General election 2024 live: Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer make final pitches to voters ahead of polling day

Home Secretary James Cleverly has done the morning media round, and was asked on LBC about England’s dramatic victory at the Euros last night.

He said: “I mean, that was a match that was painful to watch until the 90th minute, wasn't it? I'm not going to try and draw too many metaphoric links between what happened in the football.”

When pressed he added: “The point is nothing's over ‘til it's over. Football punditry-term politics is always a bit of a funny one, but nothing is over ‘til it's over. We're going to keep campaigning right up until the last minutes on 4 July.

“And, as I say, the British people don't have to be dictated to by the opinion polls. They can do what they believe to be right and if they want low taxes, if they want their borders protected, if they want plenty of coppers on the street, they should vote Conservative.”

There are only three days left until polling day. It seems an age ago that Rishi Sunak announced the general election in the pouring rain. Since then the gloom has followed the Prime Minister around, and he could be set for a historically low vote share come Thursday.

Sunak is certainly on the defensive and you can tell by his campaign stops today. He is going to Staffordshire, to try and protect Conservative seats there while Keir Starmer is on the attack.

He has three campaign stops this morning across the Home Counties, in Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Oxfordshire. This shows the ambition of Labour, to take on the Tories in previously safe seats.

In a statement to Channel 4 News, Nigel Farage said: “I am dismayed by the reported comments of a handful of people associated with my local campaign, particularly those who are volunteers. They will no longer be with the campaign.

“The appalling sentiments expressed by some in these exchanges bear no relation to my own views, those of the vast majority of our supporters or Reform UK policy. Some of the language used was reprehensible.

“Reform UK is a party for everybody who believes in Britain. I am proud that our supporters, candidates and national campaign team come from all backgrounds and identities.

While campaign manager Peter Harris said: “I am appalled by these reported comments. All parties in such a short campaign are having to deal with the challenges of working with many activists they may not have met before.

“Any individuals who have been identified as making unacceptable comments and holding those views are not welcome in our campaign. We are running a campaign to represent all voters in Clacton.”

While Andrew Parker said: “I would like to make it clear that neither Nigel Farage personally or the Reform Party are aware of my personal views on immigration.

“I have never discussed Immigration with either Nigel Farage or the Reform Party and that any comments made by me during those recordings are my own personal views on any subject I commented on. At no time before I was sent out to canvass did I discuss my personal views with any representative of the Reform Party or Nigel Farage.

“I would therefore like to apologise profusely to Nigel Farage and the Reform Party if my personal views have reflected badly on them and brought them into disrepute as this was not my intention. I offered to help the Reform Party on their canvassing as I believe that they are the only party that offer the UK voter a practical solution to the illegal immigration problem that we have in the UK.”

A Channel 4 News undercover investigation has filmed a Reform UK canvasser in Clacton calling Rishi Sunak a “f*****g p**i”. An undercover investigator went on the campaign trail with activist Andrew Parker, who boasted he knew Nigel Farage.

Speaking to the investigator, he said: “The immigration thing, use the word ‘illegal’. Emphasise ‘illegal’ especially if you open the door and there’s a bunch of p****.”

Talking about muslims, he said: “Sick mate. Sick m*****f****** ... it’s a cult. I tell you what, if you don’t know about Islam, it is the most disgusting cult out ... We’re f****** kicking all the Muslims out of the mosques and turning them into Wetherspoons.“

In the same conversation, he describes Sunak as a “f****** p***”. “I’ve always been a Tory voter but what annoys me is that f****** p*** we’ve got in,” he said. “What good is he? You tell me, you know. He’s just wet. F****** useless”.

When speaking to a voter, Parker said the army should shoot dead migrants. He said: “Get the young recruits there, yeah, with guns on the f****** beach, target practice. F****** just shoot them. That is what the Greeks done… You know about that. The Greeks shot a load… Ringfence Bradfordstan. Round the f****** up. Do that f****** lot as well. And you’ve got these bastards running our country. You must be f****** joking mate.”

In a separate instance, the undercover investigator was at a pub in Clacton with George Jones, a veteran of UKIP and the Brexit Party who is now running events for Farage. When a police car with a rainbow flag went past, Jones said: “You see that f****** degenerate flag on the front bonnet? What are the old bill doing promoting that crap? They should be out catching nonces not promoting the f******.” 

He later says “our police officers will be paramilitaries, they won’t be police” and that Reform UK should “bring back the noose”.

Former Newcastle owner Sir John Hall has backed Nigel Farage and Reform UK. He said: “I supported both personally and financially the Conservative Party in the North East for decades but now, I see the only party, and the only politician to have the interests of Great Britain at its heart is Reform UK and Nigel Farage.” Sir John has also donated to the party, Reform UK said.

Are you a general election nerd? Well I’ve got the perfect tool for you to play with. Peter Inglesby has put together a aggregator which shows how every pollster has predicted each constituency. It’s colour coded so is great for looking at the toss ups and marginal seats.

Check it out here.

Rishi Sunak is on the campaign trail today, doing pottery in Derbyshire. While he was there, he was interviewed by Sam Coates for a pool clip (which is distributed to all media). Coates repeatedly asked him whether he had told his Personal Private Secretary Craig Williams about the election - who appeared to admit putting a bet on it three days before it was made public.

The Prime Minister refused to answer over and over again, instead saying: “You’ll recognise that while there are ongoing independent investigations… it’s just not right for me to say anything more about that.” When pressed by Coates that he will not compromise the investigation, he still refused to say. Does he protest too much? You decide for yourself.

The Metropolitan Police is going to investigate some of the bets that form the gamble-gate scandal, the force has said. Scotland Yard explained that the majority of bets would still be probed by the Gambling Commission.

These are suspected of breaching Section 42 of the 2005 Gambling Act, which prohibits cheating. The maximum sentence for this offences is two years in prison.

The Met’s Specialist Crime Command will investigate a small number of cases, which could encompass wider offences such as misconduct in public office. This could include the seven police officers who have been accused.

A PC attached to the Royalty and Specialist Protection Command was arrested on 17 June on suspicion of misconduct in public office. The officer has been bailed and is subject to restricted duties.

A further six officers have been identified as having placed bets on the timing of the election, the force said. Andrew Rhodes, chief executive of the Gambling Commission, said: “We are focussed on an investigation into confidential information being used to gain an unfair advantage when betting on the date of the General Election.

“Our enforcement team has made rapid progress so far and will continue to work closely with the Metropolitan Police to draw this case to a just conclusion.

“We understand the desire for information, however, to protect the integrity of the investigation and to ensure a fair and just outcome, we are unable to comment further at this time, including the name of any person who may be under suspicion.”

Det Supt Katherine Goodwin, who is leading the Met investigation, said: “We have agreed a joint approach with the Gambling Commission, who are the appropriate authority to investigate the majority of these allegations.

“There will, however, be a small number of cases where a broader criminal investigation by the police is required. We will aim to provide updates at key points as our investigation progresses.”

Two Conservative candidates - Craig Williams and Laura Saunders have been suspended by the party after being accused of placing bets on the election date. Williams was Sunak’s close aide and Saunders is married to the Conservatives’ campaign director Tony Lee. Lee and the Tory Party’s data chief Nick Mason have taken a leave of absence after similar accusations.

Labour has suspended a candidate, Kevin Craig, for betting against himself to lose the election. When asked by NationalWorld last night, Labour could not guarantee that no other candidates had placed bets relating to the election, however a party spokesperson said that no other cases had been raised by the Gambling Commission.

In the TV debate last night, Rishi Sunak repeatedly said people should not “surrender” to the Labour Party. This was a point that was picked up on in the spin room, as it appeared to imply that voting for Keir Starmer was almost unpatriotic.

Today, the Prime Minister has released a new poster which says “don’t surrender your family’s future to Labour”. It has an old man, a woman and a child holding their hands up as if they’re facing a firing squad. Sunak appears to be getting desperate.

The poster has received a lot of criticism online, with Ashley saying: “Fighting for this country? Didn’t you abandon those who fought for our country in France for an interview?” While Nicholas Lissack said: “You offer nothing but empty promises. We're not falling for it, Rishi.”

In other social media news, the Conservative Party’s press office Twitter account rebranded to “Tax Check” last night. Full Fact, a fact checking company, wrote to the Tories last night urging them to change it. They appear to have changed the name back, but have kept the image.

The Lib Dems have piped up about the debate. Daisy Cooper, the deputy leader, said: "Tonight the audience spoke for the nation when they asked: is this really the best we've got? Our country deserves so much better than what we watched this evening.

“Liberal Democrats are listening to you and fighting hard for the issues that matter to people. From the NHS to tackling the cost of living, we want a fair deal for our country.”