General election 2024 live: five more police officers being investigated in gambling-gate probe

In a statement to Channel 4 News, Nigel Farage said: “I am dismayed by the reported comments of a handful of people associated with my local campaign, particularly those who are volunteers. They will no longer be with the campaign.

“The appalling sentiments expressed by some in these exchanges bear no relation to my own views, those of the vast majority of our supporters or Reform UK policy. Some of the language used was reprehensible.

“Reform UK is a party for everybody who believes in Britain. I am proud that our supporters, candidates and national campaign team come from all backgrounds and identities.

While campaign manager Peter Harris said: “I am appalled by these reported comments. All parties in such a short campaign are having to deal with the challenges of working with many activists they may not have met before.

“Any individuals who have been identified as making unacceptable comments and holding those views are not welcome in our campaign. We are running a campaign to represent all voters in Clacton.”

While Andrew Parker said: “I would like to make it clear that neither Nigel Farage personally or the Reform Party are aware of my personal views on immigration.

“I have never discussed Immigration with either Nigel Farage or the Reform Party and that any comments made by me during those recordings are my own personal views on any subject I commented on. At no time before I was sent out to canvass did I discuss my personal views with any representative of the Reform Party or Nigel Farage.

“I would therefore like to apologise profusely to Nigel Farage and the Reform Party if my personal views have reflected badly on them and brought them into disrepute as this was not my intention. I offered to help the Reform Party on their canvassing as I believe that they are the only party that offer the UK voter a practical solution to the illegal immigration problem that we have in the UK.”

There are only three days left until polling day. It seems an age ago that Rishi Sunak announced the general election in the pouring rain. Since then the gloom has followed the Prime Minister around, and he could be set for a historically low vote share come Thursday.

Sunak is certainly on the defensive and you can tell by his campaign stops today. He is going to Staffordshire, to try and protect Conservative seats there while Keir Starmer is on the attack.

He has three campaign stops this morning across the Home Counties, in Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Oxfordshire. This shows the ambition of Labour, to take on the Tories in previously safe seats.

Home Secretary James Cleverly has done the morning media round, and was asked on LBC about England’s dramatic victory at the Euros last night.

He said: “I mean, that was a match that was painful to watch until the 90th minute, wasn't it? I'm not going to try and draw too many metaphoric links between what happened in the football.”

When pressed he added: “The point is nothing's over ‘til it's over. Football punditry-term politics is always a bit of a funny one, but nothing is over ‘til it's over. We're going to keep campaigning right up until the last minutes on 4 July.

“And, as I say, the British people don't have to be dictated to by the opinion polls. They can do what they believe to be right and if they want low taxes, if they want their borders protected, if they want plenty of coppers on the street, they should vote Conservative.”

The government is “urgently” investigating delays to the postal voting system, a Conservative minister has said. Maria Caulfield was on the morning broadcast round, and told Sky News she was aware of a number of constituencies where people have not received their ballots.

The issues is once a voter applies for a postal vote they can no longer vote in person. So if their ballot does not come in time they would effectively be disenfranchised. Even if the ballots arrive in time, with just two days to go until the election there’s also concern that they won’t be returned by polling day.

Post Affairs Minister Kevin Hollinrake has called on Royal Mail “to do all they can” to make sure people get postal votes in time. The Telegraph has reported that more than 90 constituencies have raised concerns.

Caulfield said: “Kevin is investigating this urgently. I know there's extra resources going into this to try and do a sweep of all the sorting offices and make sure they're out there."

The postal voting system requires “huge reform”, the SNP’s Westminster leader has said, following reports some voters could miss out.

Some Scots have said they are without their postal voting pack and will not be able to cast a ballot ahead of Thursday’s election due to being on holiday. The 4 July poll is taking place in the first week of the school holidays north of the border, with a higher than usual number of people expected to vote ahead of time.

Speaking to the BBC, Stephen Flynn said the issues risk disenfranchising voters.

“I’m massively concerned about that, like almost every candidate across Scotland that I believe to be the case. I’ve had numerous emails from people who have not received their postal ballot, that’s simply not good enough,” he said.

“You know, we warned the Prime Minister of this when it became apparent that he was going to choose the election date because, of course, for a huge majority of the people of Scotland, it’s now the school holidays, people are away on holiday.

“If their postal vote didn’t land in time, then they’re now disenfranchised from this election, they’re not able to vote for who they want to represent them at Westminster, whether that’s the SNP, or otherwise, that’s simply not good enough.”

The Westminster leader, who is running to return to Westminster in Aberdeen South, added: “I see some individuals are blaming the Royal Mail but the reality is the system is not fit for purpose, and we need to see huge reform.

“We also need to see a big reflection on how we’ve managed to get into a situation where a prime minister can at his own whim declare an election, the Tories decided this was the way that they want the elections to operate in the UK.”

Sir Keir Starmer, whose wife is Jewish, has come under fire from senior Tories after saying he wanted to avoid work after 6pm on a Friday to spend time with his family – although he acknowledged that would not always be possible.

The Tories said that would make him a “part-time” prime minister while Cabinet ministers mocked him, suggesting he would refuse to go to work if there was an international crisis on a Friday evening.

Friday night Shabbat dinners are important in the Jewish faith and Starmer has talked about making sure his children are aware of their heritage. Lord Mann, a Labour peer who was appointed as antisemitism adviser by Theresa May, said: “The attack on Keir Starmer for asserting his right to family time on a Friday night, as he has done for many, many years, is so dangerous. So insidious from those aware of why he chooses to be with his family specifically on Friday evenings.”

He told the PA news agency: “It’s a very strange thing to attack over. I’m the independent adviser to the Prime Minister and my advice would be this is not an area to stray into.” He pointed out that Friday nights had a wider cultural significance within the Jewish community, likening it to Sundays in Christian communities.

Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “The attacks on him are a total disgrace and it shows how far these people have fallen, how heavily they’re scraping the barrel and why they need to be removed from office on Thursday.”

Asked on Times Radio if he would work beyond 6pm on a Friday, Streeting said: “I’m sure I will be and I’m sure Keir will be doing so too.” The Tories have repeatedly attacked Starmer since he made the comments on a Virgin Radio interview on Monday morning.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said on X: “Virtually every military intervention we’ve carried out has happened at night, partly to keep our servicemen & women safe. The British people will wonder who would be standing in for Starmer between 6pm & 9am – Angela Rayner, David Lammy, Ed Miliband? Defending Britain’s security isn’t a daylight hours only job.”

Two Reform candidates have dropped out of the election campaign, claiming the “vast majority” of candidates are “racist, misogynistic and bigoted”.

Georgie David, the Reform candidate for West Ham and Beckton, said she believes the party leadership is “not racist” but it has failed to “tackle this issue in any meaningful way”. David’s move follows that of Liam Booth-Isherwood, who was standing in the seat of Erewash under the Reform banner but also dropped out of the race saying he had become “increasingly disillusioned” with the behaviour of the party, citing a “significant moral issue” within its ranks.

Nigel Farage’s party has been embroiled by racism allegations since campaigners for Reform in Clacton were recorded by an undercover journalist from Channel 4 making racist and homophobic comments, including about the Prime Minister, who is of Indian descent.

While Farage has called the Channel 4 report a “set-up” – an assertion the broadcaster has strenuously denied – social media activity of candidates expressing racist, xenophobic or homophobic ideation has continued to raise questions for the party leadership on the views held by those within their ranks.

Reform has confirmed it has dropped support for candidates Leslie Lilley in Southend East and Rochford; Edward Oakenfull in Derbyshire Dales; and Robert Lomas in Barnsley North. David said she would be leaving Reform with “immediate effect” and endorsing the Conservative Party candidate in the seat, Holly Alice Ramsey.

She said: “I am in no doubt that the party and its senior leadership are not racist. However, as the vast majority of candidates are indeed racist, misogynistic, and bigoted, I do not wish to be directly associated with people who hold such views that are so vastly opposing to my own and what I stand for.

“I also have been significantly frustrated and dismayed by the failure of the Reform Party’s leadership to tackle this issue in any meaningful way, and their attempts to instead try to brush it under the carpet or cry foul play. As such, I have now suspended my campaign with Reform, and I am endorsing the Conservative Party. I would encourage all of my fellow patriots to do the same.”

A spokesman for Reform said they were “very disappointed” with David’s course of action. They said: “We strongly disagree with her sweeping comments about the ‘vast majority’ of our 600-plus candidates, the vast majority of whom she can never even have met.

“And we find it sad and strange that she chose not to bring up any of her concerns with the party leadership before publicly trashing so many of her blameless colleagues who are giving their all to get Reform UK elected. Ms David was a last-minute addition to our candidate list and we apologise to the voters of West Ham and Beckton for any inconvenience.”

On Tuesday, the Times revealed Reform’s Orkney and Shetland candidate Robert Smith posted numerous insults about prominent women on social media, including calling European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde “head bitch of the globalists” and advocating for Nicola Sturgeon to be shot. Reform chairman Richard Tice described such insults as “appalling” but said “like anybody, we make some mistakes”.

My colleague Tom Morton has sent in this dispatch from the Winchester constituency. Interestingly, the Green Party has been doing well in local elections, showing it’s not only in lefty Bristol and Brighton where it is getting support. Tom writes:

At first glance the area would seem to be solidly and stolidly Conservative. The “old” Winchester seat was held by Tory Steve Brine, and under the new boundaries it will encompass much of the old Meon Valley seat, which has now been abolished and was held by Flick Drummond since 2019 and George Holingbery before that, since its creation in 2010. The last three elections saw Meon Valley give Tory majorities of about 25,000. 

But that doesn’t tell the story; on the one hand, Winchester City Council (which now, again, overlaps with the “new” parliamentary seat) is under Lib Dem control, with the Tories battered down to a rump of eight seats after the last local election. And this area is also seeing its own version of a story being replicated in many places across the UK - the rise of the Greens.

The Central Meon Valley seat of Winchester council now has three Green councillors, and the area also returned a county councillor - Hampshire’s only Green - this year. And this goes with, elsewhere in the county four Greens winning seats on the traditionally all-blue Havant Borough Council, and two on Basingstoke’s council. It seems to be a quiet march.

Malcolm Wallace represents the Greens on Winchester City and the county council, and is campaigning this year for Lorraine Estelle for the parliamentary seat. He has seen the rise in influence first-hand, and said: “Just over two years ago there were no elected Greens in Hampshire. But people are not enamoured with the Conservatives right now. A lot of it is to do with hope and opportunity. It’s exciting what the Greens can bring. We are offering people a different voice. Protecting the local environment is really important to people. Improving facilities - that resonates with people.”

Read the full piece here.

A seven-year Tory MP and current candidate in Winchester, Flick Drummond, has said in a letter to constituents that she has been “as frustrated as you” with the Conservative government.

In the letter, Drummond says: "I know you might not agree with everything my party has done. I know you feel frustrated. I've often been as frustrated as you." Hardly a ringing endorsement of Rishi Sunak.

She also falsely claims Labour wants to bring in a national ULEZ scheme, a pay-per-mile road tax and give the vote to "immigrants and foreigners". None of these are Labour Party policy.

I’ve just been passed another Tory campaign letter, which is being sent out to voters. The tactics are a bit Back To The Future, with the letter purportedly written by the voter from July 2044 as a warning about voting Reform.

Clearly the Conservatives do not have much confidence, if they’re worried about being out of power for 20 years. The letter says: “Yes, it’s me. Or it’s you, I should say. I’m writing to you from July 2044, 20 years on from the day you voted Reform.

“I wanted to let you know how it all turned for you. And for me. Long story short: not well.” It says Reform didn’t get any MPs and Labour didn’t care about us.

The letter adds: “I’ve been living with a Labour supermajority for the last two decades.” So the Tories are predicting they would lose the next five elections. Crikey.

Boris Johnson has finally appeared on the campaign trail. After spending most of the last six weeks on holiday, the former Prime Minister appeared at a Conservative rally last night to warn the country about “Starmergeddon”. That’s a phrase he appears to have copied off Reform UK.

He said Starmer would try to “usher in the most left-wing Labour government since the war”. Making a reference to “other parties” allegedly “full of Kremlin crawlers”, Johnson said: “Don’t let the Putinistas deliver the Corbynistas. Don’t let Putin’s pet parrots give this entire country psittacosis – which is a disease you get by the way from cosying up to pet parrots.”

He added: “Everybody if you actually want higher taxes next week, this year, if you feel you’ve got a few thousand to spare, then vote Labour on Thursday. If you want uncontrolled immigration and mandatory wokery, and pointless kowtowing to Brussels again, then go right ahead, make my day, vote for Starmer.

“But if you want to protect our democracy and our economy and keep this country strong abroad by spending 2.5% of our GDP on defence which Labour still refuses to commit to, then you know what to do, don’t you, everybody?”

It’s an interesting move from the Tories to bring back the former Prime Minister, who was incredibly unpopular when he left office. He was forced out by Rishi Sunak, after he promoted Chris Pincher to Deputy Chief Whip despite being warned he was facing sexual misconduct allegations. Johnson then resigned as an MP after the Privileges Committee found he lied to Parliament about partygate.

Can Boris save Rishi? Or is he hoping to make another comeback? Time will tell.

Mel Stride, the Work and Pensions Secretary, has effectively conceded defeat for the Conservatives in the General Election.

Asked whether he agrees with Boris Johnson, that it is not “too late”, or Suella Braverman, that it is effectively “over,” the Work and Pensions Secretary told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “What I’m saying is very clear, which is that all the polls are pointing to one very clear conclusion tomorrow: a Labour government with a huge, huge majority.

“But what I’m also saying – and this is where I agree with Boris – is that it is not too late to make sure that we have an opposition in there, Conservative MPs who are able to hold that government to account.”

Susanna Reid didn’t beat around the bush: “That's the first time I've heard a concession speech from a sitting government minister, the day before an election, rather than the day after.”

Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman has urged the Conservative Party to “read the writing on the wall” and “prepare for the reality and frustration of opposition”.

Writing in The Telegraph, Braverman said victory should no longer be the goal for the Tories. “Thursday’s vote is now all about forming a strong enough opposition,” she wrote.

“One needs to read the writing on the wall: it’s over, and we need to prepare for the reality and frustration of opposition.”

Braverman blamed the situation on a fracture within the Conservative Party resulting from a rise in Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

She said: “It is notable that Labour’s vote share has not markedly increased in recent weeks, but our vote is evaporating from both Left and Right.

“The critics will cite Boris , Liz, Rwanda, and, I can immodestly predict, even me as all being fatal to our ‘centrist’ vote.

“The reality is rather different: we are haemorrhaging votes largely to Reform. Why? Because we failed to cut immigration or tax or deal with the net zero and woke policies we have presided over for 14 years.

“We may lose hundreds of excellent MPs because of our abject inability to have foreseen this inevitability months ago: that our failure to unite the Right would destroy us.”

I know a lot of people are still undecided about who to vote for. I’ve never reported on an election where I’ve had so many people asking for advice, which I think says a lot about the parties’ campaigns. So to try and help you my colleague Tabitha Wilson has compiled each party’s three main policies. Read the full piece below.

YouGov pollsters have said Labour will win 431 seats, which would give them the biggest majority of any party in modern history.

In the company’s final MRP poll before voting begins on Thursday, YouGov forecast the Tories would secure 102 seats, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak facing “wipeouts in North East, North West and Wales”. This would give Keir Starmer a majority of 212, the largest since 1832.

The Liberal Democrats are forecast to win 72, with Reform UK on three and the Green Party on two. The SNP are forecast to win 18 seats. According to YouGov polling, 89 seats remain “tossups”.

More In Common has predicted that Labour will win 430 seats and the Tories 126. That’s worse for Sunak’s party than More In Common’s first MRP from two weeks ago.

Keir Starmer said he hopes Thursday’s General Election will see Britain start to rise to the challenge of populism, adding the contest offered a “huge chance to take our country forward”.

Speaking to Chris McKeon from the PA news agency in his last national interview of the campaign, the Labour leader stressed his desire to address the “shared challenge” presented by populism “across Europe and across the world”.

In recent days, following electoral successes for the populist National Rally party in France and polls suggesting Donald Trump could return to the White House, Sir Keir has spoken of the need to offer a “progressive” alternative to populism. Asked whether he felt pressure to prove that Labour’s programme could provide an alternative, he said: “Yes, I do think it’s really important that we make that case.”

On a campaign visit to East Kilbride, he said: “There are many challenges, probably more challenges now than there were over recent years, both here in the UK, here in Scotland and across the world, and we have to rise to those challenges and it has to be a progressive answer to those challenges.

“Now obviously that starts tomorrow, I hope, in the UK, and here in Scotland as well, but it is then a shared challenge across Europe and across the world to meet the challenges of today with the answers of progressives.”

Asked how he felt about the prospect of entering Downing Street on Friday, he added: “While I recognise the responsibility, if we are elected to form a government tomorrow, I’ll see it all as an opportunity.

“An opportunity to deliver 40,000 more NHS appointments a week, 6,500 more teachers, to grow our economy and get more money into people’s pockets. So yes, it’s huge, but it’s a huge chance to take our country forward.”

Rishi Sunak said he has a “clear conscience” knowing that he has worked as hard as he can to do “right for the country”, in his final interview of the election campaign.

With opinion polls suggesting the Prime Minister is leading his Conservative Party to defeat, Sunak said he could “look myself in the mirror”.

Speaking to the PA news agency, Sunak issued a warning to would-be Reform UK voters that they would “get the opposite of what they want” if they backed Nigel Farage’s party, because it would “enable a Labour supermajority”.

Sunak said he always sought to “work my socks off to deliver for people and make a difference for them”. He added: “In terms of how I do this job, I work as hard as I can, I do what I believe is right for the country.

“That ‘clear conscience is the softest pillow’, as my father-in-law says. As long as I can look myself in the mirror and know that I am working as hard as I can, doing what I believe is right for the country, that is how I get through, and that is what I believe I am doing.”

Do not forget your ID tomorrow! Read the rules below.

In April 2022, MPs passed a new law making voter ID mandatory. The move is highly controversial, with widespread concerns that many could find themselves disenfranchised because they do not own ID.

The introduction of voter ID is designed to prevent voter personation, the crime of impersonating someone else when voting. But the Electoral Reform Society says the crime is “vanishingly rare” – there were only three convictions and six cautions between 2015 and 2020, according to the Electoral Commission – and that photo ID is a “solution looking for a problem”.

This will be the first general election to require voter ID, so people will need to bring specific photo ID to vote on 4 July. The ID does not need to be in date, but the photo will need to be a true likeness. It will be up to polling station clerks to judge whether your ID looks like you.

The full list is as follows: