Election latest: Rishi Sunak to push for 'honesty' from Keir Starmer in final head-to-head of campaign, minister says (2024)

Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson is next to speak to Sky News from the spin room in Nottingham.

We're just over half an hour away from the start of the final election debate before polls open next week.

We heard from Home Secretary James Cleverly just a few minutes ago, who said Rishi Sunak would be targeting Sir Keir Starmer and the Labour Party's honesty record, particularly on how they plan to pay for their manifesto pledges.

Ms Phillipson says "everything is fully costed" in the Labour manifesto, when the green pledge funding is called into question.

Politics correspondent Ali Fortescueasks her if Labour's growth plan is optimistic.

"We do absolutely have to get our economy growing... everything in our manifesto has got a plan behind it so people can be confident that what we're sending out, we know we can deliver," she replies.

Sam Coates, our deputy political editor, has just given his thoughts on what to expect in tonight's TV debate.

He says: "This is the last chance - the last chance for Rishi Sunak.

"The Tories have to throw everything at tonight's event, that's why what you're going to hear over the next three hours is so important.

"They've come up with another plan... there's a story that the Tories have put in the Daily Telegraph, its a story that Labour's Darren Jones... and some comments he made in Bristol about whether £28bn a year is enough in order to run decarbonisation plans, and he said it's not.

"And upon that. the prime minister himself will try and mark an argument, a closing argument, about dishonesty.

"They are going to say that you cannot trust what Labour say, that they've got secret plans to put up your taxes, to spend more than they say."

Sam says this is a "kitchen sink moment" for the Tories.

James Cleverly continues.

Asked if he would be surprised if the Tories somehow won the election despite the polls suggesting a Labour landslide is seemingly looming, he says "shocks happen in politics".

"Of course we want to form a government, but if the British people say no to that, we've actually got to make sure that we protect them from the ineptitude and dishonesty of a Labour government," he adds.

"We are campaigning to get as many Conservative MPs as possible," he says.

Ali Fortescue, in the spin room ahead of the BBC leaders' debate in Nottingham, asks whether the Tory betting scandal would have happened if James Cleverly was party chairman.

He was in this role during the 2019 general election, which, of course, Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party won.

Mr Cleverly says: "Elections are always difficult.

"As I say, the PM and I and I think almost everyone in the party is furious that we are being forced to talk about this issue because of the poor behaviour of a small number of individuals."

Turning to the prospect of a Labour government, the home secretary warns: "Where Labour runs things, they run it badly.

"We have a plan, they do not.

"Where we will bring people's taxes down, Labour will put people's taxes up.

"Of course, I would rather be talking about that choice."

He claims the Labour Party would "run riot" in government, again pointing to possible tax rises.

James Cleverly, the home secretary, is speaking to our politics correspondent Ali Fortescuein Nottingham ahead of this evening's BBC election debate event.

He says he expects the prime minister to go after Sir Keir Starmer on the Labour leader's honesty.

"I think what the prime minister is going to do is encourage, perhaps for the first time in this campaign, Keir Starmer to be honest, because we've seen dishonesty after dishonesty," he says.

Fortescue asks him what the latest betting scandal does for the Conservative Party's own reputation.

He repeats party lines that "candidates from a number of parties are being investigated over gambling" and that "the PM and I... [are] furious that we are being forced to talk about this issue because of the poor behaviour of a small number of individuals".

Turning to election itself, he says: "I guarantee you if, heaven forbid, Labour form the next government - when they start ramping up taxes, I don't want to say I told you so."

Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer are preparing to debate head-to-head for the second and final time of this general election campaign.

The BBC's Mishal Husain - who also chaired a seven-way leaders' debate earlier this month - will referee the contest that will last 75 minutes, starting at 8.15pm this evening.

It will be in front of a live audience, that has been chosen by pollster Savanta, rather than the BBC.

It will include Conservative and Labour supporters, in addition to undecided voters.

Which side of the stage the two men will stand on will be decided by a coin toss - as will the order in which they deliver their closing speeches to the nation.

It is likely to be one of the biggest live audiences of the campaign, allowing the two men to potentially reach millions of voters.

The debate will run straight through the full 75 minutes, without any breaks.

In an article for the BBC, Husain said she will be "nudging the two men back to what was in the question, clarifying points, and yes, probably having to call a halt from time to time".

She said she wants "spontaneity and energy" from tonight's contest: "A proper debate, really, rather than speech-making."

We will have live coverage of the debate here in the Politics Hub, and when the debate ends at 9.30pm, we will have live analysis and reaction here and across Sky News - do join us.

ByTim Baker, political reporter, in Nottingham

They say an army marches on its stomach - well journalists report on theirs.

The BBC has put on a sizeable spread of sandwiches, chocolate, crisps, fruit, soft drinks, hot drinks and water for the assembled members of the fourth estate.

The band of merry(ish) Conservative and Labour candidates despatched to Nottingham as spinners are weaving between tables, rubbing shoulders with hacks and eyeing up the dinner options.

A quick glance at the sandwich boxes and a supplementary Google provides welcome relief the producer is not one pinged for the recent E. coli outbreak.

In between crusts and co*kes the on-screen cohorts are darting out to the make-up room to have their game faces put on - and take advantage of the air-con.

But beware a bathroom break - the loos are two flights down and far from a quick dash.

With around an hour to kick-off, everyone is fuelling up and getting their match kit on.

You probably think you know the outcome of this election.

Rishi Sunak has all but given up - the only question is the size of Sir Keir Starmer's majority.But this evening I want to inject a bit of jeopardy.​

At the last election, in 2019, a full quarter of voters said they made up their minds who to vote for in the last few days.

Around of a half of those said they decided on election day itself, according to research by Lord Ashcroft.

And actually I find it quite believable.. the whole experience of going into the voting booth, your pen hovering over the boxes, and thinking oh go oh, I'll vote for them.

Whether it’s because they’ve been lukewarm about all the candidates… or just because they haven't engaged until the end of the campaign… there are an awful lot of last minute switchers.

Which means it's never actually over, until it's over.And that’s why tonight, matters.

Rishi Sunak versus Keir Starmer… in the final head to head debate before polling day.

We'll be bringing you all the build up before the big fight.

Our weeknight politics showPolitics Hub With Sophy Ridgeis live on Sky News now, as we gear up for the final leaders' debate of the general election campaign.

The fast-paced programme dissects the inner workings of Westminster, with interviews, insights, and analysis - bringing you, the audience, into the corridors of power.

Sophy and Ali Fortescue will be joined tonight by Home Secretary James Cleverly, live from the spin room in Nottingham.

Also on the show is Labour frontbencher Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary.

In any election campaign, a lot of attention shifts to undecided voters.

As this campaign moves into its final week, Niall Paterson looks at how the election date betting scandal is cutting through to those who are still wondering who to support - and those who could change their mind.

He speaks to political correspondent Darren McCaffrey who has spent the campaign covering the Conservatives and to pollster Luke Tryl, from More InCommon UK, about how this scandal has comparedto other moments of the election.

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