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

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.

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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."

The Conservative Party says Rishi Sunak's national service policy will be mandatory - but Home Secretary James Cleverly has told Sky News that teenagers would not be jailed for refusing.

We asked Foreign Office minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan exactly what the consequences would be for not participating, and she could not provide clarity.

"There would be a royal commission to work out the details," she said, and reiterated there would not be a "criminal sanction".

She argued that it would be similar to remaining in education until age 18, and "employers would be clear that they would look to see what you had done".

"This would become part of the normal toolkit that young people would present as they move through their careers going forwards."

Challenged on reports of leaked Tory party documents saying young people could be jailed, despite the home secretary's assurances yesterday, Ms Trevelyan reiterated that there would not be a "criminal sanction".

They would ask the royal commission to look at "appropriate incentivisation", she said, and also argued that it would become a normal part of growing up.

We've just been hearing from aForeign Office minister as the Tories make their case for Rishi Sunak's national service plan.

We put to Anne-MarieTrevelyan that the Conservatives scrapped national service in the 1960s, and asked why they want to bring it back now.

She replied that this proposal is "very different" to what was in place in the 1960s, saying that 30,000 young people will be able to take a commission in the armed forces, while the "vast majority" will undertake volunteering work.

She described it as a "really exciting opportunity" for young people to "develop skills" and "be part of the wider community that is our amazing country".

The "freedoms" that we enjoy in the UK "don't come free", the minister argued, and said we "have to keep passing on that understanding, and why it's important to that we have to look after, protect, and defend them".

By Adam Boulton, Sky News commentator

Whether you heard the wet outdoor version of Rishi Sunak's election campaign launch or the dry indoor one, his message on national security was the same.

"The world is more dangerous than it has been at any point since the end of the Cold War," he told the small banner-waving crowd bussed in to the Excel centre, and it is only "we Conservatives who have that plan and are prepared to take that bold action to ensure the better future for our country and our children."

The Conservative leader likes to remind voters that his Labour opponent, Sir Keir Starmer, served under and supported his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, who opposed Britain's membership of NATO and the nation's nuclear deterrent.

Labour has chosen the single word "change" as their main campaign slogan.

Sir Keir's Labour Party has certainly changed a lot since the days of Mr Corbyn in relation to his views on defence.

Mr Corbyn has been kicked out of Labour on antisemitism issues and is challenging his old party as an independent in the Islington North constituency, which he has represented for 40 years.

Meanwhile, danger signals are flashing red over the conflicts in Ukraine and Israel and Gaza, amid identification of a new axis of anti-Western aggression, dubbed CRINK from the initial letters of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.

Foreign policy is seldom a determining factor in UK general elections.

All politicians agree with opinion polls which show that voters are usually much more concerned with domestic issues such as the NHS, the economy and law and order.

Yet Conservative campaigners clearly see it as one of their main attack lines against Labour in this election.

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