Closing summary
The UK is better off than it was 14 years ago, Rishi Sunak told the BBC this morning, as the prime minister launched a combative defence of his party’s record in power with just four days to go until the election. Sunak later told Laura Kuenssberg that Brexit was the “right thing” to do because of the economic opportunities he said it had created.
Asked whether he thought he would still be prime minister on Friday, the prime minister said: “Yes. I’m fighting very hard and I think people are waking up to the real danger of what a Labour government means.”
The Sunday Times newspaper endorsed the Labour party for the election, saying in an editorial that the country needs a “radical reset” after 14 years of Conservative rule. The newspaper, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News UK, has backed the Conservatives at every election since 2005. Labour’s national campaign coordinator, Pat McFadden, told LBC that the party wants the Sun’s endorsement next. On the BBC, McFadden categorically ruled out any return to freedom of movement in his party’s pursuit of a new trade agreement with the EU if elected.
Nigel Farage, the Reform party leader, repeated his claim that a Reform UK canvasser who called for Channel migrants to be used as “target practice” was an actor. Channel 4 News has stood by its undercover investigation in which the canvasser was filmed, saying its journalists met him for the first time at Reform UK’s offices in Clacton. Farage addressed a crowd at a Reform rally in Birmingham on Sunday.
The final Opinium poll for the Observer showed Labour retained a 20-point lead over the Conservatives – the same as a week ago and enough to deliver a large House of Commons majority if replicated on Thursday. Labour is on 40% (unchanged compared with a week ago), while the Conservatives are on 20% (also unchanged). Reform UK is up 1 point on 17%, the Liberal Democrats up 1 point on 13% and the Greens down 3 points on 6%.
The number of seats being targeted by Ed Davey’s party has expanded over the campaign, as a combination of the Tories losing ground to Reform UK and a stunt-filled Lib Dem campaign have opened up more constituencies.
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Updated
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said he believes the election of Keir Starmer would be the first time in 14 years that a prime minister has been invested in Scotland, the PA news agency reports.
Sarwar met stallholders at Loch Lomond Shores in Balloch, West Dunbartonshire, on Sunday and admired Scotch pies and regional cheese.
The Scottish Labour leader said:
I don’t do celebrations: I’m one of those people that, when they have good moments, enjoys them for about 10 minutes and then moves on to the next challenge.
We’ve still got four days in which to make sure we get rid of the Tories and elect a Labour government and I’m taking nothing for granted, and that’s not decided yet.
So we’ve got work to do. We’ve got to get to work straight away to deliver for people because there’s far too many people facing far too many challenges. We’ve got no time to waste to change people’s lives.
Describing his relationship with Starmer, Sarwar added:
He knows that he will always have in me someone that wants to see a Labour party succeed, someone who wants a UK Labour government, and someone who will always fight Scotland’s corner.
I know that we will have a prime minister for the first time in 14 years that understands Scotland and cares about Scotland.
It’s one of the reasons why so many people have been driven towards the SNP and independence as they’ve looked at Tory governments and thought ‘these people don’t care about us – they’re not delivering for us’. Of course, there’ll be moments that we have difficult conversations, moments where we’ll be challenging each other, that’s the right thing to do.
The Scottish Labour manifesto largely mirrors UK Labour pledges on growing the economy, cutting NHS waiting lists and more support for young people.
Labour, which held two Scottish MPs before Rishi Sunak called the general election last month, have been ahead in the opinion polls overall and could stand to win as much as 35 seats in Scotland.
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