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Reform UK leader Richard Tice has refused to rule out whether Nigel Farage will U-turn and declare that he is standing for Parliament in his general election announcement today.
Sources have told The Independent that the former UKIP leader will declare he is going to stand for Clacton, Essex. Mr Farage has until Friday to submit his name as a candidate to stand for MP.
It comes as Sir Keir Starmer said the nuclear deterrent is “fundamental” and “a vital part of our defence” during a speech on national security in Greater Manchester.
While the Labour leader noted caution on pressing the nuclear button, he ultimately said, “we have to be prepared to use it.”
Meanwhile, the Tories have pledged to change the Equality Act to define the protected characteristic of sex as “biological sex”.
The minister for women and equalities Kemi Badenoch said the change is about “protecting those who are vulnerable”.
Key Points
- Farage to make emergency general election announcement
- Labour pledges to be the ‘party of defence’ as Starmer speaks in Greater Manchester
- Tories pledge to overhaul equality laws
- Badenoch: ‘Trans athletes shouldn’t compete against biological women’
- Starmer prepared to press nuclear button
Rishi Sunak’s latest ‘blank page’ Labour election attack backfires
Rishi Sunak’s latest ‘blank page’ Labour election attack backfires
Both Labour and Tories have taken to TikTok in an attempt to appeal to younger voters
Salma Ouaguira3 June 2024 15:00 1717422763Sunak: Only two people can be PM
Rishi Sunak was asked about the possibility of Nigel Farage standing, and he said: “At the end of the day, on 5 July, one of two people will be prime minister: either Keir Starmer or me.
“A vote for anyone who’s not a Conservative candidate is just a vote to put Keir Starmer in Number 10.”
Salma Ouaguira3 June 2024 14:52 1717422542'Tories scared of Lib Dems,’ deputy leader says
While campaigning on a boat, Daisy Cooper has not only photobombed Rishi Sunak but also took the chance to attack the party for constituency losses.
She said: “Rishi Sunak is running scared of the Liberal Democrats in blue wall seats like Henley, after our stunning gains at the local elections. We are hearing from lifelong former Conservative voters who are appalled by seeing their local rivers polluted by filthy sewage.
“Right across former Conservative heartlands, people are rallying behind the Liberal Democrats and our plan to fix the NHS and care and tackle the sewage crisis. In seats like these right across the country, it’s clear the best way to beat the Conservatives and get rid of this government is to vote for the Liberal Democrats.”
Rishi Sunak photobombed by Lib Dems boat during election campaign stop
Rishi Sunak was photobombed by Liberal Democrats campaigners on a boat as he spoke to rowers in Oxfordshire on Monday, 3 June. The prime minister was visiting a riverside rowing club as Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper and a group of activists rode past on the water holding orange diamond-shaped voting placards. Campaigners could be seen waving at the PM and media following him. Of the stunt, a Lib Dem source told media: “This is just another small boat Rishi Sunak can’t deal with.”
Salma Ouaguira3 June 2024 14:49 1717421589Sunak denies waging ‘culture war' on gender issues
Rishi Sunak has denied he was starting a “culture war” with the party’s pledge to change the Equality Act to rewrite that sex means “biological sex”.
Speaking from Oxfordshire, he whether he was waging a “culture war”: “No. It builds on our track record of treating these issues sensitively and with compassion, as of course we should, but ensuring that our laws are right, our guidance is right to protect the safety and security of women and girls and the wellbeing of our children.
“And I think that’s paramount in all of our minds.”
Poll: Labour leads the race with 24 points
Salma Ouaguira3 June 2024 14:23 1717420538John Swinney says Tories’ Equalities act reform to undermine Scottish parliament
The first minister of Scotland has said that the announcement made by Kemi Badenoch to chance the 2010 Equalities bill is part of a “deliberate strategy” to weaken the powers of Holyrood.
Mr Swinney said: “This is just another step in the Conservative attempts to erode the powers of the Scottish parliament. It’s been going on for some time. I want the Scottish parliament to be a parliament that can address all of the issues that affect the lives of people in Scotland.
“So, what the Conservatives are doing today is part of a deliberate strategy to undermine the powers of the Scottish parliament.”
Salma Ouaguira3 June 2024 14:15 1717420346Sunak says Lib Dems ‘selling voters down the river'
The prime minister was earlier today photobombed by a boat carrying Lib Dem supporters in Henley-on-Thames.
Salma Ouaguira3 June 2024 14:12 1717420214Opinion | Why should it be up to Kemi Badenoch to decide if I’m a woman or not?
The latest move by the Tory party to end ‘confusion’ over sexual identity only signals one thing: the continued demonisation of trans people like me in the name of ‘culture wars’, writes barrister Robin Moira White.
“With her promise to redefine the legal definition of the term ‘sex’ to mean biological sex and not ‘redefined meanings of the word’, women’s and equality minister Kemi Badenoch is effectively making a bid to strip trans people of the dignity and acceptance we have built up in society over the last half-century,” she says.
Read the full piece here.
Salma Ouaguira3 June 2024 14:10 17174201313% of GDP should be spent on defence- Ben Wallace
Former defence secretary Ben Wallace said 3% of GDP should be spent on defence.
Speaking to BBC’s Radio 4’s World At One programme, he said: “The threat is rising towards the end of the decade, I would suggest, as others have, that towards the end of the decade we should be spending 3% of GDP.
“However, to get there you have to follow a progressive line, you can’t just dollop billions of dollars or pounds to a department who won’t be able to spend it.”
Mr Wallace argued that “hollowing out has been a way for successive Labour governments and Conservative governments to hide”.
He added: “Governments didn’t want to pay for defence, they wanted to pose in front of the Red Arrows, and Trooping the Colour, and you know Tony Blair’s Government wanted to send the army to the Iraq war, but they didn’t want to really pay for it properly.”
Mr Wallace said he did not regret reducing the army numbers, adding: “We weren’t able to fund defence for the size of the army, and we have been like that since I served in the army in 1991.”
Sunak dismisses Farage election threat
Asked if he fears the possibility of Nigel Farage standing in the election, Rishi Sunak said there should only be two choices for voters on July 4.
Speaking at a campaign event in Oxfordshire, the Prime Minister said: “At the end of the day on July 5th, one of two people will be prime minister, either Keir Starmer or me.
“A vote for anyone who is not a Conservative candidate is just a vote to put Keir Starmer in No 10.
“So if you’re someone who cares about tackling migration, both the boats and legal migration, if you’re someone who wants a more proportionate, pragmatic approach to net zero that saves people money, and if you’re someone who wants lower taxes, it’s only the Conservatives that are going to offer those things.
“And that’s the choice at this election.”
He added: “Who would they rather see in No 10 on July the 5th, working on these issues? Is it Keir Starmer or is it me?”
Maryam Zakir-Hussain3 June 2024 14:00 Newer1 / 7OlderDisclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
