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General Election LIVE: Keir Starmer says ‘new age of insecurity has begun’ at defence speech
3 June 2024, 07:19 | Updated: 3 June 2024, 14:20
Sir Keir Starmer has pitched Labour as the party of national security in a major election speech today.
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Meanwhile Rishi Sunak was campaigning in the South East, as he announces the "current confusion around definitions of sex and gender" cannot be allowed to persist.
He has vowed to amend the Equality Act to define the protected characteristic of sex as "biological sex".
The Labour leader reaffirmed his commitment to a "nuclear deterrent triple lock" as well as his ambition to increase defence spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product (GDP), a measure of the size of the economy.
Veteran left-winger and former Corbyn ally Diane Abbott announced on Sunday evening that she would be standing as the Labour candidate for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, an announcement Sir Keir will be hoping will put the debate on her status in the party to bed.
The Liberal Democrats are expected to engage in some nautical campaigning, without leader Sir Ed Davey, who grabbed headlines with his activities last week.
Voters across the country will go to the polls on July 4.
Follow the latest developments below
Today's Highlights
- There are three days to go until Thursday's General Election.
- Labour planning to 'change democracy to permanently keep themselves in power', James Cleverly claims
- The Liberal Democrats are promoting a pledge to spend £440 million a year supporting widows and bereaved children during their toughest moments.
- "Disillusioned" Reform UK candidate disowns party following racism row and endorses Tories instead.
- Harriet Harman wants a new generation of female MPs to be "rebellious" and "put women first."
James O'Brien discusses concerns about a Labour 'supermajority'
Lord Cameron says the choice is between Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer
Lord Cameron has responded to Reform UK chairman Richard Tice's comments that "dark forces are at play by desperate Tories".
Campaigning in Gloucester, Lord Cameron said the only "dark forces" are supporters of the Reform UK party following racist comments exposed by a recent Channel 4 documentary.
The foreign secretary added he didn't "know if the polls are right or wrong.
"But it's either Rishi Sunak or Keir Starmer and Reform voters risk ending up with the things they don’t want which is open borders and high taxes."
Take a 'leap of faith' and vote Lib Dem says Ed Davey
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey shouted "do something you've never done before - vote Liberal Democrat!" as he bungee jumped on the campaign trail in Eastbourne.
He urged voters to take a similar leap of faith and vote Liberal Democrat on July 4.
Does French election result spell similar fate for the UK?
Lewis Goodall joined LBC's James O'Brien as he reports live from Paris on the French snap election results.
"We've got two leaders on both sides of the channel who have plunged their countries into snap elections, both hoping to change something in the course of the election campaign and actually remarkably little changing in both cases."
'It's a big week': Rishi Sunak
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has warned of a so-called 'supermajority' saying: "If these polls are right, and Labour are in power with a supermajority, you have to think about what that will mean."
Speaking in Staffordshire, Mr Sunak said: “It’s a big week, I’m going to cut straight to it. I know many of you who supported us in the past have some hesitations about doing that again."
He added: "I know you’re frustrated with me, frustrated with our party, it hasn’t been an easy few years for anybody, I get all of that, we haven’t got everything right, we’ve made mistakes."
'This is not a by-election': Rishi Sunak
Talking on the Tory campaign trail in Stoke on Trent, Rishi Sunak says he knows voters are "frustrated" but urges people "not to sleepwalk" into the election.
LBC's Political Editor Natasha Clark is at the campaign.
Being a dad makes me a better politician, Starmer believes
Sir Keir Starmer said being a dad helped him become a better politician, with Friday evenings as "protected time" to be with his kids.
He explained: "We’ve had a strategy in place and we’ll try to keep to it, which is to carve out really protected time for the kids, so on a Friday - I've been doing this for years - I will not do a work-related thing after six o'clock, pretty well come what may."
He added that his 16-year-old son and a 13 year-old daughter are his "pride and joy" and "I don't want to lose that time".
The Labour leader said that: "I don't believe in the theory that you are a better decision maker if you don't allow yourself the space to be a dad and to have time for your kids.
"Actually, it helps me, it takes me away from the pressure, it relaxes me, and I think, actually, not only is it what I want to do as a dad, it is better."
He also suggested his children remain unimpressed with his political career and that "they keep me very, very grounded".
'Bottom up approach' to housing under Lib Dems
Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper told LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast her party wants to move power from developers to local authorities when it comes to building new housing.
She added "I don't think we need to be building on the green belt unless local authorities want to build on the green belt".
Where are the Tories?
Wes Streeting hits out at NHS 'culture'
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting has criticised former health secretaries saying: "The NHS has had political leaders that cannot admit the scale of the challenge".
Labour has said hospitals should pay staff time and a half to work extra hours in an attempt to clear the NHS waiting list backlog.
Under time and a half pay, for every hour of overtime an employee works, you must give them their regular rate of pay plus half.
Speaking to the Health Service Journal (HSJ) Mr Streeting added:
“That rot seeps right through the culture of the system, and leads to a situation where chief execs are more concerned with protecting their own reputation, and the reputation of their trusts and avoiding negative headlines, than being candid about the real risks to patient safety as a result of failures within the system, or even failures in public policy."
