General election latest: Starmer urges Sunak to meet Royal Mail bosses ‘in next hour’ to sort postal vote chaos
With just hours before polling day, voters in some constituencies could be unable to fill out their ballots on time
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Parties have begun a 48-hour blitz in constituencies across the country as they make their final appeals to voters ahead of polling day.
Rishi Sunak began Tuesday visiting businesses in Oxfordshire, insisting predictions of a heavy Tory defeat were not going to stop him from continuing his fight to remain in No 10.
Meanwhile, Sir Keir Starmer is campaigning across the Midlands. The Labour leader has urged Mr Sunak to meet Royal Mail bosses “in the next hour or two” to fix the ongoing postal vote chaos.
It comes as Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake announced the delays to postal vote delivery are being “urgently investigated” and criticised Royal Mail for failing to deliver ballot packs on time.
But Royal Mail, who is also conducting sweeps of their delivery system on polling day, said there is “no backlog” and blamed stakeholders instead.
Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney and SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn warned some Scots could be “disenfranchised” if their postal votes cannot be filled out and returned on time.
What to expect on the General Election campaign trail on Tuesday
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Tories attack Starmer over his desire to spend Friday nights with family
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In full: Backlash as Tories attack Starmer for saying he wants to spend time with his family after 6pm on Fridays
Tories attack Starmer for wanting to spend time with his family after 6pm on Fridays
Conservative Party facing criticism over attack on Starmer, and for apparently ignoring that his family observe Jewish Shabbat dinner on Fridays
Antisemitism tsar condemns ‘dangerous’ Tory attack on Starmer’s Friday family time
The Government’s antisemitism adviser has condemned “dangerous” attacks on Sir Keir Starmer over his desire to keep Friday nights free from work.
The Labour leader, whose wife is Jewish, has come under fire from senior Tories after saying he wanted to avoid work after 6pm on a Friday to spend time with his family – although he acknowledged that would not always be possible.
The Tories said that would make him a “part-time” prime minister while Cabinet ministers mocked him, suggesting he would refuse to go to work if there was an international crisis on a Friday evening.
Friday night Shabbat dinners are important in the Jewish faith and Sir Keir has talked about making sure his children are aware of their heritage.
Lord Mann, a Labour peer who was appointed as antisemitism adviser by Theresa May, said: “The attack on Keir Starmer for asserting his right to family time on a Friday night, as he has done for many, many years, is so dangerous.”
Sunak warns tax on businesses and families at risk if not re-elected
Rishi Sunak has claimed tax cuts for businesses and families will be put at risk if he is no longer Prime Minister.
Asked how he would restore economic growth, Mr Sunak told an event at a business in Banbury: “Tax cuts, because I believe if we have a lower tax economy, that is a higher growth economy.”
Mr Sunak highlighted cutting taxes for businesses which are investing and expanding, citing the full expensing policy.
He added tax cuts for people are also important, noting: “When people are working hard, if we can cut their taxes and they’ve got more money of their own, they’re going to spend it, and they’re going to spend it on things you supply, and that’s how we can also grow our economy.
“So, tax cuts for businesses that are investing and doing the right thing, and tax cuts for every family at every stage of their life so they can spend more of their money on the things they want – that ultimately also helps.
“So, those two things are really important and again there’s a choice for you in this election. If I’m not standing here next week, you won’t get those tax cuts. And not only that, (Labour deputy leader) Angela Rayner is going to introduce French-style union laws into this country.”
Starmer reveals the first thing he would do as prime minister
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has revealed the first thing he would do as prime minister.
He told a campaign event in Nottinghamshire: “The very first thing I do is change the mindset of politics, and the mindset needs to be politics of service.
“We’ve had 14 years of self-entitlement under the Tories, 14 years of seeing ‘partygate’, the breaking of the rules that everybody else was following, the PPE contracts in Covid, the gambling that we’ve seen in this campaign.
“Politics needs to be returned to service and that is the first thing we have to do on day one.
“We’ve got our first steps – we will start our work on the waiting lists, on the police we need, on the teachers we need, on the border security we desperately need, but returning politics to service where we can – as we’ve campaigned – say it is always country first, party second.”
Starmer hits out at 'desperate’ Tory campaign
Sir Keir Starmer has labelled the Tories’ election campaign “desperate”.
The Labour leader contrasted the party’s “positive” campaign with the Conservatives’ “negative” approach.
Speaking at a football stadium in Nottingham, he said: “What a contrast to the increasingly desperate, negative campaign that the Tories are running.
“They have literally got nothing to say to the electorate.”
Starmer ‘concerned’ about postal ballots
Sir Keir Starmer is delivering a speech as part of Labour’s campaign trail in Nottingham.
The Labour leader has said he is “concerned” about postal ballots not being delivered on time.
It comes an investigation has also been launched into reports of delays in the delivery of thousands of postal ballots.
Asked about whether he is worried about the issue, Sir Keir said: “It is important that every single person has the ability to vote, and vote for change.”
He added that “we must do everything we collectively can” to make sure those ballots can be delivered before 4 July.
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