Betting on election date merits serious investigation but it is not an offence for MPs to bet on themselves winning

Until the past few weeks, online casinos and bookmakers have made handy villains for an under-pressure government.

Ministers could legitimately claim to be cleaning up Labour’s mess with reforms that partially roll back the permissive regulatory regime ushered in under Tony Blair.

Labour talked tough on regulation in its manifesto, but questions have been raised about how it will proceed with legislation if it comes into office

In February 2020, with the race to succeed Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader heating up, Keir Starmer’s office received a helping hand.

Peter Coates, the head of the dynasty behind Stoke-based online gambling company Bet365, donated £25,000 to Starmer’s office.

Prime minister’s campaign has become the only spectacle less appealing than England at the Euros

“I will never stop fighting for this country,” ran Rishi Sunak’s morning message to a nation that, if the polls are to be believed, overwhelmingly just wants him to stop fighting for this country ASAP. In any case, since almost the start of this campaign, the prime minister has been pegged as a Normandy deserter. He totally wanted to fight on the beaches for this country – but unfortunately he wanted to do a telly interview more.

Undeterred, however, Sunak appended the above message to today’s exciting new Conservative attack ad. This shows an elderly man, a woman and a child from behind, holding up their hands. We know it’s a surrender because the caption is “DON’T SURRENDER YOUR FAMILY’S FUTURE TO LABOUR”. Probably the best thing you can say about it is that it’s good the actors could get paid the day rate without having to show their faces to the camera.

PM again declines to say whether he told Craig Williams in advance about his decision to hold the election in July

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Rishi Sunak is returning to the campaign trail on Thursday, PA reports, after a two-day hiatus for the Emperor and Empress of Japan’s state visit and preparations for the final head-to-head debate with Sir Keir Starmer.

With one week to go until polling day, the deepening gambling scandal is still likely to feature heavily when he faces the media during a tour of the East Midlands and Yorkshire.

He is expected to visit a factory in Derbyshire and hold an evening campaign event in Leeds.

Keir Starmer accused Rishi Sunak of using transgender issues “as a political football to divide people” during their head-to-head debate on Wednesday.

GambleAware says government has ‘overlooked’ the problem and calls for pre-watershed advertising ban

The UK’s leading gambling charity has called on the next government to ban betting advertising at sports events and on pre-watershed television, citing research that indicates strong public support for stricter controls.

The survey, for GambleAware, which comes amid the usual marketing frenzy that accompanies a major football tournament such as Euro 2024, found that two-thirds of people in the UK think there are too many betting adverts.

Exclusive: Welsh politician Russell George told by Gambling Commission he is part of inquiry as Tories drop Craig Williams and Laura Saunders

A Conservative politician has become the fifth party figure to be investigated by the gambling watchdog for allegedly placing a suspicious bet on the general election date, as the developing scandal continued to overshadow Rishi Sunak’s campaign.

The Gambling Commission has informed Russell George, a Tory member of the Welsh parliament who represents the same constituency as Sunak’s closest parliamentary aide Craig Williams, that he is part of its inquiry.