Election – live: Police probe Reform campaigners’ racist and homophobic slurs

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has said trans people should be able to use the bathroom “they want to use”, adding that he “strongly supports” provision for single-sex spaces under the Equality Act.

Asked which toilet a trans woman with a penis should use, Sir Ed said: “It would all depend on what they want to use.

“I’m not sure if we’re going to have people standing outside toilets and deciding what identity they have, I think that would be quite an odd society.”

Asked if he believed in safe spaces for “biological women”, the Lib Dem leader said: “I believe in the Equality Act, which gives single-sex spaces and rights for women as a way of balancing rights. I think that is exactly right.

“And what the Equality Act does in providing single-sex spaces where trans women are excluded, is it enables people providing services to make those decisions, and that’s quite right.

“I strongly support the Equality Act and its provision for single-sex spaces.”

The Lib Dem leader has responded to the Channel 4 footage showing Reform activists using a racial slur about the prime minister and homophobic language.

Speaking while on a campaign visit to Little Paxton, Cambridgeshire, Sir Ed Davey said: “I heard the comments on the television, and they were clearly racist, homophobic and abhorrent, and I hope the party deals with these and any other people who speak like this.”

Our Whitehall Editor Kate Devlin is following Rishi Sunak on the Tory battle bus as he campaigns in the North East.

The prime minister has treated all journalists on board to fish and chips.

The Green Party has reacted to Channel 4’s undercover filming showing Nigel Farage’s supporters making Islamophobic and homophobic comments.

Co-Leader Carla Denyer blasted Mr Farage’s “racist, Islamophobic and homophobic chickens have come home to roost”.

She said: “Farage’s Reform Party’s mask has not just slipped, it’s been well and truly trampled into the ground. Farage’s attempts to re-write history by distancing himself from these remarks just don’t wash.

“Just a few months ago he was accused by the Muslim Council of Britain for ‘horribly Islamophobic, racist and hate-filled rhetoric of misinformation’ and he stands surprised when the culture he has created allows supporters to spew Islamophobic hate.

“His racist, Islamophobic and homophobic chickens have come home to roost. Farage needs to take a long hard look at himself and ask how he has enabled this culture to take hold.”  

Lib Dem leader has insisted he cannot remember the amount of money he won when he previously bet on politics.

Sir Ed Davey admitted he put two wagers on his party winning elections in the past.

Asked why he would not say how much he made, Sir Ed said: “Because I can’t remember.

“I have the odd flutter, but I’m not really a gambling person and I don’t really gamble very high stakes because I don’t think my wife would like it.”

Reform canvassers are being investigated over racist and homophobic comments made in Channel 4 footage.

Essex Police has announced it is “urgently assessing” the remarks “to establish if there are any criminal offences”.

A spokesman for the force said: “We are aware of comments made during a Channel 4 News programme and we are urgently assessing them to establish if there are any criminal offences.”

Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign in Islington North has been backed by several former committee members.

More than 70 members in the constituency signed a letter in support of the former Labour leader.

The letter reads: “Jeremy Corbyn has dedicated his life to this constituency. We hear on a regular basis from people how Jeremy has been there for them in their time of need, whether that is housing, education or anything else.

“He has always worked in partnership with our progressive Labour council, both as a Labour MP and as an independent MP.”