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General election 2024 live: Keir Starmer says he wants to lower voting age to 16 - BBC News General election 2024 live: Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer in first weekend of campaign - BBC News
(32 minutes later)
Harry Farley Elsewhere, Reform UK leader Richard Tice has been campaigning in Boston and Skegness.
Political correspondent It is seat he has decided to fight in this election having previously said he would contest Hartlepool.
I’ve been speaking to Sir Keir Starmer here at Stafford Rangers Football Club. Tice says the party have not been caught out by the unexpected election announcement, telling supporters he "won a few bets, a couple of pints of Guinness" on there being a summer poll.
This is exactly the sort of area where Labour need to win back voters on July 4th. When we were filming with him, he was keen to make sure the stadium name was in the background – presumably so locals watching at home knew he was in their neighbourhood. He says Rishi Sunak has "bottled it" by calling an early election because the Tories are "sinking" in the polls while Reform gain support.
There are certain parliamentary seats known as "bellweathers". That means they typically vote for an MP from the party that wins the election. And Stafford is one of them. Tice says the party will put immigration, law and order, NHS waiting lists and "making work pay" at the centre of its general election campaign.
Labour insiders are open about their campaign plan which is not focused so much on how many votes they win, but where they win them. Sir Keir will not spend that much time in areas like big cities, which they tend to win anyway, even if that means losing a bit of support there. Labour’s hope is even if they lose some votes in cities, they will still win those seats. Reform are "here for the long term", he says at the end of the speech, adding the party will "make [Britain] great again".
Instead they will spend their time and energy on places like this, and other Conservative held areas, around the country.
So for the next six weeks we can expect to see a lot of Sir Keir Starmer popping up in exactly this kind of constituency – Conservative currently, but which Labour think they can win.
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