2024 general election news: Keir Starmer calls on Sunak to immediately suspend candidates in Tory betting scandal

Nigel Farage has joined the growing attacks against the Conservative Party over election gambling allegations.

The chairman of Reform UK fumed: “The latest news shows that the Conservative Party is more corrupt than even its worst critics could have imagined. They are literally stealing the lightbulbs before they disappear. This is another shocking scandal.”

Douglass Ross has stated that Tory candidates under investigation for betting scandals should be expelled from the party if convicted.

The Scottish Conservative leader said: “The investigation has been launched to look into these allegations. If someone is guilty of using (information) they were privy to to place bets and benefit financially from it, that is totally unacceptable, it is totally wrong and they should no longer receive that support.”

“But there is an independent process and I think it is right that due process can continue.”

Patrick Harvie, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, accused the Conservative Party of moving towards “right-wing extremism”.

Launching his party’s manifesto in Edinburgh, Harvie claimed a post-election shake-up was “inevitable”.

Mr Harvie said: “In Britain, a realignment of the far right seems to be an inevitable consequence of this election.

“Together with the rise of online radicalism and far-right conspiracy platforms posing as news outlets, this poses a frightening threat to democracy.

“Even if it ultimately leads to their destruction, the truth is that the Conservative Party itself helped to cause this.

“Since Brexit, they have drifted ever more towards right-wing extremism and their culture war against vulnerable groups is one of the ugliest expressions of Tory politics in recent years.”

Former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas has criticised the Conservatives for an ad attacking the Labour Party over small boat crossings.

Ms Lucas said the ad was “disgusting”, adding: “Imagine the mentality behind it. People are dying. They are scared. They are being exploited and they are desperate.”

“The Tories are now pushing all the way to the right with their reform policies, and that is disgusting. And this despite the fact that people believe they could not sink any lower.”

Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves said Labour’s planning reforms were the result of a “breakfast of smoked salmon and scrambled eggs” and told business leaders she hoped their “fingerprints” would be all over the party’s manifesto.

She told The Times CEO Summit: “My mission is to make Britain the best place in the world to invest or to start and grow a business. So I hope that when you read our manifesto or our priorities, you see your hand everywhere.

“So the reforms in terms of planning are not something we thought up in our office. This is something that was probably first told to me at my first breakfast of smoked salmon and scrambled eggs a little over three years ago, when it was raised as an issue and then brought up countless times.”

She added: “I will not be able to create wealth and prosperity with the Treasury, but you will be able to. My role is to remove as many obstacles as possible that prevent you from investing.”