100 Tory seats are too close to call, latest poll finds

More than 100 Tory-held seats are “too close to call”, a new poll has found.

Labour has been projected to win 453 seats on July 4, in the latest poll by Ipsos, with the Conservatives winning just 115.

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But the pollster also found that 117 seats were considered “too close to call” with a winning margin of less than five percentage points, more than 100 of which are held by the Conservatives.

They included 56 where the Tories are marginally in front of Labour, and 48 where Labour are ahead.

The poll predicted that Penny Mordaunt was at risk of losing her seat in Portsmouth North, along with Gillian Keegan in Chichester and Grant Shapps in Welwyn Hatfield.

It also projected that James Cleverly and Kemi Badenoch would hold onto their seats.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is set for a tight race against the Liberal Democrat challenger in Godalming and Ash, Surrey, and is currently just one percentage point ahead.

It comes as Rishi Sunak said that Boris Johnson’s intervention in the campaign “will make a difference” to the Conservatives, after the former prime minister released videos and letters in support of candidates.

The Prime Minister spent the day campaigning in North Devon with Lord Cameron, as they aimed to persuade farmers that the Tories were the party for rural communities.

The Foreign Secretary urged farmers not to turn to the Liberal Democrats, who have been focusing their efforts on the Blue Wall, as he claimed they were “simply an echo” of Labour.

“If you are worried by these polls and think somehow we might not win, but it’s important that they’re there to hold any future government to account, it’s really important you vote Conservative.

“You vote for anybody else, you vote for the Liberal Democrats, they won’t hold Labour to account. They’re not a force to confront them, they’re simply an echo of them.”

“They would make them worse. More taxes, more spending, more borrowing, more wokery, more nonsense. They wouldn’t hold them back, they’d encourage them to go further.”

The Ipsos poll also estimated that Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, would win his seat in Clacton and the party would return a total of three MPs.

It found that Jeremy Corbyn would lose his seat of Islington North to the new Labour challenger.

The MRP (multiple regression and post stratification) surveyed almost 20,000 UK adults to predict the results in each constituency up for election on July 4.

10:00 PM BST

That’s all for today...

Thank you for joining The Telegraph’s live coverage of day 25 of the general election campaign.

My colleague Jack Maidment will be back tomorrow to guide you through the day’s developments.

09:49 PM BST

In pictures: Nigel Farage in Clacton

09:30 PM BST

Labour government will buy up private beds for NHS, says Wes Streeting

The shadow health secretary has said he would buy up private beds for the NHS, in defiance of objections from “middle-class Lefties”, Laura Donnelly reports. 

Wes Streeting said a Labour government would get the NHS to buy thousands of beds from care homes, to “unblock” a failing health and care system, while expanding use of private hospitals for state-funded operations.

Mr Streeting said there was “nothing Left-wing” about leaving working class patients to lie in pain because of “middle class Lefty” objections to the use of the private sector.

Read more on this story from The Telegraph’s Health Editor here

08:58 PM BST

Watch: Farage takes to stage in Clacton to Eminem’s ‘Without Me’

Nigel Farage has concluded his event in Clacton, Essex, with voters.

Earlier, the Reform Party Leader descended the stairs of Princes Theatre to the soundtrack of Eminem’s “Without Me”.

Flanked by a pair of Union Jack flags and pyrotechnic flamethrowers, he strode onto the stage in a blue double-breasted blazer and revved up the crowd before commencing his speech.

08:49 PM BST

Comedian Tony Robinson hits campaign trail for Labour

Blackadder actor and writer Tony Robinson has hit the campaign trail for Labour in Filton and Bradley Stoke near Bristol.

In a video alongside Labour candidate Claire Hazelgrove, he said: “Fingers crossed. Change. Claire. Labour. Fourth. Got that?”

08:33 PM BST

Farage announces four Tory councillors have defected to Reform

Nigel Farage has announced that four Conservative councillors in Essex have defected and joined Reform UK.

The party leader invited thee councillors to join him on stage in Clacton, introduced them and explained their former roles, before explaining that they had taken the decision to join his party.

He said: “There’s now going to be a pretty good follow up all over the country. Because the party in which these guys were elected now stands for nothing. It serves no purpose.

“It’ll be incapable of standing up and fighting for the rights of the people in this country against what’s going to be a very weak Labour government.”

08:26 PM BST

Billionaire ex-Tory donor backs Labour

A billionaire Conservative donor has announced he is backing Labour.

John Caudwell, the founder of Phones4U, is a lifelong Tory who donated £500,000 to the party ahead of the 2019 election.

On Tuesday he said Rishi Sunak was an “absolute dud” as he endorsed Sir Keir Starmer.

However, he criticised Labour’s plan to introduce VAT on private school fees, saying he was “not convinced that this is a positive policy”.

“For many years now I have been rather despairing about the performance of the party that I have supported for the last 51 years: the Tories,” he said.

Read more on this story here

08:23 PM BST

Farage: I would not serve in the Conservatives alongside Lord Cameron

Nigel Farage has continued his war of words with Lord Cameron, saying he would refuse to serve in a party in which the former prime minister is a member, Cameron Henderson reports.

Lord Cameron last week accused Reform of deploying “inflammatory language and hopeless policy”.

Speaking at tonight’s event in Clacton, Mr Farage described Lord Cameron’s comments as “abusive”, adding: “I say to Lord Cameron, thank you very much, but I would not want to be part of a party in any way that you are a part of.

08:07 PM BST

Nigel Farage takes to the stage in Clacton to speak to voters

Nigel Farage has condemned “slippery” Rishi Sunak on his failure to stop small boats crossings across the Channel, Cameron Henderson writes.

The Reform UK leader, who is standing for election in Clacton in Essex, has arrived at the Princes Theatre to address voters and answer their questions this evening.

Mr Farage said: “Since the Conservatives came to power, net 4.3 million people have come into this country. It’s getting on for what the Labour party did, and we can’t cope.nd is there any solution to it.

“Well guess what Rishi’s saying now. Vote for us, and we will reduce immigration levels. Folks, I don’t believe a single word that slippery Sunak says, and nor, I suggest, should you.”

08:02 PM BST

Tory minister insists UK is ‘generous-hearted’ to asylum seekers

The UK is “generous-hearted and open” to asylum seekers fleeing international crises, a Tory minister has insisted.

Chris Philp, the policing minister, said: “Where there are crises, this country, the United Kingdom, is generous-hearted and open.

“So when there was the crisis in Syria when Assad was murdering his own people, we set up the UK resettlement scheme. We directly and legally and safely resettled 25,000 people from Syria and from refugee camps on Syria’s borders into the UK. That was the largest legal resettlement scheme in relation to Syria.”

He added: “I’ve mentioned Ukraine already, 200,000 Ukrainians have been welcomed here to the UK, a similar number of people from Hong Kong fleeing oppression by the communist regime, and Afghanistan.”

Challenged on those from Afghanistan waiting to be granted asylum to Britain, Mr Philp said: “The Home Office is working to bring those people safely into the United Kingdom and that work is happening as we speak.

“So where there is a real need, then this country rightly welcomes people, but it does have to be done in a safe and legal way. We’re probably going to come on to small boats later, but that is not the way to organise asylum.”

07:55 PM BST

Philp: We should use our trade freedoms to trade more with developing world

Chris Philp has said that Britain should use its post-Brexit “trade freedoms” to trade more with the developing world in order to boost global prosperity.

He told the Channel 4 debate: “I don’t think mass migration would be particularly good either for the country where people were leaving, or indeed potentially Western countries to which people might be going, so I think we should try and find ways of avoiding that happening.

“And there are two components, I think, to that. The first of those is peace and the second is prosperity. “

He added: “People can become more prosperous by building businesses, and by exporting and importing. Now, the UK has recently jumped up the export league table. We’re now, I think, fourth in the world for exports.

“But I’d like to see us using our free trade freedoms we now have to trade more with other countries, particularly in the developing world.”

07:41 PM BST

Labour sets out how it intends to tackle the small boats crisis

Nick Thomas-Symonds has called the Rwanda scheme “completely unworkable” as he set out Labour’s plans for a Border Security Command to tackle small boat crossings.

He told the Channel 4 debate: “We would scrap the Rwanda scheme, which is completely unworkable. They poured hundreds of millions of pounds down the drain to essentially send two volunteers, and a couple of Tory home secretaries, there so far.”

He added: “There’s a small boat operations plan that’s part of Border Force. What our Border Security Command will do is bring together the Border Force, it will bring together immigration enforcement, it will bring together the Crown Prosecution Service international and, crucially, our security services.”

Asked whether Labour would process the 40,000 asylum seekers who had come to the UK since 2023 and were “stuck in limbo”, Mr Thomas-Symonds said: “Well, that’s exactly what is going to have to happen.

And what will happen then is those who are found to have no right to be here, we will get a proper enforcement and returns agreement in the Home Office, if we are privileged enough to govern, that will actually then deport people who are not entitled to be here.

“That’s the flights that will be taking off on the Labour government, not wasting money on Rwanda.”

07:24 PM BST

Pictured: Voters wait for Nigel Farage ahead of Clacton Q&A event

07:19 PM BST

Greens: Politicians ‘like to scapegoat migrants for problems with underfunding in public services’

The co-leader of the Green Party has said that a number of politicians “like to scapegoat migrants for the problems with underfunding in public services”.

Carla Denyer told the Channel 4 debate: “If you meet a migrant in the NHS, they’re more likely to be treating you than to be ahead of you in the queue.

“Now some politicians, and unfortunately, the list of which politicians that is is getting longer, like to scapegoat migrants for the problems with underfunding in public services.

“When in reality, the cause of that is decades of decisions to underfund those public services by political parties.”

She added: “They could choose to make bold decisions about how you pay for public services and how you raise those funds, and the Green Party is the only party in England being honest about that.”

07:11 PM BST

Watch: Richard Tice challenges Labour on net migration

Richard Tice, chairman of Reform UK, has challenged Labour on whether it had a target level of net migration.

He asked Nick Thomas-Symonds on the Channel 4 debate: “What’s the number of net migration that you think is right for this country?“

The Labour frontbencher responded: “Richard, a number is not a plan.”

Mr Tice said: “The truth is that the Conservative Party have allowed mass immigration in the last two years deliberately, in complete contrast to what they promised election after election.”

He added: “One person is arriving legally every minute. That means we need to build a new home just for those arriving every two minutes.”

07:06 PM BST

Philp: ‘No question’ the British public want lower net migration

There is “no question” that the British public want lower net migration, Chris Philp has said.

The Policing Minister was asked to respond to a Channel 4 poll that found that fewer people trusted the Conservatives on their pledge to cut net migration than Labour.

Mr Philp told the Channel 4 debate: “Well, there’s no question that the British public want net migration to be lower. They’re right. We agree. It does need to be lower.

He added: “There were about 200,000 or more from Ukraine and a similar number from Hong Kong. But we need to get the family and work numbers down as well. And we have already, not in the future, but we have already taken action on that.”

07:01 PM BST

Labour and Tories clash over prisons

Labour has accused the Tories of releasing prisoners deemed to be a threat to the public on its early release scheme aimed at tackling overcrowding in jails.

The scheme, introduced last year, allows prisoners to be released up to 70 days earlier, but Labour has refused to say whether or not it would be continued if they entered government.

Asked whether or not the scheme would be kept under Labour, Nick Thomas-Symonds said: “We will not release prisoners who are assessed to be a threat to the public on that scheme, which is what this government has been doing. We need those 20,000 additional places.

“What we will do is change the planning rules. We will declare this of national importance”

Chris Philp, the policing minister, told the Channel 4 debate: “Let me be clear that no one who is a threat to the public is ever going to get released early.

“Last year, we had 35,000 more successful criminal justice outcomes than we had the previous year. That is to say, more criminals were successfully prosecuted.

“We’re going to make sure the prison places are available to take them where necessary.”

06:55 PM BST

Children need to be taught about misogyny at school, says Labour

The issue of misogyny needs to be addressed in schools, Labour has said.

Nick Thomas-Symonds, the shadow trade secretary, said that the problem of misogyny needed to be taught “before people are even adults”.

Asked about how Labour would tackle the problem of misogyny, Mr Thomas-Symonds told the Channel 4 debate: “I think we absolutely need to tackle misogyny. I think we need to be addressing it in schools before people are even adults and coming into society.”

06:47 PM BST

Sunak response to awkward ewe-turn in Devon

Rishi Sunak has responded to clips circulating on social media of sheep running away from him as he tried to feed them on a campaign visit in Devon earlier today

A video posted to social media showed the Prime Minister leaning down holding a bucket as the flock ran in the opposite direction (see post below at 15.28), and it has quickly been leapt on by Labour.

The Prime Minister said that he would “never be ashamed to back our farmers”.

06:28 PM BST

Labour council tax overhaul would push up bills by £1,230

Council tax bills would rise by an average of £1,230 for more than four million households in England if Labour were to redraw the method in which the levy is calculated.

An overhaul of the property tax could add hundreds to annual bills – with some facing rises of as much as £4,609, according to an Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) analysis of house prices.

Labour MPs have so far contradicted each other over council tax reforms with Sir Keir Starmer today failing to rule out an overhaul of the banding system.

Asked whether there would not be an increase in council tax under Labour, the leader told LBC radio: “What I am not going to do is sit here two and a bit weeks before the election and write the budgets for the next five years”.

Under reforms, council tax bands could be completely re-evaluated and brought in line with current house prices. The Fairer Share think has also proposed replacing the current system with a “proportional” council tax.

Read more on this story here 

06:04 PM BST

Starmer gets Labour candidate’s name wrong at campaign event

Sir Keir Starmer got the name of a Labour candidate wrong as he appeared alongside her at an event in her would-be constituency this afternoon, Dominic Penna writes.

Sir Keir said “I am so pleased to be standing with Olivia Blake” as he stood next to Olivia Bailey, the Labour candidate for Reading West.

Ms Blake, an MP since 2019, is the Labour candidate for Sheffield Hallam.

Sir Keir went on to correct himself and said Ms Bailey, one of his former aides, had been at the heart of “the change in our party”.

“Liv Bailey is the person who did so much work for me, driving through policy for a changed Labour Party, a Labour Party that said no to gesture politics, and yes to the politics of service.”

05:59 PM BST

More than 100 Tory-held seats ‘too close to call’, poll finds

More than 100 Tory-held seats are “too close to call”, a new poll has found.

Labour has been projected to win 453 seats on July 4, in the latest poll by Ipsos, with the Conservatives winning just 115.

But the pollster also found that 117 seats were considered “too close to call” with a winning margin of less than five percentage points, more than 100 of which are held by the Conservatives.

They included 56 where the Tories are marginally in front of Labour, and 48 where Labour are ahead.

The poll predicted that Penny Mordaunt was at risk of losing her seat in Portsmouth North, along with Gillian Keegan in Chichester and Grant Shapps in Welwyn Hatfield.

It also projected that James Cleverly and Kemi Badenoch would hold onto their seats.

Ipsos also estimated that Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, would win his seat in Clacton and the party would return a total of three MPs.

05:57 PM BST

In pictures: Akshata Murty visits Hindu temple on campaign trail

05:41 PM BST

Starmer says it will be a ‘summer of real change’

Sir Keir Starmer is hoping his Labour Party can hit the Conservatives for six at the general election next month, Dominic Penna reports from the Labour campaign trail.

And the Labour leader was in confident form as he appeared this afternoon at Douai Park Pavillion, a cricket club in Mid Berkshire, alongside dozens of activists.

“It’s good to see you all here, to be here in Reading, in the south in the summer... It’s very English, there’s a football pitch over there as well,” Sir Keir said.

He added: “This is what I hope will be a summer of real change. If you’re a family that’s been struggling these past few years, with the cost-of-living crisis bearing down on you and your business, if you’ve been serving in uniform, or serving your community, then this summer of change is for you.

“This is an election that is about a very stark choice, about a very real change that we can put on the agenda.”

05:21 PM BST

Lib Dems are ‘simply an echo’ of Labour, says Lord Cameron

The Liberal Democrats are “simply an echo” of Labour and would not hold a Starmer government to account, Lord Cameron has said.

The Foreign Secretary said that a Liberal Democrat opposition would not “confront” Labour and would make them “worse”, as he urged farmers in Norfolk to vote Conservative.

The Liberal Democrats have focused much of their campaigning on rural traditionally Conservative areas, as they hope to snatch seats from the Tories in the Blue Wall.

Speaking ahead of a Q&A session with Rishi Sunak, Lord Cameron said: “If you are worried by these polls and think somehow we might not win, but it’s important that they’re there to hold any future government to account, it’s really important you vote Conservative.

“You vote for anybody else, you vote for the Liberal Democrats, they won’t hold Labour to account. They’re not a force to confront them, they’re simply an echo of them.

“They would make them worse. More taxes, more spending, more borrowing, more wokery, more nonsense. They wouldn’t hold them back, they’d encourage them to go further.”

05:07 PM BST

Almost half of 2019 Tory voters think Farage would be a good or great PM – YouGov

Almost half of 2019 Tory voters think that Nigel Farage would make a good or great prime minister, a new poll has found.

Thirty one per cent of Conservative voters believed that the Reform UK leader would make a “good” prime minister, and 18 per cent believe he would make a “great” one, according to YouGov.

But overall, more than half of adults (55 per cent) polled believed that Mr Farage would make a “bad” or “terrible” PM.

The poll comes after Mr Farage said he would run to be prime minister in 2029.

04:50 PM BST

Reversing Brexit: How Labour plans to bring the UK back in line with the EU

Back in 2019, Sir Keir Starmer and other Labour heavyweights including David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary in line to oversee the next generation of Brexit talks, called for a second referendum on the UK’s EU membership, James Crisp writes.

Had they been successful, they would have urged Labour to back Remain.

But the fact remains that the EU’s hard-nosed negotiators won’t be prepared to cut Sir Keir any slack, just because they are dealing with Labour and not the Tories.

Read more from our Europe Editor on this story here

04:32 PM BST

Lib Dems: Sunak’s ‘Devon dash’ is ‘too little too late’

Rishi Sunak’s courting of farmers is “too little too late”, the Liberal Democrats have said.

The party’s rural affairs spokesperson Tim Farron said: “This Devon dash is too little too late for Rishi Sunak. Farmers and rural voters are deserting him in massive numbers.

“Farmers have been utterly taken for granted by the Conservative Party, left to cope with sky-high bills, bungled policies and botched overseas trade deals.

“Liberal Democrats will stand up for people in rural areas and give them the fair deal they badly need through a £1bn rural rescue package. It’s clear that people are moving away from the Conservatives and backing the Liberal Democrats in many seats to kick them out of office.”

The Liberal Democrats have been focusing much of their campaigning on Blue Wall seats, including many in rural areas within the South West of England.

04:13 PM BST

Reeves gets ‘No 11?’ keys cut at Timpson store

Rachel Reeves has visited a Timpson branch in Staffordshire and had a key made with a “No 11?” keyring as she pledged that Labour would back British business.

The shadow chancellor visited the shop with Jonathan Reynolds, the shadow business secretary, and Labour candidate for Stafford, Eccleshall & Villages, Leigh Ingham.

Sharing photographs of her visit, including learning how to cut a key, on X, Ms Reeves wrote: “The key to a successful economy is backing British business”.

She is also pictured holding a key with a “No 11?” keyring, in apparent reference to her possibly getting the keys to No 11 Downing Street, the official residence of the Chancellor, if Labour wins the election on July 4.

03:59 PM BST

Sunak attacks Labour over farming commitments

Rishi Sunak has attacked Labour over a lack of focus on farming in its manifesto, as he pledged that the Conservatives would put an extra billion pounds into farming support in the next Parliament.

He told farmers during a Q&A in Devon, introduced by Lord Cameron, that the Tories would “continue to support you with everything and anything that you need”.

Mr Sunak said: “Now the contrast at this election is crystal clear, because whilst we’re going to do all those things for you... in the Labour manifesto there were just 87 words about farming.

“No commitment to food production and food security, no commitment at all about the farming budget in the next Parliament.

“Forget about increasing it like we’re going to do, they won’t even say that they’re going to protect it, right? That is the choice for you at this election, which is why it’s so important that you come out and vote and you talk to your colleagues.”

03:43 PM BST

Sunak: Badger culls ‘have to be part of the solution’ to bovine TB

Rishi Sunak has said badger culls “have to be part of the solution” for preventing the spread bovine tuberculosis to cattle.

Labour has set out in its manifesto plans to “end the ineffective badger cull” by working “with farmers and scientists on measures to eradicate Bovine TB”.

But speaking at a Q&A with farmers during a campaign visit to north Devon, the Prime Minister said: “The success of the badger culls where we’ve done them have brought the incidence rates down by just over 50 per cent, so that shows that that plan is working.

“I believe in the science. And yes, of course a vaccine is good and we’re investing in research and development but that is going to take some time. So culls have to be part of the solution.

“And particularly when it comes to badgers, when you look around the world, there’s no country that I think I know of where they’ve eliminated TB in cattle without eliminating it in, whether it’s possums or badgers or the equivalent wildlife, which is why I think culls are important.”

03:28 PM BST

Watch: Sunak left sheepish after trying to feed flock

Rishi Sunak and Lord Cameron struggled to feed sheep on a campaign visit to a farm in north Devon.

“Come on,” the Prime Minister said as the flock ran to the other side of the pen.

“They don’t want to play ball,” a farmer accompanying Mr Sunak said.

03:19 PM BST

Labour will look at new regulations for water companies to tackle sewage

Sir Keir Starmer has said a Labour government would look at introducing new laws and fines for water companies to tackle the sewage crisis, Dominic Penna reports.

On a visit to Basingstoke, the Labour leader hailed “really important” campaigning work around the scandal, which has become a significant political issue.

Sir Keir said: “You ask people out across the country ‘what’s of concern for you’ and a number of things come up – the cost of living always, [the] NHS always.

“But also increasingly mortgage increases, and the fact that people are really fed up that the Government has allowed our waterways, our streams, our rivers, and our seas and beaches to have got in such a terrible condition.

“We need to address that, amongst the ways that we can address that are better enforcement of the regulations that we’ve got, I think we need to look at new regulations on top of that, and then liability to the top of the business that’s running the show here.

“I know from when I was running the Crown Prosecution Service, if there is liability to the top of the organisation that doesn’t half give some focus to the change that is desperately needed.”

03:01 PM BST

Starmer: I agree with Sir Tony Blair on gender

Sir Keir Starmer said he agreed with Sir Tony Blair’s recent comments on transgender people, after the former prime minister said that a woman has a vagina and a man has a penis.

Sir Tony had told Holyrood magazine this week: “I don’t know how politics got itself into this muddle.

“What is a woman? Well, it’s not a very hard thing for me to answer really.

“I’m definitely of the school that says, biologically, a woman is with a vagina and a man is with a penis. I think we can say that quite clearly.”

Sir Keir said: “Yes, Tony is right about that, he put it very well. I saw it reported, I’m not quite sure when he said it, but I agree with him on that.”

It comes after the Labour leader had in 2021 claimed it was “not right” to say that only women have a cervix, and in April 2023 saying that “99.9 per cent of women... haven’t got a penis”.

02:36 PM BST

Starmer leaves door open to tax rises for millions as he defines ‘working people’

Sir Keir Starmer has opened the door to tax rises for millions of Britons by defining a working person as someone who relies on public services and doesn’t have savings, Nick Gutteridge reports.

The Labour leader has repeatedly ruled out putting up taxes on what he calls “working people” who he says have borne the brunt of the cost of living crisis.

Asked what he meant by the term, he said it refers to “people who earn their living, rely on our services and don’t really have the ability to write a cheque when they get into trouble”.

Read more on this story here

02:20 PM BST

Pictured: Sunak rides aboard the Aurora during visit to Devon

02:17 PM BST

Farage welcomes BBC debate decision but urges broadcaster to go further

Nigel Farage said he is “pleased” the BBC “acknowledge” the rising support for Reform UK but reiterated his demand to be included in the broadcaster’s June 26 head-to-head debate between Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer.

It comes after the BBC announced an extra Question Time leaders’ special featuring Reform UK and the Green Party (see the post below at 14.05).

The Reform UK leader tweeted: “I am pleased that the BBC acknowledge that support for Reform UK has been growing in this election. We must now be included in the head-to-head debate with Sunak and Starmer on June 26th.”

02:11 PM BST

Sunak inspects lobster pots during campaign visit to Devon

Rishi Sunak joined a group of fishermen catching lobster during a campaign visit in North Devon this afternoon.

The Prime Minister met Sir Geoffrey Cox, a senior Tory, on the beach in Clovelly, where they talked to local Conservative supporters.

He took a brief trip out on a fishing boat amid choppy waters to look at lobster pots before returning to shore.

02:05 PM BST

BBC adds extra Question Time leaders’ special after Farage complaint

The BBC will allow Reform UK to take part in an extra Question Time leaders’ special after Nigel Farage complained about being excluded from the programme.

The broadcaster has added an additional Question Time to its election coverage to reflect “the fact that it is clear from across a broad range of opinion polls that the support for Reform UK has been growing”.

Mr Farage had demanded a spot on the BBC’s four-way leaders’ debate panel, which Fiona Bruce will host this Thursday.

The two-hour programme is set to feature the leaders of Great Britain’s four largest political parties – the Tories, Labour, SNP and Liberal Democrats.

The Reform UK leader last week said the broadcaster should feature him in the line-up after an opinion poll put his party ahead of the Conservatives.

The BBC today announced it will add a Question Time leaders’ special featuring representatives from Reform UK and the Green Party, to be broadcast on the evening of June 28 with Bruce as host.

01:50 PM BST

Over half of Tory activists think Sunak wrong to call summer election

More than half of Tory activists opposed Rishi Sunak’s decision to call a snap summer election, a poll has shown. ‌

The research, by ConservativeHome, showed that 58.7 per cent of Tory constituency members did not support the Prime Minister’s decision to call an election for July 4. ‌

Under a third (31.24 per cent) supported the move, while 10 per cent said they did not know, according to the survey of 1,200 grassroots activists. ‌

You can read the full story here. 

01:38 PM BST

Sunak declines to apologise over ‘stop the boats’ failure

Rishi Sunak declined to apologise for failing to deliver on his pledge to “stop the boats”.

It was suggested to the Prime Minister that it was “time to apologise” on the issue given that crossings have continued, but Mr Sunak told broadcasters: “It’s desperately sad to see young children being put in these very dangerous situations, making these crossings, which illustrates why we have to stop the boats, something I’m determined to do and have a clear plan to do so.

“If re-elected as Prime Minister, the flights will go to Rwanda, we will build that deterrent, removing the incentive for people to come here in the first place.

“That’s the only way to solve this problem and in contrast Keir Starmer would release everyone that we have detained, illegal migrants would be on our streets, they wouldn’t be on the planes, which would be cancelled. There would be no deterrent.”

01:24 PM BST

PM urges nation to register to vote

Rishi Sunak said it was important to register to vote before today’s deadline because Britain’s future is at stake at the general election on July 4.

Asked why it was important to register on the last day of the window to do so, the Prime Minister told broadcasters: “This election there is a very clear choice.

“The future of our country is at stake, we are living in uncertain times, people need to decide who’s got the clearest plan and the boldest ideas to deliver a more secure future.”

He added that the choice was “crystal clear” with the Conservatives offering “tax cuts at every stage of your life”.

01:14 PM BST

Sunak: Boris Johnson’s intervention ‘will make a difference’ to Tory campaign

Rishi Sunak said Boris Johnson’s support for the Conservatives “will make a difference” and his interventions had been “coordinated by the campaign”.

The Prime Minister told broadcasters: “It’s great that Boris is supporting the Conservative Party, I very much welcome that.

“He is endorsing many candidates in videos and letters which have been coordinated by the campaign.

“I know that will make a difference and, of course, every week he is making the case in his column and making sure that everyone understands what the Labour government would do to this country and why it’s important that everyone votes Conservative and I’m glad he’s doing that.”

01:11 PM BST

Labour government would review voter ID, says Starmer

A Labour government would “review” voter ID rules after the general election, Sir Keir Starmer has said, as he expressed concern about the effect of the policy.

The Labour leader was asked why his party has not pledged to scrap the laws requiring people to present ID to vote.

Speaking on a campaign visit to the South East, he told Sky News: “The first thing I’d say is, remember, every person who’s watching this, you do need ID going into this election.

“Obviously there’s been a review into the impact, and there will be a review into this general election on the impact of ID. So we’ll look at that in due course.”

He continued: “I think we need to review and look at the ID rules. I am concerned about the impact. I won’t shy away from that. But my message today is remember your ID when you go to vote this time around.”

01:08 PM BST

Farage to take part in BBC interview on Friday evening

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage will be interviewed by BBC journalist Nick Robinson on Friday evening, according to the veteran broadcaster.

Robinson tweeted: “@Nigel_Farage has now agreed to be interviewed by me this Friday at 7pm on @BBCPanorama on @BBCOne.”

12:36 PM BST

Sunak being ‘pulled’ into fighting ‘wrong campaign’, says Osborne

Rishi Sunak is being “pulled” into fighting the “wrong campaign” and he should be focusing on defending the Blue Wall, not the Red Wall, according to George Osborne.

The former chancellor said a YouGov poll published last week which put Reform ahead of the Tories for the first time has had an impact on the campaign.

He told his Political Currency podcast: “Sunak is being pulled into fighting, in my view, the wrong campaign which is trying to stop Reform coming second whereas he should still be trying to focus on limiting the damage of Labour coming first or limiting the loss for the Conservatives.

“That means he should be trying to defend his Blue Wall seats which is where Labour are now running riot rather than focusing on the Red Wall seats that Boris Johnson won five years ago when, by the way, the Labour candidate was Jeremy Corbyn so it was a completely different election from having Sir Keir Starmer.”

12:21 PM BST

Osborne urges Sunak to reject ‘terrible advice’ to make Tory campaign more negative

George Osborne has urged Rishi Sunak to reject “terrible advice” to make the Conservative Party’s campaign more negative and more focused on attacking Sir Keir Starmer.

The former chancellor said adopting such an approach would be a “disaster” for Mr Sunak and the Tories.

Mr Osborne told his Political Currency podcast: “I am not sure there is much he can do left. He needs to just do what he’s doing which is continue to show energy and enthusiasm and commitment and do the best he can.

“One thing I would not do is take the advice of various people in the Tory Party, terrible advice they are giving him, which is to switch and become the lead negative campaigner for the Conservatives against Keir Starmer.

“That would be a disaster for the party but also a disaster for him.”

12:09 PM BST

Labour split over two child benefit cap

Scottish Labour is against the two child benefit cap, Anas Sarwar has said, despite there being no plans to scrap the measure if Labour wins the keys to Downing Street.

Asked by a journalist if he was against the cap – which only allows families to claim benefits for two children – Mr Sarwar said: “The short answer is yes.

“We were right to oppose the two child limit, we were right to vote against the two child limit.”

But he added: “The honest reality is after 14 years of Tory economic carnage, we will not be able to do everything we want to do as fast as we want to do.”

11:58 AM BST

Change for Scotland is ‘two stage process’, says Sarwar

Anas Sarwar said change for Scotland would be a “two stage process”, finishing with the Holyrood election in 2026.

“The [Scottish Labour] manifesto we have published today of course reflects much of what the UK Labour manifesto outlined last week, demonstrating what a UK Labour government will deliver in office,” he said.

“But we know change for Scotland is a two stage process, it begins in just 17 days when we can finally get rid of this lying, corrupt, incompetent Tory government – but that is just the start.”

He added: “In 2026, we need a change of direction at Holyrood as much as we need one at Westminster today.

“The SNP has failed the people of Scotland – breaking our NHS, ruining our once world-leading education system, and tarnishing our politics by wasting and misusing your money.”

11:49 AM BST

Best birthday present for NHS would be Labour government, says Sarwar

There would be no better birthday present for the NHS than electing a Labour government, Anas Sarwar said.

“July 5 is a significant date – it is the date we will either wake up to five more years of the Tories or change with Labour,” he told activists in Edinburgh.

“But July 5 also has other significance, it is the 76th anniversary of the founding of our NHS. I can’t think of a better birthday present than returning to a Labour government.

“In 1948 Labour created the NHS, in 1997 we saved our NHS, and in just 17 days – if we take the opportunity to make sure we get rid of the Tories – we can begin the process of saving our NHS again.”

11:33 AM BST

Pictured: Dragons’ Den star Theo Paphitis endorses Labour

11:26 AM BST

Anas Sarwar: Scotland is ‘crying out for change’

A Labour government will “turn the page on the chaos of the past few years”, Anas Sarwar has said.

Addressing activists and journalists as he launched the party’s manifesto in Edinburgh, the Scottish Labour leader said: “People are fed up with politicians who focus only on their own priorities and put their party before country.

“Our country is crying out for change. So we need to change our politics, and turn the page on the chaos of the past few years.”

11:23 AM BST

Kwarteng: Reform will not ‘supplant’ Tories and Farage will not be PM in 2029

Kwasi Kwarteng has rubbished Nigel Farage’s claim that he will be fighting the next general election as a viable candidate to be prime minister.

The former chancellor said he believed Reform will not “supplant” the Tories and there is not enough time between now and 2029 for the insurgent party to “make that leap”.

Asked if he believed Mr Farage had a chance of being PM after the next election, the senior Tory told GB News: “No. I don’t think Reform will supplant the Conservative Party. Even on the current dire polls for the Conservatives, Reform have five seats, six seats and I don’t think they’ll be able to make that leap in time.

“But clearly [Farage] has been a big spoiler for our party, for the Conservatives, and if the idea to have a snap election, which after all that is what it was, it was the Prime Minister who decided, nobody anticipated this, but if the idea was to try and spike Reform’s guns and prevent Nigel getting momentum I think that hasn’t gone well because he’s clearly getting momentum and he’s clearly enjoying himself on the campaign trail.”

11:20 AM BST

Kwasi Kwarteng: Tories must fight ‘more aggressive campaign’

Kwasi Kwarteng has urged Rishi Sunak to fight a “more aggressive campaign” against Sir Keir Starmer and the Labour Party.

The former chancellor, who is not contesting this general election, told GB News: “I think we need to fight a more aggressive campaign. I think Keir Starmer is a man of the Left, very much so, and he’s obviously trying to pretend or portray himself as something more akin to a centrist politician.

“And I think it’s the job of the Conservative Party, and particularly the Prime Minister, who is going head-to-head with Sir Keir to point that out.

“And I’m not sure we’re being forensic enough in terms of saying, this man is odds-on likely, given the polls, to be Prime Minister, have we given him enough scrutiny, have we looked hard enough at his record to make sure that we’re happy with him? And I think people would be very surprised to hear some of the positions.”

11:09 AM BST

Tories claim Starmer refusing to ‘come clean’ on tax plans

The Tories claimed Sir Keir Starmer was refusing to “come clean” about Labour’s tax plans after he refused to rule out increasing council tax (see the post below at 09.33).

Laura Trott, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said: “After repeated questioning, Keir Starmer has confirmed higher council tax and other tax rises are on the cards for pensioners and families if Labour win.

“It’s worrying that Keir Starmer won’t come clean about how much money a Labour government will raid from families – especially as Labour will be unaccountable after it locks itself into government for a generation by rigging the system through bringing in votes at 16.

“Only the Conservatives have a clear plan to cut taxes. Labour’s £2,094 tax raid is just the beginning – they are a generational threat to everyone’s financial security.”

10:56 AM BST

Pictured: Sir Ed Davey plays with a flying disc during a campaign stop in Hampshire

10:44 AM BST

Starmer explains absence of wife Victoria from Labour campaign

Sir Keir Starmer said his wife, Victoria, had been largely absent from the Labour election campaign because they have been trying to provide a stable environment for their son while he does his GCSE exams.

The Labour leader told LBC: “Vic does quite a bit with me but during this campaign, two things, one she is working at the NHS in her hospital, two, I don’t make a lot of this, is our boy has been doing his GCSEs and therefore we took the decision that whilst I was  out and about on the road we wanted to create the environment where he could study calmly in ordinary circumstances. He finished his exams on Friday.”

10:29 AM BST

Sunak: ‘You can’t afford a Labour government’

10:17 AM BST

Labour will not impose Premier League transfer tax, says Starmer

Sir Keir Starmer has categorically ruled out the idea that Labour could impose a 10 per cent levy on Premier League transfer fees.

The Labour leader, a well-known Arsenal fan, told LBC: “No. We are not. Let me just kill that one. We are not looking at that.”

10:10 AM BST

Starmer defends plan to scrap law protecting NI veterans from prosecution

Sir Keir Starmer defended his plan to repeal a law that protects Northern Ireland veterans from prosecution.

A Labour government would scrap the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation), arguing it was put in place without the backing of victims or Northern Ireland political parties.

The legislation was praised by military groups for ending the “witch hunt” of veterans.

Sir Keir told LBC: “There are very powerful arguments and counter arguments. I do want to find a way through this because I think in the end we have to find a way.

“But doing this in a way which doesn’t have the approval of victims of terrorism in Northern Ireland… and doing it in the teeth of the political parties in Northern Ireland, in my experience having worked in Northern Ireland is not a sensible way to proceed.”

09:59 AM BST

Labour leader mocks Tories for turning to Boris Johnson

Sir Keir Starmer has mocked the Tory campaign for turning to Boris Johnson to appeal to wavering voters in the final weeks before the general election.

The Telegraph revealed that signed letters from Mr Johnson to tens of thousands of voters will be landing on doormats this week in a new Tory direct mail drive.

Sir Keir joked on LBC that the push amounted to a “third or fourth relaunch” of the Conservative election plan, adding “for Heaven’s sake!”

Sir Keir said: “If you can’t even have a strategy that holds for six weeks you really don’t deserve to win.”

09:52 AM BST

Sack civil servants who can’t cut budgets, says Reform’s Richard Tice

Senior civil servants should be fired if they fail to make budget cuts, Richard Tice has said.

The Reform UK chairman said the country should be run in the same way as a “business that’s in trouble”, with officials held to account for the “waste everywhere” in Whitehall.

He also called for all quangos and commissions to be abolished, arguing “no one would notice a blind bit of difference” if they were scrapped.

You can read the full story here. 

09:47 AM BST

Starmer suggests he would have served in Corbyn government

Sir Keir Starmer suggested he would have served in Jeremy Corbyn’s Cabinet if Labour had won the 2019 general election.

The Labour leader was asked repeatedly during a phone-in on LBC if he would have served in an administration led by Mr Corbyn and he initially dismissed the questions as “hypothetical”.

He said that “it didn’t cross my mind because I didn’t think we would win” and “I don’t think anybody thought we were going to win”.

Sir Keir was later asked if he would have followed Mr Corbyn into government and he replied: “It is hypothetical... if we had got it over the line there were important things that I thought needed to be done from the frontbench, to continue and complete on the Brexit work, to make it absolutely clear that the Labour Party never deviated from our position on Nato and to do the necessary work on anti-Semitism.

“But as we went into that 2019 election I genuinely did not think, and I wasn’t alone in this, that Labour would win that election.”

09:33 AM BST

Starmer refuses to rule out council tax increase

Sir Keir Starmer refused to rule out a Labour government increasing council tax.

Asked if he could say today that there would not be an increase in council tax under Labour, Sir Keir told LBC: “What I am not going to do is sit here two and a bit weeks before the election and write the budgets for the next five years.

“What I can say is that none of our plans require a tax rise and that is for a reason and the reason is our focus is on getting our economy going...”

Told that it sounded like council tax could therefore increase, Sir Keir said: “It would be foolish to write five years’ worth of budgets, going through to 2029, on air.”

Sir Keir’s comments came after Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow paymaster general, said yesterday that Labour would not revalue council tax bands.

09:25 AM BST

Starmer urges junior doctors to call off election campaign strike action

Sir Keir Starmer has called on NHS doctors to call off strike action which is planned during the general election campaign.

The Labour leader told LBC: “We would firstly, and Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, has made this very clear, we would say to the doctors don’t strike during the election campaign because we are very close now to the opportunity for a different approach with a Labour government if we get over the line.

“So don’t strike because that causes all sorts of issues inevitably for patients. We are asking the doctors to call that action off.”

09:15 AM BST

Labour leader rules out taking UK back into EU

The choice at the general election on July 4 is “carry on as we are or turn the corner”, Sir Keir Starmer said.

Asked about the party’s Brexit plans, Sir Keir ruled out taking the UK back into the EU, joining the single market or agreeing a return to freedom of movement.

But he said the current UK-EU trade deal was “botched” and Labour would seek to renegotiate with Brussels to secure better terms.

09:12 AM BST

Imposing VAT on private school fees was a ‘tough choice’, says Starmer

Sir Keir Starmer said he had “nothing against” private schools and insisted the decision to impose VAT on fees was a “tough choice”.

The Labour leader told LBC: “I have got nothing against private schools and I do understand that many parents save hard and work hard to send the children to private schools because they have real aspiration for them.

“But I also understand that all parents have aspiration for their children, including parents who send their children to a state school and I want to make sure that every single child, wherever they come from, whatever their background, has the opportunity to get on in life and feels that success belongs to them.

“It is a tough choice, there isn’t a lot of money around. But it is a choice we have made to ensure that we have the teachers we need in our state secondary schools.”

09:08 AM BST

Starmer defends plan to impose VAT on private school fees

Sir Keir Starmer defended Labour’s plan to impose VAT on private school fees.

The Labour leader said the policy would help to raise money to fund the recruitment of more teachers in core subjects in the state education sector.

Sir Keir told LBC that “money is tight, we don’t have a magic wand” and the money to fund Labour’s plans had to come from somewhere.

09:05 AM BST

‘Polls don’t predict the future,’ warns Starmer

An LBC phone-in with Sir Keir Starmer is now underway.

The Labour leader was told by presenter Nick Ferrari that it appeared that being on the campaign trail suited him.

Sir Keir replied: “I am enjoying it because we have worked for four and a half years for this.”

On Labour’s polling position ahead of the Tories, he said: “We are in this race and there are individual fights in every constituency still to be had in this election and polls don’t predict the future, we have to fight for every vote.”

09:00 AM BST

Coming up: Sir Keir Starmer answers questions in LBC phone-in

Sir Keir Starmer will be on LBC imminently to answer questions from callers.

The Labour leader is expected to be on for about an hour. Rishi Sunak will be doing his own phone-in on the station tomorrow.

08:41 AM BST

Nigel Farage and Ed Balls clash over Reform tax policy

Nigel Farage dismissed the suggestion that Reform’s “sums don’t add up” after the party launched its manifesto yesterday.

The Reform leader told ITV’s Good Morning Britain programme that “commentators will always tear manifestos to pieces”.

He said the party’s plans were “ambitious”.

Ed Balls, the former shadow chancellor and now TV presenter, repeatedly grilled Mr Farage on who would benefit the most from Reform’s tax plans.

The two clashed during the exchanges, prompting Mr Farage to accuse Mr Balls of “playing silly games”.

08:29 AM BST

Labour would face ‘difficult decisions’ if economic growth stalls, admits frontbencher

Jonathan Reynolds conceded Labour would face “difficult decisions” on tax and spending if the party failed to deliver on its economic growth ambitions.

Much of Labour’s manifesto is built on achieving higher levels of economic growth than there has been in recent years.

Mr Reynolds, the shadow business secretary, was asked this morning if he was saying there would be no tax measures during a Labour government other than what has been set out in the manifesto.

The Labour frontbencher told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “The premise of these questions is that the economy cannot grow any faster than it has done for the last 14 years and therefore the only way to fund public services is tax rises, we reject that case entirely, that’s exactly what the Labour manifesto makes the case against, that we can do better than we’ve done for the last 14 years.

“If the economy were not to improve on the performance of the last 14 years, there would be difficult decisions. But we are absolutely confident in the measures that we’re putting forward.

“We know the difference that can be made. Let’s be frank, we’re only pointing out that if the economy had grown in the last 14 years, anything like the rate of growth under the last Labour government, there would be billions of pounds more being spent on public services right now.”

08:16 AM BST

Rachel Reeves backed campaign to abolish private schools

Rachel Reeves called for the abolition of private schools as recently as 2019 and backed a campaign to ban them, The Telegraph can disclose.

Labour’s shadow chancellor said independent schools “segregate children based on parental wealth” and “entrench privilege and divide communities”.

It comes amid criticism that Labour’s plans to impose VAT on school fees “as soon as possible” if it wins the general election are an attempt to launch a class war by the backdoor.

You can read the full story here. 

07:57 AM BST

Tories challenge Labour to rule out tax rise for farmers

The Tories challenged Labour to say whether it would scrap inheritance tax relief for farmers.

The Conservatives claim Labour has failed to match its commitment to maintain Agricultural Property Relief, which exempts farmers from paying inheritance tax on their farms.

Speaking to Sky News, Mark Spencer, the farming minister, said: “It is really important to family farms up and down the country.

“Of course we could rule that out right now. If you asked that question I would rule that out straight away. We wouldn’t increase that inheritance tax on small family farms.

“I think it is fairly symptomatic of Labour policy that they won’t rule out these taxation increases. Whenever they are asked they dodge the question and they won’t say what they will do.”

07:46 AM BST

Boris Johnson takes a family summer holiday in Sardinia

The Telegraph revealed overnight that Boris Johnson is being drafted in by the Tories to play a more active role in the election campaign, with 10s of thousands of letters signed by the former premier being delivered to voters this week.

But it would appear Mr Johnson is unlikely to make a physical return to the campaign trail, at least for the moment, because he is on holiday in Italy.

Carrie Johnson, Mr Johnson’s wife, posted pictures on her Instagram last night of the family on holiday in “beautiful Sardinia”.

07:33 AM BST

Tories not in damage limitation mode, insists minister

The Tories are not actively pursuing a strategy of damage limitation at the general election, Sir Mark Spencer has said.

The farming minister was asked by Times Radio whether his party was pursuing such a strategy, and replied: “No one has ever told me to take that line at all. That certainly is not something that I would be comfortable with. I want to fight for every single vote.”

He also suggested he did not agree with his colleague Grant Shapps that the Conservatives were unlikely to win the election, telling the broadcaster: “There are three weeks to go, we are fighting for every single vote, we are out there every single day banging on doors trying to get our message across.

“I think actually the more this campaign goes on, that people are starting to understand that there is a huge tax challenge coming for the Labour Party, they can’t seem to explain where their money will come from.”

07:28 AM BST

Labour could be in power for 20 years, warns Tory minister

Labour could be in power for 20 years if voters “get this wrong” at the general election on July 4, a Tory minister warned this morning.

Sir Mark Spencer, the farming minister, claimed Labour would “change the voting system” if it wins power in order to boost its chances of staying in office.

He told Times Radio: “There are people out there who have serious concerns about what a Labour government will do, about how they will tax working people up and down the country and, of course, how if we get a Labour government they could be there for a very long time.

“Because of course they will change the voting system, they will make sure that they give votes to 16 year-olds, they have talked about giving votes to foreign nationals, to EU nationals… we could end up with a Labour government for 20 years if we get this wrong at this general election.

“That is why we are out there fighting for every single vote right up to polling day.”

Labour pledged in its general election manifesto to give 16 and 17 year-olds the right to vote in all elections.

07:18 AM BST

Tories are still ‘in it to win it’, minister insists

The Tories are still “in it to win it” on July 4, a minister insisted this morning after Grant Shapps said yesterday that he believed a Conservative victory was unlikely.

Sir Mark Spencer, the farming minister, said the Tories “absolutely think we can win this”.

Asked if the party was still “in it to win it”, Sir Mark Times Radio: “Yeah, absolutely. Of course we are. You can’t enter into a competition like the general election and try to win people’s trust and support again for another five years without thinking you can win it.

“We absolutely think we can win this.”

07:05 AM BST

Tories turn to Boris to combat Farage threat

Boris Johnson is being drafted in by the Tories to play a more active role in the election campaign as the party seeks to counter the threat from Reform UK.

Tens of thousands of letters signed by the former prime minister are due to be delivered to voters later this week, The Telegraph can reveal, after the Conservatives warned that a vote for Reform risked putting Labour in power for “a generation”.

The direct mail drive urging people to vote Tory is Mr Johnson’s closest involvement yet in the Conservatives’ attempts to defy the polls.

You can read the full story here. 

06:53 AM BST

What is happening in the general election campaign today?

Sir Keir Starmer will start the day with a grilling from voters live on air as he takes part in the first of two special election phone-ins on LBC. Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, is up tomorrow.

The Labour leader will then head to the South East to visit a small business, where he will face further questions from broadcasters.

For the Tories, Sir Mark Spencer, the farming minister, will be pushing the party’s latest attack line on rural taxes on the morning media round.

Jonathan Reynolds, the shadow business secretary, and Layla Moran, the Lib Dems’ foreign affairs spokeswoman, are out to bat for their respective parties, while Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, is on ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

Meanwhile, Sir Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, is on the campaign trail in Hampshire and south London.

And in a big moment for Labour’s campaign north of the border, Anas Sarwar, the party’s Scottish leader, will launch his general election manifesto.

06:44 AM BST

Poll: Reform continues surge as Tories go backwards

Voter support for Reform UK jumped by four points in a week as the party continued to gain ground while the Tories went backwards, according to a new Deltapoll survey.

A poll conducted between June 14-17 put Reform up by four points to 16 per cent, just three points behind the Tories who were down by two points to 19 per cent.

Meanwhile, Labour remained unchanged on 46 per cent, giving the party an overall lead of 27 points.

The company’s previous survey was carried out between June 6-8.

06:36 AM BST

Follow your convictions and back Reform, urges deputy leader

Reform’s deputy leader has urged voters to reject Tory warnings, follow their convictions and back Nigel Farage’s party on July 4.

David Bull told Sky News: “The Conservatives are saying ‘oh, well you can’t vote for Reform because it lets Labour in’.

“Well, actually, the Conservatives will let Labour in and I would argue that actually a vote for the Conservatives lets Labour in, so vote for us.

“Actually we know Labour is going to win this election so why don’t you actually follow your convictions and vote for us?”

06:34 AM BST

Reform’s rise to power is ‘six year project’, says deputy leader

David Bull, Reform’s deputy leader, said the party’s planned rise to power is a “six year project”.

It was suggested to Mr Bull that Reform’s manifesto, unveiled by Nigel Farage yesterday, was not “serious” and was designed to “influence the political weather” rather than being an actual plan for government.

He told Sky News: “The Conservatives are saying ‘oh, well you can’t vote for Reform because it lets Labour in’.

“Well, actually, the Conservatives will let Labour in and I would argue that actually a vote for the Conservatives lets Labour in, so vote for us.

“Actually we know Labour is going to win this election so why don’t you actually follow your convictions and vote for us?”