A new poll suggests disaster ahead for Rishi Sunak, with the Tories on track to win just 72 seats in the next election.
A Survation poll for Best for Britain, published by The Sunday Times, predicted that Labour would win as many as 456 seats, which would far surpass Tony Blair’s landslide victory in 1997.
Meanwhile, Labour and Nigel Farage have accused the Tories of a ‘con’ over plans to send more migrants to Rwanda during the election campaign.
The Independent understands plans are in place to fly a person from Nigeria and another from Pakistan, who are in the UK illegally, to the East African country before the election on 4 July. But much like the first person who was sent in April, it is a voluntary move and so not an enforced deportation.
Mr Farage this week claimed Reform UK is the “new opposition” following a YouGov poll that put his party ahead of the Conservatives for the first time.
Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron has said Mr Farage is “incredibly divisive” and trying to “destroy” the Conservative Party.
Douglas Ross’s decision to run as MP has left ‘bad taste’ in north east
Douglas Ross’s decision to stand to be an MP has left a “bad taste” in the north-east Scotland constituency where he is running, First Minister John Swinney has said.
The Scottish Conservative leader put himself forward as candidate for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East after David Duguid was told by the party’s management board that he could not stand due to his ill-health.
Mr Ross said he would step down as leader shortly afterwards, when his colleagues expressed unhappiness at the move.
Boundary changes mean that Aberdeenshire North and Moray East is being contested for the first time, but the majority of the constituency was in Banff and Buchan, previously represented by Mr Duguid.
Read the full news article here:
Kemi Badenoch accuses Labour of ‘intimidation and abuse’ towards its own
Kemi Badenoch has waded into the row about Labour candidate Rosie Duffield, accusing Labour of “intimidation and abuse” towards its own.
It comes after Labour peer Lord Cashman called Ms Duffield, who has been a defender of women’s rights, “frit or lazy” for cancelling local hustings over safety concerns.
Women and equalities minister Ms Badenoch tweeted: “I can’t imagine what it’s like being Rosie in a party where her own colleagues continually attack her, just for standing up for women.
“This is now about more than women’s rights, but how a party manages internal disagreement. Instead of healthy debate it’s intimidation and abuse.
“If this is what they do to their own, imagine what they will do to our country.”
Rosie Duffield ‘frit or lazy’ criticism extremely unfair, says Wes Streeting
Wes Streeting has hit out at a Labour peer for calling Rosie Duffield “frit or lazy” after she called off local hustings over safety concerns.
Lord Cashman, a former EastEnders actor and Labour MEP, has apologised after he commented on a social media post about Ms Duffield’s move: “Frit. Or lazy”.
It came after Ms Duffield, a Labour General Election candidate who has been a defender of women’s rights and female-only spaces, said her attendance at local hustings was “impossible” because of “constant trolling”.
Read the full article here:
Douglas Ross’s decision to run as MP has left ‘bad taste’ in north east
Douglas Ross’s decision to stand to be an MP has left a “bad taste” in the north-east Scotland constituency where he is running, First Minister John Swinney has said.
The Scottish Conservative leader put himself forward as candidate for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East after David Duguid was told by the party’s management board that he could not stand due to his ill-health.
Mr Ross said he would step down as leader shortly afterwards, when his colleagues expressed unhappiness at the move.
Boundary changes mean that Aberdeenshire North and Moray East is being contested for the first time, but the majority of the constituency was in Banff and Buchan, previously represented by Mr Duguid.
Labour would seek to work closely with Scottish Government on spending
A Labour-run Scotland Office would work in partnership with the Scottish Government when it uses its new spending powers, shadow Scottish secretary Ian Murray has said.
Labour has said levelling-up money would be spent via the Scotland Office to tackle poverty and encourage growth if they won office.
Mr Murray said he was willing to work with the SNP on this but added “it takes two to tango”.
He was campaigning on Sunday alongside Edinburgh East and Musselburgh candidate Chris Murray.
The shadow Scottish Secretary said Labour had had more than 120,000 doorstep conversations in Scotland since the election campaign began.
He told journalists: “I can assure you that any Scotland Office that I run will be solely focused on delivering for the Scottish people and that means we’ve got to work closely together.
Voters reveal which political leader they would like to manage the England football team
With England set to kick off their Euro 24 push against Serbia, UK voters have revealed that Sir Keir Starmer would be their choice of a party political leader to manage the team.
The Labour leader, a fanatical Arsenal season ticket holder, topped the Techne UK poll of 1,636 UK voters with 31 percent, with an image of being a tough manager on his Labour team after kicking Jeremy Corbyn off the squad.
The Labour leader has already put out his team message for England.
Read the full story from our political editor David Maddox here:
How to understand the 2024 general election? These books will help
The leaders have been slugging it out on TV debates. The memes have been coming thick and fast. And now, we’ve got all of the party manifestos. Make no mistake: we’re in the middle of election fever – and there’s still three weeks to go.
Elections make me feel quite excited and nerdy – I can’t confirm or deny whether I set an alarm each day for when the latest News Agents podcast episode drops. (OK, I get a unique thrill out of hearing Emily Maitlis being cutting about Tory gaffes.) But the overall feeling that seems to be emerging when the electorate are interviewed by journalists or broadcasters is a sense of fatigue.
Read our full reading list here:
How to understand the 2024 general election? These books will help
Nigel Farage is back, the Tories are in freefall and everyone’s shouting about tax. If you want to read up on the choices facing voters on 4 July – and better understand how we got here in the first place – Jessie Thompson has your ultimate general election reading guide
Former subpostmaster criticises ‘buffoonery’ of Sir Ed Davey campaign
A former subpostmaster who lost his livelihood in the Horizon scandal has accused Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey of “buffoonery” for his stunt-laden election campaign.
Lee Castleton compared Sir Ed’s actions to those of former Tory prime minister Boris Johnson, adding trust is “never going to be built” by “paddleboarding in Cumbria”.
Sir Ed has come under fire for not doing more to help wrongly-convicted subpostmasters between 2010 and 2012 when he served as postal affairs minister in the coalition government.
He has previously apologised for failing to see through the Post Office’s “lies” and insisted he is taking voters’ concerns seriously during a campaign in which he has visited a theme park and also sped down the Ultimate Slip n Slide near Frome, Somerset.
Mr Castleton, from Bridlington, East Yorkshire, was found to have a £25,000 shortfall at his branch in 2004 and was made bankrupt after he lost his legal battle with the Post Office.
He told the BBC’s Sunday Morning With Laura Kuenssberg: “I don’t particularly like the buffoonery, I find it very Boris-esque and I don’t think there’s any need for it.
“It’s really, really, really important that we trust him and trust is never going to be built by swinging around on ropes or paddleboarding in Cumbria.
“Trust is about engaging with the people that need that engagement.”
UUP leader says no Westminster seats will be a failure but vows not to quit
Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie has said it would be a “personal failure” if his party does not return to Westminster following the General Election.
However, he insisted he would not walk away from the leadership if the UUP fails to win any seats.
Mr Beattie said his party is “in the hunt” in five constituencies across Northern Ireland.
In an interview, Mr Beattie also hit out at the “incredible” personal abuse he receives from other unionists.
He pointed to the hostile political environment as a reason why his party has been unable to persuade more women to run as candidates in the election.
The Army veteran has been party leader for three years.
Actor Brian Cox says Brexit is ‘the demon we don’t talk about’
Actor Brian Cox has said he is “worried” that the Scottish National Party (SNP) will not make securing an independence referendum a clear goal of the General Election.
The 78-year-old Succession star has been very vocal about his support for Scotland breaking off from the UK and in his criticism of Brexit.
He referred to the referendum in which Scotland voted to stay in Europe while the majority of the UK voted to leave.
Cox also said his “main thing is… still the demon that we don’t talk about, which is Brexit” before citing economic figures.
He added: “It seems to me that we are still suffering from that, and we’ve not done anything about it.
“So when we talk about other things, we can’t really talk in terms of where we are because we are suffering from Brexit.”
