How Davey is set to show his 'ruthless' side
Welcome to the daily ITV News digest direct from the campaign trail. Each afternoon we'll bring you analysis and insight from across the nation as the General Election 2024 gathers pace.
Hi, it’s Chloe Keedy here, covering the Lib Dem campaign for ITV News. Sir Ed Davey is rounding off his week with a swim in the sea off the north Norfolk coast. A photo opportunity involving water! No huge surprises there.
‘Yellowhammer One’ (as the Lib Dem bus is called) has spent the past couple of days touring Yorkshire, stopping off in Sheffield to try to drum up support.
There is something that sets Sheffield Hallam - Nick Clegg’s former seat - apart from almost all the other Lib Dem target seats: it’s the Labour Party (not the Conservatives) they are hoping to take it from.
Much of their campaign has been concentrated on key targets in the south west and the home counties.
According to a leaked ‘Paddy Playbook’ document revealed exclusively by my colleague Anushka Asthana, they intend to spend the final two weeks of the campaign ‘ruthlessly’ focused on 125,000 voters in those Blue Wall, south west and rural constituencies.
The document suggests, writes Anushka, the party has identified a set of voters in Lib Dem-Conservative marginals who are considering voting for the Labour Party. They want to persuade them to change their minds.
For more analysis on the day’s events, check out Talking Politics, our daily podcast from the campaign live from 4pm on ITVX, hosted today by News at Ten presenter Julie Etchingham, with Robert Peston and Anushka Asthana. Or watch on demand on ITVX or where you listen to your podcasts.
Thanks for reading and enjoy some of the best content brought to you by the rest of the ITV News team below.
Betting scandal, sleepwalking and Rayner’s guilt - Day 30 of the campaign
Rishi Sunak has refused to say if he's aware of any other Conservatives who placed bets on the date of the election, after allegations of a betting scandal among four individuals close to him.
Delivering a speech to launch the Conservative Welsh manifesto, Sunak avoided the question when asked if he could guarantee he was not aware of any other Conservatives who gambled on the election date.
Instead, he urged the public not to “sleepwalk to July 4”, adding voters should not to let Labour “waltz into office without scrutinising them”.
Meanwhile, Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said her party bore some “guilt” for the 2019 election result and subsequent journey the country went on.
She said Labour got “hammered” by voters and felt guilt at putting forward a pitch that didn’t cut through, she told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
Her boss, leader Sir Keir Starmer, was in Scotland ruling out any post-election independence taks with the SNP should the nationalists secure a majority of seats.
For Ed Davey, it was a visit to Harrogate, to outline Liberal Democrat plans to boost the number of NHS dentists.
Keep across developments from the election campaign on ITVX.
Free university, cannabis, replacing the Tories: Farage answers your questions
Nigel Farage has made numerous pledges in the past few weeks that have been criticised as unfunded.
The Reform UK leader has admitted he has little to no chance of winning the election but his influence on where voters put their cross is being felt up and down the country.
In an interview with ITV News answering questions sent to us by social media users, Mr Farage said Reform would scrap university tuition fees for those studying subjects such as maths, science, technology and engineering.
But the fees would stay for “creative subjects”.
You can read more of what he discussed on our website or watch the full interview on our YouTube channel.
Leaders of the Liberal Democrats, the Scottish National Party and the Greens have already answered questions from our followers.
We'll be doing the same with Sir Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak before the election on July 4 - follow @itvpolitics on Instagram and TikTok to get involved.
ITV News reporter Fred Dimbleby has been travelling on the Reform UK battle bus and attended a rally in Blackpool where Nigel Farage was feted as a British version of Donald Trump. Read what Fred witnessed on our website.
Public sector debt a big headache for whoever gets into No.10
UK state debt rose to levels not witnessed for more than 60 years in May despite lower-than-expected Government borrowing, according to official figures.
The data, which comes only two weeks prior to the General Election, underscores the financial challenge facing the next Government, with both Labour and the Conservatives pledging to cut debt.
The Office for National Statistics found that public sector net debt as a proportion to UK GDP (gross domestic product) rose to 99.8% for the month.
This marks the highest reading since March 1961, the ONS said.
Both Labour and the Conservative parties have said in the run up to the election that they will meet a fiscal rule to reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio over the next five years.
ITV News Economics Editor Joel Hills has taken a look at their plans to see if the sums add up.
ITV News is one of Britain’s most trusted providers of news. You can access our expert analysis, correspondents and content on platforms beyond ITV1.
Our streaming platform ITVX has all our regional and national news programmes, plus original content and a regularly updated bulletin
Visit our website or download the news app on Apple or Android
We’re on social platforms: TikTok; Instagram; Facebook; X (Twitter); LinkedIn and You Tube
And we’ve a range of podcasts including Talking Politics and What You Need To Know
You can also follow the ITV News channel on WhatsApp for regular updates
All our journalists work to the Ofcom code
Why Rishi Sunak believes all hope is not lost
With two weeks remaining before the General Election, Rishi Sunak will stick with two campaigning themes which do not appear as yet to have had any impact on a tide that has turned against the Tories, writes ITV News Political Editor Robert Peston.
The first is to point to all those polls that signal Labour winning by a historic landslide, and argue that it would be “dangerous” in a largely unspecified way for Labour to become an “elected dictatorship” with a majority of 100 or even more than 200.
Sunak’s second argument is that the Tories would cut taxes and Labour would raise them - which has the advantage of being a simple message, though too many voters seemingly either don’t believe it or don’t care. I won’t dwell on it here.
So, are the Conservatives flogging a dead horse? You can read what Robert thinks on our website.
What is the WEF's 'Great Reset' and what are the conspiracies around it?
Nigel Farage said in a recent post on X (Twitter): "We'll reject the influence of the World Economic Forum."
The World Economic Forum, or WEF, has generated increasing attention, and sparked conspiracy theories, on social posts over the past few years.
But to what is everyone referring when they mention WEF and why has it created such debate online?
ITV News Digital Producer George Hancorn has been taking a look - you can read his article on our website or check out his post on our Here’s The Story account on Instagram and TikTok.
What’s coming up…
Saturday June 22: Windrush Day - introduced in June 2018 on the 70th anniversary of the Windrush migration.
Monday June 24: Institute for Fiscal Studies presenting analysis of parties’ election manifestos.
Wednesday June 26: Deadline to apply for a Voter ID certificate or a proxy vote for General Election. A proxy vote is for someone to vote on your behalf.
Thursday June 27: Junior doctors in England to go on strike. It will be the 11th walk out in the long-running dispute.
And finally… are politicians too late to the TikTok party?
The race to No 10 has offered a different type of campaigning with a focus on canvassing in cyberspace - dubbed the “TikTok election”.
However, is the type of content parties are uploading to the video app actually going to sway the younger sector of the electorate?
First time voters ITV News Tyne Tees interviewed, said no. But what do the experts think? Journalist and content creator Sophia Smith Galer offers her thoughts here.