Tories fairly happy for Abbott row to grab voters' attention - for nowpublished at 15:57 British Summer Time 30 May

15:57 BST 30 May

Jessica Parker
Political correspondent, reporting from Buckinghamshire

Rishi Sunak’s first public appearance of the day came this afternoon in Buckinghamshire as headlines are dominated by the row about Diane Abbott’s place in the Labour Party.

The Conservatives may be fairly happy to let that internal argument grab voters’ attention, for now.

However, the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt did launch an attack overnight claiming Labour was planning to hike VAT.

It’s a claim echoed by Rishi Sunak to factory workers: “They’re going to put up your taxes.”

Labour’s insisted it won’t put up any of the three main taxes - income tax, national insurance or VAT.

It’s part of the tussle for economic credibility as parties try to claim that their rivals can’t be trusted with your cash.

Image source, UK POOL

And we're off.

Sunak is beginning a Q&A now and the first question is about the prime minister's previous role as chancellor - specifically when he was fined for breaking Covid restrictions during lockdown.

One man who tells Sunak how he lost his mother during the pandemic, asks "how can anyone trust you?"

The prime minister responds by apologising for his part in "what was going on in Downing Street" at that time, and says he "can't imagine" how the man felt being apart from his dying mother.

Image source, PA Media

Sunak says Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is going to cancel flights to Rwanda and make the UK "the soft touch of Europe".

Whether it is on border security or defence spending plans, Sunak adds, "Labour cannot be trusted", in his view.

"I don't think the British people like being taken for granted," the PM says.

"No ideas, no plan, and you don't deliver any change without having those things," the prime minister adds, in reference to Labour.

Over to Rishi Sunak now, who is speaking at an event in Buckinghamshire, ahead of a Q&A with members of the public.

Starting off with the economy, the prime minister says he recognises the last few years "have been really tough", and that the pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine have impacted people's finances.

"But, I do believe that thanks to all your hard work, the resilience and sacrifice that you have all put in we are getting through the worst of it now," he says.

He says inflation is down, the economy is growing faster than competitors and says he hopes people can see the situation has "turned a corner".

The PM says the question now is who do people trust to build on that, saying "that's the choice at this election".

He says the only certainty that people will get from Labour is that they will put up people's taxes.

As we reported earlier, Sir Keir Starmer has been speaking in South Wales where he launched Labour's Welsh campaign.

Responding to questions about Diane Abbott's future with the party, Starmer says he wants the "highest quality" candidates for the upcoming general election.

Watch his full response below.

Here's a snapshot of the day's action across the country - we're due to hear from PM Rishi Sunak this afternoon, so there'll be visuals of him in a short while.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Reuters

Image source, PA Media

Image source, Getty Images

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Image source, PA Media

Leila Nathoo
Political correspondent, reporting from Monmouthshire

As Keir Starmer left his event in Monmouthshire, South Wales earlier, a dozen or so pro-Palestinian protestors were waiting.

There were shouts of "ceasefire now" and "end the arms sales" - as well as one woman asking why Faiza Shaheen was blocked from standing.

The Labour leader was quickly escorted to his car.

Sam Hancock
Live reporter

That bit of breaking news from 13:30 BST - about deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner saying she doesn't see "any reason why Diane Abbott can't stand as a Labour MP" at the election - feels like it came in hours ago now.

The sign of another busy day covering this general election campaign...

We're due to see Rishi Sunak out and about in Buckinghamshire in the next hour, so the day's far from over.

Until then, we'll continue to bring you the latest from the various parties as they continue campaigning across the country.

Image source, Pool

We've heard Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner give her verdict on the Dianne Abbott row. Now, let's turn to comments from shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper, who has been out campaigning in the Rother Valley, South Yorkshire this afternoon.

She tells reporters that Abbott's return as a member of the Parliamentary Labour Party "is really welcome" and that "everybody wants to see this resolved as quickly as possible". Cooper doesn't say whether Abbott will stand as a Labour candidate.

On Abbott's work since being elected as Britain's first black female MP in 1987, Cooper says it's been "immensely important - including "exploding the Windrush scandal and getting justice for huge numbers of people who were really badly treated by the Home Office".

Georgia Roberts
Scotland political correspondent

As the row over candidate selections rumbles on in the Labour Party, the SNP have scented an opportunity.

This morning, Labour’s treasury spokesperson denied the party’s treatment of Diane Abbott and others is a "purge of the left".

But the SNP - who will be hammering home their message this campaign that Labour are a "Tory-lite" party - are saying otherwise.

"The way Diane Abbott and other progressive candidates have been treated is shameful," the party is saying today. “But what is more worrying for Scotland is that Starmer wants to remove all opposition so he can impose Tory policies.”

They’re also drawing attention to previous comments from Josh Simons, the Labour candidate in Makerfield in the north-west of England. He previously suggested in an interview that people smugglers should be put on a barge and sent to Scotland, and later apologised.

We've a bit more now on the Diane Abbott story - as a member of Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC), the party's governing body, has just been speaking to Radio 4's World at One programme.

Gemma Bolton says the committee will vote on whether to endorse a list of candidates in a meeting on Tuesday - and vows to vote in favour of Abbott being allowed to stand for Labour.

Asked whether Labour leader Keir Starmer and his supporters on the NEC don't want Abbott to stand, Bolton says she doesn't know but hopes that by the time the meeting happens there'll be a "clear consensus that Diane should be a candidate".

This row is at risk of overwhelming Labour's campaignpublished at 13:52 British Summer Time 30 May

13:52 BST 30 May

Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent

This is a moment of real political danger for Sir Keir Starmer.

Yes, he insisted both yesterday and today that Diane Abbott had not been barred as a candidate. But behind the scenes the direction of travel was clear that she was at real risk of having her parliamentary career ended next week.

Angela Rayner’s intervention, with the heft of her elected position as deputy leader, makes that direction of travel much more uncertain.

A few thoughts. First: Darren Jones, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, insisted on the Today programme this morning that he could not offer a personal opinion on Abbott’s case as a shadow minister.

Rayner clearly takes a different view of collective shadow cabinet responsibility. Who is right - Jones or Rayner? If it is now open season for shadow cabinet ministers to give a view, what do all the others think?

Second: there is now a whiff, at the very least, of a split between Rayner and Starmer on this issue - or between Rayner and the team Starmer has charged with running his Labour Party. That is damaging in the very immediate term on this issue, but it also will raise eyebrows about how their relationship could work in government if Labour win the general election.

Third: this issue is now posing a clear risk to Labour of overwhelming their campaign message. It is likely they will have to find a way of resolving Abbott’s status one way or another before Tuesday’s meeting of the party’s National Executive Committee.

Image source, Reuters

You may have just seen that deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner's come out and said she sees no reason why veteran MP Diane Abbott can't stand for Labour at the next election (if not, it's in the post below).

Here's a reminder of how we got to this point:

• Abbott, a former shadow home secretary, was suspended in April 2023 after saying Jewish, Irish and Traveller people do not face racism "all their lives"
• After apologising and withdrawing her remarks, Labour launched an investigation
• Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer had said the investigation into her comments was not "resolved" - but BBC Newsnight reported on Tuesday that it was completed in December 2023
• Hours later, it was revealed that Abbott's suspension had been lifted
• She subsequently texted a BBC reporter, saying the whip had been restored but Labour had barred her from standing for the party at the general election
• Asked for an update earlier, Starmer said "no final decision has been taken" - and now Rayner has said she sees no reason why Abbott can't run for the party

As the BBC's Henry Zeffman reported earlier, Tuesday 4 June is Labour's self-imposed deadline when their National Executive Committee (NEC) will formally approve its full slate of candidates across the country - so the party will need to make a decision by then.

Image source, PA Media

Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner has told ITV she thinks Diane Abbott should be able to stand as a Labour candidate in the upcoming election.

The party is embroiled in a row after the long-serving MP claimed she had been banned from seeking re-election in her London seat. She was readmitted to the party this week after a lengthy suspension for comments she made about racism.

Earlier today, Sir Keir Starmer said "no final decision has been taken" about whether she'll be the Labour candidate for Hackney North and Stoke Newington.

Now, Rayner tells ITV: "I don’t see any reason why Diane Abbott can’t stand as a Labour MP going forward... I am saying that as the deputy leader of the Labour party."

She adds that she's "not happy" about negative briefings to the press on Abbott from within Labour: "I don’t think that is how we should conduct ourselves."

Are taxes going up or not?published at 13:25 British Summer Time 30 May

13:25 BST 30 May

Rates of tax are not rising - in fact the rate of National Insurance has come down. But the amount of tax many people have to pay will still be going up in the coming years.

Both Labour and the Conservatives have promised that they won’t raise income tax, National Insurance or VAT in the next Parliament.

But taxes are still going up because the point at which you start paying income tax and National Insurance and the point at which you pay higher rates are both frozen until April 2028, and neither Labour nor the Conservatives have said they will change this.

So more people will be paying tax and more people will be paying higher rates of tax as earnings grow.

For example, the minimum wage has gone up by about 10%, but the point at which people start paying tax has not.

That means somebody working 35 hours a week on the minimum wage is now having to pay tax on almost £8,300 of their earnings. Last year, it would have been on £6,400.

Douglas Fraser
Scotland business & economy editor

As the Conservatives, Labour, and the Lib Dems all pledge not to increase VAT, the SNP also says it’s against any increase in VAT.

The power to set the rate, and to choose the items taxed at 5% (household fuel) or zero-rated (most food, children’s clothes, books, etc), is not devolved to Holyrood.

Since 2016, there has been a plan for half of VAT revenue raised in Scotland to be assigned to the Scottish government, and the block grant from the Treasury to be reduced.

However, the complexity of reliably measuring that revenue has meant the VAT assignment has not yet happened.

Teleri Glyn Jones
Political correspondent, reporting from Bangor

Moving on from Labour - let's return to Plaid Cymru's election launch in Bangor.

There, Plaid's Westminster leader, Liz Saville Roberts, says the party is coming up with "new ideas" - such as devolving the Crown Estate to fund a new Welsh sovereign wealth fund to invest in communities.

Saville Roberts also says Plaid aren't scared to address the "elephant in the room" - Brexit.

She says Plaid have the answers to the problems facing local people - "rejoining single market and the customs union".

Following on from the posts on Faiza Shaheen and Diane Abbott, let's return to a clip from this morning, when shadow cabinet member Darren Jones was asked if Labour was "purging" left-wing MPs.

Image source, Reuters

Moving from one seemingly de-selected Labour candidate, Faiza Shaheen, to (possibly) another - Diane Abbott.

As a reminder, Abbott says Labour has barred her from standing as its candidate in Hackney North and Stoke Newington. Keir Starmer yesterday said no decision has been taken.

A few moments ago Abbott thanked trade unionists who have offered their support.

"I have met with a number of leading trade unionists, including general secretaries who have offered me their backing to be a Labour candidate at next week's NEC [National Executive Committee]," she says.

In the post on X, Abbott shares an open letter, dated 25 May, from the general secretaries from ASLEF, Unite, TSSA, NUM, CWU and FBU trade unions to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, requesting that Abbott be confirmed as the Labour candidate in the constituency.

The party's National Executive Committee (NEC) will formally approve a full slate of candidates across Great Britain in the coming days.

Ex-Labour candidate seems poised for a fightpublished at 12:51 British Summer Time 30 May

12:51 BST 30 May

Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent

Leaving Reform's event, let's get back to the row over who Labour's candidate will be in Chingford and Woodford Green.

Last night on Newsnight, Faiza Shaheen was visibly in shock at discovering that Labour was ditching her as a parliamentary candidate.

Today, she has come out fighting, implying she is considering possible legal action or even standing against the Labour Party in the Chingford and Woodford Green constituency.

Shaheen has also said she will be “releasing all the detail of what has happened to me publicly very soon".

The Labour Party has not publicly commented on the reasons for Shaheen being deselected.

As a reminder, Shaheen told Newsnight that she was presented with a series of posts on X she had liked, some dating back years, but others more recent, including one which she acknowledged indulged in antisemitic tropes but claimed to have no memory of having liked.

It will be interesting to watch the extent to which this calcifies into a broader split on the Labour left, or whether it is a row confined to Shaheen’s particular circumstances.