General election latest news: Michael Gove joins MPs’ exodus as Sunak hopes for Boris Johnson on campaign
Cabinet minister Michael Gove has become the latest Conservative MP to stand down at the election, joining another 77 Tories doing so.
The levelling up and housing secretary, who once aspired to become Tory party leader, said: “There comes a moment when you know it’s time to leave. That a new generation should lead.”
Rishi Sunak has confirmed he would welcome former prime minister Boris Johnson to join the Tory campaign and could make an appearance ahead of the general election on 4 July.
But the Conservatives have decided to ban Johnson ally David Frost from standing as a candidate and from applying to stand in any of the constituencies left to nominate.
The Commons has been hit by a wave of more than 100 resignations, leaving the Tories racing to find replacement candidates in some constituencies.
Meanwhile, Jeremy Corbyn has announced he is standing as an independent candidate at the general election to fight Labour for Islington North, vowing to be “an independent voice for equality, democracy and peace”.
Key Points
Veteran minister Michael Gove becomes latest high-profile Tory to stand down
Veteran minister Michael Gove becomes latest high-profile Tory to stand down
Slight Tory gain in first YouGov poll since election called
The Conservatives have gained one point in the first YouGov poll since Rishi Sunak called a general election, putting them at 22 per cent to Labour’s 44, with Reform UK also gaining two points to hit 14 per cent as Sir Keir Starmer’s party falls by the same margin.
Ex-West Midlands mayor Andy Street ‘assessing options’, spokesperson says ahead of general election
Andy Street, whose loss in the West Midlands mayoral race dealt a severe blow to Rishi Sunak, is “assessing his options”, a spokesperson has said.
Natasha Clark of LBC reports claims that the Tory politician – whose departure in May drew crossparty tributes – is “seriously weighing up” a bid to become an MP, and could stand in Solihull.
It comes as Mr Sunak seeks to fill the gaps left by a mass exodus of Tory MPs, with more standing down than at any point since the Second World War.
‘Vote Labour’ to help me fend off ‘b****** Lib Dems’, jokes Jeremy Hunt
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has called for his constituents to “vote Labour” as the Lib Dems target his seat at the general election.
Speaking at a charity event at Lancaster House on Thursday, Mr Hunt joked that he could endorse tactical voting, but only in his own Surrey constituency.
“Vote Labour in Godalming and Ash where I’m dealing with those b******s, the Lib Dems,” he said.
Correspondents share physical list of Tory MPs stepping down
Sky News correspondents have been sharing their list of Tory MPs who are stepping down at the election, which now surpasses that seen prior to Tony Blair’s Labour landslide in 1997.
SNP’s John Swinney to lead ‘day of action’ in general election campaign launch
Scotland’s first minister will lead a “day of action” for the SNP as the first weekend of general election campaigning begins.
John Swinney will be travelling around Scotland as he and other party leaders make their case – and is expected to discuss the SNP’s end to tuition fees, the doubling of NHS funding, the Scottish Child Payment, free bus travel for young, and disabled and elderly people, and baby boxes.
“I am proud to stand on the SNP’s record in government and to contrast it with the record of the Westminster parties,” Mr Swinney said, adding: “We have managed to achieve so much in the face of 14 years of Westminster austerity because we are the only party that will always put Scotland first – and which is focused on people’s priorities.
“But just imagine how much more we could achieve if all decisions about Scotland were made in Scotland, rather than by Westminster parties for whom Scotland will always be an afterthought and who are both doubling down on austerity and cuts.
“This general election is the opportunity to put Scotland first and unite behind an alternative to austerity and the SNP’s message of hope – protecting the NHS, tackling the cost-of-living crisis and eradicating child poverty.”
Elsewhere in Scotland tomorrow, Scottish Liberal Democrats leader Alex Cole-Hamilton and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar will lead separate campaigns.
Labour and Tories battle over the economy
The Tories and Labour will fight over the economy as Sir Keir Starmer’s party centred Saturday’s campaigning on the cost-of-living crisis while the Conservatives hinted at tax breaks for high earners.
The chancellor signalled the party would seek to end the impact of tapering of personal allowances on larger incomes, while his opposite number vowed to deliver financial stability with a Thatcher-style commitment to “sound money”.
In an apparent bid to draw dividing lines with Labour, Jeremy Hunt used an interview with the Telegraph newspaper to dangle the prospect of a change to the current system in which workers lose £1 of their tax-free personal allowance for every £2 that their earnings go above £100,000, and anyone on more than £125,140 gets no allowance.
“If you look at the distortions in the tax system between £50,000 and £125,000, they are bad economically because they disincentivise people from doing what we need, which is to work, work harder. And we are the party of hard work,” he said.
Asked if a Tory government would aim to correct these “distortions” in another five years, he said: “Yes.”
Mr Hunt also branded inheritance tax “profoundly anti-Conservative” – but refused to be drawn on whether cuts to death duties would feature in the party manifesto.
Meanwhile, Rachel Reeves is due to meet today with supermarket workers in london to talk about the cost-of-living crisis, seeking to attack the Conservative record on the economy as she pitches Labour as the party of “stability and tough spending.”
In an article on the front page of the Daily Mail, Ms Reeves said: “Back in the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher proclaimed that the Conservatives were the party of sound money. But three decades on from when she left office, it was the Conservatives who crashed the economy, put pensions in peril and sent the average monthly mortgage repayments up by £240 a month.”
She added: “I will never play fast and loose with your money … I believe in sound money and public spending that is kept under control.”
General Election Contdown: Key dates
May 30: Parliament dissolved. By law, this has to take place no later than 25 working days before polling day.June 7: Deadline for candidates to be nominated. June 18: Deadline to register to vote. This can be done online at gov.uk/register-to-vote.June 19: Deadline to apply for a postal vote.June 26: Deadline to apply for a proxy vote – in other words, for someone to vote on your behalf – and to apply for a Voter ID certificate, if you do not already have a valid form of photo identification.July 4: Election day. Polls will open from 7am to 10pm.July 9: The new Parliament will be summoned to meet.July 17: State opening of Parliament
Sir Keir rules out election deal with SNP
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has firmly ruled out any deals with the SNP after July’s General Election, insisting there is “no way” his party could work with Scottish nationalists.
Asked if he could work with John Swinney’s party in the event of a hung parliament, Sir Keir made clear there would be “absolutely no deal with the SNP”.
The Labour leader added: “That’s not just a question of mathematics, that is because there is no way an incoming Labour government could ever work in any way with the SNP, whose only ambition is to break up the United Kingdom.
Conservatives accused of abandoning rough sleepers by charities
The Conservatives have been accused of “abandoning” people to live on the streets as the party failed to honour a pledge to end rough sleeping – instead seeing the number double compared with when the party took power in 2010.
In September 2022, the Government published its Ending Rough Sleeping For Good strategy, which re-stated its 2019 manifesto commitment to end rough sleeping by the end of this parliament.
The latest available figures, published in February, showed the estimated number of people sleeping rough on a single night in autumn in England in 2023 was 3,898 – more than twice that of the 1,768 figure in 2010.
The charity Crisis described the situation as a “sad reality”, while housing organisation Shelter insisted: “Homelessness is a political choice.”
Polly Neate, Shelter’s chief executive, said: “The Government had five long years to honour its own pledge to end rough sleeping but instead it failed – allowing the number of people sleeping rough to double on its watch and abandoning thousands of people to the trauma of living on the streets.”