Election latest: Starmer wins another TV debate poll - as Lib Dem leader handed speeding fine (2024)

Rishi Sunak has been accused of lying 12 times in last night's TV debate with Sir Keir Starmer, as fallout continues over claims the PM made about Labour's tax plans.

Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, repeated that a letter from a senior Treasury civil servant "confirms what Labour had said last night that the prime minister lied".

She says: "Labour has no plans to increase taxes on working people. In fact, I have ruled out increases in income tax, national insurance and VAT for the duration of the next parliament."

Ms Reeves goes on to allege that Mr Sunak "lied 12 times" in the debate.

"The truth is, it's the Conservatives that have taken the tax burden to the highest it's been in 70 years," she says.

"That is the Conservatives' record and their legacy."

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has just been addressing crowds in Portsmouth, who have gathered to mark the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

He read a message from General Bernard Montgomery, which was given to all troops on the eve of D-Day in 1944.

The prime minister recalls how the commander in chief of the Allied forces told his men: "We have a great and righteous cause.

"I want every soldier to know that I have complete confidence in the successful outcome of the operations that we are about to begin."

You can follow updates from the memorial in our dedicated live blog:

We've got another public survey of who performed better in last night's TV debate between Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer.

According to a poll by JLP Partners, for The Sun newspaper, the Labour leader performed best.

That was the view of 53% of respondents, compared to 33% for the PM.

But Mr Sunak did much better among 2019 Tory voters - a demographic Sir Keir has been trying to win over.

Some 60% of them said the Conservative leader did better, compared to 33% for his opponent.

The results are based on a poll of 1,000 people.

It follows last night's snap poll by YouGov, which found 51% of people thought the debate was won by Mr Sunak, and a Savanta one this morning which came out in favour of Sir Keir (more here).

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has been fined for speeding after being caught doing 73mph in a 60mph zone on the M1 motorway.

Details of the case, dealt with under an administrative system called the Single Justice Procedure, were revealed by the Evening Standard newspaper today.

Sir Ed wrote a letter of explanation in which he said he had tried to pay a speeding ticket issued by Bedfordshire Police after he was caught speeding on the M1 near Caddington.

In a "genuine oversight", he inadvertently failed to provide his driving licence details so the matter was brought before magistrates to consider in March.

He was handed a £72 fine at Luton Magistrates' Court, with a £28 victim surcharge, and had three points added to his licence, court staff confirmed.

He was not asked to pay prosecution costs.

A Lib Dem spokesman said: "Ed inadvertently broke the speed limit on the M1, which he is sorry for.

"He has paid the fine and accepted the points on his licence."

By Jenness Mitchell, Scotland reporter

Anas Sarwar has told Sky News that if Labour enters Number 10 next month, it plans to set up GB Energy "straight away".

Speaking about the pledge to create a publicly owned clean energy company, the Scottish Labour leader said while there's a "time and a process in terms of identifying headquarters and all the rest of it… we want to get cracking with this".

Mr Sarwar said a site is yet to be identified.

He added: "What we've said is we want it to be headquartered in Scotland."

Mr Sarwar would not get drawn into where in the country, but added: "There's clearly huge potential in the northeast, and Aberdeen in particular where we have an energy hub right now - which is, of course, something we want to support and back those workers and those companies in that region."

Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho has claimed all Labour would do is "raise people's bills" if they won the election.

The cabinet minister told GB News: "You look at Ed Miliband's plans for energy in this country and all he would do is raise people's bills and raise taxes to pay for it."

While her priority is "cheaper energy", including tariff reforms to "save people £900 a year", the shadow energy secretary wants to "decarbonise further and faster than anybody", regardless of cost to "working families".

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has previously said his party's plans for a publicly-owned clean energy company would "close the door on (Russian President Vladimir) Putin" and shield UK billpayers from global shocks and increases in global oil and gas markets.

Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, has reiterated his party's claim that Rishi Sunak told a "straight-up lie" over allegations of a £2,000 tax hike.

In last night's TV debate, Mr Sunak made a repeated claim that Labour's financial plans include a £38bn black hole.

The prime minister alleged this would result in a £2,000 tax rise per household, saying Labour's policies were costed by "independent Treasury officials".

However, a senior Treasury civil servant has sought to distance himself from this today (see 09.22 post).

Asked about allegations of a tax rise, Mr Sarwar said: "This is a straight-up lie from a desperate prime minister, Rishi Sunak, who is trying to scaremonger across the country because he wants to hide away from his own record."

Labour will only raise taxes on "the super rich", he said, citing closing the "non-dom tax loophole" and a windfall tax on oil and gas giants.

Mr Sarwar is asked why Sir Keir didn't mention the civil servant letter in the debate last night.

"We thought the prime minister would have more integrity than what he showed last night," he said.

"We didn't think he was the same ilk as the Liz Truss, the Boris Johnson-style politics.

"But clearly Rishi Sunak wants to go down that same rabbit hole that those two field prime ministers went down."

By Olive Enokido-Lineham, OSINT producer

Tweets falsely suggesting a woman who threw a milkshake at Nigel Farage at a campaign event yesterday have gained over two million views on X.

Videos of the incident featuring the new leader of Reform UKas he left a pub in Clacton-on-Sea went viral on social media.

But a number of tweets that have gained a lot of attention, focus on another woman - who was not involved.

One tweet featured a side-by-side image of Conservative supporter Emily Hewertson, posing next to Mr Farage alongside a picture of the woman who allegedly threw the milkshake.

The tweet, which does not mention Ms Hewertson by name and features a shrug face emoji captioned "the milkshake thickens", has gained over 2.3 million views alone.

While this was not the only tweet featuring Ms Hewertson, it's an example of how quickly such speculation can spread online.

Other tweets which don't mention her by name and speculate whether she was involved have now been deleted.

In response to the online rumours, sheconfirmed she did not throw a milkshake at Mr Farage.

Conservative candidate for Wolverhampton North East Jane Stevenson also uploaded a video to X alongside Ms Hewertson, showing that they were in fact in Wolverhampton.

In the video she says: "Sorry Twitter, Emily is in Wolverhampton working in my office and I think she knows a bit better than to throw a milkshake over someone."

Essex Police said a 25-year-old woman from Clacton was arrested on suspicion of assault.

Ms Hewertson's Instagram bio also claims she is 24 years old, not 25.

She later tweeted that she hopes that the misidentification becomes a "lesson in how quickly an unsubstantiated lie about an individual can spread on social media".

This post is part of the Online Election project – a Sky News initiative to cover how the campaign is playing out online, led by Tom Cheshire who is our Online Campaign correspondent throughout.

Our political correspondent Serena Barker-Singh is on the Labour "battle bus" today, which is making its way through the West Midlands down to Portsmouth.

She says that the visit comes with "tangible promises" from Labour, including new legislation to establish an Armed Forces Commissioner - and "strengthen the rights of veterans".

"It's clear the message he wants to send," Serena says. "And he is also hoping to get away from this tax row that has emerged from the debate" (see our 9.05am post).

She adds: "The Labour leader Keir Starmer will join members of the Royal Family, they are marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day and he'll be with military veterans and service personnel.

"And a ceremony in Portsmouth with the King."