General Election latest: Rishi Sunak cancels planned media event as D-Day fallout mounts

The Tories are expected to promise a permanent scrapping of stamp duty for first-time buyers on homes in England and Northern Ireland worth up to £425,000.

Rachel Reeves visited a high street in Farnborough to discuss Labour's plans for small businesses and the rates systems.

The Lib Dems vowed to create at least three new national parks, and leader Ed Davey slammed Rishi Sunak for leaving D-Day events early.

SNP leader John Swinney also called out Sunak for his early departure, and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar called it "unforgivable".

Sunak apologised for leaving early and called it a "mistake" while campaigning in the north-east.

SNP leader John Swinney sent a letter to Keir Starmer today urging him to "be open with voters and admit where the axe will fall".

His party claims a Labour economy would cause deep public service cuts and argues Sarmer's party is no better than the Tories in terms of their spending plans.

Also today, Scottish Labour accused the SNP of "butchering" local government in Scotland and "amplifying austerity".

Lib Dem leader Ed Dvey was repeatedly questioned on whether he would consider a coalition with Labour, and did not rule it out.

While visitng a care home in Wokingham, he was approached by a relative of one of the residents who aksed if no party wins a majority, would he consider a coalition with Labour?

This question was reportedly asked many times, but Davey would not commit, stressing that he was just focused on the job in hand. He has, however, ruled out a coalition with the Tories.

Rishi Sunak was quizzed his constituents while attending the Great Ayton village fete in North Yorkshire - his final formal visit for the weekend and longest public walkabout of his campaign so far.

Most people showed excitement at his visit, in which he posed for selfies and played the fairground game splat the rat, but others questioned him and his party's policies.

A GP said she'd recently joined the Labour Party and told reporters that she'd put some serious questions about the state of the NHS to the Prime Minister.

Another woman asked Sunak about the child casualties in Gaza but was asked to move along by his press officers.

Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves said Labour will only commit to tax cuts once it determines "where the money’s going to come from".

She told the BBC: "I want taxes on working people to be as low as possible. Under the Conservatives the tax burden has reached its highest level in 70 years. That’s why I've committed not to increase the rates of income tax, national insurance or VAT."

If Labour maintained the freeze on tax thresholds, the burden on working families would only increase. To this, she responded: "The Conservatives have of course locked in those changes where the tax thresholds are frozen for the next few years.

"I would like to reduce taxes on working people but you have to be able to say where the money is going to come from if you make a pledge and a claim like that.

"The public finances are in a real mess after 14 years of Conservative government.

"I will never play fast and loose with the public finances… I will never make a pledge without saying where the money’s going to come from.

"The problem with the Conservatives is already during the course of this campaign they’ve set out more than £71 billion of unfunded commitments.

"The problem is if you can’t say where the money is going to come from you can’t believe that those promises are going to be delivered."

During a campaign visit on Saturday morning, SNP leader John Swinney spoke out against public spending cuts proposed by both the Tories and Labour.

At a theatre and dance studio in Livingston, near Edinburgh, he aimed to win over voters that may be tempted to pick Labour, as the SNP has held the constituency since 2015.

He said billions of pounds of spending cuts are "agreed by the Conservatives, and endorsed by Labour", and are "coming down the tracks towards us".

He slammed both parties for being guilty of "conspiracy of silence" that will only change under the SNP.

Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey played tennis with his party's parliamentary candidate for Newbury, Lee Dillon, in a visit to the area.

Two locals and chairs of the local tennis club stopped to watch and revealed "he's got a pretty good forehand".

He also played crazy golf on a dinosaur-themed course in Wokingham.

The audience who attended BBC's television election debate has been accused of being "biased" after anti-Brexit chat was welcomed with a huge round of applause.

During the heated debate, which Nigel Farage won, Stephen Flynn from the SNP claimed Brexit has increased food prices and proved "an unmitigated disaster for the economy".

After declaring his point, the audience, selected by independent pollsters Savanta, reacted by erupting into applause.

Based on the strong reaction to Mr Flynn's comment, furious social media users stormed to X, formally Twitter to claim the audience was "biased" and begged Ofcom to intervene

Meanwhile, Nigel Farage trounced the six other parties in last night's BBC debate, according to a viewer poll. One in four viewers (25 percent) chose Mr Farage as their winner, an astonishing figure for a seven-way debate.

The line-up included Penny Mordaunt, the Conservative Leader of the House of Commons, Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner, Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, Plaid Cymru’s Rhun ap Iorwerth, Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer and Mr Farage.

The polling, carried out by the More In Common think tank, asked more than 1,000 viewers.

The Conservative Party endured a gruelling night, with only 7 percent of viewers voting for Ms Mordaunt as their winner. Labour's Ms Rayner won 19 percent while 14 percent said no one won.

The Labour Party leader wants to level the playing field between brick-and-mortar stores and online shopping.

Sir Keir made the pledge alongside Dragons Den star Deborah Meaden in North London this afternoon.

He launched his party's plan to support small businesses. He said: "We want small businesses to thrive because they are the backbone of our economy and they need that stability in our economy, and they need to know that their energy bills are actually going to be lower and stable."

Nigel Farage has injected a huge boost of momentum into Reform UK's campaign during this election.

A new poll, carried out by Redfield & Wilton, showed a neck-and-neck race between Reform UK and the Conservatives in Wales.

Both of the parties have 18 percent, according to the latest survey.

They both significantly trail behind Labour, which is on 45 percent.

Worryingly for the Tories, only 39 percent of those who voted for the Conservatives in Wales in 2019 will vote Conservative again. 32 percent of these past Conservative voters said they would defect to Reform UK.

The Liberal Democrats have issued a new electoral pledge to create three new national parks in England.

This would bring the total number of national parks in England to 13.

The Lib Dems have pledged to spend £50m a year maintaining them.

Possible locations include the Chilterns, the Mendips, Cotswolds, Quantocks, the Surrey Hills, Northumberland coast and Dorset.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey accused the Tories of having "broken too many promises to protect our countryside"

He criticised the Conservatives for “failing” to deliver on their 2019 manifesto commitment to create new national parks.

Sir Ed said: "It is hard to overstate the difference things like National Parks can make to entire communities."

Labour politicians were quizzed today after the party's biggest trade union backer, Unite, refused to endorse the party's general election manifesto.

Labour's Jonathan Reynolds promoted the manifesto, which will be released next week, as "pro-business, pro-worker".

However, on Friday, Unite blasted the manifesto pledges for not going far enough on protecting workers' rights, as well as jobs in the North Sea oil and gas industry.

Mr Reynolds told the BBC this morning: "We have got to acknowledge that whatever the future of those additional licences, the North Sea is in decline. We have got to get the transition right."

He also admitted he was unsure whether Unite would donate anything similar to the £3 million they gave to Labour for the 2019 general election.

The PM is heading to the North East on the campaign trail today, but sources close to Mr Sunak have confirmed he will not be talking to the national media and there will be no interviews. A chance to ask the PM questions off-camera while in the North East has been cancelled.

This comes amid continuing backlash from both politicians and veterans themselves over the PM's decision to leave the D-Day commemorations early on Thursday.

Instead, the Conservatives are hoping that their new pledges to make permanent cuts to stamp duty for first-time home-buyers, as well as a promise to reverse Sadiq Khan's ULEZ scheme, will hit home with voters.

Penny Mordaunt warned that Britain would be far less safe in the hands of people like Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner during a feisty row in last night's BBC debate.

The Leader of the House of Commons criticised Ms Rayner's flip-flopping on Britain's nuclear deterrents and said it would put the country in danger. Ms Mordaunt suggested Vladimir Putin would not believe Britain would use its nuclear deterrent if Labour wins the election.

Labour’s deputy leader voted against renewing the Trident submarines in 2016 during Jeremy Corbyn's leadership - but last night she insisted she now backs them.

Nigel Farage, who won the debate last night according to a snap viewer poll, had the audience laughing aloud with this hilarious jibe at Sir Keir Starmer and his Labour Party.

A new bombshell poll reveals that Nigel Farage is the top choice to take over as Conservative leader if Labour wins the General Election.

The poll by Redfield and Wilton, conducted for The Independent, surveyed 2,000 adults on Wednesday and Thursday

It showed that 19 percent of voters think Mr Farage should take over from Mr Sunak, with 22 percent of 2019 Conservative voters supporting the idea.

Penny Mordaunt was second with 15 percent, while James Cleverly (6 percent), Kemi Badenoch (5 percent), Suella Braverman (4 percent), Priti Patel (2 percent) and Robert Jenrick (1 percent) all lagged behind the Reform UK leader

The biggest winner of the survey were the 'don't knows'. 48 percent of those asked did not know who should replace Mr Sunak as leader of the Conservatives.

To add to the Tory's headache, 37 percent of those asked said the Reform UK party should replace the Conservatives as the major opposition to Labour after the next election.

The Tories have announced pledges to permanently cut stamp duty and scrap ULEZ expansion in a bid to wrestle back control of their election campaign.

The Conservatives have promised to unveil a "backing drivers bill" if they retain power

The party also promises local referendums on "aggressive" schemes like 20mph zones and Low Traffic Neighbourhoods.

However, ministers will continue to field questions about Rishi Sunak's decision to leave D-Day ceremonies early.

This morning, Transport Secretary Mark Harper admitted it was a mistake for the PM but rejected claims that it was the moment the Conservatives "definitely lost this election".

Nearly half (47 percent) of those who voted for Boris Johnson's Conservative Party in 2019 backed Nigel Farage as the winner last night.

The devastating polling added to a torrid 24 hours for the Tories after Rishi Sunak was forced to apologise for leaving D-Day commemorations early.

It also boosts Reform UK's goal of becoming the main opposition party to Sir Keir Starmer's Labour.

A separate poll this week had Reform just two points behind the Conservatives.

Good morning and welcome to another day covering the latest in the general election campaign.

We will cover the major parties out campaigning today while tracking the fall-out of last night's BBC political debate.