UK general election LIVE: Diane Abbott claims she is BANNED from standing for Labour on July 4 despite having whip restored as ITV announce Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer debate for next Tuesday – latest updates from the campaign trail

Before taking questions from medical students alongside Wes Streeting, the Labour leader set out why the health service was so important to him.

He told the audience his mother was a nurse along with his sister while his wife currently works in the NHS.

The NHS ryns through our family like DNA, so it’s a really proud moment to stand here with you

Asked how Labour would reduce hospital waiting lists, Mr Starmer said under his government there would be 40,000 more operations and appointments per week paid for by scrapping the ‘non-dom’ tax status.

He said the move would see waiting lists cut by two million patients per year.

More reaction now to the Diane Abbott row as Scotland’s First Minister and SNP leader John Swinney gives his view on the veteran MP’s ‘unfair’ treatment.

Tory chairman Richard Holden (pictured) has written to Sir Keir Starmer demanding answers about the Diane Abbott row.

He asked for details about when the disciplinary process had been completed following reports it concluded in December 23 and asked whether senior Labour figures had been given ‘deliberately false lines’ about an ongoing process or whether they had been lied to by the National Executive Committee.

These are serious questions that need answering. The only logical explanation is that you and your team have been lying to the British people.

You have previously said that ‘honesty and decency matter’. I am sure people would like to know why you did not think these principles mattered in this case.

Keir Starmer and shadow health secretary Wes Streeting are now taking questions from medical trainees as Labour unveils its new NHS pledge.

We will bring you the best news and reaction as we get it.

Here’s one story we can bring you from earlier this morning concerning Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner.

Our Deputy Political Editor David Wilcock reports Ms Rayner taunted the Tories today after police dropped a probe into her living arrangements – gleefully aiming a gibe at the MP who reported her.

It’s been a busy start to the day as we reach the halfway point in the first full week of campaigning ahead of the general election on July 4.

Rishi Sunak is in the south west this morning looking to push his new policy to scrap ‘rip-off- degrees to fund 100,000 new apprentices, while Labour are focusing on the NHS with a promise of its own.

But the biggest story of the morning is Diane Abbott’s claim she has been banned from standing as a Labour MP in the upcoming vote. Labour is yet to respond to Ms Abbott’s remarks.

Here’s what you need to know this morning:

• Diane Abbott has claimed she has been blocked from standing for Labour at the next election in a row which threatens to engulf the party with Keir Starmer facing a mounting backlash over the treatment of the veteran left-winger
• Mr Starmer and shadow health secretary Wes Streeting are scheduled to meet medical trainees in Worcestershire to discuss Labour’s new NHS pledge of meeting a target to start treatment within 18 weeks in England within five years.
• ITV has announced Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer will go head-to-head in the first televised election debate at 9pm on June 4
• Mr Sunak insisted universities are not the only option facing young people as he visited Cornwall to promote his new scheme to scrap ‘rip-off’ degrees in order to fund 100,000 apprentices
• The Liberal Democrats are campaigning in Wales where leader Sir Ed Davey has followed up his paddleboard exploits with riding a bike in somewhat flamboyant style and the SNP are on the campaign trail as well

We will continue to bring you the latest updates from the campaign trail.

This is the moment Rishi Sunak weighed in on the row involving Diane Abbott that threatens to engulf the Labour party ahead of campaigning today.

The Prime Minister was speaking in Cornwall.

Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey appears to be having the time of his life touring the country on the campaign trail.

Never one to miss a photo opportunity, Sir Ed was pictured spreading his legs wide while riding a bicycle on a visit to Knighton in Powys with Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds and local candidate David Chadwick.

It comes after Sir Ed was pictured and filmed repeatedly falling off a paddleboard in Lake Windermere on Tuesday, while he has also been seen lapping up an ice cream on a beach along the south coast.

Here are some pictures taken today:

Before news of the first televised debate between Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer was announced by ITV, the first pictures of Diane Abbott today emerged.

Ms Abbott appears to have been doorstepped by the BBC near her home in London and offered no comment when approached.

We are still awaiting word from the Labour Party after Ms Abbott claimed she had been banned from standing as a party candidate on July 4.

Our political editor James Tapsfield has the story after ITV announced a date has been set for the first televised debate between Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer.

Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer will go head to head in a televised debate on ITV on June 4.

The hour-long debate, Sunak v Starmer: The ITV Debate, will be moderated by Julie Etchingham and will take place live in front of a studio audience.

Michael Jermey, ITV’s director of news and current affairs, said:

Millions of viewers value the election debates.

They provide a chance to see and hear the party leaders set out their pitch to the country, debate directly with each other and take questions from voters.

ITV is pleased to be broadcasting the first debate in this year’s election campaign.

We can bring you some more from Rishi Sunak’s campaign event in Cornwall where he is pushing his new pledge to fund 100,000 apprenticeships by cracking down on ‘rip-off’ university degrees.

The Prime Minister said a new regulator would look at the progression and drop-out rates of university courses to determine whether they are underperforming, as he set out his proposals to increase the number of apprenticeships.

Speaking at a train depot in Cornwall, he said:

University is great and it makes a fantastic option for young people, but it’s not the only option. I’m not someone who believes that you have to go to university, and all the apprentices I’ve been talking to this morning are proof of that, describing it as the best decision they ever made.

And what we do know is that there are university degrees that are letting young people down. Independent studies say that around one in five people who are on degrees would have been financially better off not doing them, about one in three graduates are in non-graduate jobs.

So actually we are better off providing those young people with the opportunity of a high-quality apprenticeship.

Despite being asked to name a specific example of an underperforming degree, Mr Sunak did not do so.

Rishi Sunak has said Sir Keir Starmer should be transparent about Diane Abbott’s position as he commented on the situation on the campaign trail in Cornwall.

Mr Sunak, who has visited a railway maintenance depot in Penzance, told reporters:

The Labour Party has been telling everybody this investigation into Diane Abbott is ongoing, it now appears it concluded months ago.

So really it’s a question for them to clear this all up, what happened when, be transparent about it.

We can now bring you footage of the moment Labour’s Wes Streeting joked Sky News presenter Kay Burley had spent too much time asking him about Diane Abbott.

The shadow health secretary is unveiling a new NHS pledge alongside Keir Starmer this afternoon but the focus instead has been on Ms Abbott’s claims she has been banned from standing as a Labour MP at the election.

Diane Abbott has tweeted she is ‘dismayed’ by reports suggesting she has been banned from standing as a Labour candidate.

Ms Abbott earlier told the BBC and other media outlets media reports she had been barred from representing the party were ‘true’

The Labour Party is yet to issue a fomal response

Drinkers at the Flower Pot pub in Macclesfield had cause for concern yesterday when a new barman produced a dodgy pint that didn’t appear decent value for money.

Thankfully, the pourer isn’t a permanent addition to the staff as Foreign Secretary David Cameron dropped by on the campaign trail in the north west. ‘I haven’t done this for a while, so I’m trying to make sure I don’t get too much head,’ he said.

A couple of hours up the M6, Sir Ed Davey was also in the north west where he practiced falling off a paddleboard in Lake Windermere.

Read Matt Strudwick’s piece here on election publicity stunts you may have missed:

A Labour government would not be able to award a full pay rise to junior doctors “on day one”, shadow health secretary Wes Streeting has said.

He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain:

I want to be really upfront with junior doctors this side of the election – the 35% pay claim they’ve put in, I’m just not going to be able to afford that on day one of a Labour government.

We’re going to have to work together and negotiate on pay and recognise, as was the case with the last Labour government who inherited a similar mess, getting to fair pay is a journey not an event, and I am willing to negotiate on pay and those wider conditions that junior doctors are working.

I’m willing to sit down and negotiate on those wider conditions so that junior doctors are genuinely valued and and look forward to a career in the NHS rather than thinking about whether they’re going to stick it out because things are so terrible.

A poll released last night would have cheered Conservative voters as it showed Labour’s lead narrowing despite an error-prone start to Rishi Sunak’s campaign.

The Daily Mail’s Deputy Political Editor Harriet Line reports Labour’s lead over the Tories has slipped to just 12 points, according to the poll, with Sir Keir Starmer’s party on 40 per cent, while the Tories climb to 28 per cent – up two points since the start of May.

Read Harriet’s story here:

It has been busy start to the morning with Diane Abbott confirming reports she has been banned from standing as a Labour MP in the general election.

While we will continue to bring news and reaction to that plus everything else taking place on the campaign trail, let’s take a look at what we have coming up today:

• Rishi Sunak will be campaigning in the south west after arriving in Cornwall on an overnight sleeper train. He will visit a training academy this afternoon to discuss apprentices and is rumoured to be stopping by a local pub during a community visit. He will also hold a Q&A in Devon at some point
• Mr Sunak’s wife Akshata Murty is expected to visit a Royal British Legion care facility in Yorkshire at 10am.
• Sir Keir Starmer and Wes Streeting are dropping in to a medical training facility in Worcestershire at around 11.15am for an on camera Q&A with medical trainees. They will then host an event with Labour members and Starmer will give a speech this afternoon.
• Labour frontbenchers Angela Rayner and Jonathan Reynolds will visit London Stansted airport this morning.
• Sir Ed Davey is in Wales to launch the party’s campaign in the country. Sir Ed will be joined by the Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds in Knighton.
• Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and Glasgow East candidate John Grady will visit the eco-friendly homes in Glasgow East to discuss Labour’s plans to support energy efficiency from 10.30am
• John Swinney and Scotland’s Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop will officially open the Levenmouth rail link. This afternoon, the SNP Leader will join the party’s candidate for North East Fife, Stefan Hoggan-Radu, on the campaign trail in Leven.
• And tonight former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is to hold an election launch event in north London.

It appears rival parties are smelling blood as the Diane Abbott row threatens to engulf the Labour party.

The SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn described the situation as a ‘pretty sorry reflection’ of Labour’s values as he compared her apparent ban with the recent decision to welcome Tory defector Natalie Elphicke.

I think this is a pretty sorry reflection of the Labour Party and where it stands, what its values are and what its principles are at the moment.

Diane Abbott gets her membership back at the very last minute but isn’t allowed to stand.

I’d just like to thank Diane for everything she has done, as a trailblazer for women in Parliament, but also as the first black female in Parliament. She’s a phenomenal individual and her legacy is going to be long lasting.

While the Diane Abbott row has reignited on Wednesday morning in Labour circles, the Prime Minister has arrived in Cornwall.

Perhaps buoyed after his best day on the campaign trail and one poll suggesting Labour’s dominant lead has narrowed, Mr Sunak will be no doubt hoping to capitalise on Labour’s faltering start this morning.

After he disembarked from an overnight sleeper train from London Paddington, Mr Sunak spoke with staff at a seafront cafe as he bought bacon and sausage sandwiches for the media and his staff.

Rishi Sunak asked journalists which sandwich they would prefer, bacon or sausage, leading one to reply: “Bacon, Prime Minister.”

The Prime Minister will likely want to talk about his latest pledge which will see ‘rip-off’ degrees scrapped under a new law to boost young people’s life chances by funding 100,000 apprenticeships.

We can now bring you the moment Labour’s Wes Streeting was asked for his reaction to Diane Abbott’s assertion she has been banned from standing for the party in the upcoming election.

Mr Streeting is on the morning interview round for Labour today and undoubtedly wants to talk about a new NHS pledge over treatment times.

Labour shadow health secretary Wes Streeting (pictured) said he was “not particularly” comfortable with how fellow Labour MP Diane Abbott has been treated by the Labour Party.

I know that Diane had the whip restored and her suspension lifted yesterday. This was following her suspension over remarks that she made, for which she later apologised. So I know at this stage, in terms of decisions about her candidature, as much as has been reported.

I think this has gone on for a very long time. But I’m here this morning to talk about the NHS waiting lists and I say this with enormous respect for everything that Diane has achieved in politics.

Asked if Ms Abbott was owed an apology Mr Streeting said:

Diane rightly apologised for the comments that she made that led to her suspension, as to the process, I think those questions are better directed to people responsible for the process.

I think it’s best that we wait for all other facts to emerge about the decision making in this case, which I’ve not been involved in, have no responsibility for and I’m here to talk about the seven and a half million people who are on NHS waiting lists.

Diane Abbott, the veteran Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, has confirmed reports she has been blocked from standing as a party candidate on July 4.

Britain’s first black female MP said briefings were published in newspapers ‘within minutes’ of having the Labour whip restored after she was suspended from the parliamentary party for more than a year.

• Ms Abbott was suspended from Labour amid an investigation into her comments about Jewish people in a letter to the Observer newspaper in April last year.
• The MP had responded to writer Tomiwa Owolade’s claims that “Irish, Jewish and Traveller people all suffer from ‘racism'” and suggested Jewish people were not ‘all their lives subject to racism’
• On Tuesday, BBC Newsnight reported an investigation into Ms Abbott’s remarks was completed in December 2023 which saw her issued with a formal warning and ordered to complete an ‘antisemitism awareness course’.
• Amid intensifying questions over whether she would stand in the election, Ms Abbott had the Labour whip restored on Tuesday afternoon.
• But she has now confirmed reports stating she would still not be allowed to run as a Labour MP are accurate. Labour is yet to respond to Ms Abbott on Wednesday morning.

Our political editor James Tapsfield has the story on Diane Abbott following her claims she has been banned from standing as a Labour MP in the general election.

Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting has been given somewhat of a hospital pass this morning as he faces the media intent on grilling him over Diane Abbott.

Ms Abbott has just told the BBC and other outlets she is banned from standing for Labour at the general election despite having the whip restored to her following an investigation over a letter she wrote suggesting Jewish people do not face racism ‘all their lives’.

Mr Streeting told the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, ‘I’m hearing this for the first time’, when he is asked about Ms Abbott’s claims.

Diane Abbott has claimed Labour has banned her from representing the party at the general election.

The veteran MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington said she had the whip restored on Tuesday but ‘within minutes’ newspaper reports emerged that she would not be allowed to stand for Labour on July 4

She told The Evening Standard:

I had the whip restored yesterday afternoon but within minutes we saw they had briefed the Times the story as attached, that you have probably seen. And it is true.

Big news first up this morning.

Diane Abbott has said she is barred from standing in the general election for Labour despite having the whip restored following an investigation into her conduct.

We will bring you more as we get it.

Rishi Sunak headed to the Potteries and later played bowls as he pushed his new tax cut for pensioners dubbed the ‘triple lock plus’, while shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves was in Derby, a short hop along the A50, setting out her first major speech of the campaign.

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey ventured onto a paddleboard in the Lake District and Nigel Farage visited Dover on behalf of Reform UK.

Here are five takeaways from a busy day:

Stick with us for the latest news and reaction throughout the day.

Firstly, let’s take a look at today’s front page story on the Daily Mail following Rishi Sunak’s new pledge concerning apprenticeships

Harriet Line, the Mail’s Deputy Political Editor, reports Rishi Sunak’s latest pledge will see ‘rip-off’ degrees scrapped under a new law to boost young people’s life chances.

One in eight students could see their course axed in a bid to cut down on ‘Mickey Mouse’ degrees and pay for 100,000 apprenticeships.

Read Harriet’s story here:

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the general election.

We’ve reached the halfway stage in the first full week of campaigning with parties on the trail hunting for votes across the country.

Join us today as we bring you all the latest news plus the best pictures and reaction on social media.