General election latest: Starmer insists ‘no surprises on tax’ under Labour

Labour’s GB Energy plan is “very popular” with small businesses, Sir Keir Starmer has claimed.

Speaking at 3 Locks Brewery in Camden, the Labour leader said: “Everybody must remember for a small business you put your money in, you put yourself in, you put your whole self in, and they take risks.

“They’ve had a really hard time with this Government in recent years, so our plan is to support small businesses and give them that chance that they need.

“That does involve replacing rates, because business rates put a real drag on businesses. It also involves stabilising the economy, of course, and Great British Energy, because what’s come up here, comes up with all small businesses, energy is too expensive.

“What you can’t have if you run a small business is sort of costs that you can’t control, so Great British Energy, a publicly-owned company for renewables, is very, very popular with small businesses.”

Nigel Farage won Friday night’s seven-way BBC election debate, according to a poll. 

A snap poll of 1,031 voters by More in Common found most thought Mr Farage won the debate, followed by Angela Rayner. Mr Farage received 25 per cent of the vote while Ms Rayner received 19 per cent.

The Green Party’s Carla Denyer was the third most popular with 11 per cent, Stephen Flynn for SNP received 10 per cent and Penny Mordaunt, the leader of the House of Commons, took 7 per cent of the vote. Daisy Cooper, the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru’s Rhun ap Iorwerth took 5 per cent and 2  per cent respectively.

The debate saw Britain’s main seven political parties clash ahead of the general election on July 4. 

Mr Farage, who returned to frontline politics for Reform this week and is standing as an MP in Clacton, challenged his political rivals on immigration and net zero policies.

Nigel Farage has said Reform UK membership has surpassed 40,000 today.

Posting a video of himself on X, formerly Twitter, he wrote: “Reform UK membership has reached 40,000 in the last hour. Something is happening out here. “

Sir Keir Starmer has said it was his “duty” to thank veterans at the international D-Day event which the Prime Minister skipped.

He did not answer a question on whether Rishi Sunak’s apology was enough.

On a campaign visit to 3 Locks Brewing Company, a canal-side craft brewery in Camden, the Labour leader told broadcasters: “I thought it was very important to be there myself as leader of the Labour Party.

“I took a little bit of time on Thursday just to contemplate what it must have been like for those young men to run up the beach at 17, 18, 19 years old, into gunfire. And of course, this was Allied troops. This was different countries all working together, that international effort, and to consider that they didn’t share a uniform, they didn’t share flags, they didn’t share a language, but what they did share was a determination to carry out the task that was asked of them, which led to the liberation of Europe.

“I found that very, very moving. I thought it was my duty to thank the veterans who were there on their own behalf, but also on behalf of those that didn’t return.”

Sir Keir Starmer has met young people in north London who are voting for the first time this year.

The Labour leader pulled the first pint of the day at 10.55am at 3 Locks Brewery in Camden.

Scrapping the Rwanda scheme, helping young adults through the cost-of-living crisis and bettering education were key priorities for the students he spoke to.

Sir Keir was heard saying “if all else fails”, he will be back at the brewery on July 5.

People are “flabbergasted” by Rishi Sunak’s decision to skip a D-Day event, the Liberal Democrats leader has said.

Asked whether he was buoyed by the fiasco potentially boosting his party’s electoral prospects, Sir Ed Davey told the PA news agency during a visit to Newbury: “No, I share the concerns of veterans and people across the country who feel really let down and are upset, and indeed some very angry.

“One of the best privileges of being a prime minister is to represent our country at these important events that mean so much to people.

“D-Day was one of the most important dates in our country’s history. It was the 80th anniversary. Some of those veterans will never, ever see a major commemoration again.

“I think people are just flabbergasted by what the Prime Minister did.”

Sir Ed Davey has denied that the Liberal Democrats are the party of nimbys for focusing on national parks amid a housing crisis and low economic growth.

The Lib Dems vowed to plough £50 million a year into maintaining three new national parks in their latest policy offer.

He said: “No, far from it. You’ll see when we publish our manifesto we’ve got ambitious plans on housing as well, but the right houses in the right places.

“But people don’t just want houses, they want to know that there’s the environment there to enjoy. And investing in the environment is right to deal with the nature crisis.”

He accused the Conservatives of being the party of nimbys, “but they’re also the party of developers”.

Sir Ed added: “They have a developer-led approach. We have a community-led approach.”

Sir 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.

“I think the Conservative Party should give £5 million 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.”

Angela Rayner was mocked after she criticised the Tories for 14 years of “abstract failure”.

Responding to Penny Mordaunt’s criticism of Labour’s net zero policies at Friday’s BBC general election debate, the deputy Labour leader hit back at the Conservative government record.

Ms Rayner said: “I asked the people to look at their record, and [the Tories] constantly spout these lies that [Labour] is going to stop people’s cars, that we’re going to do this and we’re going to do that, when really the reason they say that is their 14 years of abstract failure.

“[The Conservatives] have failed the British people and people can see that.”

Online commentators speculated that Ms Rayner meant “abject failure”, defined as a complete failure or failure to the maximum extent possible.

Read the full story here. 

Here are a eight key moments from last night’s seven-way BBC debate. 

• Labour’s defence credibility ‘is shot’

Ms Mordaunt lambasted Ms Rayner on defence saying “Labour’s credibility is shot” because Vladimir Putin would never believe Sir Keir Starmer would push the button.

•  PM’s D-Day actions wrong

 Ms Mordaunt also apologised over the Prime Minister’s decision to leave the D-Day commemorations early.

• NHS model questioned

Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, said that Britain needed to “change the funding model” for the NHS and adopt a French-style system. 

• Population crisis from immigration

 Mr Farage warned that Britain was living through a “population crisis” that is “making us poorer”.

• Labour challenged over taxes

Ms Mordaunt challenged Ms Rayner to explain how Labour would fund its big spending policies without tax rises in a fiery exchange. 

• A new voting system

 Mr Farage called for proportional representation as he called for a change in the UK voting system.

• Hostile environment

 Ms Mordaunt mocked Ms Rayner over claims that Labour’s new company Great British Energy will not produce any electricity. 

• Tackling knife crime

“You can go shoplifting now, any of you,” Mr Farage told BBC audiences as he advocated for more stop and search powers while answering a question about crime allegedly rising in England and Wales by 8 per cent since 2019.

It might seem like a trifling point, compared to the heavy hitting policies and the small matter of the future of the country, but what Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak choose to wear on the campaign trail is weighted with meaning.

Image is everything in politics – see the damage done by that bacon sandwich when Ed Miliband was running a decade ago – so how politicians present themselves can make all the difference.

Almost two weeks into the campaign, Sunak and Starmer’s style choices have already made headlines, from Sunak donning a £750 rucksack to visit Cornwall and thus sending an accidental reminder of his luxury lifestyle with a billionaire father-in-law.

Starmer has attempted a workaday approach, but raised eyebrows when it was pointed out that his black jacket was by Paris brand Sandro and cost £500.

Read the full story here.

he BBC leaders’ debate was a bit like Voltaire’s description of the Holy Roman Empire. It was neither a debate nor did it involve actual leaders, writes Parliamentary Sketchwriter Madeline Grant.

A seemingly random selection of people, from Nigel Farage and Angela Rayner to Carla Denyer and Rhun ap Iorwerth (no, me neither) were gathered into a large mausoleum-like space and encouraged to bellow at each other. Think Fifteen to One meets the Hunger Games.

Adding to the sense of “80s game show” about the whole affair was Penny Mordaunt’s bouffant; pure Dallas, with just a hint of Mrs Thatcher.

It was like something from a nature documentary; designed to intimidate shorter, balder candidates, like Stephen Flynn and the woman from the Green Party.

Read the full story here.

Labour has pledged to “pull up the shutters” for small businesses and will unveil a series of policies to attract entrepreneurs.

Among its pledges are a business rates overhaul, a plan to accelerate the establishment of banking hubs, and an antisocial behaviour crackdown to “revitalise” high streets.

The Conservatives are hitting Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s home turf, so expect to see the big blue battle bus somewhere in Yorkshire.

The party previewed its “Backing Drivers Bill” overnight, which Transport Secretary Mark Harper said would support drivers “in the face of Labour politicians desperate to tax them off the roads” - banning Wales-style blanket 20mph limits and reversing the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) expansion from inner into outer London.

The Transport Secretary has 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”, Mark 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.”

Mr Harper also said: “I agree with the words that he set out in his remarks yesterday when he was interviewed about it.”

Following the debate, Telegraph columnist Sherelle Jacobs argued “Nigel Farage may just have made real inroad”, whereas writer Tom Harris suggested it was Stephen Flynn and Rhun ap Iorwerth “representing nationalists in Scotland and Wales who fared best”.

Telegraph readers also weighed in with their verdict. An exclusive Telegraph poll showed 59 per cent of over 75,000 readers thought Nigel Farage came out on top, followed by Penny Mordaunt with 17 per cent of readers’ votes. 

Many readers were impressed by the leader of Reform’s performance, arguing he was the only one who spoke sense when discussing important issues such as the state of the NHS, immigration and knife crime.

Reader M.F. argued “this has been an excellent night for Reform” with “Farage managing to get some good points across” whilst “everyone else was squabbling”.

Read the full story here. 

They say you should never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel, and that adage should now include never picking a fight with someone who has their own TV show, writes Associate Editor Gordon Rayner.

Nigel Farage, unleashed into a live debate for the first time this election, was polished, pugnacious and popular.

Penny Mordaunt, the Leader of the Commons, made a decent fist of trying to keep up with him, but hamstrung by the reality of 14 years in Government, she was elbowed into second place by the charismatic Reform UK leader.

Read the full story here. 

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, head of the UK’s Armed Forces, declines to criticise Rishi Sunak over his decision to leave D-Day commemorations early.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4, he said: “I don’t think it’s for me to comment on those political aspects... it’s a contentious political issue”.

Rishi Sunak has apologised for leaving D-Day commemorations in Normandy early to head back to the UK to carry out a general election TV interview.

The Prime Minister tweeted “it was a mistake” not to stay in France for the international event after he had attended the earlier British ceremony in Normandy.

Mr Sunak has come under intense criticism after it emerged he missed the event with fellow world leaders to head back to the UK for an ITV interview.

Good morning and welcome to The Telegraph’s live general election coverage.

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