UK

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer are set to go head-to-head on Wednesday evening as the BBC hosts the final leaders’ debate before the general election.The televised event will be the last chance the two party leaders have to put their policies before a live audience chosen by pollster Savanta. It comes as ITV and Sky News hosted their own debates throughout the month of June. From a debate stage at Nottingham Trent University, the contenders to be prime minister will face moments of jeopardy and opportunity during 75 minutes. Tonight’s debate will be hosted by Mishal Husain, a senior radio presenter and TV host who has been at the BBC since 1998. Mishal Husain presented the seven-way BBC debate More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak has become so unpopular that many Tory candidates are deliberately keeping him off their leaflets and telling voters they are “different to the prime minister.”An investigation by The Independent has revealed the scale of Conservative candidates rejecting their own leader in a desperate bid to get elected when polling opens on 4 July.The gambling scandal and the D-Day fiasco, when he left the commemorations early in Normandy, appear to have sealed Mr Sunak’s reputation as a vote loser with his candidates.Redfield and Wilton Strategies earlier this month found Mr Sunak’s approval rating with all voters had fallen to minus 27, the lowest the polling firm has ever recorded for him as either prime minister or chancellor.Rishi Sunak has been excluded from many Tory leaflets by candidates More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe Conservative government has given more than £1m of taxpayer funds to a firm that bribed Muammar Gaddafi’s son during the Gaddafi dictatorship.The government awarded a £1.2m contract to AtkinsRéalis, a company that pleaded guilty to bribing the son of Muammar Gaddafi with tens of millions of dollars to win contracts in Libya in the decade before the dictator’s downfall between 2001 and 2011.Department for Transport documents reveal the firm bid for the contract for the provision of specialist technical and commercial advice to support its oversight of rail fares, ticketing and retailing policy.Former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi More

Tory election betting probe: ‘Totally unacceptable’ if rules broken says Welsh secretarySign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailLabour has suspended a party member after being arrested in connection of the honeytrap scandal that rocked Westminster. The Metropolitan Police confirmed a man was taken into custody from Islington this morning after an investigation was launched in April when multiple MPs, staffers and political journalists were sent “unsolicited messages”. As Westminster reels with gambling accusations, Sir Keir Starmer has refused to change betting rules in light of the escalating betting scandal.During a campaign trail visit in Leicestershire, the Labour leader claimed he was “resistant to go down the road of let’s change the rules” and blamed the politicians involved in the saga.It comes as he hailed his response to the Gambling Conission investigating Labour candidate Kevin Craig showed assertive leadership in contrast to “inaction” from Sunak. Sir Ed Davey has admitted he placed a bet on the outcome of the 2010 general election and Tory cabinet minister Alister Jack insisted he has broken no rules after placing bets on the date of the general election.As we race towards polling day, the prime minister and Sir Keir Starmer will go head to head for a final TV debate tonight on BBC at 8.15pm. Show latest update 1719411587What is the Westminster honeytrap scandal?Back in April the Met confirmed it was investigating reports from several victims of unsolicited messages being sent to MPs and staff working in Westminster. A long list of men revealed they were sent flirtatious WhatsApp texts from people nicknamed as “Charlie” or “Abi”. In many cases they were sent explicit images and texts. Conservative MP at the time William Wrag resigned from the party after admitting he gave phone numbers of fellow MPs to a man he met on a dating app.Targeted victims included Tory Luke Evans who claimed he became a victim of “cyber-flashing and malicious communications”.As many as 20 people working in the political field are thought to have received unsolicited texts. William Wragg resigned the Conservative whip after admitting he disclosed politicians’ phone numbers to a suspected scammer (UK Parliament) More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA Labour party member has been arrested in connection with the “honeytrap” scandal which rocked Westminster. The man, in his mid-twenties, was taken into custody from an address in Islington on Wednesday morning, the Metropolitan Police said. Multiple victims have been told by the force that he was arrested on suspicion of offences under the Online Safety Act and harassment. Labour is understood to have suspended him after it was notified of his arrest. The honeytrap scandal rocked Westminster when it emerged in AprilEarlier this year high-profile MP William Wragg was suspended by the Conservatives over his role in the scandal.He admitted sharing the phone numbers of colleagues with the scammer after he shared explicit images of himself when they began talking on a dating app.Mr Wragg told the Times he was “scared” because the man had compromising information on him.In April the Met had launched an investigation after “unsolicited messages” were sent to a number of MPs, staffers and political journalists working in Westminster. It came after Politico reported that political figures had received the unsolicited messages from someone using two unfamiliar numbers calling themselves “Abi” or “Charlie”.The messages would include details of the MPs and staffers’ careers and campaigns they had worked on to build rapport with victims. They would then descend into sexually explicit messaging, with “Abi” or “Charlie” sending graphic images to victims and asking for nude photographs in return. It is understood that two of the individuals targeted responded by sending an explicit image of themselves, with the attack described as an attempt at spear phishing. Spear phishing involves scammers pretending to be trusted senders in order to steal personal or sensitive information.William Wragg admitted his involvement in a honeytrap scheme targeting Westminster politicians More

Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UKSign up to our Brexit email for the latest insightA decline in effective governance and the “long-term scars” caused by austerity and Brexit have stifled economic growth and undermined social cohesion in the UK, according to a major study.Researchers concluded that an incoming government must make up for a “lost” decade and a half since the global financial crisis in 2008.Political scandals, such as lockdown rule-breaking in Downing Street during the pandemic and breaches of parliamentary standards by MPs, “amplified public discontent”, leading to near-record low levels of trust in many UK public institutions, the report adds.It called for urgent structural changes required to prevent “severe problems” affecting citizens’ quality of life.Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles have warned that the next government will face “several interlocking crises” caused by past failings, with a decline in the quality of governance identified as the key cause.The report highlights that the UK’s governance has repeatedly been among the highest performing countries globally.But it identified “signs of stagnation and erosion”, with a particular focus on a lack of state capacity to address pressing social and economic challenges.The research evaluated the last 14 years of Conservative rule using the Berggruen Governance Index.This assessment views quality of life among a population as resulting from the interaction between the strength of democratic accountability and the capacity of government to function effectively.Researchers said the UK began the new millennium with high levels of government performance, but they identified factors which were said to have subsequently weakened democracy and state capacity.These included a lack of investment in infrastructure and growing regional inequalities which “resulted in a palpable political backlash”, particularly since the mid-2010s.It added: “The immediate result of frequent scandals and low economic performance will likely be the repudiation of the Conservative Party on a historic scale at the polls on July 4.“However, the (likely) incoming Labour government will have a daunting task ahead as it seeks to restore public trust and rebuild an economic model for long-term growth.”Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and shadow health secretary Wes Streeting More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailLabour has told its staff that nobody can take time off this weekend to go to Glastonbury even with the party holding a huge lead in the polls.An insider confirmed “there’s a three line whip” on everyone not to go to Glastonbury this year with the final week of campaignng about to begin. Even Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner has been forced to abandon her plans to go to the music festival with headliners Coldplay, Shania Twain, SZA and Dua Lipa.The festival which once echoed to “Oh Jeremy Corbyn” has become another symbol of “No Jeremy Corbyn” from a party which has expelled its former leader in a ruthless charge to regain power.People arriving at Glastonbury on Wednesday – but Labour staffers are not allowed More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak has been accused of eroding the public’s trust in politics by failing to order investigations into more than a dozen potential breaches of strict ethics rules during his time as prime minister.The Liberal Democrats say he presided over 17 possible violations of the ministerial code in 18 months, none of which were referred to his ethics adviser.The accusation comes as the Conservative’s election campaign is embroiled in a betting scandal.The Westminster gambling row deepened late on Tuesday when a cabinet minister revealed he had placed bets on the date of the general election.Scotland secretary Alister Jack denied he had broken any rules, but said he put three wagers on the timing of the July 4 poll, becoming the latest of seven politicians and officials to be drawn in to the controversy.Earlier Sir Keir Starmer took aim at Rishi Sunak’s leadership ability over the betting scandal, accusing the prime minister of “failing to grasp the nettle” and take action quickly enough.Rishi Sunak at a Conservative general election campaign event in EdinburghDaisy Cooper, the deputy leader of the Lib Dems, who compiled the list, accused the Tory government of being “besieged by sleaze”. “Their brazen disregard for the rules has torn up standards in public life and eroded trust in our political system,” she said.And she said Mr Sunak had “proven himself too weak to take any action on the slew of Conservative scandals under his leadership”.The Lib Dems say they would stamp out sleaze by enshrining the ministerial code in law and make the government’s ethics adviser fully independent, a move they say would stop ministers “marking their own homework”.Cases cited by the Lib Dems include Rishi Sunak’s wife’s shares in a childcare company which could have benefited from a government scheme. The party also pointed to cabinet minister Michelle Donelan’s use of £34,000 of taxpayers’ money to cover libel damages.And that no action was taken over allegations against  Mark Menzies, who disputes claims he used thousands of pounds of party funds to pay off people who had locked him in a flat, before the story hit the headlines.Scottish Secretary Alister Jack has admitted he made bets – but denied wrongdoing More