Clearly inspired by the England’s team shock comeback last night against Slovakia, Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer appeared to use last night’s performance as a means to swipe at each other. Sunak posted “It’s not over until it’s over” whilst Starmer posted “Never in doubt”, setting up the final few days of election campaigning.
The Conservatives start the week playing it safe and sticking to the attack lines they know, with Sunak posting that “families afford can’t a Labour government” and “illegal migrants are waiting for Labour”.
CCHQ also used Home Secretary James Cleverly to push the message on Radio 4 this morning that voting for a Reform candidate is more likely to get you a Labour MP.
Last night, the Tories said that if 130,000 people intending to vote Reform switched to back the Tories it “would be enough to stop Labour’s supermajority”.
However, it appears that Sunak is losing support from within as The Times reports that websites are being registered and updated for possible leadership bids to succeed Sunak, including those supporting Suella Braverman and Kemi Badenoch.
Kemi Badenoch, the Business and Trade Secretary, on Sunday refused to rule out a leadership bid should Rishi Sunak resign after an electoral defeat, but added that premature speculation was “disrespectful” to the Prime Minister.
Over the weekend, the Sunday Times also came out in support of Labour. In a rather stark editorial, the paper said “The Tories have forfeited the right to govern. Over to Labour”. This will come as a harsh blow to the Prime Minister in the final days of the campaign.
Meanwhile, Labour is keen to use the lessons learnt from the French election to its advantage, with Starmer arguing that only the left has the answers to Britain’s challenges and that Labour is the party to bring the country together. Asked about the three tangible changes he would make, Sir Keir Starmer said the “most important” would be to “change how we do politics” and ending a culture of “self-entitlement”.
Labour’s choice of campaign locations today are interesting, with Starmer visiting Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, all of which are traditionally Tory held seats. It seems highly unlikely that Labour would spend critical time and resource on these ‘Tory safe seats’ seats unless they have data to suggest otherwise and there is a possibility that it could swing to Labour.
Besides the two main parties, the Lib Dems are spending their time talking about boosting support for the bereaved, the Greens are calling for a £22 billion cash injection to fix what it calls “crumbling hospitals”, while Reform UK's Ann Widdecombe tells Woman's Hour about the party’s plans to protect women’s spaces.
Insight of the day
Labour’s Jonathan Ashworth appeared on BBC Breakfast this morning to discuss what Labour would do differently this time, should it be elected on 4th July. The Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary listed five commitments: growing the economy every year, having an industrial strategy which invests in green energy, fixing the NHS and bringing down waiting lists and setting up free breakfast clubs in primary schools and recruiting 500,000 more teachers.
When pressed on estimates from the Institute of Fiscal Studies that it would require an increase in spending of 3.6% above inflation a year, Ashworth said Labour's plans to close the non-dom tax loophole to fund the gap.
Writing in the Scottish section of The Times, Iain McWhirter says that this election signals the death knell of the Scottish independence dream and argues that Nicola Sturgeon is primarily responsible.
Poll watch
Is Labour running out of steam? A Savanta poll for The Telegraph, conducted between Wednesday and Thursday, saw the lowest Labour support since January 2022 as the gap between Labour and the Conservatives dropped to 17 percentage points.
But with a vote share of 38%– compared to the Tories’ 21% and Reform’s 14%– Labour is on course for a majority of more than 260 seats if the current figures are replicated on Thursday.
Savanta also surveyed Londoners and found that the Conservatives are set to be “all but wiped out” in London. The survey put Labour 30 points ahead with 49% of those in the capital intending to back Labour, down six percentage points from the previous week. The Conservatives are on 19%, down three, and Reform UK is on 11%, up three.
Moment of the day
A nightmare inducing warning from Labour came in the form of a pillow with Rishi Sunak’s face with the slogan “Don’t wake up to 5 more years of the Tories”. Shadow Environment Secretary, Steve Reed, joked “At least no-one said we’re sleepwalking in to a change of government”.
Meanwhile, Sir Ed Davey found himself off to a flying start today as he took part in a bungee jump to start the final week of his election campaign. The first party leader to bungee jump for votes is certainly commitment to the cause…
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