David Tennant should have been more respectful when criticising Badenoch over LGBT views, says Starmer – as it happened

• Labour is planning to introduce automatic registration for voting under plans to add millions more people to the electoral roll for future elections, especially young people, the Guardian has learned.

• Keir Starmer has said the actor David Tennant should have been more respectful when he criticised Kemi Badenoch, the business secretary and minister for women and equalities minister, at the British LGBT awards. (See 3.41pm.)

• Starmer has said the allegations against the two Tory candidates suspended over election bets were more serious than the incident that led to a Labour candidate being suspended over a bet. (See 2.36pm.) He also said he did not want to ban MPs from betting on politics; what was needed were higher ethical standards, not new laws, he argued. (See 2.47pm.)

• Martin Lewis, the journalist, campaigner and founder of the MoneySavingExpert website, has accused the Conservative party of misrepresenting him in a clip it has used on social media. (See 3.13pm.)

That is all from this blog now. But we are covering the Sunak/Starmer debate on the BBC on a separate live blog. It’s here.

Labour is worried that all the MRP polls we have been getting recently, like the latest Find Out Now/Electoral Calculus one (see 5.28pm), will make its supporters complacent, and lead them to assume that it does not matter if they vote next Thursday. This Labour campaign video makes the point quite well. It works best if you watch it wearing headphones.

As well as potential voter complacency, voter volatility is another factor cited as a reason why the polls cannot be trusted. Ipsos has published its latest political monitor today and one of its findings is that that the number of people who say they might change their mind about how they will vote is higher than normal at this stage in a campaign. It says:

More than one in three say they may change their mind before the election (36%). At this stage in December 2019 it was 27%.

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That sounds like good news for the Conservatives. But when you look at what people say about where they might go if they do change their mind, it is not such good news. Ipsos says:

Among those who may change their mind, 21% are considering Labour, 19% the Lib Dems and 14% the Greens, 7% are considering the Conservatives and 7% Reform UK.

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Overall, the polling is very bad for Rishi Sunak. It says 72% of people say they dislike the Conservatives – the highest figure since Ipsos started asking this question in 2007. A year ago the figure was 67%.

This is how Gideon Skinner, the senior director of UK politics at Ipsos, described the results.

The Conservatives are finding themselves unable to turn the tide of public opinion, with 7 in 10 or more unhappy with the prime minister and with the government’s performance, disliking the Conservative party and overall just wanting a change. Whilst a relatively high one in three say they may still change their mind, at the moment there is little sign of this benefiting the Conservatives.

In fact, with Labour ahead on the key issues of this election, people have become more open to the prospect of a [Keir] Starmer government since the campaign began, and there are also signs of tactical voting among Labour and Liberal Democrat supporters. At the same time the Conservatives are also being challenged on the other flank by the rise of Reform, particularly on the issue of asylum and immigration, with Nigel Farage as popular among 2019 Conservatives as Rishi Sunak.

So far this has been a campaign to forget for the Conservatives, but the fundamental challenges they were facing in public opinion were in place even before the election was called.

26 Jun 202412.49 EDT

Libby Brooks

SNP leader John Swinney spent the afternoon meeting member of a youth project in a park in Drumchapel, one of Glasgow’s most deprived areas and also in one of the constituencies where the SNP is facing strong challenge from Scottish Labour.

He questioned whether Scottish secretary Alister Jack should still be heading to the Lords after revelations that he joked about placing a bet on the timing of the election, and said that – unlike Keir Starmer (see 2.47pm)– he believes there is a need for a ban on politicians and candidates betting on politics. He said:

I don’t think there should be a need for it, but if it dawns on you to do it, there should be a ban. The football comparison is the one that’s really apposite here. I recall people have been disciplined in the past [for betting on football if they are players] so it should be the same in politics.

Swinney, who also said that to the best of his recall he had never placed a bet, added:

We are in possession of insider knowledge. That’s how I win elections, you gather that knowledge and you use it for that purpose. You don’t use it for personal aggrandisement, personal gain.

Swinney was also asked about remarks made by former SNP leader Alex Salmond as he launched the manifesto for his new party Alba earlier today that it would be a “major disaster” if his former party won fewer that 20 seats (the SNP held 43 up to when the election was called).

Swinney said he was focused on winning a majority of seats (Scotland now has 57 after boundary changes). He went on:

And I think we’ve fought a campaign that has the potential to do that, because we’ve related independence to the concerns that are uppermost in the minds of people in Scotland today: austerity, Brexit, the cost of living.

Wales Fiscal Analysis, a research body at Cardiff University, has published a short report today saying the Welsh government will face significant spending challenges whichever of the two main parties wins the election. It says:

The Conservative plan would increase the Welsh budget by just 0.8% annually in real terms, and if NHS England consequentials are directly passed on to the Welsh NHS this would necessitate an additional £870m by 2028-29 to avoid cuts to non-protected areas of the budget. Labour’s plan proposes a slightly higher increase of 1.1% per year, but this remains just 0.2 percentage points higher than the current government’s spending plans. If implemented, an extra £248m in 2025-26 and £683m by 2028-29 would be needed to prevent real-term cuts to areas such as rail, bus and road transport; business support; communities and regeneration; arts, culture and sport; and housing and homelessness.

Finally, both parties’ plans imply real-term cuts in capital spending, further straining the Welsh government’s ability to spend on new schools, hospitals, and transport infrastructure. Because both parties have ruled out increases to all the major taxes and have pledged to adhere to strict fiscal rules, the feasibility of these plans hinges on a rapid return to economic growth: an area in which the UK has continuously struggled since the financial crisis of 2008. Even with a change of governing party at Westminster, upcoming Welsh budget rounds therefore promise to be no less difficult than they have been in recent years.

Commenting on the report, Liz Saville Roberts, the Plaid Cymru leader at Westminster, said:

From the outset of this general election campaign, Plaid Cymru has been honest about the challenges facing public spending and outlined a series of measures to raise funds for public services that would mean big corporations and individuals making vast unearned income are taxed fairly. It is deeply regrettable that other parties’ plans fail to address these challenges.

Today’s report reveals a stark truth: Labour is not being honest about the deep cuts it plans to inflict on Welsh public services when it gets into power in Westminster. It is proof that the ‘change’ being offered by Keir Starmer is nothing but more austerity wrapped in red packaging. The analysis completely undermines Vaughan Gething’s assertion that a UK Labour government working with a Labour Welsh government would be good for Wales.

The Daily Mirror has published details of a new MRP poll produced by Find Out Now and Electoral Calculus suggested that Labour is on course to win a majority of 250, and that the Liberal Democrats would be the next official oppositon, not the Conservatives. In their write-up John Stevens and Dave Burke say:

The bombshell survey of almost 20,000 people suggests 20 Cabinet ministers could lose their seats in the bloodbath - including Rishi Sunak.

The poll by Find Out Now and Electoral Calculus predicts that Keir Stamer is heading for a Labour landslide with an unprecedented majority of 250 seats. This would be an even bigger victory than Tony Blair’s historic win in 1997.

If the results are repeated next week on election day, Labour would pick up 450 seats The Tories would be reduced to just 60 MPs, behind the Lib Dems on 71.

The Find Out Now/Electoral Calculus MRP polling model has produced bigger projected Labour majorities than other MRPs. In an MRP poll for the Daily Mail at the end of May, it suggested Keir Starmer was on course for a majority of 302.

Labour is planning to introduce automatic registration for voting under plans to add millions more people to the electoral roll for future elections, especially young people, Peter Walker reports.

Craig Williams, the Tory candidate and former parliamentary aide to Rishi Sunak accused of using inside information to place a bet on the timing of the election, has been interviewed by the Gambling Commission as part of its inquiry, Sky News reports.

In his Sky report, Jon Craig says the interview has been taking place today and that Williams was “cautioned and interviewed by two ex-police officers and a former HMRC official who are now investigators at the commission”.

Williams has claimed he made an error of judgment, but did not commit an offence.

Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has not been campaigning in Scotland during the election campaign because he does not feel safe there, his colleague Richard Tice said today.

During a visit to Grangemouth, Tice, who was party leader until Farage decided to take over and stand as a candidate at the election, said Farage would not be coming to Scotland because of the risk.

Tice said:

Last time he was here, it was frankly dangerous … it was not safe …

You have got to keep your leaders safe and secure, and we have the ability to share the load, and that’s exactly what I’m doing.

Tice may have been referring to an incident in 2013 when Farage had to be escorted to safety in a police riot van after a mob disrupted a visit he was making in Edinburgh.

Tice said that a Reform UK candidate in the south-west of England was assaulted and hospitalised earlier in the campaign in what he called “a really nasty incident”.

This is from Forth 1 News.

Darren McCaffrey from Sky News has posted on X video footage of the Greenpeace protester climbing on the Tory battlebus.

The public in Northern Ireland are sick of politicians who do not go to work, the leader of the SDLP, a nationalist party, has said. PA Media says:

Making a pitch to voters as he launched his party’s manifesto, Colum Eastwood criticised Sinn Féin’s long-standing abstentionist policy while also highlighting damage caused to public services in Northern Ireland by the two recent collapses of devolution – one triggered by Sinn Féin, the other by the DUP.

Eastwood predicted that Sinn Féin may ultimately show “common sense” and drop its abstentionist stance in the future.

He insisted “if you’re not there, you don’t count” as he urged voters to back his party to go to Westminster to “stand up and speak up” for their local constituents.

Speaking at the manifesto event in Londonderry, the Foyle candidate characterised Sinn Féin MPs as “absentee landlords” who are unable to exert any influence on behalf of those who elect them.

He told supporters he was aiming to retain the two seats the party held in the last parliament – his in Foyle and Claire Hanna’s in south Belfast – while it was also eyeing a potential gain from Sinn Fein in South Down.

“Some of our opponents are abstentionists,” he said.

“They’re very honest about it, they are very open about it. They have been that way for 100 years. Of course, they also used to not go to Dáil Éireann or Stormont, or support the European Union. So maybe, some day, they’ll get common sense around abstentionism.

“My view is when I’m speaking to people on the doors, they want MPs to go to stand up to speak up for you. But the choice is very clear.”

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A woman has climbed on to the roof of the Conservative election battle bus as it stopped for the first visit of the day in Nottinghamshire, PA Media reports. PA says:

The demonstrator held up a flag reading “clean power not paddy power” bearing the Greenpeace logo.

She apparently made it on to the roof of the coach using a ladder.

The woman, Amy Rugg-Easey, told broadcasters who had been travelling on the campaign coach after climbing down from the roof, the woman said:

On climate and nature, the Conservatives are the worst out of all the parties and it’s so obvious. I mean, what have they been doing?

We deserve better. We deserve better on climate and nature.

A Greenpeace spokesman said it was “legitimate and important” to stage a protest by climbing on the Tory battle bus.

Speaking to broadcasters after the demonstrator climbed off the coach’s roof, Paul Morozzo said: “We’re just making the point that if you want to vote with the climate in mind, if you want to vote for all the benefits the climate brings in terms of the economy and public services, then you vote for different parties.”

“In an election where the debate is so sort of poor and weak, and there’s so many lies and untruths about both the economy and climate, we think it’s legitimate and important to make our point, and in whatever way we can.”

The prime minister was not travelling on the bus.

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Keir Starmer has said the actor David Tennant should have been more respectful when he criticised Kemi Badenoch, the business secretary and minister for women and equalities minister, at the British LGBT awards.

As reported earlier (see 9.31am), after getting a prize as an LGBT ally and saying that should not be necessary because he was just standing up for “human decency” and common sense, Tennant said:

We shouldn’t live in a world where that is worth remarking on. However, until we wake up and Kemi Badenoch doesn’t exist any more – I don’t wish ill of her, I just wish her to shut up – whilst we do live in this world, I am honoured to receive this.

Asked about Tennant’s comment, Starmer said:

I think in politics, as in life, it’s really important that we are able to robustly disagree with others.

Obviously, that happens a lot in the general election campaign, but we should do it with respect for everybody involved in that robust discussion.

I wouldn’t have engaged in the way that he did. I think it’s right that we have these robust discussions, but we must do it respectfully.

In response, Badenoch said Tennant was “a rich, lefty, white male celebrity so blinded by ideology he can’t see the optics of attacking the only black woman in government” (see 9.31am) and Sunak said: “If you’re calling for women to shut up and wishing they didn’t exist, you are the problem.” (See 8.47am.)

Martin Lewis, the journalist, campaigner and founder of the MoneySavingExpert website, has accused the Conservative party of misrepresenting him in a clip it has used on social media.

NO WHERE in this comment do I talk about taxes. And the policy that I discussed (i will keep private as it was private) was NOT about taxes, or tax rises, it was about something that would be a positive change

He was referring to this post from the Conservative party’s official X account, posted this morning.

They’re not telling you the full truth.

Labour have said they wouldn’t put up your taxes. But it’s now becoming clear that they have every intention to put them up

Despite being told it misrepresents what Lewis was saying, CCHQ has not removed the post.

Picking a fight with Lewis might be unwise. The official CCHQ account has 627,000 followers on X. Rishi Sunak has 2.3m. Lewis has 3.1m. He has also been described as the most trusted man in Britain.

26 Jun 202409.59 EDT

Richard Adams

The Birmingham Dispatch - one of the new breed of local news start-ups - has an in-depth account of the battle for the Sutton Coldfield seat held by Andrew Mitchell for the Conservatives.

After mentioning that Mitchell has been endorsed by Bob Geldof, the reporter continues:

I begin asking [Mitchell] if he thinks he is out of touch with his constituents who earn an average salary of £38,000, but he cuts me off. I’m wrong, he tells me, and I must be referring to the average salary across the country, not in his constituency. “No, you wouldn’t know what the average salary is,” he assures me. “It’s much higher than that.”

“What is it?” I ask him.“No idea. But we are fortunate to be in quite a wealthy area.”

(According to the Office for National Statistics, the mean salary in Sutton Coldfield is £37,506.)