General election update: Starmer ‘continues’ ‘messy’ row with Abbott

Scottish First Minister John Swinney spoke about the SNP’s election campaign in Fife this afternoon.

The announcement comes after former First Minister and Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Nicola Sturgeon said she would continue to campaign while the party fights in the run-up to the general election.

our Scotland CorrespondentConor Gillies Asked whether Sturgeon would be a positive or negative factor for the campaign, Mr Swinney said: “Of course Nicola Sturgeon is a positive.”

“She’s an incredibly dynamic person who has led Scotland through some really difficult times,” he said, adding that he had spoken to people who praised her leadership.

“Nicola is a welcome addition to the campaign,” Mr Swinney added.

It’s 1:30pm and time for lunchtime recap.

Although the election campaign has only just begun, there have been many divisive policy announcements and controversies in the news.

Today we’re here to tell you all the information you may have missed…

• Sir Keir StarmerTouring the West Midlands Relieve the backlog of patients waiting more than 18 weeks for NHS treatment If a party comes to power, within five years of coming to power;
• But the message has been completely drowned out by uncertainty over whether veteran MP Diane Abbott will be able to stand for Labor in the general election.
• In essence, Abbott was suspended over a year ago for comments he made suggesting that Jewish people do not face racism, but rather suffer the same prejudice as “redheads.”
• Although her position as the party’s floor leader was reinstated yesterday, she told Sky News she was barred from standing for the party in any elections.
• The Labour leader said that was not the case but “no decisions have been made”.
• our Political reporter Tamara Cohen“We don’t believe it was the leadership team that reported that she was banned, but now it’s been made public and they have yet to step in and deny it,” Abbott’s supporters said.
• Tamara added that she didn’t necessarily want to run, she just wanted to rejoin the party and receive a proper farewell party, but said: “It looks like the Labour leadership is letting this furore go for a few more days.”

• Rishi SunakHe is visiting the south west of England today to promote his pledge to replace “rip-off degrees” with 100,000 vocational training courses each year by the end of the next parliament.
• He got off the train in Cornwall and bought breakfast for the travel media pack which included us. Political reporter Rob Powellwho was Not very satisfied Regarding the lack of ketchup on the bacon sandwich…
• On more serious issues, the Prime Minister, speaking to broadcasters, immediately called for “transparency” from the Labor Party about Diane Abbott’s situation.
• But in his final 20 hours or so, he was a Labour Party Angela Rayner was exonerated by police After one of the vice-chairs filed a complaint with the police;
• He dismissed suggestions that pursuing the investigation was a “waste of police time” and turned his attack on Mr Rayner.
• More bad news for the Prime Minister is that junior doctors strike days before the election As part of the wage dispute, they say they are “fed up with the government and have reached the end of their patience.”
• There’s a lot of work to do to close the gap with Labour, with an exclusive Sky News/YouGov poll revealing the opposition lead by a staggering 27 points.
• It should be noted that this poll was conducted after the Prime Minister’s big proposals for a national service policy were announced this weekend, which may be worrying for the embattled Prime Minister.

• Elsewhere, SNP They are demanding that the Labour Party follow their lead and renationalise all of Britain’s railways.
• The party’s Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, criticised Sir Keir Starmer and said Diane Abbott’s situation was “quite disappointing”.
• of LDPHe launched his campaign in Wales with a pledge to provide an extra £1 billion in funding for agriculture.
• of First Minister of Wales and Leader of the Labour Party You may be facing Vote of no confidence After the Welsh Conservatives tabled the motion.

If you still have some lunch left, there are some other interesting stories.

Please tune in as we’ll provide you with updates throughout the afternoon.

Unsurprisingly, the NHS has become a key election battleground.

So it’s not surprising that Labour targeted the health service early in the campaign – and it does have one big advantage over the Conservatives.

Under Labour, NHS waiting lists have fallen to their lowest point ever and satisfaction with the health service has risen to an all-time high.

The opposite is true under a Conservative government.

But how achievable is Labour’s target of reducing waiting lists to 18 weeks within five years?

Public health leaders described the target as “bold” and said it took Labour 10 years to achieve it the last time it was in power.

Labor says it would achieve this by allowing thousands of bookings to be made at weekends and overnight.

Taking advantage of available operating rooms is a smart idea, and some organisations are already doing this, but it all depends on having a trained, willing and able workforce.

Labour says no staff will be forced to work extra hours and can refuse without challenge, but these are exhausted and stressed workers.

Even if you want to help with this large-scale relief effort, many people may not be in a position to do so, either physically or mentally.

Labor also said it would use millions of dollars raised from abolishing the non-resident tax system to buy extra scanners and diagnostic equipment.

That’s great, but again the key question is, where do we find the staff to run these machines?

We heard Sir Keir Starmer speak outside a Labour Party question and answer event with medical students in Worcester.

Not only was I asked about Diane Abbott (See post 12.14), the Labour leader was asked about the newly announced junior doctors’ strike, which is due to take place before the election.

Kiir said he was “shocked” that the government had allowed the situation to escalate to this extent, adding that settlement talks should have taken place.

“What they’ve actually done is kick it to the other side of the general election, and that’s something that can’t be tolerated,” he said.

Keir said he did not want the strike to continue because of the impact it would have on patients and that it was Labour’s responsibility to resolve the issue if it came to power.

The head of Britain’s largest nurses union has resigned and is set to stand for parliament in the general election.

Professor Pat Cullen, Chief Executive and Secretary General of the Royal College of Nursing, has announced that she will seek election as Sinn Féin’s Member of Parliament for Fermanagh South Tyrone.

She became the face of the biggest ever nurses strike last year, leading the union through months of strike action over pay and working conditions, often joining RCN members on the picket line.

“The honor of my life”

“This has been a most difficult decision to make. We have achieved so much over three very different and challenging years,” Prof Cullen said in a statement.

She said it had been the honour of my life to work for the RCN and provide “daily leadership to hundreds of thousands of hardworking nurses and medical staff whose priority always has been delivering high quality care to patients”.

Paul Vaughan, chairman of the RCN council, said Professor Cullen was an “incredible leader”.

by Thomas EvansWales reporter

Wales’ First Minister Vaughan Gething is due to face a vote of no confidence next week.

Mr Gething only took over as chancellor in March but his government has since gone through what he described as a “challenging” period.

The motion of no confidence has been submitted by the Welsh Conservative Party, the main opposition party in the Welsh Assembly, and is due to be debated on 5 June.

Gething was found guilty of environmental crimes He has faced controversy and questions over a £200,000 donation made to his leadership campaign by a man who was convicted of sexual assault.

He rejected calls to return the funds, with the remaining funds instead going to “broader progressive causes.”

He said the donation was within the rules but that he had commissioned an investigation into future political donations.

Mr Gething was also accused of misleading the Covid inquiry after text messages were made public in a ministerial group chat in which he said he would delete messages.

The Prime Minister insisted the message was about internal Labour issues.

He then sacked Cabinet minister Hannah Bryson over allegations of leaking information to the media, a charge she denies.

Victoria Atkins has called for the Labour Party to condemn junior doctors’ decision to strike during the election campaign.

In a post on X, the health minister said the announcement of the new strike action from 27 June to 2 July “came on Labour’s Health Day” and “shows that this is purely political and not about patients or staff”.

She said the decision was a “very cynical tactic” and added: “The Conservative government has taken the tough decision to rein in public spending in order to put pressure on what is now rising inflation to return to normality.

“The Labour Party will be in the hands of the union coffers, which means more spending and higher taxes.”

The British Medical Association has announced that junior doctors are striking as part of a long-running dispute over pay (see our post from 14 November for more details).

our Political reporter Tamara Cohen I have just spoken to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer about the controversy surrounding Diane Abbott.

Despite reports yesterday saying otherwise and the veteran MP insisting it was true (see pinned post), he says the MP has not been barred from running for the party in elections.

However, by saying no decision has yet been made and probably won’t be made until next week, Tamara said Sir Keir was “leaving the issue open for a few more days”.

Abbott’s supporters “feel like she’s been treated unfairly in this mess,” Tamara said.

“Those who are opposed to Diane Abbott’s politics feel that she made a name for herself as the party’s first black female MP and would like to see her rehabilitated.”

Mr Abbott was suspended over a year ago for a letter he wrote to the Observer in which he suggested Jews were subject to prejudice like redheads, rather than racism.

She quickly apologised and retracted her comments, but her powers as party leader were only reinstated yesterday, despite the party’s investigation having reportedly concluded months ago.

Sir Keir Starmer said veteran MP Diane Abbott had not been blocked from standing for Labour and that no decision had been made.

The Labour leader was questioned by broadcasters about his claim that Mr Abbott could not stand as the party’s candidate in the Hackney North and Stoke Newington constituencies.See post 7.18).

But he replied: “No, that’s not true. No decision has been made to bar Diane Abbott.”

“The process we were going through finished with the restoration of the whip the other day.”