Election live: Tory candidates face gambling probe as Gove says party can defy polls

Labour could install “yes men and women” in public bodies if it wins a large majority at the election, Michael Gove has said.

Arguing Labour would use a large majority to “rig the system” and ensure it remained in power, the cabinet minister told the BBC: “My concern is that Labour would use whatever tools they have, if they have that sort of level of unchecked power in the Commons, to entrench it.

“I think there are a number of other things that they would seek to do as well, for example make sure that many of the public bodies that we all rely on to help to run our lives, instead of having a balance of people from across the political spectrum with real skills that will help, I think there may be a tendency for them to put people who will be yes men and women in.

“That is certainly a concern that I’ve heard from voters in some of the conversations that I’ve had and I do think that it is a factor.”

The Labour chair of Islington North has been forced to resign after she was spotted campaigning for Jeremy Corbyn, the Jewish News reports.

Alison McGarry reportedly asked locals in her constituency to support the former Labour leader who is standing as an independent candidate.

After facing a potential expulsion from the party, Ms McGarry eventually decided to resign instead.

Shadow housing minister Matt Pennycook has condemned Laura Saunders, who is married to the Tory campaign director, after it emerged she is being investigated for alegedly betting about the general election date.

Mr Pennycook says: “I think it does seriously chip away at trust and confidence, in the government and in politics more widely.

“And we’ve had too much of that over the last 14 years.

“I sort of hesitate slightly, but this appears with each one of these new allegations to be looking like a pattern of cronyism, if you like, with people benefiting directly, potentially, from information that may have been passed on.”

Laura Saudners, who is the party candidate in Bristol North West, is married to the director of campaigns of the Conservative party Tony Lee, the BBC reports.

The Tory candidate is currently being looked into by the Gambling Commission over an alleged bet about the date of the general election.

A Conservative Party spokesman told the BBC: “We have been contacted by the Gambling Commission about a small number of individuals. As the Gambling Commission is an independent body, it wouldn’t be proper to comment further, until any process is concluded.”

Michael Gove has sasid he is “confident” Rishi Sunak will be re-elected as an MP for Richmond.

It comes after multiple polls revealed he could be on track to become the first prime minister to lose his seat at a general election.

But Mr Gove told Sky News: “I am confident that the Prime Minister will be returned in Richmond as I am confident that lots of Conservative candidates will be returned.

“But what we need to do as a party and a Government overall is to have a conversation with the electorate.

“The electorate will of course look at polls and front pages but what they are really interested in are policies.”

Michael Gove has said it would be “reprehensible” for someone to use inside information to bet on the date of the General Election.

Asked about reports the Gambling Commission was investigating a second Conservative candidate for placing a bet on the date of the election, Mr Gove told the BBC: “If people have used inside information to place bets, that is deeply wrong.

“What I can’t do is sort of get too much into the detail of the case while an investigation is going on.

“But I can talk about the broad principle and you’re absolutely right, it’s reprehensible.”

Levelling-up secretary Michael Gove was pressed this morning about taxes set to rise over the next five years under both main parties after they unveiled their manifestos.

Mr Gove responded on Times Radio: “Yes. But there is a difference and a distinction. I don’ think there is anyone who thinks that after five years of Labour or five years of the Conservatives that taxes would be higher under the Conservatives than under Labour.

“There is a straight forward choice.”

Mr Gove said that Labour would raise counsil tax and that this was the “dog that hasn’t barked” yet in the election.

Sir John Curtice has said that the Conservative party is heading for the worst general election result since the First World War.

With a mega-poll predicting that the Tories on course for an electoral wipeout, the Professor has said the party could emerge with the lowest ever number of seats in the Commons.

Sir John told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “In terms of vote share, the Conservatives are at the moment heading for their worst performance since the First World War, since the advent of the mass franchise, by a country mile.

“And secondly, not even the More in Common poll suggests they are going to quite reach their lowest ever number of seats in the House of Commons which is 156 all the way back in 1906.”