General election latest news: Michael Gove exit shows voters that Sunak’s plans can’t be trusted, Starmer claims

The Tories and Labour clashed over the economy as the Chancellor hinted at tax breaks for high earners while his opposite number insisted she had “no plans” to raise the burden on working people.

Jeremy Hunt signalled the Conservatives would seek to end the impact of tapering of personal allowances on larger incomes while Rachel Reeves vowed to deliver financial stability with a Thatcher-style commitment to “sound money”.

Workers lose £1 of their tax-free personal allowance for every £2 that their earnings go above £100,000, and anyone on more than £125,140 gets no allowance.

In an apparent bid to draw dividing lines with Labour, Mr Hunt used an interview with the Telegraph newspaper to dangle the prospect of a change to the current system.

“If you look at the distortions in the tax system between £50,000 and £125,000, they are bad economically because they disincentivise people from doing what we need, which is to work, work harder. And we are the party of hard work,” he said.

Mr Hunt also branded inheritance tax “profoundly anti-Conservative” but refused to be drawn on whether cuts to death duties would feature in the party manifesto.

The boss of a childcare firm backed by Rishi Sunak’s wife and hosted at a Downing St reception has said she is backing Labour after she saw at first hand how Tory infighting and the toppling of prime ministers prevented the introduction of key policies that would benefit parents.

Supporting Sir Keir Starmer in the general election, Rachel Carrell, the CEO and founder of Koru Kids, said the Conservatives “are not serious people” but Labour’s top team would give the UK the stability that is “absolutely essential to business growth and … getting necessary reforms through”.

She also said that she looked forward to “living in a country with competent leadership” after it had lurched from “crisis to crisis, embarrassment to embarrassment” under the Conservatives.

Read the full article from Kate Devlin here:

A minister has dismissed suggestions that Rishi Sunak is “taking the day off” as the Prime Minister campaigned in his constituency on Saturday morning.

Mr Sunak met local veterans in Yorkshire at the start of the weekend after completing a whistlestop two-day tour of the UK on Friday, though his plans for rest of the day had been unclear.

Treasury minister Bim Afolami confirmed the PM “will be campaigning” in the day as he was questioned about the weekend agenda on Sky News.

Asked whether the PM was “taking the day off” from the campaign trail, Mr Afolami told Sky News: “It’s not right. He’s going to be campaigning in Yorkshire.”

Asked whether Mr Sunak has lots of events planned, he said: “I don’t know what he’s got planned but I know he’s campaigning in Yorkshire today.”

The Prime Minister had a breakfast with local ex-servicemen in a Wetherspoons in Northallerton, in his Richmond constituency, in the morning.

Labour’s shadow environment secretary has said the UK’s water industry is broken, after several people were taken ill in south London.

Commenting on a potential contamination of London’s drinking water, Steve Reed MP said: “Just days ago, a parasite outbreak was making people sick in Devon, now London’s drinking water may not be safe to drink.

“The Conservatives just folded their arms and looked the other way while water companies pumped a tidal wave of raw sewage into our rivers, lakes, and seas – putting our nation’s health at risk.

“It’s time for change. A Labour government will put the water companies under tough special measures to end this scandal. We will give the regulator new powers so law-breaking water bosses face criminal charges and see their huge bonuses being blocked until they clean up their toxic filth.”

On a campaign visit to Stafford, the Labour leader confirmed plans to follow Scotland and Wales in extending the vote to a further 1.5 million people, telling reporters: “If you can work, if you can pay tax, if you can serve in your armed forces, then you ought to be able to vote.”

The “extremely straightforward” legislation will likely even appear as soon as the King’s Speech, a Labour source told The Times, which estimated that such a move could flip eight Tory seats red in England alone. It comes as Rishi Sunak is scrambling to find more than 190 candidates amid the largest exodus of Tory MPs since the Second World War, with 78 now announcing they are stepping down at the July election.

Read the full article from Andy Gregory here:

Rishi Sunak has said voters will be “at risk” and in a “more dangerous world” with a Labour government because “our enemies notice” if the UK “doesn’t have a plan”.

The Tories have sought to draw a dividing line with Sir Keir Starmer’s party over security after pledging to raise defence spending to 2.5% by 2030.

In a lengthy thread on X, the Prime Minister said on Saturday: “We all know that Labour doesn’t have a plan. But what does that actually mean if they got into power?

“Uncertainty… But what is the cost of this uncertainty?

“An uncertain future has consequences. Our enemies notice. The world becomes more dangerous as they take advantage of our weakness.”

He added: “The consequences of uncertainty are clear. No plan means a more dangerous world. You, your family and our country are all at risk if Labour win.”

The Conservatives have just advertised nine seats where MPs have recently stepped down.

They include Michael Gove’s Surrey Heath after his shock announcement yesterday. Also on the list is Wokingham which was held by arch Brexiteer Sir John Redwood.

Others in list of winnable Tory seats are Tunbridge Wells, Northampton North, South Northamptonshire, Bexleyheath and Crayford, Bexhill and Battle, Epping Forest and East Thanet.

East Thanet came vacant because Conservative MP Craig Mackinlay is still recovering from the aftermath of sepsis which almost killed him but led to him having his hands and legs amputated.

He is soaked in Downing Street on his launch, drowned out by triumphant Blair’s anthem, his MPs are fleeing the battlefield and he visits a Titanic museum. When you think things cannot get worse for Rishi Sunak, they do.

Is this the worst start to an election campaign in history, asks The Independent’s political editor David Maddox:

Sir Ed Davey’s party was continuing its trail across the South East on Saturday, with the leader hitting two marginal constituencies to highlight sewage-dumping as a key electoral battleground in areas near the coast.

The party leader was out door-stepping in education secretary Gillian Keegan’s constituency of Chichester, where he hopes to flip the Tory majority.

The Lib Dems claimed that party analysis shows water company bosses have pocketed some £54m in bonuses since 2019 as they announced plans for a new, strengthened water industry regulator to replace Ofwat.

Sir Keir Starmer has defended Labour’s decision to rebrand its package of workers’ rights pledges following a backlash from one of the UK’s biggest trade unions.

The party leader denied he was watering down policies on areas like zero-hours contracts, parental leave and sick pay after Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said the plans had “more holes than Swiss cheese”.

It comes after the latest flare-up in a row over Labour’s New Deal for Working People, following reports it would go through a formal consultation process with businesses – potentially delaying or toning down the pledges.

On Friday, Labour rebranded the New Deal as “Labour’s plan to make work pay”.