General Election: Reform UK predicted to smash another major milestone in new poll

Tory MP Jonathan Gullis has joked at a rally with Mr Sunak that: "Starmer takes so many positions on so many issues that he puts the Kama Sutra to shame".

Referencing today's row about Keir Starmer's pledge to clock off at 6pm if he's Prime Minister, Mr Gullis joked: "Let’s hope Putin doesn’t choose 6.01pm to take his plans further”.

Savanta has recorded that support for the Conservatives has crept back up to its highest level since the D-Day row.

The poll found the Tories now at 24%, with the last time they were higher being before Mr Sunak left the Normandy anniversary prematurely.

While the poll also sees Reform slipping back to 13%, Savanta says that the resulting election would produce a Labour majority of over 200, and see the Tories fall to double digit seats.

Rishi Sunak appeared to vent some of his election frustrations this afternoon when launching a cricket ball at the travelling press pack.

Taking to the cricket pitch, Mr Sunak quipped that the photo opportunity "is the most relaxed I've felt all day".

He also joked that he is trying to get his daughters into cricket but “slightly failing”

Boris Johnson was doorstepped outside his office today by a Sky journalist who tried asking him "where have you been this election for the Tories".

He followed up by asking whether the he's not playing a more active role because he thinks Labour is going to win.

Mr Johnson ignored the questions.

Starmer has claimed there are “no no-go” areas for the Labour Party to try and win.

The Labour leader, on the campaign trail in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire, said he wants to target traditional Tory heartlands.

The Labour leader said: “There are no ‘no-go’ areas".

“I want to come to places like this, places that we wouldn’t normally win because, one, I think it’s important we see the task of earning every vote as one that is across the whole of the country.

“I do think in many cases people who have voted Tory for many years have become disillusioned with the Tory party now after 14 years of chaos and division. And they are looking elsewhere, and do want change.

“I haven’t in any constituency, this one included yet, encountered anybody whose response to me has been ‘things are pretty good, I really like it, I just want more of this’.”

Labour's attack dog Jonathan Ashworth has claimed the Tories will be taken over by Liz Truss' project after the election.

In an attempt to scare voters off backing the party, Mr Ashworth produced a list of over 160 Tory candidates he claims are or were keen supporters of the former Prime Minister, or are involved with her 'Popular Conservatism' movement.

He claims that a PopCon conference on July 9th, the movement will use it as a forum to retake the party leadership.

Keir Starmer has said he'll clock off at 6pm each day as Prime Minister, as he refuses to work "24/7".

The Labour leader says he wants to continue having "protected time for the kids" every Friday.

He told Virgin Radio that he will "not do a work related thing after 6pm pretty well come what may” and plans to continue that working habit if he becomes Prime Minister.

He added: "I don’t believe in the theory that you’re a better decision maker if you don’t allow yourself the space to be a dad and have fun for your kids".

"Actually, it helps me. It takes me away from the pressure, it relaxes me and I think actually, not only is that what I want to do as a dad, it is better.”

"Politics, some people think if you fill your diary 24/7 and don’t do anything else, that makes you a much better decision maker. I don’t agree with that. I think you’ve got to make space.”

Sir Keir Starmer said a victory for France's National Rally would not damage Labour's goal of negotiating a "better deal" with the European Union.

Asked whether he would be willing to work with Marine Le Pen's party, the Labour leader told reporters in Buckingham and Bletchley: "I will work with any government in Europe and across the world if we are elected in to serve the country. For me, that's what serious government is about."

Pressed on Ms Le Pen's preference for bilateral deals over EU-wide ones, Sir Keir said: "I've always supported bilaterals as well as EU-wide agreements. They're not mutually exclusive.

"And some of the agreements we've got with France are bilateral in any event. I think they need to be stronger and better and deeper, particularly in relation to smashing the gangs that are running the vile trade of putting people into boats.

"But there are also EU measures. The security agreement we want with the EU when it comes to dealing with smuggling gangs is really important."

Asked whether he was concerned a Eurosceptic French government could make his aim of closer economic ties more difficult to achieve, he said: "I genuinely don't want to get ahead of myself. Firstly, we haven't seen the final outcome in France. We've also got a big outcome of our own on Thursday.

"I don't think it affects the overall intention we have, which is to negotiate a better deal with the EU. I think the deal we've got is botched. I think that anybody who's trading with the EU feels that it's botched, and we can do better than that across not just trade, but actually research and development, also on the security front."

Former Tory MP Rory Stewart insisted the only way the Conservative party can win is by retaking the centre.

Referring to French far-right party leader Marine Le Pen, he told Times Radio: "We've all got to lean in. And I think that's where people like me but also my friend David Gauke, have got to continue making the case that the future of the party, the only way we can win is not by being Le Pen.

"You don't win a majority in Britain by just appealing to the populist right. You have to retake the centre. The electorate is not like the French."

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Reform UK has announced a £1 million last-week advertising splurge ahead of the country going to the polls on Thursday.

The party said it was "flooded" with £400,000 of donations in 24 hours, and that in the month of the General Election campaign the party's membership had doubled from 30,000 to 60,000.

Reform said the donations came from "grass-roots" support spurred on by the party's event held in Birmingham at the weekend.

The £1 million advertising campaign across national newspapers and websites will seek to drive home the message that only Reform UK will be able to mount an effective opposition to a Labour government.

Party leader Nigel Farage said he was "blown away by the generosity of so many ordinary people who are sick of what is happening to this country".

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has suggested the UK would become the "soft touch of Europe" on illegal migration under a Labour government.

Challenged over his claim that migrants in Calais are waiting for a Labour government before making the crossing, Mr Sunak said: "That's what the illegal migrants themselves in Calais are saying.

"They know Rwanda is not somewhere they would like to go, it is a deterrent. It's very simple - I don't think illegal migrants should get to stay in our country."

Mr Sunak added: "A vote for anyone else just means that we are going to become the soft touch of Europe when it comes to illegal migration.

"We've had two debates head-to-head and anyone who has watched them will have seen that Keir Starmer just simply can't answer the question - what would he do with illegal migrants that come to our country. He doesn't have a plan, I have a plan."

Asked if he was visiting safe Tory areas because he had given up trying to win, Rishi Sunak said: "No, absolutely not.

"I'm fighting hard for every vote. I don't take a single place or person for granted, but I don't want Britain to sleepwalk into the danger of what an unchecked Labour government with a supermajority would mean."

"And that means handling Labour a blank cheque that people won't be able to get back, a blank cheque to put up everyone's taxes, to make us a soft touch of Europe when it comes to migration, to reverse my cost-saving net zero reforms and to ensure pensioners pay a tax for the first time in our country's history on the state pension.

"I don't want that to happen. So I want to talk to as many people as possible about the choice at this election, a vote for the Conservatives is a vote to have your voice heard. I will fight for you. I will stand up for you, and crucially, continue to cut your taxes."

The Conservatives are facing a wipe out in London at the General Election, new polling suggests.

The survey for Savanta puts Labour 30 points ahead of the Tories on 49% to 19% respectively.

Reform UK takes 11% with around a quarter of those who voted for Conservative candidate Susan Hall in the London mayoral election saying they would back Nigel Farage's party.

Chris Hopkins, political research director at Savanta, said: “Our research suggests that the Conservatives could be all but wiped out from London this week, if our results are replicated on election day. Their party is deeply unpopular in the capital, leaking votes to Reform UK and facing threats from both Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

"Labour is seen by Londoners as most trusted on every policy issue important to them, from housing to the cost of living. That ultimately will be likely what drives Londoners on polling day, with our research also suggesting they're looking forward to a London Mayor and a national government working together."

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, speaking at a campaign event in Staffordshire, said: "It's a big week, I'm going to cut straight to it. I know many of you who supported us in the past have some hesitations about doing that again.

"I know you're frustrated with me, frustrated with our party, it hasn't been an easy few years for anybody, I get all of that, we haven't got everything right, we've made mistakes. I appreciate and hear your frustration.

"But when you go to the polls on Thursday you have to remember this is not a by-election. This is a choice about who governs our country for years and I would urge you not to sleepwalk into that, think about what that will mean for you and your family and the impact that'll have.

"In particular, if these polls are right, and Labour are in power with a supermajority, you have to think about what that will mean - a Labour government unchecked, no-one to hold them accountable, no-one to stand up to them in Parliament and all of the impact it would have on all of your lives.

"If you hand Labour a blank cheque you will not be able to get it back."

Mr Sunak added: "If I remain as your Prime Minister on Friday we will keep going to cut all of your taxes."

I am at a medical distribution factory in Stoke-on-Trent where Rishi Sunak will defend his Government record over the last 14 years.

He will do his best to slash the “supermajority” that Labour is on course for on Thursday, if polls are to be believed.

Stoke-on-Trent candidate Jonathan Gullis is currently chatting to journalists clad in hi-vis ahead of a factory worker Q&A.

The Prime Minister is fired up to also fight off the threat of Nigel Farage’s party. Mr Sunak will no doubt face many questions about Reform UK in a grilling by journalists later.

The Labour Party passed out pillows to journalists on Monday morning printed with the words "Don't wake up to 5 more years of the Tories".

Sir Keir Starmer was asked by Sky News journalist Beth Rigby after a stump speech at Hitchin Town Football Club if that is what he puts his head on when he goes to sleep.

He laughed and said: "No, but you can take that one Beth for tonight for the last whatever it is three sleeps to the election you can sleep on that pillow.

"But it's true. Don't wake up to five more years of the Tories because if you don't vote Labour, if you don't vote for change, change won't happen. So a very, very good pillow for us to have I think across the country."

Ed Davey has been making one last leap in the Lib Dems' election campaign.

Davey is at Eastbourne Borough Football Club in East Sussex, where he's just completed a bungee jump in a bid to grab voters' attention.

The PM has warned voters they only have days to save Britain from "the danger a Starmer government would mean".

Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph the Prime Minister urged undecided voters to back the Tories.

He said: "Labour would bankrupt people in every generation. Whatever your stage of life, Labour will put up your taxes.

"Buying your first home, starting a family, sending your kids to a fee paying school, Labour would raise your taxes".

He also warned that Labour would cause "irreversible damage" in their first 100 days of government.

The Conservatives have “done the right thing” by the British people, Home Secretary James Cleverly has said.

Mr Cleverly told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “As the Prime Minister is saying, we will campaign right until polls close. We will put forward the work that he and his team have done, bringing inflation down to 2%.

He added: “We’ve got economic growth faster than any other country in the G7, wages growing faster than prices, unemployment remaining low, so we have, I think particularly in these last difficult couple of years, done the right thing by the British people and we are determined that if we are voted back in that we will continue to bring down their taxes, that we will continue to grow the economy, to attract investment into business.”

Home Secretary James Cleverly has accused Labour of "copying his work".

He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “I’m absolutely determined as Home Secretary to continue looking at ways of smashing the gangs, interrupting their supply of boats, interrupting their supply of engines, interrupting their illegal money, and of course having the deterrent, the Rwanda scheme, which is designed to deter people from making that dangerous and illegal crossing.”

Asked about his use of the phrase “smash the gangs”, terminology associated with Labour’s policy on immigration, Mr Cleverly said: “They are copying my work.

“Because we have worked with European law enforcement agencies, we’ve successfully seized a number of boats that were in transit across Europe, a number of engines that were in transit across Europe interrupting their supply of money, so the National Crime Agency is doing that.

“I’ve made it clear since the day I was appointed as Home Secretary that my plan was to make it impossible for the criminal business and people-smuggling to operate.”

Shadow paymaster general Jonathan Ashworth has denied Vladimir Putin would rather see Labour win over the Conservatives.

When asked about comments made by Rishi Sunak on Sunday, Mr Ashworth told Times Radio: "No of course not.

"This is pretty desperate stuff from the Tories now, really desperate ... Labour would always put the defence of our people first."

Home Secretary James Cleverly said a small boat released into the crowd at Glastonbury was "a celebration of the loss of life in the Channel".

Mr Cleverly was referring to a Banksy piece of an inflatable boat mock-up featuring dummies of migrants that was pictured during a performance by rock band Idles on the Other Stage on Friday night.

He told Sky News: "There are a bunch of people there joking and celebrating about criminal actions which costs lives, people die. People die in the Mediterranean, they die in the channel. This is not funny. It is vile. It is a celebration of the loss of life in the channel."

Asked if the boat could have been a commentary on the Conservatives' failure to stop the boats he said: "Our ability to sort that problem out has been hampered every stage by the Labour Party who aspire to border control.

"They know that had they supported us, they voted over 130 times to prevent us taking greater control of our borders, the hypocrisy of the left on this issue is breathtaking and to joke about it, to celebrate it at a pop festival when there have been children dying in the channel is completely unacceptable."

Home Secretary James Cleverly has said there is "no credible analysis" to say that Reform could be the largest opposition party.

He told Sky News: "There is no no credible analysis at all that indicates that that is possible. The best case scenario is predicted that Reform might get a small handful of MPs but in doing so, give Labour a huge majority, which they would use to bring in votes at 16, votes for prisoners, votes for foreign nationals.

"They're determined to gerrymander the system to get a permanent Labour government and I don't think that's what Conservative voters or potential Reform voters want."

Asked if any of his party colleagues were having their "head turned" by Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, Mr Cleverly said: "I don't know anyone in my party that is being seduced by that."

He added: "I've made it very, very clear on numerous occasions that someone who has set his aim to destroy the Conservative Party and hand a big majority, permanent majority potentially if they gerrymander the electoral system, to a party (Labour) led by a man who said all immigration legislation was racist, took the knee whilst BLM protesters were attacking police officers rather than backing our police, who has has said that all immigration legislation is racist, this is what a vote for Reform would do."

Rishi Sunak is doubling down on his call for the public not to "surrender your voice to Labour" as he heads to the Midlands.

The Prime Minister has warned Sir Keir's party would "change every rule" to consolidate power and make it harder to vote for a change of government.

The Conservatives are also using a drop in the energy price cap to warn of a Labour "triple whammy" of job losses, higher taxes and poor investment which they claim would arise from the opposition party's plans to boost green power.

Meanwhile, the Labour leader will go on a whistlestop tour across south-east England as campaigning ratchets up a notch in the final days before the July 4 polling day.

He will speak to activists and take questions from the media out on the stump at three different locations near or in the Home Counties.

Sir Ed Davey will continue his campaign in so-called "blue wall" seats in the traditionally Conservative heartlands of southern England.

SNP leader and Scottish First Minister John Swinney will be out in the north east of the country.

Welcome to our live blog coverage on the week of the General Election. Follow this page for the latest news and updates.