Final polls predict unprecedented Labour victory, with Starmer declaring Britain a ‘great nation, with boundless potential’
Keir Starmer has hailed a “new age of hope and opportunity” as millions of people prepare to vote in a general election that could deliver the biggest shake-up of British politics in a generation.
The Labour leader said he was “ready for government” and that his intended cabinet would “hit the ground running” if it wins Thursday’s election.
Continue reading...Labour leader also says he cannot foresee circumstances where UK would re-enter single market or customs union
Keir Starmer has insisted the UK will not rejoin either the EU, the single market or the customs union within his lifetime, in his firmest pledge yet that Labour will not seek much closer relations with Europe for as long as he is prime minister.
The Labour leader told reporters on Wednesday he did not think Britain would go back into any of the three blocs while he was alive, all but ruling out rejoining even if he wins a second term in office.
Continue reading...Activists forecast margins of less than 2,000 votes separating them from Farage’s party – or even a shock defeat
• How boundary changes may affect key constituencies
Labour candidates and activists are privately braced for a surge in support for Nigel Farage’s hard-right Reform UK in north-west England and the Midlands, with some forecasting a margin of less than 2,000 votes between the two parties in some seats in Thursday’s general election.
In certain Conservative-held seats, campaigners told the Guardian that the Tories were likely to be pushed into third place by Reform, with one citing the phenomenon of “shy Reformers” affecting the results.
Continue reading...Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer out campaigning after Mel Stride says Labour likely to win a large majority
It has just gone 7am: let’s look at today’s stop stories. With 24 hours to go until polls open, the Guardian leads with Keir Starmer accusing the Conservatives of desperate tactics amid claims that Tory criticism of his defence of family time was insensitive and had antisemitic undertones.
The Times has Boris Johnson saying a Labour landslide would be “pregnant with horrors”:
Continue reading...Deputy PM says Victoria Atkins is ‘star’ and is one of only people he could see leading Tory party
Meanwhile Rishi Sunak is expected to tell voters today that “If just 130,000 people switch their vote and lend us their support, we can deny Starmer that supermajority,” PA reports.
Keir Starmer has said a big majority would be “better for the country”, as the Tories continue to urge voters to proceed with caution and not hand Labour a “blank cheque”.
Continue reading...Conservatives push out ‘final warnings’ amid backlash over targeting of Labour leader’s Friday night ‘protected time’
Keir Starmer has accused the Conservatives of desperate tactics amid claims that Tory criticism of his defence of family time was insensitive and had antisemitic undertones.
With Rishi Sunak embarking on a marathon day of campaigning, beginning with a pre-dawn visit to a distribution centre and closing with a late-night rally, Tory ministers and aides sought to contrast these efforts with what they termed Starmer’s “part-time” approach.
Continue reading...Exclusive: shadow energy security secretary promises to fill ‘vacuum’ left by Rishi Sunak’s U-turn on net zero
Labour will promise to take the lead on global efforts to tackle the climate crisis, filling a “vacuum of leadership” on the world stage and proving Rishi Sunak’s U-turn on net zero has been a “historic mistake”, Ed Miliband has said.
The shadow energy security and net zero secretary said the UK needed to change course and was “off track”.
Continue reading...Labour leader hopes to gain closer economic ties with EU if he becomes PM and says he would work with ‘whoever’
Keir Starmer has said that a government in France led by Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) party would not hamper a Labour government’s intention to negotiate a better EU deal.
The RN made historic gains in the first round of France’s snap elections on Sunday with 33% of the vote, bringing the possibility the party could emerge as the largest in the final round of voting next Sunday.
Continue reading...Tories make last-ditch attempt to persuade their voters to turn out for Thursday’s election
Labour would use a landslide victory to shift politics to the left and stay in power for decades, Rishi Sunak will warn on Monday, as he launches a last-ditch attempt to persuade Conservative voters to turn out for Thursday’s election.
The prime minister will address a rally at the beginning of the final week of the election campaign, which polls suggest will end in the Conservatives being ousted from power.
Continue reading...Prime minister says he’s ‘fighting very hard’ as campaigning reaches final days with Labour retaining the lead in polling for the Observer
Rishi Sunak said the slur used about him by a Reform UK canvasser was “deeply inappropriate and racist”.
The prime minister told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg show that anyone becoming a politician expects a degree of criticism because it “comes with the territory”.
Continue reading...Reform UK leader echoes Donald Trump in response to claim hostile state actors are backing his party
Nigel Farage has angrily denied he is “fanning the flames of prejudice” to further his political ambitions, as he doubled down on claims Reform UK had been “set up” by an exposé of racism and prejudice among activists.
He was also confronted about a report in the Sunday Times – which the deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, said he was “gravely” concerned about – that there is a threat to the general election from hostile actors such as Russia seeking to influence the democratic process.
Continue reading...Northern Ireland’s politicians and the Irish government hopeful of a post-Brexit reset and an end to Tory turmoil
The prospect of a Labour government has united Northern Ireland’s political parties and the Irish government in hope of a reset in relations with London after the convulsions of Brexit.
Unionists and nationalists expect Keir Starmer to bring stability and focus to Downing Street’s approach to Northern Ireland and to mend frayed ties with Dublin.
Continue reading...Celebrities including Kit Harington, Deborah Meaden and Jason Manford back Keir Starmer’s party
Elton John has led a lineup of celebrities who have announced their support for Labour at the general election.
The singer-songwriter and his husband, David Furnish, joined actors Kit Harington and James Norton, singer Beverley Knight, comedian Jason Manford and businesswoman Deborah Meaden in bringing some stardust to a Labour supporters’ meeting held in the final days before next week’s poll.
Continue reading...Writing in the Observer, the Labour leader vows to restore the bond of trust with politics if his party wins Thursday’s general election
Keir Starmer pledges to “relight the fire” of optimism and hope among the British people – and rekindle their faith in politicians as public servants - if they come out in sufficient numbers and vote for a Labour government in Thursday’s general election.
Writing exclusively for the Observer with just days to go until polling day, the Labour leader says that after 14 years of the Tories “serving themselves”, restoring the “bond of respect between people and politics” will be the precondition for a Labour government’s success.
Continue reading...Reform also complains to Electoral Commission and Essex police about Channel 4 undercover investigation of party
Nigel Farage has announced he is boycotting the BBC, accusing the broadcaster of bias over his reception on Friday night’s Question Time.
The Reform leader took part in a leaders’ special episode, a half-hour Q&A session with a live audience, in which he was heavily criticised. One audience member called him a racist and another asked why his party attracted extremists.
Continue reading...The Reform leader complained of a ‘dishonest Question Time audience’, while his party also reported Channel 4 to the Electoral Commission
The Conservative party deputy chair Angela Richardson called the sewage crisis a “political football” and claimed opposition parties and activists had put Tory MPs in physical danger by campaigning on the issue.
Richardson, who is standing for re-election in Guildford, where the River Wey was recently found to have 10 times the safe limit of E coli, also suggested the only reason people were talking about the problem was “because the Conservatives let everyone know it was happening”.
Continue reading...Outgoing Green MP calls for combined strategy to ensure net zero will not be done ‘on the backs of the poor’
Labour must combine tackling the climate crisis with pursuing social justice, if elected, to show that achieving net zero will not be done “on the backs of the poor”, the UK’s outgoing Green party MP has warned.
Caroline Lucas, who has held the seat of Brighton Pavilion since 2010, said: “The biggest priority is to demonstrate that is not the case. We have to make sure that this is a strategy and a policy that is the opposite of being done on the backs of the poor.”
Continue reading...Loss of income, curbs on benefits and soaring bills are piling pressure on people caring for family members
People who look after family members free of charge are taking a huge hit to their finances which could continue into their retirement as they find themselves unable to balance paid work with their caring commitments.
Recent analysis of official figures by the financial firm Just Retirement found seven in 10 people who were receiving carer’s allowance were not in paid work, and missing out on earnings and private pension contributions.
Continue reading...PM responds to comments by Reform activists, who were filmed by Channel 4 reporter while canvassing in Clacton
Here’s the latest in the Guardian’s series on The broken years: Tory Britain 2010-24:
Unless the polls are wildly inaccurate, the Conservative party is heading towards a catastrophic defeat in the coming election.
Continue reading...Essex police say they are ‘urgently assessing’ racist and homophobic remarks made by party’s volunteers
Rishi Sunak has said he was hurt and angry to hear a Reform UK canvasser calling him a racial slur, saying Nigel Farage “has some questions to answer”.
The prime minister responded after a Channel 4 undercover investigation found a Reform campaigner had called him a “fucking [P-word]”. Sunak repeated the slur and said he had done so because it was important to call it out for what it was.
Continue reading...