What to expect in the General Election campaign on Friday
The main party leaders continue their campaign tours as the Tories and Labour focused on ways to cut energy bills.
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Your support makes all the difference.Here’s what to expect on the General Election campaign trail on Friday.
– The Prime Minister’s travels continue
Rishi Sunak will complete his whistlestop tour of the four nations of the UK with a visit to Northern Ireland.
The Prime Minister is expected to visit a dockyard to talk about maritime transport before flying back to England for a final campaign event of his two-day tour of the UK.
– Meanwhile, in Scotland
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will be in Scotland to launch a campaign there with high hopes of making inroads into the SNP’s domination on July 4.
Appearing alongside Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, Sir Keir will argue that the General Election offers a chance to “finally turn the page on 14 years of Tory government and the failed SNP and to chart a new course for the country”.
The SNP shot back, with MP Alison Thewlis saying Labour had “signed up to Tory austerity” and only her party would “protect our NHS and economy from Westminster parties who have no interest in Scotland’s priorities”.
Sir Keir and Mr Sarwar are also expected to tour broadcast studios setting out their plans, before the Labour leader travels south for a campaign event in north-west England.
The Scottish Greens are also expected to launch their campaign on Friday.
– The doctor will see you now, or at least this week
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey will be on England’s south coast, once again targeting Tory-held areas.
He will highlight a pledge for patients to be given a right to see a GP within seven days, with 8,000 more family doctors recruited to meet the pledge which would be enshrined in England’s NHS Constitution.
Some 8,000 more GPs would be recruited by the end of the next parliament to meet the goal, delivering an extra 65 million appointments each year.
– Putting some energy into the General Election campaign
The main policy clash between the parties is on energy, with Labour and the Tories offering rival visions as Ofgem unveils its latest price cap level.
Sir Keir will promise his plan for a state-owned green energy generator would cut bills and boost energy security.
Labour plans to base Great British Energy in Scotland if it wins the election, with the firm funded through a windfall tax on oil and gas giants.
Energy Secretary Claire Countinho said Labour’s plans would make voters “pay more for net zero”, with the shift away from North Sea oil and gas putting jobs in Scotland at risk.
She set out her own proposals aimed at making it easier for consumers to switch tariffs with Ofgem potentially given the power to publish league tables to expose energy firms’ poor customer service.
– Railing against Westminster
Plaid Cymru urged whoever wins the keys to No 10 to back the electrification of the north Wales main line.
The Government has so far allocated £1 billion from the savings made when Mr Sunak scrapped the northern leg of the HS2 scheme in England but the project has not made progress.
Llinos Medi, Plaid’s candidate for Ynys Mon, said: “Wales’s rail network is creaking at the seams yet successive Tory and Labour governments in Westminster have failed to deliver the investment we need to create a public transport system fit for the 21st century.”
– The final wash-up
The final stages of the 2019-2024 Parliament will play out in Westminster, with MPs and peers considering a series of Bills and regulations on Friday before they pack up and hit the election trail.
Mr Sunak’s flagship pledge banning young people from ever being able to smoke tobacco legally looks to have been kicked into the long grass after it received no mention on the business lists for the “wash-up” process before the dissolution of Parliament.
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill did receive Labour support at second reading in the Commons so could be revived in some form should they secure power.
But royal assent is expected to be granted to the Victims and Prisoners Bill, which includes measures to establish a compensation scheme for victims of the infected blood scandal.
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill, aimed at overhauling property law in England and Wales, has also been granted a late reprieve after its final stages in the Lords and Commons were added to the business following talks between party officials.
A number of Bills brought forward by backbench MPs will also become law, including moves to create two new offences of cat and dog abduction in England and Northern Ireland under the Pet Abduction Bill.