UK Politics

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailPrime minister Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer will debate each other in a second live TV grilling tonight.It comes after broadcasters revealed their line-up of televised debates ahead of the general election on 4 July.The Conservative Party leader and the Labour Party leader first went head-to-head in a debate broadcast by ITV on 4 June.They will then be questioned on Sky News on 12 June live at 7pm, in front of an audience in the key seat of Grimsby.The two party leaders will face off against one another in a final head-to-head contest to be televised by the BBC on 26 June.Below is a full schedule of what each broadcaster has announced, including the date and time the programme will be aired, what format will be used and who will participate.The final head-to-head debate between Sunak and Starmer will take place on 26 June More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailPolling experts have warned Rishi Sunak he is running out of time to woo voters with the first ballots set to be cast in the election within days. Postal votes will start landing on doorsteps early next week, the Electoral Commission has told The Independent. With one in five now voting by post time is running out for the prime minister to turn around Labour’s 20-point lead in many polls. One polling expert told Mr Sunak it was “now or not at all”. Applications to register to vote have jumped sharply in the past week (Peter Byrne/PA) More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak complained the D-Day commemorations ‘ran over’ when he turned up late to the TV interview he skipped them for. The prime minister was condemned for failing to attend some of the events to mark the 80th anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy last week, so he could return home for a sitdown with ITV that is finally due to be aired on Wednesday evening.But despite leaving for that interview, Mr Sunak was still late for the pre-recorded chat – and apologised to the presenter before the conversation began.Prime Minister Rishi Sunak apologised to the presenter for turning up late to the interview More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe Conservatives appear to have u-turned on Rishi Sunak’s flagship national service policy just a day after he announced it in his general election manifesto.Defence secretary Grant Shapps said the military aspect of the plan will see 18-year-olds take placements in the armed forces for just 25 days per year, despite the manifesto promising a “year-long full-time placement in the armed forces or cyber defence”.Labour said the policy had been “plunged into disarray” and confirmed the eye-catching plan had not been properly thought through.Click here for our live coverage of the general election campaign.Setting out the party’s plans in Silverstone on Tuesday, Mr Sunak promised to “invest in a new form of national service to give our young people the chance to enjoy new experiences, learn new skills and feel a sense of community, belonging and national purpose”.Grant Shapps plunged Rishi Sunak’s flagship policy into chaos More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe UK economy recorded no growth in April in a blow to Rishi Sunak’s hopes of turning around the Tory Party’s faltering election campaign.According to data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Wednesday, gross domestic product (GDP) was flat during the month, following growth of 0.4 per cent in March.This follows an estimated 0.6 per cent growth in the first quarter of 2024, which pulled the UK out of a small recession at the end of last year.It also comes just over a week before the next figures on inflation are released and a decision is made by the Bank of England on interest rates.The latest monthly figure will make grim reading for the prime minister who has made economic growth one of the central pillars of his general election campaign.In March he said this year will be “prove to be the year that the economy bounces back” after the downturn in 2023. Responding to the figures, chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: “There is more to do, but the economy is turning a corner and inflation is back down to normal.”Prime minister Rishi Sunak has pegged much of his general election campaign on a recent record of economic improvement More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email The British economy failed to grow in April, official figures showed Wednesday, in a blow to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who has made the return of growth and a generally calmer economic backdrop a central pillar of the Conservative Party’s election campaign. The Office for National Statistics said wet weather dampened consumer spending and construction during the month. The flat monthly reading came after a 0.6% increase during the first quarter of the year, which Sunak has made much of on the campaign trail following a period of muted growth.Though monthly figures are vulnerable to short-term factors, the flat reading is likely to be used by opponents of the Conservatives in the run-up to the election on July 4. While Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt insisted the “economy is turning a corner,” his opposite number in the Labour Party Rachel Reeves said the “economy has stalled.”The latest growth figures come a week before the next round of inflation data and the Bank of England makes its next interest rate decision.Hopes within the Conservative Party that the bank would lower its main interest rate from the 16-year high of 5.25% have diminished after inflation failed to fall as much as hoped in April. Though inflation is down at an annual rate of 2.3%, it remains slightly above the bank’s target and is expected to tick up slightly in coming months. High interest rates — which cool the economy by making it more expensive to borrow — have helped ease inflation, but they’ve also weighed on the British economy.“A June interest rate cut looks improbable, with the Bank of England likely to be a little wary of shifting policy in the middle of a general election campaign,” said Suren Thiru, economics director at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.On Tuesday, Sunak pledged to cut taxes and reduce immigration in the Conservative Party’s manifesto for government if reelected. Labour, which is ahead in opinion polls, is due to publish its manifesto on Thursday. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailChancellor Jeremy Hunt has admitted his Surrey seat could be won or lost by 1,500 votes or less as he faces a battle to political survival. The Godalming and Ash parliamentary seat is a key target for the Liberal Democrats who are aiming to demolish the Conservative “blue wall” in southern England. If they are successful, a defeat for Mr Hunt could surpass the infamous “Portillo Moment” when the former defence secretary Michael Portillo was beaten in Enfield Southgate during New Labour’s landslide victory in 1997.A YouGov poll has suggested that the Liberal Democrats are set to win this new seat from Mr Hunt at the general election. Mr Hunt’s majority in the 2019 general election was 8,817, but he thinks this could now be a much closer race this time around.He told Bloomberg: “There’s all to play for. This seat is probably going to be won or lost by the Conservatives by 1,500 votes or fewer.”No chancellor has ever lost their seat at a general election, making the battle for the seat one of the more compelling storylines at the general election.Mr Hunt would be the first chancellor to lose his seat at a general election More

Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UKSign up to our Brexit email for the latest insightBrexit and culture war issues are driving a firmer wedge between Labour and Tory voters, analysis by leading pollster Professor John Curtice has found. Immediately after the Brexit referendum, Leave voters were more than twice as likely than Remain voters to say they were Conservative. But this has now grown to three times as likely, according to a new report from the National Centre of Social Research.Opinions on the rights of trans people are also a growing indicator of voting preference. Participants of the British Social Attitudes survey were asked whether they agree or disagree with the statement: “A person who is transgender should be able to have the sex recorded on their birth certificate changed if they want”. People’s responses differed little by the party they supported when the question was first asked in 2016. However, a large political gap has now emerged between those who disagree that transgender people should be able to change their birth certificate and those who don’t. Professor John Curtice has said that identity and morality issues are becoming more important to voters More