UK Politics

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailPolitical leaders got the general election show on the road on Saturday on battle buses which will criss-cross Britain over the next month vying for votes. In an attempt to hammer home its message, Labour unveiled a bright red vehicle emblazoned with the word “Change” more than 30 times.And in a sign Keir Starmer’s team wants to plant its tanks firmly on Tory lawns, the bus was launched in Uxbridge, in London, Boris Johnson’s old electoral stomping ground. Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner departs on the campaign bus More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailBusiness leaders have deserted Rishi Sunak for Keir Starmer, a new poll shows. The Labour Party has a record lead over the Conservatives among industry leaders, Savanta found. It comes after Sir Keir said that “wealth creation” was his top priority. Labour has been courting business bosses for months, in a bid to seize the mantle of the “party of business” from the Conservatives. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer (PA) More

Related: Keir Starmer denies Labour ‘left-wing cull’ after Abbott and Shaheen suspensionsSign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailSir Keir Starmer has dodged questions about Diane Abbott as he launched Labour’s battle bus in west London.The Labour leader was asked about saying she could stand after an intervention by his deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner, who said Ms Abbott should be permitted to run, in a break with her party leader.But at the launch, refusing to be dragged into the debate again, Sir Keir repeatedly claimed: “I dealt with this yesterday”. Ms Rayner stood next to him as he answered – or rather didn’t answer – the question. Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak has denied that he is trying to “buy votes” as he faced questions about his plan to invest in 30 towns as part of his party’s “levelling-up” agenda.He said he was “not going to make any apology for supporting towns”, adding that the methodology for selecting them was the same as previous efforts. “These 30 towns come on top of the 70 towns that have been announced – that’s 100 towns across our country that are going to receive £20 million each,” he said. Show latest update 1717252245Mapped: Where have the parties been campaigning today? It has been a busy day for campaigning as both the Labour Party and the Conservatives launched their battle buses, set to drive across the country for the next five weeks.The Reform Party, meanwhile, held a large event at the The Rifle Volunteer in Ashfield, Lee Anderson’s constituency. Both Mr Lee and Nigel Farage spoke at the event.Below, you can see where Rishi Sunak, his counterpart Sir Keir and Mr Lee have been today.Tom Watling1 June 2024 15:301717251345100,000 more families face mortgage hike before polling day as Sunak warned of ‘reckoning’ with homeownersTom Watling1 June 2024 15:151717249932Sunak denies trying to ‘buy votes’ with levelling up agenda Rishi Sunak has faced questions about his plan to invest in 30 towns as part of his party’s “levelling-up” agenda, with broadcasters asking whether the Prime Minister was trying to “buy votes”.Mr Sunak replied: “These 30 towns come on top of the 70 towns that have been announced – that’s 100 towns across our country that are going to receive £20 million each.“Crucially, it will be local people in all those areas that are in charge of how to spend that money, to make sure it’s spent and invested on their priorities – an example of us levelling up everywhere, backing local people and their priorities, and giving them the long-term funding and assurance to do so.”Mr Sunak claimed the methodology used to select the towns – including Tamworth, Bognor Regis, Flint, Perth and Newry – had been used “multiple times before” based on “levelling-up needs, looking at economic opportunity, skills, health and life expectancy”. He claimed towns were “neglected” under a previous Labour government and added: “I’m not going to make any apology for supporting towns.”Tom Watling1 June 2024 14:521717249545Battle of the buses: Labour and Conservatives both launch campaign vehiclesBattle of the buses: Labour and Conservatives both launch campaign vehiclesTom Watling1 June 2024 14:451717248645Conservative battle bus leaves on campaign trail The Conservative battle bus has embarked on the campaign trail.The Mercedes-Benz Tourismo, emblazoned with blue Tory livery and the party’s campaign slogan “clear plan, bold action, secure future” will transport campaigners and journalists across the UK during the next five weeks.The coach is Ulez compliant, meaning it can travel in and out of London without incurring charges, and is rated to Euro 6 emission standards.The vehicle was used until recently as transport for Oxford United before the football team’s promotion to the EFL Championship.Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak waves as he boards the Conservative campaign bus More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA leaked document has revealed that the Lib Dems are set to launch a massive “tactical voting” push to try to squeeze the Labour vote in more than 50 Tory seats.Sir Ed Davey’s party is hoping to regain its place as the third party in the Commons from the Scottish National Party and will be targeting at least 53 Tory-held seats in the so-called “blue wall” in the coming weeks.The MRP superpoll overnight suggests that their aim is within reach predicting 51 Lib Dem gains if there is tactical voting.The initiative is called “Operation 1997” in an attempt to recreate the 1997 election campaign led by the late Lord Paddy Ashdown when the party won 46 seats as a result of tactical voting.After a start to the campaign dominated by Sir Ed doing stunts including falling off a windsurf board, the memo from Dave McCobb, the party’s director of field campaigns, suggests that they have “got off to a flying start”.Ed Davey is cooking up something for the election campaign More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailAn extra 100,000 families will be stung by a mortgage hike between now and polling day, new figures show. More than 3,300 households a day will see their payments rise significantly before July 4.And the average homeowner will have to fork out £240 a month, or nearly £3,000 a year, more.The Liberal Democrats, who obtained the figures, warned Rishi Sunak that he faces a “blue wall reckoning” with mortgage holders in what were previously solid Tory seats at this election. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on the campaign trail (Jonathan Brady/PA) More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailKeir Starmer has dodged questions about Diane Abbott as he launched Labour’s election battle bus.The event was the first time Sir Keir had appeared in public with his deputy Angela Rayner after Labour said the party veteran was free to contest her seat.The dramatic U-turn came after Ms Rayner said the trailblazer, the UK’s first black MP, should be allowed to stand – in a break with her party leader.At the launch in London, Sir Keir repeatedly claimed “I dealt with this yesterday” as he tried to brush off questions.Asked what had changed when he said on Friday that the veteran left-winger could stand as a Labour candidate, he said: “I dealt with that issue yesterday.”Today is about taking our argument to the country and getting people back to work.”(From left to right) Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer and deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner, at the launch event for Labour’s campaign bus at Uxbridge College, London More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe Conservatives are heading for electoral disaster and could win just 66 seats in parliament, a new mega-poll suggests.The result would be a Labour landslide, with Sir Keir Starmer’s party securing 476 MPs – a majority of 302 – once tactical voting has been taken into account.Among the big names who could lose their seats are the deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden, home secretary James Cleverly and defence secretary Grant Shapps.However, Rishi Sunak is due to hold on in Richmond in North Yorkshire, although with a massively reduced majority.Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks to the media at the launch of the Conservative campaign bus at Redcar Racecourse More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailIt began as a whisper, in the nerdier corners of political social media. Now, as the election nears, the question isn’t quite a roar, but it’s being asked everywhere from national newspapers to the pages of The Spectator, the bible of the right: is Rishi Sunak facing a Canada 1993 moment?The similarities are enough to send shivers down the spines of Tory candidates – ruling Conservatives challenged at an election by a right-wing party called “Reform”. In Canada, the result was electoral oblivion: 167 parliamentary seats lost – including those of then-prime minister Kim Campbell – to leave the Progressive Conservative Canadian Party with just two seats, and the Liberal Party in power. With Sunak’s party already facing a 24-point deficit in the polls to Labour, is there a chance that British Conservatives could face a similar fate?The answer, it seems, is no – or at least, not unless things go catastrophically wrong for the Conservatives between now and 4 July.Martin Baxter, founder of Electoral Calculus, told The Independent that, though they face a challenge from voters either switching to Reform UK or not turning out at all on polling day, things would have to get “signficantly worse” for the Tories to end up with a Canada-style wipeout.Labour would require a 33-point lead, which would leave the Conservatives with fewer than 10 seats, according to Mr Baxter.He said: “It’s amazing that we’re asking the question, seeing that the Conservatives won a thumping majority just five years ago. But five years is a very long time in politics.”Facing down Reform UKThe threat from the right is coming from Reform UK, led by Richard Tice and supported by Nigel Farage, though the former Ukip and Brexit Party leader is not running himself. They have zeroed in on high immigration as a key issue on which to challenge Mr Sunak.Currently Reform is polling at 12 per cent, nine points behind the Conservative Party. Although Reform is not predicted to win any seats, Mr Tice has vowed to stand a candidate in every constituency.The key concern to the Tories, however, is in marginal seats. In the most recent byelections, Reform received 13 per cent of the vote in Wellingborough and 10.4 per cent in Kingswood.In the Kingswood byelection, Labour beat the Conservatives with a majority of 2,501 – almost the exact number of votes Reform received (2,578).Chris Hopkins, of leading polling firm Savanta, added: “Reform UK here doesn’t even look likely to pick up one parliamentary seat in our upcoming election, let alone become the official opposition.“The main role of Reform UK in this general election isn’t going to be winning seats, but helping the Conservatives lose theirs.“There are lots of seats where the splintering of the right vote will make it much easier for Labour and the Liberal Democrats to pick up seats.”Currently Reform is polling at 12 per cent, nine points behind the Conservative Party More