General election 2024: Reform will overtake Tories this weekend, claims Nadine Dorries (2024)

Thank you for joining The Telegraph’s live coverage of day 14 of the general election campaign.

My colleague Jack Maidment will be back early tomorrow to guide you into the third week of proceedings.

Asked whether the Prime Minister had been “irrational” to call an early election, Professor Sir John Curtice replied “yes”.

Sir John told ITV’s Peston: “From his personal point of view we’ve already seen the mistake writ large. He’s decided to go early and he’s lost his legislation on trying to ban tobacco smoking.

“I assume Labour will try to bring it back and Sir Keir Starmer will take the credit in the history books, rather than Rishi Sunak. That doesn’t strike me as a wise choice from a politician.”

Baroness Davidson, a former leader of the Scottish Tories, added: “It did allow for Farage to come back because there is a supposition that had this been an October or November election, he would have been too busy in the United States and he wouldn’t have been able to come back.

“I think there is a little bit of upset within the party about that, that maybe it was a tactical or strategic mistake.”

Asked whether it was a “credible ambition” for Nigel Farage to destroy the Tory Party, polling guru Professor Sir John Curtice told ITV’s Peston: “It’s certainly a credible ambition to add considerably to the Conservative Party’s difficulties.

“We’ve already had the first poll since Mr Farage became leader. It shows about a two to three point increase in support for Reform.

“The vast bulk of people who say they’re going to vote for Reform are people who voted for the Conservatives last time. You might say, hang on, if Reform weren’t on the ballot paper, maybe some of these people would vote Labour otherwise.

“However we’ve got the evidence from the English local elections and if you compare what happened in places where Reform stood and where they didn’t stand, the only party that lost out from the presence of Reform was the Conservatives. They’re not just taking people who voted Conservatives in 2019, they’re taking people who would otherwise vote Conservatives.”

The opinion polls have shown virtually “no movement” across the course of the campaign, Britain’s foremost election guru has said.

Professor Sir John Curtice told ITV’s Peston: “Labour maybe edged up a bit and that’s about it. One of the Conservatives’ main objectives was to start to win back voters from Reform. Frankly there has been no sign of that happening in the last few weeks. And it may well be that one of the reasons Nigel Farage has come back is that the prospects for his party are brighter than he may have thought.

“It’s worth bearing in mind Reform’s standing in the polls at the moment is already higher than it was at the last election when the Brexit Party withdrew its candidates.

“The common message that they’re getting although they disagree in the extent of it is that the Conservative Party lead is falling more heavily in places where they are trying to defend. Now in some respects that’s an arithmetical inevitability.

“With Reform running at 11 per cent as they are in the polls is that 11 per cent is for the most part going to occur primarily in Conservative-held constituencies, partly because there’s more Leave voters, but partly because the Brexit Party did not contest those constituencies.”

Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, said private schools “have an absolute right to exist” as he opposed Labour’s planned VAT raid.

“On that particular issue I’ve always felt that private schools have an absolute right to exist and I think they play a role,” Sir Ed said.

“We need to get a lot more money into the state system to improve schools that the vast majority of people go to.

“But on this specific point, I’ve never thought in principle that VAT should be applied to education. I just think it shouldn’t be.”

Asked why he decided to put himself “on the line” by sharing his experiences of caring for his disabled son, Sir Ed Davey said: “When I became leader of the Liberal Democrats, I said I wanted to be the voice of carers. And I feel we have and I have a responsibility to talk about carers and care because it’s so often ignored.

“I never used to talk about this, and it was a bit uncomfortable. Having talked to my wife about this, we thought we should do this.

“And the truth is it’s not about us, it’s about the millions of families who go through similar things. Caring is an issue that I want to put front and foremost in our policies and ideas.”

The Liberal Democrats’ newest party political broadcast includes footage of Sir Ed as he looks after his teenage son John, who has physical and learning disabilities.

The Billy Elliot story could become impossible due to Labour’s plan to impose VAT on private schools, the head of the Royal Ballet School has warned.

David Gajadharsingh said the proposed 20 per cent tax was likely to “destroy opportunity” for talented children from less well-off backgrounds and could end up harming the reputation of ballet in the UK.

In an interview with The Telegraph, he called on Sir Keir Starmer to reconsider the effects on both social mobility and the performing arts of the general election pledge, and to exempt children in receipt of government sponsorship.

The institution is currently home to 225 elite student ballet dancers aged 11 to 19 who combine a mainstream academic education with intense artistic training for up to four hours a day.

Henry Bodkin, our Senior Reporter, has more here

There was no clear winner in Monday night’s first election debate between Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer. But that is an outcome that will please Mr Sunak more than it will Sir Keir, writes Professor Sir John Curtice.

The Prime Minister had some clear attack lines and he doggedly and determinedly stuck to them. Repeatedly he argued that Labour would put up taxes, would fail to ensure that pensioners did not pay income tax, and would make it more costly for people to deal with the challenge of climate change.

Sir Keir’s tactic appeared to be to respond to Mr Sunak’s claims with disdain rather than a ready reply. He took a while to counter the claim that taxes would increase by £2,000 a year.

There was, in truth, no response to the prospect of pensions being taxed. Trouble is, disdain does not win an argument.

John Curtice: Neither man connected with the audience last night

Reform UK is polling just two points behind the Tories in the wake of Nigel Farage’s announcement that he will stand as an MP.

A YouGov survey found that Mr Farage’s party is at 17 per cent,with theConservatives at 19 per cent.

The polling company has changed its methodology this week and, under its old system, the Tories and Reform would have been neck and neck on18 per cent.

The survey of around 2,000 people will cause alarm in Conservative headquarters, as itpoints towards a Tory wipeout on July 4. With Labour on 40 per cent, it gives Sir Keir Starmer a 21-point lead over the Tories – enough for a huge majority in the Commons.

Read the full story here

Sir Keir Starmer faces his next election debate with Rishi Sunak on Sky News on June 12, writes Amy Gibbons.

Taking place just over a week after their first showdown on ITV, it will present another opportunity for the two leaders to prove their worth to the public.

Senior Labour sources said they were “really delighted” with Sir Keir’s performance in the first head-to-head on Tuesday.

But a snap YouGov poll after the event declared Mr Sunak the winner, albeit by a wafer-thin margin.

The Telegraph predicts what Sir Keir may be advised to do differently

Reform will overtake the Conservative Party in the polls this weekend, former Cabinet minister Nadine Dorries has claimed in the wake of a fresh polling blow.

Ms Dorries, who served as culture secretary under Boris Johnson, made the prediction after a YouGov survey showed Nigel Farage’s outfit just two percentage points behind the Conservatives.

It came as Richard Holden, the Chairman of the Conservative Party, was imposed on a safe Tory seat as the sole candidate in a process which local activists have condemned as a “stitch up”.

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Ms Dorries said: “I’m guessing that after the appalling events of the past few days over candidate selection, that Reform will have overtaken us in the polls by Saturday evening.”

The debate went well for Rishi Sunak, but all his winning points were bittersweet: they were arguments from the Right, and thus merely remind us of 14 squandered years, writes Allister Heath.

He was cheered when he hinted at pulling out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and when he rejected 35per cent pay rises for junior doctors; he struck gold when he warned of Labour tax rises.

But sending out strong Right-wing vibes at one minute to midnight in a desperate bid to deflect the oncoming Nigel Farage tsunami isn’t enough: after 14 years of talking as conservatives but governing as social-democrats, the Tories have run out of excuses.

They broke their promises on migration, legal and illegal, and never had the guts to pull out of the ECHR. They increased taxes, and are planning to do so again as a share of GDP.

This is why I blame the Tory wets, in charge for almost all of the past 14 years, for the Starmer-ite calamity that is about to befall Britain.

Allister Heath: We could be days away from a tipping point

Rishi Sunak has been accused of lying after he claimed that independent Treasury analysis found every working household faces a £2,000 tax rise under Labour.

James Bowler, the permanent secretary to the Treasury, warned that the figure used by the Prime Minister in his first election debate “should not be presented as having been produced by the civil service”.

But a deep dive shows that most of the maths underpinning this claim does indeed come from Treasury number crunching. Much of the rest comes from Labour’s own internal workings on what it expects its policies to cost.

In fact, Tory sources stress, only one policy was costed by the private sector - and that was in a note from an independent investment bank.

Szu Ping Chan has more here

While much of the rest of the Continent shifts to the Right, Britain is busy going its own way by turning Left, writes Jeremy Warner.

OK, so this may be an exaggerated description of the change in government which is about to take place in Britain.

A better way of characterising it would be as a quite marginal shift from the soft centre Right to a not wholly dissimilar form of ill-defined “third way” Blairite managerialism, with much the same positioning and outlook.

The choice between Sunak and Starmer is little different than between Sainsbury’s and Tesco: it’s merely one of tone, branding and buy-one-get-one free price promotion.

Jeremy Warner: Labour must fall into step with the Continent

The Liberal Democrats are being sued for discrimination by a de-selected candidate who alleges that he was “mocked and abused” because of his Christian faith.

David Campanale says that he was barred from standing as a would-be MP because of “animosity” by local party members toward his religion.

The former BBC journalist is suing both the local and central party, calling for compensation and a declaration that he has been unlawfully discriminated against because of his beliefs.

An appeal against his deselection as a prospective candidate is ongoing, but the party have since selected another candidate, Luke Taylor, to represent them at the general election in the target seat of Sutton and Cheam.

Hayley Dixon, our Special Correspondent, has the story

A Conservative Party spokesman has accused Sir Keir Starmer of “throwing stones from a house made from the thinnest of glass” after he accused Rishi Sunak of lying over the £2,000 tax rise claim.

“This is a man who has broken every promise he has ever made,” the spokesman said. “It is now for him to explain whether he has ditched his policies yet again or intends to break his own fiscal rules.

“Last night he claimed that the mental health policy costed by officials ‘isn’t the Labour Party’s policy’ despite publicly committing to it only five weeks ago. The costings provided for this policy are the lowest estimate provided by the Treasury and available on their website.

“If he becomes Prime Minister, he won’t be able to just cry ‘lies’ when presented with the reality that he needs to find £2,094 worth of tax per working household to fill his black hole.”

Jeremy Corbyn has criticised his successor Sir Keir Starmer over Labour’s defence policy.

The former Labour leader used an article in the Guardian to say Sir Keir was “right that security is important, but endless escalation is not the answer”.

“What about standing up to the fossil-fuel giants jeopardising the security of our planet?” he wrote. “Or abolishing the two-child benefits cap to end atrocious levels of food insecurity across our country?

“If he really cared about global insecurity, he would defend a foreign policy of peace and human rights, to ensure we get on with our neighbours in pursuit of a more stable world.”

Mr Corbyn added: “The Labour party has also signalled it will raise defence spending. But why can’t our media ask politicians some simple questions: what are you doing to prevent the descent into a protracted, all-out-war with Russia? Why can’t you learn from Latin American and African countries and establish zones of peace?”

I am not so much a floating voter as an unmoored one, writes Suzanne Moore.

Certainly, I know I would never drop anchor with the Tories. The party and all who sail in her deserve to be thrown over by the public for their sins, too numerous to mention here. Their palpable neglect of the people and infrastructure of this country has been shocking.

They are but a husk of anything remotely electable and they know it. Unlike some of my compadres, my fear of Labour is not that we will become some kind of socialist republic but actually not much will change. At all.

Starmer has moved the party to the centre to make it less scary and because he saw that is the only position from which Labour will ever win. Somehow, he has made ruthlessness quite dull though.

Suzanne Moore: Can I trust Labour on women and children’s rights?

Labour has all too many plans that involve spending more money, writes Sir John Redwood.

Ahead of the election they announced that their £28 billion bill for an accelerated path to net zero carbon electricity generation by 2030 was not a commitment. They hoped they could find the money some other way, without explaining how. They have plans for extra public service personnel, for higher wages, for new public sector bodies like Great British Energy and a nationalised railway.

These things always cost more. Nationalised industries have in the past generated huge losses, expanded their cost base and let customers down. HS2 has had a spectacular cost and timetable overrun. The Bank of England is in the mega league of losers with its billions of pounds of bond losses sent to taxpayers.

Labour’s acceptance of the nationalised bigger state model will of course force them to raise taxes were they to win the election. They could keep their promise to avoid increases in income tax, national insurance and VAT other than on school fees. That means even more threats of rises in a range of taxes on savings, deposit interest, capital gains, pensions, motoring, fossil fuel based heating and industry.

Sir John Redwood: You cannot make the poor rich by making the rich poor

Vaughan Gething has insisted following a no confidence vote in his leadership that he would not resign, pledging to “carry on doing my duty” as First Minister, writes Nick Gutteridge.

He told reporters that the “ill-health in two of our members have affected the outcome of the vote”.

Nick Thomas-Symomds, Labour’s shadow Cabinet Office minister, defended Vaughan Gething and attacked Plaid Cymru for supporting tonight’s successful no confidence motion, writes Nick Gutteridge.

He said: “At a time when Britain is desperate for change after 14 years of Tory chaos, Plaid Cymru voting with them in a political stunt today achieves nothing.

“Labour will remain focused on issues that matter, like tackling the Tory cost of living crisis, that is causing so much damage.”

Reform UK could win up to four seats at the general election with Nigel Farage as leader and MP candidate, a YouGov pollster has said.

On Monday, the polling company had projected that the Right-wing party would get zero seats on July 4 in a nationwide analysis of around 60,000 voters.

However, its director of political analysis has now said the announcement by Mr Farage that he was standing to be an MP could mean Reform UK gets as many as four seats.

Patrick English told The Independent: “I do think that Farage intervening significantly increases the odds of Reform UK winning one, perhaps even two seats in Westminster. You might even put an upper band of four on that, depending on what exactly happens between now and July 4.”

Genevieve Holl-Allen and Ben Butcher have more here

To show what impact the new methodology has had on voting intention, we have run our previous poll on the new methodology to show what difference it makes, as well as running this most recent poll on the previous methodology Labour’s vote share is lower under the new methodology.

This is partly down to the method change, although their vote share would have decreased whichever method we used. Fieldwork was all conducted after Nigel Farage announced he was standing as a candidate; Reform UK’s vote share rose 3pts regardless of which methodology was used, and so their increase in vote is not related to the methodology change.

The Conservative vote share has also fallen regardless of which methodology was used, so the decrease is again not related to the methodology change The Lib Dem vote is 2pts higher under the new methodology than the old one - but whichever methodology is used, the results are consistent with the previous survey. This means that our new higher figure for the Lib Dems is as a result of the methodology change

Vaughan Gething has “lost the confidence” of both the Senedd and the Welsh public after losing a confidence vote, the leader of the Welsh Conservatives said.

Mr Gething, the Labour First Minister of Wales, lost by 29 votes to 27.

Andrew RT Davies, the Welsh Tory leader, said: “Vaughan Gething has lost the confidence of the people of Wales.

“He has lost the confidence of the Senedd. The only person who is still batting for Vaughan Gething is Keir Starmer.”

You can follow the latest on this story here

Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer have agreed to a televised Sky News event on June 12.

They will travel to Grimsby, in the heart of the ‘Red Wall’ constituencies which were crucial to the landslide Tory victory at the last election in 2019, for an in-depth interview followed by audience questions.

Mr Farage’s party is up by two percentage points to 17 per cent, with the Conservatives down two on 19 per cent.

Labour is down six to 40 per cent, meaning its lead is now 21 points in the wake of YouGov changing its methodology and the former Ukip leader making a sensational return to frontline politics.

The poll was carried out on Monday, when Mr Farage announced his comeback, and Tuesday, the day of the first head-to-head TV debate between Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer.

The Liberal Democrats are on 10 per cent and the Greens seven per cent.

Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of creating an “almighty mess for Labour” by deselecting Faiza Shaheen.

Ms Shaheen was blocked from standing for Sir Keir’s party after allegedly liking social media posts that downplayed anti-Semitism accusations, only to announce this afternoon (see 16:10) that she will now run as an independent.

A spokesman for Momentum said: “Once again, Keir Starmer’s hyper-factional war on the Left has created an almighty mess for Labour. A week ago Labour had a respected, popular, local candidate democratically selected by local party members in Chingford.

“But instead of supporting her, Starmer’s allies decided to purge Faiza on spurious grounds and parachute in one of their own clique from outside the constituency.”

“Outrageously, the grounds cited to block Faiza included her discussion of her own experiences of Islamophobia within the party, in a textbook case of institutional racism. Now what should have been a slam dunk has turned into a massive challenge for Labour. Starmer’s stitch ups have backfired once again.”

The Labour leader has said he has no plans to raise inheritance tax, reports Amy Gibbons.

Asked whether he would rule out an increase in the levy, Sir Keir Starmer told reporters in Portsmouth inheritance tax was “completely different” to other forms of taxation.

“We have no plans to raise inheritance tax,” he insisted. “In fact none of our plansinvolve tax rises over and above the ones we’ve spelt out because all of our plans are fully costedand fully funded.

“And it is very important that I get across that we will not be increasing tax on working people, so no increase in income tax, in National Insurance or VAT.”

He also confirmed corporation tax would not increase, adding: “We’ve said that we will not raise corporation tax and we’ve locked that in for the entirety of the incoming parliament if we’re privileged enough to come into power that’s already been set out some time ago by Rachel Reeves. I’m very happy to confirmitheretoday.”

Sir Keir Starmer declined to say whether Vaughan Gething should resign if he loses a confidence vote in the Senedd later, writes Amy Gibbons.

Asked about the ballot on the future of Labour’s Welsh First Minister, Sir Keir said: “Well, I think it’s really important to see this for what it is. It’s gameplaying by the Conservatives, with Plaid playing along as well.

“What Vaughan Gething wants to do is to deliver for the people of Wales. And I think people in Wales want him to deliver for them. So that’s where his priority is. And that’s where my priority is.”

When pressed on whether Mr Gething should resign, Sir Keir said: “Look, it’s gameplaying by politicians in Wales. He wants to get on to deliver for the people of Wales, he’s right about that.”

An axed Left-wing Labour candidate will now run against Sir Keir Starmer’s party after resigning as a member in a fresh blow to the opposition.

Faiza Shaheen was blocked from standing forLabour at the general election on July 4 after she allegedly liked a series of social media posts that downplayed anti-Semitism accusations.

Ms Shaheen was initially selected to represent Sir Keir Starmer’s party in Chingford and Woodford Green in north-east London, where she has now confirmed she will stand as an independent:

Asked whether it was wrong as a “matter of principle” to “jump the queue” through using private healthcare or private education, Sir Keir Starmer said he was “not going to criticise anybody” who saved for their children’s schooling, writes Amy Gibbons.

“I understand many families work hard, save hard in order to be able to do so,” the Labour leader said.

“Equally with private health. But when it comes to the health service, I fundamentally believe in the NHS. My mum was very, very ill for all of her life.

“I know what acute care looks like because I’ve been there with my mum in high dependency units and I have every faith and confidence in relation to acute care in the NHS.”

Sir Keir Starmer has accused Rishi Sunak of breaking the Ministerial Code through “lies” about Labour planning to raise every household’s taxes by £2,000, writes our Political Correspondent Amy Gibbons.

The Labour leader said claims made by the Prime Minister in Tuesday’s head-to-head debate were “a flash of his character”

The Conservatives are arguing Labour has made £38.5 billion in unfunded spending pledges, the equivalent to £2,094 per working household over the next four years. Labour has issued a list of 11 challenges to the Tory analysis in response.

Speaking to LBC Radio in Portsmouth, Sir Keir said: “He breached the ministerial code because he lied. And he lied deliberately, because we have made clear that our plans are fully costed, fully funded, they do not involve tax rises for working people.

“So that’s no income tax rise, no national insurance rise, no VAT rise. And the Prime Minister with his back against the wall, desperately trying to defend his awful record in office resorted to lies and he knew what he was doing, he knew very well what he was doing.”

He added: “What you saw last night was a Prime Minister with his back against the wall desperately trying to defend 14 years of failure, resorting – and it was a flash of his character, an insight into his character – to lies. I don’t say that lightly.”

Rishi Sunak has spoken to Narendra Modi after the Indian prime minister won the election but lost an overall majority for the first time.

A Downing Street spokesman said: “The Prime Minister spoke to the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, this afternoon.

“The Prime Minister began by congratulating Prime Minister Modi on his election victory and wished him every success for his third term.

“The leaders reflected on the strength of the UK-India relationship and agreed that this will continue to grow in the future.

“Both agreed to stay in touch and looked forward to seeing each other at the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Italy next week.”

Green energy tycoon Dale Vince has donated £5m to Labour as he looks to bolster the Opposition’s war chest ahead of the general election.

The former Just Stop Oil donor has recently ramped up his contributions to Sir Keir Starmer’s party, handing over £1m the day after Rishi Sunak called the election on May 22.

This comes after previous instalments of £500,000 and £1m earlier in the year.

Mr Vince told the Financial Times that his latest donations mean he has now given Labour at least £5m.

Eir Nolsøe has the full story here

A woman has been charged with assault by beating and criminal damage after a milkshake was thrown at Nigel Farage.

Victoria Thomas Bowen, 25, is alleged to have thrown a McDonald’s drink at the Reform party leader on his first day campaigning to become the new MP for Clacton on Tuesday.

The Chairman of the Conservative Party has been handed a safe Tory seat in a process which local activists have condemned as a “stitch up”, my colleague Will Hazell reports.

Richard Holden – whose seat in the north east has been scrapped under boundary changes – has been parachuted into the constituency of Basildon and Billericay in Essex, two sources have told The Telegraph.

One former Tory MP said that candidates elsewhere in the country were “raging” at Mr Holden for being allowed to carry out the “chicken run” to the safe seat. An ally of Rishi Sunak, Mr Holden was elected to North West Durham in 2019 and in November 2023 was promoted to the Cabinet as party Chairman.

However, with his Durham seat abolished, he has been on the hunt for a safe seat elsewhere in the country and now appears to have made use of Tory selection rules which allow a single candidate to be imposed on a constituency close to a general election.

Read more: Richard Holden at centre of ‘stitch up’ storm

Asked during his televised debate with Rishi Sunak whether he would use private healthcare to help a relative waiting for NHS treatment, Sir Keir Starmer claimed that he absolutely would not, writes Isabel Oakeshott.

His wife works at one of the big hospitals, he explained, and the NHS “runs through his DNA”. Come again? Is the Labour leader crazy; cruel; or just unable to break free from the cult of the NHS?

Inside the temple, it can be hard to hear what’s going on outside, so let me help Sir Keir with some breaking news: this religion is falling; the infidels are gathering at the gate.

If he looks and listens, he will hear the noise. Following the madness of the pandemic, public satisfaction with the NHS has plummeted to its lowest level on record, with less than a quarter of those questioned saying they are satisfied with the service. Back in 2010, that figure, in the long-running British Social Attitudes Survey, was 70 per cent.

Confronted by the ugly reality about what has always been a brilliant idea but is no longer fit for purpose, the British public has finally stopped kidding itself.

Isabel Oakeshott: The public no longer believes the NHS is the envy of the world

Nigel Farage has burst back onto the political scene with the same power and impact as the atomic bomb, writes Sam Collins.

The next two days, before nominations close, are likely to provide his greatest opportunity to influence Britain’s future. But there is a risk he is making a terrible strategic decision that will harm the very same causes that he claims to support.

Many voters will sympathise with Reform’s desire at this election to “destroy the Conservative Party”. Many will have spent much of the last 14 years wondering when the “conservative” part of the Conservative-led Government was going to show up.

A number of Reform pledges – leaving the European Convention on Human Rights, repealing Net Zero, slashing the quangocracy and returning power to democratically accountable politicians – ought to be Tory pledges, ones that will deliver prosperity and freedom.

But given the almost certain outcome of this general election, Reform risks taking the same wrong-headed approach that it did in 2019.

Sam Collins: Reform must make a pact with the Tories

Sir Iain Duncan Smith has suggested that teaching D-Day in schools is crucial to ensuring a new world war does not break out with Russia and China, writes Milad Sherzad.

Ahead of the 80th Anniversary of the D-Day Landings on June 6, the former Conservative leader said the Second World War happened because “politicians failed to see the threat and deal with it early”.

Sir Iain, who has been the MP for Chingford and Woodford Green since 1997, referenced his father, Wilfrid Duncan Smith, who was a pilot and fought in the south of France during the summer of 1944.

Speaking on The Daily T podcast, he said: “My father never forgave the politicians - except for Churchill - for failing and for him losing a lot of friends. He said, I’ll never forgive them for not taking the decisions they had to take… we need never have been in this war.”

You can read the full story here

Labour is under pressure to explain why they wouldn’t raise every household’s taxes by £2,000, writes our Political Editor Ben Riley-Smith.

The Conservatives claim Labour has made £38.5 billion in unfunded spending pledges, the equivalent to £2,094 per working household over the next four years. Rishi Sunak used the figure, based in part on civil service workings, to attack Sir Keir Starmer in the first leaders’ debate on ITV on Tuesday night.

Labour has tried to refute the claim today, highlighting a letter from the Treasury which notes that the Tory claims “should not be presented as having been produced by the Civil Service”. They have also issued a list of 11 challenges to the Tory analysis.

But the Tories have hit back by pointing out that every costing figure used in their analysis except for one came from the Treasury or numbers put out by Labour themselves.

Conservative Party figures are arguing that Labour, despite labelling the claim as a “lie”, has not set out a detailed explanation for the estimated gap in spending.

Laura Trott, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said: “We have tried to be extremely reasonable in these assumptions and very, very transparent in terms of how they were put across.”

A Tory minister said the Conservatives had been “extremely reasonable” in their assessment of the potential tax impact of Labour’s policy plans.

Laura Trott, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, told broadcasters this afternoon: “We have tried to be extremely reasonable in these assumptions and very, very transparent in terms of how they were put across.”

Laura Trott said “independent analysis” had shown Labour has a “£38 billion blackhole” in its spending plans.

Asked about the Tories’ claim that Labour would increase taxes by £2,000, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury told broadcasters this afternoon: “What is absolutely clear is that due to independent analysis Labour have a £38 billion blackhole in their policies.

“That will lead to £2,000 of extra taxes for every family up and down the United Kingdom.

“This is underpinned overwhelmingly by HMT, analysis, Treasury analysis, so if people think that the Labour Party are going to win this election, they need to start saving.”

More than 40,000 migrants have crossed the Channel since Rishi Sunak pledged to stop the boats, with the numbers rising by 40 per cent to a record 10,745 so far this year, according to Home Office figures.

Labour claimed the numbers blew apart Mr Sunak’s claims that small boat arrivals were coming down, although the Tories maintained the figures for crossings over the past 12 months were still down on the previous year.

The Home Office confirmed that 234 migrants crossed the Channel yesterday, with the total number this year at 10,745, compared with 7,610 at the same time last year.

You can read the full story here.

The chairman of the Conservative Party has been imposed on a safe Tory seat as the sole candidate in a process which local activists have condemned as a “stitch up”, writes Will Hazell.

Richard Holden - whose seat in the North East has been abolished - has parachuted himself into Basildon and Billericay in Essex, two sources have told The Telegraph.

One former Tory MP said that candidates elsewhere in the country were “raging” at Mr Holden for being allowed to carry out the “chicken run” to the safe seat.

An ally of Rishi Sunak, Mr Holden was elected to North West Durham in 2019 and in November 2023 was promoted to the Cabinet as Tory Party chairman.

However, with his Durham seat scrapped under boundary changes, he has been on the hunt for a safe seat elsewhere in the country.

Telling civil servants to estimate the cost of opposition parties’ policies is one of the “grubbiest processes” in Whitehall, a former top mandarin has said.

Lord Gus O’Donnell, who served as head of the Civil Service from 2005 to 2011 and is now a crossbench peer, told the BBC Radio 4 World At One programme: “These costings – which to be honest are one of the grubbiest processes I’ve ever been involved in, and I hope to goodness that a future government will stop doing this because they’re done by both parties, right? Conservative and Labour have done them, I’ve done them – many of these during my career. I hated every second working on these.

“You have to produce costings. Ministers tell you to produce these costings on some assumptions they give you, which are dodgy assumptions designed to make the policy look as bad as possible.

“You’re required to do this… The Civil Service is not acting independently here – they’re acting as a Civil Service that is required by the existing rules to basically provide costings on an assumption provided to them by the Government. It’s totally not independent – it’s just what the Government told them to do, and they do it.”

Labour labelled Rishi Sunak “liar, lair” in a new social media attack advert amid a row over the Tories’ claim that the opposition would increase taxes by £2,000.

The party claimed Mr Sunak’s campaign was “built on lies”:

Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, has delivered his verdict on last night’s TV debate between Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer.

Writing in a piece for The Telegraph, Mr Farage said:

Overall, the evening was pretty uninspiring. Where have all the great characters gone? I am convinced that very few people in the country will have changed their minds as a result of this set piece debate.

The election continues in many ways to be the dullest we have seen in living memory. I do hope that perhaps I have done something this week to liven things up.

You can Mr Farage’s piece in full here.

Nigel Farage’s return to the political front-line could boost Reform’s chances of winning as many as four seats at the general election, a polling expert has suggested.

Patrick English, YouGov’s director of political analytics, told The Independent: “I do think that Farage intervening significantly increases the odds of Reform UK winning one, perhaps even two seats in Westminster.

“You might even put an upper band of four on that, depending on what exactly happens between now and 4 July.”

Mr Farage tweeted in response: “Now YouGov says Reform UK can win seats at the election. Something is happening out there.”

A think tank cited in analysis used by the Tories to back up their claim that Labour will increase taxes by £2,000 has said using its work to partly justify the figure is “misleading”.

A report by the Institute for Government is referenced in documents from Treasury officials examining the possible costs of insourcing of public services, one of the policies that the Tories say would contribute to a £38 billion black hole under Labour.

But Nick Davies, of the think tank, said that “to use IFG research to partially justify this figure is misleading”.

In a post on Twitter, Mr Davies wrote: “The evidence base for cost savings from outsourcing is limited and cant be applied to all services that might be outsourced.

“We make this clear in our analysis but the Conservative party’s assumptions ignore this.”

Nigel Farage will represent Reform in a BBC election debate featuring representatives frrom seven parties, the broadcaster has just confirmed.

The first BBC election debate, set to take place on Friday this week, will feature:

1. Penny Mordaunt – Conservative Party
2. Angela Rayner – Labour Party
3. Daisy Cooper – Liberal Democrats
4. Stephen Flynn - Scottish National Party
5. Carla Denyer – Green Party
6. Rhun ap Iorwerth – Plaid Cymru
7. Nigel Farage – Reform UK

The debate will be moderated by Mishal Husain and will be broadcast on BBC One from 7.30pm to 9pm.

Questions will be taken from a live studio audience and from ones sent in by the public.

Jeremy Corbyn has handed in his nomination papers to officially stand as an independent candidate in Islington North.

Mr Corbyn received cheers and chants of “Oh Jeremy Corbyn” from supporters as he left Islington Town Hall.

The former leader of the Labour Party said: “In Parliament I will be that voice for peace, justice and equality.”

Mr Corbyn said he will take the campaign to “every door in Islington North”, adding: “Do you know what, we’re going to win this.”

Rishi Sunak has just delivered a reading at a commemoration event in Portsmouth to mark the 80-year anniversary of D-Day.

The Prime Minister read a personal message sent by General Montgomery to all troops on the eve of the Normandy landings.

He said: “The time has come to deal the enemy a terrific blow in western Europe. The blow will be struck by the combined sea, land and air forces of the Allies.

“Together constituting one great allied team under the supreme command of General Eisenhower. On the eve of this great adventure I send my best wishes to every soldier in the allied team.”

Sir Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, has been fined for speeding after being caught doing 73mph in a 60mph zone on the M1 motorway.

Details of the case, dealt with under an administrative system called the Single Justice Procedure, were revealed by the Evening Standard newspaper today.

Sir Ed wrote a letter of explanation in which he said he had tried to pay a speeding ticket issued by Bedfordshire Police after he was caught speeding on the M1 near Caddington.

In a “genuine oversight”, he inadvertently failed to provide his driving licence details so the matter was brought before magistrates to consider in March.

Sir Ed wrote: “I apologise. The only mitigation for failing to provide my licence details was just being super-busy and failing to read the form fully, having already accepted liability and made arrangements for the payment.”

He was handed a £72 fine at Luton Magistrates’ Court, with a £28 victim surcharge, and had three points added to his licence, court staff confirmed.

The UK’s statistics watchdog is looking into the Tory claim that Labour is planning a £2,000 tax raid on every household, it has emerged.

The Office for Statistics Regulation has confirmed that they are looking into the claims, after Rishi Sunak repeatedly used the figure in the debate against Sir Keir Starmer last night.

The number came from a Tory dossier which claims that Labour is planning £38 billion in unfunded spending commitments.

It comes after a letter emerged from the top civil service in the Treasury that said the claims “should not be presented as having been produced by the Civil Service”.

The SNP’s Westminster leader has admitted that he will not support England at Euro 2024 and predicted Gareth Southgate’s team would crash out of the tournament before the final.

Stephen Flynn, who could wield significant influence in the event of a hung parliament, quickly replied “no” when asked by ITV whether he would be cheering on Scotland’s neighbours.

Both Scotland and England have qualified for this summer’s tournament in Germany.

You can read the full story here.

Darren Jones, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, has challenged the Tories to a TV showdown over their claim that Labour is planning a £2,000 tax raid on every voter, writes Nick Gutteridge.

The Labour frontbencher told The Telegraph he wanted to publicly take on his Conservative counterpart Laura Trott.

He dismissed a Tory dossier, which claims that Labour is planning £38 billion in unfunded spending commitments, as “a complete fabrication”.

Both Labour and the Tories have accused the other of planning tax rises.

Mr Jones said: “I’m so confident in Labour’s dossier because it accurately reflects what the Conservatives have said about their policy.

“I’ve gone through all of the Tory ones and they’re a complete fabrication - a lot of it is just not even Labour Party policy. So if they want to sit down with me we can do it on TV. We’ll go through it line by line, I’m very happy to do so.”

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said Rishi Sunak’s claim that Labour would put up taxes by £2,000 had not been “independently arrived at or verified”.

Paul Johnson, the director of the think tank, said the precise tax policies of the two main parties was still unclear.

He told the BBC that the “£2,000 per working household that the Conservatives are suggesting that Labour is committed to is not independently arrived at or verified”.

He said: “It has been calculated based on Conservative Party assumptions about Labour’s spending plans. It is also worth saying that it is cumulated over four years.”

The Welsh First Minister could lose a vote of no confidence this afternoon, with two Labour members of the Senedd “unwell”.

Welsh Conservatives tabled a motion of no confidence in Vaughan Gething, the leader of the Welsh Government, last Wednesday, following the collapse of the co-operation deal between Labour and Plaid Cymru and a series of rows involving the First Minister.

Speaking to BBC Radio Wales Breakfast, Vikki Howells MS, the chairman of the Welsh Labour group, admitted Mr Gething could lose the vote because two Labour members are sick.

The vote is expected to take place at about 5pm.

You can read the full story here.

Rishi Sunak has doubled down on his claim that Labour would put up taxes by £2,000 amid a row over the Tories using the figure.

The Prime Minister posted a campaign video on Twitter which showed a giant red piggy bank floating above the Manchester skyline.

The video states: “Labour’s promises will cost working families £2,094. If you think Labour will win, start saving.”

There is also a background voiceover of what sounds like Sir Keir Starmer repeating over and over again: “£2,000.”

Mr Sunak tweeted the video and the message: “£2,094.”

He shared a post on Twitter this morning stating “I will be standing as conservative candidate for Ipswich at election”.

Mr Hunt had originally set hares running about his intentions when he cryptically tweeted on Monday: “Much to ponder.”

Anas Sarwar accused the SNP of “symbolistic nonsense” after the party pointed out that Scotland was not mentioned by name once during last night’s TV debate between Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer.

The Scottish Labour leader told Sky News: “I think this is just symbolistic nonsense from the SNP. When Keir Starmer was talking about clamping down on non-doms and putting more money into the NHS, that benefits Scotland.

“When Keir Starmer talks about delivering a new deal for working people, that means a pay rise for people here in Scotland.”

Sir Keir Starmer is in Portsmouth today to take part in commemorations marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

The Labour leader wrote in a piece for The Telegraph overnight that he backed calls to ensure schools teach children about the Normandy landings.

He said: “I agree with those veterans who have recently spoken out to ensure that the story of D-Day is not forgotten.

“The generation growing up today should know about the sacrifices thatwere made so that they can enjoythe freedom and tolerance of modern Britain.”

You can read Sir Keir’s piece in full here.

James Bowler’s letter to Labour frontbencher Darren Jones about the Tories’ tax claims was sent on June 3.

That has prompted questions over why Sir Keir Starmer did not deploy the letter to counter Rishi Sunak’s claims during the TV debate last night.

Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, was asked this morning during a visit to Glasgow why Sir Keir had not mentioned the letter.

Mr Sarwar said: “We thought the Prime Minister would have more integrity than what he showed last night.”

Asked again why Sir Keir had not been quicker to counter the PM’s tax claims, Mr Sarwar told Sky News: “Keir Starmer is a man of integrity and decency and I don’t think he wanted to get down, the use of a word like lie and misinformation because he was using the debate last night, rightly, as an opportunity to speak not just to the audience in the room but to speak to people across the country who are really worried both about a cost of living crisis and an NHS crisis.”

Anas Sarwar accused Rishi Sunak of attempted “scaremongering” over his claim that Labour would put up taxes by £2,000.

Asked if Labour would raise taxes by that amount, the Scottish Labour leader told Sky News during a visit in Glasgow: “No, this is a straight up lie from a desperate Prime Minister in Rishi Sunak who is trying to scaremonger across the country because he wants to hide away from his own record.

“Labour has been very clear that the only tax we are looking to raise is on the super rich. We want to close the non-dom tax loophole to put more money into our NHS.

“We want to tax the oil and gas giants making record profits to help bring down people’s bills and invest in clean energy, something that will disproportionately benefit people in Scotland.”

The initial snap poll by YouGov in the aftermath of last night’s TV debate suggested Rishi Sunak had beaten Sir Keir Starmer in their first clash.

Two subsequent surveys suggested that the Labour leader had actually done better than his Tory counterpart.

Is Mr Sunak winning you over? You can have your say in our reader poll below:

A second snap poll has found voters believe Keir Starmer got the better of Rishi Sunak in last night’s leaders’ debate.

A JL Partners (JLP) survey for The Sun found 53 per cent of respondents thought the Labour leader performed better in the televised clash, compared with 33 per cent who picked the Prime Minister. Some 13 per cent did not know.

A Savanta poll published this morning gave Sir Keir victory by 44 per cent to 39 per cent.

But a YouGov snap poll published last night shortly after the debate concluded had put the PM slightly ahead on 51 per cent to the Labour leader’s 49 per cent.

Rachel Reeves promised a Labour government would not put up income tax, National Insurance or VAT as she sought to counter Rishi Sunak’s tax claims.

The Prime Minister has claimed that Labour would put up taxes on households by £2,000 but Ms Reeves said she would not introduce any tax rises “on working people”.

She said in a video posted on Twitter this morning: “I did not come into politics to raise taxes on working people, so my promise to you is this: Labour will not put up your income tax, National Insurance or VAT.

“The Tories crashed the economy and if they win they will do it all over again with their £71 billion of unfunded spending.

“That will push up your taxes and your mortgage bills.”

The Tories have insisted their tax claims about Labour are “fair” after a letter revealed ministers had been told by the Treasury’s top civil servant that the claims “should not be presented as having been produced by the Civil Service”.

A Conservative Party spokesperson told the BBC: “We were fair to Labour in the production of the Labour’s tax rise briefing note and used only clear Labour policies, their own costings or official HMT costings using the lowest assumptions.

“For example, using Labour’s figures for the spending items in the Green Prosperity Plan - using £23.7bn over four years instead of £28bn a year.

“It is now for Labour to explain which of the policies which were Labour policy no longer are Labour policy.”

Claire Coutinho claimed all Labour would do in government is “raise people’s bills”.

The Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary told GB News: “You look at Ed Miliband’s plans for energy in this country and all he would do is raise people’s bills and raise taxes to pay for it.”

She added: “Really, what I want to talk about is the principle, because ultimately, when it comes to the Conservatives, my priority is always going to be to make sure we can have cheaper energy and cheaper bills for people.”

Jonathon Ashworth responded to the James Bowler letter (see the post below at 08.48) during an interview on BBC Breakfast.

The shadow paymaster general told BBC Breakfast: “It’s a slam dunk proof of Rishi Sunak’s big desperate lie. That is the proof that Rishi Sunak lied.”

Pat McFadden said James Bowler’s letter relating to the Tories’ tax attack on Labour showed Rishi Sunak’s claim that the party would put up taxes by £2,000 was “categorically untrue”.

Labour’s national campaign coordinator said the Tories’ “desperate claim” had been “utterly disowned”.

The Treasury’s permanent secretary told Labour that Tory claims about the opposition’s tax and spending plans “should not be presented as having been produced by the Civil Service”.

Rishi Sunak’s claim that Labour would put up taxes by £2,000 is largely based on analysis conducted by the Treasury, commissioned by the Conservatives, which examined the costs of Labour’s planned policies.

However, James Bowler, the Treasury’s top civil servant, said in a June 3 letter to Labour that he had told ministers to be careful about how they presented the work done by his department.

He said in response to a letter sent by Darren Jones, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury: “As you will expect, civil servants were not involved in the production or presentation of the Conservative Party’s document ‘Labour’s Tax Rises’ or in the calculation of the total figure used.

“In your letter you highlight that the £38bn figure used in the Conservative Party’s publication includes costs beyond those provided by the Civil Service and published online by HM Treasury.

“I agree that any costings derived from other sources or produced by other organisations should not be presented as having been produced by the Civil Service. I have reminded ministers and advisers that this should be the case.”

The Tories’ “Labour Tax Rises” document did state that “almost every costing contained here has been conducted by HM Treasury”.

Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, said on May 17 when he published the document: “Today, I’m releasing analysis by independent civil servants at the Treasury on Labour’s plans for office. That shows a £38 billion black hole in their plans, which can only be fixed by further tax rises - the equivalent of £2100 per family.”

Claire Coutinho, the Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary, had told the BBC before the letter emerged this morning that the costings had been “signed off by the Treasury, by the permanent secretary of the Treasury, as the amount the proposals that the Labour Party have put forward so far would cost families.”

Claire Coutinho said the £2,000 Labour tax rise claim made by Rishi Sunak during last night’s TV debate related to a four year period.

The Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “It’s over the course of parliament. It’s £2,000 over four years.”

Richard Holden, the chairman of the Conservative Party, claimed Labour was failing to be “straight with the British people” about its tax and spending plans.

Mr Holden said on Twitter that Labour was being “brittle and snipey”.

Jonathan Ashworth clashed with MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis over Labour’s fiscal policy this morning.

On ITV’s Good Morning Britain programme, Mr Lewis quizzed the shadow paymaster general over his party’s plans for tax and spending, following think tank claims of “a substantial multibillion-pound black hole in the public finances over the course of the next parliament”.

Mr Lewis asked: “When you have a black hole in the public finances, you know, I know, and [shadow chancellor] Rachel Reeves certainly knows, there are only four ways you can deal with that: you can increase debt, which you’ve said you won’t do; you can print money, which would be inflationary; you put up taxes, which you’ve said you won’t do; or, you could cut spending, which you’ve said you won’t do, which means if you can’t do any of those, we’re living in fairytale land.”

Mr Ashworth replied: “We are going to put more money into the National Health Service and into schools. We’ve said how we’ll pay for that… the non-dom tax relief that the super-wealthy enjoy, we think if people work here they should pay their taxes here, so we’re going to impose that tax and that money is going to go into the National Health Service to help us deliver 40,000 extra appointments per week.”

He added: “Secondly, we’ve said we want to see more teachers in schools and mental health support in schools. That is why we’ve taken the very tough decision to levy VAT on private school fees, something that doesn’t happen at the moment. I know it’s a tough decision, but we’ve got to find the money from somewhere to put into our education system.”

Mr Ashworth said Mr Lewis had “missed out a fifth option” – to use the proceeds of economic growth to deal with some of the public services black hole, with proposed skills reform and investment into green energy.

A Tory Cabinet minister could not say exactly when the Conservative Party will publish its general election manifesto.

But Claire Coutinho suggested it would be published in the next two weeks.

She told BBC Breakfast: “Absolutely our manifesto will be fully costed. I am afraid I don’t have a timeline. I can assure you it will be before July 4 but I don’t have a date for you.

“But it will be, I am sure, over the next couple of weeks.”

Claire Coutinho said the “direction of travel” on reducing NHS waiting lists in England was positive but conceded they are still “far too high”.

The Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary admitted that waiting lists are still higher now than they were when Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister.

The subject proved to be a difficult area for the PM during last night’s TV debate as some audience members laughed as he talked about the waiting lists coming down.

Ms Coutinho told BBC Breakfast: “We are now starting to turn that corner and they are coming down.”

Claire Coutinho said that a Tory claim that Labour would have to put up taxes by £2,000 to pay for its policies was actually likely to be an underestimation.

The Cabinet minister told BBC Breakfast: “If anything they are underestimating the cost to families. So the costs that came out of those policies is £2,000. But if you look at the most expensive policies, it is one in my area, it is their green plan and they have said multiple times that would cost the country £28 billion a year and actually they then watered down the cost but they kept the policies.

“What has been used in that £2,000 of extra taxes for working families is that lower cost of £23.7 billion over a parliament when in fact you could have a debate about how much the real cost is because they were previously adamant it would cost £28 billion a year.”

The £2,000 claim is based on analysis conducted by the Treasury, commissioned by the Conservatives, which examined the costs of Labour’s planned policies.

Claire Coutinho claimed Sir Keir Starmer did not have “any answers” on all of the “big issues” during last night’s TV debate with Rishi Sunak.

The Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary told BBC Breakfast: “I thought it was astonishing that Keir Starmer on all the big issues didn’t really have any answers. There was no plan there.

“Actually one of the things that was most worrying is that the £2,000 of extra tax rises that his proposals would mean for working families, he simply couldn’t rule it out.”

An unlikely double act of broadcaster Piers Morgan and union boss Mick Lynch was well received by some on social media last night as they dissected the TV debate.

Mr Morgan responded to praise on Twitter by saying he had told Mr Lynch that “we may be the dream double act Britain never knew it needed”.

The pair had appeared on the BBC’s Newsnight programme.

Jonathan Ashworth downplayed the significance of opinion polls after a snap YouGov survey suggested Rishi Sunak had won last night’s TV debate.

A Savanta survey published the morning then suggested Sir Keir had won (see the post below at 07.16).

Mr Ashworth, the shadow paymaster general, told Sky News that “polls will come and go” and he believed Labour had emerged from last night’s debate “stronger”.

Jonathan Ashworth has accused Rishi Sunak of “lying” about Labour’s tax plans.

The Prime Minister said repeatedly last night that Sir Keir Starmer would raise taxes for every working household by £2,000.

But Mr Ashworth, the shadow paymaster general, said this morning that was “categorically untrue” as he labelled the Tory leader “desperate”.

He told Sky News: “I think last night, what was exposed is just how desperate Rishi Sunak has become because he lied about Labour’s tax plans.

“What he said last night about Labour’s tax plans is categorically untrue. Labour will not put up income tax, not pout up National Insurance, will not pout up VAT.

“And I think what we saw last night was how desperate he becomes. What desperate people do is they lie.”

Sir Keir Starmer beat Rishi Sunak in last night’s TV debate, according to a new snap poll.

A Savanta survey, conducted after the debate concluded, found that 44 per cent of voters believed Sir Keir had won while 39 per cent picked Mr Sunak.

The survey also found that the Labour leader was seen to have the best answers on the NHS (63 per cent to 26 per cent), the economy (52 per cent to 36 per cent) and defence (43 per cent to 41 per cent).

A YouGov survey published last night shortly after the debate concluded said Mr Sunak had won by 51 per cent to Sir Keir Starmer’s 49 per cent.

Chris Hopkins, political research director at Savanta, said: “According to our overnight panel, Starmer wins on the detail, but Sunak is much closer in the most important ‘who won the debate’ metric.

“Presentationally, it felt like the Prime Minister had the upper hand at times - in particular towards the end of the debate - and although our figures suggest he lost narrowly, he probably still outperformed expectations.”

A dedicated secretary of state for women and girls is essential in the next government to champion and make the changes many “desperately need”, campaigners have said.

An open letter to the major political party leaders urges them to commit to the standalone role in Cabinet which they said would ensure the seriousness of women and girls’ needs is met with “serious political resource”.

The women and equalities portfolio has traditionally been held by ministers with other responsibilities but the letter, co-ordinated by Agenda Alliance, said responsibility for some of the most vulnerable in society should not be a “bolt-on to other more senior roles”.

Last night’s general election TV debate brought at least one thing into sharp focus: The Tories intend to hammer Labour over tax rise claims.

Rishi Sunak said repeatedly during his clash with Sir Keir Starmer that Labour intend to raise taxes for every working household by £2,000.

Labour hit back and accused the Prime Minister of lying, labelling the figure “made-up” and insisting that the party “will not put up income tax, national insurance or VAT”.

Numerous senior Tories seized on the tax issue to attack Labour on social media:

Richard Tice said the return of Nigel Farage to the political front-line will put “rocket boosters” onto Reform’s general election campaign.

Mr Farage electrified the campaign earlier this week as he reversed his decision not to stand as a candidate as he also replaced Mr Tice as Reform leader.

Mr Tice told ITV that he was “delighted” by Mr Farage’s return.

He said: “I’ve been talking to Nigel about our plans for months, and we know we’re doing well, but we want to put turbo boosters, rocket boosters onto our campaign, and that’s what we’ve done.

“I’m delighted that Nigel has agreed both to stand, to lead the party, and off we go.”

Almost two-thirds of voters found the first TV debate debate Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer frustrating, according to a snap YouGov poll published late last night.

Some 62 per cent used the word to describe how they felt about the clash - the most popular answer.

The survey of 1,657 people also found that 42 per cent said they found the debate interesting and 32 per cent said it had been vague.

Just four per cent said they felt the debate was authentic.

Johnny Mercer, the minister for veterans’ affairs, denied a Labour claim that Rishi Sunak had appeared “tetchy” in last night’s TV debate.

He told reporters: “No, he wasn’t tetchy at all. Listen, if you put yourself out there in public life and you actually stand for something, if you’re like Keir and you blow this way and that, you try to be all things to all men, it’s easy, you just ghost your way through.

“If you actually stand up for something and pin your colours to the mast, yes it is frustrating when someone on the other side basically says whatever he needs to to get through something without delivering any plan whatsoever to the British people to be their prime minister.

“So I don’t think he was tetchy, I think he was firm, I think he was clear and I think he was straight, and that’s what people expect from their prime minister.”