UK general election: Rishi Sunak says he believes he will win despite poll projections – as it happened

3.50pm BST

Closing summary

• The UK is better off than it was 14 years ago, Rishi Sunak told the BBC this morning , as the prime minister launched a combative defence of his party’s record in power with just four days to go until the election. Sunak later told Laura Kuenssberg that Brexit was the “right thing” to do because of the economic opportunities he said it had created.

• Asked whether he thought he would still be prime minister on Friday, the prime minister said : “Yes. I’m fighting very hard and I think people are waking up to the real danger of what a Labour government means.”

• The Sunday Times newspaper endorsed the Labour party for the election , saying in an editorial that the country needs a “radical reset” after 14 years of Conservative rule. The newspaper, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News UK, has backed the Conservatives at every election since 2005. Labour’s national campaign coordinator, Pat McFadden , told LBC that the party wants the Sun’s endorsement next. On the BBC, McFadden categorically ruled out any return to freedom of movement in his party’s pursuit of a new trade agreement with the EU if elected.

• Nigel Farage , the Reform party leader, repeated his claim that a Reform UK canvasser who called for Channel migrants to be used as “target practice” was an actor. Channel 4 News has stood by its undercover investigation in which the canvasser was filmed, saying its journalists met him for the first time at Reform UK’s offices in Clacton. Farage addressed a crowd at a Reform rally in Birmingham on Sunday.

• The final Opinium poll for the Observer showed Labour retained a 20-point lead over the Conservatives – the same as a week ago and enough to deliver a large House of Commons majority if replicated on Thursday. Labour is on 40% (unchanged compared with a week ago), while the Conservatives are on 20% (also unchanged). Reform UK is up 1 point on 17%, the Liberal Democrats up 1 point on 13% and the Greens down 3 points on 6%.

• The number of seats being targeted by Ed Davey ’s party has expanded over the campaign, as a combination of the Tories losing ground to Reform UK and a stunt-filled Lib Dem campaign have opened up more constituencies.

Thank you for reading and all your comments today. This blog is closing now but you can read all of our politics coverage here .

Updated at 3.53pm BST

3.36pm BST

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said he believes the election of Keir Starmer would be the first time in 14 years that a prime minister has been invested in Scotland, the PA news agency reports.

Sarwar met stallholders at Loch Lomond Shores in Balloch, West Dunbartonshire, on Sunday and admired Scotch pies and regional cheese.

The Scottish Labour leader said:

I don’t do celebrations: I’m one of those people that, when they have good moments, enjoys them for about 10 minutes and then moves on to the next challenge.

We’ve still got four days in which to make sure we get rid of the Tories and elect a Labour government and I’m taking nothing for granted, and that’s not decided yet.

So we’ve got work to do. We’ve got to get to work straight away to deliver for people because there’s far too many people facing far too many challenges. We’ve got no time to waste to change people’s lives.

Describing his relationship with Starmer, Sarwar added:

He knows that he will always have in me someone that wants to see a Labour party succeed, someone who wants a UK Labour government, and someone who will always fight Scotland’s corner.

I know that we will have a prime minister for the first time in 14 years that understands Scotland and cares about Scotland.

It’s one of the reasons why so many people have been driven towards the SNP and independence as they’ve looked at Tory governments and thought ‘these people don’t care about us – they’re not delivering for us’. Of course, there’ll be moments that we have difficult conversations, moments where we’ll be challenging each other, that’s the right thing to do.

The Scottish Labour manifesto largely mirrors UK Labour pledges on growing the economy, cutting NHS waiting lists and more support for young people.

Labour, which held two Scottish MPs before Rishi Sunak called the general election last month, have been ahead in the opinion polls overall and could stand to win as much as 35 seats in Scotland.

Updated at 3.55pm BST

3.17pm BST

Firefighters are urging the next government to prepare the country for the impact of rising temperatures after this week’s heatwave.

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said there had been wildfires across much of the country, warning that the fire and rescue service was “fragmented, overstretched and chronically underfunded”.

The union called for urgent investment to prevent a repeat of fires in the summer of 2022, when it claimed fire and rescue services were pushed to breaking point.

Matt Wrack , the FBU general secretary, said:

An incoming Labour government will need to wake up to the harsh reality of the climate emergency.

We need urgent decarbonisation to avert the worst dangers of climate collapse, but we also need to adapt.

Firefighters are battling the effects of soaring temperatures, but a decade of brutal cuts has left the UK unprepared. The fire and rescue service is fragmented, overstretched and chronically underfunded.

Two years ago, UK firefighters were pushed to breaking point responding to raging wildfires without enough resources. We must not see a repeat of this chaos.

The number of extreme weather events will only continue to rise, placing even more pressure on our overstretched fire service. Failing to invest in the fire service means failing to protect homes and lives from climate disasters.

2.59pm BST

Nigel Farage has been speaking at a Reform UK rally in Birmingham . The party said it had sold 4,500 tickets for today’s event and hundreds more paid on the door.

Farage, the Reform party leader, reiterated his criticism of the electoral system and described postal voting as “potentially corrupt”.

Addressing the crowd, he said:

I know that under the electoral system things are tough – we’re likely to get fewer seats for the number of votes should deserve – but get seats next Thursday we will, believe it, it is going to happen. We’ll likely to see a Labour party with, you know, not a particularly high share of the vote but a massive number of seats.

Part of what we’re about is reforming the potentially corrupt postal voting system, reforming the voting system, getting rid of the unelected House of Lords in their current form.

2.46pm BST

If Labour wins power next week, here is what the party’s first 100 days may look like, according to the Sunday Times’ Whitehall editor, Gabriel Pogrund:

2.43pm BST

The Resolution Foundation has analysed the labour market since 2010, when the Conservatives, then led by David Cameron, came into power and drove through a programme of austerity. Here are some key takeaways from the report :

• Real average earnings today are only £16 a week higher than they were at the time of the 2010 election.

• Other countries also saw slower wage growth after the 2008 financial crisis, but the UK’s slowdown has been greater.

• The “rapid employment growth” of the 2010s has been partially reversed since the Covid pandemic.

• The UK is one of only six countries of 38 in the Organisation for Economic cooperation and Development (OECD) whose employment rate has fallen since 2019.

• Successive Conservative governments have boosted pay for the lowest earners.

2.13pm BST

You can find out the state of the latest opinion polls in the Guardian’s tracker here:

Related: UK general election opinion polls tracker: Labour significantly ahead of Tories as campaign continues

2.00pm BST

My colleague Kiran Stacey has reported on Rishi Sunak’s interview this morning with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg. The prime minister claimed the Britain was better off that it was 14 years ago and launched a defence of his party’s record with just days to go before the election.

You can read in full here :

Related: Sunak launches defence of Tories’ 14 years in power as campaign nears end

1.53pm BST

Nigel Farage said his party Reform UK would campaign as the “leading voice of opposition” to abolish the BBC licence fee, claiming the broadcaster has “abused its position of power”.

It comes after the Reform UK leader was questioned about the state of his party , and the views expressed by some of its candidates and campaigners, by a live audience during an appearance on BBC Question Time on Friday night.

He told a rally in Birmingham: “As we’re going to be the leading voice of opposition, and I say that because the Conservative Party will be in opposition but they won’t be the opposition because they disagree with each other on virtually everything - think about it, the last four years all we’ve had are internal Tory wars.

“They stand for nothing. I was told they were a broad church. Well they’re a broad church without any religion.

“It simply doesn’t work. So we will again renew our campaign with added vigour to say that the state broadcaster has abused its position of power and we will campaign for the abolition of the BBC licence fee.”

Updated at 2.48pm BST

1.44pm BST

Nigel Farage addresses Reform rally in Birmingham

Nigel Farage has told the audience of a Reform UK rally in Birmingham that Britain is in societal and cultural “decline”.

He said people “are getting poorer”, that there are “people fearful of going out at night, people scared to even go out to their local pub, knives being carried wholesale by young people in this country - so I am in no doubt we are societal decline.”

The Reform UK leader told the rally he had launched his electoral to offer an alternative to ‘slippery Sunak’ and Sir Keir Starmer who he said has “the charisma of a damp rag’.

1.19pm BST

Richard Tice said net zero policies are “making us poorer” and “the greatest act of financial self-harm ever imposed on a nation by the wallies in Westminster”.

Addressing a rally in Birmingham, the Reform UK chairman said: “Net zero is making us poorer. It’s killing our jobs. It’s killing our industries. It’s killing our economy. It’s an absolute piece of madness developed in Westminster.

“I actually believe it’s the greatest act of financial self-harm ever imposed on a nation by the wallies in Westminster.”

12.47pm BST

A frantic tactical voting effort is being waged this weekend by the Lib Dems, with party officials believing that an online targeting drive could unlock up to 25 seats in the final days of campaigning.

The number of seats being targeted by Ed Davey’s party has expanded over the campaign, as a combination of the Tories losing ground to Reform UK and a stunt-filled Lib Dem campaign have opened up more constituencies. Some of the most optimistic polls even have the Lib Dems becoming the official opposition, should a Tory meltdown materialise – an issue that some senior Conservatives complain has not been scrutinised enough.

However, the Lib Dems are spending the final days of the campaign targeting about 250,000 mainly Labour-inclined voters who they believe are key in a swathe of seats across the south of England. Theresa May’s former seat of Maidenhead is among them, along with the likes of Didcot and Wantage, Mid Sussex, Eastleigh, Bicester and Woodstock, Frome and East Somerset and Torbay.

Senior Lib Dem figures have been surprised by the lack of attention the Tories have paid to Davey’s party, given they believe that some polls have them winning over 50 seats on a good night. “They are fighting on three fronts – Reform UK, Labour and us,” said one party source. “They don’t have the bandwidth to do everything.” They are expecting a Tory ad spending blitz in the 48 hours before polling day.

Related: Lib Dems step up frantic tactical voting effort to oust Conservatives in blue wall

12.29pm BST

Labour's campaign coordinator says he wants the Sun to endorse the party next

We reported earlier that the Sunday Times has endorsed the Labour party ahead of the 4 July general election, which Keir Starmer is widely expected to win, perhaps in a landslide bigger than Tony Blair’s in 1997.

The paper is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News UK and has endorsed the Conservative party in every election since 2005.

Labour’s national campaign coordinator, Pat McFadden , has told LBC that the party wants the Sun’s endorsement next.

The Sun – which famously endorsed Blair for three consecutive elections (1997, 2001 and 2005) – is still boycotted in much of Merseyside, a Labour stronghold, due to its false reporting on the 1989 Hillsborough stadium disaster.

McFadden told LBC’s Lewis Goodall:

We always welcome endorsements, I think they matter. We have changed, broadened our appeal. You can’t win by just speaking to people who already agree with you … I would like the Sun to endorse us but it’s a decision for them.

When running for party leader in 2020, Keir Starmer told an audience in Liverpool that he would boycott the Sun during the leadership contest. “This city has been wounded by the media – the Sun … I certainly won’t be giving an interview to the Sun during the course of this campaign,” he said.

Once he became leader, he adopted a more welcoming stance towards the outlet. In 2021, Starmer angered many Merseyside Labour MPs by writing an article in the newspaper. Since then he has made regular appearances in the Sun and has agreed to a live interview on its YouTube channel this month.

Updated at 12.30pm BST

12.14pm BST

There are more quotes from John Swinney from his interview with Sky News’ Trevor Philips earlier (see post at 11.04 for his other comments).

The Scottish first minister said there was “nothing that can be done” about postal votes that have not yet arrived for voters who are now overseas.

The SNP leader said he had “made it very clear about the fact some people will be disfranchised” if their postal votes cannot be filled out and returned on time.

Edinburgh city council and Fife council set up emergency centres where residents who have yet to receive their ballot can have one reissued, or even cast their vote ahead of 4 July.

Related: John Swinney voices concern over postal vote delays in Scotland

The Electoral Management Board for Scotland has already said there have been “many difficulties experienced with the delivery of postal votes” across the country.

Local councils are responsible for sending postal ballot forms to voters. Completed postal votes must have reached councils by 10pm on polling day, 4 July. They can be returned by post or handed in at council offices and can also be dropped at the correct polling station on election day.

Swinney said on Sunday there had been “significant reports of people who were trying to vote by post who had applied properly for a postal vote before the deadline of 19 June”.

He continued:

Unfortunately, there is nothing that can be done. They have to be here to be able to exercise their postal vote, if it’s been delivered to the house, or if there is an alternative arrangement in place.

There are no other proxy arrangements that can be put in place, but I think it’s illustrative of the fact there was no thought given to summer school holidays.

Swinney added:

I warned when the election was called that it was going to take place during the Scottish school summer holidays and many of our schools broke up for the summer last week.

Those postal ballots have not arrived with people and some of them have now left the country, and they have been disfranchised because of the timing of the election, which is something I deeply regret.

I warned about the decision to have the election during the school holidays and welcome the fact that a number of local authorities in Scotland have taken emergency measures to establish centres which could enable people to exercise their postal vote.

12.01pm BST

Here is a YouGov poll showing how Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer compare on key personal attributes, such as trustworthiness and likeability:

11.48am BST

Sunday Times endorses Labour ahead of general election

The Sunday Times newspaper has endorsed the Labour party for the election, saying in an editorial that the country needs a “radical reset” after 14 years of Conservative rule.

The newspaper, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News UK, has backed the Conservatives at every election since 2005 but said on Sunday that the country could not carry on with what it said was now an “exhausted” party.

“We believe it is now the right time for Labour to be entrusted with restoring competence to government,” the editorial said . “There comes a time when change is the only option.”

The Sunday Times said the period since 2016 – the year of the Brexit referendum – had been defined by political chaos which had distracted Conservative leaders from the issues which matter most to voters – healthcare, schools and the economy.

Many other Sunday newspapers have declared who they think should be in Downing Street after this week’s general election. Here is a look of some of the main front pages/editorial opinions:

• The Sunday Mirror’s endorsement of Labour dominates its front page. A collage of a range of its previous front pages featuring scandals from the Conservatives’ time in government sits beside a headline which says “14 years of Tory chaos”.

• The Independent uses a blacked-out front page to urge people to vote for Labour.

• The Daily Record last week announced it was backing Labour for the first time in 14 years.

• The Mail on Sunday comments : “It is not all over yet. Vote Conservative on Thursday and we may yet escape a long and punishing season of hard Labour.” It also states: “For all their faults, the Tories are what stand between us and Sir Keir’s leaden wokery, his green zealotry, his instinctive desire to tax savers, his feeble opaqueness on mass immigration, his embedded sympathy for the Remainer cause, and his party which, for all its makeovers and tweakments, remains what it has always been, a machine for spending other people’s money until it runs out.”

• The Sunday Telegraph’s front page headline is a warning from Rishi Sunak that Labour “will bankrupt every generation”. Its editorial is headlined “Vote Tory to save Britain from Labour”.

• On its front page the Observer states that voters have the chance “not just to evict one of the worst governments this country has ever endured but to replace it with a Labour administration characterised by integrity and a respect for public office, an understanding of ordinary people’s lives, and an honest desire to make Britain a fairer and greener place”.

• The Sunday Express tells voters they are not only deciding if Britain needs change but also whether Keir Starmer is allowed to deliver that change. It adds: “If you have any doubt he is the right person, the only sensible option is to vote Conservative.” The paper’s front page reads: ‘Starmer to wreck Britain in 100 days’.

Updated at 11.53am BST

11.29am BST

A Conservative cabinet minister who admitted placing three bets on the date of the general election is in line for a peerage as part of Rishi Sunak’s final honours list, the Observer has been told.

Alister Jack , the Scottish secretary who stood down as an MP when the election was called, had been considered for inclusion in a dissolution honours list compiled in recent weeks, according to sources familiar with the process. The list is set to be published soon after Thursday’s vote.

Jack said he had placed three bets on the election date – one of which was successful – as the row over election betting engulfed the campaign last week.

He made clear that he had not breached any rules and was not being investigated by the Gambling Commission. The watchdog is examining betting by Westminster figures on the date of the election.

Related: Tory minister who placed three bets on election date in line for Sunak peerage

11.16am BST

Keir Starmer pledges to “relight the fire” of optimism and hope among the British people – and rekindle their faith in politicians as public servants – if they come out in sufficient numbers and vote for a Labour government in Thursday’s general election.

Writing exclusively for the Observer with just days to go until polling day, the Labour leader says that after 14 years of the Tories “serving themselves”, restoring the “bond of respect between people and politics” will be the precondition for a Labour government’s success.

Striking a serious note and avoiding any hint of triumphalism, he writes:

I am sure some people would prefer a less sober message. But the Tories have kicked the hope out of people so thoroughly, to expect a chorus of optimism would be like scattering seeds on stony ground.

I believe in hope, and believe we can inspire it again. Showing that it is a privilege to serve is a precondition for it.

Starmer insists that if people choose him as their prime minister, then Labour will embark on a “national mission” to create wealth in every community and repair public services “with an immediate cash injection” alongside “urgent reforms”.

You can read the full story by my colleagues, Toby Helm , Michael Savage and James Tapper , here:

Related: Starmer’s promise to voters: ‘I will relight the fire of optimism’ in Britain

Updated at 11.17am BST

11.09am BST

Sinn Féin wants to maximise the number of “progressive” MPs returned from Northern Ireland in this year’s general election, vice-president Michelle O’Neill has said.

The PA news agency reports:

The party is running 14 candidates, standing aside in East Belfast, North Down and Strangford where Alliance is challenging unionists, as well as South Belfast where the SDLP is hoping to return to the green benches.

Ms O’Neill said it had not been an easy decision to stand aside in the four constituencies but said the party wants to see a “rejection” of those who had “propped up” the last Conservative government.

It comes after the DUP maintained a close relationship with the Conservatives, including taking part in a confidence and supply deal in 2017 following the return of a hung parliament.

“We want this election to return the maximum number of progressive candidates,” Ms O’Neill told the PA news agency.

“The maximum number of MPs that want to make politics work here at home, the maximum number of MPs that reject Tory austerity and the cuts that have decimated our public services for the past 14 years, and also to reject those people that actually propped up the Tories throughout that tenure, so that we set aside in those constituencies to actually make space for that progressive candidate to come through.”

Sinn Féin won seven seats at the last general election in 2019. This year, Ms O’Neill said the party is hoping to maintain the seven and potentially build its vote.

The party is targeting gains including attempting to win Foyle over SDLP leader Colum Eastwood.

This general election comes after a disappointing showing for Sinn Féin in the Republic of Ireland where it was widely seen as the government in waiting, but suffered a major setback when its support in the European and local government elections dropped well below what was projected.

Updated at 11.24am BST

11.04am BST

Scotland’s first minister, John Swinney , has indicated that the SNP would continue to press for a second referendum on Scottish independence even in the event of significant electoral losses at the election.

He told Sky News:

The issues that people are concerned about in Scotland today – the cost of living crisis, the cuts in public services and our public spending, the implications of Brexit – these are all decisions that were arrived at [in] Westminster.

If Scotland was an independent country, we could take a different course.

The SNP leader added that the economic impact of Brexit amounted to “a very significant change in circumstances that I believe alone merits the right of the people of Scotland to decide their own future”.

Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s leader in Westminster, meanwhile, told Laura Kuenssberg’s Sunday politics programme that if Scotland were independent, it would be able to invest in its own economy and in the transition to net zero, for example.

The SNP’s long-held policy – agreed at its conference last year – is that a majority of seats would be a mandate to begin negotiations with the UK government for another independence referendum.

It is possible for the SNP to be the largest party in Scotland but not have a majority of the 57 seats. After a huge swing to Labour in the past 18 months, the SNP is teetering on the brink . Small local or national tremors in the final days of the campaign could determine the fate of dozens of SNP MPs.

Updated at 12.12pm BST

10.49am BST

Farage says the Reform UK activist filmed making racist comments about Rishi Sunak is an actor

Nigel Farage , the Reform party leader, is asked about racist comments made by Reform UK canvasser Andrew Parker , which Farage claims was a set up. He suggests Parker, who made racist comments about Rishi Sunak, was an actor.

Farage told Trevor Phillips on Sky News:

He is an actor, a rather well spoken actor but he has an alter ego. He does what he calls ‘rough speaking’. I was there working in the office in Essex, when he turned up, and he was from the moment he walked through the room like a version of Alf Garnett (a character in the British sitcom ‘Till Death Us Do Part).

Now I didn’t know this was an act. It was an act from the start to the end. He spent time with the two Channel 4 undercover reporters in the office …

He tried to get our canvassers to say nasty, racist things, which, of course, they did not. And then he comes out with this, and literally, Alf Garnett stream, including all mosques should be turned into Wetherspoon’s. This was an act from start to finish. It was a deliberate attempt to derail our campaign.

Trevor Phillips asks Farage, who said he had fought hard to drive the BNP out as an electoral force, how many people in Reform he has had to “disown so far”. Farage says “perhaps a dozen”.

“I have inherited a start up. I have not even been doing this a month and I have got some people there that i rather were not there and they wont be after next Thursday at all,” Farage said.

Updated at 11.29am BST

10.40am BST

Sunak says he believes he will win the general election despite poll projections

Rishi Sunak said he believes he will win the general election.

Asked whether he thought he would still be prime minister on Friday, the prime minister said: “Yes. I’m fighting very hard and I think people are waking up to the real danger of what a Labour government means.”

The Labour lead in the opinion polls has been 20 percentage points throughout the campaign.

The final Opinium poll for the Observer on Saturday showed Labour retained this lead over the Conservatives – the same as a week ago and enough to deliver a large House of Commons majority if replicated on Thursday.

Labour is on 40% (unchanged compared with a week ago), while the Conservatives are on 20% (also unchanged). Reform UK is up 1 point on 17%, the Liberal Democrats up 1 point on 13% and the Greens down 3 points on 6%.

Updated at 11.16am BST

10.23am BST

Rishi Sunak said the slur used about him by a Reform UK canvasser was “deeply inappropriate and racist”.

The prime minister told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg show that anyone becoming a politician expects a degree of criticism because it “comes with the territory”.

But he went on: “But in this instance, you know, what was said was deeply inappropriate and racist.”

Sunak said he hated having to repeat the phrase used about him but thought it was important to call it out. He said that Britain is “the most successful multi-faith, multi-ethnic democracy anywhere in the world”, adding: “That’s why views like this are so damaging and so wrong.

“They belong to a minority of people and they deserve to be called out for what they are, and that’s what I did.”

A Reform UK activist in Clacton, the constituency where Nigel Farage is standing, was secretly filmed making extremely racist comments about Sunak, as well as using Islamophobic and other offensive language.

Farage said he was “dismayed” by the views expressed by Andrew Parker, a Reform canvasser, who was filmed as part of an undercover investigation by Channel 4 News .

During one journey, Parker described Sunak as “fucking [P-word]”. He said: “I’ve always been a Tory voter, but what annoys me is that fucking [P-word] we’ve got in. What good is he? You tell me, you know. He’s just wet. Fucking useless.”

10.19am BST

Sunak 'wholeheartedly rejects declinist narrative' of the UK losing its standing around the world

Rishi Sunak said he “wholeheartedly rejects” the “declinist narrative” of the UK losing its longterm standing in the world following Brexit and the government’s recent rhetoric on climate change.

Q: “There is plenty of evidence, even from your own minister in the last few days, that the economic reality of Brexit is that the UK’s standing long term is more challenging than had we stayed in the EU. And you promised control of immigration, which many voters thought would mean immigration would come down when we left the EU. And of course, until very recently, it was going up and up and up. And another promise that seems to have gone by the wayside, is the kind of bold commitment that your boss, Boris Johnson, used to make when it comes to climate change. Now, at your party’s conference this year, you shifted tack and you shifted the rhetoric, but some people believe, including the independent Climate Change Committee, it means that the UK has lost its status as a leader. Is that a mistake?

A: No, and actually, you started that question with something that I fundamentally disagree with. Because of Brexit we’ve lost our standing in the world? (Laura Kuenssberg disagrees this is what she says) That is completely and utterly wrong. We’ve just had a visit from the Japanese last year, we signed the Hiroshima accords with Japan, unequivocally Japan’s stating that we are their closest ally in Europe. We’re building a new generation of nuclear submarines with Australia and America. Never happened before that we have shared technology before on that scale. We’ve negotiated the Windsor framework with the EU, restored government in Northern Ireland, joined the CPTPP trade deal and we are leading the world and leading in Nato when it comes to supporting Ukraine, investing more in defence, standing tall with our allies. People are queueing up to work with us because they respect what we do. So I just completely reject that. It’s entirely wrong. This sort of declinist narrative that people have of the UK I whole heartedly reject.

Updated at 12.16pm BST

9.51am BST

Sunak says Brexit was the 'right thing' for the UK and has created lots of new opportunities

Rishi Sunak says Brexit was the “right thing” for the UK.

The prime minister said:

We had a referendum. The British people made a choice. I was proud to support Brexit. It was the right thing for our country. And actually, what you’re now seeing this year is our economy growing faster than every one of our major competitors.

And actually we have now overtaken the Netherlands, France, Japan, to become the fourth largest export economy in the world. Thanks to the freedoms we have as a result of Brexit, we’re able to regulate and cut red tape in a way that supports growth and investment.

Laura Kuenssberg highlighted comments from the Office for Budget Responsibility that trade would be much lower in the long term because of Brexit. She asks if he accepts that leaving the EU has made things more difficult for a lot of businesses.

Sunak said leaving the single market and the customs union changes the nature of trading relationships, but said that many businesses are taking advantage of the new “opportunities” he claims Brexit has presented, with the UK having “the deepest” bilateral free trade agreement with the EU. He said the UK can sign trade deals with faster growing parts of the economies around the world, like in Asia.

Kuenssberg points out that the vast majority of the trade deals Sunak referenced are “rollovers” from deals the UK already had with the EU, and that the US is currently not interested in doing a trade deal with the UK, something that was promised during the referendum campaign.

Updated at 11.56am BST

9.39am BST

Rishi Sunak does not accept that the country has become poorer, sicker and has worse public services over the past 14 years. The prime minister does not accept this, pointing to the Conservative’s record on education (claiming “our children are best readers in the world” and that 9 out of 10 schools are rated outstanding).

9.34am BST

'This country is a better place to live now than it was in 2010,' Sunak says

Rishi Sunak is now being interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg. He said this country is a better place to live now than it was in 2010, when the Conservatives came into power (in a Lib Dem coalition), though he acknowledged the last couple of years have been difficult due to the pandemic and rising bills.

Updated at 12.16pm BST

9.29am BST

Pat McFadden , Labour’s campaign coordinator, is on the Laura Kuenssberg Sunday programme on the BBC. He said “we are not going back to freedom of movement” when asked if any sort of freedom of movement would be negotiated with the EU under a Labour government (particularly in terms of young people wanting to travel and work abroad).

He also said that the Democrats had a “tough” night this week, referring to Joe Biden’s substandard debate performance against Donald Trump, but said the UK-US relationship would remain strong irrespective of who wins the US elections in November.

Updated at 12.28pm BST

9.08am BST

When asked about the Russian interference claims on Sunday, Oliver Dowden said there is a threat to the general election from hostile actors such as Russia seeking to influence the democratic process.

The deputy prime minister told Sky News:

There is a threat in all elections, and indeed we see it in this election from hostile state actors seeking to influence the outcome of the election campaign. Russia is a prime example of this, and this is a classic example from the Russian playbook.

What I would say is this is relatively typical, low-level stuff, but we stood up the election cell in the Cabinet Office, we did that at the very beginning of the campaign, and it was designed to look into exactly this sort of thing and I think that …

It should just be a salutary reminder for all of us, when you engage on social media, are these people that you think are posting stuff, are they real or are they bots generated by hostile state actors? It’s something we all need to be aware of.

Updated at 9.09am BST

9.05am BST

Oliver Dowden: Claims of Russian interference in the UK general election 'gravely concerning'

The UK’s deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden , has warned that alleged Russian interference in the UK general election campaign is “gravely concerning”.

He responded to Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) claims that it had been monitoring five coordinated Facebook pages promoting Kremlin talking points, with some expressing support for the Reform UK party.

In a statement carried by the Sunday Times , Dowden said:

These revelations reveal the real risk our democracy faces in this uncertain world.

Malign foreign actors, promoting British political parties, policies and views that fit their agenda is just another example of the challenges in the increasingly volatile cyberspace of the 21st century and is gravely concerning to see during an election campaign.

According to ABC, the pages appeared to have little in common but were linked through an examination of the location data attached to the pages’ administrators, the tracking of paid ads, and an analysis of the pages’ similar or shared content.

The network of pages has a combined 190,000 followers, each featuring criticism of several UK political parties, including the Conservatives and Labour, according to the ABC.

Conservative party chairman Richard Holden has written to Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, and Sir Tim Barrow, the national security adviser, asking for the claims to be investigated.

Updated at 9.15am BST

8.55am BST

Buyer's remorse will set in if public votes in Labour government, deputy prime minister says

The UK’s deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden , has been asked by Trevor Phillips on Sky News if it is too late to unite the “Conservative family”.

He admits that he has spoken to many voters who are undecided about what party they are going to vote for on 4 July, adding that he understands people’s concerns about the Tories, who have been in power for the last 14 years.

Dowden said:

The only way, if you share out conservative values, of cutting taxes, of controlling migration, it’s only by voting Conservative that you can stop Labour getting in.

And what I would say is just think, think in six months’ times how you’re going to feel. I have a strong feeling the shine is going to come off Labour pretty quickly, buyer’s remorse will set in.

And the bigger the Labour majority, the bigger the buyer’s remorse. Everyone still has it in their hands to stop that by making sure they vote Conservative.

Dowden says his aim is still for the Conservatives to win an “overall majority”, something that is extremely unlikely.

He said the public should not focus on their anger “just now” and instead think of what the country would be like in six months to a year’s time if led by Keir Starmer, the Labour party leader.

Updated at 9.10am BST

8.50am BST

Opening summary

Good morning, and welcome to our continued coverage of the 2024 general election campaign.

The final Sunday of the campaign will see Rishi Sunak face the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg for what could be the last time as prime minister, if the polls are to be proved correct.

The prime minister, who is himself in danger of losing his seat of Richmond and Northallerton , is today warning that Labour would cause “irreversible damage within just 100 days of coming to power”.

Sunak said:

It’s clear that Labour would do irreversible damage within just 100 days of coming to power.

Whether it’s announcing a suite of tax rises or throwing thousands of families’ plans for the autumn term into chaos, with children wondering if they will have a desk at school to go back to.

Labour would throw open our borders with their illegal migrant amnesty and free movement for under-30s in their deal with the EU, making us the soft touch migrant capital of the world.

They cannot be trusted. We must not surrender our taxes, our borders and our security to them. Only the Conservatives will deliver tax cuts, a growing economy and a brighter, more secure future for everyone.

The prime minister will follow up his appearance on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg by campaigning in London. We can expect the last few days of the campaign will see Conservatives repeating the idea of an unchecked Labour administration in power.

On Saturday, the final Opinium poll for the Observer showed Labour had retained a 20-point lead over the Conservatives – the same as a week ago and enough to deliver a large House of Commons majority if replicated on Thursday.

Labour is on 40% (unchanged compared with a week ago), while the Conservatives are on 20% (also unchanged). Reform UK is up 1 point on 17%, the Liberal Democrats up 1 point on 13% and the Greens down 3 points on 6% (you can read more in this story here ).

Here is some of what to expect on the campaign trail today:

• The UK’s deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden , will be on Sky News, where he is likely to face questions about reports he could be put in place as a caretaker Tory leader if Sunak quits after a defeat in Thursday’s general election.

• The Reform party leader, Nigel Farage , will be on Sky’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips. He will later address a gathering of 5,000 Reform UK supporters at Birmingham’s NEC, which he said would be “our biggest rally ever”.

• Scotland’s first minister, John Swinney , and Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper will also be on the airwaves.

• Swinney, the SNP leader, is expected to follow up his morning TV appearance with a campaign event, while Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and Lib Dem leader Ed Davey will also be campaigning.

• Labour’s national campaign coordinator, Pat McFadden , will be setting out his party’s message that it can “stop the chaos” – but only if people turn out to vote.

It is Yohannes Lowe here for the next couple of hours. If you want to get my attention then please do email me on yohannes.lowe@theguardian.com. The comments will be turned on today around 10am.

Updated at 9.29am BST