What to expect on the General Election campaign trail on Thursday

Here is your guide to the main developments in the General Election campaign on Thursday.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (right) and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer (left) hold wreaths (PA) (PA Archive)

Here is your guide to the main developments in the General Election campaign on Thursday:

– D-Day commemorations continue

The leaders will put the combative point scoring aside to come together to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

Both the Prime Minister and Sir Keir Starmer will join members of the royal family at the British Normandy memorial to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

Rishi Sunak is expected to deliver a short speech and lead a “heroes’ welcome” at the event in France, before Sir Tom Jones takes to the stage alongside other music stars.

– Labour warns pensioners to watch their wallets

While the Tories appear to have taken a day off campaigning, shadow pensions secretary Liz Kendall is in Essex to speak to pensioners.

Labour said the Conservatives have worsened the quality of retirement, with the number of over 65s paying income tax nearly doubling since 2009.

Ms Kendall is expected to tell pensioners to “look at your wallet, look at the quality of your healthcare and look at the lack of housing for your children and grandchildren and ask yourself, is this as good as it gets?”

The Labour candidate is expected to repeat warnings of the Tories’ “reckless, unfunded” £46 billion tax black hole, which comes with the abolition of national insurance.

– NHS and social care get the Green bucks

At a press conference in London, the Green Party will announce a “game-changing” plan to spend £50 billion on health and social care over the next five years.

The package includes £30 billion for the NHS, to go towards increasing workers’ salaries and providing better access to GPs and NHS dentists, and £20 billion for social care to mend the “broken care system”.

This comes after the party announced it would be undertaking a “full review” of its health policy after concerns were raised about its plan to reduce the number of medical interventions in childbirth.

The Green’s health policy document said there has been a rise in Caesarean sections, which it described as “expensive and, when not medically required, risky”.

The document on the party’s website – which was last updated in April 2024 – has since been taken down.

– Liberal Democrats take on the West Country

During the visit to the West Country, leader Sir Ed Davey will primarily focus on one of the party’s manifesto commitments which is to improve cancer care.

The party has said cancer patients should have a legal right for their treatment to start within 62 days from urgent referral.