Angela Rayner and Keir Starmer launch Labour Ulez-friendly battle bus

Angela Rayner and Sir Keir Starmer are launching Labour‘s battle bus as the general election campaigning goes into overdrive – and yes, the coach is Ulez-compliant. 

The party is starting its 5,000-mile General Election tour within London‘s ultra low emission zone but the new Chinese-made Yutong vehicle is compliant with the regulations so will not incur a charge.

‘What Ange is going to do with this bus is take our message to every single doorstep across the country – 5,000 miles,’ Sir Keir said of his deputy at the campaign launch in Uxbridge. They were also joined by shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves.

The battle bus features 35 seats and a fridge and will carry key Labour figures, staff and media to campaign events across the country before polling day on July 4.

The word ‘Change’ – a key Labour slogan – appears on the side of the red-coloured coach 15 times.

Angela Rayner – who is no longer the subject of police and HMRC enquiries after they said they would take no further action on her tax affairs – said she has been ‘looking forward to this day’ at the launch of Labour’s campaign battle bus tour. 

The deputy Labour leader was flanked by Sir Keir Starmer and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves in front of the red bus emblazoned repeatedly with the word ‘change’ in Uxbridge, west London.

It is the second battle bus to be unveiled in the week and a half since Rishi Sunak announced the July 4 election – coming after the Lib Dems unveiled their bright yellow coach last Sunday.

The hulking people mover, emblazoned with the slogan ‘for a fair deal’, appears to be nicknamed Yellow Hammer 1.

Ms Rayner said: ‘I’m going to really enjoy being out and about up and down the country on our bus.

‘We want to send a message to the people of this country – we are a changed Labour Party, in the service of working people.

‘And we will never ride high and roughshod on the economy.’

Police dropped their probe into her tax affairs after allegations were made that she had failed to pay capital gains tax on the sale of a house she owned in Stockport.

It had referred its findings to Stockport Council and HMRC, both of which said Ms Rayner would face no further action.

The Tories are still calling on her to publish the tax advice that she says confirms she was not liable to pay £3,000 in tax – which she has so far refused to release. 

Sir Keir Starmer joined his deputy to launch the battle bus, as he jokingly comparing the vehicle to Tory defections to his party.

He also brought up Boris Johnson’s attempts to hide in a fridge after he was ambushed by a Good Morning Britain reporter on the campaign trail in 2019.

He said: ‘All week she’s (Angela Rayner) been showing me photographs of her bus and now I’ve come to see this fantastic bus.

‘It’s rather like Tory defectors. You wait for ages and then three come along in a row.

‘But this one, Ange, I’m reliably told has got a fridge in the back of it. So check that Boris Johnson isn’t in there. He used to be around these parts.’

Former Tory MP Mark Logan revealed on Thursday that he was defecting to Labour – immediately after Parliament was dissolved ahead of the general election.

Mr Logan’s decision to back Labour follows the defection of MPs Dan Poulter and Natalie Elphicke from the Tories to Sir Keir’s party in recent weeks. 

PM Rishi Sunak also saw ex-Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson join Reform UK in March. 

But Sir Keir is also under pressure from the hard-left of his party following the row over whether Diane Abbott would be able to stand as a Labour candidate, following reports that she would not have the whip restored.

Ms Abbott, one of Labour’s longest serving MPs, had the whip restored this week more than a year after she was suspended from the party for claiming Jewish, Irish and Traveller people were not subject to racism ‘all their lives’

The Labour leader brushed off questions about her situation on Saturday, telling broadcasters: ‘I dealt with that issue yesterday.

‘Today is about taking our argument to the country and getting people back to work.’

Asked about concerns among black voters, Sir Keir said: ‘Let me give my message to voters, because I think this is very, very important, which is if you want change, the power’s with you… you have to vote for change.’

Meanwhile, any hopes of recycling New Labour anthem Things Can Only Get Better after its viral appearance in the background of Rishi Sunak’s election announcement have been kiboshed – after band D:Ream said they would not allow its use again.

D:Ream’s founding members said they would deny any request from Labour to use the track in the upcoming General Election, expressing regret at letting former party leader Sir Tony Blair have permission in 1997.

Sir Keir told LBC: ‘Well, look, we’re not in 1997. We’re in 2024.

‘We can turn the page, we can start anew rebuild our country with Labour. And we will have a song for that moment if we’re privileged enough to come in to serve.’

Today, Mr Sunak is campaigning in the north-east of England after pledging to give 30 more towns £20million in local funding as part of his regional levelling-up plans.

The Liberal Democrats have said they would make 10 Premier League football games available to watch on free-to-air TV.

In Scotland first minister John Swinney is in the country’s Tory heartlands of the north-east urging locals to vote the Conservatives out.