General election latest news: Michael Gove exit shows voters that Sunak’s plans can’t be trusted, Starmer claims

On a campaign visit to Stafford, the Labour leader confirmed plans to follow Scotland and Wales in extending the vote to a further 1.5 million people, telling reporters: “If you can work, if you can pay tax, if you can serve in your armed forces, then you ought to be able to vote.”

The “extremely straightforward” legislation will likely even appear as soon as the King’s Speech, a Labour source told The Times, which estimated that such a move could flip eight Tory seats red in England alone. It comes as Rishi Sunak is scrambling to find more than 190 candidates amid the largest exodus of Tory MPs since the Second World War, with 78 now announcing they are stepping down at the July election.

Read the full article from Andy Gregory here:

Rishi Sunak has said voters will be “at risk” and in a “more dangerous world” with a Labour government because “our enemies notice” if the UK “doesn’t have a plan”.

The Tories have sought to draw a dividing line with Sir Keir Starmer’s party over security after pledging to raise defence spending to 2.5% by 2030.

In a lengthy thread on X, the Prime Minister said on Saturday: “We all know that Labour doesn’t have a plan. But what does that actually mean if they got into power?

“Uncertainty… But what is the cost of this uncertainty?

“An uncertain future has consequences. Our enemies notice. The world becomes more dangerous as they take advantage of our weakness.”

He added: “The consequences of uncertainty are clear. No plan means a more dangerous world. You, your family and our country are all at risk if Labour win.”

The Conservatives have just advertised nine seats where MPs have recently stepped down.

They include Michael Gove’s Surrey Heath after his shock announcement yesterday. Also on the list is Wokingham which was held by arch Brexiteer Sir John Redwood.

Others in list of winnable Tory seats are Tunbridge Wells, Northampton North, South Northamptonshire, Bexleyheath and Crayford, Bexhill and Battle, Epping Forest and East Thanet.

East Thanet came vacant because Conservative MP Craig Mackinlay is still recovering from the aftermath of sepsis which almost killed him but led to him having his hands and legs amputated.

He is soaked in Downing Street on his launch, drowned out by triumphant Blair’s anthem, his MPs are fleeing the battlefield and he visits a Titanic museum. When you think things cannot get worse for Rishi Sunak, they do.

Is this the worst start to an election campaign in history, asks The Independent’s political editor David Maddox:

Sir Ed Davey’s party was continuing its trail across the South East on Saturday, with the leader hitting two marginal constituencies to highlight sewage-dumping as a key electoral battleground in areas near the coast.

The party leader was out door-stepping in education secretary Gillian Keegan’s constituency of Chichester, where he hopes to flip the Tory majority.

The Lib Dems claimed that party analysis shows water company bosses have pocketed some £54m in bonuses since 2019 as they announced plans for a new, strengthened water industry regulator to replace Ofwat.

Sir Keir Starmer has defended Labour’s decision to rebrand its package of workers’ rights pledges following a backlash from one of the UK’s biggest trade unions.

The party leader denied he was watering down policies on areas like zero-hours contracts, parental leave and sick pay after Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said the plans had “more holes than Swiss cheese”.

It comes after the latest flare-up in a row over Labour’s New Deal for Working People, following reports it would go through a formal consultation process with businesses – potentially delaying or toning down the pledges.

On Friday, Labour rebranded the New Deal as “Labour’s plan to make work pay”.

Sir Keir Starmer has attacked Rishi Sunak over the record exodus of Tory MPs, including longstanding parliamentarians such as Michael Gove.

“Michael Gove has a reputation for delivery in government. So if he has effectively lost faith in what Rishi Sunak is putting before the electorate it does beg the question as to why the voters should have faith in what Rishi Sunak is putting forward,” the Labour leader was quoted by the Telegraph as saying during a vist to Stafford.

“They have effectively got off the bus, because they don’t think the bus is going anywhere, I do think that’s significant.”

John Swinney has defended his decision to challenge the sanction ordered against his colleague Michael Matheson, saying the process on a Holyrood committee was “damaged” by “prejudice” from one of its members, reports Neil Pooran.

Holyrood’s Standards Committee backed a 27-day suspension for Mr Matheson following the row over a near-£11,000 data roaming bill on his parliamentary iPad.

But the First Minister said he did not support the cross-party committee’s sanction as one of its members, Conservative Annie Wells, had previously made critical comments about Mr Matheson’s explanation for the bill, which Mr Swinney believes therefore prejudiced the decision.

The Conservatives have said voters will punish Mr Swinney for his “shameful defence” of his former ministerial colleague.

The Tories started the election needing to find 191 candidates and now another 10 MPs including Michael Gove have decided they do not want to run bringing the total to 78.

With candidates also deciding they would rather not put their names forward for what could be a thankless task in many constituencies the party’s crisis is now being mocked on social media.

Memes of pictures with Mr Sunak with random voters with the message “do you want to be a Conservative candidate?” are circulating on X (formerly Twitter) and other platforms.

Others have a lifeboat crew member asking the same question of asylum seekers on the Channel in a small boat.

Another one is an image of Alistair Sim’s version of Scrooge from the 1951 adaption of A Christmas Carol shouting the same question from window.

Labour has accused Rishi Sunak of “hiding away in his mansion” as his predecessor Liz Truss urged him to scrap all net zero targets in order to win the election.

The PM was out campaigning on Saturday morning as he met with local veterans in his constituency, though his plans for the rest of the day have not been publicly confirmed.

Shadow paymaster general Jonathan Ashworth said: “While Rishi Sunak spends today hiding away in his mansion, Liz Truss is yet again reminding voters that he has no control over his party and desperate Jeremy Hunt is making more completely unfunded promises.

“Five more years of the Tories will mean more of this chaos – with the British public left paying the price every single day.”

The Conservatives say it is inaccurate to suggest Mr Sunak is not out on the trail, pointing to his meeting with veterans on Saturday morning.