Parties launch election campaigns across the UK

So, on the first day of the general

election

campaign, Rishi Sunak and Sakir Starma began addressing voters across the country. The First Minister, who has just arrived in the Scottish Highlands, began his day in Darbishire, where he told people to put their trust in him. on it and the return of economic stability the union leader was in Kent declaring it was time to end the chaos our political journalist Gary Gibbon is reporting across the country The applause is working the crowd is upside down banners are being choreographed the

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is being held prepared the plan is working richy sunak started his day in nottingham by tirelessly repeating his campaign message and with bold action and a clear plan a clear plan to take some bold action i am willing to stick to a plan in the interviews i The prime minister said there would now be no flight to Rwanda taking off before the general election.

There has been speculation that a simple deportation of asylum seekers could come just before Election Day. We will ensure that the Next Generation grows up smoke-free. A new promotional video that is already outdated. Bold Sunak. Bill Smoking Ban is one of the many legislative victims of early elections, there is no time to pass them, but look at last, the elections have been called, the time has come and the wait is over. K Starma's campaign in Kent was also relentless. onscript and we've had, we've had 14 years of going around and around in circles getting nowhere chaos and division fueling chaos and division rishy sunak called kir starma to participate in a television debate every campaign six weeks knowing that the Labor leader currently plans to keep two.

He is looking forward to watching all the football in Wales, where they have not qualified for the Euros. Sun's question was met with silence. Oh, some people would have fun with anyone who plays for England. I will not do it. but daring sunak won by mileage as he finished his first day of campaigning in iness this lens in the middle please Conservative strategists will be relieved Reform Party

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was missing a famous face Nigel Farage said early elections meant he had no time to cultivate a seat and I will run for Parliament, but I would campaign.

I will, but also, as the year goes on, I will be in the United States more and more because I believe that Trump returning to the White House makes the world a much safer place, so for those who think, thank you. My God, he's gone, no, I'm not gone at all and at some point I'll come back as a candidate. This is not the right time for me. Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davy visited the Conservatives in Cheltonham and appealed for manpower. supporters to lend their votes in seats like this, we have seen in so many parts of the country where it is a vote for the Liberal Democrats that will get rid of the Conservative MP.

Today's witness, Isy Sunak, was reminding voters of his Cable Co devising Furlow. the cabinet secretary was telling the covid inquiry that Richy Sunak was going out to eat to help. The plan happened without him telling her. He also spoke of general failings in Boris Johnson's government. Duplication of efforts. Overlapping meetings. The kind of good people were just being torn to pieces. that's what I saw okay so we have some time for some questions let's open up who has some hands up okay let's start there and go there great so thank you and welcome to the wash area in the distribution center.

Two interrogators turned out at HIZ. jackets didn't really work there, but they were specially invited Conservative councilors, right, you had a question, yes, Prime Minister, well, thank you for coming to see this morning. I imagine you're a pretty busy guy right now, a reminder that not everything is like that. It looks like there will be a staging of the election on your screens for the next 6 weeks. Well, Gary joins me now in the central lobby of Westminster. Gary, you've had a long day, how was it? The message of discipline is back. We had Boris Johnson, Jeremy Corbin in the last general election, clearly you have two people here who are capable of learning and reciting adnam slogans and learned scripts and that is what they are doing so far, at some point some spontaneity will break through in this campaign, but you didn't really see it that day.

What everyone is wondering is whether there are dividends and any signs that the snap election is working for Rishi Sunak. Well, some around him would say: look what Nigel Farage said today, saying what if it had been later. election might have cultivated an electorate could be running, perhaps that's a sign of the wisdom of these early elections from RI Sun's perspective, but I'm not entirely sure there were very strong indications that Nigel Farage was going to keep his focus on in the United States every time these elections occurred, the other thing is the victim, so to speak, of an early election that we have seen today, is the whitewashing, as it is called when they rush to pass those bills that the two main

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, both sides of Parliament, can agree. and that has been happening, but in the process bills come up that can't be agreed or haven't made enough progress yet and they just go in the dustbin and include what the Prime Minister said was one of his great legacy issues smoking ban and, uh, no-fault eviction, no-fault eviction ban, but today again, like yesterday, there have been a lot of Tory MPs saying why the early election and when did I meet Richie Sunak? at the start of your first day of campaigning in Nan today that's what I asked you you announced the election against the backdrop of inflation figures you said it all showed that the economic plan was working so why not show the economic plan a little more for a while? a few more months basking in the glory, why go early?

Well, I know there is more work to do and people are just starting to feel the benefits of the change, but it is clear that our economic plan is working, inflation is back to normal, the economy is back to normal. is growing at a healthy pace, wages have risen faster than prices for months in a row and energy bills are going down, so the economic stability I promised has now been fulfilled and the question for the country is what future you he's prime minister with a majority, you could stay longer, you could show people more of that plan in action, it's a bit fishy, ​​it doesn't add up, it suggests you don't think the plan is going to pay wonderful dividends, eh. in the autumn when elections could be held, well here is the record of the last 18 months as far as the economy is concerned, inflation when I became prime minister was around 11%, now it is back to normal, little more of 2%, wages have been rising faster than prices for almost a year, energy bills have been reduced by almost 500, the economy at the beginning of this year was growing faster than almost all of our main competitors and, although I know it will take time for people to feel the benefits of It's all clear that that plan is working.

I stuck with it even when it was difficult and that's what leadership is all about. You say you have a plan on immigration, but if I understand you from previous interviews today, you don't believe it. a flight will take off before the general elections, no one will have the opportunity to test that policy that you brought on the flight to Rwanda and see if it works, see if it works, it will go to the electorate before it is tested again. Well, immigration is a big issue in this election and the security of our borders is important.

Well, let's look at what we have done when it comes to legal migration. Why not wait for the flights to take off to let people see if they have an impact, a deterrent impact that creeps into the numbers that cross the channel, so that could answer the question about migration, legal migration, the numbers are too high, I have said I will reduce them, they have already gone down in a quarter this year which shows that the plan is working and when it comes to illegal migration, we have put in place all plans to get flights to Rwanda in July, we have stopped people, we have hired the cas workers we have booked the airfield, the flights are ready, all that is done, but the elections are about the future and the choice.

I believe in a deterrent now. I think if people come here illegally they shouldn't be able to stay, we should be able to expel them. send them to a safe third country like Rwanda. This is how we will break the cycle. K Sta doesn't think he would scrap that plan if he were Prime Minister, giving us the soft touch of Europe by offering an amnesty to illegal immigrants and that is the choice people have in this election you know why I ask this question because they will have had discussions in the room when they decided to have an early election when they call an election how they call an election frame the initial part of that election and people don't understand why you go early, they tell us that you've always had it in mind to go early and you were telling Tor MPS and to anyone who wanted to hear that you were going to have elections in the second half of the year. year, if I told you I was GNA, I would lend you some money but I wouldn't ask you back until the second half of the year and then I would ask you two days after the second half of the year, you think it was a bit slippery, it's It's all a bit strange, yes, economic stability has been restored, that's what I said I would do as Prime Minister and now it's time to look to the future and that's what we are doing and on illegal migration there is a clear option if I am prime minister.

Minister, we will get flights to Rwanda. I think that's an important part of stopping the boats. You need a deterrent. Many other European countries now agree with that approach. K this doesn't and it's a simple choice. It's a great policy. Prove it. in action stay a few more months that is a simple choice for the country when they are making their decision they want to stop the ships they believe that needs a deterrent and if they do that is what I will deliver prepared to take bold action. I have a clear plan, this is how I will deliver a secure future for our country and K Starma.

Will there be no choice in these elections? Who can you trust to take bold action? You will stick to a clear plan. to offer a secure future, that's what I mean by that word security and stability that you talk about, can you say with your hand on your heart, vote for the conservative party for stability? Some people think that rings a little hollow given the last few years. Well, because I have restored economic stability to our country. Ask about the conservative party. I am the Conservative Prime Minister. Oh, how long were they there? It seemed like they were coming for you not long ago.

They were having meetings discussing what interests them. Westminster process the country is interested in substance and the problem is that inflation is back to normal wages are growing faster than prices for almost a year energy bills are falling the economy is growing and although I know it will take time for people to feel the full benefits of that it is clear that our plan is working prime minister thank you for your time thank you now from the Rwanda flights to the number of students migration is emerging as a major issue in this general election our data and fact-checking team has been analyzing how the party's main records can, on a key measure being legal migration, over which the government has more direct control over the news.

Statistics released today reveal that net migration, that is, the number of people arriving here legally minus those leaving, has decreased, that is, from an all-time high in 2022 of 764. Today's figures show that the year After this amount it fell 10% to 685,000. The vast majority of people arriving are on work or student visas or their families, 10 times the number of asylum applications since the Conservatives took power in 2010. Net migration has soared from 256,000 to almost 700,000. Today, in that context the latest fall does not seem so significant, but what about the last Labor government? Well, when Tony Blair took office in 1997, he inherited very little net migration from the Conservatives in 1999.

Net migration had risen to 48,000 in 1997. The time workers left in 2010 was more than 5 times the agency's control of government spending the OB says greater migration helps grow the economy although when it comes to wealth per person the picture is less clear the conservatives told us voters have a clear choice between their A bold plan to control migration o go back to square one with labor told us that today's statistics show complete chaos from the conservatives and will bring proper plans to link the points-based immigration systemwith increasing skills in the UK, so charged the veteran Labor shadow home secretary, Cooper.

The conservatives of the total failure of their immigration figures policy say they cannot clear up their own chaos according to the Austrian chancellor. 15 EU member states support the government's policy in Rwanda, so when I spoke to AET Cooper recently I asked him if In fact, what other European countries are saying is that we should work in partnerships in a very different way to the plan from Rwanda. What we heard today from the Prime Minister was actually an admission that the Rwanda plan is a asylum seekers, so it is not a plan that works or is feasible and instead what we have to do is put it Instead, money for border security is not the truth on small ships and there is also talk of work visas.

You don't have a policy, as we know, about reducing student visas and reducing health and social care visas, for example, unless there is something you can do. If you're not telling us, it sounds like you're trying to give the impression that you're going to drastically reduce numbers, you don't have the policies to back it up, you haven't disclosed them, we put forward some proposals, last year, to get rid of the unfair 20% discount. in overseas recruitment that the government has adopted, that is now welcomed and there are other measures that have been put in place which we support but unless the shortage of suitable skills is resolved this will not be resolved, for example engineering visas have increased at the same time as engineering apprenticeships have halved. they are related and that is why what we would do is properly link the points based system with plans to address the skills shortage and address the need for the skills that we have in the economy so that there is not continually offshore hiring as an alternative to investment.

In training it as a party, Rachel Reeves, its shadow chancellor has copied and pasted many of the Tories' tax and spending commitments, eg national insurance cut debt rule etc, which involves quite a few cuts striking in their law patch. and Order is like that, so we have identified areas of policing where we believe savings can be made that can then be reinvested in frontline policing, for example police foundations based on the independent work of independents. police foundation estimated that between £7 million and £800 million savings could be achieved through new joint procurement deals rather than having 43 forces all doing their own multiple contracts, we have been much more cautious, we have estimated that around half of that would go to Frontline Policing and that would fund about 13,000 additional, uh, special police officers to be able to work in our communities.

Savings, as you and I know, rarely materialize in the amount promised by politicians before elections if you don't get those savings. Would you be willing to borrow to fund the police more effectively? Would you be willing to raise taxes to fund the police more effectively? I am a former Chief Secretary of the Treasury and know that it is possible to implement programs that provide Procurement Savings. I've seen that done before by the government and I've worked on it in the government as well. Even you know that the judicial service is on its knees. The prison service is wrong.

There are certainly areas where the courts and the prison service have huge problems. and that's partly because the government, although it allocated the money, the funding was there, it just didn't deliver on the prison places it promised, but as things stand, you follow your spending plans on that, which means massive cuts to a service that is already in operation. okay on our knees except when it comes to policing what we are saying is that we have identified where the savings would be and we have been much more cautious than the police foundation, it is based on independent work and we believe that we can ensure that we can get it. investment finally it looks like your former leader Jeremy Corbin will stand as an independent against your party what is your message to him look we are campaigning for a Labor government this is the chance to change the country the Labor party has changed under the K Starmer government leadership and you were right to do that, your friend Diane Abbott gets the whip back so I hope that situation gets resolved as quickly as possible and I've said that before I get the whip back in 24 hours.

I hope this is resolved as soon as possible, but as a member of the shadow cabinet I cannot comment on an independent process and I am sorry, but I want it to happen as quickly as possible. complete within 24 hours due to the dissolution of parliament, isn't it? I hope it gets fixed as quickly as possible, but I can't comment on it as a standalone process. Cooper, thank you very much, thank you Kathy, just as Gary mentioned. It was previously known as whitewashing, a race against time to ensure important bills don't end up on the scrapheap as MPs decide what gets scrapped and what becomes law before Parliament is dissolved. 16 bills are heading into their final stages and they could be fast. - signed into law, among those expected to pass are the Victims and Prisoners Bill which includes measures to establish a compensation scheme for those affected by the infected blood scandal and one for victims of the Horizon scandal .

The mail crime bill would void criminal convictions. of subpostmasters who were unfairly prosecuted, but others are expected to fall, such as the prime minister's landmark anti-smoking bill that would have banned vapes and cigarettes to anyone born after 2009. There is also no chance for the bill tenant reform law that would have strengthened tenants' rights and ruled out no-fault evictions and the criminal justice bill that proposed expanding police powers, as well as plans to criminalize to those who create sexually explicit fakes that this program has investigated. Now let's get to Aisha on the slopes, thanks Kathy. If the polls are correct and the Conservatives face a red wall of gains in the solar red wall, former Labor centers who won in 2015 take Dudley in the West Midlands, the constituency boundary there was changed last year, but having take those changes into account in 2019.

The election result would have given the Conservatives a majority of just over 13,500 votes. The seat is now one of Labour's top targets. Our political correspondent Paul McNamara is there. It was here in Dudley in 2011 that a company called Westfield produced the first commercially viable electric racing car in the last election red walled seats like Dudley were the battlefield the weapon of that war leveling up and we will back that Vision this government will back that Vision this is a government that stands behind Britain and believes in British innovation in 2024 It's a battleground again, but it's work tanks on the grass where they

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ed their local election campaign and the messages are quite similar local growth plans .

That is the commitment we made today, this time the conservative message is different, the message is economic, the plan is working and we. Having that economic stability back among voters in places that last voted to the Conservatives is getting a mixed reception. Well, Richy soon believes that his financial plans are working. What do you think? I don't believe it. Nobody likes him. I don't believe it. No one likes that, it's a bit hard no, it's not hard to be honest, you have to look at the economic situation and it's so bad, so bad, they have to see the people they don't have, like they don't have jobs, she said.

I would say, look yesterday, inflation. The numbers were going down, that depends on him, do you believe him? I don't think so, do you agree with him? Well, he seems to be working, doesn't he? He's come a long way, his things got ruined, he's had a, he's had a lot. to do and um sorry, he seems to be working whether it's enough or not. I don't know I'll say R soon get rid of him yeah I don't agree yeah she does but yeah K Kama he hasn't shown anything yet but me. d I would support Rishi Sunak in these streets, although that opinion seems to be in the minority.

Rich Sunak says his economic plan is working. What do you think? No, it's not, no, no, no, it's not working. No Labor messages today. although it is repeated enough, all we humbly ask now is the chance to change our country, change, change, change, change, change the problem for Sunak risky, even the conservative voters of yesteryear in this red wall seat are open to that work message, although they still need something. compelling within the next six weeks, when the details come out, I think that's when to make a decision so K's staff can end up winning your vote if they get those details, we'll see last November.

Dudley received 40 million money to level up, but he didn't do it. voters feel his city is improving, a city that is also about to get a much-needed tram stop connecting it to the West Midland Metro. Do you feel like you've leveled up? No, not yet, no, you don't think so either. not yet not yet not yet so you think hope is coming because tra is coming so we have a hope so let's see I say it's getting there say yes yes it's getting there even though you can see things probably abandon whatever it is but I believe things probably They are changing.

Do you feel very level in the last 5 years? No, I don't know who to vote for 5 years ago, in the last general election. Did you think the same then? No, I knew, I knew who I was voting for and for whom. you voting for who you were voting for then I don't really I don't want to say if he had the same type of hair as you maybe none of the above can be as attractive an option for many voters in this seat In this election anyway, 5 years after the race for the red wall, the electoral tectonic plates have completely moved and Paul joins us from Dudley with some news on candidate selection.

Paul, yes, Labor might have plans for this seat that they haven't actually selected. one candidate still that's the same in about 50 60 places across the country Labor campaign manager P Fen said it will probably be fixed in the coming days, it's not just a problem for the Labor party, although we have been, we have state shows an email sent by conservative party headquarters to potential candidates asking people to stand for 93 seats and when people have asked they will win by the deadline, they have been told conservative party headquarters just 48 hours ago, In truth, many of these seats are Labor strongholds that are looking for what is called a paper candidate just to get someone to put their name on the list, but some of them should be quite attractive to the Conservatives, such as Baron Edmund Tory since 2015, Basilon and Bill Ricky, the majority, there are 20,000 associations we have spoken to are quite furious, they have been left in such a state of unpreparedness.

This is an election that has not only been thrown at the nation, but it has been thrown at the conservative party itself. Paulk, thank you. Thank you very much Paul, again with Kathy in Westminster Aisha, thank you very much. UK Reform Party leader Richard TI has confirmed that he will take the Boston and Skes seat, but it was the party's honorary president, Nigel Farage, who has been at the center of all the speculation today. I sat down with Mr Ty earlier and told him that Mr Farage was ready to announce his candidacy next week and then he withdrew, so Rishy Sunak's call for an early election threw all his plans for the air.

The truth is that the early elections were called because the Tores are terrified that we will rise in the polls and they will fall from the poles and what they would face if they held them during the summer would be that we would overtake them, that you are blinking. You yourself are a little there, but aren't you? Look, you see everyone said 3 years ago 1% laughed at us, including conservatives and the media. Now the conservatives are absolutely terrified of us, so all they're doing is attacking us, the truth is. voting Tory getting a job is a blow to your ego, although knowing the T is a huge relief that he won't be running as a C.

I'm delighted that Nigel is campaigning with us and what we can see in the reaction of the Conservatives today is that they are terrified, they know that they have destroyed Britain, they know that they betrayed everyone with the mass migration figures that came out this morning. The attentionmedical is getting slower. Health is more. biggest of all time, why because of the enormous additional pressure because tourists have betrayed Britain with mass immigration, well, the wait, the waiting list could have a lot to do with the fact that we have an aging population and a sicker population, being quite young, really, that's it. to do with the extra demand for surgeons what NHS waiting list immigrants are young they are not pressured you are saying no none of the 2 and a half million people have come here in the last two years none of them are using the NHS.

I'm just a serious collaborator. I'm fine, I'm questioning your evidence on that. The evidence of that is that the waiting list, all the elements of healthcare, is a disaster and therefore the outcomes are worse, our excess deaths are worse and here's the other one. The evidence is that we have the longest recession since records began 70 years ago and you really believe that Net Zero immigration, which is their policy, would absolutely help the economy because, guess what it does, it increases demand for labor. labor, which means that the price of the labor of the least favored, the lowest paid rises, that is good, it also drives capital investment because if companies cannot pay for labor, guess what they do, they invest in capital equipment, according to your basic economics, the only person who mentions it to the contrary, and the basic economics is that the economy is driven by migration and that is why successive administrations and I let you finish, you have to let me finish, that is why successive administrations have allowed migration to flourish, which is why we have the decade of lowest growth. for 70 years we have had the longest recession per person in 70 years that is evidence pro that is evidential evidence you don't think Brexit has a role to play in that none at all the fact of none at all CU Kathy more people will come what proves my point, people want to come to the UK but the reality is we have lower wages, the mainstream media can't accept the fact that brexit is a huge opportunity.

I accept that this government voted for Brexit, I do not believe that was the case. a great opportunity now they are feeling remorse at all There is no remorse the only sadness there is no remorse false fact false the remorse is that this conservative government has not seized a great opportunity for brexit you say you will stand candidates in every seat except In Northern Ireland, how many candidates do you have ready? We have about 500 approved and assigned and that changes literally every hour and we have a couple hundred in the process, so we will stay like I say 630, there is always a little filler in the roster.

As you get closer to the last day, well, you've got the money because we're on the right track, no problem. I mean, you've said you'll basically ruin the Tories, they'll be out of action if they deserve it. They deserve to be replaced given what they have done to this country it is terrible if you don't get a single MP you pack your bags and go home this is a medium term project medium term plan a medium term game so that Nigel Farage can stand in the next election, could the ANP wait and see Nigel? You know, Nigel is the one that works best for him.

At that point he can participate in the US elections and then come back and do others. He has to decide what he wants to do. and, you know, we're very good friends and he's happy to campaign for us and he's got some fantastic advice onwards and upwards. Richard Ty, thank you very much, so the search for votes has begun and also the promises, but the public. the spending plans that would have to pay for them are extremely tight our economics reporter Neil McDonald is here with me Neil what do we know about what's good not enough I think you could say given the importance of this decision for the next Parliament I mean The government has set out the total amount it wants to spend over the next 5 years, but hasn't said much about how that pie will be divided and it looks like people will now vote without getting that information. um The Institute of Physical Studies has worked on a possible scenario of what could happen, which suggests that there could be big cuts in some departments, so they calculate that in the next five years total spending will grow by 1% per year taking into account inflation counts. but they say some areas will grow faster, the NHS will grow faster, of course there are protections for defence, aid and childcare, which will grow very quickly as they grow faster, something else has to be declining, uh, and they believe that those unprotected budgets will be reduced by 2.3% a year in real terms, so Kathy, we're talking about prisons, we're talking about local government, we're talking about higher education and the courts, all areas under one enormous pressure. declining not just one year by 2.3%, but potentially four years in a row and I was talking about some of that with I Cooper before, but are those numbers you're talking about inevitable?

No, I mean what he says with 20 billion a year. you could avoid that, um, you could choose to increase it through taxes, you could choose, of course, to borrow. To me, clearly, the Conservatives and Labor don't seem to be in favor of that, um, could you cut it from the benefits bill? Could you increase productivity in these? enough areas to absorb these cuts, perhaps, but I think any of those options would also involve some pretty difficult choices and you mentioned taxes, what's the big picture of wages that could pay for this, it would be easier to make these decisions if we hadn't experienced 15 years of real pay, growth basically stopped and the Resolution Foundation says that's basically what happened.

I can show you here what the average weekly income is in the 21st century and in real terms you can see that they basically stopped growing approximately. At the time of the 2008 financial crisis, the Resolution Foundation has now imagined an alternative Universe in which they would continue to grow and, in that case, their average weekly income in real terms would now be £276 higher, now Kathy, i.e. 14,000 a year on average and Of course, higher salaries would bring higher taxes and that would make some of those spending decisions we were talking about earlier could have been much more generous.

Neil. Thank you very much for joining us.