Live

Politics latest: Michael Gove predicts November election; 'no need' for me to see Angela Rayner legal advice, Keir Starmer says

Michael Gove thinks the election will be in November - but professes to have "no inside knowledge"; Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and deputy leader Angela Rayner launch Labour's local elections campaign. Listen to the latest Electoral Dysfunction podcast as you scroll.

Why you can trust Sky News
Coming up on Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge

 Our flagship weeknight politics show Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge will be live on Sky News from 7pm. 

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

Sophy will be joined by Richard Holden, the Conservative Party chairman.

Also on the show is Louise Haigh, the shadow secretary of state for transport.

On Sophy's panel tonight are:

  • Jacqui Smith, former Labour home secretary and chair of the Jo Cox Foundation;
  • Tim Montgomerie, founder of Conservative Home.

Watch Politics Hub from Monday to Thursday at 7pm on Sky channel 501, Virgin channel 602, Freeview channel 233, on the Sky News website and app or on YouTube.

Government accused of 'abandoning' plan to scrap no-fault evictions

By Tim Baker, political reporter

The government has been accused of "abandoning" its pledge to ban no fault evictions by the time of the next general election.

Housing minister Jacob Young sent a letter to Conservative MPs dated 27 March which said the power under Section 21 of the Housing Act would remain in place until an assessment had been made of the legal system to see if it could handle the changes.

A Section 21 order allows landlords to evict tenants without providing a reason for doing so.

The Conservative 2019 manifesto pledged to abolish the mechanism, and was planning to do so through the Renters Reform Bill.

There had already been indications the government intended to water down its promise from Housing Secretary Michael Gove, but this development marks the confirmation that legislation will be changed.

But the letter sent by Mr Young said: "The government has been clear that Section 21 will be abolished when the courts are ready, and is taking significant steps to deliver court improvement, including providing £1.2m for court digitisation.

"We will now, however, bring forward an amendment at Commons report [stage] to require the lord chancellor to publish an assessment on barriers to possession and the readiness of the courts in advance of abolishing Section 21 for existing tenancies."

The campaign group, Renters Reform Coalition, said the changes announced this week represent "major concessions to landlords" - and said Mr Gove was "abandoning the promise" made to end Section 21s by the next election.

Read more here:

Full list of London mayoral candidates published

A full list of candidates who will be running in the London mayoral race has been published. 

They include Sadiq Khan for Labour and Susan Hall for the Conservatives.

Other candidates include Rob Blackie for the Lib Dems and Zoe Garbett for the Greens.

Also in the running is another well known election night figure, Count Binface.

The full list is below: 

  • Amin, Femy - Animal Welfare Party - People, Animals, Environment
  • Binface, Count - Count Binface for Mayor of London
  • Blackie, Rob - Liberal Democrat
  • Campbell, Natalie Denise - Independent
  • Cox, Howard - Reform - London Deserves Better
  • Gallagher, Amy - Social Democratic Party
  • Garbett, Zoe - The Green Party
  • Ghulati, Tarun - Independent
  • Hall, Susan Mary - The Conservative Party Candidate
  • Khan, Sadiq - Labour Party
  • Michli, Andreas Christoffi - Independent
  • Rose, Brian Benedict - Transform London
  • Scanlon, Nick - Britain First – No To Immigration

Voting will take place on Thursday 2 May.

As we reported earlier, Reclaim party leader and actor Laurence Fox is not on the list following "errors" were identified in his nomination forms (read more).

London Elects, which administers the mayoral and London Assembly elections, said it was too late for the errors to be addressed as the forms were submitted shortly before the 4pm  deadline on Wednesday. 

Mr Fox has said his team are challenging the decision, adding they were "confident" the documentation was correct.

How Tory MPs can get rid of the prime minister

By Tim Baker and Alexandra Rogers, political reporters

Rishi Sunak looks to have seen off his backbenchers - at least for now.

The nascent rebellions have gone quiet in the past few weeks and the Commons is in its Easter recess, with MPs returning to Westminster on 15 April.

Time away from parliament normally strengthens - or at least prevents the further collapse - of a prime minister, as MPs disperse back to their constituencies and away from the plot-heavy fug of Westminster.

But a potential flashpoint is looming: May's local elections.

A particularly bad performance by the Tories could lead to fresh pressure on the PM's leadership and prove to be the catalyst for a concrete move to oust Mr Sunak.

Sky News explains how Tory MPs could get rid of the PM and - if they are successful - who would likely be in the running to replace him.

Read more below: 

Labour can't 'turn taps on' for struggling councils, Starmer warns at local election launch

By Alexandra Rogers, political reporter

Sir Keir Starmer has warned that Labour "can't pretend that we can turn the taps on" to help struggling councils if he wins the next general election.

The Labour leader was speaking in Dudley at the launch of his party's campaign for the local elections on 2 May, which are taking place against the backdrop of a bleak financial picture for councils across the country.

One in five council bosses have said they think it's likely or fairly likely they will go bankrupt in the next 15 months, while the Local Government Association, which represents local authorities, has said there is a £4bn funding shortfall over the next two years.

Asked by Sky News' political editor Beth Rigby whether he would "commit that money", Sir Keir replied: "Councils of all political stripes are struggling with the lack of funding they've had over a prolonged period.

"And we need to turn that around - we will do that."

Although he did not promise additional funding, he did suggest funding settlement arrangements could be altered to help councils - suggesting one-year settlements had been detrimental to councils' budgets.

Read more here:

Why don't we know when the general election is?

There will most likely be a general election at some point in 2024, but we don't know exactly when.

We do know it won't happen on 2 May - when local elections will take place across England. 

The prime minister's "working assumption" is that it will be held in the second half of this year - but beyond that we know very little about the precise timing.

So why is this the case?

Political correspondent Serena Barker-Singh explains:

Gove predicts possible general election dates, but claims he has 'no inside knowledge'

Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove has weighed in on when he predicts the general election will take place.

"I think November the 14th or 21st," he told the Political Currency podcast with former chancellor George Osborne and former shadow chancellor Ed Balls.

But he had one important caveat: " I have no inside knowledge at all," he says. 

Challenged by Ed Balls, who said: "But you've just been to see the prime minister today", he replies: "If he had told me, I couldn't tell you. 

"Therefore the fact that I've told you what I think is proof that I didn't know."

While it remains unclear when the next election will be, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has previously said it was his "working assumption" that an election would be held in the second half of this year.

He has also ruled out holding the general election on 2 May, which would have coincided with local elections.

Starmer speaks of 'frustration' at Johnson's 'unforgiveable failure' to level up - but says idea was 'right'

By Alexandra Rogers, political reporter

Sir Keir Starmer has admitted Boris Johnson was "right" to propose levelling up but said he was "frustrated" by the former prime minister's "unforgivable" failure to deliver.

The Labour leader also claimed the policy, which defined Mr Johnson's premiership, was "strangled at birth" by his successor, Rishi Sunak.

Speaking to Sky News' political editor Beth Rigby at the launch of Labour's local election campaign in Dudley, Sir Keir said "the idea" of levelling up that was put before the electorate in 2019 by Mr Johnson was "right".

But he added: "What that requires - and this is where I get frustrated - is if you really believe that... I'm afraid you've got to roll your sleeves up, you've got to put a plan on the table, you go the hard yards.

"And so what is unforgivable about Boris Johnson is, having made that the focus, he didn't do the hard yards of delivery and that's why people feel even more let down."

The Labour leader was equally critical of Mr Sunak, whom he said had "strangled levelling up at birth because he wouldn't put the funding behind it - and we know what the consequences are."

However, despite criticising the Conservatives for their failure to put money behind the policy, Sir Keir refused to commit any new funding to local councils, which are straddling an estimated funding gap of £4bn over the next two years. 

Read more here: 

Laurence Fox barred from London mayor race after forms 'errors'

Reclaim party leader and actor Laurence Fox will not be able to run as a candidate at the London mayoral elections in May after "errors" were identified in his nomination forms.

London Elects, which administers the mayoral and London Assembly elections, said it was too late for the errors to be addressed as the forms were submitted shortly before the 4pm  deadline on Wednesday. 

Mr Fox has said his team are challenging the decision, adding that they were "confident" the documentation was correct.

In a statement, London Elects said: "The paperwork was submitted very shortly before 4pm.

 "Upon inspection, the nomination forms contained errors which - the deadline having passed - were too late for Mr Fox's team to correct.

"The conclusion of London Elects was that the requirements of the nomination process were not completed by the deadline.

"The Greater London Returning Officer is bound by electoral law and has no ability to allow anything other than fully compliant nominations, submitted by the deadline, to stand."

In a social media posts this afternoon, Mr Fox said all the documentation had been "checked and rechecked".

"Can you please sight what the 'errors' are ⁦@londonelects," he said.

"This team had no problem last time and all the documentation was checked and rechecked before being delivered this time. We have been asking all day. You have not responded."

He followed up by saying his team were "challenging this decision" and had "instructed lawyers to pursue the matter".

In other since-deleted tweets, Mr Fox alleged the decision was a result of "political corruption".

Mr Fox received just 47,634 votes at the last London mayoral election in 2021. 

As that was less than 2% of the total votes cast, he lost his £10,000 deposit, which is only returned to candidates receiving more than 5% of the vote.

The full list of candidates for the mayoral election is expected to be published on Thursday afternoon.

Starmer: It is up to the government to ensure Thames Water is viable

Wrapping up the interview, our political editor Beth Rigby asks Sir Keir Starmer what the government should be doing to respond to the deepening Thames Water funding crisis.

Sir Keir said he was "very concerned" by the situation, "as anybody who is a customer will be".

"It's for the government in place at the moment to look at this and make sure that Thames Water is viable and provides the water that people need," he said.

He said that should Labour win the next election, they will look at this issue themselves, adding "I would have accountability to the top of these organisations".

Thames Water has refused to rule out bill increases of up to 40% for customers as the troubled company tries to secure its future (more here).

It comes as the business, which serves nearly a quarter of the UK's population, struggles with more than £15bn of debt and the huge interest payments required to service it.

When asked earlier about the prospect of 40% bill increases, Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove said the "leadership of Thames Water has been a disgrace" (more here).

The leadership team should "ask themselves why they're in this difficult situation, and of course the answer is because of serial mismanagement, for which they should carry the can".

Asked if the government could take Thames Water into special administration, the senior minister replied that the decision is one for Environment Secretary Steve Barclay.

"But I don't think we rule anything out," he added.