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With Rishi Sunak officially firing the starting gun for a 4 July general election, political parties have wasted no time in launching their campaigns.
The Conservatives kicked things off in a rally where Mr Sunak delivered an opening speech slamming Labour for “not having a plan”.
Addressing the electorate, Sir Keir Starmer promised to “stop the chaos” and said “Rishi Sunak can’t hide any longer” from voters.
It came after the prime minister addressed the nation in the pouring rain, as he battled against the deafening sound of Things Can Only Get Better playing in the background – the 90s hit which famously became a New Labour anthem during Tony Blair’s successful campaign.
In a drenched suit, he said the King had granted his request to dissolve Parliament, and he promised to “fight for every vote” over the next few weeks.
Sir Keir Starmer declared “it’s time for change” and told Britons to vote Labour in response to the PM’s announcement.
He said: “By the force of our democracy, power returns to you. A chance to change for the better your future.”
Labour election chief urges voters to ignore polls
The party’s national campaign co-ordinator Pat McFadden urged people to assume nothing about the general election outcome.
Speaking“on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, he said: “Look, I would encourage people to ignore the polls because we start this election with not a single vote being cast, not a seat being won, or lost, and we assume nothing about the outcome.
“And the basic choice will be, we can carry on with five more years of what we’ve already had for the past 14, or we can vote for change.”
Rishi Sunak: Rwanda flights will go ‘if I am re-elected’
Rishi Sunak has suggested Rwanda flights will not take off before the general election, insisting they will go “if I am re-elected”, Archie Mitchell reports.
The prime minister has promised to begin deporting asylum seekers to the east African nation in July, while Labour has promised to immediately scrap the scheme if it comes to power.
But the shock 4 July election date raised questions about whether Mr Sunak would be able to get flights off the ground before voters go to the polls.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Mr Sunak said: “The choice at this election is clear, because if I’m re-elected as prime minister on 5 July, these flights will go, we will get our Rwanda scheme up and running.”
Exclusive: MPs brand Sunak’s decision ‘the kamikaze election’
Tory MPs last night in Parliament were still stunned by Rishi Sunak’s shock decision to call a general election, David Maddox reports.
A number branded it the “the kamikaze election” in what they see as a desperate move by the prime minister.
One former minister told The Independent: “This really is the kamikaze election. We are not sure who will come out of this with their seats.”
Others complained that the party is not ready with several MPs still not in seats because of boundary changes and around 150 seats still with no Tory candidate yet.One MP described it as “a total mess”.
Among those with an uncertain future is chairman Richard Holden, who will be responsible for coordinating the campaign but is one of the MPs looking for a new seat.
Rishi Sunak: ‘Economic stability is returning to the country’
Rishi Sunak has said economic stability is returning to the country and “that is why we are having the election now”, Archie Mitchell writes.
Quizzed about the timing of the surprise 4 July general election, the prime minister said not everybody is “feeling the benefits” of lower inflation yet.
But he told GB News: “It’s clear that we have turned a corner. So now is the moment to look to the future and the world is clearly in a more uncertain place than it’s been in decades and the question for the country is the choice of this election is you know, who’s got the boldest ideas declare its plan to provide a secure future for you and your family.
“That’s the choice of this election.
“Now that economic stability has been restored, we can turn to that question, and that’s a conversation I look forward to having with you, your viewers in the country over the next few weeks.”
Keir Starmer ‘will do nothing to stop the boats’, Rishi Sunak
Rishi Sunak has accused Sir Keir Starmer of having no plan to stop migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats, Archie Mitchell reports.
In what is set to be a key general election attack line for the prime minister, he told GB News the Labour leader would scrap the Rwanda deportation scheme and “offer an amnesty to illegal migrants”.
Mr Sunak said: “That’s the choice at this election. He thinks that we should offer an amnesty to illegal migrants to make us the soft touch of Europe.
“It would make us a magnet for thousands of migrants coming from everywhere. So that’s the choice of this election. Do you think my plan is the right one?
“Do you think I’m the one that’s taking bold action to secure our borders and to stop the boats? Or do you think he’s going to do that?”
July General Election Countdown: 42 days to go
Good morning and welcome to The Independent political live blog.
Things have kicked off this morning as parties battle for your vote with only six weeks left to go to the polls.
Political correspondents were on an early morning train out of London to follow Mr Sunak on his tour.
- Sir Keir Starmer is heading to south-east England in a sign he wants to make inroads in Tory areas.
- In London, Reform UK’s leader Richard Tice is staging a press conference setting out his party’s plans.
- Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey is expected to visit a target seat as he launches a campaign expected to focus on targeting Conservative-held seats following a series of eye-catching by-election successes.
Starmer ‘Rishi has nowhere to hide'
Keir Starmer writing in the Mirror overnight said: “Rishi Sunak can’t hide any longer. That’s the beauty of our democracy.
“Ultimately, power doesn’t belong to the Prime Minister or any other politician. Power rests with you.”
General election 2024: Why Rishi Sunak chose July 4
Rishi Sunak has announced that 4 July is the general election date but why did he settle for that date?
The practical reason for his decision comes with election law and the parliamentary timetable. Parliament needs to be dissolved 25 working days before the date of an election which means that if he wanted a summer election he had limited options.
By calling an election on 4 July, next week’s planned recess will be cancelled giving parliament a “wash up week” to complete its remaining business by Thursday. Parliament can then be dissolved in time for a July 4 election. This meant the prime minister could not have called it any earlier.
Protester played New Labour anthem to troll Tories
Anti-Brexit campaigner Steve Bray said he selected the D:Ream song for its association with the Tory landslide defeat in the 1997 general election rather than as a show of support for Labour.
He added that his protest outside Downing Street was put on hold when his two amplifiers became soaked and stopped working during heavy rain in Westminster.
Mr Bray told the PA news agency: “I thought about what would be the best trolling tune if he announced the election.
“And of course, it had to be ‘Things Can Only Get Better’. Because everybody can relate to that and the 1997 election.
“I didn’t do it for Labour. I did it because it was the top trolling song for the Conservatives.”
Responding to complaints that people could not hear the speech in Downing Street because of his protest, Mr Bray said: “Look at the damage Sunak’s done to the country.
“If they couldn’t hear the speech, it’s still reported. They’ll know what he said.”
‘Things can only get wetter’: The best Rishi Sunak memes as PM is drowned out
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2024-05-23 06:54:09Z
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