UK

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analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak has finally bowed to pressure and withdrawn the Conservative Party’s support for two candidates embroiled in the general election betting scandal.The Tories have dropped Craig Williams and Laura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

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailNigel Farage has come under fire for “cuddling up to the Kremlin” as a leading think tank accused his Reform party of poisoning the election debate. On another torrid day for the ex-Ukip leader, military experts queued up to criticise his claim that the West provoked Russia’s war on Ukraine. It follows days of condemnation both nationally and internationally over Mr Farage’s comments, which he made in a BBC interview on Friday night. In an apparent attempt to change the conversation, Mr Farage made another incendiary claim – that there had been an “invasion” of people arriving in the UK on small boats.Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said he would ‘never, ever defend’ Vladimir Putin, as he ramped up his row with Boris Johnson More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA leading think tank has accused Labour and the Conservatives of a “conspiracy of silence” as it warned voters that tax rises are likely in the next five years.The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) criticised the manifestos of both main parties, saying they leave voters “guessing” and casting their ballots in a “knowledge vacuum”.It also accused Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party and the Greens of poisoning the debate around the painful economic decisions ahead with what it described as unattainable pledges on tax. The next government faces a stark choice between making tax rises beyond what it promises in its manifesto, cutting spending, and increasing borrowing, the think tank warned. Paul Johnson, the director of the IFS, said it would be “a considerable surprise if no other taxes are increased over the next five years”, and that none of the main parties are facing up to the difficult choices ahead.“We’ve called this a conspiracy of silence, and that has been essentially maintained,” he said. “Regardless of who takes office, they will soon face a stark choice: raise taxes by more than they have told us in their manifesto, implement cuts to some areas of spending, or break their fiscal rules and allow debt to rise for longer.“That is the trilemma. What will they choose? I don’t know; the manifestos do not give us a clue.”Mr Johnson also accused Labour and the Conservatives of making “essentially unfunded commitments” to improve the NHS. Paul Johnson, director of the IFS appearing on the BBC One current affairs programme, ‘Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg’ More