Election latest: More bad news for Tory campaign as latest donation figures released (2024)

The Traditional Unionist Voice have launched their manifesto, outlining their long-standing plans to remove post-Brexit trade barriers in the Irish Sea.

Here's a look at the key points in the 32-page document:

• Create a system of mutual enforcement for goods moving between the EU and UK
• Implement a freeze on non-essential immigration
• Pick up illegal migrants out of boats and take them back to France
• Take the UK out of the European Convention on Human Rights
• Raise employer National Insurance rates for foreign workers to 20%
• Direct ruleshould come from Westminster rather than "Sinn Fein rule from Stormont"
• Cut cooperation tax from 25% to 15% over three years
• Raising the starting threshold for paying basic income tax to £20,000
• Scrap VAT on all energy bills
• Reform the planning system by fast-tracking new housing on brownfield sites
• Create a rail link from Belfast International airport
• Market cultural attractions like the Twelfth better
• Increased funding for mental health services
• Pull the plug on planned redevelopment of Casem*nt Park or hold non-GAA events there to claw back money
• Reject notion that "gender-neutral" changing rooms should become normal and biological males should be permitted access to women's only spaces
• Greater job security and holiday pay for classroom assistants

By Tom Cheshire, online campaign correspondent

If you want a good idea of what matters to each party - its deepest desires, its darkest fears - look at where it's spending money.

What it shows is a story of Labour spending big and spending everywhere, as it pursues a plausible supermajority, while the Conservatives retreat to fight for some of their heartland constituencies, and spend much less.

It shows the current state of play for all parties across the country. The map shows which is the biggest spender in each constituency - which parts of the country they're fighting to win, or not to lose.

The map was created by Who Targets Me (WTM), which tracks digital political advertising and has partnered with Sky News as part of our online campaign team.

"Our map of advertising activity shows where the parties have targeted their Facebook and Instagram ads in the last week," Sam Jeffers, executive director of WTM, says.

You can read more from Sky News below:

The Conservative Party is seen as "tawdry", Ruth Davidson has said, as two of its candidates are being investigated over alleged bets placed on the election date.

The Gambling Commission islooking into two Tory candidates over alleged wagerson the date of the 4 July election.

An industry source has told Sky News that "more names" are being looked into, but police are so far "not involved".

Speaking on theElectoral Dysfunctionpodcast with Sky News political editor Beth Rigby, and former broadcaster and presenter Carol Vorderman, the former leader of the Scottish Tories waded into the fallout of the alleged betting scandal.

"What an absolute sh*t show. Firstly, I mean, how tawdry is it?" she said.

She described it as akin to "insider trading" and criticised Rishi Sunak's response, saying he had repeatedly failed to get out in front and take control of events.

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Our live poll tracker collates the results of opinion surveys carried out by all the main polling organisations - and allows you to see how the political parties are performing in the run-up to the general election.

It currently shows a drop in support in recent days for Labour and the Tories - with a jump for Reform and the Liberal Democrats.

Read more about the tracker here.

The betting scandal engulfing the Conservative Party this week is causing a "headache" for Rishi Sunak but there are questions that still need answering, says ourpolitical correspondent Darren McCaffrey.

The PM's general election campaign hit another snag in the road when Tory candidate Craig Williams, who is also Mr Sunak's parliamentary aide, admitted this week to placing a bet on the date of polling day.

Another candidate - Bristol North West's Laura Saunders - and her husband are also under investigation for the same charge.

Despite this, none have been suspended while the investigations go on, with Mr Sunak instead repeating the mantra that he will not "compromise the integrity" of the probes whilst they are being conducted.

But with Mr Williams already admitting to placing a bet, members of all opposition parties are asking why Mr Sunak isn't acting swiftly and decisively on this matter.

The PM was hit with more questions on the topic when speaking at the launch of the Welsh Conservatives manifesto in Rhyl, north Wales.

"It's an absolute headache for the prime minister and you got that sense there's almost a sense of frustration that, repeatedly during that manifesto launch, including by me, he was asked about this betting scandal," said McCaffrey, speaking to Sky News from the Conservatives' battle bus.

"There was almost a groan in the room that he's just not been able to kind of put this to bed at the moment.

"And then on the bus he was again asked about this and it was pretty awkward in the sense that he's sticking to a line and not addressing some of the questions."

He added: "Given the fact that Craig Williams, a Conservative candidate here in Wales, has admitted to [placing the bet], the question is, and what is being put to him by the opposition, shouldn't he be suspended on that basis alone, irrespective of the independent investigation by the gambling division?

"Time and time again, the prime minister simply is not willing to engage in this."

The full list of candidates in Bristol North West:

• Caroline Gooch - Liberal Democrats
• Darren Jones - Labour Party
• Scarlett O'Connor - Reform UK
• Mary Page - Green Party
• Laura Saunders - Conservative and Unionist Party
• Ben Smith - Social Democratic Party

The full list of candidates in Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr:

• Jeremy Brignell-Thorp - Green Party
• Oliver Lewis - Reform UK
• Glyn Preston - Liberal Democrats
• Elwyn Vaughan - Plaid Cymru (The Party Of Wales)
• Craig Williams - Conservative and Unionist Party
• Steve Witherden - Labour Party

Earlier today, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said he would not enter negotiations with the Scottish government on an independence referendum if the SNP wins a majority of Scottish seats at the 4 July election.

First Minister John Swinney laid out his party's manifesto this week, saying a majority would increase pressure on the incoming government to acquiesce to his demands for another vote.

But during a visit to Scotland today, Sir Keir rubbished the idea.

Responding to this, Stephen Flynn, the SNP's Westminster leader, accused Labour of "adopting the same old Westminster arrogance".

He said: "The right to self-determination doesn't end because Sir Keir Starmer says so - the people of Scotland have the democratic right to choose our own future. It's not asking a lot to expect anyone who calls themselves a democrat to respect that right too.

"Clearly Anas Sarwar's recent statement that 'it is for the Scottish people to decide' amounts to empty words, and it proves how little influence he really has over his London boss, and just how little Starmer thinks of Scottish voters.

"Scotland deserves better than another Westminster government who'll deny our right to choose our own future while at the very same time imposing austerity, Brexit, and a cost of living crisis."

Rishi Sunak says he won't "compromise the integrity" of the investigations into Tory candidates alleged to have placed bets on the date of the election.

The PM is under pressure to suspend Craig Williams, his parliamentary aide and the party's candidate in Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr, after he admitted to having "a flutter" on the timing of the election.

Laura Saunders, the candidate for Bristol North West, is married to its director of campaigns, Tony Lee. The coupleare also being investigatedby the Gambling Commission.

The prime minister told reporters on a campaign visit to Wales: "There are multiple investigations that are very serious in nature that are currently ongoing with the police involved, because there's potentially criminal allegations involved in all of this.

"And that's why I'm not going to say anything or do anything that compromises the integrity of those investigations."

The PM was later asked whether Mr Williams would return as his parliamentary private secretary.

He said: "I'm not going to get into appointing members of the government right here, right now."

"Parliament isn't sitting, there aren't any parliamentary private secretaries. I'm not an MP. No-one's an MP, we're all candidates, right? So that just doesn't exist as a role at the moment," he added.

Earlier, Mr Sunak faced more questions on the betting scandal whilst attending the launch of the Welsh Conservatives' manifesto.

The PM gave similar answers, though reaffirmed to Sky News that "if anyone is found to have broken the rules, they should not only face the full consequences of the law, but I will make sure they are booted out of the Conservative party".

The full list of candidates in Bristol North West:

• Caroline Gooch - Liberal Democrats
• Darren Jones - Labour Party
• Scarlett O'Connor - Reform UK
• Mary Page - Green Party
• Laura Saunders - Conservative and Unionist Party
• Ben Smith - Social Democratic Party

The full list of candidates in Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr:

• Jeremy Brignell-Thorp - Green Party
• Oliver Lewis - Reform UK
• Glyn Preston - Liberal Democrats
• Elwyn Vaughan - Plaid Cymru (The Party Of Wales)
• Craig Williams - Conservative and Unionist Party
• Steve Witherden - Labour Party

Government borrowing was less than expected in May, new figures have revealed.

Net borrowing - the difference between public sector spending and income - was £15bn, an increase of £0.8bn on the same time last year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported on Friday.

The amount is below the £15.7bn forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) and less than expected by economists.

However, it was still the highest amount for the month of May since theCOVID-19 pandemic.

The ONS also said that public sector net debt, excluding public sector banks, was provisionally estimated at 99.8% of gross domestic product (GDP) in May - the highest level since March 1961.

The figure is also 3.7 percentage points higher than during the same period last year.

Economists said it showed that whoever wins theupcoming general electionwill face a string of potential financial challenges.

Rishi Sunak's favourability is at a record low, with three quarters of Britons having an unfavourable view of him.

That's according to the latest YouGov poll, which shows that the current PM is now less popular than either Boris Johnson orJeremy Corbyn were at the depths of their unpopularity.

Compared to Mr Sunak (75% unfavourability), Mr Johnson (72%) and Mr Corbyn (71%) both scored lower at their lowest ebbs.

Mr Johnson's score was recorded between 6-7 July 2022, when the former PM resigned from office amidst a wave of scandals, including partygate and a debacle surrounding government whip Chris Pincher.

Mr Corbyn's score was recorded between 2-3 June 2019 while he was embroiled in an antisemitism crisis and attempting to recover from poor results in European parliament elections.

However, there is still some relative good news for Mr Sunak amongst all this.

The PM would have to drop even further back in opinion polls to hit the levels of Liz Truss - 80% of Britons had an unfavourable view of her towards the end of her 45 days in office in 2022.

Meanwhile, Sir Keir Starmer has a 39% favourable score, though this is still outnumbered by the 52% who have an unfavourable view of the Labour leader.

Looking at a party-wide level, the Conservatives are polling with a 20% favourable view compared to 73% who have an unfavourable view.

Labour fares slightly better than its leader Sir Keir in public opinion terms, with 43% having a positive view of the party and 49% a negative one.