The prime minister has sought to brush off Labour claims of 14 years of Tory failure and portray his party as best placed to lead Britain.
Rishi Sunak set out his election stall to entice Britain’s voters, claiming it was his government that could be trusted to keep families safe and warning of “increasing dangers” facing the nation.
With calls to name the day for Britain to go to the polls growing louder, the Prime Minister painted at times a bleak picture, twice raising the prospect of a nuclear-level threat.
It happened after a foreign policy development that saw Vladimir Putin replace Russia’s defence minister with an economist, as opposed to a military expert.
But at the same time he stressed the opportunities for dramatic positive developments, significantly due to artificial intelligence, including a “generational breakthrough” in the battle against cancer.
Sunak gave the speech at the Policy Exchange think-tank in central London before Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer met his party’s regional mayors, including the capital’s Sadiq Khan, at a summit in Wolverhampton.
The meeting was held to share ideas, with the party on a General Election footing, as Labour seeks to create the “gold standard” in levelling up all regions of Britain.
For the latest, the Standard podcast is joined from Parliament by Evening Standard political editor Nicholas Cecil.
Listen above, or wherever you find your podcasts.