Election latest: Farage says he wants to be PM in 2029, as Reform candidate resigns over previous BNP support - and Labour hints it could overhaul Brexit deal (2024)

Leader of Scottish Labour Anas Sarwar has been speaking to crowds at the launch of the Scottish Labour battle bus.

He said: "In 18 days time we can finally get rid of this rotten Tory government that has done so much damage.

"In 18 days time - I'm emphasising the 18 days.

"After 14 years of failure and chaos, we finally have an opportunity to remove a government that has done so much damage to this country - that is an opportunity Scotland cannot afford to miss.

"Every single day between now and 4 July we are going to be persuading people not just on how we can get rid of the Tories but persuading them on the positive case for change."

He said "every vote for Scottish Labour is a vote to make sure we get rid of the Tories" and to "put Scotland at the heart of a Labour government".

Mr Sarwar also said every Scottish Labour MP would deliver for the Scottish people, and that their plans would include a pay rise for over 200,000 Scots.

The fundamental issue for Labour and their tax policy is that there simply isn't the money available on day one of a Labour government to pay for everything - but the party have insisted cuts won't be coming either.

They've not outlined a single government department that will have to take a hit and on the other side, it isn’t quite clear which taxes will go up.

It's like a game of guess who - every day journalists have to try and rule out one form of tax rise and eventually we get slightly closer to what their plans actually are.

Today that was council tax bands. After repeatedly refusing to rule out a change to them, today Jonathan Ashworth said explicitly that Labour will not revalue council tax bands.

The eight-band system that was introduced in 1991 does not take into account significant increases in house prices since then, but Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow paymaster general, today told journalists that Labour promise not to significantly alter what is currently in place.

There are other taxes still unaccounted for - capital gains tax is a big one Labour hasn't been explicit about - and former Labour leaders like Neil Kinnock have said it's prudent to leave some things to have some wiggle room over a five year parliament.

This chaotic approach to announcing tax plans is certainly an interesting approach - and one the Conservatives are hoping to capitalise on.

Our live poll tracker collates the results of opinion surveys carried out by all the main polling organisations - and allows you to see how the political parties are performing in the run-up to the general election.

So far, only one poll has shown Reform ahead of the Conservatives - the Tories are currently an average of 7 points ahead of Nigel Farage's party.

Read more about the tracker here.

John Swinney, Scotland's first minister, is addressing those gathered on the SNP campaign trail in Stornoway today.

He has pledged to "take the steps to make sure we end the damage of Brexit", but focused his speech largely on the role of Scotland.

Mr Swinney said that "at the heart of our manifesto" will be that "Scotland should be in charge of decision making for Scotland".

He also stressed the need for a social tariff, whereby the SNP can "commit to people who are elderly or disable that they are free of the burden of energy costs in our society".

The first minister explained that the cost of energy is "unbearable" for people despite the fact that "this community is producing vast amounts of renewable energy".

He said "people who are elderly and disabled will pay a lower tariff which will reduce costs for those who are vulnerable in society".

This tariff would extend to "broadband and telephone costs".

The SNP is due to unveil its manifesto on Wednesday.

Labour would display itself as "pro-business" by holding a global investment summit in the first 100 days of entering government, the shadow chancellor has said.

Discussing the party's commitment to holding the summit, Rachel Reeves said: "That is an opportunity to show that, with Labour, we are pro-business, we are pro-investment, and we are determined to seize for the UK the investment that we know is out there."

At a meeting of an infrastructure council set up last year by Labour, Ms Reeves said the group of UK-based and international investment firms is something the party wants "to take into government"

The shadow chancellor added: "I very much hope that the next meeting of this group will be in government.

"In the early days of a Labour government, we will want to get started, get cracking on the things that we need to do to unlock the investment."

Discussing the election campaign, shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds told council members it had been "more enjoyable" than the 2019 general election campaign.

Sir Keir Starmer's "crippling caution" in the general election campaign is "suffocating optimism", the SNP's Westminster leader has said.

The Labour leader has faced repeated criticism during the campaign for an apparent failure to offer radical change from the Conservatives, including in not scrapping the two-child limit on benefits.

But despite claims from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) - repeatedly touted by the SNP - that spending cuts will be required in the future, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar emphatically said there would be no austerity under Sir Keir's leadership.

Writing in the Daily Record, Stephen Flynn said: "The other strange thing about this election is that the crippling caution of Sir Keir Starmer is suffocating any sense of enthusiasm.

"Starmer's status quo, his choice to change the guard but not to change course, won't deliver real change.

"The consequence of Starmer's caution means more spending cuts, more Brexit and more of the same."

The SNP has repeatedly claimed £18bn of cuts will be required in the future, with the party suggesting £1.45bn of those would impact budgets in Scotland as a result of its population share.

Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and Plaid Cymru have released their manifestos - as the general election campaign continues.

Sky News has scoured their policy pledges so you don't have to. We will add a breakdown of all the other parties' manifestos here when they are announced.

Click the link below to find out what the parties have promised to do if they win theelectionon 4 July...

By Tom Cheshire, Megan Harwood-Baynes, Mary Poynter, online campaign team

How bad is the Conservative brand?

Bad enough for dozens of its own candidates to avoid using it, according to research from Sky's Online Campaign Team and Who Targets Me.

We looked at the adverts published on Facebook and Instagram by 521 Labour and Conservative candidates from 1 May until 12 June.

Of these, 376 adverts contained official branding (logos and colours), 104 had some form of partial branding, and 41 had no branding at all.

And the vast majority of those with no branding - 38 - were Conservative.

Read more here:

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has confirmed he has ambitions to be the UK's prime minister by 2029.

He told the BBC: "(The Conservatives) can't agree on anything, they're split down the middle, and we know what we stand for, we know what we believe in, and for democracy to function properly there needs to be a proper voice of opposition.

"And our plan - and this is our first big election as a party - our plan is to establish that bridgehead in parliament and to use that voice to build a big national campaigning movement around the country over the course of the next five years for genuine change."

Asked if he would stand to be prime minister at an election in 2029, Mr Farage replied: "Yes, absolutely.

"I think the disconnect between the Labour and Conservative Westminster-based parties and the country - the thoughts, hopes and aspirations of ordinary people - are so far apart from where our politics is."

Mr Farage claimed the idea that Donald Trump wanted to overturn a democratic election was a "matter of opinion", adding: "What happened on January the 6th should not have happened, of that there's no doubt whatsoever. Did he actually urge people to storm the Capitol building? No, he didn't."

When pressed on the issue, he said: "No, I don't approve of objecting to elections, even though I object to much of what's happening in our system, with postal vote corruption and many other things."

A former Reform UK candidatemade "daft" comments at a "difficult and angry time in his life", the party has said.

Grant StClair-Armstrong resigned from the party for previously calling on people to vote for the British National Party (BNP).

Mr StClair-Armstrong, who will remain on the ballot paper as an independent in North West Essex, posted on a blog called the Joli Triste in 2010: "I could weep now, every time I pick up a British newspaper and read the latest about the state of the UK.

"No doubt, Enoch Powell would be doing the same if he was alive. My solution ... vote BNP!"

A Reform UK party spokesperson said: "Some 15 years ago, by own admission made some daft, inappropriate comments at a difficult and angry time in his life.

"He regrets them, and has resigned."

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