iain watson, our olitical similarjourney.n watson, our political correspondent. - elsewhere, the northern ireland minister, steve baker, has said the new conservative election pledge to introduce a form of national service has been "sprung" on tory party candidates. he suggested he had no say in the policy. under the plan, 18—year—olds would spend 12 months in the armed forces, or undertake community work for 25 days a year. labour says the plan is a "gimmick", but government minister anne marie trevelyan says there is funding for it. the prime minister's set out very clearly that for this programme, he's allocated £2.5 billion towards the end of the parliament when this would be brought in in full, £1 billion from the roughly 6 billion we can get back through tax fraud every year, so that's a commitment of a proportion of funds that we know we can claw in and £1.5 billion from the uk prosperity fund. the snp leader has told voters that the quickest way to "rid scotland of the tories is to vote snp". speaking at a campaign ev

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iain watson, indeed. thank you. ione wells, you are clearly on the bus.with the prime minister? i don't know how much you can say because obviously there's always a security concern about locations. but what's the mood also with the tory team at the moment, because they are behind in the public opinion polls at the moment? that's right. apologies for the slightly bumpy ride here. we're just going around a couple of bends, but we are on the conservative campaign bus heading to the home counties — essentially those areas around london, which traditionally were seen as conservative heartlands, where a lot of the sort of tory so—called big beasts, people like the chancellor, jeremy hunt, cabinet ministers gillian keegan, michael gove — although he is standing down — have their seats, and that's one of the reasons that these areas are big target seats for the liberal democrats and for labour as well. they really want to try and win some seats off the conservatives in some of those areas, particularly some of the more marginal ones. now as a result, i think the

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our political correspondent iain watson was watching the speech and sent us his analysis of what theleader said. sir keir starmer here because for the first time labour took the local council here for the first time in history. equally, he knew even though there is a big lead, there are a lot of votes to be won in the next few weeks and he wanted to try to reassure wavering voters it was not safe to post for his party, so we concentrated on issues that perhaps conservative voters would have been concerned of in the past. security, for example. talking about nato. anti—immigration, new border force being set up within a hundred days of if they'd win the next election. and finances, he said there would be no increase in income tax. he also recognised he had to reintroduce himself to the public. perhaps people are only now thinking about the choice between the party leaders. we talked about growing up in surrey, as english as it gets, he said, his hometown. isuppose in surrey, as english as it gets, he said, his hometown. i suppose the message was if you grew up in an area like that, be

thank you so much. 0ur political correspondent iain watson, has been travelling with the labour partyin southeast england. i'm on this press bus, which is following the leader around. it's not going to be the branded labor campaign bus. it's going to be unveiled in a few days' time and it's largely going to be the domain of the deputy leader of the labour party. angela rayner. but as you say, keir starmer, an event on the south coast in west sussex earlier today. and it is interesting. his first major speech was in an area where labour had won control of the local council for the first time in its history. so i think he's very keen to say, look, people here are looking at labour for the first time. people elsewhere across the country should perhaps do the same. interestingly, too, i think he decided to talk more about his own personal life, his own background, something which we're all familiar with since we were following him not just on the campaign trail, but of course, as he became the labour leader four years ago. but he felt it necessary to reintroduce himself to the public and

our political correspondent iain watson was watching the speech and sent us his analysis of what theme to this part of west sussex because here, labour won control of the local council for the first time in history earlier this month. he wanted to signal that some people who'd perhaps always voted conservative in the past could now be persuaded to vote labour this time. but equally, he knew, even though there's a big poll lead, there's still a lot of votes to be won in the next few weeks. and he wanted to try to reassure wavering voters that it was now safe to vote for his party. so he concentrated on issues that perhaps conservative voters perhaps more than most would have prioritised in the past, issues such as national security. he committed labour, of course, to support for nato and nuclear weapons, to tackling illegal immigration, with a new border force being set up within 100 days of labour taking power if they win the next election. and above all, that labour could be trusted with the nation's finances and there'd be no increases in income tax. he emphasised those messages, b

thank you so much. 0ur political correspondent iain watson is travelling with the labour leader and joins from south east england. interesting that keir starmer should start his campaign with that first major speech, talking to floating voters, undecided voters in particular. voters, undecided voters in particular-— voters, undecided voters in particular. voters, undecided voters in articular. . �*, ., ., particular. that's right, i am on this press _ particular. that's right, i am on this press pass _ particular. that's right, i am on this press pass which _ particular. that's right, i am on this press pass which is - particular. that's right, i am on i this press pass which is following the labour leader around. it's not going to be their branded labour campaign bus, which is going to be unveiled in a few days' time. i was at that keir starmer event on the south coast in west sussex earlier today and it is interesting that his first major speech was in an area where labour has one control of the council for the first time in history. he is very keen to say that people here are looking a

. - let's go live to our political correspondent, iain watson, who is on the bus with the labour leaderre the speech will be, but it is in the south east of england. we were talking about how circular is going to target undecided voters. what else is he going to say in this first major speech of the campaign? it is his first major speech of the campaign and we don't expect any new policy from him. i can be a bit more specific about where we are. we are in west sussex, and it's interesting that he chose this area because in the recent council elections in may, labour did very well. historically, they have had virtually no presence. in one of the local council is here that was controlled by the conservatives for more than 20 years, it was the lib dems people tend to locally, but now they are turning to labour. so that is why he is coming here to say to people who may need to be convinced that he would make a prime minister they can trust that he can be trusted on key priorities which the electorate has. that is national security, immigration and the nation's finances. it's no mistake on k

first, though, let's head to iain watson in north london, because it was announced there this morningin i am in his islington north constituency and it is quite astonishing when you think about it. the man who lead labour into the last two general elections is now going to be fighting against the labour party at this general election. the current labour leadership made it clear he wasn't going to be selected as an official candidate. he had been suspended from the parliamentary party after he made remarks suggesting the problem of anti—semitism under his leadership had been overstated by his opponents. once the process got under way to select the new labour candidate to replace him, he announced he would stand as an independent and i am told the kind of issues he'll be campaigning on here in islington north, will be the policies keir starmer —— keir starmer has ditched. i think his campaign will become something of a focus for those on the left who are disillusioned with the keir starmer leadership. that said, i think jeremy corbyn has done his successor a bit of a favour. keir starme

joining me now is our political correspondent iain watson.ier about that labour message being all about change, but if you look at the polls, if theyjust do nothing, just stay where they are, that can be enough to get star made the keys to number ten. i think there are opportunities in labour dangers for labour. the opportunities as they would see it, the opportunity to win back a win overfor the first time, the opportunity to win back a win over for the first time, often through focus groups and behind closed doors, they have discussions. the key reason that people may change their vote and vote labour this time when they didn't in 2019 is this desire for change, the idea it is time for a change. that is why they are emphasising that message quite so much. that's the word that keir starmer uses quite so much. at the football club, he used the word chaos. change seems a good thing and chaos. change seems a good thing and chaos seems a bad thing. you try to pin chaos and the conservatives. incidentally, the former prime minister lizjust made a

joining me now is our political correspondent iain watson in gillingham.it is the start of a six—week campaign. there is all to play for, isn't there? there is indeed, ben. certainly, labour have distilled the message into one placard. it says change. that is the key word. when they talk to the voters they need to win over, people say that it is time for a change. the sense you get from gelling as well. this was a seat won by labour under tony blair, but this has been held for some time by a conservative mp. that is what effectively labour are trying to say. it has been iii years of a conservative led government. this is notjust conservative led government. this is not just about conservative led government. this is notjust about rishi sunak, when you talk about personalities, it is about the conservatives record throughout that time. when labour left office, that is their claim, and they think that is that is what is resonating with voters. what is not yet clear, i think, in many voters's mines, is that they wanted to tune into a campaign, and they are no

we can speak to our political correspondents iain watson in south—east england, and ione wells, travellingster rishi sunak. ian let me start with you we saw that first major speech from sir stomach. any surprises! �*? —— from mr stomach. any surprises! —— from mr keir starmer. stomach. any surprises! ? -- from mr keir starmer. any _ stomach. any surprises! ? -- from mr keir starmer. any surprises? - stomach. any surprises! ? -- from mr keir starmer. any surprises? we - keir starmer. any surprises? we think that labour _ keir starmer. any surprises? we think that labour kami _ keir starmer. any surprises? we think that labour kami -- - keir starmer. any surprises? we think that labour kami -- they l keir starmer. any surprises? we i think that labour kami -- they are think that labour kami —— they are saying that labour kami trusted on the nation's finances and on illegal immigration. these kind of messages that are worried that labour will perhaps are weak and some of those issues under the issue leader debra corbin who is now being expelled backin corbin who is now being expelled back in