campaign here in the uk. all parties out again this weekend vying for support. rishi sunak has pledged to give 30 towns across the uk £20 million each if the conservatives are re elected. he says the money would go towards the long term regeneration of the areas, under the government s levelling up scheme. a topic labour leader kier starmer hasn t been able to escape is dianne abbott. there s been a lot of controversy over the terms of the re admittance of the veteran labour mp into the party. keir starmer has been tackling that issue as well this morning, denying that his party is blocking left wing candidates. 0n diane abbott you said last week you weren t going to get involved in her case. you said the days when the leader rolls up his sleeves and gets involved are well and truly over, that s what corbyn did and ended badly. you said it was a matter for the nec on candidate selection and you avoided having a view becausejeremy corbyn expressed a view and that leads to a
to increase the personal tax allowance for pensioners if they win the general election. they say the proposal would be worth £275 a year to each pensioner by the end of the decade. under the plans, the state pension would always remain below the tax free threshold. rishi sunak says the scheme shows the conservatives are on the side of pensioners but labour have called it desperate . rishi sunak will be out campaigning in the midlands today. let s get more on this with nick eardley. what do you love about it? how do you win over older voters? it s a question politicians ask themselves a lot. pensioners tend to get out and vote. so today, an offer from the conservatives, that the basic state pension will never be liable for income tax. the simple fact is that this tax change, this triple lock plus, will mean going forward that millions of pensioners, eight million pensioners, in fact, will be paying less tax than they would otherwise be paying. and that is clearly a tax cut
for their children. and it s heartbreaking for us as health care professionals, as pharmacists, to have to send patients away, or to have to tell them that they re going to have to wait longer to get the medicines. the uk is not the only country in the world experiencing problems with drug supplies it s a global issue. but the npa says it wants all the main parties in the election to commit to tackling the shortages. dominic hughes, bbc news. let s refocus on the uk election. the scottish first minister has taken his election campaign to the north east of scotland, insisting his party can remove the remaining rump of tory mps both there and in other parts of the country. snp leaderjohn swinney is expected to urge people to take part in a scottish national service by using the general election to vote tory mps out of office. let s speak to our reporter ben philip in aberdeen. just talk us through what we can expect today. just talk us through what we can meet today-