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    Diane Abbott fury as Starmer suggests her suspension is nothing to do with him

    Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailDiane Abbott has attacked Sir Keir Starmer for claiming her suspension from the party is nothing to do with him. The suspended MP, who represented Labour for 36 years until last April, said the long-running investigation into her is entirely up to the Labour leader “The decision about whether to let Diane Abbott back into Labour has everything to do with him,” a message posted on her X account said. Diane Abbott was suspended last April for an article she wrote about Jewish people More

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    Tories brand Starmer ‘scared’ as Labour leader rejects weekly TV debates with Sunak

    Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailSir Keir Starmer has rejected a challenge by Rishi Sunak to take part in head to head TV debates every week between now and polling day.The Labour leader defended his decision saying he would rather talk to voters directly and claimed the prime minister had nothing new to say.He poured cold water on the idea after Mr Sunak called for a record six TV election debates and accused the Labour leader of ducking out because he “does not have a plan.”With the latest Techne UK weekly tracker poll giving Labour a 26 point lead, Sir Keir has more to lose from televised debates than an increasingly desperate Rishi Sunak.Sir Keir said on ITV’s ‘Good Morning Britain’: “I could do a hundred debates with Rishi Sunak – I know what he is going to say. He is going to stand up and say everything is fine, the cost of living crisis is over.”Asked if he was “backing away from the fight,” he said: “Of course we will have debates – they are a tradition and part of the electoral cycle. The debate I want to have is with the voters directly.”The Tories noted that the Labour leader had not committed to any TV debates at all. However, Labour sources have reportedly indicated Sir Keir will take part in two televised showdowns with Mr Sunak on BBC and ITV. Sir Keir Starmer not keen on weekly TV debates (Maja Smiejkowska/PA) More

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    Rishi Sunak loses £1,000 Rwanda flights bet with Piers Morgan

    Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak has lost his £1,000 bet with Piers Morgan after he conceded deportation flights to Rwanda would not happen before an election.The prime minister shook hands with the YouTuber on his show on the bet which was described as taking politics to “a new low”. But the morning after calling a snap contest on 4 July, the prime minister said asylum seekers will be deported to the east African nation only “if I am re-elected”.Mr Morgan has already goaded Mr Sunak asking him to make his donation payable to the British Red Cross.The prime minister accepted the bet offered by the TalkTV broadcaster that asylum seekers will be sent on one-way flights to Kigali before voters hit the polls in February.Rishi Sunak and Piers Morgan bet £1,000 on Rwanda flights leaving before next election More

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    General election 2024 – live: Tories trail Labour by 26 points in poll as Sunak’s party bleeds support

    Key takeaways from Rishi Sunak’s general election announcementSign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe Conservatives have hit their lowest vote share yet in a weekly tracker poll after voters apparently turned away from the party when Rishi Sunak called a snap election.According to Techne UK, the Tories now have the support of just 19 per cent of voters – the first time the weekly tracker has had the party below 20 points. It puts them 26 points behind Labour, whose leader Sir Keir Starmer has hailed the 4 July election as a chance to “turn the page”.Sir Keir accused the prime minister of never having believed the Rwanda deportation plan would work after Mr Sunak conceded that flights would not take off before the election.As the party leaders began their campaigns, Mr Sunak urged voters to back him over the government’s flagship immigration scheme.He admitted planes carrying asylum seekers to Kigali would take off after polling day, but vowed the preparation had already happened.Despite speculation about a Tory rebel effort to oust Mr Sunak and call off the election, one prominent critic said it was too late to get rid of the prime minister.Show latest update 1716488500’Bleak’ outlook for Tories as they hit new poll low after Sunak calls snap electionThe Tories have hit their lowest vote share yet in a weekly tracker poll after voters apparently turned away from the party after Rishi Sunak called a snap election.According to Techne UK, the Tories are now stuck on 19 per cent, the first time the company’s weekly tracker has had them below 20 points. It puts them 26 points behind Labour.Techne’s chief executive has warned of “a bleak result” for the Conservatives unless they can change the narrative in the next six weeks:Jane Dalton23 May 2024 19:211716516300Free event: Will the Brexit headache ever end?Join The Independent’s Chief Political Commentator John Rentoul as he discusses all things Brexit past, present and future with a panel of experts, including MP Stella Creasy, chair of the Labour Movement for Europe:Jane Dalton24 May 2024 03:051716512460Top Tories at risk of losing seats at electionFrom Johnny Mercer to Jacob Rees-Mogg, these MPs could face a battle to hang on to their seats:Jane Dalton24 May 2024 02:011716509040I had been set to launch bid to run as MP, says FarageNigel Farage has claimed he was preparing to launch a campaign next week to stand as an MP before the prime minister announced the general election date.Appearing on GB News as a guest during his typical show slot on Thursday, he said: “I have always said that there will be a moment when I throw my hat in the ring fully into British politics. I’ve also said aged 60, I’ve got one more card to play and it’s about when I play it.“I had, to be honest with you, put in place some preparations to launch next week.“I wonder whether the Conservative Party found out about it. I think the sense of panic that we saw yesterday, the badly prepared speech, might perhaps have prompted it a little bit.”Jane Dalton24 May 2024 01:041716507000Opinion: So much for Farage the British bulldog – he’d rather be Trump’s poodle Jane Dalton24 May 2024 00:301716505140Sunak’s election halts abortion decriminalisation as providers demand changeJane Dalton23 May 2024 23:591716503140Watch: Starmer says growing up working class inspires election fightKeir Starmer says growing up working class inspires election fightJane Dalton23 May 2024 23:251716501495Experts say Tory election victory would be ‘biggest turnaround in history’Leading pollsters Professor Sir John Curtice and Lord Robert Hayward have said that a party has never before come from so far behind in the polls to win a general election:Jane Dalton23 May 2024 22:581716499548Watch: Nigel Farage says Sunak acted over ‘fear’ of ReformNigel Farage says Rishi Sunak called snap election over ‘fear’ of ReformJane Dalton23 May 2024 22:251716498008Comment: So, after 14 years, what have the Conservatives ever really done for us?Salma Ouaguira23 May 2024 22:00 More

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    Gloom for Sunak as he admits Rwanda flights won’t take off – and five more Tory MPs quit

    Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak suffered a catastrophic first day of campaigning after his decision to call a general election for 4 July.The prime minister began the day by infuriating Tory MPs as he was forced to admit deportation flights to Rwanda will not go ahead before the election, prompting senior figures to declare the policy “dead”.An exodus of Conservative MPs saw five more – including two ministers – declare they will not seek reelection, taking the total to 70.His problems were compounded when the first poll taken after the election announcement revealed support for the Tories has fallen even further, while Labour’s lead has widened. The Techne UK poll, shared with The Independent, put Labour up one on 45 per cent, and the Tories down two at 19 per cent – the first time they have been below 20 percent.Even more concerning will be the apparent rise in support for Reform UK on the right, up two to 14 per cent with the Lib Dems on 12 per cent and Greens on five per cent.Rishi Sunak arrives for a campaign event at Inverness airport More

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    ’Bleak’ outlook for Tories as they hit new poll low after Sunak called snap election

    Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe Tories have hit their lowest vote share yet in a weekly tracker poll after voters apparently turned away from the party after Rishi Sunak called a snap election.According to Techne UK, the Tories are now stuck on a mere 19 percent, the first time the company’s weekly tracker has had them below 20 points.It puts them a huge 26 points behind Labour who are now on 45 percent.Techne chief executive Michela Morizzo has warned of “a bleak result” for the Conservatives unless they can change the narrative in the next six weeks before the election on 4 July.Rishi Sunak holds a Q&A with workers in Derbyshire on the first full day of the 2024 election campaign More

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    Rishi Sunak loses ‘depraved’ £1,000 Rwanda flights bet with Piers Morgan

    Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak has lost his “crude” and “depraved” £1,000 bet with Piers Morgan after he conceded deportation flights to Rwanda would not happen before an election.The prime minister shook hands with the YouTuber on his show on the bet which was described as taking politics to “a new low”.But the morning after calling a snap contest on 4 July, the prime minister said asylum seekers will be deported to the east African nation only “if I am re-elected”.Piers Morgan has already goaded Mr Sunak asking him to make his donation payable to the British Red Cross.Mr Sunak accepted the bet offered by the TalkTV broadcaster that asylum seekers will be sent on one-way flights to Kigali before voters hit the polls in February.Rishi Sunak and Piers Morgan bet £1,000 on Rwanda flights leaving before next election. More

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    General Election: John Rentoul answers your questions — from polls and predictions to letters of no confidence

    Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe biggest question in UK politics was answered on Wednesday when Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a general election will take place on 4 July.With just six weeks to go before voters take to the polls, the Conservative Party leader’s choice of date has sparked a flurry of further questions from Independent readers.Mr Sunak, outside the door of 10 Downing Street in the pouring rain, said: “Now is the moment for Britain to choose its future.” This came despite earlier indications that an election would be held in the autumn.Naturally, many have been wondering why the prime minister chose this moment to fire the starting gun for the race to Number 10. While others simply wanted to know where his umbrella was…Here are nine questions from Independent readers – and my answers from the “Ask Me Anything” event.Q: What is the biggest opinion poll lead prior to a general election that was subsequently overturned come election day?Mick O’HareA: The obvious answer is 2017, but then it was the government that was 20 points ahead of the opposition. That was overturned on polling day with the Tories narrowly deprived of a majority. I think the only time the opposition was ahead in the opinion polls at the start of the campaign and then lost was in 1992, but Labour was only 1 or 2 points ahead, before losing by 8 points.Q: Why doesn’t he own a brolly?Charlie BeckettA: Rishi Sunak partly answered that in interviews this morning, saying he was determined to do the traditional Downing Street thing, which didn’t answer the question about the umbrella. If he starts to make a comeback, though, I could see the image of him, patriotically delivering his speech in the rain, being part of the fighting-spirit, John-Major’s-soapbox story.Q: When will the next but one General Election be?FranziA: That is a clever way of asking how successful a Labour government will be, if elected. It is commonly said, including by me, that a Labour government would become unpopular quite quickly. But it is also said, including by me, that the Conservative Party is likely either to go on another holiday from reality, or to descend into civil war, or both. In which case we may get an interesting situation in the spring of 2028. The traditional pattern for majority governments before the Fixed-term Parliaments Act (repealed in 2022), was for a PM who was ahead in the opinion polls to hold an election after four years – usually in May, at the same time as the local elections.Q: Why ‘snap’? Six weeks notice seems about standard, and four-and-a-half years into the parliament?Dean BullenA: It was “snap” in the sense that it was earlier than expected, but you are right that six weeks is standard: the statutory five weeks plus one week to allow parliamentary business to be wrapped up, as it will be today and tomorrow. Theresa May had a seven-week campaign in 2017 because she needed to allow extra time to get round the Fixed-term Parliaments Act.Q: Has there been a more hilariously ominous election announcement?Peter MetcalfeA: Looking back, there was Theresa May’s announcement in 2017. It didn’t rain, and Steve Bray hadn’t got his loudspeakers in place, but her argument that she needed a mandate to negotiate Brexit in the teeth of opposition from Labour peers convinced no one, even if there was an element of truth in it. It was ominous in the sense that it contributed to a feeling that she shouldn’t be handed too much power by the voters – a feeling that grew stronger during the campaign.Q: It is suggested that Sunak has gone early because going late offered no benefit: things are going to get worse. But given that he asked us to judge him by his delivery of five key priorities, and he has failed on three, are voters supposed to just ignore his own yardstick?Adrian HiltonA: I think this is a real weakness in the PM’s position: he hasn’t got a good reason that he can express in public for holding the election five months before he needed to. All the reasons that have been canvassed by journalists are questions of tactics that boil down to “things are likely to get worse”.Maybe most voters won’t care – they wanted the election now anyway – but it adds to the impression of weakness. As does, of course, naming five “key priorities” for 2023 and still not fulfilling three of the five targets 17 months later (debt falling, cut NHS waiting lists and stop the boats).Q: In what will likely be a general election of “Portillo” moments, who could be the biggest shock (to lose, rather than defy the odds)?JackA: I think Jeremy Hunt would be the biggest scalp, vulnerable to the Lib Dems in his new Godalming and Ash constituency. I don’t know if a serving chancellor has lost their seat in modern times.Q: How many letters of no confidence from his own MPs were in at the time? His own MPs don’t want him – is that why he called a snap election?SmilerA: Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the 1922 Committee, who is the only person who knows, won’t say, but I am told that he said yesterday it was “not as many as most people think”. I think most Conservative MPs thought Rishi Sunak was the best leader, and all the talk of getting rid of him was coming from a very small minority – nowhere near the 52 needed to trigger a vote of confidence in Sunak’s leadership.The plotting to oust him was not one of the reasons for going for an election five months earlier than he needed to, although the prospect of continuing damage from discontent and defections may have been a factor.Q: Who’s gonna win then?RulesOfEngagementA: That is up to the British people, but my prediction is a Labour majority of 50.These questions and answers were part of an ‘Ask Me Anything’ hosted by John Rentoul at 12pm BST on Thursday 23 May. Some of the questions and answers have been edited for this article. You can read the full discussion in the comments section of the original article.John also sends a weekly Commons Confidential newsletter exclusive to Independent Premium subscribers, taking you behind the curtain of Westminster. If this sounds like something you would be interested in, head here to find out more. More