Farage demands head-to-head debate with Keir Starmer - 'We are now the real opposition!'

Sunak: I WILL stay on as an MP - even if Tories lose

Rishi Sunak has vowed to stay on as an MP if the Conservatives lose the General Election - and, of course, if he's re-elected in Richmond and Northallerton.

When quizzed on his prospects at the G7 summit in Italy, the Prime Minister maintained he would "fight to the last day" as he responded to a poll putting Reform UK ahead of the Tories for the very first time.

Sunak was asked: "If you win the General Election, will you commit to serving a full five-year term as Prime Minister, and if you lose will you commit to a full five years as an MP?"

He replied: "Yes, and yes."

He added that "the only poll that matters" would be the election itself, when asked why Tory voters seemed to be turning to Nigel Farage's party.

Latest YouGov data has put Reform at 19 per cent and the Conservatives at just 18 per cent in Britons' voting intention - a devastating moment of crossover which has seen the Tories slip to third place for the first time in years.

At a G7 press conference, Sunak stuck to his long-held "two choices" line, saying: "I think we're only halfway through this campaign and the Conservative Party and me are going to fight for every single vote until the last day.

"What you saw this week was actually an important moment in the campaign because the only poll that matters is the one on July 4.

"What you did see this week is the two leading parties put out their manifestos for the future of our country, and there's a very clear choice."

Starmer takes fresh swipe at Corbyn as Labour wrestles with recent history

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has hit out at Jeremy Corbyn once again in what marks the latest in a line of jabs at his predecessor at the helm of the party.

Starmer, currently enjoying a sizeable - if somewhat waning - lead in the polls, claimed his party had "drifted" at previous elections under the disgraced Corbyn's leadership.

The current Labour leader said his party held a new focus on "country first, party second" - a change from what Starmer called its prior stance of "looking down on people".

Just earlier this week, he had slated the Conservatives for building a badly-costed, "Jeremy Corbyn-style" manifesto which would "load everything into the wheelbarrow" without explaining how to pay for it.

Though Starmer had said to Sky that he'd make "no apology" for backing Corbyn in 2019, his forebear had slammed him for "rewriting history" and having "double standards".

And on BBC Panorama this evening, the Labour head honcho was probed on whether the British public know what he stands for.

He told the corporation's Nick Robinson: "I took a decision, Nick, that we had to change the Labour Party and drag it closer to the country, and I did that having thought long and hard about the last four elections, because we lost in 2010, 2015, 2017, 2019, and I took the view that that was because we had drifted too far from working people.

"We had drifted to a place where we were essentially looking and feeling like a party that was looking down on people across the country, and we got very badly beaten in 2019."

Labour's Rosie Duffield forced out of local hustings by 'fixated individuals'

pic.twitter.com/zokdggdazq

— Rosie Duffield (@RosieDuffield1) June 14, 2024

Rosie Duffield, the Labour candidate for Canterbury, has announced she will not be attending local hustings throughout campaigning after "a few fixated individuals" have made her attendance "impossible".

In a social media statement released just minutes ago, Duffield called the move an "extremely difficult decision", and cited "the constant trolling, spite and misrepresentation from certain people... being pursued with a new vigour during this election" as a driving factor behind her withdrawal.

She lamented the "very real effect on democracy" of the abuse - but pledged to hold "several secure local events" for her former - and prospective - constituents in the lead-up to July 4.

The candidate for Canterbury has been vocal on trans issues and the protection of women's spaces, and has repeatedly clashed with the Labour leadership as a result of her stance.

Duffield had previously compared her relationship with the Labour party to an "abusive relationship" - and this boiled over again on the first day of election campaigning, when she was apparently excluded from a party event at Gillingham Football Club.

But no other Labour MPs from Kent were invited to the event, with Labour preferring to highlight new candidates ahead of the July 4 election, GB News understands.

Daisy Cooper defends Lib Dems' election campaign strategy

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper has defended the party’s stunt-heavy campaigning style, saying “we don’t take ourselves too seriously”.

Speaking on a visit to south-west Hertfordshire, she told the PA news agency: “It absolutely is a conscious strategy. We take our politics very seriously but we don’t think politicians should take themselves too seriously.

“Ed has won a lot of people’s hearts and minds with this strategy. Every time he’s done a stunt it’s come with a very serious message. When he fell off a paddle board he was talking about our policy to tackle the crisis of raw sewage dumping. When he was at a water park he was talking about the importance of putting a mental health practitioner into every single school.

“We’ve managed to grab people’s attention at a time when the country is really struggling. People are leading very difficult lives and what they’re looking for from their politicians is hope and optimism.”

Cooper also confirmed potential injuries wouldn’t stop Davey from campaigning, saying: “There’s almost nothing that’s going to stop Ed from getting out and about, meeting people, doing the stunts and having a lot of fun.”

When asked about the stunts potentially detracting from the seriousness of the election, she said: “I would challenge (people) to watch our party political broadcast where Ed talks about and shows so visibly his relationship with his disabled son, where he talks about the challenges carers face day in day out. Ed has very powerfully shone a light on those millions of people who feel they don’t have a voice.”

Jeremy Corbyn allies claim he is 'neck and neck' with Labour in election battle

Jeremy Corbyn's allies have claimed he is "neck and neck" with the Labour Party in the race to win his old constituency of Islington North.

Corbyn, who is running as an independent, has held the seat for 40 years.

Allies of the former Labour leader said they are confident he could retain the seat.

They said early canvassing suggests he is "neck and neck" with the Labour candidate, Praful Nargund.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

Reform UK would ease the two-child benefit cap 

Nigel Farage has confirmed Reform UK would ease the two-child limit on Universal Credit support as a policy.

He said: “We feel that, actually, support for families is really rather important. We should be encouraging people to have children, we should even perhaps through the tax system be encouraging marriage, as well.

“I mean, my own track record in this is not great.”

Reform UK could get more than six million votes, Farage claims

Nigel Farage has said he believes Reform UK could get more than six million votes in the General Election.

That total would be significantly more than the 3.9 million votes his former party, Ukip, received under his leadership in 2015, when it secured 12.6 per cent of the vote.

He told a press conference in London: “We are not going to get four million votes, we’re not going to get five million votes, we’re going to get a very, very substantial number of votes.

“I genuinely think we can get over six million votes. I don’t know where the ceiling is.”

He added: “Remember, this is not a short-term commando raid, this is a five-year commitment. This election is our first step towards building for 2029.

“So, however many seats we win, you have my absolute assurance that our campaigning of the ’29 election, our building of a big movement in this country, will begin the very next day on July 5.

“If we did finish up with a huge number of votes and a paltry number of seats, do you know what it would do? It would tell us yet again that Britain is broken and Britain needs reform, and that reform includes the electoral system, that reform includes the abomination that is the House of Lords, and that reform includes the right, as people in Switzerland have, to call referendums on key issues if they think their government and parliament are out of touch with them.”

Farage: 'The inflection point has arrived'

Speaking about a new poll from YouGov which put Reform UK ahead of the Tories, Farage said: "The inflection point has arrived".

He said his party overtaking Sunak's means that Reform UK is now "the official opposition".

Speaking at a press conference in London, he explained: “It was a delight last night to see that the inflection point has arrived.

“We are well ahead of the Conservatives in the North East, in the North West, in Yorkshire and the Humber, in the East Midlands, in the West Midlands, and in parts of eastern region. And in what we all call the red wall seats, we are significantly ahead of Conservatives.”

He added: “The inflection point means that, actually, if you vote Conservative in the red wall, you will almost certainly get Labour. A Conservative vote in the red wall is now a wasted vote.”

Streeting dismisses reports of a Labour 'super majority' 

Asked about the possibility of Labour securing a large majority, the party’s shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, said: “I don’t believe the opinion polls for a moment.

“I’ve been knocking on doors right across the country in seats that Labour needs to win in order to win the next General Election, and there are millions of undecided voters out there.”

Speaking at Wakefield Trinity Rugby League club, he said: “I think what the Conservative Party is doing, quite cynically at the moment, is to say to people ‘if you want change, you don’t have to bother going out and voting for it, you can put your feet up, or you can vote for one of the smaller parties and their wish list of promises, because Labour’s going to win anyway’.

“There is nothing inevitable about a Labour government after the next General Election. We have to earn people’s trust.

“We know that. We’re not remotely complacent. We are fighting hard for every vote in every seat that we need to win in order to form the next government.”

Streeting: Growth of Reform is 'the latest chapter in Tory psychodrama'

Wes Streeting has said the growth of Reform Party is the "latest chapter in the Conservative Party's psychodrama".

Speaking on a visit to Wakefield Trinity Rugby League club in West Yorkshire, he added: "We’ve had Conversative candidates like Andrea Jenkins putting Nigel Farage on her leaflet positively, rather than her own leader.

"I think that it’s clear that if the Conservatives scrape back in at this General Election, we’re going to see more division, more chaos. It’s time to turn the page on that.

"Labour is taking Reform on. We’re going to beat them in the battle of ideas and we’re going to demonstrate what real change looks like in our country, if we earn the trust of people in this General Election."

Asked for his thoughts about Farage as a leader of the opposition, Streeting said: “I don’t underestimate Nigel Farage as a campaigner. He’s never been elected to Parliament before. I hope the people of Clacton won’t send him to Parliament this time.

“One thing I would say to people about Nigel Farage is that he’s never been tested on actually delivering on the change he campaigns for. He’s never had that responsibility.”

'Reform's lead over the Tories is a stark warning', says Trott

Reform UK’s lead over the Conservatives in an opinion poll is a “stark warning”, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Laura Trott has said.

She told a London press conference: “The Conservative Party are fighting for every single vote in this election.

“And look, we’re only halfway through, right? Things can change.

“But the poll is a stark warning. If a result like this is replicated on election day, Keir Starmer would have huge and unchecked power to tax your home, your job, your car, your pension however he wants.

Echoing the Prime Minister, she added: “A vote for anyone other than Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives is a vote for Keir Starmer as prime minister”.

Laura Trott: 'Labour are secretly planning capital gains tax'

Laura Trott claimed Labour “are secretly planning to put capital gains tax on your primary residence”, which would be a “disastrous policy for families up and down the country”.

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury told a London press conference: “I do think it would be disastrous. I think most people would accept it’d be disastrous for the housing market, and of course, it would put any kind of (housebuilding) target in peril.”

Johnson backs Simon Clarke in social media campaign video

The former Prime Minister, who has remained quiet for most of the campaign, has publicly backed Simon Clarke.

Johnson put a video on social media in support of the former levelling up secretary.

In January, Clarke called for Sunak to resign, warning that the party would face an electoral "massacre" if he remained behind the wheel.

Clarke is seeking re-election in the Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency.

Nigel Farage says Rishi Sunak has 'no connection to working people in this country at all'

Nigel Farage has claimed Rishi Sunak has "no connection to working people in this country at all".

His remarks came after he was challenged to explain what he meant when he said Sunak does not understand “our culture”, in the wake of the Prime Minister leaving the D-Day commemorations early.

Farage, who is a former city trader and was a schoolboy at fee-paying Dulwich College, told the BBC: "He doesn’t know where the centre-ground of opinion in this country is. Rishi is Winchester College, Oxford University, Goldman Sachs – he has no connection to working people in this country at all.”

Reminded of his own previous employment, Farage replied he “wasn’t at Goldman Sachs” before adding: “I get on with people of all backgrounds, all classes, Rishi Sunak lives in this very, very narrow little world, like so many politicians.”

Told he was wealthy compared with the average worker, Farage replied: “Yes I am. But I am able to connect.”

Pressed further on his language and asked if the colour of Sunak’s skin was a factor, Farage replied: "No, he’s British born for goodness sake – 40 per cent of the contribution in two World Wars came from Commonwealth countries, there are plenty of people here who have come from families who came from the Commonwealth who fully understand this, he doesn’t and that’s part of the problem."

He added: "Too many of our ruling class have no connection with the culture of this country, don’t understand what people’s problems are, don’t understand what their aspirations are, and I’m telling you that I do."

Sunak: Voting Reform UK will 'hand Labour a blank cheque' 

Rishi Sunak has insisted that voting for Reform UK would be “handing Labour a blank cheque”, after a major opinion poll showed Nigel Farage’s party overtaking the Conservatives.

Speaking to reporters from the G7 summit in Puglia, the Prime Minister said: “We are only halfway through this election, So I’m still fighting very hard for every vote.

“And what that poll shows is – the only poll that matters is the one on July 4 – but if that poll was replicated on July 4, it would be handing Labour a blank cheque to tax everyone, tax their home, their pension, their car, their family, and I’ll be fighting very hard to make sure that doesn’t happen.

“And actually, when I’ve been out and about talking to people, they do understand that a vote for anyone who is not a Conservative candidate is just a vote to put Keir Starmer in No 10.”

Challenged over Mr Farage flipping his rhetoric by saying a vote for the Tories is a vote for Labour, Mr Sunak repeated that “people do get that” not voting for a Conservative candidate improves Sir Keir’s chances.

Nigel Farage rushes to defend Reform candidates after 'friendship' with fascist exposed

Nigel Farage has defended Reform UK candidates who are “friends” on Facebook with British fascist leader Gary Raikes.

Raikes founded the New British Union (NBU), which has called for a “fascist revolution” in the UK and sees democracy as an "obstruction" to setting up a dictatorship.

It has been revealed that around one in 10 candidates for Farage’s party are connected on Facebook with Raikes.

Rushing to their defence, the Reform UK leader said it was “utter cobblers” to say they had Nazi sympathies because “on Facebook mates send each other things” without “having any idea where it comes from”.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

Tice blasts UK voting system and demands proportional representation - 'Patently totally unfair!'

Asked about whether Reform UK's growing popularity in the polls would translate to seats at the election, Tice told GB News: "Thank you for making the case for PR because that's patently totally unfair.

"If we get, as I think we will now with this moment, we get more votes cast for Reform UK than the Conservatives, we become the democratic, legitimately elected opposition - but the seat numbers won't reflect that. So it's patently absurd.

"We are where we are. we operate under the voting system we've got, we'd like to change it.

"But I think more people will say 'thank heavens for Reform, we've got to also reform our voting system amongst many other things'".