Police in Tenerife have said the unsuccessful two-week search in the mountains for a missing British teenager is now over, although the case remains open.
Jay Slater, 19, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, went missing on Monday 17 June after attending a weekend rave with friends.
Since then, emergency services, mountain rescue teams, sniffer dogs, drones and helicopters have taken part in searches for Slater culminating in what was described as a “búsqueda masiva” – massive search – on Saturday.
It has emerged that that search was essentially one last push in coordinated attempts to locate Slater.
On Sunday, a spokesperson for the Guardia Civil in Tenerife said the search operation for Slater had finished, but the case remained open.
Slater, an apprentice bricklayer, had been holidaying in Tenerife with friends and went to the three-day NRG Tenerife Weekender festival at venues in the island’s Playa de las Americas resort.
In the early hours of the Monday morning, he apparently left the resort in a car with two British men and headed to an Airbnb property in Masca, a remote hilltop hamlet in the north-west of the island.
He was last heard from at about 8.15am when he told a friend, Lucy Law, that he planned to walk back to his holiday accommodation after missing a bus, a journey that would take him 10-11 hours on foot.
Slater also said he was thirsty, had 1% of charge left on his phone and did not know where he was.
The search on Saturday centred around valleys and ravines in the mountainous, treacherous, cactus-filled terrain near Masca in the Rural de Teno national park.
The authorities had asked for help from professionals such as civil protection workers or firefighters as well as volunteers with expertise in that type of terrain. According to the BBC, about a dozen people arrived at the designated meeting point. No sign of Slater was found.
It also emerged on Friday that one of Slater’s last calls was a video call to another friend, Brad Hargreaves, who told ITV that he heard Slater apparently sliding off the path he was on.
“He was on the phone walking down a road … and he’d gone over a little bit – not a big drop – but a tiny little drop and he was going down, and he said ‘I’ll ring you back, I’ll ring you back’ because I think someone else was ringing him.
“If he was thinking like me, he would have gone back up and started walking on the path again … He wouldn’t have gone all that way down there.”
Hargreaves said he could hear his friend sliding. “I knew he went off the road because I could hear like when you walk on gravel … stones,” he added.
The authorities in Tenerife said they had spoken to the two men who rented the Airbnb in Masca and they were “not in any way relevant to the case”.
In a previous interview with the Guardian, Slater’s mother, Debbie Duncan, described the online speculation as “horrible” and said Spanish police had told her it may hinder their investigation.
“I think as well they have actually said that there’s too much noise, that’s affecting it,” she said.
Rishi Sunak and Nigel Farage will be questioned on the politics shows this morning as we enter into the final days before the general election.
Mr Sunak will appear on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, alongside Labour’s campaign co-ordinator PatMcFadden and Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s Westminster leader.
Daisy Cooper, the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, will also be on the panel.
Mr Farage, Reform UK leader, and John Swinney, the SNP leader, will appear on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips.
The Prime Minister told The Sunday Telegraph that Labour will “bankrupt every generation” and warned voters have four days left to “save the country”.
“Whatever stage of your life, Labour will put up your taxes,” Mr Sunak said.
Rishi Sunak reveals anger after being called 'effing p***’ by Reform UK canvasser
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Reform UK has withdrawn support from three of its parliamentary candidates as the party is caught up in a deepening racism row.
The party, spearheaded by Nigel Farage, is no longer endorsing Edward Oakenfull, who is standing in Derbyshire Dales, Robert Lomas, a candidate in Barnsley North, and Leslie Lilley, standing in Southend East and Rochford after alleged comments made by the three candidates emerged in the media.
It comes as Reform has said it has reported Channel 4 to the Electoral Commission, after the broadcaster released footage of an activist campaigning for Mr Farage using a racial slur to describe Rishi Sunak.
Andrew Parker was exposed referring to Rishi Sunak as a “f****** p***” in a Channel 4 investigation.
In a letter to the Electoral Commission, the party’s secretary Adam Richardson claimed that it was “entirely evident that Mr Parker was a plant within the Channel 4 news piece”.
He added: “The Channel 4 broadcast has clearly been made to harm Reform UK during an election period and this cannot be described as anything short of election interference.”
Now is the time for change – that’s why The Independent is backing Labour in the 2024 election
How would you feel if you woke up on 5 July and you had to have another five years of Tory rule? It is a highly potent question. We conclude it would not be good for Britain.
It is not quite an iron rule, but political parties that have been in power for a prolonged period eventually run out of ideas, talent and energy – and can collapse into a spiral of corruption. The latest election betting scandal is embarrassing and damaging to the Conservative campaign because, although novel, it is entirely consistent behaviour from a government that brought us Partygate, among many other severe lapses in the standards we expect in public life.
It is this sense of betrayal that is driving the national mood for change.
Most expensive purchase and the music that makes him cry: Keir Starmer’s quickfire Q&A
As the Labour leader sat down with The Independent, we put him on the spot on topics from his greatest regret to his biggest heroes – and everything in between.
Sir Elton John among celebrities to throw support behind Labour
The singer appeared sitting next to his husband David Furnish in the video message that was almost drowned out by applause during a supporters meeting in Westminster.
In the message, Sir Elton said: “It’s heartbreaking to see the hopes of Britain’s next generation of creative talent downtrodden and destroyed by bureaucracy and red tape.
Failed Tory project fear drove voters to Labour and Reform, poll reveals
According to findings from Techne UK for The Independent, twice as many people are “more likely” to vote Labour (26 per cent) than more likely to vote Conservative (13 per cent) as a result of the warning used by Rishi Sunak and senior Conservatives about handing Sir Keir Starmer too much power.
The tactic was also used to try to prevent Tory voters defecting to Reform, but almost one in 10 (9 per cent) said the warning had in fact made them “more likely” to vote for Nigel Farage’s party.
Service record row and Sunak’s D-Day blunder – but Johnny Mercer fights on for one last campaign
“On the doorsteps I’ve noticed a real shift,” Johnny Mercer tells his assembled troops on the grass verge at a post-war council housing estate on the northwestern fringe of Plymouth.
Poring over a road map, the 42-year-old former Commando, wearing a polo shirt, combat trousers and rough-terrain shoes, says people are not liking Sir Keir Starmer, but that many are “pi**ed off” and don’t want to vote.
“I get that,” he says, before pushing the message to the small group that a local vote for Reform UK means Labour dominance across the city, with a second constituency likely already in their hands and a party-run city council.
Among the gift shops and Goth daytrippers – meet the ‘Whitby woman’ who could sway the election
Pensioners whizz around on mobility scooters, pirate-themed boats sail by, couples clutch each other’s hands. Welcome to Whitby: the seaside town in North Yorkshire that has lent its name to a target voter in the general election race.
The so-called “Whitby woman”, a term coined by polling think-tank More in Common, is a Tory voter who remains undecided about who will get her vote on 4 July.
With an average age of around 61, she is a homeowner who lives in a suburb or a small town like Whitby, who voted in favour of Brexit and is less likely to have gone to university.
‘Panicking’ Rishi Sunak in final weekend of campaigning to save his own seat
Rishi Sunak’s Labour opponent in his Richmond and Northallerton seat in Yorkshire has accused him of “panicking” as the prime minister campaigned to save his own seat in the last weekend before polling day.
After election campaigners for Nigel Farage were filmed voicing violent racist and homophobic slurs, the leader suggested such people end up in his party because ‘they haven’t got the BNP to go to anymore’. But when it comes to hate speech, Reform has got form, says Femi Oluwole
Starmer urges voters not to forget Conservatives’ record in office
At the major rally in London, featuring a video message of support from Sir Elton John and a speech by comedian Bill Bailey, Sir Keir went on the attack over the Conservatives’ record in office since 2010.
“Don’t forget what they have done, don’t forget Partygate, don’t forget the Covid contracts, don’t forget the lies, don’t forget the kickbacks, don’t forget the cronyism, don’t forget the division, the scapegoating of minorities, the failure to invest, the trips to the bookies, the decimation of your public services.
“Telling working people ‘we’re all in it together’, the people who hurt your family finances, swanning around the House of Lords, after giving tax cuts to the richest 1% that crashed our economy, don’t forget any of it.”
But Sir Keir said “we can heal the wounds, bring our country together, return politics to service, and start to build a new Britain”.
Jay Slater search scours caves, ravines and cliffs
“Why would anybody come to Masca?” asks Wayne Bennett, 39, from Wiltshire.
He’s just arrived in Tenerife with two friends on a pre-booked holiday, and Masca was first on a list of recommended places to go by his car rental agent.
To call it a village is generous. At most, a dozen houses and villas are dwarfed on all sides by towering volcanic cliffs. The road through barely lets two cars pass.
To get there, it’s a vomit-inducing rollercoaster of a road that at times seems like you’re driving through the sky.
It attracts view-seekers, hardcore hikers and nature lovers, mostly from Germany and mainland Spain. It’s miles away, figuratively and literally, from the typical Tenerife party scene.
“There’s just nothing, is there?” says Wayne, looking slightly disappointed.
What Wayne and his friends didn’t know, until we told them, was that this was where 19-year-old Jay Slater spent the night before he went missing.
They’d all heard of Jay’s story, but were surprised to find themselves just across from the rented holiday flat he was last seen leaving on 17 June.
On that morning, Jay was seen walking up the steep mountain road away from the village. His friend, Lucy Mae Law, said that he called her and told her he had no water, was on 1% battery and that he was lost.
His phone’s location pinged somewhere near a mobile phone mast at the crest of the valley. And then Jay vanished, without a trace.
The 'massive search' that wasn’t
On Saturday, almost two weeks on from Jay's disappearance, authorities in Tenerife organised a public search to try to comb through the area.
Emergency workers had been combing the Masca valley and other nearby ravines, caves and paths daily, with no luck.
They hoped that the call for a “massive search” would bring experienced amateur climbers and hikers to the area to comb through the undergrowth, looking for any clues as to what happened to Jay.
On the day, fewer than a dozen volunteers turned up.
All in all, including the professionals, 30 people in total were tasked with combing a massive and difficult-to-reach search area. For most of the morning, there were more journalists than rescue workers at the rendezvous point.
Police forces around the world act in different ways when it comes to dealing with the media, and here in Tenerife the policy appeared to be not to comment on an active investigation.
There were no appeals for help, no posters and no interviews. It was left to Jay Slater’s father and elder brother to put up posters in the town of Santiago del Teide at the foot of the national park.
Then a - partial - change of heart. Just before Saturday’s search began, Brigadier Cipriani Martin of Spain’s Guardia Civil patiently gave answers to British and local journalists explaining what stage the investigation was at.
Because of that two-week window without information, many believe a vacuum was created which was, in turn, filled by conjecture and theories of conspiracy.
Wild rumours spread on TikTok, Reddit and Facebook led to real life harassment and trolling. Jay’s family said that fake messages on social media were stopping them from getting real information that could actually help their search.
One person they did thank was climber and TikTok personality Paul Arnott, who landed on the island a week or so after Jay’s disappearance and has been helping with the search.
We saw him on the morning of the open search, looking tired and frustrated.
“I’ve been checking loads of different areas” he said. “On some days I’ve been with police and mountain rescue. Those guys have told me where to search.”
He’s also been relentlessly posting on TikTok - dozens of videos a day - to his 280,000 followers. It’s a staggering number, and almost half of them have discovered him since he started posting about Jay Slater.
We asked him what he would say to those who said he was doing this to promote his own profile.
“I do social media anyway," he said. "I film mountain stuff. His family wanted help and exposure, and that’s what I do.”
Lancashire Police said in an earlier statement that it had made an offer of support to Spain's Civil Guard but had been told the agency was "satisfied that they have the resources they need".
A set of dilapidated farm buildings drew the attention of search teams
The area being searched has grown as time has passed.
In the first few days after we arrived, the teams of firefighters, civil guards and mountain rescuers concentrated on the area closest to the house Jay had left on the morning of 17 June.
A team of a dozen council workers scoured the area of land below the outcrop of rock the cluster of small houses were built on.
When nothing was found, the search moved to the next valley, where Jay's phone last pinged.
At the bottom of the valley, partly hidden by dense undergrowth, lie a few dilapidated farm buildings.
Search dogs were deployed and officers carried out extensive work in the buildings.
Had Jay been there? Was there evidence that he might have come looking for something to drink?
For three or four days, police cars were parked up in the valley. The track to the buildings was closed off by the police and, as we left the area late one night, a patrol car with its headlights on stood guard.
It seemed as though this could be the breakthrough the police had been after.
But then, the next morning, the cars were gone, the track opened up and the search relocated elsewhere.
We trekked down to see why they’d spent so many days in this particular area and found a treasure trove of abandoned items in the wrecked rooms: an empty bottle of sun cream, boxes of tea bags, bottles of water, women's clothes on hangers, and an old mattress.
Each area had been checked for any sign of Jay having been there but with the police moving on to other search areas, it appears nothing in there was deemed to be important to the investigation.
Jay Slater’s disappearance has an effect on so many people, none more so than his mother and father, who have been in Tenerife since he went missing.
They have called in the support of friends and family to help them cope.
With every passing day, the worry can only be getting worse and that’s what has prompted so many people to donate money to help them. Jay’s mother Debbie Duncan said the funds had been used to help Tenerife’s mountain rescue teams as well as provide help for the family’s living costs on the island while they wait for news.
The concern is shared by others too. Taking part in the weekend search was Livia Karczewski. The 40-year old mother lives in Tenerife and regularly walks in the area Jay was last seen in.
"Sometimes the ground is a little difficult around here," she says. "There are a lot of stones. You need good shoes, you need to be careful. It's not easy, you have to be prepared."
We ask her what made her come out here to join the search. Her answer was simple: “I wanted to come and be here because I have a son who’s the same age as Jay. I think if something was to happen to my boy, I’d appreciate it a lot if others helped to find him.”
As the search drew to a close, it was evident there had been no breakthrough. A helicopter flew back to its base, the drones were packed away and the search teams went home for the night and the waiting for Jay Slater’s family continues.
Let’s take a quick look at the front pages of some of the newspapers this morning, which are dominated by the election.
The Observer carries a pledge from Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer to "relight the fire" of optimism among the British people if his party forms the next government.
Labour plans to "hit the ground running" and launch a housebuilding blitz within days of gaining power, Starmer and his shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves tell the Sunday Times.
But speaking to the Sunday Telegraph, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak claims Labour would "bankrupt people in every generation" through tax rises and make it harder for people to buy their first home or start a family.
And the Sunday Express leads with a warning by Rishi Sunak that Labour would "do irreversible damage within just 100 days of coming to power". He cites the party's plans to scrap the Rwanda asylum scheme and to charge VAT on private school fees.
Elton John has led a lineup of celebrities who have announced their support for Labour at the general election.
The singer-songwriter and his husband, David Furnish, joined actors Kit Harington and James Norton, singer Beverley Knight, comedian Jason Manford and businesswoman Deborah Meaden in bringing some stardust to a Labour supporters’ meeting held in the final days before next week’s poll.
Their endorsements of the party, sent as video messages, triggered loud applause at the Westminster venue.
Each celebrity spoke of a subject that was close to their hearts as the reason they planned to vote Labour.
John, who sat next to Furnish, said in his message: “It’s heartbreaking to see the hopes of Britain’s next generation of creative talent downtrodden and destroyed by bureaucracy and red tape.
“The rich cultural exchange and education that informed my early years and paved the way for my career and success is drying up and in danger of dying out completely.
“And it’s not just the musicians, but the whole team that puts together a tour and the wider industry that relies on emerging talent to thrive in the future.”
He added: “There is only one choice. Let’s help artists cut through the red tape that prevents them from thriving and contributing to this country’s future success. Let’s show the world what a creative, prosperous and forward-thinking nation Britain is.”
Furnish added of the music industry: “It’s madness to treat a hugely successful sector with such disdain, particularly one that has been the envy of the world for decades and contributes billions to the British economy every year, and has given us unrivalled soft power across the globe.”
He said he believes there is a chance for youngsters to get “a creative education and help young and emerging musicians achieve the routes to success that have been cruelly and pointlessly snatched away from them”.
Support for the arts was also behind comedian and presenter Jason Manford’s message. He said support had been pledged for the arts at a national level and also in schools to help ensure it is “important for children, and I think that is massive”.
Game of Thrones star Harington said he would be voting Labour because he feels they have “a practical plan” that is needed in the face of the climate crisis.
The actor said: “The climate is teetering and we really can’t afford 14 more years of the Tories in action.”
Stage, film and TV actor Norton, who has appeared in Happy Valley, Grantchester, War and Peace and McMafia, said: “I support the Labour party’s ambition when it comes to making the arts accessible to all children, particularly in regards to their ambitions around the school’s curriculum, reintegrating the arts into kids’ lives.”
Soul singer and Olivier Award-winning actor Knight added: “I support the Labour party’s ambition to allow all children to pursue their passions in the creative space. Because I was one of those children.”
Meaden said she was “very impressed” with the party’s plan for small businesses.
The Dragons’ Den star said there had been a focus on business rates, skills and clean British energy at a time of energy price fluctuation and a need to do “good” for the environment.
One famous face who was in the room along with more than 300 Labour supporters was comedian Bill Bailey, who joked that the Tories are “preparing for a Liz Truss comeback” and added that “to say they have got a grip on things is an insult to grips and things”.
In his mind, the 4 July vote feels like “the most important election in my lifetime”, he said.
In line with the other rousing speeches from the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, the Labour deputy leader, Angela Rayner, and presenter June Sarpong, who acted as host at the event, Bailey urged everyone to press on with campaigning to get the vote out on Thursday.
He said “these last few days are critical” and that “every vote counts”.
In her video message, TV personality Georgia Harrison said she hoped this would be a time to “make a difference to violence against women and girls and hopefully combat the misogyny that we’re currently dealing with as a society”.
Starmer was given a standing ovation as the evening event ended. He hugged his wife, Victoria, and pop music pounded as the audience left with the campaign message that if they want change, they must vote for it, and there is still time to try to gain support.
A "massive search" for British teenager Jay Slater is under way in Tenerife, almost two weeks after the apprentice bricklayer went missing.
The Civil Guard said they would step up their search for the 19-year-old after appealing for volunteer associations and individuals with experience in navigating difficult terrain to help them.
Police and volunteers began their search at 9am in the village of Masca, near Mr Slater's last-known location, and are trying to retrace his steps.
The Spanish police force said the search would be co-ordinated to take in a steep rocky area, including ravines, trails and paths.
Mr Slater was at the New Rave Generation music festival and his last known location was the Rural de Teno Park in the north on 17 June - about an 11-hour walk from his accommodation.
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0:49
Appeal for volunteers in Jay Slater search
Sky's North of England correspondent Shingi Mararike in Tenerife said the search "is perhaps a final push from the Civil Guard to make some kind of headway".
Juan Garcia, an experienced hiker, is among the volunteers and is going to walk through tough terrain with his sniffer dog.
More on Jay Slater
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"I think for myself, if something happened to one of my sons… I would like people to help me to solve this case," he told Sky News as he prepared to set off.
"Sometimes, even with only the police it's hard because this is a very difficult area and you need a lot of experience walking.
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"[There are] a lot of bushes and it's very hard to walk and even in a few kilometres it takes a lot of time and it's not so easy."
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Mr Slater, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, disappeared while trying to walk back to his accommodation after missing a bus on Monday last week.
He was last pictured at Papayago, the nightclub hosting the end of the NRG festival, late on 16 June.
Slater seen by cafe owner
After the event ended, he got in a car with two men, travelling to a small Airbnb in Masca, where a local cafe owner told Sky News he tried to catch a bus back to Los Cristianos, where he was staying.
Ofelia Medina Hernandez said she saw him at 8am on 17 June, and added: "He asked twice what time the bus came.
"He came back and he asked me again, and I told him again, at 10 o'clock. Later I got in my car, and I saw him, he was walking quickly, but I didn't see him again after that."
Image:A missing persons sign for Jay Slater in San Tiago del Teide. Pic: Adele-Momoko Fraser
Last phone call
It comes after one of Mr Slater's friends told ITV's This Morning about his last video call with the 19-year-old.
Brad Hargreaves said he saw the missing teenager's feet slide on rocks during a call at around 8.30am, saying that is how he knew Mr Slater was not on a road.
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He then said Mr Slater went down a "little drop" in one of his last video calls, and added: "He said, 'look where I am'.
"He didn't seem concerned on the phone until we knew how far away he was. I said, 'put your location on'. He said: '15-minute drive, 14-hour walk'.
"I don't know if it's accurate or not so I said to him: 'It's only a 15-minute drive, get a taxi'."
Search teams coordinated by the Civil Guard have since mounted a huge manhunt using helicopters, drones and search dogs to scour mountainous areas of the island, but are yet to find the teenager.
Security minister Tom Tugendhat has been on the morning broadcast round this Saturday. In an interview with Times Radio, Tugendhat did not rule out a run at the Tory leadership if Rishi Sunak quits following the general election.
Asked if he wanted to be leader, he told Times Radio:
What I want to do is to make sure we’ve got a Conservative leader in this country and that’s why I’m supporting Rishi Sunak. Because the alternative with Keir Starmer, I’m afraid, is higher taxes, more regulation, worse growth and more unemployment.
What we need to do is to make sure that Conservatives across this country win their seats and that’s exactly what I’ve been focused on.”
Pressed again on the issue of what happens after the election, he said:
Well, we’ll deal with hypotheticals in a different way. I mean, the reality is Rishi Sunak is the candidate, there’s only two candidates for prime minister, there’s Rishi Sunak and there’s Sir Keir Starmer.
One of them is committed to lowering your taxes, protecting your borders and making a difference in everybody’s lives. The other, I’m afraid, is Sir Keir Starmer who is committed to raising your taxes, to making life a little bit harder for everybody and to lecturing you on how to live your life.”
During the same interview, Tugendhat said there was a “pattern of racist and misogynistic views” within Reform UK.
He told Times Radio:
There’s many decent people vote for every political party and there’s many decent people who will vote for Reform. But what we’re trying to do is to remind people, to try to make clear to people, what it is that Reform really is.
He said Nigel Farage has “clearly done almost no due diligence on who he’s asking to carry his message”.
“There is a real pattern of racist and misogynistic views in the party. I think it’s absolutely right to call it out,” he added.
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Labour must combine tackling the climate crisis with pursuing social justice, if elected, to show that achieving net zero will not be done “on the backs of the poor”, the UK’s outgoing Green party MP has warned.
Caroline Lucas, who has held the seat of Brighton Pavilion since 2010, said: “The biggest priority is to demonstrate that is not the case. We have to make sure that this is a strategy and a policy that is the opposite of being done on the backs of the poor.”
That should be achievable, she added, as social justice and shifting to a green economy go hand in hand. But if Labour takes power, as polls predict, the party must avoid mistakes that put costs on low-income families or that hurt people’s jobs, she said.
“The truth of it is that the policies that we need to get [greenhouse gas] emissions down are actually policies that will increase people’s wellbeing in any case,” she said. Home insulation was one example, where if a minimum energy efficiency standard were enforced on landlords then tenants would have warmer homes, less energy waste and lower emissions.
“Again and again there are concrete examples of where green policy is actually social justice policy, it’s one and the same thing. But that story doesn’t get told nearly strongly enough.”
Lucas looked beyond the current election to the next, five years away, to warn that a resurgent Conservative or Reform party right wing would be planning to “weaponise” the climate crisis, and would seize on any missteps by Labour on the issue.
“There’s a lot of hope riding on what a new Labour government could do after 14 years of Tory chaos, and if they aren’t seen to deliver something in that first term then I worry about what’s going to happen during those next four or five years is that [Nigel] Farage and [Kemi] Badenoch and whoever else within the Tory right are going to be reorganising and getting ready for a comeback. And surely one of the things they’re going to have on top of their list is going to be rolling back on net zero still further,” she told the Guardian.
You can read the full piece by Fiona Harvey and Damien Gayle here:
With it being Armed Forces Day and both Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer scheduled to make visits on the campaign trail marking it, today will feature them pushing the defence and armed forces pledges of their parties.
The prime minister was admonished for leaving the commemoration for the 80th anniversary of D-day early, and will be eager to push his party’s promises to servicemen and women on Armed Forces Day.
According to the PA news agency, Sunak will hail their “duty, dedication and selfless personal sacrifice” and claim the Conservatives are the only party promising to meet the Help for Heroes veterans’ pledge. As well as reiterating the Tories’ manifesto pledge to the armed forces including increasing defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2030, Sunak will also reassert his party’s commitment to the Northern Ireland legacy act, writes the news agency.
Meanwhile, Starmer and shadow defence secretary John Healey will mark Armed Forces Day by joining a veterans’ coffee morning in the south-east of England, where the pair will outline how the next Labour government aims to pay tribute through action.
They will announce new powers for Labour’s planned armed forces commissioner who will be able to investigate and report on issues which affect the lives of service personnel such as substandard housing, faulty kit and poor discharge support.
According to the PA news agency, Starmer will promise Labour will be a “government of service, for those who serve” and that they will “always ensure that those who defend our country have their voices heard at the highest level”.
Elsewhere, Ed Davey will embark on an epic 1,343-mile tour of seats from John o’Groats in northern Scotland to Land’s End in Cornwall in the final days of the campaign. The journey will take in seats that the Liberal Democrats are hoping to take from the Tories and the SNP.
Talking of the SNP, leader John Swinney will be campaigning in the seats of Falkirk, Alloa and Grangemouth and Bathgate and Linlithgow on Saturday, as he claims only SNP MPs will hold the next government to account on austerity cuts.
With less than a week until polls open and predictions of SNP losses to Labour, Swinney will say that Scotland is the only place where the electoral outcome remains on a knife-edge.
Rishi Sunak abandoned his “legacy” policy to ban smoking for future generations amid a backlash from the tobacco industry in the form of legal threats, lobbying and a charm offensive aimed at Conservative MPs, an investigation reveals.
The UK had been on course to become the first country to ban smoking for future generations, via the tobacco and vaping bill, which Downing Street hoped would help define Sunak’s place in British political history.
An investigation by the Guardian and the Examination, a non-profit newsroom that investigates global health threats, has uncovered how the UK’s largest cigarette companies fought against the policy, which would have raised the smoking age by one year every year.
After months of fierce opposition from the industry – and intervention from MPs and thinktanks with ties to tobacco firms – the proposal was excluded from the “wash-up” process, when outgoing governments choose which policies to fast-track and which to drop.
Documents and freedom of information requests reveal how four of the world’s largest tobacco firms – the UK’s Imperial Brands and British American Tobacco (BAT), Japan Tobacco International (JTI) and US-headquartered Philip Morris International (PMI) – put ministers on notice of a legal backlash.
Imperial and BAT wrote to the health secretary, Victoria Atkins, in February, to claim the consultation process preceding legislation was “unlawful” because industry views had not been considered.
The Department of Health and Social Care has said it did not need to consider industry views, pointing to guidance included in a World Health Organization global treaty, signed by the UK, that says governments should form smoking policy without influence from cigarette companies.
You can read all about the investigation by Rob Davies and Matthew Chapman here:
Shadow defence secretary John Healey is also on the broadcast round this morning. In an interview with Sky News, Healey said Nigel Farage needed to “get a grip of his own party” and tackle racist and homophobic activists within Reform UK.
He told Sky News:
To some extent, I see him fuelling a row over this Channel 4 film to distract, really, from the fact that there are officials and there are candidates right at the heart of the Reform party, that have been responsible for racist, anti-gay, and other deeply offensive statements.
And it’s for Farage to take action on them. And in the end, the culture and the standards of any political party are set by the leader and Nigel Farage wants to be seen as a leader.
He needs to get a grip of his own party and he’s failing to do that at the moment.”
He compared the situation to the “very similar challenge” faced by Keir Starmer in tackling the “antisemitism that had been allowed to fester in parts of the Labour party”.
“He did that and that’s the responsibility of any leader of any political party,” said Healey.
Security minister Tom Tugendhat has been on the morning broadcast round this Saturday. In an interview with Times Radio, Tugendhat did not rule out a run at the Tory leadership if Rishi Sunak quits following the general election.
Asked if he wanted to be leader, he told Times Radio:
What I want to do is to make sure we’ve got a Conservative leader in this country and that’s why I’m supporting Rishi Sunak. Because the alternative with Keir Starmer, I’m afraid, is higher taxes, more regulation, worse growth and more unemployment.
What we need to do is to make sure that Conservatives across this country win their seats and that’s exactly what I’ve been focused on.”
Pressed again on the issue of what happens after the election, he said:
Well, we’ll deal with hypotheticals in a different way. I mean, the reality is Rishi Sunak is the candidate, there’s only two candidates for prime minister, there’s Rishi Sunak and there’s Sir Keir Starmer.
One of them is committed to lowering your taxes, protecting your borders and making a difference in everybody’s lives. The other, I’m afraid, is Sir Keir Starmer who is committed to raising your taxes, to making life a little bit harder for everybody and to lecturing you on how to live your life.”
During the same interview, Tugendhat said there was a “pattern of racist and misogynistic views” within Reform UK.
He told Times Radio:
There’s many decent people vote for every political party and there’s many decent people who will vote for Reform. But what we’re trying to do is to remind people, to try to make clear to people, what it is that Reform really is.
He said Nigel Farage has “clearly done almost no due diligence on who he’s asking to carry his message”.
“There is a real pattern of racist and misogynistic views in the party. I think it’s absolutely right to call it out,” he added.
Good morning, and welcome to our continued coverage of the 2024 general election campaign. It is the final weekend before voters go to the polls on Thursday 4 July.
Security minister Tom Tugendhat has said there is a “pattern of racist and misogynistic views” within Reform UK.
He told Times Radio:
There’s many decent people vote for every political party and there’s many decent people who will vote for Reform.
But what we’re trying to do is to remind people, to try to make clear to people, what it is that Reform really is.”
He said Nigel Farage has “clearly done almost no due diligence on who he’s asking to carry his message”.
“There is a real pattern of racist and misogynistic views in the party. I think it’s absolutely right to call it out,” he added.
Farage, meanwhile, has claimed that an activist in question, Andrew Parker, is an actor and that the clip was a fabrication. The Reform UK leader repeated his assertion that Channel 4’s footage was a “set up” during last night’s BBC Question Time. Earlier on Friday, he’d appeared on ITV’s Loose Women and said that the Parker incident was orchestrated to discredit his party.
In other news, here are some of the events we can expect politicians to be attending today, according to the PA news agency:
Rishi Sunak will be campaigning with an Armed Forces Day visit near Catterick in his Richmond and Northallerton constituency at 11am. This evening he’ll be at a community visit in Neasden, north west London.
Labour leader Keir Starmer and shadow defence secretary John Healey will join veterans in the Aldershot, Hampshire, at a coffee morning to mark Armed Forces Day at 9am. In the evening, Starmer will speak at a major event in London after speeches from deputy leader Angela Rayner.
Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey will be out campaigning in Scotland, with a tour that’ll take in Fife, Edinburgh and East Dunbartonshire.
Northern Ireland secretary of state Chris Heaton-Harris will address the Tory manifesto launch event in Belfast.
It is Amy Sedghi here today. If you want to get my attention then please do email me on amy.sedghi@theguardian.com. I will take a look at comments below the line (BTL) but won’t be able to read them all, so the quickest way to point out any error or omissions is to email me.
Also, please note that comments will not be open on the blog until 10am.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has repeated his assertion that footage showing racist comments apparently made by one of his party's activists was a "set-up".
He faced angry questions from a BBC Question Time audience over a Channel 4 broadcast which showed Andrew Parker, a canvasser for Reform UK, using a racist term about Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Mr Farage described the comments as a "tirade of invective abuse" but suggested the man may have been paid.
Challenged on other comments made by Reform UK candidates, Mr Farage said he "wouldn't want anything" to do with them and said he had withdrawn his support.
Appearing ahead of Mr Farage on the same programme, Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay condemned Mr Parker's comments as "horrific" and said it was "a stark reminder of the future we could be heading for if people back Reform at the election".
Asked about comments made by some of his own candidates, he said concerns would be properly investigated.
Speaking on Friday, Mr Sunak said the comments in the Channel 4 footage hurt adding: "It makes me angry."
He said his two daughters "have to see and hear Reform people who campaigned for Nigel Farage" using racist language against him.
He said Mr Farage had "some questions to answer".
In addition to the slur directed at the prime minister, Mr Parker was also heard describing Islam as "the most disgusting cult out" and suggesting army recruits should carry out “target practice” by shooting at small boats bringing illegal migrants to the UK.
In a statement, Mr Parker said he wanted to "apologise profusely to Nigel Farage and the Reform Party if my personal views have reflected badly on them and brought them into disrepute as this was not my intention".
Essex Police have said they are "urgently assessing" comments in the programme "to establish if there are any criminal offences".
The subject came up as the first question on the Question Time Leaders' Special when an audience member asked: "What is it about your party that attracts racists?"
Mr Farage argued that he had done more to drive out the far-right than any living person in British politics.
"I took on the BNP just over a decade ago. I said to their voters, if this is a protest vote but you don't support their racist agenda, don't vote for them, vote for me, destroyed them."
He went on to reiterate claims he made earlier in the day that Mr Parker was an actor who had an alter ego and suggested it was "a political setup of astonishing proportions".
"This was designed to hurt us, and sadly some people believe it."
Mr Parker was approached by the BBC about Mr Farage's remarks but did not want to comment.
Channel 4 News said it stood by its "rigorous and duly impartial journalism" adding that it met Mr Parker for the first time at Reform UK party headquarters and had not paid him any money.
Mr Farage was subsequently asked about other comments made by Reform UK candidates including Edward Oakenfull who wrote offensive social media posts about the IQ of sub-Saharan Africans. Mr Oakenfull has told the BBC his comments had been "taken out of context".
Mr Farage said he disowned the candidates in question adding: "I want nothing to do with them."
"You get people in all parties saying bad things and wrong things," he said, arguing it was partly the consequence of having to find candidates quickly following the PM's surprise calling of a general election for July.
Parties can, and have, withdrawn support from their candidates during this election campaign but is too late to stop them appearing on the ballot paper.
Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay was also asked about comments made by some of his candidates in relation to the conflict in Gaza, including one who compared Hamas to French resistance fighters in World War Two.
Mr Ramsay said he didn't support those views adding that any concerns would be "properly investigated through the right channels in the party" - saying that those channels were separate from the leadership.
"Sadly all parties have had candidates who were selected in this election who have no longer gone forward," he said.
A "massive search" for British teenager Jay Slater will get under way in Tenerife today, almost two weeks after the apprentice bricklayer went missing.
The Civil Guard said they would step up their search for the 19-year-old after appealing for volunteer associations, such as firefighters, and individual volunteers with experience in navigating difficult terrain to help them.
Police and volunteers will begin their search at 9am in the village of Masca, near Mr Slater's last-known location, and attempt to retrace his last-known steps.
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Appeal for volunteers in Jay Slater search
In a statement, police said: "The massive search will be carried out on Saturday, 29 June from 9am.
"Bearing in mind that this is an abrupt, rocky area, full of unevenness and with a multitude of ravines, paths and roads, the collaboration of all those associations of volunteers who can help in this raid that is intended to be carried out in a directed and coordinated manner is requested."
Sky's North of England correspondent Shingi Mararike in Tenerife said the search "is perhaps a final push from the Civil Guard to make some kind of headway".
Mr Slater, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, disappeared after trying to walk back to his accommodation after missing a bus on Monday last week.
More on Jay Slater
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He was last pictured at Papayago, the nightclub hosting the end of the New Rave Generation festival, late on 16 June.
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After the event ended, he got in a car with two men, travelling to a small Airbnb in Masca, where a local cafe owner told Sky News he tried to catch a bus back to Los Cristianos, where he was staying.
Ofelia Medina Hernandez said she saw him at 8am on 17 June, and added: "He asked twice what time the bus came.
"He came back and he asked me again, and I told him again, at 10 o'clock. Later I got in my car, and I saw him, he was walking quickly, but I didn't see him again after that."
Image:A missing persons sign for Jay Slater in San Tiago del Teide. Pic: Adele-Momoko Fraser
Last phone call
It comes after one of Mr Slater's friends told ITV's This Morning about his last video call with the 19-year-old.
Brad Hargreaves said he saw the missing teenager's feet slide on rocks during a call at around 8.30am, saying that is how he knew Mr Slater was not on a road.
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He then said Mr Slater went down a "little drop" in one of his last video calls, and added: "He said, 'look where I am'.
"He didn't seem concerned on the phone until we knew how far away he was. I said, 'put your location on'. He said: '15-minute drive, 14-hour walk'.
"I don't know if it's accurate or not so I said to him: 'It's only a 15-minute drive, get a taxi'."
Search teams coordinated by the Civil Guard have since mounted a huge manhunt using helicopters, drones and search dogs to scour mountainous areas of the island, but are yet to find the teenager.
