Election latest: Starmer attacks Sunak over TV debate - as Welsh FM reduced to tears before no confidence vote (2024)

ByTomos Evans, Wales reporter

The confidence motion in the first minister of Wales is "disrespectful" to veterans, a Labour member of the Senedd has said.

"My father was involved in the D-Day landing," Joyce Watson said.

"You have prevented people like me being represented by the first minister down in Portsmouth."

She said her father would have thought the motion "disrespectful to all veterans, to all armed service personnel".

"I will never forgive you for doing what you've done on this day, today."

As we've been reporting in the last half hour, the Welsh parliament is holding a confidence vote in the country's first minister.

Labour's Vaughan Gething - who has only been in post for seven weeks - has been seen in tears as opposition parties debate his future.

He broke down as Labour chair Vikki Howells paid tribute to him.

The vote was called after concerns were raised about a £200k donation to his leadership campaign from a company owned by a man previously convicted of environmental offences.

Opposition party members have also accused Mr Gething of misleading the COVID Inquiry over deleted messages.

And Plaid Cymru withdrew from a cooperation deal it had with Labour.

The motion of no confidence was tabled by the Welsh Conservatives.

A debate is under way on the Senedd ahead of a vote of confidence in the Welsh first minister, Vaughan Gething (see previous post).

Sir Keir Starmer was asked by broadcasters if Mr Gething - who is the leader of Welsh Labour - should resign if he loses the vote.

But the national Labour leader did not answer the question, instead labelling the vote "game-playing by the Conservatives, with [another party] Plaid [Cymru] playing along as well".

"What Vaughan Gething wants to do is to deliver for the people of Wales. And I think people in Wales want him to deliver for them. So that's where his priority is and that's where my priority is."

By Tomos Evans, Wales reporter

Senedd members have begun debating a motion of confidence in First Minister Vaughan Gething.

Introducing the motion tabled by his party, Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies said it was "not a gimmick".

"This was talked of prior to the general election," he said.

"It is about judgement, honesty, and transparency."

Leader of Plaid Cymru, the pro-independence party, denied the motion was "tribal party politics".

"We must be different to Westminster, not only in words but in deeds too," he said.

"Today, we, these benches, are acting in what we firmly believe in the interests of the people of Wales."

But chair of the Welsh Labour group in the Senedd, Vikki Howells, said the motion was "politics at its worst" and was a "cynical Tory gimmick".

"With the Tory party tanking in the polls...it's no wonder that they will do anything, anything at all to try and shift the spotlight from their own record of abject failure," she said.

Faiza Shaheen, who was deselected as the Labour candidate forChingford and Woodford Green, has announced that she will still stand at the general election - but as an independent.

She was selected by local party members to be their candidate, but on Tuesday last week, the party's ruling National Executive Committee confirmed they would not be endorsing the economist and author.

It came after she allegedly liked a series of social media posts that downplayed antisemitism accusations.

Brent councillor Shama Tatler was chosen instead.

Ms Shaheen resigned her Labour Party membership yesterday, accusing the party of a "hierarchy of racism", and saying she had been "penalised for describing my experiences of Islamophobia".

Announcing her bid to stand as an independent, she said she "reached this decision following hundreds of messages from people in my community, who say there are no options left for them".

She said voters "feel disenfranchised by Labour's decision to remove me and feel it would be impossible for the party to win here without a local candidate".

She claimed that "many local people think Labour has handed a winnable seat to the Conservatives for another five years", and she wants to "show that there is a progressive alternative to both parties".

Ms Shaheen stood for the Labour Party at the last election in 2019, and she came second to Tory heavyweight Sir Iain Duncan Smith, losing to him by just over 1,000 votes.

The other candidates standing in the seat are:

• Chris Brody, Green Party;
• Josh Hadley, Liberal Democrats;
• Yousaff Khan, Workers Party of Britain;
• Paul Luggeri, Reform UK;
• Iain Duncan Smith, Conservative Party.
  

A huge row has broken out since last night's debate about Rishi Sunak's claim that Labour will raise everyone's taxes by £2,000 comes from a "dossier".

While many experts - including Sky's economics and data editor Ed Conway - say the claim is dubious, the Tories are 100% behind the figure.

Meanwhile, Labour has been saying the Tory plan to get rid of national insurance will cost £46bn and is unfunded - but the PM and chancellor insist it is only an ambition, not a pledge for the next parliament.

So, Sir Keir Starmer was asked by Sky News political correspondent Serena Barker-Singh if this is becoming a dirty campaign, with both leaders using similar tactics.

The Labour leader stood by his position, saying: "The chancellor of the exchequer has said abolishing national insurance is their policy - his words."

He went on: "By contrast, all of Labour's plans are fully costed, fully funded. They don't involve tax rises for working people."

'The PM lied about our plans'

Moving to last night's debate, Sir Keir said voters saw "a bright light on the character of the prime minister" because "when his back was against the wall" he "lied" and "knew he was lying".

The Labour leader added he does not make that accusation "lightly", but said: "He lied about our plans, he lied about the boats, and he lied about waiting lists.

"That's why the choice at this election is even more stark today than it was yesterday."

Pushed by Serena on if he wants the tone of the debate to be calling each other liars, Sir Keir said: "No, I don't. I want the whole campaign to be conducted without lies.

"I think that's a question that really needs to be put to the prime minister."

Our weeknight politics showPolitics Hub With Sophy Ridgewill be live on Sky News from 7pm.

The fast-paced programme dissects the inner workings of Westminster, with interviews, insights, and analysis - bringing you, the audience, into the corridors of power.

Sophy will be hearing from Bim Afolami, the Tory economic secretary to the Treasury, as the prime minister comes under fire for his claims about Labour's tax plans during last night's TV debate.

Also on the show is chef Tom Kerridge, one of the business leaders backing Labour, and our election analyst Adam Boulton.

On Sophy's panel tonight are:

• Jim Murphy, former leader of Scottish Labour;
• Nick Ferrari, LBC radio presenter.

Watch live on Sky News, in the stream at the top of this page, and follow live updates here in the Politics Hub.

WatchPolitics Hubfrom 7pm every night during the election campaign on Sky channel 501, Virgin channel 602, Freeview channel 233, on theSky News websiteandappor onYouTube.

A 25-year-old woman has been charged after a milkshake was thrown at Nigel Farage in Clacton yesterday, as the Reform leader launched his campaign in the seaside constituency.

The woman has been named by police as Victoria Thomas Bowen.

She has been charged with assault by beating and criminal damage, Essex Police said in a statement, and will appear atColchester Magistrates' Court on 2 July.

A 44-year-old man was also arrested following the incident on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker.

He has been released and will face no further action, the force said.

Read more below:

An ex-civil service boss has accused political parties of being "wildly misleading" when costing opposition policies.

Lord Gus O'Donnell, former cabinet secretary and current crossbench peer, said such exercises are solely "designed for a political purpose".

"The numbers that result are wildly misleading," he said.

It comes as doubt is cast over a claim by Rishi Sunak during last night's leaders debate that civil servants had worked out Labour's plans for the country would require tax rises of £2,000 per family.

But a top Treasury civil servant has written to Labour to warn them that the Tory assessment of their tax plans "should not be presented as having been produced by the civil service".

Lord O'Donnell added: "I can assure you the Treasury would never have added them up, would never have made a 'per household' figure - so those are definitely not signed [off on] by the Treasury.

"That's not what you do."