Key points
- Tories 'facing electoral extinction' as two polls show support cratering
- Conservative minister to be questioned by Trevor Phillips
- Sunak explains how faith guides him
- Labour say Tories attacking them over 'fantasy plans' for a 'taxtopia'
- Amid Reform threat, Tory candidate says he agrees with Farage on most issues
- Adam Boulton:Starmer may echo Blair by getting into No 10 but heavy burden awaits
- Live reporting byTim Baker
Election essentials
- Check parties' manifesto pledges:Conservatives|Greens|Labour|Lib Dems|Plaid Cymru
- Trackers:Who's leading polls?|Is PM keeping promises?
- Campaign Heritage:Memorable moments from elections gone by
- Follow Sky's politics podcasts:Electoral Dysfunction|Politics At Jack And Sam's
- Read more:Who is standing down?|Key seats to watch|How to register to vote|What counts as voter ID?|Check if your constituency is changing|Your essential guide to election lingo|Sky's election night plans
Tory and Labour NHS plans would see 'tighter' budgets than austerity - thinktank
Both the Labour and Conservative plans for the NHS have come under criticism from the Nuffield Trust, a health-based thinktank.
A report from the groups says the funding challenges facing the health service are set to continue.
It criticises all the main political groups, saying that "sadly, none of the parties have thus far chosen to be transparent" about the funding of the NHS.
The reports adds: "Instead, each has published costings documents alongside their manifestos purporting to set out planned 'extra' funding for health and social care by 2028/29, but without any information on the baseline spending level this 'extra' would come on top of."
The trust says it has calculated how each party's pledges on the NHS would impact spending.
It said: "Applying the listed "extra" spending pledged by each party to a real terms base case for total health spending annual growth of 0.8% would result in the next four years being the tightest in NHS history under the Conservative and Labour pledges – tighter even than the coalition government’s 'austerity' period, which saw funding grow by just 1.4% real terms a year between 2010/11 and 2014/15."
Funding for government departments is facing pressures from inflation, and also the reduction in tax from the Conservative's national insurance cuts.
You can read about the various party's policies here:
Keir Starmer may echo Tony Blair by getting Labour into Number 10 but heavy burden awaits him
By Adam Boulton, Sky News commentator
There are still two and a half weeks to go.
The most overused simile of this campaign so far is about the challenge facing Sir Keir Starmer to lead Labour safely to victory in this general election. Politicians and pundits simply mention the "Ming vase" for short.
This is a reference to the 1997 election campaign and the last time a Labour leader held in his grasp the possibility of ending a long period of Conservative rule.
The analogy was coined by the ex-Labour Grandee Roy Jenkins who amused a Liberal Democrat dinner by likening Tony Blair to a curator nervously carrying a priceless gossamer-thin Ming vase across a newly polished and treacherously slippery museum floor.
Blair pulled off the trick - in spite of almost believing it could not be done.
"We usually lose" is the perennial warning from Pat McFadden who was a Blair advisor then and is now Starmer's campaign chief.
When he got to examine the election result, Lord Jenkins found that the porcelain treasure was not to his liking. He had hoped for a narrow win necessitating a progressive realignment bringing together Labour and the Liberal Democrats.
But Labour won such a big majority there was no need for coalition partners.
Starmer is just as delicately poised today. Opinion polls and academic analysts suggest he may be on course for a victory at least as big as Blair.
The Labour leader and his closest confidants may be the last people in the political world to agree.
This is not just rejecting complacency. As he reminded his supporters at Labour's manifesto launch, only the general election counts.
Read Adam's full piece here:
Fresh poll predicts Tories will win just 72 seats in next parliament
By Alexandra Rogers, political reporter
Two polls spell bad news for Rishi Sunak, with one showing a drop of four points and the other that his party is on course to pick up just 72 seats.
A poll by Savanta for The Sunday Telegraph showed the Tories down four points to just 21% of the vote - the lowest by that pollster since the dying days of Theresa May's premiership in early 2019.
In a boost for Nigel Farage, the poll showed Reform UK up three points with 13% of the vote.
A separate Survation poll for Best for Britain, published by The Sunday Times, predicted the Tories would win just 72 seats in the next parliament, compared with 456 for Labour.
The result would give Labour a majority of 262 seats - far surpassing the landslide Labour achieved by Sir Tony Blair in 1997 - while the Liberal Democrats would pick up 56 seats, Reform seven and the Greens one seat.
The Savanta poll, which was carried out from 12-14 June and involved 2,045 adults aged 18 and over, also showed Labour up two points on 46% of the vote.
Read the full story below:
Sunak explains how faith guides him - and he tries to do the 'right thing'
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has spoken to The Sunday Times about his faith and how it guides him.
He said: "In Hinduism, there's a concept of duty called dharma, which is roughly translated as being about doing your duty and not having a focus on the outcomes of it.
"And you do it because it's the right thing to do, and you have to detach yourself from the outcome of it."
Mr Sunak says he felt it was his dharma to serve the nation.
He adds that it was "not an easy thing to do", but it is "something I was raised with".
"And that is also something that gives me the strength to deal with [the challenges], because I get fulfilment from just doing what I believe is right.
"And as you say, work as hard as you can, do what you believe is right, and try, and what will be will be."
Labour say Tories attacking them over 'fantasy plans' for a 'taxtopia'
Among the big interviews in the Sunday newspapers, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt spoke to the Sun on Sunday.
He addressed one of the key election battlegrounds - tax - and admitted the Conservatives had put it up while in power.
But he claimed the party was starting to bring it down after cutting four points off national insurance.
Mr Hunt added: "That's a tax cut for working people and we want to go further in the next parliament.
"Compare that to taxtopia. Taxtopia is what we will get under a Labour government."
In response, a Labour spokesperson said: "This desperate Tory party is now reduced every day to making up a new Labour plan that does not exist."
They added: "We are not going to spend the next two weeks responding to whatever fantasy plans the Tories are making up."
Last week, the Conservative Party held a press conference to claim that any tax rise Labour had not ruled out signified Sir Keir Starmer was going to put it up.
Labour has already ruled out at least one of these - introducing capital gains tax on first homes.
The party has repeatedly taken the position that it will not raise taxes on "working people", and it has ruled out raises on VAT, income tax and national insurance.
You can read economics and data editor Ed Conway's analysis of the various manifestos and their costs here.
Good morning
Welcome back to the Politics Hub.
As it's a Sunday, Trevor Phillips will be questioning politicians from 8.30am.
Coming up this morning, we'll be hearing from:
- 8.30am: Labour shadow health secretary Wes Streeting;
- 8.55am: Conservative transport secretary Mark Harper;
- 9.20am: Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay;
- 9.30am: Labour peer Lord Mandelson.
We'll also be hearing from our panel throughout the show.
Today, this consists of former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, former head of Channel 4 News Dorothy Byrne and FT columnist Miranda Green.
WatchSunday Morning with Trevor Phillipsfrom 8.30am every Sunday on Sky channel 501, Virgin channel 602, Freeview channel 233, on theSky News websiteandappor onYouTube.
That's all for today
Thank you for joining us for live coverage of politics today as the general election campaign continues.
It was a slightly calmer day on the campaign trail, with national and international events taking Rishi Sunak's focus.
Sir Keir Starmer and Labour had a health focus this morning, and are continuing to promote their pledge to fix the NHS.
Join us again from 7am for the very latest political news.
And tune in to Sky News from 8.30am for Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, where we will be hearing from:
- Mark Harper, transport secretary;
- Wes Streeting, shadow health secretary;
- Adrian Ramsay, Green Party co-leader;
- Lord Mandelson, former cabinet minister.
Coming up on Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips
Our flagship Sunday morning show, hosted byTrevor Phillips, will be live on Sky News from 8.30am, and we have a packed line-up for you after this eventful week of the campaign.
Trevor will be chatting to:
- Mark Harper, transport secretary;
- Wes Streeting, shadow health secretary;
- Adrian Ramsay, Green Party co-leader;
- Lord Mandelson, former cabinet minister.
On Trevor's expert panel will be:
- Nadhim Zahawi, former chancellor;
- Dorothy Byrne, former head of Channel 4 News;
- Miranda Green, columnist at the Financial Times.
Watch live on Sky News and in the stream at the top of this page - and follow updates here in the Politics Hub.
WatchSunday Morning with Trevor Phillipsfrom 8.30am every Sunday on Sky channel 501, Virgin channel 602, Freeview channel 233, on theSky News websiteandappor onYouTube.
Tories claim Labour 'might' raise council tax - but opposition blasts Tory 'fantasy'
The Labour Party are tonight hitting out at "fantasy" claims they say the Tories are making about their plans, insisting their policies are fully costed.
The Conservative Party is continuing to claim that Labour has secret plans to raise a variety of taxes, and is tonight demanding that Labour explicitly rules out raising council tax, arguing that because it is not in their manifesto, the door is open for it to be raised.
But a Labour spokesperson said in a statement that they are "not going to spend the next two weeks responding to whatever fantasy plans the Tories are making up".
"They would be better off considering how they were meant to be the antidote to Liz Truss and ended up becoming nothing more than the latest instalment of her disastrous approach," they added.
Jenrick appeals to the right to unite as Tories face electoral trouncing
Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick has penned an op-ed appealing for the right-wing of British politics to pull together to avoid ending up in a "one-party state" under Labour that will "change our country for the worse".
Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, the likely Tory leadership candidate (should the Tories lose next month and Mr Sunak step down), admitted that the "right-wingcommon sense majority is fatally divided between the Conservatives and Reform", which could give Labour "a majority so large, they can change our country for a generation".
As a result, he is making an appeal "to heads over hearts".
He said he has "immense sympathy for those natural conservatives who feel let down and drawn to Reform" - and that he shares "many" of their "frustrations".
He pointed to high taxes, the "soft" criminal justice system, and public services that are "too inefficient".
Touting his own credentials, he noted that he quit the cabinet due to disagreements with Rishi Sunak's government on immigration.
But he repeated the party line that "a vote for Reform will only give Labour a blank cheque to take our country back to the 1970s".
"Some voters feel so angry with the Tories that a Labour landslide is a price they are willing to pay. Again, I have great sympathy with their frustrations and know that we must meet the British public's expectations.
"That is the task I have dedicated myself to since resigning. But don't be fooled by Labour’s cautious public posture."
Mr Jenrick went on to attack Labour, saying they will raise taxes, expand "expensive and unaccountable government quangos", and bring in "toxic diversity, equity and inclusion policies that divide and discriminate against hard-working people".
Concluding, he argued that Reform UK "cannot be the answer", and appealed to natural conservatives to vote for the Conservative Party.
