General election live: More Metropolitan police investigators arrive as gambling scandal deepens

The Metropolitan police have announced that they will be investigating further officers involved in gambling around the general election.

So far, seven officials have been identified as having placed bets on the timing of the election.

The announcement comes after one of Rishi Sunak’s closest aides was arrested on suspicion of misconduct.

The Metropolitan police confirmed the officer has since been bailed and is currently on restricted duty.

Six more officers have been identified and are under investigation by the Gambling Commission.

The Metropolitan police have revealed exactly how their investigation into the gambling scandal will proceed.

Bets suspected to fall under the cheating provisions of the Gambling Act will be investigated by the Gambling Commission and are “likely to make up the majority of cases”.

The gambling watchdog is expected to bring criminal charges if it suspects a crime has been committed.

Any bets which are suspected to breach the Gambling Act but fall under other offences such as misconduct in public office will be “assessed by the Metropolitan police’s Specialist Crime Command to determine what further investigation is required”.

Gambling Commission chief executive Andrew Rose said in a statement: “We are focused on investigating the use of confidential information to gain an unfair advantage in betting on the date of the general election.”

He added: “Our enforcement teams have made rapid progress so far and will continue to work closely with the Metropolitan police to bring this case to a fair conclusion.”

He added that he could not release the names of any potential suspects “to protect the integrity of the investigation and ensure a fair and impartial outcome.”

Northern Ireland Secretary of State Steve Baker has suggested he could run for a future leadership position if the Conservative party is defeated in the general election.

The Conservative Minister Huffington Post“It is true that colleagues have called on me four times to provide leadership to lead the country out of crisis and into success, before and after the referendum, through the Covid pandemic and now on the cost of net zero.

“It’s widely expected that I will lose my seat. We’ll see what happens.”

The Reform UK leader is in Seaham, north-east, where he launched his Brexit campaign.

He will be speaking live from Rainton at midday.

The word “surrender” appeared to be the Prime Minister’s favourite buzzword during last night’s debate.

Rishi Sunak used a phrase from his much-maligned rival Sir Keir Starmer 17 times. Here are some of his key comments.

• please do not Surrender Your local councils and we will donate our finances to them.

• This is the first time pensioners will pay tax, so that’s the change that’s coming. Surrender Because your family will pay the price.

• please do not Surrender To our welfare system, to the Labour Party and to Keir Starmer.

• If Labor wins, traffickers will need bigger boats. Surrender Our borders will belong to Labour.

• I don’t think people should do that. Surrender Donate your family fortune to the Labour Party.

• Keir Starmer and the Labour Party are not being honest with you. Surrender to raise taxes.

Karl Turner, the Labour candidate seeking re-election in Hull East, said voters thought his party was planning to “tax condoms”.

Turner said: Parents“I met a man who said he was going to vote Labour but now he won’t because he heard they’re going to tax condoms.

“I said, ‘Condoms?’ ‘Yeah,’ he said, ‘I just heard about it on the show. [pointing to the TV] “I’m not in favor of taxing condoms. I’m not going to vote for it,” Terence said. [Turner’s parliamentary assistant] This is where I solved it.

“‘We tax non-residents, not condoms,’ I said. ‘Oh,’ he said. ‘Like Madam Prime Minister? Oh,’ he cried. ‘Margaret, they tax non-residents, not condoms.'”

According to Sky News, if the Metropolitan police take over the full case, candidates implicated in the gambling scandal could be arrested.

A Gambling Commission source was quoted as saying that the Metropolitan police were “looking to take over all cases relating to the gambling scandal”.

Police are seeking to lead an investigation into police officials as well as Westminster candidates.

Gambling Commission sources claimed that if the Metropolitan police were to take over all cases, politicians could be warned, arrested and questioned by members of the commission.

However, a spokesman for the independent monitoring group denied the allegations.

Jonathan Reynolds has vowed to fix Britain’s relationship with the EU “through good faith and reason, not through internal Conservative politics”.

Mr Reynolds promised the British Chambers of Commerce: “We will take the grown-up approach to Brexit that the Government has lacked.”

The shadow business secretary insisted Labour would not seek membership of the single market or customs union.

He said the party would instead pursue an international agreement, adding: “If New Zealand can have a veterinary agreement with our closest neighbours, so can we.”

“The same can be said about mutual recognition of professional qualifications, touring rights in the creative industries and easier mobility between companies.”

As part of his election campaign, Jonathan Reynolds spoke at the British Chamber of Commerce’s (BCC) annual global conference.

The shadow business secretary defended Labour’s cautious stance towards the general election.

“We’ve heard from some commentators that they don’t think Labour’s campaign has been exciting enough,” he said at a British Chambers of Commerce conference in London.

“We’re not pitching a new Netflix series, we’re not treating politics as entertainment.

“We want to get back to serious government, effective policies and politics as public service, not pantomime.”

Last night’s BBC Prime Minister debate between Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer was watched by an audience of around 2.7 million people.

New figures have revealed that the televised political event drew 4.2 million viewers, who watched Georgia’s sensational Euro 2024 win over Portugal on ITV.