UK police broaden election betting investigation as scandal overshadows election
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00:00British police are now investigating at least seven officers in the betting scandal that has overshadowed the final days of the UK election campaign
00:08with a growing number of people linked to Rishi Sunak accused of placing bets on the ballot date.
00:14It's caused a great headache for the Prime Minister, whose party finally withdrew its support for two candidates this week.
00:21I've been clear that anyone who has broken the rules should face the full consequences of the law.
00:26I will ensure they're booted out of the party.
00:28And whilst there are ongoing independent investigations, including, as you said, by the police,
00:33it's important that those matters are allowed to proceed properly.
00:37So far, at least five conservative politicians and one Labor politician are alleged to have used insider information to successfully bet on the date of the poll,
00:47which was set to the surprise of most on July 4 by Rishi Sunak.
00:51His rival, Labor leader Keir Starmer, denounced Sunak's slowness in punishing his suspected collaborators.
00:58The Prime Minister should have acted swiftly at the beginning and shown leadership rather than being bullied into taking action.
01:05We've seen far too much of this sort of bending the rules, breaking the rules, disregard for the rules and standards.
01:11The case will be a joint probe with the Met Police and the UK Gambling Commission.
01:16Scotland Yard will look into whether misconduct has been committed in a public office
01:20and the commission will focus on whether betting rules were broken.
01:23The case is a further blow to the Conservative Party's campaign, which is already trailing Labor by around 20 points in the polls.