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Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailAnother five police officers are alleged to have placed bets on the timing of the general election. The Metropolitan Police said it had been passed information on the allegations from the Gambling Commission. It came after Rishi Sunak finally bowed to pressure and withdrew the Conservative Party’s support for two candidates embroiled in the betting scandal.The Tories have dropped Craig Williams and Laura Saunders, both of whom are linked to the prime minister’s inner circle and are under investigation by the commission. But two weeks after allegations first emerged even a Conservative former cabinet minister asked “why did it take so long”.Craig Williams, who is facing a Gambling Commission probe, is one of the PM’s closest aides (UK Parliament/PA) 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 emailFive more Met Police officers have been accused of placing bets on the date of the general election, as the scandal continues to overshadow the campaign trails leading up to 4 July. A Met Police spokesperson said the Gambling Commission passed on the information regarding the officers to the force as it continues to investigate. “The officers have not been arrested but the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards has been informed,” they added. The officers are based on the royalty and specialist command, the parliamentary and diplomatic protection command and the central west basic command unit.It comes as the Tories suspended two candidates who are being investigated by the Gambling Commission. Former Brexit minister Lord Frost has joined growing calls for the prime minister to explain why it took nearly two weeks to act. The PM previously ruled out suspending the candidates until the independent body had concluded its investigation.Show latest update 1719326987Voters believe betting scandal candidates should be suspendedVoters think candidates who had placed bets on the election date should be barred from standing, Kate Devlin reports.Two thirds of the public, 63 per cent, say candidates who placed bets on the date of the general election should not be allowed to stand.And more than half, 54 per cent, of Conservative voters agree.The Savanta research was carried out between 21 and 24 June, before today’s announcement the Tories were withdrawing their support for Craig Williams and Laura Saunders.Salma Ouaguira25 June 2024 15:491719326387Chicken runs, boundary changes and a battle of economists: On the campaign trail in new constituency HitchinSalma Ouaguira25 June 2024 15:391719326091Tory chairman’s campaign leaflets sent to wrong constituency Hundreds of campaign leaflets for the chairman of the Conservative party Richard Holden have been sent to the wrong constituency, the BBC reports. The party has admitted the mistake was out of their control but it did not confirm how many were lost. Mr Holden, who oversees the national party campaigning, has seen his election material end up in Rayleigh and Wickford. He confirmed that just a “few hundred” leaflets were misplaced but some party insiders have admitted it is more like thousands.Salma Ouaguira25 June 2024 15:341719325630Craig Williams speaks up after being suspended from Conservative partyThe candidate for Montgomeryshire, who has been dropped by the Tories as a candidate over bettingon the election timing, has admitted he committed a mistake.Craig Williams said he remained on the ballot paper and intended to clear his name after being dropped by the Conservatives over betting on the date of the General Election.In a video posted on X, formerly Twitter, Mr Williams said: “I just want a quick message to the constituents of Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr. I remain on the ballot paper come July 4 and I hope to secure your support after years of delivery.“I committed an error of judgment, not an offence, and I want to reiterate my apology directly to you.“I am fully co-operating with routine inquiries from the Gambling Commission and I intend to clear my name.”Salma Ouaguira25 June 2024 15:271719325458Faiza Shaheen accuses Labour of telling ‘vicious lies’ about her deselectionThe former candidate, who is now running as an independent after being dropped from the party, claims Labour members are spreading “vicious lies” about her deselection. Ms Shaheen claims the party told voters she was suspended for “more serious reasons”.Salma Ouaguira25 June 2024 15:241719324800Akshata Murty joins Jeremy Hunt in the campaign trailSalma Ouaguira25 June 2024 15:131719324380Gething: ‘If a professional footballer had placed a bet, he’d be banned’Vaughan Gething has said that a footballer would be banned from the game if they placed a bet in the way Conservative candidates have been accused of doing.Responding to a question from Conservative MS Natasha Asghar on his own integrity at FMQs on Tuesday, Mr Gething said: “If you really want to talk about scandals – and today is a day to do that, is it not, Natasha Asghar – look at former Conservative Senedd staffer Craig Williams, now finally junked as a Conservative candidate.The first minister of Wales added: “And let’s be clear if a professional footballer had placed a bet in the way that Craig Williams did, he’d be banned from the game.“That’s what would happen.”Salma Ouaguira25 June 2024 15:061719323900Exclusive: EU could have learnt from Habsburgs to avoid Brexit, says descendantSalma Ouaguira25 June 2024 14:581719323727Osborne slams Sunak’s betting scandal response ‘totally inadequate’George Osborne has criticised Rishi Sunak’s response to the Tory betting scandal as “totally inadequeate” and branded the prime minister nor a “real political leader”.Speaking on his Political Currency podcast the former Conservative chancellor said: “What Rishi Sunak consistently fails to do is take difficult situations and try and turn them, if not to your advantage, at least to try and illustrate some of your strengths.“When you’re in a room and you’ve got a scandal emerging you’ve got a choice which is to try and muddle through, and it almost always never works.“You think you can hide away and that’s presumably what Sunak’s thinking.“Or you try and turn the thing into a moment for you. That’s the kind of raw instinct that I think real political leaders, real strong prime ministers have.”Salma Ouaguira25 June 2024 14:551719323300Nigel Farage attends the TRI AwardsSalma Ouaguira25 June 2024 14:48 More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailIn the picturesque Hertfordshire market town of Hitchin, the Tory and Labour general election campaigns have been neatly summed up.Contesting the seat for Labour is 34-year-old ex-Bank of England economist Alistair Strathern, who proudly describes himself as an acolyte of “Sir Keir Starmer’s changed Labour Party”.Hoping to hold the seat for the Conservatives is 38-year-old former HSBC executive Bim Afolami, the Treasury economic secretary elected to parliament in 2017.Leaflets for Mr Afolami’s campaign, seen by The Independent on a visit to the constituency, show he is hoping to win as a strong local champion for the area.But voters spoken to by this paper said the minister’s close association with the Conservatives nationally, as he is often wheeled out to defend the party on broadcast rounds, has tarnished his reputation in the area.Click here for our live coverage of the general election campaign.Conservative candidate Bim Afolami was elected in 2017 More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak has finally bowed to pressure and withdrawn the Conservative Party’s support for two candidates embroiled in the general election betting scandal.The Tories have dropped Craig Williams and Laura Saunders, both of whom are linked to the prime minister’s inner circle and are under investigation by the Gambling Commission. But two weeks after allegations first emerged even a Conservative former cabinet minister asked “why did it take so long”.The commission is looking into alleged bets on the date of the election, made before Mr Sunak announced it would take place on 4 July.Mr Sunak had withstood days of mounting calls to suspend those caught up in the row, with Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker the latest senior Tory to call for action.In a bid to head off criticism on Monday, the prime minister announced the Conservatives were conducting their own probe into the row. Now the party says that “as a result of ongoing internal enquiries” it can no longer support either candidate. Craig Williams served as the Prime Minister’s parliamentary private secretary (UK Parliament/PA) More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailVictoria Atkins has denied that her intervention this morning on the trans debate had anything to do with opening up a new “culture wars” front in the general election or her own leadership ambitions.The health secretary was wheeled out by the Conservatives this morning to respond to Labour’s plans to modernise the laws regarding changing gender.It comes after a poll last night again showed the Tories even trailing Reform in third place and still 25 points behind Labour as the gambling scandal on the election date continued to hit their credibility.Ms Atkins is already being discussed as a future leadership option after what now seems to be an inevitable defeat for the Tories with polls suggesting that it could be the worst in their 346-year history.Health Secretary Victoria Atkins spoke about the protection of women and girls in public services and society (Lucy North/PA) More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailLabour will keep the Bibby Stockholm asylum barge in use if elected next week, Yvette Cooper has confirmed.The party has said it cannot end the use of the vessel immediately if it wins the general election, but that it wants to end the need for barges and hotels “as fast as possible”. The shadow home secretary was quizzed about Labour’s plans for Bibby Stockholm, which she has criticised in the past over its “eye watering” cost.Click here for our live coverage of the general election campaign.Asked during a debate on LBC whether she would take asylum seekers off the barge on day one of a Labour government, Ms Cooper said: “No, obviously you can’t do that on day one.“I think we need to end these extortionate barges, military bases and hotels… we want to do that as fast as possible but what you have to do first of all, the system is broken, so we need to prevent small boats arriving in the first place and that means smashing the criminal gangs.”Home Secretary James Cleverly and shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper take part in a live immigration debate on LBC’s Nick Ferrari at Breakfast (Jonathan Brady/PA) More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailBritain’s top trade union leader has warned Sir Keir Starmer that he will have to tackle a “dangerously underfunded” fire service as one of his first priorities on becoming prime minister.Matt Wrack, the general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) and president of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), has told the Labour leader that fire and rescue services are in a state of emergency.It comes as Starmer entering Downing Street as prime minister on 5 July is now seen as almost inevitable with Labour more than 20 points ahead in most opinion polls. Speaking to The Independent, Mr Wrack warned that the UK is “dangerously underprepared” for responding to fires, floods and extreme weather events, and has called on Keir Starmer to rapidly invest in the fire and rescue service when he enters Number 10.Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will have a lot in his inbox when, as expected, he becomes prime minister (Aaron Chown/PA)The FBU has claimed that responses to national emergencies and major incidents including wildfires, heatwaves, and flooding have been impeded by a lack of resilience over the past two years.It comes as he unveils the Firefighters’ Manifesto which sets out the FBU’s vision for the future of the fire service. It advocates investment to address a crisis caused by a lack of resources, deregulation and cuts. Firefighters are calling on all parliamentary candidates to pledge their support for the manifesto.Across the UK, one in five firefighter jobs have been cut since 2010 with 82 fire stations and 17 control rooms have been closed down.Fire and rescue services frequently fail to meet their own targets for fire cover. The average response time for fire brigades to arrive at the scene has risen to a record nine minutes and 12 seconds across England. This is an increase of more than a minute in the last 10 years.Several fire and rescue services across the UK have adopted a new policy of sending firefighters out in crews of three instead of the minimum of five firefighters needed to respond to incidents where lives are at risk.They are often forced to wait for additional crews to arrive before tackling a serious incident, wasting crucial time needed to save lives.The document highlights the case study of 19 July 2022, as temperatures soared, the London Fire Brigade had its busiest day since the Second World War and ran out of fire engines to respond to incidents. But 39 fire engines sat idle in fire stations because there were not enough firefighters to crew them.Matt Wrack, TUC president, has issued a warning to Starmer (Clive Gee/PA) More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailTory activists on a Conservative Party members’ Facebook group have given their support to Nigel Farage over his claims the west “provoked” Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.When The Independent showed Labour the leaked remarks on chatrooms a source described them as “worrying”.One party member in the discussion group claimed that Farage “has his finger on the pulse” of public opinion after Farage attacked Nato expansion and claimed it gave Putin the excuse he needed to invade Ukraine in 2022.It comes after a new poll of 10,000 voters suggests that Reform are still ahead of the Tories with Conservatives switching support to Farage’s party.Tory activists on a Conservative members only Facebook group have voiced support for Farage over his controversial comments attacking Nato over Ukraine More