Sending signals
It was reported that Keir Starmer was seated next to the King’s
Principal Private Secretary at the State Banquet in Buckingham palace
for the Emperor and Empress of Japan’s state visit, while Sunak was
seated next to a computer scientist from Southampton. Given the King
will be asking one of the two party leaders to form the next
government in a week’s time, it was an interesting and rather telling
choice of seating plan.
Bored of betting?
A fifth Conservative is being investigated by the Gambling
commission. On top of this it was revealed that Scottish Secretary
Alister Jack had told the BBC he had won £2,100 betting on the date of
the election. He later backtracked saying he put on three bets, two
unsuccessful, and won only £100. He insists he is not under
investigation and that he has done nothing wrong…we will just have to
wait and see on that one. Labour have also now been dragged into the
debacle, after the suspension of Kevin Craig, the party’s candidate in
Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, for betting he would lose his own
seat. And it's not looking like the scandal is going away anytime
soon, with the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire claiming on Newsnight that up
to 15 Tory candidates and officials are being scrutinised by the
Gambling Commision. What a right old mess.
Record dissatisfaction
It seems like never-ending bad news for the Government, with the
release of a new Ipsos Mori poll that revealed 83% of Brits are
dissatisfied with the way that Government is running the country.
That’s the worst score for a government in Ipsos’ records at this
stage of a campaign going back to 1979 - the infamous Winter of
Discontent.
A lost decade
A new study has concluded that
Brexit and austerity have fed a “lost” decade, stifling economic
growth and undermining social cohesion in the UK. Responding to the
report, our CEO Naomi Smith called for an end to the silence around the damage Brexit is
causing.
The Final Grilling
Set to the soundtrack of a nearby protest, the two leading
candidates for Prime Minister once again had a chance to answer all
the same questions as they'd done so before, this time in Nottingham.
Brexit was granted a little bit more airtime than previous occasions
however, with Kier Starmer suggesting a better trade deal with Europe
was possible - something Rishi Sunak didn't refute but made clear had
no intention of doing anything about.
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