Conservatives promise 100 new GP surgeries
“The Conservatives have promised to build 100 new GP surgeries in England and boost the number of available appointments by allowing more treatments in the community if they win the election. The party says it would also expand the number of treatments pharmacies can offer without people seeing their GP first. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the plan would make it easier for patients to get the care they need and help relieve pressure on hospitals.” – BBC
- Streeting promises thousands more scans to stop osteoporosis – Sunday Express
>Today: ToryDiary: Streeting’s vacuous NHS pledges are a helpful reminder that, under Labour, everything will be the same (but worse)
Starmer promises to cut net migration
“Sir Keir Starmer today unveils a manifesto promise to cut the number of immigrants coming to Britain. The Labour leader made the landmark pledge in an exclusive interview with The Sun on Sunday. Announcing a two-pronged bid to curb numbers, he said Labour will pass laws to crack down on “bad bosses” hiring foreigners and train more Brits. Net migration hit 685,000 last year — the second highest in the nation’s history. Sir Keir told The Sun on Sunday: “Read my lips — I will bring immigration numbers down. If you trust me with the keys to No10 I will make you this promise: I will control our borders and make sure British businesses are helped to hire Brits first.” – The Sun on Sunday
- He has the talk. But where’s the plan? – Leader, The Sun on Sunday
- Unemployed Britons to do migrant jobs under Labour plans, says Cooper – Sunday Telegraph
- Poll shows Labour lead increasing to 20 points – Observer
- Cleverly suggests asylum seekers are lying about being suicidal – Observer
Abbott “offered peerage to stand down as MP”
“Labour MPs including Diane Abbott have been offered peerages to stand down and make way for Sir Keir Starmer’s chosen candidates. A number of left-wing MPs claim that, in the wake of the general election announcement, they were told they would be elevated to the House of Lords if they gave up their seats. It comes amid a “jobs for the boys” row with allegations that Starmer and his team have been parachuting allies into Labour’s safest seats. Among them are Josh Simons, head of the Starmerite think tank Labour Together, Luke Akehurst, a centrist member of the executive committee, and Alex Barros-Curtis, who, as Labour’s head of legal, oversaw the handling of Jeremy Corbyn’s suspension in 2020.” – Sunday Times
- A vote for Starmer’s Labour is a vote for national decline – Suella Braverman, Sunday Telegraph
- Starmer urged not to pack House of Lords with cronies – Sunday Express
- This blunder has left Labour looking like hopeless bullies – Nick Ferrari, Sunday Express
- Morgan McSweeney, the workaholic Irishman who built Starmer’s Labour – Sunday Times
- Sunak and Starmer are second-grade politicians – Interview with Andrew Neil, Sunday Times
Farage looks to Canadian scenario for Reform UK “takeover” of the Conservatives
“Asked directly if his friends are right and he wants to join the Tories, he adds: “Why do you think I called it Reform? Because of what happened in Canada — the 1992-93 precedent in Canada, where Reform comes from the outside, because the Canadian Conservatives had become social democrats like our mob here. It took them time, it took them two elections, they became the biggest party on the centre-right. They then absorbed what was left of the Conservative Party into them and rebranded.” I suggest this sounds a lot like he’s floating a merger. “More like a takeover, dear boy,” he replies, grinning like a Cheshire Cat.” – Sunday Times
- Farage will hold the key to the Tories’ future – Simon Heffer, Sunday Telegraph
Tories push for tax cuts pledge in Manifesto
“Rattled Tories have demanded Rishi Sunak cut taxes to ‘save the party from oblivion’ after the latest polling claimed they are heading for an unprecedented Election defeat. The call came as Chancellor Jeremy Hunt admitted to The Mail on Sunday that two cuts to National Insurance had failed to swing public opinion behind the Conservatives. He revealed the Prime Minister called an early Election as he believed a third cut was also unlikely to move the political dial – and because lower interest rates would take too long to be registered by voters. However, Popular Conservatism, a Right-wing movement launched by ex-Prime Minister Liz Truss and known as PopCons, said big cuts to the likes of stamp duty and inheritance tax should be among the ‘core Conservative principles’ in the party manifesto.” – Mail on Sunday
- It’s not too late for the Tories – people yearn to vote Conservative – Annunziata Rees-Mogg, Mail on Sunday
- Starmer must introduce wealth tax after Labour wins election, top Blair aide says – Observer
Hunt warns pensioners of threat to their savings from Labour
“Labour will betray pensioners again, Jeremy Hunt has warned as he vowed to protect voters’ retirements with a new “pensions tax guarantee”. The Chancellor has pledged that a Conservative government will not raise any taxes on pensions nor introduce new ones for the duration of the next parliament. The ability to draw down 25 per cent as a tax-free lump sum will also be protected and pension tax relief will remain at the marginal rate. In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Hunt says that people will “never forget” Gordon Brown’s £118 billion raid on pension funds and promises that the Conservative party will “always have their back”. – Sunday Telegraph
- Pensioners will be hit with a £,1000 “retirement tax” if Labour wins power – Sunday Express
- Labour spark fear of huge ISA crackdown as candidate deletes one telling comment – Sunday Express
- The data that explains the Tory focus on older voters – Sunday Times
Galloway holds campaign launch in Rayner’s constituency
“George Galloway has launched the Workers Party of Britain’s general election campaign with an attack on Labour. He told supporters Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was “indistinguishable” from Rishi Sunak and had “blood on his hands” over his position on Gaza. Mr Galloway said his party was standing hundreds of candidates across the country and he would be “extremely disappointed” if the number elected was not in double figures…In a speech in Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner’s former constituency of Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, Mr Galloway said: “I could not tell you which is the lesser of the two evils – Keir Starmer or Rishi Sunak.” – BBC
Labour challenged to ditch VAT on school fees if it would cost more than it raises
“Labour must abandon its plans to charge VAT on private schools if the budget watchdog forecasts that it will ultimately lose the taxpayer money, an education chief has warned. Sir Keir Starmer should ditch the policy if it is not seen as a revenue-raising measure by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), according to the Independent Schools Association president. Lord Lexden, who is a Tory peer, believes it is likely that the OBR would find that the policy will end up costing the taxpayer more than it will be able to raise in revenue.” – Sunday Telegraph
- Children being moved out of private schools mid-year as fees rise – Sunday Times
- Second private school blames Labour’s tax raid for closure – Sunday Telegraph
- Labour’s war on aspiration is already beginning to backfire – Leader, Sunday Telegraph
Leaders prepare for TV debates
“The first televised debate with Sir Keir Starmer on Tuesday is seen as key to measuring the party’s progress in closing the gap with Labour. Sunak will spend Sunday at an undisclosed location in London preparing for the ITV debate hosted by Julie Etchingham. He will go head to head with his closest political ally Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister, who will play Starmer.” – Sunday Times
- Sunak and Starmer must seize the moment – Leader, Sunday Times
- The Conservative campaign looks like it’s being run by Jeremy Corbyn – Dan Hodges, Mail on Sunday
- This facile election shows Britain’s democratic process is a pitiful sham – Janet Daley, Sunday Telegraph
- I’ll take the knee to you. I beg you to vote against a Keir Starmer government – Peter Hitchens, Mail on Sunday
Meloni “emerges as kingmaker” in EU parliament elections
“Giorgia Meloni has emerged as a kingmaker ahead of European elections that have become a battleground between pro-EU and Eurosceptic parties. The Italian prime minister is being courted for her support by Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, and by the stridently Eurosceptic Marine Le Pen. At stake is the balance of power in the European Parliament after the elections and – according to some fearing a hard-Right surge at the June 9 vote – the very soul of Europe.” – Sunday Telegraph
ANC will have to share power after election setback
“South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa is under growing pressure after leading the ruling African National Congress (ANC) to its worst election result in 30 years, forcing it to share power. With almost all the votes in from Wednesday’s poll, the ANC is on 40% – down from 58% at the previous election. This is lower than the party’s feared worst-case scenario of 45%, analysts say. The ANC has always polled above 50% since the country’s first democratic elections in 1994, which saw Nelson Mandela become president. But support for the party has been dropping significantly because of anger over high levels of corruption, unemployment and crime.” – BBC
- After a decade of misrule, this is a golden opportunity for South Africa to change direction – Leader, Sunday Telegraph
Other political news
- Atkins warns that Labour would make it easier to strike – The Sun on Sunday
- Tory councillor behind parking clampdown ‘living in fear’ after car set alight – Sunday Telegraph
- Tories accused of ‘colonising’ state by granting public roles to allies – Observer
- Lib Dems call for more Premier League games on free TV – BBC
- Exit polls show Modi set to win third consecutive landslide in Indian election – Sunday Telegraph
- Mexicans vote in election overshadowed by violent attacks – BBC
- Lib Dems vow to abolish use of voter ID at polling stations – Observer
- Reggae and radical pensioners at Jeremy Corbyn’s last hurrah for the left – Sunday Times
- Former Met commissioner John Stevens: ‘I’ve never seen the force in such a bad way’ – Sunday Telegraph
Ashcroft: Dishonesty and hypocrisy were the key charges against Ryaner – rather than tax avoidance
“My view is that this was never about money. And it certainly wasn’t about a capital gains tax bill. It was about why Ms Rayner claimed to live in one house when logic and evidence – to say nothing of multiple neighbours’ testimony – suggested she lived elsewhere. Who was lying, Ms Rayner or the neighbours? We still don’t know the answer – something that I predict will dog Ms Rayner for a long time. This story was also about hypocrisy. Until my biography, voters didn’t have a clue she’d taken advantage of the right-to-buy scheme – a system that many in the Labour Party despise.” – Lord Ashcroft, Mail on Sunday
Colvile: Labour’s energy plans don’t add up
“Starmer’s original “green prosperity plan” argued that hitting the 2030 target (which most experts regard as wildly implausible) would involve huge commitments: quadrupling offshore wind, more than tripling solar power, more than doubling onshore wind and green hydrogen, spending buckets on new nuclear. This investment splurge relied on that famous £28 billion a year in green investment. Now, the £28 billion is dead, but the target remains. So how’s it going to be paid for? Private investment, perhaps. But private investors need incentives to invest — and a return on the cash invested.” – Robert Colvile, Sunday Times
Hannan: The United States is becoming like some Central American banana republic
“Trump himself is now not just under indictment, but a convicted felon, and it has, if anything, slightly boosted his opinion poll standing. Far from being chastened, Trump continues to demand that people who cross him be locked up. Bit by bit, the United States is becoming like some Central American banana republic, where presidents who lose office expect to be jailed by their successors. The problem is not just that its legal system is being politicised; it is that the American people are cheering that process on whenever it is turned against their opponents…Whatever the cause, the effect stands before us in plain sight. Americans have lost interest in the institutions that made their country great and free.” – Daniel Hannan, Sunday Telegraph
- US law has always been political – Adam Smith, Sunday Times
News in brief
- Starmer is already losing control – Michael Crick, Unherd
- Who will survive to lead the Tories? – Ross Clark, The Spectator
- Will Labour break with the NHS dogma? – Damien Phillips, CapX
- Farage should stand – Matt Goodwin, Substack
- There’s little enthusiasm for Labour. Does it matter? – Philip Cowley and Matthew Bailey, The House magazine
