General election 2024 live: Reform UK canvasser filmed calling Rishi Sunak a 'f*****g p**i'

Labour former minister Kevan Jones has announced he will not stand at the General Election.

The North Durham MP said it would be “impossible” for him to fight the campaign as he is undergoing surgery and treatment in early June for “an ongoing condition”.

He described his decision not to stand as “difficult”, adding: “I am sad to be leaving the House of Commons but would like to thank the people of North Durham and my supporters who gave me the opportunity to serve them.”

Two serving Government ministers are among the Conservative MPs who have announced they will not seek re-election on the first day of the General Election campaign.

Transport minister Huw Merriman and work and pensions minister Jo Churchill shared resignation letters featuring the House of Commons letterhead on Thursday.

Other MPs who have already said they will not stand are having to say goodbye to Parliament sooner than expected.

Ms Churchill cited “family reasons” in her resignation letter, and said she had the “utmost respect for the difficult job” of the Prime Minister.

In his letter, Bexhill and Battle MP Mr Merriman did not specify a reason for his departure but thanked his staff, local Conservative association and the Prime Minister, and paid tribute to his constituency.

Dame Eleanor Laing, the Deputy Commons Speaker who was elected as a Conservative MP but relinquished party affiliation to take up her role, also announced she would stand down.

The MP for Epping Forest, who has served for 27 years, said in a post on X that she had informed Mr Sunak “several days ago”.

Some news is coming in from the Covid Inquiry, which could have a bearing on the general election. Simon Case, the UK’s most senior civil servant, is currently giving evidence. His session was originally due to be heard last year, but was delayed due to health issues.

He’s just told the Covid Inquiry that he had not heard of Rishi Sunak’s Eat Out To Help Out scheme until the day it was announced. Now why is this important?

Previously, both Sir Patrick Vallance, who was chief scientific adviser, and Sir Chris Whitty, who is still chief medical officer, said they were not informed about the scheme until the announcement. Vallance said he would have advised against the scheme as it was “highly likely” to have fuelled deaths.

When Sunak gave evidence in December, he denied keeping the scientific experts in the dark, saying this was normal procedure. He added that it was the “right thing to do to protect” workers from the “devastating consequences” of job losses. However, now Case has also said he wasn’t informed

Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney has described 4 July, the date of the general election, as “independence day”. John Swinney said the election gives voters the chance to get rid of Rishi Sunak and his “disastrous” Conservative government.

The SNP leader declared: “Never has a government deserved to lose more than Rishi Sunak’s Government.” Launching the SNP election campaign at an event in Edinburgh, he urged voters north of the border: “On July 4 – Independence Day – make sure your voice is heard.”

A recent YouGov poll found Labour has a 10-point lead over the nationalists in Scotland, NationalWorld sister site’s the Scotsman reports. It predicts the SNP will win just 11 seats in the Westminster election, down from 43. Meanwhile, the poll finds Labour would secure 35 MPs, a huge increase on their existing total of just two.

Rishi Sunak has been in Wales today for the third stop on his tour of the UK. I was in London to witness part of the English leg yesterday. The Prime Minister has obviously forgotten to change his lines as he asked Welsh voters if they are “looking forward to all the football”?

He looked shocked when one person pointed out Wales have not qualified for the Euros. Scotland and England, which formed the first part of his tour, have. Here’s the clip:

Now that Rishi Sunak has called an election, Parliament will be dissolved on 24 May in just over a week’s time - and MPs will become candidates. That means there’s a few days to wrap up any legislation which is close to passing in a process called “wash up”.

This is where the government and opposition parties agree which bills to push through Parliament and get turned into law before the legislature is dissolved. We haven’t had the list in full yet, but it certainly sounds like the Football Governance Bill, which would bring in a football regulator, is not going to make it, per this tweet by the law’s architect Tory MP Tracey Crouch.

The Guido Fawkes website is also reporting that Rishi Sunak’s landmark smoking ban legislation will also not get passed, despite the Prime Minister promising that his government would “ensure the next generation grows up smoke-free”. That was significant pledge from Sunak which, forgive me, looks like going up in smoke.

At PMQs yesterday, Sunak also promised to pass Martyn’s Law before the summer recess, which promises greater resilience to terrorism in public places. This is named after Martyn Hett who was killed in the Manchester Arena bombing, and his mother was in Parliament yesterday. While this has cross party support, it looks like another piece of legislation which may fall by the wayside with the election.

I’ll be keeping my eye on the Renters Reform Bill, which could ban no-fault evictions, and the Freehold and Leasehold Bill, which could eliminate punitive ground rents. Both policies formed part of the Tories’ 2019 manifesto, but so far haven’t been turned into law. Are they about to break these manifesto commitments?

One day into this election campaign and change is clearly the order of the day. In first speech to the nation, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer told voters this was “a chance to change for the better”. Last night, Tory MP Danny Kruger explainer that actually voting for the Conservatives was a vote for change, while Labour represents more of the same. Make sense of that if you can.

And today, at Reform UK’s campaign launch in Westminster, leader Richard Tice said: “Do you want more of the same from the main two parties or do you want change?” He said: “Do you agree with me and us that actually this great nation of ours can do so much better, but we have to change course.”

Reform and Labour could form an uncomfortable pincer movement on the Tories, pulling away voters from both wings of the party who want change. Noticeably, during campaign speeches, there was no word from Reform UK’s only MP, Lee Anderson, who sat in the front row glaring at photographers. Perhaps, like many Tory MPs, he also didn’t want an election so soon?

The Telegraph is reporting that Rishi Sunak is willing to hold a TV debate with Keir Starmer every week until the election. A far cry from 2019 when Boris Johnson refused to go on any televised debates.

A source told the paper: “Rishi Sunak is up for debating Keir Starmer as many times as he likes. And if Starmer doesn’t want to do it, what is he hiding? If he has all these great plans, why doesn’t he come out and say what he wants to do?”

Six TV debates is a but much for me personally, and perhaps a slight sign of desperation from the Prime Minister?

At the launch of Reform UK’s general election launch, party leader Richard Tice revealed that 630 candidates will be standing in the upcoming ballot.

The right-wing party will stand in seats across the country, but missed the registration deadline in Northern Ireland.

It comes after Nigel Farage ruled out standing for the party in the general election for Reform UK, for which is is honorary president. But Tice said in his launch speech that he will be “helping out significantly” as Reform UK looks to lure away traditional Tory voters.

Other speakers at the launch of Reform UK’s campaign included Ben Habib and Anne Widdecombe, but Lee Anderson, the party’s only sitting MP, notably skipped out on the event.

Opting for a staunchly anti-immigration stance, the party will hope to attract voters of the opinion that Sunak hasn’t gone far enough to “stop the boats”.

NationalWorld’s Political Editor Ralph Blackburn was at the launch of the campaign, where he spotted that the party might be hoping to get immigration levels back to... 1066?

Rishi Sunak has confirmed that his long-awaited and controversial flights carrying asylum to Rwanda will not take off before the general election.

The Prime Minister’s key policy plan to get jets off of the ground by July has now been halted due to his decision to call an election for July 4.

It comes amid rumours that minister would be working to the wire to get the flight in the air as an example to voters on the work being done to ‘stop the boats’, a key feature of Sunak’s pledges when taking up the role of PM.

However, he has now confirmed that the flights will go ahead “if I’m re-elected” in the July election and used the possibility as an incentive for those who agree with the policy to vote Conservative on polling day.

He told BBC Radio 4: "If you think stopping the boats is important, and you think like I do that you need a deterrent to do that [...] then I'm the only one that's going to deliver that."

Yvette Cooper MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, responding to the Prime Minister saying that no flights to Rwanda will happen before July, said: “The Prime Minister’s own words this morning show this whole Rwanda scheme has been a con from start to finish.

 “With all the hundreds of millions they have spent, it would be extraordinary if 'symbolic flights' didn't take off in early July, as the Tories planned. But Rishi Sunak's words confirm what we've known all along - he doesn't believe this plan will work and that's why he called the election now in the desperate hope that he won’t be found out.”