General election - latest: Tories set for worse defeat than 1997 Labour landslide, new poll predicts
Jeremy Hunt and Grant Shapps to lose seats, according to forecast, as Sir Keir Starmer accuses Conservatives of ‘voter suppression’
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Rishi Sunak has suffered a fresh blow on the eve of the general election as yet another poll put the Conservatives on course for a worse defeat than in 1997.
With just hours until polls open, a survey for More in Common predicted the party will win just 126 seats, compared with Labour on a total of 430.
That would be down from the 365 seats won by the Tories in 2019, with chancellor Jeremy Hunt and defence secretary Grant Shapps set to be ousted.
Earlier, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage claimed Boris Johnson’s intervention for the Tories “won’t have done them any good at all”.
Mr Johnson warned a Labour super-majority would be “pregnant with horrors”.
Meanwhile, Sir Keir Starmer said Tory warnings on Labour being likely to win “the largest majority any party has ever achieved” amounted to “voter suppression”.
Work and pensions secretary Mel Stride said Labour was likely to win “the largest majority any party has ever achieved”.
And a second Tory minister, Andrew Griffith, said Labour would win a majority “unprecedented in modern history”.
Tories accused of ‘desperate new low’ as Boris Johnson returns at 11th hour to save Sunak campaign
Sunak makes last ditch plea to voters not to back ‘unchecked’ Labour majority
What is a ‘supermajority’ – and could Labour secure one at the general election?
Dogs, chatting, selfies: Everything you can and cannot do at the polling station on general election day
Could postal vote delays affect some general election results?
Watch: All the party manifestos for the 2024 general election explained
All the party manifestos for the 2024 general election explained
With just 48 hours to go until the general election, it’s time for the British public to decide who will form the next government. The Labour Party, the Conservatives, Reform UK, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party are all battling it out for votes in the hope of securing important seats in the House of Commons. But what are each party promising voters in the 2024 election? Ahead of polling day, The Independent takes a look at the manifestos published by the five big hitters.
Nigel Farage doesn’t want to join Tory Party
The Conservative Party is “not the sort of club” Nigel Farage would like to join, the Reform UK leader has told Channel 5.
Mr Farage told the broadcaster: “The problem with the Westminster journalistic pack is they think being elected only matters inside that chamber in Westminster.
“As I rather proved I think back in 1999 – when three of us got elected to the European Parliament and built a mass movement across the country on an issue that was unfashionable – however many of us get elected to that Parliament, yes, we’ll be there, but more importantly, we’ll build a mass movement across the country.”
Quizzed about a hypothetical invitation to join the Conservative Party in the future, Mr Farage replied: “Not the sort of club I want to join.”
Exclusive: Farage not as dangerous as Le Pen because he is a one man act, Straw and Rifkind claim
Former foreign secretaries Jack Staw and Sir Malcolm Rifkind have dismissed concerns that Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) topping the first round of the French election should be seen as a warning about Nigel Farage and Reform UK.
The result in France has shocked Europe and threatened President Emmanuel Macron’s Le Marche centrist party with a major defeat. He is now dependent on a deal with the far left to keep RN out of power.
Concerns have also been expressed after the shock result in France over the weekend with a number of people linking it to the rise of Reform in the polls in the UK election taking place on Thursday.
Mr Farage has previously been pictured with Ms Le Pen, the French far right leader, and suggested he could work with her on issues like immigration. However, he also suggested that she could be a “a disaster” for France.
Our Political Editor David Maddox has the full story:
Farage not as dangerous as Le Pen because he is one man act, Straw and Rifkind claim
Exclusive: Two distinguished former foreign secretaries have dismissed suggestions that Le Pen’s victory in France is a warning about Farage and Reform in the UK
Independent Debate | Is Starmer right to stop work for his family at 6pm on Fridays?
A row has erupted after the Tories criticised Sir Keir Starmer for his commitment to spending time with his children after 6pm on Fridays.
The Conservatives suggested that Sir Keir’s remarks, made during an interview with Virgin Radio, implied he would be a “part-time prime minister” if elected, with Rishi Sunak commenting, “I haven’t finished at six ever.”
But the Labour Party leader countered that safeguarding time for his 16-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter makes him more relaxed and a better decision-maker, adding: “There are a few exceptions, but that’s what we do.”
Now we want to know what you think. Would Sir Keir be right to stop work for his family at 6pm on Fridays if elected prime minister? Or should someone in this position always be on call as the Conservatives suggest?
Postal vote system ‘creaking’, election watchdog says
The UK’s postal vote system is “creaking”, the chief of the election watchdog has said, as a “record” amount of postal votes are expected this year.
Vijay Rangarajan, chief executive of the Electoral Commission, said: “We think about 6.7 million postal votes have already been sent and people have voted and have been returned back to electoral administrators.
“That’s better than previous elections … we could have a record amount of postal votes this time, so there is a bit of the system creaking.”
Postal vote delays: What’s happening and what to do if yours hasn’t arrived before the election
Postal vote delays: What to do if yours hasn’t arrived before the general election
Everything postal voters need to know about delayed ballots and what they can do
Politics Explained | Is there real reason to fear a Labour ‘supermajority’?
As election day approaches and the Tories look set for a defeat of historic proportions, Sean O’Grady busts some myths about what Labour might do in the event of a landslide.
He writes: “Wisely or not, the Conservatives have tacitly conceded not just defeat but an appalling humiliation on polling day, and are now begging for mercy. Somewhat unconvincingly.
“The prime minister himself, in the dying days of his administration, has declared: ‘I don’t want Britain to sleepwalk into the danger of what an unchecked Labour governmentwith a supermajority would mean.’
“The home secretary, James Cleverly, agrees and says that Labour would ‘distort’ the constitution.”
But not all such fears are fully justified. Read the full piece here.
Starmer refuses to pledge tax cuts if he wins
Sir Keir Starmer has told the BBC voters “(will) be better off” if he is able to grow the economy, but he refused to pledge a tax cut.
Quizzed about his party’s tax pledges and the status quo, in particular that “the tax burden is going to remain high” if he wins Thursday’s General Election, the Labour leader replied: “Well, no, no tax rises needed for the plans in our manifesto, other than the ones we’ve set out, but I’m not going to pretend that we could make tax cuts unless they’re funded and sustainable.
“We have to repair the damage to our economy and that’s why our central focus is on growth, on wealth creation, on making sure that people feel materially better off under a Labour government.”
Sir Keir added: “(Voters will) be better off because we will grow the economy, people will feel their living standards are rising, and better off in the broadest sense of the word because we intended to get the NHS not just back on its feet but fit for the future, make sure our public services are what people expect, what they’re entitled to, in fact.”
Starmer says watching Southgate move Saka to left made him ‘very nervous’
Sir Keir Starmer, who is a keen footballer and Arsenal fan, said seeing Bukayo Saka play at left-back during the England vs Slovakia Euros game made him “very nervous”.
England’s boss Gareth Southgate moved Bukayo Saka from the right-hand side to the left during the 2-1 seismic game on Sunday.
Speaking on BBC, he said: “He actually did start in his early days at Arsenal playing as a left-back so you could see the logic in it.
“But I think he’s been one of the major outlets on the right.”
England are set to go up against Switzerland in the quarter-finals on Saturday at 5pm.
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