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The 2024 election has seen party leaders strain to present themselves as being in touch with the struggles ordinary people are facing in the cost of living crisis. And yet they don’t appear to be convincing anyone.

Childcare features prominently in both major parties’ plans for work and personal finance. Keir Starmer wants to make early-years provision as universal as possible while the Conservatives claim they’re already transforming childcare and increasing funding to both boost children’s development and get mothers back to work.

As gamblegate stretches into its second week, it seems there is no end to the revelations about MPs misbehaving at the bookies. And naturally, as when any significant ethical misconduct is in the news, it didn’t take long for this one to be equated with the expenses scandal.

What if many people just don’t bother voting in this election? The polls may suggest a landslide victory for Labour, but the party is worried about the millions of people who still say they are undecided or may think a Labour victory is so certain they don’t need to vote.…

Several people across the country have recently been hospitalised after consuming mushroom gummies distributed by Australian brand Uncle Frog and made in the United States. Their reported symptoms included elevated heart rate, nausea, anxiety and hallucinations.

General elections in Scotland have been notoriously noncompetitive affairs since the 1970s. One party – first Labour and then the SNP – has typically won large landslides. In 2015, when most seats changed hands, the SNP wave was unstoppable.

Private schools in the UK are VAT exempt, as are most education providers. This means that they do not have to charge 20% VAT on the school fees parents pay. The Labour party has confirmed its intention to end this VAT exemption for private schools if elected to government.

One of Labour’s most radical manifesto pledges is the plan to create a national wealth fund. To help drive the green transition and create 600,000 green jobs, the fund aims to raise £3 of private investment for every £1 of government money put in.

When Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Keir Starmer stepped up for their final head-to-head debate of the election campaign on June 26, something was very notable about their language.