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Reuters\/ PA <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\nParty leaders have spent the first day of general election campaigning setting out their initial pitches to voters.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak endured a self-inflicted day of geographical masochism as he travelled to England, Scotland and Wales. <\/p>\n
Addressing a distribution centre in Derbyshire, he said he had a “clear plan” for financial stability.<\/p>\n
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer kicked of his campaign at Gillingham Football Club in Kent where he said a vote for Labour was a vote to “turn the page”.<\/p>\n
One dividing line between the two main parties is their stance on the government’s Rwanda plan.<\/p>\n
Sir Keir said he would scrap<\/a> the scheme to send those arriving illegally in the UK in small boats to the East African country. <\/p>\n Labour say they would set up what they call a \u2018Border Security Command\u2019 which they claim would smash the criminal gangs and cut the number getting in small boats over the Channel.<\/p>\n The Conservatives argue they are doing something similar already and Mr Sunak has said the Rwanda plan would deter people from making the dangerous journey.<\/p>\n However, in one of his first interviews after calling the election, the prime minister said<\/a> no asylum seekers would be deported to Rwanda before the election on 4 July. <\/p>\n It had been thought ministers would try to get the first flight off before polling day, to showcase their policy on countering illegal migration.<\/p>\n In other words, the whole argument is about the prospect of a Rwanda plan if the Conservatives win, and the plan being scrapped before it has even begun if Labour win.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In Edinburgh, the newly-elected SNP leader John Swinney urged Scottish voters to make “their voice heard”. <\/p>\n He said that while his Labour and Conservative opponents would be going “hammer and tongs to discredit each other” he would be going “hammer and tongs” for Scotland. <\/p>\n Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey headed to Cheltenham in Gloucestershire where he repeated his key message – promising voters a “fair deal”. <\/p>\n Reform UK said it would field candidates in 630 of the UK’s 650 constituencies – however Nigel Farage, the party’s founder, will not be one of them.<\/p>\n He said he would be “do my bit to help” but also hinted he wanted to focus on the US presidential campaign of his friend Donald Trump. <\/p>\n While one former party leader is sitting this election out, another is expected to throw his hat in the ring. <\/p>\n
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