Inside Politics: ‘Mud-slinging’

Parties make visists to key battlegrounds ahead of Thursday’s local elections, writes Matt Mathers

Wednesday 04 May 2022 03:31 EDT

(REUTERS)

It’s still on. Liverpool moved a step closer to a historic quadruple of trophies with a win over Villarreal in the Champions League semi-final last night. Jurgen Klopp’s Reds now face a final showdown with either local rivals Man City or Real Madrid in the final. Could Thursday be the final time Boris Johnson leads the Tories into an election? The 5 May polls could give the first real insight as to how much anger there is among voters over the Partygate scandal, potentially sparking calls for the PM to resign. Keir Starmer, meanwhile, is under pressure to get results in red wall seats.

Inside the bubble

Our political commentator Andrew Grice on what to look out for today:

Party leaders will press the flesh on the last day of campaigning before Thursday’s local elections. The Conservatives will face a pincer movement. Labour’s Keir Starmer will campaign in the “red wall” in Yorkshire while Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, promises to “scale the blue wall” in natural Tory territory in commuter belt seats around London.

Some ministers will have other business due to the Ukraine crisis. Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, is due to visit a military exercise in Finland. Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the international trade secretary, will host a virtual dialogue with several other countries on how to support Ukraine.

Coming up:

– Environment secretary George Eustice on BBC Radio 4 Today at 8.10am

– Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves on LBC at 8.20am

Daily Briefing

FINAL DAY: Today is the final day of campaigning before the local elections. Voters head to the polls in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which could see the most consequential result of all, with current polls predicting that nationalists Sinn Fein are on course to become the biggest party in a historic first. The 5 May contests are a big test for Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer. Questions remain over the prime minister’s future due to the Partygate scandal, with reports saying rebel MPs keen to oust him could move as soon as polling stations close. The Labour leader, meanwhile, is under pressure to win back seats in the party’s traditional heartlands in the ‘red wall’. Expect to hear lots more spin and expectation management from Labour and the Tories. We’ll have campaign updates throughout the day on our liveblog.

UKRAINE UPDATE: Putin’s troops have launched their first missile strikes in western Ukraine for a week, targeting power supplies in Lviv late last night, the city’s mayor said. It comes as the EU prepares to announce a fresh round of sanctions against the Kremlin, which will go after banking and oil companies. Meanwhile, efforts are continuing to evacuate hundreds of civilians trapped in bunkers under the Azovstal steelworks in the city of Mariupol. We’ll have Ukraine updates throughout the day on our liveblog.

RWANDA DELAY: Another day, another set of bad headlines for the government on Channel crossings. Just weeks after the policy was announced, No 10 said yesterday that it could be months before the first planes deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda actually take off. Reports at the time said Boris Johnson hoped flights would start departing in weeks. Critics and opposition MPs have repeatedly questioned the legality of the move and Downing Street’s inability to put a date on when the policy start suggests the problems are already mounting up, although officials insisted the delay was not court-related. Meanwhile, just as the government is keen to appear tough on controlling Britain’s borders ahead of the local elections, an analysis of data reveals the number of people crossing the Channel so far this year hit more than 7,000.

COMING FOR YOU: Kwasi Kwarteng has vowed to go after energy firms who excessively hiked customers’ direct debit payments beyond what is required following the lifting of the price cap in April. The business secretary said he has given them a three-week deadline to explain themselves or face “substantial fines”. “I can confirm Ofgem has today issued compliance reviews,” he said. “Suppliers have three weeks to respond. The regulator will not hesitate to swiftly enforce compliance, including issuing substantial fines.”

LEADER INTERVIEWS: With nothing happening in parliament, which is prorogued until the Queen’s Speech on 10 May, interviews by the PM (ITV Good Morning Britain) and Labour leader Keir Starmer (BBC Radio 4 Today) dominated the news agenda, although neither party leader had a whole lot new to say. Appearing on GMB for the first time in five years (there must be an election on?) Johnson hinted that the government will do more in the autumn to help with the cost of living squeeze, while accepting that current financial assistance does not go far enough in helping “everyone”. Starmer, meanwhile, repeated his party’s call for a windfall tax on the profits of oil and gas giants to give families some money off their energy bills. He also faced tricky questions on ‘beergate’, accusing the Tories of pre-election mud-slinging over claims he broke Covid rules during a trip to Durham last year. That story makes the front page of this morning’s Mail for the seventh consecutive day. Expect to hear more about it during the final day of campaigning.

The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.

On the record

“We are working to get the first flights moving – I don’t know definitely what timescale that will be.”

PM spokesperson declines to say when plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda will get underway.

From the Twitterati

“Hearing questionnaires for one of the parties of the eve of the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral are still going out. Doesn’t seem to be any particular methodology to the Met’s investigation. Not dealing with it party by party as we had originally assumed.”