General election live: Tories fighting to prevent Labour ‘supermajority’, says Shapps | General election 2024

In an interview with ITV due to be broadcast on Wednesday evening, Rishi Sunak says he went without “lots of things” as a child, including Sky TV.

Sunak was pressed in the interview by the ITV journalist Paul Brand to give examples of things he didn’t have a child to which he replied: “There’ll be all sorts of things that I would’ve wanted as a kid that I couldn’t have. Famously, Sky TV, so that was something that we never had growing up actually.”

Sunak defended his upbringing, however, arguing that he was raised to appreciate hard work: “My parents worked very hard for what they had and they wanted their kids to have a better life.”

Libby Brooks

Anas Sarwar has said there will be no austerity under a Labour government as he fended off accusations from the SNP during an ill-tempered BBC Scotland leaders’ debate.

The first minister and SNP leader John Swinney repeatedly claimed on Tuesday evening that “independent experts said there would be £18bn of cuts after this election whether the Conservatives or Labour party form the government”. The audience loudly applauded Sarwar when he countered: “Read my lips: no austerity under Labour.”

Swinney told the audience that “Anas is not being straight with you” – quoting research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Institute for Government and Joseph Rowntree Foundation and arguing that Labour had “accepted the fiscal constraints of the Tories”.

Sarwar responded: “I will not disagree when it comes to the carnage the Conservatives have imposed on this country, and the state of their public finances. In 23 days’ time the choice that people have is that they can wake up to five more years of Rishi Sinak, Liz Truss … or we can get rid of the whole sleazy lot of them.”

During the debate, broadcast from Glasgow University’s Bute Hall in front of an audience of Scottish voters, the chair Stephen Jardine struggled at times to maintain order as Sarwar, Swinney and the Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross shouted over one another.

The hour-long programme was punctuated by audience questions expressing frustration with the cost of living and the state of public services – which Swinney’s Scottish government is responsible for – alongside attacks on the SNP leader’s record from his political opponents.

Defence secretary Grant Shapps gave the wrong figure for the government’s stamp duty policy during an interview on LBC Radio.

He told presenter Nick Ferrari that stamp duty would be abolished for first-time buyers on homes valued up to £450,000, but later in the show Ferrari put it to Shapps that the policy’s real figure is £425,000.

Shapps said: “You’ve got a number in front of you, you’re probably right, because I was thinking off the top of my head.”

Ferrari replied: “So you’re the secretary of defence, sent out to talk today, and you don’t even get the figure right …”

Shapps replied: “If it’s written down as 425 it’s 425. Off the top of my head I remember it as 450. I found it here … you’re right, it’s 425 million …”

Ferrari then interrupted, saying “I think it’s £425,000.” Shapps said: “Sorry, indeed.”

Nadeem Badshah

Rishi Sunak has said that he went without “lots of things” as a child growing up in the UK, citing Sky TV as an example.

In an interview with ITV to be broadcast on Wednesday, the prime minister said a lot of sacrifices were made by his parents as education was their priority.

Pressed to give an example of something that he grew up without, Sunak said: “There’ll be all sorts of things that I would’ve wanted as a kid that I couldn’t have. Famously, Sky TV, so that was something that we never had growing up actually.”

Sunak, who was educated at the private boarding school Winchester College in Hampshire, said: “What is more important is my values and how I was raised. And I was raised in a household where hard work was really important … service to your community was important. And my parents worked very hard for what they had and they wanted their kids to have a better life.”

The interview with ITV’s Paul Brand created a big election headache for Sunak last week, with the prime minister forced to apologise for missing part of the D-day commemorations in France to record it.

The prime minister was heavily criticised for leaving the 80th anniversary events early for a pre-recorded programme, with opposition parties calling it crass and a dereliction of duty.

During the interview, the Conservative leader apologised to Brand for his lateness and told him the “incredible” commemorations in Normandy “all just ran over”.

Phillip Inman

The UK economy flatlined in April, held back by wet weather, as the signs of a recovery from last year’s recession began to fade.

In a blow to Rishi Sunak’s hopes of signalling a strong bounceback before the general election next month, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said monthly growth slowed after a 0.4% increase in March.

The economy was unable to maintain its momentum after being weighed down by the struggling retail sector, a downturn in manufacturing and a drop in construction output.

The 0.0% growth figure matched the forecast by City economists, who blamed the month’s heavy rains for difficulties faced by workers on building sites and the lack of shoppers on the high street.

Paul Dales, the chief UK economist at the consultancy Capital Economics, said the economy could begin to grow again during the summer.

“Despite the stalling of the recovery in April, the dual drags on economic growth from higher interest rates and higher inflation will continue to fade throughout the year. That will generate a bit of an economic tailwind for the next government,” he said.

Defence secretary Grant Shapps suggested the Tories were fighting to prevent Labour securing a “supermajority” bigger even than the 1997 landslide.

According to the Press Association (PA), the defence secretary told Times Radio the Tories were still fighting for every seat and “the polls have been wrong before”. But he said to ensure proper accountability “you don’t want to have somebody receive a supermajority” along the line of Tony Blair’s in 1997.

Shapps said:

In this case, of course, the concern would be that if Keir Starmer were to go into No 10 – it will either be Rishi Sunak, or Keir Starmer there’s no other outcomes to this election – and that power was in some way unchecked, it would be very bad news for people in this country.

A blank cheque approach allowing someone to do anything they wanted, particularly when their particular set of plans are so vague, and they say ‘change’, but you have no idea what they actually want to change to, other than the fact that they’ve outlined plans which would cost £2,094 to every working family in this country.

It’s perfectly legitimate to say the country doesn’t function well when you get majorities the size of Blair’s or even bigger and we would say there are a lot of very good, hardworking MPs who can hold the government of the day to account and we’d say those are Conservative MPs.”

Good morning. Rishi Sunak has been criticised for being out of touch after saying he had gone without Sky TV as a child. The comments were made in an ITV interview that will air tonight at 7pm.

During the interview, the prime minister was asked by ITV Tonight presenter Paul Brand if he had ever gone without something? Sunak replied: “Yes, I mean, my family emigrated here with very little. And that’s how I was raised. I was raised with the values of hard work.” Pressed on what exactly he’d gone without as a child, the prime minister said: “Famously, Sky TV, so that was something that we never had growing up actually.”

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak criticised Sunak saying “every time the PM opens his mouth he shows how out of touch he is”. In a post on X, Nowak wrote: “His government has impoverished millions, but that’s OK because he had to do without Sky Sports as a kid.”

Criticism of Sunak’s absence at the D-day international ceremony will also likely rumble on, with the prime minister stating that the 80th anniversary commeration had “run over”. In the ITV interview, he tells Brand: “It was incredible, but it just ran over.”

Meanwhile, here are some of the main developments we can expect on the general election campaign on Wednesday:

• This evening Sunak and Keir Starmer will both face questions as part of a Sky News leaders special taking place in Grimsby. They will answer questions from journalist Beth Rigby and the studio audience.

• Prior to the live broadcast, Sunak is expected to be out campaigning in north-east Lincolnshire after the launch of the Tories’ manifesto on Tuesday, which proposed to halve immigration and tax cuts totalling £17.2bn.

• Starmer will be championing Labour’s pledge to spend £380m fixing one million potholes every year. The Labour leader will visit the north-east alongside shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh, who has accused the Tories of failing drivers, adding that Labour is the only party “truly on the side of drivers”. Under the proposals, Labour has promised to fund local authorities to improve the condition of local roads and break down planning barriers to ensure vital upgrades to infrastructure is delivered on time and to budget.

• The Green party will pledge to raise taxes for the wealthiest in society and mend “broken Britain” in its election manifesto, which is due to be launched at 11am.
  A tax on multimillionaires and billionaires will be used to fund improvements to health, housing, transport and the green economy, the party said. Ahead of the manifesto launch in Brighton and Hove, the party’s co-leader Adrian Ramsay said the party intends to change the “conspiracy of silence” on taxes by creating a fairer system and asking those “with the broadest shoulders to pay more”.

• Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey will be championing the party’s plans for a new clean water authority to replace Ofwat as he pays a visit to the West Midlands and the home counties. The party has promised to “end the sewage scandal” by transforming water firms into public benefit companies, banning bonuses for water bosses until discharges and leaks stop, and replacing Ofwat with a new regulator.

I’m Amy Sedghi and if you want to contact me, please post a message below the line (BTL) or email me at [email protected].