Election latest: Tories 'already vying to take over from Sunak if he loses' - but the public's favourite isn't even in the party (2024)

The Tory battle bus has rolled into County Durham, with Rishi Sunak heading to two locations in the North East today - but don't expect him to be answering questions.

The PM is not doing any interviews with national or broadcast media today and a possible huddle - when he takes questions from reporters off-camera - has been cancelled.

He may, however, do some interviews with regional media.

While the PM may not be speaking for himself today, much has been said this morning about his decision to bow out of D-Day commemorations early.

Shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds called it "inexplicable" while Sir Ed Davey said it made him "pretty cross" and Transport Secretary Mark Harper labelled it a "mistake" - but said it wouldn't cost the Tories the election.

The Lib Dem leader says he's "pretty cross" about Rishi Sunak's decision to leave D-Day commemorations early and has called on him to make a donation to a veterans' charity to make amends.

Sir Ed Davey urged the Conservatives to give some of the cash donated to the party by Frank Hester, a businessman who was embroiled in a racism row, to charity.

"I think the Conservative Party should give £5 million of that donation to a veterans charity. I think if they did that, then people might be able to draw the line.

"But it's such a letdown for our whole country and our history, particularly for our brave veterans."

The Liberal Democrats have pledged to create three new national parks in England.

This manifesto commitment would bring the number of national parks in England up to 13, with the party saying it would spend £50m a year maintaining them.

The Chilterns in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire are possible locations for the new parks, along with the Mendips, Cotswolds and Quantocks.

Other proposed areas include the Surrey Hills, Northumberland coast and Dorset.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey accused the Tories of having "broken too many promises to protect our countryside".

"It is hard to overstate the difference things like National Parks can make to entire communities," he said.

Reform UK and the Conservatives are neck-and-neck in a new poll of Welsh voters with each party taking 18% of the share.

But both trail Labour, which is far ahead on 45%, according to the survey by Redfield & Wilton.

The poll of 960 Welsh voters put Plaid Cymru on 11%, Liberal Democrats on 5% and Greens on 4%.

Only 39% of those who voted for the Conservatives in Wales in 2019 willvote Conservative again, the poll showed - with 32% of past Conservative voters saying they would defect to Reform UK.

It comes after the latest YouGov poll of UK voters for Sky News showed Reform had pulled to within two points of the Conservatives.

Sky News has been tracking locations visited by party leaders in the first two weeks of the general election campaign to decipher what their choices tell us about the parties' election strategies.

Of the 650 seats, 54 have now been visited during the campaign by Rishi Sunak, Sir Keir Starmer or Ed Davey.

The South East seems to be garnering the most attention with 12 visits overall - highlighting the importance of the region for all of the English parties.

Read more from Sky News elections analyst Dr Hannah Bunting and data journalist Joely Santa Cruz here:

Politicians "should level with the public" and admit voters face higher taxes whoever wins the election, a thinktank says.

The Resolution Foundation, an independent thinktank focused on improving living standards for people on low to middle incomes,has published a paper looking at planned and proposed tax rises.

Households will see their tax bill rise by around £800, according to its analysis, withalready agreed tax rises totalling £23bn a year by 2028/29. That includes a 5p rise in fuel duty due in spring 2025.

Stamp duty currently kicks in on house sales over £250,000 but this threshold will fall to £125,000 from March 2025, so the levy will apply to cheaper - and likely more - purchases. (Although the Tories have said they will axe stamp duty on homes up to £425,000 for first-time buyers - see our 9.22am post for more.)

The Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Business Rates Relief Scheme will end at the same time.

The thinktank's economists have described the timing as a "tax sandwich" which will begin to bite after the election.

"Politicians should level with the public, and admit that taxes are already set to rise whoever wins the election, even if it's less entertaining than the usual election fodder of secret bombshells and debatable dossiers,"Adam Corlett, Resolution Foundation principal economist, said.

First-time buyers will not have to pay stamp duty on homes up to £425,000 under a new commitment from the Tories.

The manifesto pledge builds on a proposal from former prime minister Liz Truss's Growth Commission.

What is stamp duty?

Stamp duty is a land tax people pay when buying a residential property.

It currently applies to sales over £250,000. You pay 5% on the portion of the property price from £250,000 to £925,000, and 10% of the portion from £925,000 to £1.5m.

There's a 12% tax on anything over £1.5m.

The proposed change is projected to impact 200,000 households every year.

Will it be a Cruel Summer for British politicians? And will warring parties listen when Taylor sings You Need To Calm Down?

Arts and entertainment correspondent Katie Spencer was at the first stop on Taylor Swift's Eras tour in Edinburgh last night.

She spoke to fans hopeful the election would bring about change - and that Ed Davey would appear on stage to do some gymnastics with Taylor.

Nigel Farage is the people's pick to take over from Rishi Sunak as leader of the Conservatives if Labour wins the election, according to a new poll.

The poll of 2,000 people showed 19% think Mr Farage should take over from Mr Sunak.

The poll offered six other names - Penny Mordaunt (15%), James Cleverly (6%), Kemi Badenoch (5%), Suella Braverman (4%), Priti Patel (2%) and Robert Jenrick (1%).

However, the majority of those surveyed in the poll for The Independent were stumped as to who should take the Tories' top job - 48% said they did not know who should replace Mr Sunak.

While Mr Farage topped the poll, the chances of him taking over Conservative leadership are slim to none.

He left the party in 1992 and has said the country has been "betrayed" by the Tories.

After confirming he would stand for Reform in the general election earlier this week, he told the BBC there were "no circ*mstances whatsoever" under which he would rejoin the Conservatives.

Shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds denies Labour is changing so much it's turning its back on unions.

He was speaking to Sky News this morning after it emerged last night that Unite, the country's biggest union and the Labour Party's biggest donor, did not endorse its manifesto due to concerns about fire and rehire and the banning of new oil and gas licences.

Mr Reynolds says it was "legitimate" for Unite to voice concerns over jobs linked to North Sea oil, but said Labour had a plan to get the transition right and make it economically beneficial.

"North Sea oil and gas production will be a part of the country's energy mix and energy future right up until 2050," he says.

Speaking to the "pro-worker" part of the manifesto, he says: "There'll be more secure work. Flexibility will not be one-sided.

"We will make sure not only that the economy is growing more strongly, but people feel the benefits of that."