2024 General Election news: Rishi Sunak under pressure to suspend Tory candidate Laura Saunders over gambling investigation

The Scottish Greens publish their election manifesto in Edinburgh.

The party’s co-leader, Lorna Slater, promised a “Green New Deal” and the promotion of a “green economy” to bring Scotland to net zero emissions.

The party claims the program would be financed by tax increases on the wealthy.

Jeremy Hunt said he had “huge respect” for Rachel Reeves, despite their differing views on the tax issue.

Speaking at the Times CEO Summit, the Chancellor of the Exchequer said of his shadow: “I have huge respect for Rachel Reeves, I like her as a person and I think what is the big difference between her approach if she becomes Chancellor of the Exchequer and my approach? It comes down to tax.”

Hunt added: “The Labour Party believes that tax is, by and large, a force for good. It believes there are social justice reasons and it is happy with current levels of tax. In fact, the Labour manifesto even proposes tax increases of around £8 billion a year.”

“If we want to cut taxes – and I speak here as the finance minister who has raised taxes, and raised them significantly – then it’s hard work. It requires a lot of discipline. But I think it’s very, very important for our economic future.”

A candidate from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party criticised the monarchy and called members of the royal family “welfare parasites” during the anniversary celebrations.

Jo Hart posted further comments on Facebook in 2022, including “Fuck the Royals” and “Make Lizzy last.”

Ms Hart is running in Aberdeenshire North and Moray East, where the Labour Party suspended its candidate Andy Brown after he reportedly shared pro-Russian posts.

In her rant, which Hart said was published in a shared post, she said: “But then comes the Jubilee year and our ‘glorious monarch’ has never known the hardship of having to choose between heating and eating. She doesn’t have to worry about whether the lights stay on or not. In fact, the many, MANY millions squandered on the Jubilee celebrations didn’t even come out of her pocket, but out of the public coffers.”

She added: “All the time I hear people ranting about welfare parasites. The biggest welfare parasites are the monarchs, it’s time they were abolished! Screw the royals! #makelizzythelast.”

The Conservative Party’s campaign manager has taken a “leave of absence” following scandal allegations that key figures used insider knowledge to bet on the election date, our political editor David Maddox reports.

The Independent Tony Lee was informed that he had taken leave after it emerged that his wife Laura Saunders was being investigated for betting on the general election .

This means that the Conservative campaign, already in a tight spot with Labour holding a massive 20 percentage point lead, will be without its campaign manager.

The Independent has asked the Conservative Party for comment.

Nigel Farage claimed that immigration was “the real reason for the housing crisis” and that the Tories and Labour were “not telling voters the truth about it”.

The right-wing leader blamed people coming to Britain for rising rents and the housing shortage.

In a campaign video, he said: “For the Labour and Conservative parties, today is housing day. They will be talking about housing and access to housing, and the Labour party will be talking about rents.”

“I wonder if any of them will mention the fact that the British population has grown by ten million since Tony Blair came to power, six million of those since the Tories came to power in 2010, and 85 percent of that is directly due to immigration.

“That’s why people can’t get houses, that’s why rents have gone up by 20 to 30 percent in the last four years alone. But I bet they don’t even mention it, and that’s why we’re the only party telling the British people the truth in this election.”

Laura Saunders is the Conservative candidate for Bristol North West and is the latest party member to be investigated by the Gambling Commission over a bet related to the election date.

However, it is not known when the alleged bet was placed or what the amount was.

Ms Saunders has worked for the Tories for nearly a decade and is married to the party’s campaign director, Tony Lee. She is also the Conservative Party’s head of international affairs.

Labour has said the party will not keep the Conservatives’ promise to keep the stamp duty limit for first-time buyers at £425,000.

Shadow Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “The Conservatives have put forward a very concrete policy. I think it is a desperate policy, it is unfunded.”

“We don’t have the same policy. Our offer for first-time buyers is a Freedom to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme, which helps those who can afford mortgage repayments but are struggling with the deposit to get into the property market.”