General election latest: Man who lost mum during pandemic asks Sunak about lockdown parties (2024)

The prime minister is next asked what the Conservatives will do to ensure net zero will remain a priority.

He has been accused of watering down the government's green pledges since becoming prime minister (read more here).

Rishi Sunak responds that as a father of two daughters aged 11 and 13, he believes in tackling climate change.

"I want us to get to net zero because that's the right thing to do for my kids, your kids, or grandkids, making sure that we leave the environment in a better state than we found it," he says.

Tories 'won't rip out your boiler'

Mr Sunak says he will prioritise UK energy security, including backing energy coming out of the North Sea.

He also says the Tories will look after people's bills and won't force homeowners to "prematurely rip out your boiler, upgrade your home, change your car, because those things cost thousands of pounds".

"We don't need to do them right now. We will do them slowly over time in a measured way," he says, and takes a swipe at Sir Keir Starmer by saying Labour doesn't "believe in British energy".

Another person asks the PM about two things - the recently announced national service scheme and a lack of patriotism among young people.

In response, Mr Sunak says national service will help people develop skills, but also that it is going to foster a culture of service and bring people together at a time when "there are a lot of forces pulling us apart".

He says that it will become a new "rite of passage" and will help solve the question about patriotism, because it will instil a "renewed sense of service".

The first question to Rishi Sunak is notably direct.

An audience member says he lost his mother during the pandemic in 2020 and could not be with her in hospital. He suggests this was happening while parties were taking place at Downing Street.

Mr Sunak, then chancellor, was fined by police along with Boris and Carrie Johnson for breaching COVID rules over an event on 19 June that year.

"How can anyone trust you or the party after things like this?" he asks Mr Sunak.

The prime minister responds with condolences for his loss and apologises for "what was going on at Downing Street".

"As you know, I was working on things to help you and your business and many other families like that… hopefully some of you here benefited from some of the support that we put in place."

On whether he can be trusted, Mr Sunak says he did "everything" he could to protect the public during some "really big shocks" over the past few years.

"When our country goes through tough times, I will always be there to support you," he says.

The prime minister is on his feet in Milton Keynes, offering his usual pitch to voters that he is the man with a plan - and "bold ideas" like national service and the pensions "triple-lock plus".

He says Sir Keir Starmer "doesn't stand for anything" and cannot be trusted to run the country.

Rishi Sunak will be taking questions after his speech - we'll bring you the best bits.

Rishi Sunak will be holding another Q&A with voters in Milton Keynes shortly - he's due to start around 3.25pm.

You'll be able to watch live in the stream above, and we'll bring you the best lines here in the Politics Hub.

Sky political editor Beth Rigby spoke to Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner earlier today.

The pair spoke about the current row engulfing the current election favourites - including questions about Diane Abbott's future and other candidates on the left of Labour feeling like they are under attack from the leadership (read more here).

Ms Rayner told Beth that Ms Abbott should be allowed to stand in the election - and claimed Sir Keir Starmer is not part of any factionalism.

"This is a massive distraction from the campaign," Beth says.

"It looks to overblow what they are trying to do or overshadow what they're trying to do on policy.

"It now looks like - is Keir Starmer trying to purge the party of the left? There are lots of questions for him.

"And it might be that some people in the party think that this should have been wrapped up and not allowed to run."

With the general election campaigns well under way, a slew of polling is coming in - feeding the ravenous appetites of those who want to know how the vote will turn out in six weeks' time.

But just a week in, there is already somewhat of a chasm between what different pollsters are saying in these voter intention surveys.

On the "narrow" side, JL Partners has Labour 12 points ahead of the Conservatives - three points closer than their last set of results from a month earlier.

At the other end of the spectrum is YouGov's poll for Sky News - their resultsshow a gap of 27 pointsbetween the two main parties.

So what is causing this massive difference?

Ourpolitical reporterTim Bakerexplains:

This week, Beth gets Ruth and Jess'stake on what'shappening now that Diane Abbott has had the Labour whip restored. The WhatsAppsfrom Beth’s sources keep coming as they'rerecording.

They discuss the strategies behind the Sunak and Starmer campaigns– with one going for headline-grabbing pledges and the other spending the first week focusing on the personal rather than policy.

There's news from Jess on her plans for the campaign – and she met a dog named after Ted Heath when she was out door-knocking, so that takes us in only one direction.

👉Click here to follow Electoral Dysfunction wherever you get your podcasts👈

Email Beth, Jess, and Ruth at electoraldysfunction@sky.uk, post on X to @BethRigby, or send a WhatsApp voice note on 07934 200 444.

As we've been reporting, Labour's deputy leader wascleared of wrongdoingby police this week after a Tory party deputy chair allegedshe wrongly declared her address on the electoral register.

The investigation has been ongoing since early April, and speaking to Sky's political editor Beth Rigby, Angela Rayner revealed how she felt when police dropped the probe,

"There was a relief," she said. "But it was more frustration because I was confident from the start that I hadn't done anything wrong.

"And it was disbelief that it was going on and gathering this momentum, that it was gathering."

She said the row "deliberately distracted" from issues she was raising "on behalf ofthe people in this country", so the closure of the probe felt "bittersweet".

'Disaster happening' in housing market

Ms Rayner said Sir Keir Starmer and her shadow cabinet colleagues were "incredibly supportive", but added: "It was frustrating because every time I was out in the media, everybody wanted to talk about my housing."

But she wanted to talk about "the disaster of what's happening" in the housing market more broadly.

"When these stories about MPs [appear] constantly, then it looks like we're all in it for ourselves, or we're all doing bad things.

"And I knew I hadn't done that, and I just felt that it gave the wrong message.

On the personal impact of the police investigation, Ms Rayner said that as a working class person, a policy investigation "taints you" and "people think, oh, she's up to no good".

"I'm not. That was difficult because I've always tried to do the right thing."

Reform UK was "light on the details" as it launched its immigration policy - but it "hammered home" the one issue the party is all about, says our political correspondent Gurpreet Narwan.

Richard Tice earlier announced his party's plans for an "employer immigration tax" to tackle what he called an "addiction" to the "drug" of overseas labour (more in 12.21 and 12.30 posts).

Narwan says it's "no coincidence" that the subject of immigration is the "one issue tearing the Conservative party apart".

Reform's events - or at least the rooms they're holding them in - are getting "bigger and bigger", she says - but she notes that polls show support for the party appears to be "slipping".

Despite this, Reform could be "pivotal" to the outcome if it splits the right-wing vote, Narwan says.