UK

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA seven-leader debate on Friday saw fireworks fly on our TV screens yet again, as the UK’s general election campaign continues to hot up.Hosted by Mishal Husain on BBC One, leading figures from the UK’s major political parties were all in attendance.Leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt represented the Conservative Party. She was joined by deputy Labour Party leader Angela Rayner.Daisy Cooper, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats and Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, also took part.Stephen Flynn represented the Scottish National Party, Rhun ap Iorwerth appeared for Plaid Cymru and the Green Party was represented by co-leader Carla Denyer.It came after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer went head-to-head on Tuesday.We want to know what you made of the BBC debate. Did it help change your mind about any of the major parties? Who came out on top for you? And who should be holding their head in their hands?Share your thoughts by adding them in the comments — we’ll highlight the most insightful ones as they come in.All you have to do is sign up and register your details — then you can take part in the discussion. You can also sign up by clicking ‘log in’ on the top right-hand corner of the screen.Make sure you adhere to our community guidelines, which can be found here. For a full guide on how to comment click here.Join the conversation with other Independent readers below. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe Conservatives’ election campaign was hit by chaos as two candidates announced they were pulling out less than an hour before nominations closed. It is unclear whether the Tories have been able to select a candidate for every constituency in the UK. At least five people on the candidates list have told The Independent that they refused to contest unwinnable seats.Rishi Sunak (PA) More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailSir Keir Starmer is set to be prime minister for a decade, Tory supporters want Nigel Farage to succeed Rishi Sunak as leader and many of them fear their party faces extinction.These are among the shock findings of an exclusive poll for The Independent by Redfield and Wilton.It shows that 45 per cent of all voters believe Labour will win not just this election but the next one too. With a parliamentary term lasting up to five years that could see Sir Keir retaining the Downing Street keys until around 2034.Only 19 per cent of the public do not expect Labour to record two successive victories.The poll makes depressing reading for Mr Sunak – but indicates that the rise of Mr Farage, bidding to win his first Commons seat, also has serious implications for Labour.He is the clear choice of both the public, and crucially Conservative supporters, to be next Tory leader if as expected the party loses on July 4 and Mr Sunak resigns.Asked to choose a successor from a list comprising the six current Tory leadership favourites and the Reform Party leader, Mr Farage wins among both groups.Only Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt runs him close.Among the electorate as a whole, 19 per cent want Mr Farage as next Conservative leader, followed by Ms Mordaunt on 15 per cent. None of James Cleverly, Kemi Badenoch, Suella Braverman, Priti Patel and Robert Jenrick polled more than six per cent.Mr Farage is even further ahead with those who voted Conservative in 2019. A total of 22 per cent of this group want him to be next Tory leader, with Ms Mordaunt on 16 per cent and the rest way behind.Nigel Farage has caused a stir by entering the general election campaign (James Manning/PA) More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak has accused his critics of politicising D-Day after he was forced to make a grovelling apology for leaving the commemorations early to take part in a TV interview.After he was widely criticised for cutting short his visit to France the prime minister conceded he had blundered.“It was a mistake and I apologise,” he said. But he later claimed the events should not be politicised and called for the focus to be on veterans when challenged over his D-Day ceremony snub. Rishi Sunak left 80th anniversary D-day commemorations to record to a TV interview while foreign secretary Lord Cameron remained 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 urged to give £5 million from a Tory donor at the centre of a race row to a veterans’ charity. The Liberal Democrats said it was the “least that our veterans and service personnel deserve” after the prime minister made the decision to leave the D-Day commemoration events early on Thursday. Earlier this week it emerged Rishi Sunak accepted an additional £5m from Tory donor Frank Hester, who has been accused of saying Diane Abbott “should be shot”.The money was a major boost to the Tories’ campaign war chest, after Mr Hester donated £10m to the Conservative Party last year, Electoral Commission figures show.Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaking during the UK national commemorative event for the 80th anniversary of D-Day, held at the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer, Normandy. He later returned early to the UK. (Jane Barlow/PA) More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA Tory MP deselected at the eleventh hour to make way for Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross has hit back at his own party’s claims he is too sick to stand. Mr Ross is on the party’s management board, which ruled former minister David Duguid not well enough to contest the seat of Aberdeenshire North and Moray East. But Mr Duguid, who has been in hospital since April, said the claims are “simply incorrect” and a “factual inaccuracy”.He said the board decided to stand him down “although none of them had visited me”.David Duguid has not been selected to stand in the General Election (Chris McAndrew/UK Parliament/PA) More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak is facing backlash after he admitted to skipping out early on a poignant D-Day 70th Anniversary memorial to fly back to the UK for an interview with ITV.The prime minister has made a string of gaffes since he announced the general election in the pouring rain without an umbrella last month and his latest setback has attracted even more mockery from the internet.After being widely criticised for cutting short his visit to France, Mr Sunak admitted on Friday he had blundered.He said: “It was a mistake and I apologise.”But it didn’t appear to be enough for the internet. Here are some of the best reactions:The Alan Partridge/ Rishi Sunak comparisons don’t appear to be going anywhere soon.Others pointed out the irony in Rishi Sunak wanting 18-year-olds to undertake national service as one of his key election pledges.Some X users weren’t impressed with Mr Sunak’s attempt at an apology.One parody account is trying to keep up with the latest gaffes by Mr Sunak.Others wondered what is next in the pipeline for the man trying to run the country for the next five years.Some commentators are already looking to the next Conservative leader.And finally, you don’t want to be getting the Paddington treatment this close to polling day.It came as Mr Sunak was told that he had “misjudged the mood of the nation” by deciding to return early.Asked whether it was a mistake for the prime minister to miss the event, Colonel Stuart Crawford who served for 20 years in the Royal Tank Regiment, said: “It’s a solemn occasion and sadly the last major anniversary of the landings which will feature many of the surviving veterans.“Campaigning for an election which everyone knows he’s going to lose anyway is a poor excuse.“He should be there with the others, and his absence and Starmer’s presence makes it look as if he’s passed the premiership to Sir Keir already.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe children’s minister has admitted he does not know how much child benefit payments are in the latest gaffe to rock the Tory campaign.David Jonhston was put up by the Conservatives on Friday morning to discuss the party’s latest election pledge, to let high earners keep more of their child benefit if Rishi Sunak is re-elected.But Mr Johnston, a parliamentary under secretary of state at the Department for Education, said he did not know what the child allowance was.Click here for our live coverage of the general election campaign.In an excruciating exchange with LBC’s Nick Ferrari, the veteran broadcaster asked him: “Just for my listeners who are not familiar, so they can get full details, how much is child allowance?”David Johnston, minister for children, families and wellbeing, said the Government cannot ‘compel’ nurseries and childminders to offer children ‘free’ hours in April when the first phase of its childcare expansion begins (UK Parliament/PA) More