Sunak says he’s ‘disappointed’ anti-smoking bill didn’t pass, but it’s evidence of ‘bold action’ he’s willing to take
Rishi Sunak has said that he is “disappointed” not to be able to pass the tobacco and vapes bill, to stop future generations being allowed to buy cigarettes, before the election. Speaking in Belfast, he said:
There’s always a normal process at the end of a parliament to see which legislation you can pass in the time that’s available.
He said he was “of course disappointed not to be able to get that through at the end of the session given the time available”. He went on:
But what I’d say is that’s evidence of the bold action that I’m prepared to take. That’s the type of prime minister I am. That’s the type of leadership that I bring.
I stepped up to do something that is bold, that will make an enormous difference in the future of our country.
Key events
Tory MP Craig Mackinlay says he’s quitting parliament
Craig Mackinlay, the Conservative MP for South Thanet, explained why will not be a candidate again in a post on Facebook. He said:
The snap election announcement has caused me 36 hrs of intense soul searching.
Whilst my heart tells me to stand again, there being so much unfinished business across local regeneration and national issues which are important to me, my head knows this to be impossible at this time. It would be difficult to withstand the rigours of an all-out election campaign, a campaign that I’d always wish to lead from the front. Thereafter, upon being re-elected it would be difficult for me to sustain 70 to 80 hour working weeks which were the norm prior to my illness.
I had hoped to phase my return to the House of Commons over the coming months as my abilities improved. Since leaving in-patient rehabilitation a month ago my life now revolves around various medical appointments. I face numerous future operations as a result of the serious sepsis that I suffered which very nearly took my life. I have only just started the prosthetic journey and I have weekly physiotherapy and occupational therapy sessions.
I had the most memorable appearance of my time as an MP at this week’s PMQs: it was emotional and the experience quite surreal. I shall never forget it. I had expected it to be the start of my return. It will, however, be remembered as my last hurrah.
Mackinlay had a majority of 10,587 at the last election. The constituency has been renamed East Thanet after boundary change and the YouGov MRP poll suggests Labour is easily ahead there, by 45% to 27%.
Craig Mackinlay, the Conservative MP who returned to the Commons on Wednesday after almost losing his life to sepsis, and having his feet and hands amputated, will not be a candidate again, Darren McCaffrey from Sky News reports.
NEW: Craig Mackinlay, the Conservative MP who lost all his limbs to sepsis, will not run for his South Thanet seat in the upcoming general election
The MP only returned to the Commons on Wednesday to loud applause, hours before Rishi Sunak confirmed the polls will open on 4 July
— Darren McCaffrey (@darrenmccaffrey) May 24, 2024
NEW: Craig Mackinlay, the Conservative MP who lost all his limbs to sepsis, will not run for his South Thanet seat in the upcoming general election
The MP only returned to the Commons on Wednesday to loud applause, hours before Rishi Sunak confirmed the polls will open on 4 July
In the Commons MPs have now started a general debate which is primarily a chance for members who are standing down to deliver farewell speeches. Harriet Harman, mother of the house (the longest-serving female MP) and a former Labour deputy leader, opened the debate and Theresa May, the former PM, is speaking now. I will post some highlights later.
The Conservative party says the Telegraph report is wrong, and Lord Frost is not being banned from standing as a candidate. (See 12.02pm.)
Landlord organisation criticises failure to pass renters reform bill, saying market now faces ‘crippling uncertainty’
Of all the bills that are being dropped because MPs and peers have run out of time to pass them, there is particular anger about the renters reform bill, which was supposed to ban no-fault evictions. The Tories promised this in their 2019 manifesto and the bill to enact this was originally published a year ago. Since then ministers have been dragging their feet, partly because the bill is very unpopular with some government MPs seen as representing the landlord lobby.
The failure to pass the bill has been criticised by the opposition, and by groups representing renters. Tom Darling, campaign manager for the Renters’ Reform Coalition, said:
Renters in England – trapped in an unhealthy, unaffordable and insecure renting system – have been waiting five long years for action on that pledge. Today we get confirmation that the renters reform bill won’t pass – meaning the Bill is dead and the task of fixing England’s broken renting system will fall to the next government. Renters have been so badly let down.
Matthew Pennycook, shadow minister for housing, said Labour would now have to deliver the bill.
The Tories’ decision to cave in to vested interests and abandon their already weakened renters reform bill leaves in tatters the promises they made to private tenants five years ago …
Labour will turn the page on 14 years of Tory chaos, deliver where the Tories have failed and pass robust renters reform legislation that abolishes Section 21 no-fault evictions immediately and decisively levels the playing field between landlords and tenants.
Helen Morgan, the Lib Dem housing spokesperson, said:
This is another Conservative promise abandoned and left in a ditch, they should be ashamed.
This means the vast majority of renters still face being evicted from their homes through no fault of their own, all because of Conservative infighting.
More surprisingly, the axing of the bill has also been criticised by the National Residential Landlords Association. Landlords were originally opposed to the bill, but the government offered them a string of concessions that watered it down. Now the sector faces the prospect of Labour renters reform bill, not the more anaemic Tory version.
Ben Beadle, chief executive of the NRLA, said the market now faces “crippling uncertainty”. He said:
If true, it is hugely disappointing that this bill will not now make it into law. The news comes despite the fact that the bill was in a state which would work for tenants and responsible landlords.
There has been too much dither and delay in government, and a failure to be clear about how to ensure changes would work in practice. Critically, the market now faces yet more crippling uncertainty about what the future of the private rented sector looks like.
Rishi Sunak won’t be making much of an effort to persuade Boris Johnson to join him on the campaign trail, judging by what he has been saying today. Asked if he wanted to campaign with the former PM, Sunak said he was “very proud” of what they achieved together. Asked if he would be asking Johnson to join the campaign, according to Sky News Sunak replied:
I’d welcome for any Conservative to come and join the campaign. And I’ve been in touch with Boris in the past. I’m very proud of the work that we did together.
Which sounds like a no.
Johnson and his allies still blame Sunak for, as they see it, helping to bring Johnson down by resigning from his cabinet in such a way as to trigger mass resignations by other ministers.
According to the Daily Telegraph, Lord Frost has been told he won’t be allowed to stand as a Conservative party candidate. Frost, a rightwinger, served as Brexit minister under Boris Johnson, but has frequently criticised the way Rishi Sunak is running the party (normally in columns in the Telegraph).
As a member of the House of Lords, Frost is not eligible to be an MP, but peers can resign from the Lords if they want to sit in the Commons.
I’ve asked the Conservative party for a comment, and will post their response when I get it.
UPDATE: The Conservative party says the Telegraph report is wrong, and Lord Frost is not being banned from standing as a candidate.
The Liberal Democrats would give patients a right to see a GP within seven days, Ed Davey, the party leader, said today.
Speaking in Eastbourne, a target seat for the party where the Lib Dems came second behind Conservative MP Caroline Ansell at the last election, Davey said:
So many people tell us they can’t get a GP appointment in the time they want.
They’re having to wait days and weeks in some cases.
We’re so excited that we’re coming forward with new ideas about how we can transform our health system that will really help people struggling at the moment.
Davey also said that John Redwood’s decision to stand down (see 10.10am) was a sign the Lib Dems were on course to win in Wokingham.
Sunak says he’s ‘disappointed’ anti-smoking bill didn’t pass, but it’s evidence of ‘bold action’ he’s willing to take
Rishi Sunak has said that he is “disappointed” not to be able to pass the tobacco and vapes bill, to stop future generations being allowed to buy cigarettes, before the election. Speaking in Belfast, he said:
There’s always a normal process at the end of a parliament to see which legislation you can pass in the time that’s available.
He said he was “of course disappointed not to be able to get that through at the end of the session given the time available”. He went on:
But what I’d say is that’s evidence of the bold action that I’m prepared to take. That’s the type of prime minister I am. That’s the type of leadership that I bring.
I stepped up to do something that is bold, that will make an enormous difference in the future of our country.
Rishi Sunak is in Belfast this morning. He has been touring all four nations of the UK in the past 24 hours. Here he is returning from a boat tour during a visit to a maritime technology centre at a dockyard in Belfast.
Starmer accuses SNP of lacking ambition for Scotland
Keir Starmer used his speech at the Scottish Labour campaign launch this morning to accuse the SNP of lacking ambition for Scotland.
Referring to an SNP claim that Scottish voters should use the election to send a message to Westminster, Starmer said Scotland should be a leading voice.
He went on:
Send a message? Send a message? That is the height of the SNP’s ambition. To send a message, a protest in Westminster.
I don’t want Scotland to send a message. I want Scotland to send a government, a Labour government, that can stop the chaos and division, that can turn the page and rebuild Scotland and Britain.
As an example of failure under the Tories, Starmer also shared a story about meeting a seven-year-old girl during a recent visit to a food parcel centre near Glasgow.
He said the child – who had a “hell of a personality” – had become fascinated by him reading from an autocue. He invited her to have a go herself, but she told him: “I don’t read, me.”
Starmer went on:
I though about those words all the way back home. I don’t read’ – a seven-year-old girl – I thought about her, I thought about her future.
I thought about the cost she is paying for the failure here under the SNP and the failure down at Westminster. She is paying that price.
Only Labour can stop the chaos, and turn the page.