General election latest: Farage lashes out at BBC with new policy in speech and denies Reform has Russia links

Party leaders have just four days to go to secure votes before looming 4 July deadline

Sunak on Farage

Nigel Farage said Reform UK would campaign as the “leading voice of opposition” to abolish the BBC licence fee, claiming the broadcaster has “abused its position of power” at the party’s rally in Birmingham.

It comes after the Reform UK leader was questioned about the state of his party, and the views expressed by some of its candidates and campaigners, by a live audience during an appearance on BBC Question Time on Friday night.

“They stand for nothing. I was told they were a broad church. Well they’re a broad church without any religion,” he added.

“It simply doesn’t work. So we will again renew our campaign with added vigour to say that the state broadcaster has abused its position of power and we will campaign for the abolition of the BBC licence fee.”

It comes as Rishi Sunak has said the UK is a better place to live in now than it was when the Tories took office in 2010.

In a fiery interview with BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, the prime minister acknowledged the last years have been “difficult” as he cited the pandemic and the war in Ukraine driving up energy bills, but insisted “we are now on the right track”.

Key Points

• Reform UK will campaign as ‘leading voice of opposition’ to BBC licence fee
• Claims about Russian interference in General Election ‘cobblers’, says Farage
• Sunak: ‘UK is better place to live now than when Tories first came into office’
• PM says he is ‘proud’ of his election campaign

[30 June 2024 09:51 · Maryam Zakir-Hussain]

PM: ‘Investing in defence shows we have strength’

Rishi Sunak said investing in defence shows the UK’s adversaries that “we have strength” as he added “the world is dangerous”.

When challenged about his plan to cut civil servants to fund this increase in spending, he said: “We’ve had a massive expansion of civil servants since the pandemic to deal with it, it was reasonable at the time, but it’s no longer reasonable.”

[30 June 2024 09:42 · Maryam Zakir-Hussain]

Sunak: ‘UK is better place to live now than when Tories first came into office’

Rishi Sunak said the UK is a better place to live in now than it was when the Tories took office in 2010.

The Prime Minister told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “It’s a better place to live than it was in 2010.

“Of course I understand that the last few years have been difficult for everyone.

He cited the pandemic and the war in Ukraine driving up energy bills, insisting “we are now on the right track”.

It was put to him that the country has become poorer by many measures since 2010, and public services are worse.

“I just don’t accept that,” Mr Sunak replied, citing education and saying “our schoolchildren are now the best readers in the western world”.