Chris Mason
Political editor

For the Conservatives in particular, this has now entered the territory of a rolling political nightmare - allegations that are simultaneously as easy to understand as they are difficult to defend.

And, to make politically bleak matters black for the Tories, a horror show of daily developments and revelations, garnished by criticisms within the party and beyond (some public, many more in private) arguing Rishi Sunak could have acted faster.

Tonight’s news that a Labour candidate and donor has been suspended too highlights that this isn’t a uniquely Conservative headache. Labour though are seeking to argue their immediate reaction contrasts with a claimed Tory tardiness.

Most people most of the time miss most of what is going on in politics. And yet right now we are in that narrowest of windows; where ballot papers sit on kitchen tables awaiting the next post, where church and school halls await that designation polling station.

This is the time for decision, where millions might just be receptive to the closing messages of the parties - if they can hear them - and the big issues that swirl in the campaign.

And there is one big issue – this betting saga – that dominates the national news coverage at least, with every prospect there are further revelations to come.

And for a party that’s been in government for 14 years, began this campaign on the back foot and has - if the polls are to be believed - struggled to step forward in the last five weeks, the Conservatives approach this final week in a situation that is unenviable, to put it gently.

Hannah Miller
Political correspondent

The suspension means Kevin Craig is neither a party member nor the party’s candidate, pending an investigation.

His name will still appear on the ballot paper next to the Labour Party as the deadline to make changes has passed.

Joe Pike
Political investigations correspondent

The BBC understands the Labour Party will return the £100,000 in donations that Kevin Craig has made during Keir Starmer's leadership.

Hannah Miller
Political correspondent

As we just reported, Labour has suspended candidate Kevin Craig after the Gambling Commission launched an investigation, meaning he is no longer a party member nor a candidate.

Craig is standing in the Central Suffolk and North Ipswich constituency, where the Conservative Party has an effective majority of just over 20,000 and where Labour came second in 2019.

The BBC has been told that the Labour Party was notified about the investigation this afternoon.

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

Labour says as soon as they were told by the Gambling Commission they moved quickly to suspend Kevin Craig.

The BBC understands that Craig is not being investigated by the Gambling Commission for betting on the date of the general election.

Instead, he is suspected of betting on the election result in the Suffolk seat.

Image source, X/Kevin Craig

More now from that Labour statement on the suspension of candidate Kevin Craig.

A Labour Party spokeswoman says: "With Keir Starmer as leader, the Labour Party upholds the highest standards for our parliamentary candidates, as the public rightly expects from any party hoping to serve, which is why we have acted immediately in this case."

She says the party suspended him after the Gambling Commission launched its investigation.

As we mentioned in our last post, Craig is the Labour candidate for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich. On his campaign website he describes himself as a businessman who previously served as a Labour councillor for 17 years.

We've just had some breaking news.

Labour has suspended parliamentary candidate Kevin Craig after being told the Gambling Commission has launched an investigation into him, a party spokeswoman says.

Craig is the Labour candidate for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich. You can find a full list of candidates standing in the constituency on our website here.

We'll bring you more on this shortly.

Jordan Kenny
BBC Newsbeat politics reporter, in Londonderry

Over now to our colleagues at BBC Newsbeat, who continued their general election Race Across the UK today in Londonderry:

Derry is gearing up for the Foyle Maritime Festival. But we’re not talking boats – it’s votes we’re interested in, and the issues young people here in the city want politicians to talk about.

"The lack of opportunity here is always driving young ones away," says 23-year-old Orla, who's visiting home from London where she’s moved to for work.

She wants politicians to focus on supporting young people and what they care about – but also to understand what they don’t care about.

"I think they're more entrenched in their own views," she says.

"Like the nationalist/unionist views – young people don’t have that opinion.

"I think they need to see that and realise they need to start caring about young people."

Emily Atkinson
Live reporter

We’ve just waved goodbye to our early team colleagues, and are gearing up to see our election coverage through this evening and into tonight.

There’s plenty still to bring you from the campaign trail, as well as the latest reaction and analysis to our headline story.

In case you missed that breaking news earlier - the Gambling Commission has told the Met Police that five further police officers are alleged to have placed bets related to the timing of the election. More on that here.

But first, we'll hand over briefly to our BBC Newscast colleagues, who have been out speaking to young voters in Londonderry about the election issues that matter to them.

Stay tuned.

Image source, @craig4monty/ X

Craig Williams - who as we reported earlier has lost the support of the Conservative Party after he admitted to placing a "flutter" on when the date of the election - has now released a statement on social media.

Williams, who has not responded to the BBC's requests for an interview, says in a video post on X, external that his name remains on the ballot paper and he is committed to his campaign in the Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr constituency, where he is a candidate.

"I committed an error of judgment, not an offence and I want to reiterate my apology directly to you," he says.

Williams, who was an aide to the prime minister in the last Parliament, insists what he did was "not an offence" and he is "fully co-operating with routine inquiries from the Gambling Commission" and intends to clear his name.

When approached by the BBC earlier this month, Williams refused to say if he had placed a bet on the basis of inside information.

A Gambling Commission spokesperson has previously said that the confidential use of information in order to gain an unfair advantage when betting "may constitute an offence of cheating under Section 42 of the Gambling Act, which is a criminal offence".

• You can see a full list of candidates in the Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr constituency here

What the parties have said about conversion therapypublished at 16:14 British Summer Time 25 June

16:14 BST 25 June

Josh Parry
LGBT and identity reporter

The Labour Party say their planned conversion therapy ban won’t affect family conversations or professional counselling.

Anneliese Dodds, shadow women and equalities secretary, told the BBC that their ban “won’t cover regulated counselling, psychological support or conversations within families”.

She also said that Labour’s policy would be in line with the advice given by Dr Hilary Cass in that it would draw a distinction between conversion practices and therapists helping a young person to explore their gender identity or sexual orientation and it would be “harmful to equate the two”.

As reported in our last post, a conversion therapy ban was first promised by former Conservative prime minister Theresa May in 2018 - but was the subject of a number of U-turns and caused the disbandment of its LGBT advisory panel.

The Tory manifesto says the party would “take more time” before deciding whether or not to legislate against the practice.

The Liberal Democrats' manifesto says they would introduce a total ban, while the Greens and Reform did not mention conversion therapy in their manifesto documents.

An update now on claims the Conservatives made earlier today, that Labour is planning to allow transgender people to self-identify as their preferred gender.

At the news conference we mentioned in our last couple of posts, Health Secretary Victoria Atkins said Labour want to "dilute women’s rights further through their plans to introduce self-identification by the back door".

Responding, Labour leader Keir Starmer has said he's not planning to introduce self-identification for transgender people, and that the debate needs to be conducted "with the respect that it deserves".

Image source, PA Media

Jessica Parker
Political correspondent

Back to that news conference I mentioned in my last post - at which the health secretary said Labour had been at the "heart" of what’s become a "toxic" debate.

But it was a former Tory prime minister, Theresa May, who promised to de-medicalise gender recognition laws and ban so-called conversion therapy. And it was Conservative administrations who then wavered and eventually abandoned these pledges.

It was all more complicated and controversial than perhaps May had originally understood. Asked by the BBC whether it is in fact the Conservatives that have mismanaged these issues, Atkins insisted she was "proud" that her party has wanted to have these "conversations".

And the Tories have now landed in a place that they believe chimes with many people, not least of all the voters they’re trying to reach.

It’s notable that, with just over a week until polling day, they are trying to push this issue of women's and transgender rights higher up the campaign agenda.

Jessica Parker
Political correspondent

Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Health Secretary Victoria Atkins spoke to reporters earlier, focusing on the highly-charged debate around how society balances, enhances or protects women’s and transgender rights.

The Conservatives believe it's a point of weakness that they can prod at within the Labour campaign.

Labour leader Keir Starmer has repeatedly faced questions about his shifting positions on how to define a woman. Meanwhile, in its manifesto, Labour’s promising to simplify the process by which someone can change their legal sex and ban so-called conversion therapy, including for trans people.

The party’s plans on guidance for England’s schools, on gender identity, isn’t fully clear. The Tories are arguing that, all packaged up, Labour’s intentions will put women’s rights and vulnerable children at risk.

People will have strong views, on either side, about these claims. But, as I’ll say in a follow up post to this one, undeniable is the Conservative’s own part in sparking what has been a fraught discussion

Philip Sim
Scotland political correspondent

In Scotland, Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes has been campaigning at a wind farm in East Lothian today.

She says projects like this - approved under an SNP government at the Scottish parliament - underlines that Scotland could be a "green energy powerhouse", both creating jobs and providing energy security.

Forbes is, however, critical of Labour’s plans for a publicly-owned clean energy company based north of the border, saying there's too little detail about GB Energy and that it would not cut people’s bills.

She adds that the SNP would stand up for the interests of Scottish people who can see wind farms and similar projects around their communities, but are not benefitting from lower bills as a result.

There's more reaction now to the Conservative Party's decision to withdraw support from two of its candidates who are under investigation for allegedly placing bets on the election date.

Labour's campaign chief Pat McFadden questions why "it’s taken Rishi Sunak the best part of two weeks to act on this".

"That is just weak leadership," he adds while speaking to reporters.

Earlier, Labour leader Keir Starmer asked why the decision hadn't come sooner while the Lib Dems' Daisy Cooper accused Sunak of having "dithered and delayed".

As we've been reporting, it's too late for the Conservative Party to nominate new candidates to replace the ones it has pulled support from - Craig Williams and Laura Saunders - because the deadline to do so was 7 June.

That means come polling day, on 4 July, their names will still be on the ballot as the Conservative candidates in their respective constituencies.

If elected, they would have a few options - sit as an independent in the Commons, join another political party or resign their seat.

In the event that a newly-elected MP chooses to resign, the Association of Electoral Administrators says "a by-election would be held, and if [the candidate] so wished they could stand again as an independent candidate or for another political party".

With the news that five more police officers are being looked into by the Gambling Commission (see our last post), here's a reminder of what all this is about:

• It emerged earlier this month that PM Rishi Sunak's aide Craig Williams had reportedly placed a £100 bet on a July polling day, three days before Sunak called it
• Williams, standing for the Tories in Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr, has refused to say if he placed a bet on the basis of inside information
• Laura Saunders, the Conservative candidate for Bristol North West, and her partner Tony Lee, the Conservative director of campaigning, are also being looked at by the Gambling Commission - as is Nick Mason, the party's chief data officer
• Sunak said this week he was "incredibly angry" and the Conservative Party this morning pulled electoral support from Williams and Saunders
• Before today, we also knew that a police officer assigned to the protection of Sunak had been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office - and the Metropolitan Police has now released a statement saying it's been passed information alleging that a further five officers have been found to have placed bets related to the timings of the election

The Metropolitan Police say they have been passed information from the Gambling Commission "alleging that five further officers have placed bets related to the timing of the election".

We've just had this statement from the police:

“We previously confirmed the arrest of a Met officer on Monday, 17 June for misconduct in public office in relation to bets placed on the timing of the General Election.

“The officer – a police constable from the Royalty and Specialist Protection Command – is on restricted duties.

“It is still the case that only one officer is under criminal investigation.

“We have, however, been passed information from the Gambling Commission alleging that five further officers have placed bets related to the timing of the election.

“The officers are based on the Royalty and Specialist Command, the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command and the Central West Basic Command Unit. None of them work in a close protection role.

“Decisions on whether they will be subject to any restrictions will be taken in due course.”

Image source, PA Media

With just over a week until election day, we'll see the final TV debate of the campaign tomorrow - a head-to-head between Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer on the BBC.

When is it?

20:15 BST on Wednesday - you'll be able to watch it here on the website, and on BBC One and iPlayer.

Straight after, from 21:30 until 22:00, Laura Kuenssberg and Clive Myrie will pick over reaction and analysis live.

Who's hosting it?

Presenter Mishal Husain - she hosted the seven-way debate earlier in the campaign.