You can't pat away postal problems
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 enters its final few hours.
Hi, I’m Professor Colin Rallings, ITV News election analyst, on the growing importance of postal votes. Many years ago, you had to have special permission to apply for a postal vote.
Since then, several local authorities have made big efforts to increase the postal electorate - some constituencies now have up to 40% of the electorate using postal votes.
For that reason, talk of delays has made it much more of an issue.
If there was a late breaking development in the campaign, if something happened that might make me change my vote, there’s nothing I can do about it.
Parties know how to adjust their campaigns - before and after the postal ballots are issued - it is almost a two-headed campaign.
And postal votes are opened before polling day - and parties can send in scrutineers, they’re not allowed to see the details but they can see the piles pile up…
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 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.
Part-time PM? Or caring family man? Day 41 on the campaign trail
Sir Keir Starmer has said Tory attacks on his desire to spend Friday evenings with his family were a sign of “increasing desperation bordering on hysterical”.
Speaking at Hucknall Town FC’s ground in Nottingham, the Labour leader said: “Look, this is just increasingly desperate stuff.”
The attack lines of a “part-time PM” by the Tory party followed his admission on Virgin Radio that he does not usually do anything work-related after 6pm on a Friday.
It has been highlighted that Sir Keir’s wife, Victoria, is Jewish, and they as a family usually mark Shabbat on Friday evenings.
In a later interview, Sir Keir said the criticism was “laughably ludicrous”.
Rishi Sunak said he works “day and night” to do the best job possible as Prime Minister, noting that making sacrifices to serve the public “comes with the territory”.
Mr Sunak - who was up at 4am for a campaign visit to a distribution centre in Luton - told reporters: “Everyone is going to do this job differently, so that is just the way it is.”
Antisemitism adviser Lord Mann said the attacks were “insidious” from those who knew Sir Keir’s family background.
Meanwhile, the stunts continued for Ed Davey who knocked over a line of big blue dominoes with a Lib Dem yellow one and called for voters to help his party topple Conservative MPs.
The Lib Dem leader later visited Cornwall to have a go at surfing.
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said voters in Scotland will need to choose whether they want members of parliament who will “go and sit quietly behind Keir Starmer and nod along”, or those who will stand up to him.
Reform UK candidate Georgie David has defected to the Conservative, hitting out at the “racist, misogynistic and bigoted” views of some of her former colleagues.
She stood down as their candidate for West Ham and Beckton, with immediate effect. Reform said it was “sad and strange” she had made the move without first consulting the leadership about her concerns.
You can keep across the last throws of campaigning on our website, on ITVX and across our social media platforms.
Can I still vote if my postal ballot has not arrived?
Delays to postal vote deliveries have sparked concern over whether some voters will be able to cast a ballot in Thursday's election.
More than 90 constituencies have raised concerns about ballots failing to arrive, according to The Telegraph, with the majority of issues concentrated in Scotland.
The poll is taking place in the first week of the school holidays north of the border, with a higher than usual number of people expected to vote ahead of time.
The Electoral Commission is advising anyone who has not received their postal ballot pack to "request a replacement from their local authority".
ITV News explains what your options are if you have not yet received your postal voting package and what is causing the delays.
Reform UK support surges in Wales, new ITV Cymru Wales poll shows
The Conservatives have slumped to a record low in Wales, according to an exclusive ITV Cymru Wales poll, which shows the party is neck-and-neck with support for Nigel Farage's Reform UK.
A Barn Cymru poll, conducted by YouGov for ITV Cymru Wales and Cardiff University, has revealed that the Conservatives' predicted vote share in the General Election - 16% - would be lower than the amount they won in 1997 (19.6%) which saw not a single Welsh Conservative MP elected.
If replicated on election day, would represent the worst Conservative performance in Wales since the 1918 General Election.
The Barn Cymru poll suggested that 40% of people in Wales would vote for Labour in the upcoming General Election, down 5% since a previous poll in June.
Bot-like X accounts having 'oversized influence' on General Election
Posts from ten “bot-like” X accounts spreading disinformation and hate have been viewed more than 150 million times ahead of the UK General Election, according to a new study.
NGO Global Witness found the accounts shared over 60,000 posts on X, since May 2022. The posts were viewed an estimated 150 million times.
Many of them contained “extreme and violent” hate speech, disinformation, conspiracy theories and praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin, the organisation said.
Read more on this story on our website.
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Independent Wales a must to reach potential, Iorwerth tells ITV News
Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth says he has “no doubt” that independence is the right path for Wales.
Iorwerth said he wanted to see Wales get a “fair deal” from the UK Treasury.
He also indicated he would be prepared to work in a coalition if that was in the best interests for the people of Wales.
However, it is independence, he says, that is a priority: “I am totally convinced, and always have been, that Wales can only really reach its potential when we have all those levers in our hands to make decisions about our own future.”
He, like the leaders of other parties, answered questions from ITV News, sent in by @itvpolitics followers.
You can watch the full interview with ITV Wales reporter Zahra Errami on our YouTube channel.
Have Ed Davey's eye-catching stunts worked? The Lib Dems think so
Sir Ed Davey got the final week of his election campaign off to a flying start on Monday morning, quite literally.
He screamed, "do something you’ve never done before! Vote Liberal Democrat!", as he did something he had never done before - a bungee jump.
ITV News has been travelling with the Lib Dems for five weeks now, and we have followed, and filmed, most of Sir Ed’s stunts.
They’re all part of the party’s strategy to win votes. But, with just a couple of days to go, how well is it working? Read what News Correspondent Chloe Keedy has made of it all here.
What’s coming up…
Wednesday July 3: Last full day of campaigning for parties.
Thursday July 4: General Election day - polls open 7am, close 10pm.
Thursday July 4: ITV stages Election 2024 Live: The Results, on ITV1, ITVX, STV and STV Player from 9.50pm.
Friday July 5: The 58th UK prime minister will likely be elected.
Saturday July 6: New Cabinet, ministers of state expected to be appointed.
Tuesday July 9: Parliament set to be recalled; new MPs sworn in.
And finally… what time should you set your alarm?
Once the polls close at 10pm on July 5, the counting begins...
A range of factors play into how quickly the results can be declared, including the size of the constituency, the logistics of getting votes to the count, the number of volunteers, the number of spoilt ballots, and the narrowness of the result - which could prompt requests for a recount.
Based on those known factors, and previous declaration times, ITV News has compiled a list of the expected declaration times for each constituency in the UK.
Use our search tool (or here if viewing on mobile) to find out when you can expect to hear your local constituency result…