General election latest: Boris Johnson’s warning over Labour majority in surprise speech at Conservative rally
Boris Johnson introduces Rishi Sunak at late-night Conservative Party rally in the final countdown to the general election
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Boris Johnson warned a Labour super-majority would be “pregnant with horrors” as he gave a surprise appearance at a Conservative Party rally on Tuesday.
Rishi Sunak’s predecessor took to the stage ahead of Thursday’s general election in a last-ditch attempt to gather support for the current Tory leader, who is thought to be on the verge of leading the party to its worst defeat in history according to polling for The Independent.
Mr Johnson accused Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer of trying to “usher in the most left-wing Labour government since the war”.
He told campaigners: “Don’t let the Putinistas deliver the Corbynistas. Don’t let Putin’s pet parrots give this entire country psittacosis – which is a disease you get by the way from cosying up to pet parrots.”
He added: “If you want uncontrolled immigration and mandatory wokery, and pointless kowtowing to Brussels again, then go right ahead, make my day, vote for Starmer.”
It came as the UK’s postal vote system is “creaking”, the chief of the election watchdog has said, as a “record” amount of postal votes are expected this year.
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Starmer refuses to name new Labour cabinet if he wins election
Sir Keir Starmer has refused to name his cabinet if he wins the General Election on Thursday and speculated “plenty of constituencies” could come down to “just a few hundred votes”.
The Labour leader told the BBC: “I’m not going to get ahead of myself and announce, say, cabinet or possible cabinet.”
He added: “To do so two days before the election, to do so would to be complacent – and you would never expect a leader to do that.”
Swinney calls Sunak to review timetable for elections amid postal votes row
Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney has sent a letter to the Rishi Sunak urging for a review into the timetable for the general elections.
It comes as he reported ongoing concerns about people not getting ballot papers delivered to their homes on time for polling day.
Scotland has been particularly struck by the issue where he says families have been “disenfranchised” as the contest is taking place during Scottish school holidays.
In an open letter to the prime minister, the SNP leader criticised Mr Sunak for claiming he was not concerned about the problems with postal votes.
Mr Swinney said: “When so many people have confirmed that they did not receive their packs before leaving their home in the holiday season in Scotland, and with hundreds of voters applying to their local councils for emergency replacement postal votes, this is major cause for concern for many, including your postal affairs minister who is “urgently investigating” the delays across the UK.
“This has led to people in Scotland who did everything they were meant to do in order to secure their right to vote in this general election not being able to exercise that right. These include people who had already-arranged holidays that they had to leave for before the delayed postal votes arrived, and people for whom the alternatives, including organising a replacement postal pack from their local authority, were unsuitable or unavailable.”
Pictured: Sir Ed Davey surfing in Cornwall
Breaking: Ex-DUP leader faces 18 sex offence charges
Former DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson is facing more sex offence charges as he is set to appear in court tomorrow.
Mr Donaldson, 61, had faced 11 holding charges and is now being accused of a total of 18 offences after evidence was reviewed by the Public Prosecution Service (PPS).
Sir Jeffrey said he will contest all the charges.
He will face one charge of rape, four of gross indecency and 13 charges of indecent assault at Newry Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday in a preliminary enquiry.
Starmer urges government to meet Royal Mail ‘in next hour’ amid postal vote row
Sir Keir Starmer has urged the government meet Royal Mail chiefs “in the next hour” to fix the ongoing postal vote row.
It comes as reports emerged that voters hadn’t received their ballot papers with just 48 hours to go to the polls.
In response, the Labour leader told reporters in Derbyshire: “If you’re in government, and they are in government, at least for the time being, they need to sort it out and get on with sorting it out.
“Because what we can’t have these people who are entitled to a vote not being able to exercise it.
“So get on with the job, I’d say, and if the Post Office minister hasn’t met them, do it now in the next hour or two. Seriously, though, I mean, we’re running out of time. It’s not something you can do tomorrow.”
Workers Party candidate suspends campaign after attack leaves son in hospital
A candidate from George Galloway’s Workers party has suspended his campaign after his son was attacked while campaigning for him.
Wajad Burkey, who is standing in Sutton Coldfield, said the incident left him “fearful for life”.
He reported that his son and two other people were canvassing at 7.20pm on Sunday when they were attacked by eight men.
After his son was left with a head injury, Mr Burkey said: “I have suspended my campaign as I am fearful, frankly, for my life.”
In a statement, West Midlands Police said: “Around eight people arrived on motorbikes and cars before attacking the man with a baseball bat. A knife was also produced during the attack.
“The victim was left with an injury to the back of his head and went to hospital for treatment. We are examining CCTV and carrying out other enquiries.”
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Starmer questioned about his approach to tackling small boats crisis
Sir Keir Starmer was questioned about his approach to tackling the small boats crisis during a visit to a warehouse in Derbyshire.
The Labour leader said: “We have to get to grips with it. We’ve got too many people making that journey across the channel, 50,000 people have come since Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister - he said ‘I’m going to stop the boats’, 50,000 people have come on the boats.”
Sir Keir again set out Labour’s plan to tackle the gang by using cross-border intelligence-sharing and law enforcement action.
One worker said military veterans were on the streets while asylum seekers were being held in hotels.
Sir Keir said: “That is exactly why we’ve got to fix this problem. Because at the moment, it’s costing millions of pounds for the rent in hotels, that is just not sustainable.
“So, we’ve got to fix that problem. And you’re absolutely right, that you’ve got ex-military who are really struggling.”
Starmer says Labour needs ‘strong mandate’ to know it has public support for change required
Sir Keir Starmer said Labour needs a “strong mandate” to know it has public support to push ahead with the change required to help the “broken” country.
Asked why people should not fear a “supermajority”, Sir Keir said Labour needs to “fight for every vote” ahead of the polls closing at 10pm on Thursday.
He said during a visit to a warehouse in Derbyshire that: “People are saying the polls predict the future - they don’t predict the future, every single vote counts, every single vote has to be earned and in places like this it’ll probably go down to a few hundred either way and therefore the worst thing for people who want change is to think ‘job done’ and ‘we don’t need to vote because there’s going to be a majority in any event’. It isn’t job done.”
Sir Keir added: “Given that the country is pretty broken at the moment, a lot of things aren’t working, there’s a big job for us to do if we come in to serve and we need a strong mandate for that.
“We need to know the country genuinely wants this change and that we’re sort of all prepared to say this is the change that we want and it gives a real strong mandate to a government to say ‘we’ve asked you to change things, you need to get on with it’.
“The mandate is important to us if I’m honest because I want to know that people do want change. Our job then is to get on and do it.”
Boris Johnson: 'Labour majority means more wokery and higher taxes’
Former prime minister Boris Johnson has claimed a Labour government with a massive majority would bring “more wokery”.
Mr Johnson made the attack on a campaign video backing Priti Patel, who is standing in Witham to be re-elected.
He said: “All of that would be put at risk by Keir Starmer and the Labour Party.
“Unless you vote for Priti in Witham there is a risk that we’ll get an even bigger Labour majority, a really big Labour majority, with more wokery, more illegal immigration, more pointless, limp kowtowing to Brussels and of course ever higher taxation for you and your family under Keir Starmer and the Labour Party.
“Don’t let it happen. Stick with Prit.”
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