General election latest: Major Tory policy has likely been 'under wraps for some time'; PM to shun Saints to campaign (2024)

Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, has been doing a campaign visit from West Yorkshire this afternoon.

She gives what will shortly become her recognisable stump speech - commenting on how it is "time to turn the page on 14 years of chaos and decline" with the Conservatives.

She adds that economic growth is "on its knees" - but Labour has a plan "to turn things around".

Ms Reeves highlights there have been five prime ministers, seven chancellors and 12 plans for growth since 2010.

The Labour front bencher adds that she will create a national wealth fund to invest in jobs and industry, with a "modern industrial strategy that businesses can get behind".

She pledges to "never play fast and loose with the public finances".

Sky News has been speaking to people from across the political spectrum about the announcement today on National Service plans being proposed by the Conservatives.

Paul Goodman, the former editor of the Conservative Home website, says: "Well, this is the start of the election campaign proper.

"I think we're now getting to the point where the two parties will begin to unveil their policies - and I would expect more from the Conservatives this week."

On the policy itself, Mr Goodman suggests there is a lot of support for some form of National Service, and this was researched by a former thinktank director who is now in government.

This suggests it has been "under wraps for some time" as a plan.

Meanwhile, Tom Belger, the editor of Labour List, says the plan is an "unfunded gimmick".

He adds that the government has had 14 years to come up with ideas.

But he conceded that Labour should not be ruling out a version of the pledge "per se" - but maybe should be "pushing back" on the "fixation of the armed forces".

Rishi Sunak grew up in Southampton and supports the city's football team.

He went to his team's play-off semi-final as they fight for promotion from the Championship.

But he will not be at Wembley today as the Saints take on Leeds United, with the final slot in the Premier League next season up for grabs.

Instead, it is understood that he will be meeting voters in the South East, the PA news agency has been told.

Sources close to the prime minister said he will still be paying attention to the score of the match, which kicks off at 3pm.

Pictures showed Mr Sunak was campaigning in North West London, within a few miles of Wembley Stadium, on the Sunday.

By Deborah Haynes, security and defence editor

The prime minister appears to have had a belated epiphany about the critical importance of defence - and now even National Service.

It was just four months ago that Rishi Sunak's spokesperson slapped down the outgoing head of the army for advocating the need for civilians to be trained to fight given the dangers of living in what the defence secretary has called "a pre-war world".

General Sir Patrick Sanders had simply been using a speech to state a blunt reality - war and preparing for war is a whole-nation effort as demonstrated daily by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, where Ukrainian citizen soldiers are fighting and dying on the frontline.

Rather than support him, a Downing Street spokesperson at the time said that "hypothetical scenarios" involving possible wars were "not helpful" and ruled out any move towards a conscription model for the military.

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the chief of the defence staff, and David Williams, the top civil servant at the Ministry of Defence (MoD), apparently even summoned General Sanders for a dressing down over the remarks.

But the army chief had not been suggesting conscription then - just as the prime minister is not doing so now.

He had simply been talking about the need for civilians to be ready to serve.

Given that context, Mr Sunak's sudden announcement that he would introduce a new form of National Service for 18-year-olds, including the chance to spend 12 months serving in the armed forces, sent eyebrows within the MoD soaring skyward.

"Deeply cynical," was the verdict of one insider.

Another told Sky News: "This is a policy surprise to me. I haven't seen it discussed in the Ministry of Defence."

Read more from Deborah here:

As every, people from across the spectrum are commenting on the most recent announcements in the general election.

One interesting take comes from Chris Wilkins, who was a strategy director and speechwriter for Theresa May when she was in Downing Street.

Writing on X, he panned the National Service plan - saying that "the cynicism of selling a sop to older voters as some kind of pro young person policy is simply breathtaking".

A former Tory cabinet minister has warned Rishi Sunak he will hand the election to Labour if he makes "any more gaffes".

The senior Conservative told the Telegraph the prime minister needed to sharpen up and show "humility, not arrogance" on the campaign trail.

"We can't afford any more gaffes like the ones he's had, standing in the rain and getting in a muddle with the football," they told the newspaper.

"He's just got to sharpen up, his team has got to sharpen up."

The prime minister launched his campaign by calling an election in the pouring rain on Wednesday, leading him to joke he hadn't caught pneumonia and did not know what state his suit was in.

To make matters worse, protestors disrupted the announcement by blaring the D:Ream's hit single Things Can Only Get Better, widely associated with Labour's 1997 landslide victory.

The next day, Mr Sunak asked workers at a Welsh brewery if they were looking forward to "the football" - even though their team had not qualified for the European Championships.

A visit to the Titanic Quarter in Belfast invited a "sinking ship" comparison with his party's fortunes from a reporter.

And an image taken of him standing beneath his campaign plane's exit sign also drew derision from some commentators.

"We can't afford any more slip-ups, that's just handing it to Starmer," the Conservative minister told the Telegraph.

"He really needs to get out there, all guns blazing, very professionally but also get out and talk to real people, and not staged events. I want humility, not arrogance, and a sense that we're moving forward."

Since Rishi Sunak called the election on Wednesday, pollsters and surveyors have been taking the temperature of public opinion.

One example of this is by YouGov, who asked 2,072 people on Thursday and Friday for their thoughts on the upcoming vote.

They discovered that a greater proportion of people would be "disappointed" or "dismayed" with the prospect of a Conservative victory under Rishi Sunak than a Labour victory under Jeremy Corbyn in 2019.

Some 59% of those quizzed said they would be unhappy with Mr Sunak winning.

In 2019, 52% felt similarly about Mr Corbyn.

And in further bad news for the current prime minister, only 38% of people who voted Tory in 2019 would be happy to see them reelected.

Once again, immigration was the subject of election debate this morning, with James Cleverly claiming Labour plans to scrap the Rwanda scheme were "reckless".

Millions of pounds has been spent on the Rwanda deal without any deportation flights getting off the ground – and Mr Sunak has admitted they won't before the election.

We've since had updated figures on people arriving on small boats, after they surpassed 10,000 this year on Friday.

Another 227 arrived yesterday on four boats, government data shows, bringing the total to 10,397.

Shadowimmigrationminister Stephen Kinnock has said ifLabourwas elected the party would "take the action required to tackle this chaos".

Amnesty International warned the figures were a "stark reminder that the government's flagrant attack on the rights to refugees is not only unlawful and immoral, it is ineffective even on its own terms", demanding the prime minister make safe routes available to tackle crossings.

Rachel Reeves, who is Labour's shadow chancellor, has ruled out increasing the two main levies on income.

Speaking to the BBC, she says that everything in her party's manifesto will have an explanation for where the money to pay for it will come from.

Ms Reeves added: "What I want and Keir [Starmer] wants is taxes on working people to be lower and we certainly won't be increasing income tax or national insurance if we win at the election."

The Labour Party has said it will raise some tariffs, with Ms Reeves saying: "We've made those commitments so VAT and business rates on private schools, private equity bosses being taxed properly on their bonuses, an extension of the windfall tax so the energy profits are properly taxed, ensuring non-doms pay their fair share of tax in the country they live in, and also cracking down on tax avoidance – which is costing our economy billions of pounds every year."

Our political correspondent Tamara Cohenhas been giving her reaction to Nigel Farage's appearance on Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips.

He was challenged by Trevor about his comments about British Muslims, having suggested there's a "growing number" of young people in the UK who don't subscribe to British values.

He pointed to pro-Palestine protests as an example.

You can read more of the pair's exchange in our 9.42 post.

Tamara says there will be "a lot of pushback" against Mr Farage's "highly incendiary claims" this morning.

But she says it's also a question for the leadership of his party, Reform.

Mr Farage isn't standing in the general election but has said he will campaign for the party, led by Richard Tice.

Sky News will be asking the leadership if Mr Farage's position is one it agrees with.