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

Sky political correspondent Serena Barker-Singh has been speaking to Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader who is now an independent.

Mr Corbyn was asked about the candidates seen to be on the left of the party - like Diane Abbott, Lloyd Russell-Moyle, and Faiza Shaheen - not being allowed to stand.

He tells Serena: "The one thing they all have in common, the people that have been purged, is that they're on the left of the party and have all spoken out in favour of an immediate ceasefire and permanent ceasefire in Gaza."

When it was put to him that Labour claims some of the action was down to liking social media posts, Mr Corbyn says: "We don't even know which tweet it was or whose tweet it was.

"That seems to me a bit thin - and the Labour Party's procedures ought to be more robust and more open than that."

Serena asks if Mr Corbyn thinks Sir Keir Starmer is behind the decisions.

The ex-Labour chief says: "Well, as much as he claims sometimes it's nothing to do with him and other times that he's made the decision, he better make up his mind what it is.

"I think the leader ought to be independent of the other processes. But he clearly is intervening all along the way."

Mr Corbyn is standing for re-election in Islington North.

Labour'sAngela Rayner speaks to our political editorBeth Rigbyin an extended interview for the Daily podcast.

The party’s deputy leader says that she believes Diane Abbott should be able to stand as an MP - and she denied leader Sir Keir Starmer was acting "in a factional way".

On the first official day of campaigning, she also spoke about the investigations into her living arrangements - and revealed the details of her campaign battle bus.

Sky political correspondent Darren McCaffery was listening in as Rishi Sunak answered questions from the public.

As we reported, this included him being asked about the fine he received for breaking COVID regulations in 2020 when chancellor (read more).

Darren says this shows partygate "is clearly still an issue for the Conservative Party - and this is a prime minister who did receive a fixed penalty notice over that".

He adds that the person asking - who had lost their mother - "seemed pretty angry at the prime minister".

This, Darren says, is a reminder of which issues "still resonate with members of the public".

Mr Sunak did try to address the issue by explaining he was at a meeting, but was also "trying to pivot away to his record as chancellor on the furlough scheme".

Darren says that, while some of those covering the election may get "led slightly by government announcements and opposition announcements on a daily basis", there are many voters for whom "there are other issues at play here, whether they be historical or not, that are going to factor into how the vote in five weeks".

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: