In an interview with BBC Breakfast on Saturday, Transport secretary Mark Harper said he agreed with Rishi Sunak that it was a mistake to leave D-day events early.
Asked whether he agreed with fellow Cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt’s assessment that it was “completely wrong”, Harper said:
I don’t know what the detail was of putting the prime minister’s schedule together, which, as he said, was done some time ago before the election campaign was called.
But look, it was a mistake. People make mistakes. The prime minister has made a mistake. He’s apologised for it. And he’s apologised to those that would have been particularly hurt by it.”
“I agree with the words that he set out in his remarks yesterday when he was interviewed about it,” added Harper.
The fall out from Sunak’s decision to leave Thursday’s 80th D-day anniversary events early continues. In Friday night’s seven-party debate, party representatives – including Penny Mordaunt, the House of Commons leader – rounded on the prime minister for leaving the D-day event early.
Mordaunt said what happened was “completely wrong – and the prime minister has rightly apologised for that, apologised to veterans but also to all of us, because he was representing all of us”.
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Ed Davey has said Rishi Sunak’s snub of a major international D-day event was “a letdown for our whole country”.
On a campaign visit to Victoria Park in Newbury, Berkshire, the Liberal Democrats leader told broadcasters: “I’ve felt pretty cross about this. I’ve talked to veterans and they feel quite angry. So, I think they need to do more.”
He urged the Conservatives to give some of the cash donated to the party by Frank Hester, a businessman who was embroiled in a racism row, to charity.
Davey said:
I think the Conservative party should give £5m of that donation to a veterans charity. I think if they did that, then people might be able to draw the line.
But it’s such a letdown for our whole country and our history, particularly for our brave veterans.”
There was a second general election TV debate – but the prime minister’s decision to leave D-day commemorations early dominates Saturday’s front pages.
The Guardian leads with “Furious Tories turn on Sunak over D-day snub”, reporting that the prime minister has “provoked fury” from the Conservative grassroots after he was forced to apologise for skipping a key part of the D-day commemorations in northern France.
The Telegraph’s focus is elsewhere as it flags a Conservative stamp duty manifesto promise with “Sunak to axe stamp duty for first-time buyers”.
The Times is one of the few papers that does reference the second election debate – but it connects it to the D-day incident with “Mordaunt hits out at ‘completely wrong’ PM”.
The Express instead focuses on the prime ministers’ apology with the headline “Truly Sorry!” as it covers what it describes as a “contrite” Rishi Sunak and his “unreserved” apology.
The Mirror is not so gracious – declaring “Sunak’s D-Day shame” with “It’s over” splashed on its front page.
The i weekend echoes other coverage of Conservative fears over the impact this will have on the election with the headline “Tories in despair as Sunak D-day gaffe ‘destroys’ election hopes”, quoting party insiders and a senior figure.
Scotland’s Daily Record is scathing with “War Zero” as its headline. On its front page it quotes first minister John Swinney describing Sunak’s D-day departure as “a breathtakingly terrible decision”.
The FT Weekend has “Sunak accused of handing ‘gift’ to Reform by skipping D-Day event.
And in the Daily Star, “Stupid Boy” is the headline with a mock-up of Sunak in a scene from Dad’s Army.
Rishi Sunak, Keir Starmer, Ed Davey and Adrian Ramsey will all be taking part in the Big Help Out today.
The mass volunteering campaign organised by the Together Initiative, a coalition of UK businesses and organisations, runs from 7-9 June and is expected to see millions take part in various events over the weekend.
According to the Big Help Out, Sunak will help restore a community garden with a charity in Yorkshire this morning, while Starmer plans to join in with some community gardening in London this afternoon
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey take part in animal therapy at a care home and Green co-leader Adrian Ramsay will join Mencap in Norwich this afternoon, helping out in their local shop with other volunteers.
Stamp duty on homes up to £425,000 will be scrapped for first-time buyers, Rishi Sunak is expected to pledge in the Conservatives’ election manifesto.
Stamp duty land tax currently applies to sales over £250,000 and the change would affect 200,000 households annually. The move to ditch the tax altogether, as reported in the Telegraph, has been committed to in the Tory manifesto being launched next week.
The threshold figure for stamp duty is currently scheduled to fall to £125,000 from March 2025, ending a “temporary” relief period, meaning the levy will apply to cheaper – and likely a greater number of – purchases.
The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has said the Conservatives will not increase capital gains tax, stamp duty or the number of council tax bands, or “undertake an expensive council tax revaluation”.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) associate director, David Phillips, had previously called for the abolition of stamp duty, saying: “It is one of the most economically damaging taxes levied by the government, significantly increasing the cost of moving and gumming up both the housing and labour market.”
It is the latest policy to be trailed before the Tories and Labour reveal the full extent of their manifesto commitments for the general election next week.
The Tories have sought to move on from the D-day row with new policy offers, including a pledge to axe stamp duty for first-time buyers on homes up to £425,000, reports the Press Association (PA).
They also set out their “Backing Drivers Bill” which would ban Wales-style blanket 20mph limits and reversing the ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) expansion from inner into outer London (see 9.30am BST).
Rishi Sunak will promote the policies as he campaigns on home turf this Saturday, while Keir Starmer is expected to set out Labour’s plans for small businesses, including an overhaul of the business rates system to help high street shops compete with online giants.
The Liberal Democrats would plough £50m a year into maintaining three new national parks, according to their weekend policy launch.
If you’re waking up this morning and missed last night’s seven-party debate, here is a quick run down of the Guardian’s coverage of it:
Peter Walker wrote on how Labour and the Tories renewed clashes in an ill-tempered second election debate:
Jack Seale gave the election debate two out of five stars in his review, which he described as a “seven-way brawl”:
The Guardian’s political correspondent, Eleni Courea, drew out the key takeaways from Friday night’s debate. You can see what those are here:
John Crace gave us his honest opinion here:
Andrew Sparrow did a play-by-play, including snap verdicts, of the BBC election debate. If you want to revisit yesterday’s politics liveblog, you can find it here:
The Liberal Democrats will commit to a £1.5bn overhaul of carer’s allowance, including a £20-a-week boost for more than 1 million people who devote their lives to looking after frail, ill and disabled loved ones, in their general election manifesto.
An ongoing Guardian investigation has revealed that tens of thousands of unpaid carers have been forced by the government to pay back huge sums – and in some cases have faced criminal prosecution – for minor and accidental breaches of carer’s allowance earnings rules.
Proposed reforms to be unveiled on Monday by the Lib Dem leader, Ed Davey, will include a write-off of £250m of carer’s allowance overpayment debts run up by more than 100,000 carers, and measures to help carers earn more through part-time paid work.
Davey, who is a carer himself, said the proposals were designed to give family carers a fair deal and put a stop to what he called the “shameful hounding” of unpaid carers by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
The Guardian’s revelations about the scale and human impact of avoidable carer’s allowance overpayments have caused shock and outrage, while the brutal treatment of vulnerable claimants has led to comparisons with the Post Office scandal.
Campaigners, MPs and academics have called for major changes to carer’s allowance, which is seen by critics as outdated, poorly designed and out of step with the needs of unpaid carers, the modern labour market and the demands of an ageing society.
You can read Patrick Butler’s full piece here:
Away from the election campaign, the transport secretary has said that the reintroduction of restrictions on carrying liquids over 100ml at six regional airports in the UK is a “temporary measure”.
The change will come into effect from midnight on Sunday and will affect passengers travelling from London City, Aberdeen, Newcastle, Leeds/Bradford, Southend and Teesside airports.
All of the airports have next generation security checkpoints (NGSC) in operation, which create a 3D image of what is inside passengers’ bags and had allowed them to scrap the rule.
Mark Harper said airline passengers should “check with their airport what the rules are” on carrying liquids over 100ml amid some confusion over the restrictions.
He told BBC Breakfast on Saturday:
The announcement we’ve made, which comes into force from midnight tonight, actually only affects six regional airports and about 6% of those travelling.
For most passengers, actually, the rules haven’t changed at all yet and won’t therefore change tonight. People should just check with their airport what the rules are or the processes are at a particular airport.
We’ve reintroduced that rule while updates and changes are made to the scanning equipment at airports to make sure we can continue delivering our world-leading levels of aviation security.
It’s a temporary measure and we’ll set out when that can be reversed in due course.”
The business secretary, Kemi Badenoch, is being pressed to question the Royal Mail bidder Daniel Křetínský on his business links, after the Guardian raised questions about a series of controversial global property deals connected to the Czech billionaire’s longtime business partners.
Badenoch is scheduled to meet the tycoon next week to discuss his £3.57bn bid for the 500-year-old institution, which will be subjected to a review under the National Security and Investment Act.
The government has not said it has any fundamental objection to the takeover, which is being led by Křetínský – a billionaire so enigmatic that he has been called the Czech Sphinx.
The takeover promises to be a huge headache for the next government. The board of Royal Mail’s parent company, International Distribution Services (IDS), last month backed Křetínský’s takeover, which will be put to shareholders in September.
Dave Ward, the general secretary of the Communication Workers Union, said: “The government must give this takeover the highest level of scrutiny possible. The failed privatisation of Royal Mail and the deliberate and gross mismanagement of the company by its own board have created the circumstances for this takeover bid. It simply cannot be right that the only examination of this bid comes from that board and from individuals who would profit financially in any takeover.”
The Labour party did not respond to invitations for it to comment.
You can read Simon Goodley’s full report on this story here:
Transport secretary Mark Harper said he disagrees that the claim made by the prime minister that Labour would raise taxes by £2,000 is “misleading”.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast on Saturday, Harper was told that the programme director at the Institute for Government, Nick Davies, had said that using his team’s research to justify the figure is “misleading”. Harper replied: “I don’t agree.”
It also follows a comment made by the shadow business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, on BBC Breakfast earlier, (see 8.59am BST) in which he called the claim “a lie”.
Asked on BBC Breakfast whether the Tories would stick by their claims, Harper said his party would continue to say Labour would cost working households an extra £2,000 in tax.
He said: “The costings are either Treasury costings or in a couple of cases they are the Labour party’s own workings. We’ve made reasonable assumptions, not outlandish assumptions.”
The claim has been criticised by the UK statistics watchdog for failing to make clear the sum totalled over four years.
The Conservatives have promised to introduce a law that would unilaterally reverse the expansion of London’s clean air zone and limit the use of 20mph routes in Wales, overturning the choices of voters in both places.
In a pledge that, if implemented, would mark a significant reversal of devolution, the Tories said they would immediately introduce a backing drivers bill, which would use Westminster powers to quash local say over parts of transport policy.
One element would reverse the most recent expansion of London’s ultra-low emissions zone (Ulez), which widened to the perimeter of the capital the area in which older and more polluting vehicles must pay a daily charge.
This would happen despite London’s voters having endorsed the idea in May, when Khan was reelected as the city’s mayor for a third term, easily beating the Conservative candidate, Susan Hall, whose main pledge was to scrap the expansion.
A spokesperson for Khan said of the proposal: “This is desperate stuff from the Tories – a party completely devoid of ideas.”
The bill would also use Westminster powers to overturn local decisions on 20mph zones and so-called low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), a widely used planning technique that tries to keep through-traffic away from smaller residential streets.
Tax rises “hiding in plain sight” that will cost UK households an average of £800 a year are already on the way whoever wins the general election, a leading thinktank has warned.
While the Conservatives and Labour argue about what levies the other would introduce in power, the Resolution Foundation has warned that already announced measures will increase the total tax take by about £23bn a year by 2028-29.
Neither party has committed to axing the moves from recent budgets and autumn statements, which include the continuation of the six-year freeze to income tax and personal national insurance thresholds and next spring’s reversal of temporary cuts to business rates, fuel duty and stamp duty land tax.
Freezing existing tax rates increases revenue for the Treasury, since inflation and resulting pay rises mean more people are pulled into the higher-rate tax band, a process known as fiscal drag. Income tax thresholds have been frozen since 2022 and are expected to remain so until April 2028.
The sum the Treasury is raising from taxes is at a historic high, the Resolution Foundation found, because of increases in corporate tax revenue and taxes on higher earners. The share of taxpayers paying a higher marginal rate of 40% or more has risen from one in 10 of the population in 2010 to one in six in 2023, the equivalent of 3 million more people. However, some middle-income earners are better off because of this year’s cuts in national insurance contributions.
You can read Hazel Sheffield’s full piece here:
In an interview with BBC Breakfast on Saturday, Transport secretary Mark Harper said he agreed with Rishi Sunak that it was a mistake to leave D-day events early.
Asked whether he agreed with fellow Cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt’s assessment that it was “completely wrong”, Harper said:
I don’t know what the detail was of putting the prime minister’s schedule together, which, as he said, was done some time ago before the election campaign was called.
But look, it was a mistake. People make mistakes. The prime minister has made a mistake. He’s apologised for it. And he’s apologised to those that would have been particularly hurt by it.”
“I agree with the words that he set out in his remarks yesterday when he was interviewed about it,” added Harper.
The fall out from Sunak’s decision to leave Thursday’s 80th D-day anniversary events early continues. In Friday night’s seven-party debate, party representatives – including Penny Mordaunt, the House of Commons leader – rounded on the prime minister for leaving the D-day event early.
Mordaunt said what happened was “completely wrong – and the prime minister has rightly apologised for that, apologised to veterans but also to all of us, because he was representing all of us”.
The claim made by the prime minister that Labour would raise taxes by £2,000 is “misleading”, the shadow business secretary has said.
Jonathan Reynolds said Labour, if it wins the election, would inherit some tax rises included in the government’s existing spending plans, but insisted there would be no additional taxes on households. “It is a lie,” he told BBC Breakfast.
Reynolds said:
If we were to form a government after the general election on 4 July, we would inherit the government’s spending plans.
Now, I’ll be candid, there are in those plans tax rises. I mean, the personal allowance we all get in terms of our income tax, that is set to be frozen for several years.
So, we are ambitious about how we think we can grow the economy to give people better times ahead, but I will be candid and say those are the plans that we would inherit.”
He added: “But Keir [Starmer] is absolutely right to say there won’t be additional taxes under a Labour government when it comes to things like income tax or VAT.”
In case you’re missing Andrew Sparrow this morning, here is his snap verdict on the seven-party debate. It’s worth a read alongside your morning tea or coffee.
Chief of the defence staff Adm Sir Tony Radakin has declined to criticise Rishi Sunak over his decision to leave the D-day 80th anniversary events early.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It’s a contentious political issue. It’s obviously being debated. It would be wrong for me to comment.”
Labour and the Conservatives renewed hostilities in the second TV debate of the campaign, with Angela Rayner and Penny Mordaunt clashing over taxes, defence and the cost of living in a series of bad-tempered exchanges.
In an echo of Tuesday’s head-to-head debate between Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer, Mordaunt, the Commons leader, several times raised the much-criticised idea that Labour would increase household taxes by £2,000, bringing derision from Rayner, and corrections from the BBC One host, Mishal Husain.
Another recurring theme of the seven-way debate was representatives of the smaller parties clashing with Nigel Farage, as the Reform UK leader made contentious points on areas including immigration, crime and net zero.
The wide-ranging debate, with a series of topics raised by audience questions, was occasionally unruly as the seven participants jostled for attention. But there were regular disputes between Mordaunt and Rayner, the Labour deputy leader, who were placed next to each other in a lineup decided by lots.
An early example saw Mordaunt point her finger at a clearly unimpressed Rayner, as she used a question on the D-day commemorations to accuse Rayner and other senior Labour figures of wanting to “end our nuclear deterrent”, saying Starmer would not be credible as a world leader.
“You can keep pointing at me, but you’re the party that have cut the armed forces, crashed the economy and left us in a real mess,” Rayner replied.
You can read Peter Walker’s full piece on Friday night’s TV debate here:
Good morning, and welcome to our continued coverage of the 2024 general election campaign.
Transport secretary Mark Harper said he agreed with Rishi Sunak that it was a mistake to leave D-day events early.
Asked whether he agreed with fellow Cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt’s assessment that it was “completely wrong”, Harper told BBC Breakfast on Saturday:
I don’t know what the detail was of putting the prime minister’s schedule together, which, as he said, was done some time ago before the election campaign was called.
But look, it was a mistake. People make mistakes. The prime minister has made a mistake. He’s apologised for it. And he’s apologised to those that would have been particularly hurt by it.”
Harper also said: “I agree with the words that he set out in his remarks yesterday when he was interviewed about it.”
In case you missed it, seven representatives from the UK’s main political parties clashed in a heated – and often chaotic – BBC debate last night.
Party representatives – including Penny Mordaunt, the House of Commons leader – rounded on the prime minister for leaving the D-day event early. Mordaunt said what happened was “completely wrong – and the prime minister has rightly apologised for that, apologised to veterans but also to all of us, because he was representing all of us”.
Mordaunt also took aim at Angela Rayner for having voted against renewing the Trident nuclear weapons system in the past and said that Labour’s “credibility is shot”; Rayner said her brother had served in Iraq and that she would “take no lectures” on the subject. You can catch other key takeaways of BBC general election debate here.
In other news, here are some of the main events planned for today:
Rishi Sunak will be campaigning in the north-east and Yorkshire. The Conservatives are hitting Sunak’s home turf, so expect to see the big blue battlebus somewhere in Yorkshire.
In Essex, the Conservatives are formally launching their Basildon and Billericay candidate. It is the party’s chairman Richard Holden who used to represent North West Durham. The drive from Crook in his previous constituency to Basildon is more than 260 miles.
Sir Keir Starmer will launch Labour’s plan for small businesses alongside Deborah Meaden this morning. According to the Press Association (PA) it will include a visit to a small business in north London.
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves will be campaigning in the south-east today alongside Mary Portas.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey will be campaigning in Newbury today.
SNP leader John Swinney will be on the campaign trail, joining local SNP candidate Hannah Bardell at the Howden Park Centre in Livingston.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar is also on the campaign trail backing local candidate Torcuil Crichton.
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton will meet members of the Russian dissident community this morning.
The National March for Gaza will begin at Russell Square shortly after midday and travel along the Strand and Whitehall to reach the Palace of Westminster. It comes after Starmer on Friday confirmed recognition of Palestinian statehood as part of a Middle East peace process would feature in his party’s manifesto.
It is Amy Sedghi here today. If you want to get my attention then please do email me on amy.sedghi@theguardian.com.
Also, please note that comments will not be open on the blog until 10am.
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2024-06-08 10:15:21Z
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