Category Archives: General elections

If the pollsters have it right, the Conservatives need a miracle in five weeks

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The desire to see the back of the Tories seems to outweigh any considerations of policy – or whether Labour will actually deliver much positive change

“Nothing has changed”: those were the ill-fated words during Theresa May’s 2017 campaign. Things certainly did change, though – a large polling lead almost evaporated by polling day and a hung parliament was returned.

In 2024, Rishi Sunak desperately needs a similar shift. But so far the British public seem unmoved. Voting intention, as measured by the opinion polls, remains much as it was when the election was called. Those intentions would see Sunak falling to something ranging between a significant and a historic defeat.

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Tice and Farage, the happy couple wedded to migration incoherence | John Crace

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Our Nige at least manages to sound slightly plausible while talking utter rubbish

It’s not hard to pick out where the power lies at any Reform party event. Just check out the middle-aged men with a tan. Richard Tice, Nigel Farage and David Bull all look like they’ve spent a suspiciously long time on the sunbed. Or maybe they’ve got a bulk offer on spray tan. Either way, you have to blink several times when you see them in the flesh. The glare is oppressive. Welcome to the party with heavy 1970s Benidorm vibes.

Nigel Farage had insisted that when he first booked Glaziers Hall near London Bridge, it had been to announce that he was planning to stand as a candidate in the election. Like a lot of things Our Nige says, this may be wishful thinking. Or a straight porky. Check out the timings. Rishi Sunak calls a general election last Wednesday. Nige books the room the next day. All set to go. Then changes his mind within days. Mmm. Maybe not.

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Junior doctors’ strike could delay care for 100,000 NHS patients in England

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Rishi Sunak says timing of action days before general election appears to be ‘politically motivated’ to help Labour

Up to 100,000 patients in England face having their NHS care cancelled days before the general election after junior doctors announced a fresh wave of strike action, with Rishi Sunak saying it appeared to be politically motivated.

Health leaders expressed alarm, warning the five-day strike would jeopardise efforts to tackle the record waiting list and “hit patients hard”.

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Sunak rejects Farage’s offer of electoral deal with Reform party

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Brexit campaigner suggested he and prime minister should ‘have a conversation’ after favours he had done Tories over the years

Rishi Sunak has ruled out a deal with Nigel Farage after the Reform politician suggested they should “have a conversation” before the election.

Farage has held back from running as a candidate for the Reform party, which is led and funded by Richard Tice, but on Wednesday he extended an olive branch to Sunak in an interview with the Sun, telling him: “Give me something back. We might have a conversation.”

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I want to be an MP for as long as possible, Diane Abbott tells supporters

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Comments at rally in east London follow Keir Starmer’s denial that the Hackney MP would be barred from standing in the election

Diane Abbott has promised to stay on as an MP for “as long as it is possible”, setting up a clash with Keir Starmer after a deal for her to retire from parliament broke down.

Abbott, the UK’s first female black MP, had been expected to make a “dignified exit” from parliament, after a near 40-year career, in an arrangement in which she was given back the Labour whip after an investigation into comments she made about racism.

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Diane Abbott sorry saga leaves Labour colleagues with a bitter taste

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Even those who are not natural allies are concerned about the cack-handed treatment of the veteran MP

The long and sorry saga of Diane Abbott leaving parliament, where she arrived as a trailblazer, has left a bitter taste in the mouths of many colleagues – even those who are far from her natural allies.

After almost 36 tortuous hours the UK’s first black female MP is in the Labour party but possibly out of parliament, and no one seemingly wants to own how these decisions came about.

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Tory national service policy would leave UK’s poorest areas worse off, IFS warns

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Thinktank says proposal to pay for scheme by scrapping shared prosperity fund would downgrade efforts to level up country

Rishi Sunak’s election pledge to introduce mandatory national service would leave the UK’s poorest regions millions of pounds worse off, a thinktank has warned.

The prime minister announced last weekend that if he was re-elected, every 18-year-old would have to spend time in a competitive, full-time military commission or spend one weekend a month volunteering in “civil resilience”.

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Rishi Sunak promises to create 100,000 high-skilled apprenticeships a year

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Conservatives’ policy would be funded by scrapping ‘rip-off degrees’ with high drop-out rates and low job progression

Rishi Sunak has promised to create 100,000 high-skilled apprenticeships a year by scrapping “rip-off degrees” if he wins the general election.

In the latest of a flurry of announcements as the Conservatives try to narrow Labour’s 20-point poll lead, the party pledged to replace “low-quality” university degrees with apprenticeships.

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Rishi Sunak rejects claim he plans to move to California if he loses election – as it happened

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Prime minister dismisses speculation after Tory peer Zac Goldsmith became latest to hint at planned relocation

Starmer is now running through his six first step promises.

Starmer says he is fed up with hearing Rishi Sunak says the UK has “turned the corner”.

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Rishi Sunak uses Tory donor’s helicopter to fly from North Yorkshire

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Exclusive: PM made flying visit to his North Yorkshire constituency, using millionaire’s chopper to return to London

Rishi Sunak took a helicopter owned by a millionaire Conservative donor to fly from North Yorkshire to London on Saturday, before appearing at a hastily arranged campaign trip in south London.

The prime minister made two relatively low-key campaign stops during the day, after the Guardian revealed on Friday he was planning to spend the day solely in his constituency and London.

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Michael Gove and Andrea Leadsom to stand down at general election

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Seventy-eight Tory MPs are quitting rather than standing, beating 1997’s record number

Michael Gove and Andrea Leadsom have joined the now record-breaking exodus of Conservative MPs from the Commons, with the former saying it was time for a “new generation” to lead the party.

Gove’s announcement in a letter tweeted on Friday evening had been anticipated by some given the strong Liberal Democrat challenge he faces in his Surrey Heath constituency, but adds to the sense of Tories fleeing in the face of a likely general election loss.

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Corbyn influence on Labour policy ‘well and truly over’, says Starmer

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Party leader’s remarks follow expulsion of predecessor, who decided to stand as independent candidate in general election

Jeremy Corbyn’s days of influencing Labour party policy “are well and truly over”, Keir Starmer has said, as a war of words erupted with his predecessor on the second day of the general election campaign.

Corbyn was expelled from the Labour party on Friday after announcing he would stand as an independent candidate in the 4 July vote.

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Tory MPs mull over their fate after Rishi Sunak’s election call

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Gloom, resignation, but also a show of fighting spirit as PM’s troops weigh up the odds on re-election

In the frenzied hours shortly after Rishi Sunak made his surprise election announcement on Wednesday, despairing Tory MPs could be spotted wandering around Westminster contemplating their fate.

One government minister was seen thrusting his official red folder towards his opposition number, whom he had happened to bump into. “You might as well have this now,” he said.

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Gaffe at brewery marks the end of Rishi Sunak’s first day of campaigning

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After some tetchy interviews the PM flew to all four nations, while Starmer and Davey focused on voters’ desire for change

Far from the bedraggled figure who announced an election outside No 10, Rishi Sunak positively bounced into a biscuit factory for his first stump speech of the election campaign.

He had given a tetchy performance on the broadcast round on Thursday morning, bristling at those challenging his economic record and failure to carry out his Rwanda plan.

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Labour says early general election leaves many government commitments ‘in the bin’ – as it happened

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Bills, including smoking ban for people born after 2009, unlikely to become law before 4 July vote

Rishi Sunak is now speaking at an event in Ilkeston in Derbyshire. It is in the Erewash constituency, where the Tory MP Maggie Throup had a majority of 10,606 at the last election.

He repeats the claim that a Labour government would cost every family £2,000.

Labour’s spending promises cost £16 billion per year in 2028-29, or £58.9 billion over the next four years.

But their revenue raisers would only collect £6.2 billion per year in 2028-29, or £20.4 billion over the next four years.

I don’t really think the arrangements in Scotland for the school holidays have really been anywhere near the calculations made by the prime minister …

I think it would be respectful if that was the case but it’s pretty typical of the lack of respect shown to Scotland that we’re an afterthought from the Westminster establishment and particularly the Conservative establishment.

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General election 2024: Sunak says Labour taking victory for granted as Starmer calls on voters to ‘stop the chaos’ on 4 July – as it happened

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Prime minister announces early summer election with date putting parties on campaign trail for six weeks

In an interview with Sky News this morning, Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, was asked if the UK would follow Ireland, Spain and Norway in formally recognising a Palestinian state. No, he replied. He told Sky:

We have a long-standing position on this that we will be prepared to recognise the state of Palestine at the time that it most helps the peace process, and we will continue to keep that under review.

We will continue to keep that under review. But our position is that this is not the right time to do it at the moment.

Dubbed “Sue’s shit list” by one senior Labour official, it has been drawn up by the former civil servant to identify the most immediate problems Labour would face in office if it wins the election expected this year.

Senior Labour officials said that any one of the areas on Gray’s “government risk register” could puncture a honeymoon period for a new administration led by Sir Keir Starmer.

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Rishi Sunak takes gamble by calling UK general election for 4 July

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PM announces date with Tories trailing Labour by 20 points in polls, saying it is ‘the moment for Britain to choose its future’

Rishi Sunak has called a surprise general election for 4 July in a high stakes gamble that will see Keir Starmer try to win power for Labour after 14 years of Conservative-led government.

Addressing the nation outside Downing Street, Sunak said it was “the moment for Britain to choose its future” as he claimed the Tories could be trusted to lead the country during a time of global instability.

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Third of voters believe Starmer was wrong to let Elphicke into Labour party

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In latest Opinium poll, only 16% say accepting rightwing Tory MP’s defection was the right move – against 33% who see it as a mistake

More voters believe Keir Starmer was wrong to allow a rightwing Tory MP into Labour than think it was the right move, after anger from within the party’s ranks over the defection.

Natalie Elphicke, the Dover MP, said the Tories had become “a byword for incompetence and division” when she made her shock departure to Labour earlier in May. The party leadership regarded it as a major coup to win the support of the MP on the frontline of the Channel crossings issue that Rishi Sunak has attempted to prioritise. The move came despite concerns among MPs that her views conflict with Labour in a variety of areas.

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Labour gains in leave areas may cut swing needed for overall majority

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Analysis reveals voters switching from the Tories in pro-Brexit seats could make a Starmer election victory easier to achieve

Voters are switching from the Tories to Labour in the most pro-leave parts of the country in such numbers that Keir Starmer may need a far lower overall swing from the Conservatives to win a parliamentary majority than was previously believed, election analysts have claimed.

In their analysis of this month’s local elections, professors Robert Ford of Manchester University and John Curtice of Strathclyde University both noted that the bigger the 2016 vote was for leave in an area, the higher the swing was to Labour.

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