General election latest: Sir Keir Starmer to make personal pledge in first major campaign speech as parties clash over security (2024)

Two of Westminster's best-connected journalists, Sky News's Sam Coates and Politico's Jack Blanchard, guide you through their top predictions for the next seven days in British politics.

On this week's episode, Jack and Sam talk about their "epic fail" and reveal how they missed the biggest political story of the year - that Rishi Sunak would call a general election for 4 July.

Now the campaign wheels are in motion, Jack and Sam discuss what's in store over the next few weeks leading up to the vote, and whether we'll see the return of some familiar faces as candidates after a mass exodus of Conservative MPs.

Also in this episode, from campaign plane rides and party manifestos to TV debates, Jack and Sam unpack how Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer are hoping to steer the narrative of what could be the most consequential election in 14 years.

👉Listen above then tap here to follow Politics at Jack at Sam's wherever you get your podcasts👈

Email with your thoughts and rate how their predictions play out: jackandsam@sky.uk or jackandsam@politico.co.uk

Finally with Christine Jardine from the Lib Dems, we asked if they would be prepared to go into coalition with Labour or the Tories after the election should neither party win a majority.

She replied that it's "a bit disrespectful to the voters" to start setting out those possibilities now.

"We have no arrangements or pacts or deals with anyone.

"We respect the fact that we have a general election and the voters will decide what the next parliament looks like."

Pushed on if the Lib Dems would consider a pact in due course, Mr Jardine said they are "focusing at the moment on winning as many seats as we possibly can".

"We are second in about 90 seats in England to the Conservatives. Now, we're nt saying for a minute we are going to win all of those, and we are aiming to increase the number of seats in Scotland.

"So what we are focusing on is winning as many seats as possible so that people voting for us know that they are voting for change."

We asked Christine Jardine of the Liberal Democrats what the party's plan is for young people as the Tories continue to argue for their national service plans.

She replied that they "want to protect young people's future" following the "trauma" of the COVID pandemic.

"And then, you know, a lot of them are now coming out into work to find that the economy is in a mess and that their opportunities have been affected."

On the Tories' national service plans, Ms Jardine said serving in the army is "a great career, but it should be your choice whether or not you go into it".

She argued that Boris Johnson deprived young people of opportunities with COVID restrictions, Liz Truss "messed up the economy", and Rishi Sunak now mandating army or community service.

"So we want to focus on young people, on their education and providing them with the health support, the dental support, the mental health support."

We challenged Ms Jardine on whether young people can really trust the Lib Dems, given that in 2010 they pledged to not raise tuition fees, but then supported a move to do exactly that when in coalition with the Tories.

She replied that universities in Scotland are "facing all sorts of financial problems" due to lack of tuition fees or graduate tax.

"And then we weren't the main party in power. So we had to compromise. We had to meet the Conservatives halfway.

"I think it's oversimplifying it to go back 15 years. Where we are now is what matters."

She said the Lib Dems have "learned lessons over the past 15 years", and said it's clear that opportunities for young people need to improved.

We've just been speaking with Christine Jardine from the Liberal Democrats, and we asked how they plan to gain support in Scotland amid tricky polling.

But she rejected that characterisation, saying they are doing "extremely well" in the seats they currently hold in Scotland.

"People recognise that we work for our communities and that's what is important to us - to fighting, to combating the effects there of the economic mess that the Conservatives have made."

She also pointed to lack of GPs and, in particular, dentists.

What are the rules on voter ID?How does tactical voting work? In what different ways can you cast your ballot?

The countdown to the election is on - and already the amount of information can seem overwhelming.

We cut through the noise to bring you what you need to know, from registering to vote, to election day and what happens next.

Read on here...

Last week, the former Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, announced he will be standing as an independent after being barred from standing for Labour following his response to the report into antisemitism in the party under his leadership (more here).

Asked how concerning that is for Labour's chances at winning Islington North, shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson replied: "Jeremy's in the past now.

"He's not a Labour member. He's not a Labour candidate.

"We've got a brilliant candidate standing in Islington North who'll be fighting hard for every vote."

Labour's focus, she said, is "earning the trust of the British people and securing the Labour government and making the case for the kinds of change that we could deliver if we win the next election"

We asked Labour's Bridget Phillipson for her view on the Tories' national service plans, and how Labour will put the country on a footing to combat the challenges of this era.

She replied: "I just think this idea that the Conservatives have set out is a ridiculous gimmick, especially when you consider the fact that they've cut back our armed forces to the lowest point in hundreds of years."

She pointed to comments by former defence chiefs saying this is not the way to fill the holes in our armed forces.

"It is incredibly important that we keep our country safe, but with every hour there seems to be a fresh unravelling of this ridiculous gimmick that the Conservatives have set out, totally unfunded. No plan to make it happen."

Asked what Labour's plan is, Ms Phillipson said they will conduct a "rapid review within the first 100 days of all of the risks that our country faces to make sure that we can absolutely keep our country safe".

As the opposition party, she said, they do not have access to classified briefing materials to understand the full details of the threats facing the UK.

"We would want to take stock immediately to make sure we can respond to the very big challenges we face at the moment as a country," she said.

"Alongside that, a security and defence review to make sure that we're responding to those longer term challenges."

We spoke a short while ago with the shadow education secretary, and we started by asking about the risk of private schools closing due to Labour's plans to impose VAT on private school fees - and therefore there not being the money the party wants to raise to invest in state school teachers.

One example is a school in Hampshire, that said in a statement that blamed "adverse political and economic factors" for having to close.

Bridget Phillipson replied that in the case of that particular school, they themselves said they'd "had falling pupils over many years, and they've not been able to turn that around".

On the policy itself, the senior Labour MP pointed to analysis from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) that said the policy would "raise £1.3bn to £1.5bn net", which Labour would invest in 6,500 new teachers and mental health support.

"My priority, if I were education secretary in a Labour government, would be to deliver improved investment directly into our state schools, because that is where the vast majority of our children go to school," she said.

We asked next if state schools have the capacity to potentially take on extra pupils due to either private school closures or parents simply no longer being able to afford the fees.

Ms Phillipson replied: "Firstly, I don't accept that we will see that kind of change. That wasn't the conclusion that the Institute for Fiscal Studies reached.

"But secondly, in our state schools, we're actually facing a situation at the moment where we've got falling numbers, so fewer young people coming through our schools.

"We're actually going to be in that position in the years to come, of state schools facing those kinds of pressures about whether they've got enough students within their classrooms."

More broadly, she said it's a question of "political priorities", saying she would "just gently say to private schools, there's probably a lot that they could learn from state schools about how they've had to manage a really tight budget in recent years".

We put to Tory minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan that the national service plans do not address key challenges facing young people, such as housing, cost of living, getting an NHS appointment, and more.

Asked if she believes this policy really is a vote winner in that context, she replied that it is "an important part of all the manifesto commitments that the prime minister will set out in the weeks ahead".

But she went on to say that COVID and the invasion of Ukraine "created enormous financial pressures", and said Rishi Sunak has been "laser-like focussed" on reducing inflation, to then bring down interest rates and reduce the cost of living.

The reduction in inflation, she argued, is "a demonstration that he has the incredible determination, energy and focus to make sure that those critically important issues are at the heart of Conservative policymaking".

The Conservative Party has confirmed that the royal children would not be exempt from national service - but we asked what exemptions there would be.

Foreign Office minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan could not provide much detail, saying the royal commission would examine that to make it "clear for all".

"But fundamentally, the prime minister's been clear that this would be for the vast majority of our young people, our 18-year-olds.

"This would be a mandatory part of both their continued education and journey to adulthood."

We put to the minister that, for example, while children from a privileged background may have no barriers to undertaking national service, but a young carer may not be able to - and would therefore lose career opportunities as a result.

To that end, we asked if young people living in difficult circ*mstances will be even further penalised, and Ms Trevelyan replied: "The royal commission would be invited to look at the detail.

"Those sorts of specific issues, cases, would be looked at, and some thoughtful policy would be set out accordingly."