Tory candidate facing probe over election date betting allegations threatens to sue BBC – as it happened

Friday’s politics liveblog is live at the link below – with the transcript of Starmer on Corbyn, the latest on the betting scandal and a roundup of the papers:

• Rishi Sunak has become mired in a row over alleged betting on the general election date after it emerged that a second Conservative candidate and the party’s campaigns director were being looked into by the Gambling Commission. The watchdog is examining bets allegedly placed by Laura Saunders, the Tory candidate in Bristol North West, and her husband, Tony Lee, who is now on leave of absence from his job at party headquarters. In a statement issued through lawyers, Saunders said that she was cooperating with the commission’s investigation, that she had nothing further to say publicly, and that she was considering suing the BBC, which first reported the story, and other news organisations over infringement of privacy rights. (See 6.05pm.) Labour has challenged Sunak to explain why the Conservatives have not withdrawn support from Saunders and another candidate, Craig Williams, also being investigated in relation to a bet on the date of the general election. (See 5.37pm.)

• Farmers and supermarkets have accused the main political parties of ignoring the risk of severe food shortages in Britain, calling the issue a “worrying blind spot” in their general election campaigns.

• The NHS is engulfed in a summer crisis, senior doctors have said, amid severe ambulance delays, corridors crowded with trolleys and patients facing 25-hour waits in A&E units.

• The gap between tax revenue the UK government expected to raise and the amount paid annually has hit £40bn, putting extra pressure on both main parties over their pledges to crack down on tax avoidance.

• Michael Gove has suggested there is still time for the Conservatives to stage a late comeback and win the election, claiming: “We’re not in ‘Fergie time’ yet.”

That is all from me on this blog.

But we have just launched another election live blog, where I will be covering the BBC Question Time leaders’ special. It’s here.

Laura Saunders, the Conservative candidate being investigated by the Gambling Commission over election date betting allegations, has issued a statement saying she is cooperating with the inquiry. She also says she might sue the BBC over infringement of her privacy rights.

In a statement released on Saunders’ behalf, Nama Zarroug, a solicitor at Astraea Linskills, said:

As the Conservative party has already stated, investigations are ongoing.

Ms Saunders will be cooperating with the Gambling Commission and has nothing further to add.

It is inappropriate to conduct any investigation of this kind via the media, and doing so risks jeopardising the work of the Gambling Commission and the integrity of its investigation.

The publication of the BBC’s story is premature and is a clear infringement of Ms Saunders’ privacy rights. She is considering legal action against the BBC and any other publishers who infringe her privacy rights.

At 8pm tonight the BBC will start showing its live two-hour Question Time leaders’ special. Fiona Bruce is presenting, and the four main party leaders will get half an hour each taking questions from the audience in York, in this order: Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader; John Swinney, the SNP leader; Keir Starmer, the Labour leader; and Rishi Sunak, the Conservative leader and PM.

Sunak has not been giving interviews today and he is bound to be asked about the Tory election date betting allegations. Starmer is bound to raise it too.

For a taste of what Starmer is likely to say, here is the open letter about the scandal sent to Sunak by Pat McFadden, Labour’s national campaign coordinator. It was released earlier today.

In the letter McFadden challenges Sunak to explain why the Conservative party has not withdrawn its support from the two candidates who are suspected of using insider information to bet on the date of the election.

It was reported last night that a member of your close protection team has been suspended from his job, and subsequently arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office, after a communication from the Gambling Commission to the Metropolitan police.

Can I ask you very simply why you think that a serving police officer should be suspended from his role, because of allegations that he made a bet based on inside information, while the two colleagues of yours who so far stand accused of the same offence – Craig Williams, your PPS (parliamentary private secretary), and Laura Saunders, a member of your CCHQ (Conservative Campaign Headquarters) staff and partner of your campaigns director – are still being allowed to stand as Tory candidates in the election on July 4?

Surely you can understand that – yet again – this looks as though there is one rule for members of the Tory party, and another rule for everyone else, specifically on this occasion a serving police officer.

If you can see how wrong that is, will you now at the very least remove your support for Mr Williams and Ms Saunders as Conservative election candidates?

At this point in the campaign the Conservative party cannot stop people being identified as Tory candidates because some ballot papers have been printed and postal votes are being sent out. But a party can disown a candidate, as Labour did with its candidate in Rochdale in the byelection earlier this year.

McFadden also challenges Sunak to confirm that the Conservative party will cooperate with the Gambling Commission, which is conducting an investigation.

No-one is above the law and it is essential that the taint of corruption now surrounding the behaviour of some who may have known about the election date is properly investigated and punished.

And he claims the latest allegations are evidence of the “pattern of behaviour” from Tories. He says:

This is a pattern of behaviour running through the modern incarnation of the Conservative party.

It says that – whatever is happening to the rest of the country, whatever the rules may say, and whatever the basic concepts of right and wrong might dictate – the bottom line is can we make a quick profit out of it?

You promised professionalism, integrity and accountability. You have ended up with your own closest colleagues allegedly using their inside knowledge of an election announcement to try and con money out of the bookmakers, and being allowed to stay on in their roles while a serving police officer accused of the same offence has been suspended and arrested.

I urge you to gain a sense of urgency and decency about this matter, and do what is necessary both to establish how wide this scandal goes, and take immediate action against all those implicated.

It will speak volumes if you choose to stay silent and do nothing instead.

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Today the Conservative party posted this video on its main X account, attacking Labour’s policy on small boats, and its refusal to back deportations to Rwanda.

Caroline Lucas, who is standing down as a Green party MP, has described this advert as “disgusting”.

This is so disgusting. Imagine the mindset that made this. People are dying. Afraid. Exploited and desperate. The Tories now chasing Reform to the very hard right and it’s sickening. Just when you think they couldn’t sink any lower …

Farmers and supermarkets have accused the main political parties of ignoring the risk of severe food shortages in Britain, calling the issue a “worrying blind spot” in their general election campaigns, Jack Simpson reports.

The Scottish Greens’ manifesto is proposing a “transformative vision” to deliver a green economy, co-leader Lorna Slater has said.

The party launched its manifesto at an event in Edinburgh this morning and Slater said it was “by far the most hopeful, urgent and ambitious of this election, with bold and credible plans to deliver the change we need and live up to the scale of the crisis we face”.

She went on:

There is nothing inevitable about climate breakdown. We know that we have to radically reduce our emissions and build a fairer, greener economy. But our governments need to show the political will to do it.

That is why we’re offering a plan to transition away from fossil fuels and build the green, clean and renewable industries of the future.

By securing a record vote for the Scottish Greens, we can send shock-waves through our politics and deliver the strongest possible message for people and planet.

As PA Media reports, in the 56-page manifesto, the Greens outline plans for a wealth tax on the richest people in the UK, an end to oil and gas companies being able to advertise, and a stop on all subsidies for fossil fuels. All public sector pension funds, the party said, should also fully divest from fossil fuels.

The party would also levy a private jet tax of £1,000 a head on those using their own planes to travel to or within the UK.

The Scottish Greens do not have any MPs, but they are small but significant force in the Scottish parliament. The collapse of their power-sharing agreement with the SNP lead to Humza Yousaf resigning as first minister.

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The Bank of England would have been more likely to cut interest rates today if there was no election campaign taking place, George Osborne, the former Tory chancellor, has claimed.

Speaking on his Political Currency podcast, which he co-hosts with Ed Balls, Osborne said:

The irony here is that if Rishi Sunak had not called an early election, today would be the day when the Bank of England almost certainly would be cutting interest rates for the first time in a couple of years.

If he had waited to the autumn, as all of his senior cabinet were urging him to do and everyone was expecting him to do, he would today not be in the middle of an election campaign. He’d be able to say ‘Look, the interest rates are coming down.’

And over the next few months, he would have had an answer to Rachel Reeves’ charge. She says, ‘Oh, well, people are still feeling [the cost of living crisis]’. But in a few months time, maybe people would start to say, ‘Well, you know, actually, I’m feeling a little bit better off than I was.’

Some commentators have claimed that the Bank of England was reluctant to cut rates today because that would have been seen as a partisan intervention in the election campaign, helpful to the Tories. But the Bank claims the timing of the election did not affect its decision making.

20 Jun 202410.33 EDT

Students in England will graduate this summer owing £48,000 on average in maintenance and tuition fee loans, figures show

Richard Adams

Students in England will graduate this summer each owing £48,000 in maintenance and tuition fee loans, according to figures from the Student Loans Company showing a 9% increase compared to last year. Higher interest rates and increased take up of maintenance loans were behind the rise. A decade ago, in 2013-14, the average loan balance was just £20,000.

The total amount of higher education lending has now reached more than £230bn, up from £205bn in 2022-23. £15bn was the result of accrued interest, while graduates repaid £4.6bn during the year.

Newly published figures also show that previous graduates in England faced a difficult job market, with pay hit by higher inflation.

The Department for Education’s longitudinal education outcomes for 2021-22 show that graduates in employment were paid an average of £29,900 five years after leaving university. Adjusted for inflation, first degree graduates were paid £25,800 (in 2015-16 prices), 2.3% lower than a year earlier.

Government spending rules must be changed to free up funding to tackle climate change, the Alliance party has said. Alliance is the main cross-community party in Northern Ireland and, as PA reports, in its manifesto it called for reform of Treasury fiscal rules to allow for investment in a green new deal.

At the manifesto launch, Naomi Long, the party leader, said the current fiscal rules “reinforce climate inaction” in the UK. She said:

The Leading Change manifesto is not standalone but dovetails with previous Alliance publications, setting out our policy priorities for the next five years over issues which Westminster has direct control or influence.

Alliance is already leading change in a number of areas, including better health outcomes, making communities safer, expanding integrated education and delivering affordable childcare.

We are also working to combat climate change, promote a greener and cleaner environment, and create a dynamic and vibrant economy.

That includes our proposals to change the UK government’s fiscal rules, to better reflect the huge cost associated with climate inaction.

One Alliance MP was elected in 2019, Stephen Farry, in North Down. At this election the party is particularly hoping that Farry will hold his seat and that Long will be able to beat Gavin Robinson, the DUP leader, in East Belfast, which they are both contesting.

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