in coming up on bbc news, know that novak djokovic on course to defend his french open title and through to the third round after being roberto in straight sets. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. the man who was until last night the conservative mp for bolton north east in greater manchester has joined the labour party. mark logan is not standing at the general election but he says he is now backing sir keir starmer as the next prime minister. this afternoon he told the bbc the conservative party was unrecognisable from the party hejoined a decade ago. it comes amid continuing confusion and division over the fate of one of labour s longest serving and best known mps, diane abbott. she says she s being banned from standing next month. keir starmer has been saying no decision has been taken. but today labour s deputy leader angela rayner said she sees no reason why she shouldn t be allowed to stand again for her seat in east london. our political editor chris mas
but we need is a cure for this addiction. in the cure is an employer immigration tax. that is the cure to this addiction. smart immigration highly qualified, highly skilled, can be a great thing. but there is a price to it, there is a cost to it and that she does at the moment, there is no cost to big business for employing cheap low skilled overseas labor. the main topic on the campaign trail today has been tax with the conservatives and labour reassuring voters that they wouldn t raise vat if they win the general election. value added tax currently stands at 20% for most items. the liberal democrats also said they would not look to raise vat or income tax. but as our economics editor, faisal islam, reports similar pledges at the last election didn t stop the tax burden rising to its highest level since the second world war. the town hall meetings, the scoops of ice cream and the campaign water features continue for party leaders. but today s main stunt surrounded the cl