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Key events
Nigel Farage has defended his claim that Rishi Sunak’s early exit from D-day commemoration events in France demonstrated that he did not understand “our culture”.
Asked if he was trying to highlight Sunak’s British-Asian background, Farage pointed to the contribution made by Commonwealth troops and suggested he was talking about the prime minister’s “class” and “privilege”.
The Reform UK leader told BBC1’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: “I know what your question is leading at – 40% of our contribution in the first world war and the second world war came from the Commonwealth.
“He is utterly disconnected by class, by privilege from how the ordinary folk in this country feel. He revealed that, I think spectacularly, when he left Normandy early.
“And out there now there are millions and millions of people who were Conservative voters, traditional Conservative voters, not the red-wallers, who are now thinking ‘Do we go on supporting the Conservatives or do we support Reform?’
“And this is going to be, I think, the acid test of this election.”
Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said Labour and the Conservatives “don’t really want to talk about the scale of the challenge facing them”, should they win the election.
He told Sky News:
Both parties have tied themselves to the, in my view, rather bizarre fiscal rule which is they want debt down.
They don’t want to talk about tax increases because that frightens the voters.
Maybe they’re just hoping they get lucky.
Labour told Unite they will create enough jobs to cover potential losses in the oil and gas sector, after the union did not endorse the party’s manifesto, Labour shadow justice secretary Shabana Mahmood has said.
She told Sky News:
Unite have some areas of policy where they would probably want us to go further but they did not push any of those issues to a vote.
[Unite] recognise that actually change is coming, the issue is speed and transition on which we were able to provide assurances on plans that have been backed by independent experts.We will create over 100,000 jobs as part of our plans. These are good quality jobs in the same sector.
Asked if the Unite leadership had confidence in those assurances, Mahmood said:
That’s a matter for Unite and their own internal management of their union.
Minister defends ‘deeply patriotic’ Sunak after PM’s decision to leave D-day anniversary events
Work and Pensions secretary Mel Stride has told Sky News that Rishi Sunak “deeply regrets” his decision to leave D-day 80th anniversary events early.
Speaking to Trevor Phillips this morning, Stride said that the prime minister was “deeply patriotic” and committed to supporting veterans, after he was roundly criticised for leaving France ahead of other world leaders to film a television interview.
Stride said:
He has recognised that he made a mistake. He deeply regrets that he has apologised unequivocally for that.
The prime minister has accepted that he made a mistake. He has apologised unequivocally for that.
And I think he will be feeling this personally, very deeply because he’s a deeply patriotic person. He will be deeply uncomfortable with what has happened.
Stride also said that Sunak would “absolutely” lead the party into the election on 4 July, dismissing suggestions that the Conservative leader may be replaced before polling day.
“There should be no question of anything other than that,” he said.
Welcome and opening summary
On this third Sunday of the general election campaign, today will not be a day of rest for the political parties vying for votes.
Sir Keir Starmer and shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper are out in the east of England, where they will set out Labour’s plans to crack down on antisocial behaviour. While in Scotland, first minister John Swinney and will be on the campaign trail with SNP candidates in Paisley, and Scottish Tory deputy leader Meghan Gallacher will be out with Perth and Kinross-shire candidate Luke Graham.
And in the studio, Laura Kuenssberg is joined by Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride, shadow justice secretary Shabana Mahmood, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, with Former home secretary Amber Rudd, Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack and businessman John Caudwell on the panel.