said a Labour government would seek to extend the right to vote to 16 and 17-year-olds.Speaking on the campaign trail in Staffordshire on Saturday, 25 May, the opposition leader said anyone paying tax should “have a say” in how their money is spent.It came after the Times reported a change to the voting age would likely appear in the King’s Speech if Labour wins on 4 July.There is no firm indication of when the policy would be implemented. More

Rishi Sunak shared a joke with constituents in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, over his general election speech that was dampened by pouring rain.The prime minister was told by one constituent that she thought he’d “be in bed with pneumonia” as he met local ex-servicemen at one of their regular Saturday breakfast meetings.At the Buck Inn, a Wetherspoons pub, Vicky Rudd, sat next to her husband Doug, from Richmond British Legion, asked Mr Sunak about his health.”No pneumonia yet, my suit on the other hand… I’m not quite sure what state it will be in when I get back down to London,” the PM replied. More

Jeremy Corbyn’s Islington North constituents have given their views on their MP after he announced he would stand as an independent candidate in the general election.The former Labour leader was suspended by the party in 2020 after he refused to fully accept the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s findings that the party broke equality law when he was in charge.Mr Corbyn has now been banished from the party after announcing he will stand as an independent.Labour has selected Praful Nargund to stand against Mr Corbyn, who has held the seat for more than 40 years. More