General election latest: Starmer gives blunt response on potentially rejoining EU - as police drop investigation into his deputy (2024)

The Labour leader has accused Rishi Sunak of letting his approach to net zero see the UK fall behind other countries in the race for jobs.

Sir Keir Starmer said "the next generation of jobs is in renewables", and said European countries and the US were "out in that race".

Mr Sunak, by contrast, is "in the changing room", he said.

Speaking during his visit to an Airbus factory, Sir Keir also spoke of the importance of electric vehicles.

He said Britain's charging infrastructure needs to improve.

"We've got to rise to the challenge," he said.

"I genuinely believe this is the biggest opportunity that we've got for the next generation of jobs, and we've got to take it because these are high-skill, valuable, secure jobs of the future."

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Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner has said she welcomes the conclusion of the police investigation into her former living arrangements - and has hit out at the Tories for taking the issue to detectives.

"We have seen the Conservative Party use this playbook before - reporting political opponents to the police during election campaigns to distract from their dire record," she said.

"The public have had enough of these desperate tactics from a Tory government with nothing else to say after 14 years of failure.

"I am grateful to all those who have stood by and supported me and my family. My focus now is squarely on securing the change Britain needs, with the election of a Labour government."

Sir Keir Starmer has been at an Airbus factory in Hertfordshire this afternoon and has fielded questions from the public and reporters.

Speaking to the latter, he was asked whether a Labour government would review freedom of movement with the EU.

"We haven't got it any more, and we're not going back," he said.

"There is no case for saying we go back into the EU."

He refers to the outcome of the 2016 referendum, despite having later campaigned for a second one.

But Sir Keir says he thinks "we can get a better deal" with the bloc.

He called for a "closer relationship", especially on trade and defence.

Earlier, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves made her pitch to be the UK's first female chancellor, in which she claimed Rishi Sunak is "singing from the same songbook" as his predecessor Liz Truss.

If you need a reminder, Ms Truss's short tenure in No 10 included a disastrous mini-budget which caused havoc to the economy.

Reacting to Ms Reeves' speech - and news overnight that 120 business leaders have backed Labour - our business presenter Ian King said a "couple of things" have started to turn heads in the City.

No tax rises - and no summer fiscal event

He explains: "One was the commitment from Rachel Reeves that there would be no additional taxes other than the ones that she's already set out - for example, more aggressive taxation of private equity, the imposition of VAT on private school fees.

"The other was the fact that during the question and answer session she ruled out an emergency fiscal event this summer.

"She said that there would need to be at least 10 weeks between the end of the general election and a fiscal event taking place, so that any spending decisions and taxation decisions could be properly assessed by the Office for Budget Responsibility."

This is interesting for a couple of reasons, Ian says.

"First of all, it rather suggests that this hike in private school fees - or VAT on school fees - is not going to be implemented straight away," he says.

"Not until probably mid-September at the earliest.

"The second point is that she's really kind of boxed herself in with this promise not to additionally put on extra taxes, other than the ones that she's already outlined.

"Because practically every economist... have said whoever wins the general election, they're either going to have to raise taxes or cut public spending.

"There isn't room to keep spending as it is without raising taxes."

Rachel Reeves has refused to rule out tax rises beyond income tax, national insurance and corporation tax if Labour finds a black hole in the public finances once it enters government.

In an interview with Sky News, the shadow chancellor swerved questions on whether the government books might be worse than anticipated if Labour wins the election, and how the party would raise the money to deal with pressing issues.

The shadow chancellor said her plans were fully funded, but existing tax rises were there only to fund commitments already made, and insisted: "We have no plans for increased taxes."

But pressed on whether she would raise other taxes if there was a black hole on entering government, she said: "I'm not going to write a budget here."

Read more below:

It's 5pm - here's your teatime run-down.

We're still in the early days of the election campaign, but there's been plenty of divisive policy announcements, clashes and political stunts making a splash here in the Politics Hub.

Let us get you up to speed on everything you may have missed....

• Rishi Sunak is in the East Midlands, where he has defended a Conservative plan to introduce the "triple lock plus". This will essentially result in a tax cut for pensioners by raising their tax-free allowanceby either average earnings, inflation or by 2.5% - whichever is higher;
• However, it should be noted it was the decision of a previous Tory government to freeze income tax thresholds, bringing more people into paying the tax, including on income from pensions;
• And - bad news for Brits - taking part in a Q&A session earlier, the prime minister laughed off the idea of a new bank holiday being introduced for St George's Day;
• Labour have been busy outlining their economic plans, but challenged by our deputy political editor Sam Coates, would-be chancellor Rachel Reeves refused to rule out further tax rises if Labour finds a black hole in the public finances;
• However, as our political correspondent Tamara Cohen explains, a letter signed by over 120 business leaders in support of Labour is "a sign of how far they've come";
• Meanwhile, over in the Liberal Democrat camp, the party's leader Sir Ed Davey fell off a paddleboard numerous times in Windermere today - but has admitted one of the plunges was intentional;
• He did, however, stress a "serious message" behind the stunt: "Our environment and our wonderful country is so critical to so many people";
• We've also heard from Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron, who has "fully" backed Mr Sunak's "bold" decision to reintroduce national service, if the Tories are re-elected in July;
• And the Tories have lost a key attack line after news that Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner will face no further action in an investigation over her living arrangements.

Read more

If you've got a bit more time on your hands, you can read more of some of the stories above in greater detail:

Stick with us for all the latest throughout the evening.

Sir Keir Starmer has accused Rishi Sunak of "rummaging around in the toy box of ideas" with his "desperate" pledges for another Tory government.

In a Q&A event at an Airbus factory in Hertfordshire, the Labour leader was asked about suggestions the prime minister would bar GPs from freely handing out sick notes.

Sir Keir said: "Rishi Sunak is putting out a lot of ideas now that are pretty desperate stuff.

"Every day he rummages around in the toy box of possible ideas and flings one on the table.

"Yesterday, we had national service for teenagers.

"Today we've had something on pensions - but no funding for it."

On the question of sick notes, Sir Keir says: "I think he's going down the wrong track.

"There are many people, I would acknowledge, who are not in work at the moment who want to be back in work… but they don't feel supported back into work.

"And I think they should be supported back into work."

Hot on the heels of Greater Manchester Police ending its investigation into the deputy Labour leader's old housing arrangements, the relevant local council, Stockport, has come to the same conclusion.

A statement said: "Stockport Council has reviewed and responded to all correspondence relating to this matter, including information received from Greater Manchester Police who have concluded that no further police action will be taken.

"We have also concluded that no further action will be taken on behalf of the council."

If you need a reminder on what the investigation was all about, see our previous post.

As we just reported, police have ended their investigation into Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner.

If you need a reminder, the issue had centred on what house Ms Rayner used as her primary address 10 years ago.

Ms Rayner said it was an ex-council house she used to own on Vicarage Road in Stockport, which she bought in 2007.

But she faced claims she lived primarily at her then husband's address in Lowndes Lane, just over a mile away.

The pair married in 2010 and have two children together.

Why did the claims matter?

The claims she lived mainly at her ex-husband's house mattered because she was registered to vote at the Vicarage Road address.

Under electoral rules, voters must register at their permanent home address, and there are penalties for providing false information when registering to vote.

Then there is the issue of whether she paid the right amount of tax when she sold her house.

She sold the Vicarage Road house in 2015 for £127,500, having bought it at a 25% discount through the "right-to-buy" scheme for £79,000 in 2007.

If it was her primary address, as she has claimed, she would not have had to pay capital gains tax on the £48,500 profit.

But if she had moved to Lowndes Lane, she would have had to pay up.

Tax experts have said if Ms Rayner did owe tax, the amount could be in the region of £1,500.

She had vowed to stand down if she was found to have done anything wrong.