General election: Diane Abbott makes defiant statement at rally as Labour MP Russell-Moyle suspended – live

When Rishi Sunak took the podium to deliver his speech as Prime Minister at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester last October, there was little he could say that had not already been leaked to the media.

But he had a secret weapon: his wife Akshata Murty.

Now the Tory leader, who is 27 percentage points behind, is hoping to repeat the trick by having Ms Murty campaign alone and help turn the tide in his favour.

The Supreme Court has ordered Rishi Sunak’s government to come clean about when the first migrants will be flown to Rwanda under the Tories’ flagship plan.

A Supreme Court judge issued the order as part of a lawsuit filed by the FDA union against the plans, which would result in the deportation of some asylum seekers to the East African country.

The FDA, which represents senior government officials, fears that government officials may be required to break international law to carry out the deportations.

If Labour wants to be a party of ambition and the economy, it has missed a lot with its policy towards non-doms, says John Rentoul:

Labour’s plans to scrap tax relief for fee-paying private schools cannot be challenged in court because of Brexit, a leading expert claims.

Dan Niedle, founder of the think tank Tax Policy Associates, warned that Reform UK chairman Richard Tice’s plans to challenge the Labour Party in court would fail because he had previously successfully campaigned for an exit from the European Union.

Labour wants to end the charity status of private schools, meaning parents will have to pay 20 per cent VAT on top of already horrendous annual fees, which will average £20,480 for day pupils and £34,790 for boarding pupils in 2022, according to financial adviser St James Place.

Labour’s election campaign descended into chaos as Diane Abbott’s future threatened to overshadow the party’s major announcements on health and economic issues.

The future of the pioneering MP for Hackney North, who was the first black woman elected to Parliament, was thrown into uncertainty when she announced that she had been barred from running again despite the restoration of party discipline after months of suspension.

But hours later, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer insisted that Ms Abbott had been “not prevented” from standing as a candidate, while trying to promote Labour’s policy of reducing NHS waiting lists.

The first week of the six-week British election campaign saw hectic activity but little movement.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s surprise decision to call a general election on July 4 has sparked a mad race among political parties to finalise candidate lists, arrange photo opportunities and send their politicians to key campaign sites across the country. The parties have also begun making election promises to British voters.

Here are five insights from the campaign so far:

Rishi Sunak suffered a major blow after Parliament’s most influential committee concluded that the Home Office had “no credible plan” for returning asylum seekers to Rwanda.

The unanimous report of the Public Accounts Committee, a cross-party group of conservative-majority MPs, said there was “little confidence” in the Home Office’s ability to implement the Rwanda plan.

The deportation flights to Rwanda have long been Sunak’s solution to “stop the small boats” and end the flow of asylum seekers to British shores.

The MP for Brighton Kemptown said in a statement that he had received a letter of administrative suspension “out of the blue”.

He said: “Someone (whose name remains unknown to me) has made what I believe to be a vexatious and politically motivated complaint about my conduct eight years ago. This is a false allegation which I completely deny and I believe was designed to disrupt this election.

Time is running out until the parliamentary election on July 4, and the major parties are facing a race for voters’ favor ahead of election day.

The Conservatives and Labour have been locked in a heated exchange over issues such as the economy, immigration and national security, and party leaders Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer are also expected to face each other in televised debates.

ITV announced on Wednesday that the first head-to-head debate between the two candidates in the general election will take place on Tuesday 4 June at 9pm on ITV1, ITVX, STV and STV Player.

Hundreds of people gathered outside Hackney Town Hall on Wednesday to support Diane Abbott, reports The Independent‘s racing correspondent Nadine White from Hackney.

Allies stood on the steps of the building holding signs reading “I stand with Diane,” a sign reading “Hands off our Congresswoman,” and a red banner reading “#SolidarityWithDianeAbbott.”

Speeches by the rally organisers, voters and Mrs Abbott herself were met with murmurs of approval and thunderous applause from the crowd.

“Diane is a beacon for us, we are here for her, we want her to stand up, we need her voice out there. So we stand with Diane,” organizer Lucie Scott told the crowd, who repeatedly chanted “We stand with Diane” in response.

Speak with The Independent After the rally, Ms Scott said: “We don’t want an independent candidate. We have a two-party system, we have the machinery, the mechanisms of government.”

“As an individual, you are very limited in what you can do. She was loyal: why would she leave (Labour) and start over with a party she had been a member of for 40 years?

“If the Labour Party has changed so much that they can’t run now, then there’s something wrong with the current Labour Party and they need to listen if they want to win because they need the black vote. And we’re relevant.”