General election – latest: Cabinet minister admits placing bets

Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride suggested a ban on politicians betting should be considered.

Asked if it should be banned, he told Times Radio: “Quite possibly and I think we do need to have a debate about it.”

But he said there were “all sorts of variations of gambling around politics“.

“My personal view, I would just say that people shouldn’t do it, but I think we should have a debate about it more broadly.

“But let me be very, very clear: by saying that, I totally recognise that using inside information, as may have been the case for certain individuals in this way, is utterly wrong.”

Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride said the election betting scandal was “deeply disappointing”.

He told Times Radio: “It’s deeply unsatisfactory, that anybody should – if it is proven to be the case – use inside information in this way.

“Obviously the Gambling Commission is continuing its inquiries, we need to await the outcome of that to establish those as facts or otherwise.

“So I would describe it as deeply, deeply disappointing if that is happening.

“And I am as angry as the Prime Minister is about it. And that’s why after internal inquiries, he took that decision – I think it was right to do so – to suspend some of those candidates that are standing in the election, so I think the right steps have been taken.”

Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer will make their closing arguments to the nation as they go head to head in their final TV debate before polling day next week.

The scandal over candidates and officials betting on the timing of the election will loom large over Wednesday’s clash after a Cabinet minister became the latest figure to say he had placed bets on the timing of the vote.

Labour’s family doctor promise

Labour will talk up its pledge to end the 8am scramble for GP appointments by training more doctors and updating the NHS app so slots are easy to book and rearrange.

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting will be promoting the message, saying his party is also committed to bringing back the family doctor, to give patients continuity.

The blue wall and the yellow

While Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey continues campaigning across traditionally Tory heartlands in southern England, his Scottish counterpart will be in the south-east of Scotland.

Reform UK chairman Richard Tice will be in Scotland giving a speech on net zero and “saving the oil and gas industry”.

Five years ago, Labour was seen as the most “out of touch” party, according to voters on the lowest incomes (some 6 million households with an income of less than £21,000).

Nearly half of those questioned in 2019 (45 per cent) regarded Labour as ‘out of touch”. But this figure has plummeted under Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership with just of a quarter of low-income people (27 per cent) now taking this view.

Five years ago, Labour was seen as the most “out of touch” party, according to voters on the lowest incomes (some 6 million households with an income of less than £21,000).

Nearly half of those questioned in 2019 (45 per cent) regarded Labour as ‘out of touch”. But this figure has plummeted under Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership with just of a quarter of low-income people (27 per cent) now taking this view.

The Conservative Party now hold this unenviable reputation with 40 per cent of the poorest voters seeing it as out of touch, up 6 per cent since 2019.

The figures come from Breadline Britain’s Election Battleground, a new report from the Centre for Social Justice, which commissioned polling by Survation.

A Tory candidate and long-serving MP has said Labour may have overreacted in suspending Kevin Craig for betting against himself in the general election, Archie Mitchell reports.

Sir Conor Burns, who has been the MP for Bournemouth West since 2010, said Mr Craig “could not have had any inside information or really influenced the outcome of his bet – any more than any candidate can determine a free vote”.

He detailed the pair’s friendship, which dates back more than 30 years to when they were political opponents at Southampton University.

“He is one of the most decent, straightforward and kind people I know. And when I have needed friends most he has always been the first to be there. A good guy,” Mr Buns said.

Labour has suspended parliamentary candidate Kevin Craig after being told the Gambling Commission has launched an investigation into him.

PR boss Craig is standing in Central Suffolk and North Ipswich.

The Westminster gambling row has deepened after a cabinet minister revealed he had placed bets on the date of the general election.

Scotland secretary Alister Jack denied having broken any rules but said he put three wagers on the timing of the July 4 poll, becoming the latest of seven politicians and officials to get drawn in to the controversy.

Rishi Sunak will face further pressure over the revelation, which comes after he caved to mounting calls from within the Tory Party to withdraw support for two parliamentary candidates facing a Gambling Commission investigation.

Labour was also dragged into the row on Tuesday, with the party suspending  its candidate Kevin Craig after it emerged he had bet that he would lose to the Tories in the contest for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich.

Mr Jack said he had in April put £20 at odds of 5 to 1 on an election being held between July and September, but that he had no knowledge of when it would be called until the day that Rishi Sunak fired the starting gun on May 22.

Hundreds of campaign leaflets for the chairman of the Conservative party Richard Holden have been sent to the wrong constituency, the BBC reports.

The party has admitted the mistake was out of their control but it did not confirm how many were lost.

Mr Holden, who oversees the national party campaigning, has seen his election material end up in Rayleigh and Wickford.

He confirmed that just a “few hundred” leaflets were misplaced but some party insiders have admitted it is more like thousands.