2024 general election news: Nigel Farage says Tories are ‘deeply divided’ over calls to suspend candidates in betting scandal

Borrowers hoping for relief from higher costs are likely to be disappointed by the expectation that UK interest rates will not be cut despite inflation returning to target.

The Bank of England left its base rate at 5.25% after official figures showed inflation hit its 2% target last month for the first time since July 2021.

If a Labour candidate had used insider information to bet on the election, “he would not have touched the ground on the way out,” said Sir Keir Starmer.

Asked about allegations that Conservative candidate Laura Saunders had bet on the date of the general election, Sir Keir said: “This candidate should be suspended and it is very telling that Rishi Sunak has not yet done so.

“If it had been one of my candidates, he would have left without even touching the ground with his feet.

“You have raised a broader point here, which is that we have now had 14 years of chaos and division, in which politics has been about entitlement, when politics should be about service to the common good.

“That is one of the options we have in this election – more of the same or turn over a new leaf, rebuild the country and put politics back to work, and that is exactly what I will do as Labour leader.”

Labour will pass a law to prevent landlords from engaging in “bidding wars” between potential tenants, Sir Keir Starmer said.

Asked how Labour planned to tackle rising rents without introducing a rent cap, he told Sky News: “You can stop the bidding wars because what happens there is that the landlord switches between two or three different tenants and drives the rent up and up.”

“We will not allow them to do that. We will introduce a law that prohibits them from doing that, because at the moment what happens is that they move back and forth between tenants, so to speak.”

“We also need to stop the exorbitant bail payments that people are being asked to pay and make sure that conditions are good because we have heard of these horrific cases of mold and damp and the impact that this has on people and in some tragic cases even leads to death.”

Nigel Farage said the Conservatives had “lost their soul” after 14 years in power.

The Reform leader said: “The Conservatives deserved to lose the election and Labour did not deserve to win. Don’t feel guilty about abandoning them, they abandoned you. 14 years of Tory government and they might as well rename themselves the SDP.”

“Low taxes, little freedom, lots of immigration… they have lost their soul.”

The Conservatives have released an election campaign video in which they accuse the Labour Party of “welcoming migrants” if they win the election.

The clip shows a red carpet being laid out on a beach with the word “Welcome” written in the sand.

But voters criticized the post online, calling it “terrible.” Others called on the party to “rethink its PR strategy.”

Nigel Farage said the party was not doing well with millennials, but claimed “something extraordinary is happening with Generation Z”.

He added: “A young generation is awakening that is tired of being dictated to and lectured to.

“I’ve been sent these incredible photos of young guys (at the 2024 European Championship in Germany) wearing masks with my face on them. There are crowds of people chanting my name.”

Nigel Farage claimed in his speech in Frodsham that the Tories deserved to lose the general election.

After crowning himself the “sexiest party leader,” he attacks the political status quo, adding: “We are in economic and moral decline. We have lost touch with our Judeo-Christian roots in this country. This country is broken.”

He tells voters that reform would bring the necessary “change” while “the Conservatives are tearing themselves, or what’s left of them, to pieces.”

The reform leader says: “The Conservatives deserve to lose the election and Labour does not deserve to win.”

Nigel Farage has said Reform UK is at the heart of the general election debate and he believes his party could win more votes than expected.

The party leader says: “I have experienced this through my door-to-door conversations and extensive research. I just know that we are having the conversation.”

“There are many millions more who say they will vote for us and others who have not yet made up their minds.”

Nige Farage has told voters in Cheshire that the idea Labour could stop the Channel crossing was “nonsense” and that Rishi Sunak “doesn’t have the courage” to withdraw from the ECHR.

Mr Farage said: “We will never send planes to Rwanda. We will never send anyone to Rwanda as long as we are part of the Strasbourg-based court, which was set up immediately after the Second World War with the best of intentions and great support from people like Winston Churchill.”

“But this court has now become activist, this court has now become interventionist, this court is no longer up to its task, and this court says we cannot control our own borders, who might be here and who we can get rid of.”

He added: “Of course the snooty lawyer Sir Keir, he loves all these international courts and Sunak hasn’t the courage to deal with it because it would split his own party.

“But it is clear to us: we must leave the European Court of Human Rights and regain control.”