Election latest: Farage asked about Tory speculation - and 'his silence is telling' (2024)

Thank you for joining us today for our live political coverage as the general election campaign continues.

To catch up on the day's news please see our 10pm bulletin.

Join us again from 7am tomorrow for the latest political news.

There's no faulting the scale of Reform UK's ambition - but just how much does this really matter?

Their proposed policies come with a spending tag of an eyewatering £141bn a year - some 30 times the size of Labour's plans, 10 times the amount of additional spending proposed by the Tories and more than three times the ambition of Liz Truss.

Energy companies would be partly nationalised in Reform's Britain, while they would somehow find 30,000 new permanent members of the armed forces and raise the starting rate of income tax to £20,000.

But there is a serious question over whether the 24-page contract is worth the paper it's written on.

This is no particular disrespect to Reform UK: This is the same issue facing the Greens, Lib Dems and even the Tories.

With little chance of Downing Street beckoning for their respective leaders, why spend so long on policy that will never be used?

Indeed Nigel Farage, the party's leader, is admirably candid - there is no expectation of a win next month, and therefore he claims these ideas are a blueprint for the 2029 election.

Farage is setting his sights on five years of Reform UK showing its mettle opposing both the expected Labour government and what Farage hopes is a hollowed-out Conservative Party.

That is the claim - at the moment.

But there are even more searching questions awaiting Farage - for now the tormentor in chief of the Tories - after 4 July.

Read the full analysis here...

It's 10pm - here's your rundown of the day.

Tomorrow there will be 16 more days to go until voters head to the polls to decide the UK's future.

Reform UK unveiled their sort-of manifesto today, which they're calling a "contract with the British people," while Labour and the Conservatives have launched theirs already and the SNP's is due on Wednesday.

Here's everything you may have missed today…

• Our deputy political editor Sam Coatesrepeatedly asked Reform UK leader Nigel Farage whether he would join the Conservatives if he was elected - but Mr Farage refused to engage with the question;
• In his analysis, Sam said the key question was whether Mr Farage could swap parties: "That is the question. Nigel Farage's silence on that answer was telling today."

• It came afterReform UKlaunched its "contract with the British people", which includes freezing "all non-essential immigration" and a raft of tax cuts (use the tool below to swipe through all the pledges);
• Speaking in Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales, MrFarage said this general election campaign wasn't about winning but is the "first big push" towards the next contest;
• Earlier heconfirmed his ambitions to become prime minister at the next general election, which could be in 2029;
• The party's deputy leader Dr David Bull was interviewed on our weeknight politics show Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge and told Sophy the party wants to encourage parents to stay at home to look after their children.

• Earlier today,Defence Secretary Grant Shappsadmitted it is unlikely the Tories will win the general election on 4 July - but insisted it remains a possibility;
  
• He also warned a Labour government would be"very bad news", telling Sky News it would mean "higher taxes for everyone".
• Rishi Sunaklater insisted he is still "fighting hard for every vote";
  
• Speaking from Centrica's Rough 47-3B gas rig in the North Sea, the prime minister insisted the Conservatives are "on the right track", but said he understands people's "frustrations" with his party.

• Sir Keir Starmerhas been campaigning in Hampshire, heading off concerns Reform UK could target Labour heartlands in Wales by insisting the general election is "a straight choice between Conservatives and Labour";
• Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, earlier told a group of business leaders a "pro-business" Labour would hold a global investment summit in the first 100 days of entering government;
• Speaking to Sky News earlier, Labour frontbencher Jonathan Ashworth refused to explicitly say whether Labour would increase fuel duty or stamp duty, but ruled outcouncil tax re-banding".

• John Swinney, Scotland's first minister, has stressed the need for a social tariff, whereby the SNP can "commit to people who are elderly or disable that they are free of the burden of energy costs in our society";
• And the Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey was near Paignton in Devon, where he insisted Nigel Farage's party aren't making things harder for him when it comes to trying to win over Tory voters.
• And finally... our chief political correspondent Jon Craiglooked at who was top of Sky's election interviews league for the Conservatives and Labour:

On the Sky News Daily podcast,Niall Patersongets analysis on what's in Reform's manifesto from ourchief political correspondentJon Craig, listen here:

Here are some other stories you might find interesting:

Join us again tomorrow for all the latest political updates throughout the day.

By Faye Brown, political reporter

Premier League clubs could have to pay a 10% tax on the transfer of football players under plans being considered by Labour.

Sir Keir Starmer's party has pledged to bring forward football governance reforms that would prevent breakaways in the style of the ill-fated European Super League if Labour wins the general election.

On Monday, shadow sports secretary Thangam Debbonaire was asked if this would include reviving the transfer levy - something which was recommended in a 2021 fan-led review but not taken up by the Conservatives in their version of the bill.

Ms Debbonaire said she was "going to look at everything again" that was in the review.

Speaking from Bristol Rovers' football ground, she added: "A club like this, it's not the wealthiest club in the world, and it wants to be able to invest in infrastructure.

"It wants to be able to make sure that facilities are good for the future.

"That does take money, so I'm going to look at absolutely everything that might help increase the financial sustainability."

Read more here...

By Ed Conway, economics and data editor

The Reform manifesto, or "contract" as they're calling it, is a strange document.

Most manifestos are produced to give the voter a sniff of what life might look like if the party in question gets into power.

Yet Reform has said quite plainly that they have no ambition to win this election, and see their best-case scenario as, instead, installing some MPs as the beginnings of the real opposition against the Labour Party they assume will win on 4 July.

Yet, even so, they have provided a manifesto (if it's alright with you I might just carry on calling it that) with a blizzard of numbers illustrating what they would do in power if given the chance. Not only that, they put great store on the fact that this manifesto is a serious document - that their plans are "fully funded".

So: are they? Do their numbers add up?

Read the full analysis here...

Week four of the general election campaign began with Grant Shapps being interviewed on Sky News and other broadcasters.

No surprise there.

Like Jude Bellingham in Gareth Southgate's England squad in the Euros, Mr Shapps is one of the first names on Rishi Sunak's election team sheet for broadcast interviews.

A league table of interviews on Sky News in the campaign so far reveals the defence secretary is one of the top three cabinet ministers leading the Conservatives' TV attack against Labour.

Not surprisingly, Sunak ultra-loyalist Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary, tops our league table with five interviews, with Home Secretary James Cleverly also on four.

Another Sunak ultra-loyalist, Transport Secretary Mark Harper, is just behind the top three, with a trio of Sky News interviews, including Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips at the weekend.

The Sky News league table is likely to be similar to those for other broadcasters and therefore a good indication of the overall totals of interviews by top politicians during the election campaign.

What about Labour?

Top of Labour's Sky News interviews league table is tough-tackling Jonathan Ashworth, with eight, followed by shadow health secretary Wes Streeting - who also appeared on Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips at the weekend - on seven.

This pair, clearly regarded by Labour's high command as the party's top media performers, have also been the most prominent shadow cabinet members in the spin rooms after TV debates, often taking part in lively arguments with Tory opponents.

A game of two halves

Politics, like football is of course often a game of two halves. With just 17 days of the six-week campaign left, this election could now be said to be moving from the group stages to the knockout stage.

In an outspoken comment on political leaders, Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville famously declared Southgate is "everything a leader should be: respectful, humble, tells the truth, genuine".

So as the Euros coincide with the election campaign during the second half of June, who will be a winner in July? Gareth Southgate, Rishi Sunak or Sir Keir Starmer?

Labour's shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, tells Sophy it was "unacceptable" for a Labour peer to criticise a candidate as "frit or lazy".

Former EastEnders star Lord Cashman had the Labour whip suspended for suggesting Rosie Duffield was scared or lazy after she pulled out of local hustings over safety concerns.

Former MEP Lord Cashman commented on a social media post about her decision saying: "Frit. Or lazy."

Mr Jones says: "It's not appropriate to talk about any colleague like that, especially in the circ*mstances that Rosie was not able to attend those hustings, which were security-related."

Mr Jones adds: "And, you know, we would say that for any politician of any party, we need to make sure that all of our candidates feel safe and secure going about making the case, whatever it is that they believe in, in our democracy.

"Michael Cashman shouldn't have said that about Rosie. It was unacceptable. And that's why the whip has been removed from him."

Ms Duffield has previously accused the Labour leadership of ignoring her concerns about self-identification, which she believes threatens women's rights to single-sex spaces, and the abuse she's received over her views.

Ms Duffield is standing in Canterbury along with:

• Luke Buchanan-Hodgman, Social Democratic Party;
• Louise Harvey-Quirke, Conservatives;
• Bridget Porter, Reform;
• Henry Stanton, Greens;
• Russ Timpson, Lib Dems.

That concludes our coverage of tonight's Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge- it'll return tomorrow from 7pm. In the meantime, stick with us here for the latest general election news and analysis.

Next up withSophy Ridgeis Darren Jones, Labour's shadow chief secretary to the Treasury.

He's asked whether his party is worried about Reform UK, with their manifesto having been launched in a Welsh Labour heartland today.

Mr Jones appears unmoved, saying the policies Nigel Farage put forward included "tens and tens of billions of pounds of commitments with no explanation as to how they're going to pay for it".

He compares it unfavourably to the Tory manifesto, adding: "I think we're probably the only party that has a fully funded, fully costed manifesto."

And on the potentially existential threat Reform poses to the Tories, it's fair to say he's not spending his time fretting about their prospects.

"It's not for me to worry about the Conservative Party," he says.

"They should be worrying about themselves."

Tonight's panel are weighing in on what Reform UK deputy leader Dr David Bull said during his interview with Sophy earlier - that the party wants to encourage parents to stay at home to look after their children.

He said it's a travesty parents have to work and don't spend enough time with their kids.

Former Green Party leader Baroness Natalie Bennett says the UK has "a very high rate" of marriage and relationship breakdown compared to the rest of Europe and the second-longest working hours in Europe, as well as "huge problems with poverty".

She adds: "We have huge problems with poor housing, people having to commute enormous distances.

"Let's transform our society, so people can have a balanced life."

She says one of the things that has got a lot of attention in the Green Party manifesto is the idea of a four-day working week, which she says would allow people "to actually spend with their family, they have the time to have a balanced life."

Salma Shah, former Conservative special adviser, says the Tories have had similar social policies in the past, giving the example of marriage tax breaks.

But she questions whether Reform's ideas are a vote winner: "Is it the thing that is going to really touch the hearts of those people who are still available for the Conservatives in terms of voters? I'm not sure."

Today was Reform's day in the limelight for its manifesto, but we're not quite done with them yet.

Still to come this week is the SNP - and its leader has told Sky News his party will have the most left-wing manifesto of anyone.

John Swinney accused Labour of moving to the right which has left the SNP as the only party to the left of centre.

"The SNP is a moderate left-of-centre political party, it always has been, always will be," he told Sky News.

"The Labour Party's essentially accepted the discipline of the Conservative approach to the economy.

"And that's going to constrain them in all that they can do.

"We already know that there's going to be spending cuts that the Tories have put in place, which the Labour Party is going to accept."

Read more from our political reporter Alix Culbertson: