General election latest: Why now? What's Rishi Sunak's strategy? How will Reform and the Greens do? | Your election questions answered (2024)

Jon Craig, chief political correspondent:Sir Keir Starmer clearly believes Scotland is more important to Labour's chances of victory, heading there on the first full day of campaigning.

Expect to see him make several visits during the six-week campaign.

The SNP's deepening troubles - on the day of John Swinney's campaign launch, for instance, MSP Michael Matheson was suspended over his £11,000 bill on his government iPad and Nicola Sturgeon's husband Peter Murrell's embezzlement charge was sent to prosecutors - are a gift to Labour.

Until last year's Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election victory, Labour had just one MP in Scotland and the SNP 43.

Polls have suggested, however, that Labour could win 20-30 seats.

At the same time, though, the Tories could win back from the SNP some of the rural seats they used to hold in the Thatcher and Major years.

In many ways, Labour's task is easier in the Red Wall in the north of England, because there's evidence that voters there feel let down by Brexit and Boris Johnson's levelling up promises.

The Tories hold many of their 2019 Red Wall gains with tiny majorities and the polls suggest most of them will go back to Labour.

The Conservatives' best hope in many of these Red Wall seats is that George Galloway's pro-Gaza Workers Party will take votes off Labour and help some Tory MPs with small majorities cling on.

Darren McCaffrey, political correspondent: It is the Conservatives who are most concerned about Reform.

In by-elections recently they have eaten into the Tory vote, finishing a close third in the Blackpool South vote earlier this month.

Their anti-migrant, Brexit-supporting, right-wing policies do appeal to large numbers of Red Wall voters.

Lee Anderson is currently their only MP having defected from the Conservatives.

However, Nigel Farage’s decision yesterday not to stand is a bonus for the Conservatives.

Mr Farage is a massive political figure and a great campaigner.

His involvement would have undoubtedly boosted Reform’s ability to win more voters at the expense of the Tories, even if they ended up with no seats themselves.

Jon Craig, chief political correspondent:Rishi Sunak is fighting this campaign as the underdog and, with its massive opinion poll lead, this election is Labour's to lose.

For that reason, we can expect to see some bruising and highly personal attacks on Sir Keir Starmer. And indeed we already are.

On the first full day of campaigning, the Tories launched an entirely bogus attack on Sir Keir, accusing him of being "spineless" and "chickening out" of six weekly TV debates during the six-week campaign.

That was never going to happen, not least because the TV schedules in June and early July are packed with live international football as Gareth Southgate and the lads - and, to be fair, Steve Clarke's Scotland - do battle in the European football championships.

Sir Keir has agreed to two debates, which is the likely outcome.

The Conservatives also appear, on the evidence so far, to be hoping that appealing to their core vote will benefit them.

In the parliamentary "wash-up" of legislation, they've dumped Mr Sunak's smoking ban, loathed by his right-wing backbenchers, and legislation protecting renters and leaseholders, also opposed by many Tory MPs.

The prime minister will want to put the economy front and centre of his campaign.

One reason he's so keen to debate with Sir Keir head to head on TV is that he's confident - as a former chancellor of the exchequer - that he would embarrass the Labour leader with his grasp of detail.

He's even attempting to turn his setback on getting deportation flights to Rwanda in the air before the election to his advantage.

In a Daily Telegraph article, he wrote: "The plans are in place, the flights will go, but only if you vote Conservative on July 4, because Labour would stop the flights."

Expect to hear more of that in the next six weeks, along with the prime minister's not-very-catchy "stick to the plan" catchphrase, with the emphasis on the economy, the issue that dominates every election campaign.

Darren McCaffrey, political correspondent: There is little doubt the Conservative Party is hoping to make the Rwanda scheme a key dividing line in this election campaign.

They believe the policy is popular with the public, particularly with those tempted to vote for Reform.

Though I'm not sure it's a trap.

Labour's position on scrapping the policy has been consistent and while it might cost the party some votes, whether flights take off or not I would suggest is largely irrelevant.

In fact the admission yesterday from the prime minister that flights won't take off before the election means the government can't prove it really does act as a deterrent (migrant numbers are likely to hit a record-breaking 10,000 this week) and makes it easier for an incoming Labour government to scrap the scheme.

Rishi Sunak's announcement of a 4 July general election caught plenty of people off-guard.

So, you probably have plenty of questions...

Why did the PM choose now? Can the Tories possibly win? What does Sir Keir Starmer's Labour need to secure a big majority?

We opened the floor for you to submit your election questions yesterday - and our team of expert correspondents are now answering a selection of them.

Plaid Cymru is demanding that Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer attend an election debate in Wales against their leader.

In a letter to the two main party leaders, Liz Saville Roberts, the party's Westminster leader, said they should "make clear that [they] would be happy to debate Rhun ap Iorweth in a Wales-specific TV debate".

She said the election is being "framed through an English lens", and said they should "come and defend and debate your own parties' records here in Wales".

That is "the only way to reflect the democratic choice facing people in this election", she said.

The prime minister is demanding that the Labour leader agree to six TV debates, claiming Sir Keir is scared to face him and put up his plans for scrutiny.

But the Labour leader has said he will do two TV debates against Mr Sunak, and told"sounding a bit desperate" after the prime minister accused him of "chickening out" of TV debates (read more).

Rishi Sunak is due to appear at one final campaign event today - but there is a hiccup.

Pro-Palestine demonstrators are outside the venue he is due to visit.

Protesters carrying placards and Palestinian flags are outside the West Midlands venue, and as a result, we understand that the PM's visit is delayed.

In January 2023, Rishi Sunak made five promises.

Since then, he and his ministers have rarely missed an opportunity to list them. In case you haven't heard, he promised to:

• Halve inflation
• Grow the economy
• Reduce debt
• Cut NHS waiting lists and times
• Stop the boats

See below how he is doing on these goals:

Former Conservative prime minister Theresa May joked about the three votes she lost in one day on her ill-fated Brexit deal as she made her final speech in the House of Commons before stepping down as a member of parliament.

Speaking five years to the day since she announced her resignation as prime minister, she said of being an MP: "I think it is the best job in the world."

But it "has its frustrations", she added.

That applies "particularly when you're in government and people don't vote on your own side - three times".

Being an MP is a "really important job and the key to it is to represent constituents", Mrs May said.

She added: "I worry that today there are too many people in politics who think it is about them, their ambitions, their careers and not about the people they serve."

Addressing Tory colleagues, she told them: "I spent 13 years in opposition.

"You do not want to do that. Go out there and fight to make sure a Conservative government is re-elected."

Rishi Sunak has been on a tour of all four UK nations in the last two days, and this morning, he flew to Northern Ireland.

But many have picked up on the fact that the PM visited the Titanic Quarter, where the world's largest attraction themed around the famous ship is located.

The optics of visiting a location named after a ship that sank on its maiden voyage have not gone unnoticed, however, with one reporter asking the PM if he is "captaining a sinking ship going into this election".

Ruth Davidson, former leader of the Scottish Tories and co-host of Sky'sElectoral Dysfunctionpodcast, expressed her frustration on social media, writing: "The deluge launch drowned out by D:Ream [the anthem of Labour's 1997 landslide].

"A brewery visit with a teetotal PM, so no chance of a piss up.

"Now a site visit to something famous for sinking.

"Is there a double agent in CCHQ, and were they a headline writer in a previous life?"

She also posted a facepalm emoji, and added: "Our candidates deserve better."