Bit more clarity on Lib Dems' aviation tax policypublished at 16:57 British Summer Time 10 June 2024

16:57 BST 10 June 2024

Katy Austin
Transport correspondent

We've got some more clarity on the Lib Dems' proposals to increase aviation tax for frequent flyers.

Their claim that only 4% of the population fly more than three times a year is based on data from the 2022 National Travel Survey. It represents people who live in England. In 2019, the last year before the pandemic, 8% of people reported taking four or more international flights.

The Lib Dems also think their changes would raise about £3.6bn a year of additional revenue, by 2028-29. They still haven't laid out what rates would be after their reforms. Frequent flyers would presumably be paying a substantial amount more, for people who fly less often to be paying less and still more tax be collected.

You can read our previous post on this here.

Free insulation, heat pumps and net zero targets in Lib Dems' planspublished at 16:48 British Summer Time 10 June 2024

16:48 BST 10 June 2024

Justin Rowlatt
Climate editor

The Lib Dems have kept their goal to achieve net zero by 2045 - that's the point at which we're no longer adding to the total amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Their net zero target is five years earlier than the 2050 target from the Conservatives and Labour.

So how would they get there?

The Lib Dems say they will accelerate the deployment of solar and wind power so 90% of UK electricity will be generated by renewables by 2030 if they are in charge.

Among other policies the party says there’ll be free insulation and heat pumps for those on low incomes, a “rooftop solar revolution” with more incentives for householders to put in solar panels and a new Net Zero Delivery Authority to coordinate climate action but there are no estimates of costs for these policies.

Image source, PA Media

In other news, the co-leader of the Scottish Greens says her party will introduce higher taxes for the "super wealthy" and the fossil fuel industry.

Speaking to BBC Scotland News following her party's campaign launch in Stirling, Lorna Slater says other political parties are "scared to talk about tax".

She adds that the Greens are the only party being "honest" with voters about the need for tax reform to fund improvements to public services.

The SNP previously claimed a windfall tax on the oil industry could cost jobs, while Labour has said it would introduce a "time-limited" windfall tax on the sector.

You can read more on this story here.

Cost of Lib Dem bank levy likely to be passed to customers - tax expertpublished at 16:28 British Summer Time 10 June 2024

16:28 BST 10 June 2024

Tax experts say the Liberal Democrats' idea of raising £9bn a year in additional revenue from capital gains tax reforms and the reintroduction of the bank levy and bank corporation tax surcharge does not look unreasonable.

The party’s deputy leader Daisy Cooper has presented these tax rises as falling on “big banks and billionaires”.

But experts warn we don’t know precisely how the costs of the reintroduction of the bank levy would ultimately get distributed - and caution that it wouldn’t necessarily only fall on bankers or bank shareholders.

Tax expert Dan Neidle, of the Tax Policy Associates think tank, tells me he thinks the available evidence, external suggests the likely effect of the bank levy is that, for mortgage and consumer lending, the cost is passed on to customers.

Nick Robinson
Presenter, Radio 4 Today

I grew up with the giants of interviewing – men like Sir Robin Day and Brian Walden. One of my first jobs was as a researcher for David Dimbleby, and I later became his producer and editor before sitting alongside him on election night.

When I started at the Today programme I sat alongside the man they all feared - John Humphrys. I now watch and learn from my Today colleague Mishal Husain, and Kirsty Wark and Victoria Derbyshire on Newsnight and so many others.

So what, you may wonder, is my definition of a good interview?

It is one in which you do get some answers from those who want your vote, and if you don’t get proper answers then I make clear that that is the case. It is an interview and not an interrogation in which they get the chance to make their case.

It is not about me looking for a “gotcha” moment that can be snipped out and clipped and shared on social media. It focuses on the big questions facing our country, and not the trivia of this or that row which makes headlines for a day.

In short, it is a grown-up conversation which, I hope, helps those who don’t read politicians' speeches and analyse their speeches as I do for a living, and who feel frustrated by the endlessly repeated soundbites, to gain a better understanding of the choice we face.

• You can watch The Panorama Interviews with Nick Robinson on Monday 10 June at 8pm on BBC One and on BBC iPlayer

Lib Dems pledging big increase in housebuildingpublished at 16:10 British Summer Time 10 June 2024

16:10 BST 10 June 2024

BBC Verify has been poring over the Lib Dems' manifesto.

One eye-catching policy is to build 380,000 new homes a year. It’s more ambitious than Labour, who want to build 1.5m homes over the next Parliament (about 300,000 a year)

But how would the Lib Dems reach their goal? The manifesto mentions the creation of 10 new garden cities, but it doesn’t say where. As well as proposals to reform planning, the party would also encourage brownfield development using “financial incentives” – but the detail isn’t spelled out.

The Conservative Party set its own target for building 300,000 homes per year in its last manifesto – but this was never achieved in five years. The peak was in 2022 when there were 178,010 completions in England, external.

Cara Berkley
Reporting from the SNP campaign trail

Elsewhere in Scotland, Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes has said that either a Labour or Conservative government at Westminster would mean more cuts to public services.

On a campaign visit to a sawmill in Nairn, she says Keir Starmer’s party would double down and "persevere with Tory austerity".

She calls for Labour to tell voters where billions of pounds worth of cuts, predicted by the Institute of Fiscal Studies, would fall if they don’t increase tax or borrowing.

Only the SNP, she insists, would stand up for Scotland and protect public services citing her party’s progressive taxation measures.

The UK needs to undo 14 years of "Tory austerity", Forbes says, adding a Labour government wouldn’t do that.

David Wallace Lockhart
Scotland political correspondent

I’ve just done the first interview with Douglas Ross since he announced that he would resign as Scottish Conservative leader after the election.

He was in a relatively upbeat mood, but may have been putting on a brave face in a bleak situation.

He did concede, after all, that he would have done things differently if given the opportunity again.

It appears that his decision to try and carry on as both an MP and an MSP was too much for his Holyrood colleagues, and he’s been forced to stand down.

Resignations are a fact of political life. Sometimes they’re the result of external events. But this one is simply due to political miscalculation and I think Ross knows that.

The Conservatives haven't announced their manifesto yet but Labour's Jonathan Ashworth has just been telling a news conference that it'll amount to a "desperate wish list" and "the most expensive panic attack in history".

Both Labour and the Tories have attacked their opponent's economic credibility in the build-up to the manifesto launches - both of which are expected this week.

Ashworth accuses the Tories of having already tried to mislead the British people about the costings of Labour policies, and says "now they are doing the same about their own".

The shadow paymaster general claims there are three big questions hanging over the Tory's plans:

• First, he calls it a "lie" to suggest £12bn can be saved from welfare and spent elsewhere
• Second, he accuses the Tories of overinflating how much money can be raised from enhanced measures on tax avoidance and evasion
• Finally, Ashworth says "almost all" of what is saved through tax will be spent on the national service policy, accusing the Tories of getting its estimates of how much it will cost to deliver "badly wrong". He adds: "The Tory sums do not add up, the money is simply not there"

The Conservative Party is set to unveil its manifesto in full tomorrow.

Labour earlier pledged to create 100,000 additional childcare places, as well as more than 3,000 new nurseries.

The party says it will turn classrooms in existing primary schools into "school-based nurseries", for an estimated cost of around £40,000 per classroom, with funding coming from VAT levied on private schools.

Speaking to reporters, Labour leader Keir Starmer says the plan is "fully funded, fully costed but also fully planned".

Watch him talk about the scheme here:

The timing of Douglas Ross quitting is extraordinarypublished at 14:49 British Summer Time 10 June 2024

14:49 BST 10 June 2024

Kirsten Campbell
Scotland political correspondent

Scottish Conservatives are continuing to come to terms with the fact their party leader has announced his intention to quit slap bang in the middle of an election campaign.

It's extraordinary timing - one senior figure called it "jaw-dropping".

Tories I've spoken to say they're working to win seats and will worry about who takes over at Holyrood once the dust has settled.

One says Douglas Ross hasn't had the credit he deserves for taking a Westminster seat off the SNP's former Westminster leader, Angus Robertson, and seeing off two first ministers.

However, his decision to replace David Duguid as a candidate in this election left him open to accusations he was stealing a job off a sick man. Duguid has been unwell recently but was hoping to run again.

Many of his own colleagues were unhappy about his intention to continue to hold jobs in both Holyrood and Westminster at the same time.

There's also some pressure over reports accusing him of using Westminster expenses to subsidise his role as a football referee, though Ross has said he would have no issue with his expenses being scrutinised.

Rajdeep Sandhu
BBC Scotland Westminster correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

A bit more now on some news that we brought you earlier - Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross's decision to stand down after the election, which he's running in.

Many Scottish Conservatives I’ve spoken to are surprised at the timing of his decision - one described the announcement as a "scone-dropper".

Another tells me they thought he'd ride out a "difficult few days", while another says they thought he'd announce stepping down after the general election rather than in the middle of the campaign.

In a meeting this morning where Ross addressed his colleagues, I'm told people were "upset" and "frustrated" while some showed "understanding".

There does seem to be disbelief from those I speak to, wondering how the party has ended up in this situation of its own making. There's also a worry about the impact on the campaign.

As a reminder: Ross's surprise announcement came after his party effectively de-selected David Duguid as the Conservative candidate in Aberdeenshire North and Moray East, where Ross is now running. Duguid, who is unwell, was the MP for Banff and Buchan since 2017. Ross was supposed to be standing down from Westminster at this election to concentrate on his job as an MSP.

Speaking at a campaign event earlier, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said his party had run out of time to vet every candidate.

It follows a BBC News story, published in the last couple of hours, that revealed one Reform candidate claimed the country would be "far better" if it had "taken Hitler up on his offer of neutrality".

Farage refers to the nature of the snap election and says he thinks "every party will suffer" from candidate controversy: "I think every party will suffer because it was a snap election. We had put in place a big vetting programme, but we've run out of time."

You can watch his response in full here:

It has been another busy day so far on the election campaign trail with the leaders of the main UK parties out and about so let's recap on what has been happening today:

• The Liberal Democrats became the first party to unveil their full manifesto ahead of July's election
• They're pledging to boost spending on health and social care in England by more than £9bn by 2028. Sir Ed Davey said money would come from increasing tax on big banks, water companies and fossil fuel firms
• Speaking at the manifesto launch in central London, Davey said health and social care are at the heart of their policies
• Elsewhere, Rishi Sunak said he hopes people will "find it in their hearts" to forgive him for returning early from the D-Day commemorations in France last week
• The PM was speaking on a visit to West Sussex, after the Conservatives promised to recruit an extra 8,000 neighbourhood police officers if they are re-elected
• Sticking with the Conservatives, the leader of the Scottish Tories announced he will resign from the role after the general election
• A source told the BBC that Ross had come to the realisation that MSPs would not "put up" with him serving as both an MP and an MSP - so Ross announced he will also quit Holyrood
• Finally, Labour says it would create more than 3,000 new nurseries for 100,000 children in England

Lucy Manning
Special correspondent

Image source, Reuters

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has rejected suggestions from former home secretary Suella Braverman that the Conservative Party should embrace him.

She told the Times , externalthere is "not much difference" between their policies and said it would "unite the right".

Speaking at a policy launch in London, Farage said he would look forward to welcoming Tories into his party after the election and scoffed at her claim that there is little policy difference between the two parties.

Reform used the event to unveil what it called its “Great British tax cut”, pledging to raise the starting point that people pay income tax to £20,000.

The party has denied its economic plans are not properly costed and couldn’t be paid for, saying they would save money by changing the way the Bank of England makes interest payments to other banks.

Nick Robinson
Presenter, Radio 4 Today

I’ve invited the leaders of the seven biggest political parties in Great Britain for a series of BBC Panorama specials ahead of the general election on Thursday 4 July.

First up tonight is the prime minister and leader of the Conservative Party, Rishi Sunak.

The BBC is giving you the chance to suggest stories and themes you'd like us to ask the leaders.

So, what really matters to you in this general election? What is the one issue that will influence your vote? What’s happening in your life that the leaders need to know about?

Get in touch using this form and let me know what you'd like to ask the prime minister.

Watch The Panorama Interviews with Nick Robinson tonight (10 June) at 20:00 BST on BBC One and iPlayer.

Lib Dems focus on 'proud' immigration history but no mention of cutting numberspublished at 13:29 British Summer Time 10 June 2024

13:29 BST 10 June 2024

Mark Easton
Home editor

The Lib Dem manifesto refers to the UK’s “proud history of welcoming newcomers” and proposes a system that “treats everyone with respect”. There is no mention of reducing immigration numbers.

Instead, the Lib Dems would abolish the current salary threshold for migrant workers in favour of what it calls a merit-based system.

They would also end the recently introduced ban on foreign care workers bringing dependents to the UK and reverse the increase in income thresholds for family visas.

On irregular migration, the party says it would scrap the Rwanda scheme, uphold the Refugee Convention and provide safe and legal routes for asylum seekers.

How Lib Dems want to tax frequent flyerspublished at 13:18 British Summer Time 10 June 2024

13:18 BST 10 June 2024

Katy Austin
Transport correspondent

Image source, EPA-EFE/Rex/Shutterstock

Part of the Lib Dems' pledge to cut the impact of aviation on the climate is a frequent flyer tax. The principle is that if you fly more, you pay more.

Air Passenger Duty (APD) is charged per passenger flying from UK airports. There are different classes depending on distance and class of travel. The Office for Budget Responsibility estimates APD will raise £4.5bn in this financial year.

Under the Lib Dem proposal, we understand people would not start paying it on international flights until their second departure of the year. At that point, they’d pay less APD than at the moment. A third flight would be subject to a similar rate as now. People who fly more than three times a year would pay more, and so on.

Party representatives say less than 4% of the population fly more than three times a year. The BBC could not find find the source for this claim, so we’ve asked the Lib Dems to clarify.

The thinking is that changing habits would mean fewer flights overall. For example, business travellers would be encouraged to join meetings online instead. Business travel has already been slower to recover from the pandemic than leisure.

There is some detail lacking at the moment, for example what the actual rates would be, and how such a system would be implemented. We understand there would be a consultation on how to monitor it, with the most likely way a link to passport numbers.

The Lib Dems also proposed a frequent flyer levy in their 2019 manifesto.

Health and social care pledges are key to the Lib Dems' election manifesto.

This morning Sir Ed Davey outlined proposals for improving the two integrated systems.

"The scale of the challenge is enormous," he says.

"Our manifesto does not shy away from that."

Watch him share his thoughts on the current system below:

Laura Kuenssberg & Joseph Cassidy
BBC News

A Reform UK candidate claimed the country would be "far better" if it had "taken Hitler up on his offer of neutrality" instead of fighting the Nazis in World War Two.

Ian Gribbin, the party's candidate in Bexhill and Battle, also wrote online that women were the "sponging gender" and should be "deprived of health care".

In posts from 2022 on the Unherd magazine website, seen by the BBC, he said Winston Churchill was "abysmal" and praised Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A Reform spokesman said the comments were not "endorsements" but "written with an eye to inconvenient perspectives and truths", while his remarks about women were "tongue in cheek".

Gribbin declined to comment.

• You can read the full story here.