UK

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailPenny Mordaunt has issued a rallying call to beleaguered Tories across the UK that the election result is “not a foregone conclusion” – but conceded that her party is now very much “the underdog”.With many seeing Ms Mordaunt as a leader in waiting after a Tory defeat, she admits she felt “let down” by Rishi Sunak over the D-Day fiasco, which hit the headlines just hours before she was due to take part in a televised debate.But she also made it clear that she wants to see tax cuts, in a message to her party as well as the country.The Tory cabinet minister gave a wide-ranging interview to The Independent from her bellwether constituency of Portsmouth North. Ms Mordaunt won the seat from Labour on her second attempt in 2010, and has increased her majority in each election since. In the interview, she addressed:The inside story of how she reacted when she learnt that the prime minister had left the D-Day commemorations earlyWhy she believes the Tories need to be pushing tax cutsWhy the polls could be wrongHow she deals with misogyny in politicsHow she prepared for the TV debatesPenny Mordaunt is seen by many as a leader in waiting More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWes Streeting has appealed to junior doctors to abandon their plans to go on strike during the election and wait to see what the result will be.It comes after the shadow health secretary made clear he will not agree to their demands for a 35 percent pay rise branding them “unaffordable”.But the row came as the respected health think tank the Nuffield Trust warned that both Labour and Tory plans for the NHS are worse than the peak of the austerity era under David Cameron’s premiership after the financial crash.The Nuffield Trust think tank warned Labour and Tory pledges on the NHS would leave the health service with lower annual funding increases – at 1.1 percent and 0.9 percent respectively – than during the austerity era.Wes Streeting declined to rule out council tax hikes More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailLabour have claimed that the collapse Tory support is now so bad that only they can stop Nigel Farage winning Clacton if the last remaining Conservatives vote tactically for their candidate.In 2019 Tory MP and former actor Giles Watling won Clacton with 72.3 percent of the vote and a majority of 24,702 with Labour a very distant third with just 15.5 percent of the vote.But with the arrival of Mr Farage as the Reform UK candidate in a seat twice won by his former party Ukip, the dynamics appear to have changed.The debate in Clacton is over who can beat Farage More

Nigel Farage teases leader of the opposition credentials as he makes Tory party declarationSign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA new poll suggests disaster ahead for Rishi Sunak, with the Tories on track to win just 72 seats in the next election. A Survation poll for Best for Britain, published by The Sunday Times, predicted that Labour would win as many as 456 seats, which would far surpass Tony Blair’s landslide victory in 1997. Meanwhile, Labour and Nigel Farage have accused the Tories of a ‘con’ over plans to send more migrants to Rwanda during the election campaign. The Independent understands plans are in place to fly a person from Nigeria and another from Pakistan, who are in the UK illegally, to the East African country before the election on 4 July. But much like the first person who was sent in April, it is a voluntary move and so not an enforced deportation. Mr Farage this week claimed Reform UK is the “new opposition” following a YouGov poll that put his party ahead of the Conservatives for the first time.Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron has said Mr Farage is “incredibly divisive” and trying to “destroy” the Conservative Party.Show latest update 1718548818Douglas Ross’s decision to run as MP has left ‘bad taste’ in north eastDouglas Ross’s decision to stand to be an MP has left a “bad taste” in the north-east Scotland constituency where he is running, First Minister John Swinney has said.The Scottish Conservative leader put himself forward as candidate for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East after David Duguid was told by the party’s management board that he could not stand due to his ill-health.Mr Ross said he would step down as leader shortly afterwards, when his colleagues expressed unhappiness at the move.Boundary changes mean that Aberdeenshire North and Moray East is being contested for the first time, but the majority of the constituency was in Banff and Buchan, previously represented by Mr Duguid.Read the full news article here: Holly Evans16 June 2024 15:401718547048Kemi Badenoch accuses Labour of ‘intimidation and abuse’ towards its own Kemi Badenoch has waded into the row about Labour candidate Rosie Duffield, accusing Labour of “intimidation and abuse” towards its own.It comes after Labour peer Lord Cashman called Ms Duffield, who has been a defender of women’s rights, “frit or lazy” for cancelling local hustings over safety concerns.Women and equalities minister Ms Badenoch tweeted: “I can’t imagine what it’s like being Rosie in a party where her own colleagues continually attack her, just for standing up for women.“This is now about more than women’s rights, but how a party manages internal disagreement. Instead of healthy debate it’s intimidation and abuse.“If this is what they do to their own, imagine what they will do to our country.”Holly Evans16 June 2024 15:101718545848Rosie Duffield ‘frit or lazy’ criticism extremely unfair, says Wes StreetingWes Streeting has hit out at a Labour peer for calling Rosie Duffield “frit or lazy” after she called off local hustings over safety concerns.Lord Cashman, a former EastEnders actor and Labour MEP, has apologised after he commented on a social media post about Ms Duffield’s move: “Frit. Or lazy”.It came after Ms Duffield, a Labour General Election candidate who has been a defender of women’s rights and female-only spaces, said her attendance at local hustings was “impossible” because of “constant trolling”.Read the full article here: Holly Evans16 June 2024 14:501718545248Douglas Ross’s decision to run as MP has left ‘bad taste’ in north eastDouglas Ross’s decision to stand to be an MP has left a “bad taste” in the north-east Scotland constituency where he is running, First Minister John Swinney has said.The Scottish Conservative leader put himself forward as candidate for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East after David Duguid was told by the party’s management board that he could not stand due to his ill-health.Mr Ross said he would step down as leader shortly afterwards, when his colleagues expressed unhappiness at the move.Boundary changes mean that Aberdeenshire North and Moray East is being contested for the first time, but the majority of the constituency was in Banff and Buchan, previously represented by Mr Duguid.Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross decision to stand as MP has been criticised (Jane Barlow/PA) More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWith England set to kick off their Euro 24 push against Serbia, UK voters have revealed that Sir Keir Starmer would be their choice of a party political leader to manage the team.The Labour leader, a fanatical Arsenal season ticket holder, topped the Techne UK poll of 1,636 UK voters with 31 percent, with an image of being a tough manager on his Labour team after kicking Jeremy Corbyn off the squad.The Labour leader has already put out his team message for England.He said: “There is no feeling like the build up to the first England game of an international tournament: the pubs filling up, the flags waving, the nerves and excitement building.”As fans up and down the country get ready for kick off, I want to wish Gareth and the team all the best on behalf of the Labour Party. We will be with you for every twist, turn and VAR decision. England is behind you. Make it a summer to remember.”Sunak and Starmer both looking forward to England’s games 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 insight With less than three weeks until Britain’s election day, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is running out of time to change an ominous tune for his Conservative Party.The U.K. leader — who in recent days traveled to a Group of Seven summit and a Swiss conference on the Ukraine war — has been dogged by questions about whether voters are about to bring his time in office to an abrupt end on July 4.Polls continue to give the left-of-center opposition Labour Party under Keir Starmer a double-digit lead over Sunak’s Conservatives, who have been in power for 14 years under five different prime ministers. Sunak’s attempts to close the gap have had little apparent impact. The biggest splash he’s made in the campaign so far was a gaffe – the prime minister’s decision to skip an international ceremony in France on June 6 marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. He has been apologizing ever since.Commentators are starting to talk about doomsday scenarios for the Conservatives, who have governed Britain for almost two-thirds of the past 100 years and won 365 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons in the 2019 election.University of Strathclyde politics professor John Curtice, one of Britain’s most respected polling experts, said Conservative support is at its lowest point in U.K. polling history, and Sunak “must be beginning to doubt his decision to call the election early.”In the past week, both Conservatives and Labour have released their election manifestos, the detailed packages of promises that form the centerpiece of their pitch to voters.The Conservatives focused on reducing immigration and lowering taxes, pledging 17 billion pounds ($22 billion) in tax cuts by 2030, to be paid for largely by slashing welfare costs.Labour promised to get the economy expanding after years of sluggish growth by establishing a new industrial policy, investing in infrastructure, cutting planning red tape and building 1.5 million new homes. It has promised not to increase personal taxes, but the Conservatives say the tax burden will rise under Labour.Critics say neither party is being upfront about the tax increases that would be needed to repair public services left threadbare after years of Conservative-led spending cuts, Brexit, a global pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis triggered by Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.“The gaping hole in both parties’ manifestos is a reckoning with the scale and severity of the fiscal problems that will confront whoever wins the election,” said Hannah White, director of Independent think-tank the Institute for Government.The Conservatives’ electoral prospects worsened when populist firebrand Nigel Farage entered the race at the helm of the right-wing party Reform U.K. Though it is unlikely to win many seats in Parliament, Reform’s vote share appears to be rising, largely at the expense of the Conservatives.In recent days, the Conservative message has shifted from aiming at victory to warning that voting Reform could help Labour win a landslide.“If you vote for anybody else other than a Conservative candidate, you’re going to get a Labour government with a large majority,” Transport Secretary Mark Haper told the BBC on Sunday.Labour is concerned that its supporters will think the election is in the bag and stay home on polling day. Health spokesman Wes Streeting cautioned Sunday that there was “breathtaking complacency in the media” about the Labour Party’s poll lead.Sunak, who has been in office for less than 20 months, insists he is still fighting to win. Britain’s first Hindu prime minister told the Sunday Times he was guided by the concept of dharma, which he said roughly translates as “doing your duty and not having a focus on the outcomes of it.”“Work as hard as you can, do what you believe is right, and try, and what will be will be,” he said. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak has insisted he is the original Brexiteer and boasted of the Tories’ record on international trade since the UK left the European Union.With polls predicting a Tory defeat in the election, and with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK attracting Leave voters, under-fire Sunak maintains it is the Conservatives who have delivered “Brexit freedoms”.“As was said in last week’s debate by [Sky News presenter] Beth Rigby, I am the original Brexiteer,” he told the Times. “I was proud to support Brexit and it was the right decision for our country because we can take advantage of the opportunities that are now ahead of us. “We’re signing free-trade deals around the world, which have now led to Brexit Britain overtaking France, the Netherlands and Japan, to become the fourth largest exporter in the world.“We were able to cut alcohol duty or beer duty in pubs, which was something we couldn’t do inside the European Union. The industries of the future, where we’re regulating them in a flexible way, that’s about growth and innovation, whether it’s artificial intelligence, whether it’s agritech, whether it’s financial services, whether it’s digital, all of those areas. “We are embracing innovation and growth and competitiveness. That’s why we’re the technology superpower of Europe and only growing in that regard. We’re cutting red tape for businesses.”Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty offered prayers at the Akshardham Hindu Temple in New Delhi last year More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailLabour has taken Rishi Sunak’s government to task in a new social media campaign focusing on the NHS, waiting lists and cancer treatment being at “breaking point” under the Conservatives. The video posted on X on Saturday shows scenes from a crowded hospital as patients wait to be seen, while text appears with stats of waiting lists for the NHS under Rishi Sunak’s government. A member of staff then says: “We’re at breaking point. It can’t carry on.“The queues at the corridor and the situation that the patients are in and the department’s in, it’s unsafe.”Text in the video then reads: “Under the Conservatives, our NHS is at breaking point. And if they are given five more years in power, waiting lists are predicted to hit 10 million.”It comes as both Labour and the Lib Dems have set out their pledges to cut cancer waiting times if either or both are able to form a government after the General Election on 4 July.Labour shadow health secretary Wes Streeting, who recently received treatment for kidney cancer, said, “thousands of patients have waited too long for tests, scans and treatment”.The Conservatives’ Health Secretary Victoria Atkins acknowledged there is “more to do” to improve cancer detection rates.Labour has claimed 700,000 cancer patients will wait too long for treatment if the Conservatives are given another five years” in government.The party said its plan to “catch cancer” involved delivering an extra 40,000 appointments, tests and scans a week at evenings and weekends, doubling the number of CT and MRI scanners, with new AI-enabled scanners, and the biggest expansion of NHS staff in history.Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer and shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting met patients and staff at Bassetlaw Hospital in Nottinghamshire this week More