Join Sophy Ridge for a fast-paced daily dissection of what’s happening in Westminster, bringing together Sky News’ innovative and energetic coverage with her expert political team, including Beth Rigby and Sam Coates, for a one-hour show, weeknights at 7pm.
On the show tonight…
🔴 Rishi Sunak offers pensioners a “triple lock plus”, while Labour say it’s “not credible”
🔴 No further action in Rayner police investigation
🔴 Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves refuses to rule out further tax rises if Labour finds a black hole in the public finances
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can take home before paying income tax will rise every year by whatever’s higher out of average earnings inflation or 2.5% this is effectively a tax cut worth1 pound a year for for pensioners now I I want to be really clear that pensioners have paid in their whole lives they worked hard many are still living in poverty but pension of poverty has halved over the last 25 years child poverty in contrast is at record levels so what’s going on here’s another stat for you at the 2019 election turnout for people aged 18 to 24 was just 47% they were the least likely to vote the most likely to vote the over 65s also most likely to vote conservative and actually if you drill down into the data even further the Swing Vote between the conservatives and labor in marginal constituencies are elderly people who didn’t go to university they want increases to their pension they want controls on immigration they also want a brexit so in other words their concerns really mirror the issues that the conservatives has spent a lot of time talking about is it fair well you’ll have your own view is it political well this is an El election campaign what do you think and you can really tell a lot uh at where the parties have uh been so we’re all this is what we’re going to do regularly on the show we’re having a look at where they’ve been around the country Richie suak kick you off the day in ston Trent which is there delivering a campaign speech at a pottery manufacturer very famous and at stake of course and then he traveled to a Bowling Club that age thing again in in Market Bosworth in leerer his foreign secretary Lord Cameron also out and about for the party in Berry so this is really you know kind of Swing constituency Central here now meanwhile the shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves gave Labor’s pitch to business at a Rolls-Royce Factory in Derby uh they go before uh a visit to Airbus in stevenage so another swing consistency there just ahead of London now Ed Davy and the Liv DS were in windir we saw that picture of him didn’t we in the Lake District so classic Liv down territory there and campaigning from that paddle board I’m told and the snp’s John swinny while they continued their campaign in Edinburgh Nigel farage was also outp speaking for reform UK in DOA which is there and then this evening the party’s leader Richard Ty also held a rally in Barnsley our Deputy political editor Sam coats has been following it all today he’s got tonight’s top story firing up the engines of growth labor say that’s its biggest Mission and she’s here to persuade you that she has the right answers today I want to put forward a simple proposition that this changed labor party is today the natural party of British business labor wants to sell itself as the risk free option for businesses and voters alike our plans for growth are built on partnership with business the government that will build all its plans for the future on the Bedrock of economic stability that caution means no rush decisions a summer budget is off the cards of Labor wins so they can properly crunch the numbers the party is proudly waving a letter showing 120 businesses back them but big names conspicuously absent Shadow Chancellor you’re brandishing today the letter from 120 business figures several of those are no longer in top jobs there isn’t anyone from the footy 100 on it you will have tried to secure the backing of those people what do you think that is well I’m really proud of the backing in that letter from 120 uh Business Leaders today from businesses big uh medium and small across a whole range of uh British uh Industries Sky News revealed some signatories are listed as working for companies which are currently dormant businesses like voters want to know what would happen to taxes in a labor government the answer not as clear as they might like you said that there will be no additional tax Rises needed how long is that blanket promise not to do tax raises beyond what you’ve already set out going to last for well I’m not going to write a budget here but we’ve been really clear hang on were you not right you you said there is nothing in our plans that require any further increases in taxes I have confidence in that voters can have confidence but everybody’s expecting you to get into Power if you wi the election declare that there’s a much bigger black hole than you were expected because of the Tory mess and then suddenly you will have plans to put up other taxes other than the ones that you’ve specifically ruled out can you rule out anything around vat are there other tax Rises that you think might have to run your plans might change are no further increases in tax that we are planning or that we need to fill any black holes we are you ruling that out for the whole Parliament well we’ve already ruled out increases in income tax National Insurance and corporation tax that’s further not but not the others that’s the point you sound like you’re not going to ra so you’re not going so there could be raises other taxes other than those three I’m not going to write a budget here no tax Rises planned but the shadow Chancellor giving herself wiggle room if the sums don’t add up relief for another Figure Head of Labor’s campaign today Angela Raina cleared of any criminal wrongdoing over claims she avoided tax over the sale of her home the issue had dogged the deputy leader for months she said she would resign if found guilty today she welcomed the decision and called the Tory complaint to police desperate this man needs to knock his opponents off course we the Prime Minister Precision targeting his party’s traditional voters labor have claimed he’s putting pensions at risk with unfunded promises now a Tory tax break for pensioners a 2.4 billion pound appeal to the voters his party relies on most today’s announcement of the new triple lock plus and increase in the personal allowance for pensioners millions of pensioners getting a tax cut as well that shows that our plan is working and if we stick with that plan the Bold action that I’m prepared to take like today’s announcement for pensioners that shows that we can deliver a secure future for everyone across our country labor is taking a safety first approach to the economy and this campaign but their opponents are splashing the cash and voters want clear answers is stability enough Sam coat Sky News Derby well let’s get the thoughts now of our Deputy political editor Sam coat good to have you on the program Sam so we saw you there pushing the shadow Chancellor on what she would do in relation to tax what did you make of her answer you have to listen really carefully to what she’s saying in order to sort of get clues about the difficult things that she might do after an election but doesn’t necessarily want to advertise before the country goes to the polls um they have set out a small number of sort of mini tax Rises to fund a small number of uh promises for public services but there is just a much bigger question of how you deal with things like big compensation schemes multi-billion compensation schemes that are going to have to be funded in the next budget what happens if TS water goes bust how do you deal with councils that are going bust there is a list inside the labor party of all the things that might require a multi-billion pound check and a question where does the money come from now in that interview you I pushed Rachel Reeves about what happens if there’s a black hole and all the labor party have done is rule out increasing three taxes income tax National Insurance and corporation tax and she would not go any further than that leaving open the possibility that other things like vat which does raise a lot of money for the economy could be in play if suddenly the labor party get in and discover things are worse than they thought all along and a quick thought from you as well on the conservative party campaign I mean Rich soon not there at a Club you know the messaging pretty clear uh and tax break for pensioners the Tories are trying to consolidate their core vote center right voters we haven’t seen much evidence that it’s working but that was the point of the national service plan that was the point of funneling money uh towards pensioners the question is will it work they need something to work and soon to calm the troops who are nervous okay uh thank you very much indeed s coats there our Deputy political editor well let’s get a little bit more on Labor’s plans shall we because joining us now is the shadow transport secretary labors Louise hey good to have you uh with us so Rish re today saying she wants to lead the most prog growth treasury in UK history is she the new Liz truss well um we have a very distinct and different plan for growth than Liz trust which obviously didn’t grow the economy it crashed the economy in 2022 and left uh interest rates and inflation soaring and people are still bearing the consequence of that through their mortgage rates at Rachel Reeves’s plan for growth in uh the economy and Labor’s plan is obviously built on a fundamentally different approach which means ensuring that more money is put in working people’s pockets and we grow the economy from the bottom up and the middle out in comparon to conservatives who think that wealth can trickle down I’m just gonna come because I don’t understand what that means you know growing the economy from the bottom up from the I I don’t understand what that means and I just feel like growth is one of those things that everyone wants it’s like everyone wants s of RWS without calories right I would vote for that that sounds great but how are you going to get there I don’t understand so what we mean when we from the bottom up we mean from uh working people from people who are paid less we don’t think that by um cutting tax the very richest for example as list truss attempted to do in 2022 what is the growth plan just be really really clear what is the plan for growth I know it’s not list I got that message what is it okay great so it’s um so first and foremost it’s an industrial strategy it’s partnering with business and through a national wealth fund investing in the green industries of the future so we’ve set out plans already to in in Greening our ports for example for investing in gigafactories so that we support our Automotive sector in this country to reversing the ban on onshore wind and investing in on onshore and offshore uh and in nuclear as well so that we can deliver good jobs uh that are highly skilled in the regions uh particularly in the country that need it most and turn our fortunes around the government hasn’t uh delivered an industrial strategy over the 14 years it’s been in government and um it has been plagued by economic instability and and Chaos that’s why Rachel Reeves has put that as fundamental to our economic strategy and it’s the first of our promises to the country in this in this general election the conservatives have made a policy promise uh too today they want to raise the threshold on which you pay income tax on your pension is that a good idea is that something labor would do as well well the reason why pensioners are paying more tax at the moment is because of because of the way the conservatives have handled the economy over 14 years and they’ve not been able to ra that threshold we have said repeatedly we want the tax burden on people to be lower it’s at the highest rate uh since the second world war at the moment um but we’re not going to be making any spending commitments or any tax cuts that we haven’t costed or can afford and we have set out where we uh plan to raise taxes including on non-doms and on private school um fees um but that is not something that we think we can afford and it’s two and a half billion uh that has come out of thin air today just like with the cost associated with his national service a couple of days ago and it shows I think that Rishi sunak is prepared to scrap the last vestiges of economic credibility he and his party have so just to be clear this is not something that you think you can commit to now so the pensioner threshold uh would be lower under labor no we can’t commit to to raising those thresholds we want the burden to be lower that’s an aspiration but we’re not going to be making any tax cuts or any spending commitments that aren’t funded okay um there’s another story that I’m just wondering if you might be able to clear up for me uh today uh the times are reporting that Diane Abbott will not be allowed to stand for labor at the general election is that true yeah i’ seen the same story you have um Sophie as far as I aware the process is still going and no decision has been made I’ve certainly not been told otherwise so you think that that’s not true that the process is still ongoing that it is possible that di abber will be a labor candidate at the election that is certainly my understanding I mean it would be pretty bad wouldn’t it if uh I know I’m speculating here I don’t know as you don’t either it’d be pretty bad if you were saying the process was still ongoing when it wasn’t it certainly would but that is what I’ve been told that no decision has been made okay um it is an independent process and it’s right that it should be okay um we’ve been talking about the economy uh today and you’ve been speaking about the difficult economic picture what’s been the impact of brexit on the economy I think um the way that brexit has been handled has um has has dealt massive blow to our economy not least to the economy of Northern Ireland as we’ve seen so much instability over there uh thanks to the uncertainty around the protocol and now the Windsor framework of course it’s damaged the UK economy as a whole by um increasing red tape and we’re going to see more impact over the coming year as new biometric security arrangements are going to be put in place at our ports particularly at DOA and St panas so undeniably um the way it’s been handled has hurt us and that’s why we’ve said we want to build closer and stronger relationships with Europe for example with a Veterinary agreement um and closer ties over certain professional sectors okay so so you want to have closer ties with uh the EU uh you say that there has been an impact on the economy and you mentioned the checks in Northern Ireland in particular you know the S&P argu that if you’re serious about getting growth back in the economy then you need to look at a customs Union or re-entering the single Market is something that you’d consider no we’ve said we won’t um reenter the Customs Union or the single Market but there are other ways to achieve much stronger relationships and you like what though I mean you mentioned the veterinary agreement realistically you know are there is there a solution to the issue in Northern Ireland if you’re not prepared to rejoin the Customs Union or the single Market well the veterinary agreement is exactly that solution and I served as the shadow Northern Ireland um secretary over the couple of years that the protocol was being uh undermined and renegotiated by the conservatives and a Veterinary agreement would have removed that requirement to do what’s known as SPS checks across the border uh of the that had been by necessity placed in the in the Irish sea um if if you if you have that agreement with the European Union that you would uphold standards on food and on environmental um issues around products then those checks don’t need to be place and there doesn’t need to be that border and it would have maintained uh the very basic principles of the Good Friday agreement uh and we wouldn’t be in the uh still uh debating the impact of brexit on Northern Ireland as we are today okay thank you very much indeed Lou hay there speaking to us on the politics Hub right we’ve heard from labor H let’s hear now from the conservative party shall we we can speak to the economic secretary to the treasury that is B aalami great to have you on the program uh as always um I just want to begin the interview by rooing out a few statistics from the House of Commons Library if I may um currently 25% of children are in absolute poverty in the UK that’s 4.3 million children the highest level of child poverty since records began 12% of pensioners 1.4 million people are also in absolute poverty that number’s around halfed over the last 15 years so why is it that you’re prioritizing helping pensioners over children and their parents with your latest announcement so I don’t think it’s a question of prioritizing pensioners at all I think it’s about a balanced approach if you looked at the budget or the Autumn statement you know last year two last fiscal events we have cut National Insurance by a third that is overwhelmingly focused on working people we’ve raised the uh the national living wage by its highest amount ever at the same time it’s right that we don’t tax the basic state pension for pensioners and we’ve increased the uh We’ve increased the triple loot with the triple loot we’ve increased the pensioners um State Pension by 8% I think that’s a balanced approach so both younger working people are getting a better deal and older pensioners Labor’s approach of saying they want a retirement tax so that people on the basic state pension pay taxes on that basic state pension we think is wrong you know you talk there about the help you given to working people and pensioners but nearly four times more children than pensioners are in poverty you know children what what are you doing for them well we’ve increased in the budget we increased benefits for those poorest families increased benefits which include the uh that help children uh by much more than uh working salaries were going up by we’ve also fundamentally made sure that our welfare system helps support people into work which means that families why has why has child poverty gone up so much then under the conservatives well look as you will know you know it’s a very very complex picture and it’ be wrong for me to point to just one thing and say well that’s the reason uh there are many aspects to it what I do know is what’s within the government’s power is to work on increasing the take-home pay of working people predominantly younger and that’s why we’ve raised the national living wage by its most amount ever and that’s why somebody on average salaries after the cut in National Insurance by a third is about 900 pound better off so you know we we are making sure that people who are working who are on low incomes are getting a better deal you you talked there about the prioritizing people who who are working the things you’ve done on National Insurance what is the policy on National Insurance is the policy going into this election to try and reduce in the long term National Insurance to zero what is it we’re very clear that we would like only when the sort of government finances and Public Service public services funding situation allows we would like to eliminate the double taxation on work which is what National Insurance is and we can do that um but only when it’s appropriate to do so that’s though isn’t it it’s pretty meaningless if you say that you can only do it when it’s appropriate to do so I don’t think values and priorities are meaningless you talk about priorities and values it is a clear value of our party that we’re committed to helping working people and to make sure that they not paying double tax on the work that they do we don’t think that’s meaningless at all we think that’s very important but at the same time for any pensioners listening to this and indeed working people who want to make sure that they have Secure Retirement we’re going to make sure that your basic state pension is not taxed that’s a reasonable thing for a government to ensure and we’re frankly I’m probably surprised that labor wants to impose a retirement tax on people when they come on it’s not retirement tax it’s what you’ve been doing the whole time you’ve been in power the last 14 years as well no it’s not let me explain let me explain why it’s not because it’s because of our rise in the state pension due to the triple lock which by the way we introduced which has helped reduce pensional poverty it’s because of that rise that now we’re having to make sure that the basic state pension isn’t taxed such as the increase that’s the reason but froze the levels isn’t it that’s why I thought you had to do it because she froze them last time I thought I thought the reason that you’ve got to do it is because you froze income tax levels that’s really well it’s because it’s because the income’s gone up by state pensions gone up by by its highest on record so but we’re but to make the point again this is not about prioritizing older versus younger and I dislike the framing of that it’s about a partnership between Generations a partnership between working people cutting their taxes making sure that your average worker is 900 P better off with older retired people who’ve paid their way okay done their bit and making sure that they are not taxed on their basic state pension I don’t think that that that’s unreasonable now there is another story that I do want to ask you about um H Marc greater Manchester police and stport Council all said they’re not going to take any further action against allegations about the sale of Angela raina’s former Council house would you like to take this opportunity to apologize directly to her on behalf of the conservative party no I mean the the investigations happened and and the correct authorities not the government the correct authorities have made their judgment and you know I’ve got nothing else to add well you had quite a lot to add before didn’t you well it to be fair to um Angela Raina she could have put an end to a lot of speculation if she had been very public and honest with what had happened rather than allowing the whole thing to drag on and then requiring the police and other place other uh organizations to investigate she could have put an end to this much earlier but look we are where we are now uh they’ve said that there’s no case to answer as far as I understand uh and you know we’re going to move on well so it’s her fault then well I said that if if there’s speculation running for a long time it could have been put to bed if she’d been very public about uh about the allegations that were put to her she wasn’t fine it dragged on for a long time and now uh the the police has made their judgment I mean I don’t think there’s anything else to add okay thank you very much indeed Bim aalami there speaking to us from his constituency in hitchon thank you well the day’s big election stories are sure to feature in tomorrow’s papers we’re going to have our extended press preview and news review from 10:30 this evening with tonight’s news and tomorrow’s headlines joining us then will be the journalist and broadcaster Jenny kin and the broadcaster and commentator Ali Mirage right tonight our panel comprises Boris Johnson’s former director of communications during his time in number 10 now partner at Charles B strategy that is Lee Kane and the journalist and broadcaster for Philip Collins pH Philip Collins I actually get my words out who also served as Tony Blair’s Chief speech writer during his prime ministership I’m excited about this panel because I feel like you guys are two people who know what it’s like to kind of have election-winning sort of forces that you’re part of the team of how do you think this campaign is going so far Le ask you first what do you think well I think you know one of the things we were talking about off camera was the lack of Jeopardy in in what is the campaign I think there’s just an overwhelming feeling that it’s you know 24 points in the polls or so it’s going to be a labor majority probably quite a stonking one and everybody’s kind of going through the motions from a conservative strategy point of view it seems they’ve concluded that as well and it’s about minimizing losses rather than going for an actual Victory which given where public sentiment is is probably the right strategy the core vote then you’re talking yes we can see yeah exactly we’ve seen the policies that have been availed in recent days it’s about you know really solidifying that base you know Rachel Reed said that the conservative pension plan was a desperate gimmick and I thought well yes it is but that’s exactly what’s required at the moment when you’re in Desperate position you need Desperate Measures and the national service plan which is it’s all very well I regard it as ludicrous which I do but I’m not the target of it it it is targeted at older voters who are tempted by reform it’s the attempt when you’re in a very bad position to just pull back the defeat a little so I think that you I think you also saw saw that the the lack of Jeopardy that Lee mentions in Labor’s response to the pensions announcement If This Were a tight election the labor party might be a little bit worried by that you might think you’ve got something else that makes even more pensioners come over into the conservative side that could be a significant moment they Rachel Reeves just dismissed it with a sort of wave of the hand I think that shows you they’re pretty confident that they don’t need to respond to things like that they don’t need to set to jump into the obvious traps that are being set because they’ve got that insurance now I mean who knows I mean let’s not take it entirely for granted but it doesn’t feel like there’s a great deal of rivalry in this in this competition at the moment that’s interesting when you say it’s Labor’s response as well because I guess they’re having an eye on how they might govern if they win the election as well as getting there in the first place you know if you in number 10 then Lee still what what would your advice be now is there anything that they can do I I I think you know as well you know it’s it’s probably the right strategy for where they are now I think the problems were made when richy walked through the door when was that sort of you know 12 18 months ago whatever it was now I think there was a short window at that point to set out a stall that was actually listening to what the Public’s concerns were and and starting to deliver on that you know all elections are broadly change or more of the same and you know you can see from all of the you know you look at folks script in the data you can see that the public overwhelmingly w’t change in all the core Battleground issues people feel things are worse now than they were in 2019 and certainly worse now than they were in 2010 so you have to you know show that you can deliver the sort of change that people want and instead it’s sort of been very much a sort of status quo campaign and it sort of totally odds at where public sentiment is so you can only expect things to you know go the way they have yeah just just on that quickly because I know you’ve done a lot of kind of focus groups recently um it’s interesting that labor seem to have pick change as their word you think that’s a kind of focus group driven sort of word for them undoubtedly I mean you know sort of 18 months ago when we’re sting you know focus groups again people were feeling that things weren’t working for them they you know they wanted change they wanted their lives to improve we talk about cost of living we talk about you know they look at small boats they look at the NHS waiting list and all these things they think things are worse than they were things aren’t working for me we need change and ryak knows that because if you remember back to his last conference speech he made the rather Preposterous claim that he was the face of change you remember and that that didn’t last very long because it’s not possible to be the incumbent govern and be the change candidate but he he was recognizing that the mood for change was really very compelling and trying to be the face of it now that didn’t work so I think he should have gone earlier to a defeat strategy I think there’s one other two other people who deserve an honorable mention in this impending defeat for the conservative party and they are LZ trust and quasy qua because if you look at the look at the numbers the the conservative party was drifting down anyway but it collapsed after that budget and so sunak might be sitting there thinking well it’s not entirely my fault that this Dreadful campaign is full of gimmicks because I wasn’t half dealt a terrible hand I agree with Lee you have to try and do something about that it’s no good just simply complaining about your inheritance you have to act and I think he’s acted really poorly since he became prime minister and the upsh of it all is this yeah it’s interesting I’m much I’m much you talk about Liz trust there I might kind of play a little game with myself during the next campaign to see if there’s any labor interviews I can get through without the mentioning LZ trust because it’s every interview it seems that’s something else that’s in the focus groups though people constantly talk about Liz trust and they’ll have seen that yeah it’s true thank you both very much indeed we’ll have more from Lee and Phil throughout the program you’re watching the politics Hub coming up if you understand the art of covering elections like Adam Bolton after covering 10 in his time he’s going to be joining us to see how this one is measuring up getting your message out can be an expensive business we’ll see just how much each party is spending stay with us [Music] there’s always more to the news than a headline we want to discover to delve a little deeper to find out what’s really going on explanation analysis the people at the heart of every story I’m Neil Patterson and this is the Sky News Daily podcast Alex Crawford joining us now from Ukraine their personal possessions are all scattered around the place our economics and data editor Ed corway try to make sense of at the big numbers for us things can change incredibly quickly and that’s what they have done so by the end we’ll hopefully all understand what’s going on in the world just that little better available whenever you get your [Applause] podcasts I will always remember the atmosphere at the Shanghai protests it was an electric mix of excitement fear and Defiance and a sense that history was being [Music] made we beg you to let madelin come home memorable story was and still is The Disappearance of madlin mccan I’ve seen people who believe and strive for the American dream even in the face of disaster [Music] [Music] hello welcome back you’re watching the politics Hub on Sky News the stop stories greater Manchester police and Stockport Council say that no further action will be taken against Angela Raina over her previous tax and living arrangements on the campaign Trail today the Prime Minister announces plans for an annual rise on pension personal allowances in line with inflation average earnings or 2.5% % whichever is highest Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves calls the policy another desperate gimmick but refuses to rule out further tax Rises if labor finds a black hole in the public finances and Nigel farage introduces the reform candidate in DOA in his first appearance on the campaign Trail as he warns about illegal immigration you can stay up to date with all the going on in the election campaign and what’s happening back here in Westminster any time of the day when our digital politics H by by scanning the QR code at the bottom of your screen also on there today foreign secretary La Cameron has called the incident which saw Israeli forces carry out an air strike on a designated humanitarian Zone in Gaza killing 21 people very concerning we’ve also got your ultimate guide to understanding the election everything from postal votes to party promises so explaining everything you need to know about how it all works and yes you can see the moment that the libom leader Ed Davey there we go took a tumble into Lake windir to highlight water pollution and we have more in his confession that at least one of his dips was you guessed it completely deliberate so all that and much more just scan the QR code on the bottom of the screen now within hours of the election date being announced the main parties had launched their digital campaign you might have seen the glossy videos the funny takedowns including one of K starma as a doll well here is Sky’s online campaign Corr respondent Tom cheser to explain how the parties are spending their money so far this is already shiing up to be the freest spending election ever the conservatives are already spending their money trying to stop their voters going to reform have a look at the overall spending pattern this is on meta which owns Instagram and which owns Facebook you can see labor came out the traps really strongly here and they’ve stayed ahead of the conservatives there a similar uh impression you get over on Google’s advertising which owns YouTube their labor outspending the conservatives 521 now all this data is provided by who targets me they track political advertising we’re working with them over the next six weeks to understand exactly what’s happening digitally and this is their executive director Sam Jeffers here’s what he said about the context of that spending you know looking back say at 2019 you’d say that’s almost like final week of the campaign spending they they’re doing already so I think that’s it’s quite a big shift you know I think 2019 2017 things would have started off much more slowly uh this time around it’s it’s going really really fast well let’s dive in a bit closer this is basically YouTube and it shows you labor labor labor is flooding The Zone here you’re not seeing many conservative adverts show up and they’re also doing different adverts like this which are a lot more around local candidates announcing their election we’ve seen lots of those dozens of those in fact not a huge amount of money is put behind them but there are all over the country so what are the conservatives doing while they’re targeting in a different way uh lots of attack adverts so far this is taking a Sky News piece applying it to labor and we can see what they’re spending money on on meta So Meta owns Facebook and Instagram this is all the adverts the conservatives have been running this is the advert I was showing you earlier you can see if we just scroll down here uh we can see who they’re going to Target so if we go into the summary details there and it’s being a little slow but I think we’re going to get there there we go um this is really really crucial what this shows is that it’s really targeting men especially men over 45 55 and 65 plus that is the demographic they’re going for in the early stages of this election and that’s the same across all sorts of ads every we go and look at other ones over here we can see summary details of this again a similar sort of pattern if you’re getting this real focus on men over 45 that’s the sort of average demographic it’s the average demographic of Reform voters the message is targeted at them too that suggests some hesitancy around it then it’s not the only tactic the conservatives are using this is a bit different it’s another attack advert but as you can see it’s more slickly produced it’s depicting K St is an action figure who changes his clothes the whole time and that’s being pushed out across platforms a lot more Trad reminds you more of a billboard trying to go for that sort of moment that defines a campaign taking that centralized message and putting out and I think we’ll see a mix of that over the coming elections lots of quick little videos on YouTube that gets your cand out there along with these big campaigns they’re spending so much money on this that’s going to keep happening over the next few weeks there you go Tom treaser here right let’s talk to Lan Phil again shall we um it’s one of my bug bears that every election now we’re saying oh it’s the first digital election it’s definitely not the first digital election uh it’s almost become we’re used to it now right it’s such an important playing field for politics isn’t it in the digital sphere yeah yes it is because as you saw in the report you can Target very effectively uh much more so than knocking on doors which is a very ineffective way of of targeting your working away interesting how rapidly labor have moved and it normally when you are in control of setting when the election is You’ think that would give you an advantage Rich sunak seems to have caught his own party who I surprise with this um quick election Labor’s been ready for quite a long time because they they honestly thought it was going to be May so they were ready so they’re rapidly moving or is the conservative party I mean maybe it’s deliberate but they look as though they’re not ready in all sorts of ways they don’t look ready for this election to me yeah it does make you wonder if they’ve changed their minds if they initially did have it genuinely penciled in the Autumn for whatever reason brought it Forward because I think I think you’re right I agree with you um Lee digital campaigning so important right you you know that I yeah you know I think we live in a situation now where you know the media is more fragmented than ever before and all of these platforms whether it’s shows like this where there newspapers and of course whether it’s digital the primary thing is getting your message out and reaching as many people as you can so it’s quite surprising how lay you know the the toys but also I think you know labor as well to come into Tik Tok and when you look at the huge audiences you have of you know people particularly under 30 that predominantly consume their news from you know visual media platforms now pretty much solely so you know it it’s it’s a very important element of getting the message out but of course the four thing is do you have the right message to reach people with that’s still the priority having the right message and then these just you know conduits to your audience so it’s not enough to win or lose an election then the campaign tools it probably depends on how close it is I mean if it’s a really close election then everything matters in a way doesn’t it and if you can if you can get an extra little bit out of anywhere then you you take it it’s probably there’s probably nothing that can be done labor could probably sit out the election and still win it because the the background features which which are the Liz trust and quasi quing budget and the change in Scotland and then the cost of living crisis are so big that I’m not sure a few weeks of no matter K starm could probably just come on this program and just sit here and refuse to speak and he’d probably still be prime minister don’t try that K if we do have you on this program which I hope you will do definitely talk to us you know that um is the Jeopardy um about the size of a conservative loss then because it could be you know you know is is a thing that’s on the table the conservatives that power for a generation I I think that probably is what most people are watching for now just you know how big would it be and hence that’s the strategy to try and reduce that sort of damage and loss um and but you know I think I’ve said before you know I’m expecting quite a big labor Victory you know and I think most of the sort of average mrps are what sort of 100 150 Tory seats you know that’s that’s a considerable drop from where we were in 2019 and that’s probably the biggest swing we’ve seen isn’t it certainly to labor so you know it’s pretty gloomy pretty gloomy numbers that would be a vast swing that would be bigger than Atley bigger than Wilson bigger than Blair that would be an extraordinary historic move if if the polls are anything like right we are looking at something really astonishing extraordinary um although important to say that a lot can change over the campaign and we are still in the kind of early days the first chapters of that campaign and thank you both very much indeed great to have you on the program this evening coming up next on the politics Hub now if few understand the art of covering elections like Adam B after covering 10 in his time he’s going to be joining us to see how this one is Measuring Up [Music] [Music] hello uh welcome back to the politics Hub I do have a little bit of breaking news uh to bring you now earlier on the program we were referring to a time story at the diaba was not going to be allowed to stand as a labor MP at the next election and just to say that my understanding now uh is uh that Diane Abbott was given back the labor whip earlier today so my understanding uh is that Diane Abbott was given back the labor whip earlier today she had of course uh had the labor whip suspended uh for comments she made about racism uh the racism faced uh by uh black people and also uh by Jewish people as well in a letter that she had written to a newspaper but my understanding is that Diane Abbott was given back the labor whip earlier today now he really needs no introduction he’s covered 10 general elections he’s also Sky News Legend who I’ve worked with for many years as well uh Sky’s new election commentator Adam Bolton I’m also very glad to say that he’s going to be dropping in to see us here on the politics Hub over the course of the election campaign over the next few weeks and he’s going to be with me on results day so that’s the day after polling day for our special coverage now before we hear from Adam though just want to take a little look at some of his Greatest Hits quite aot agitation coming from you you were shaking your head every key result first and of course uh we’re going to have all sorts of eye candy for Sky News viewers the conservatives have uh lost more than twice as many seats as they have held there have never been ever so many labor MPS their record was in 1945 where they had 393 well as you can see down the the street behind me is being prepared for the action of the announcement of a new government later on today until such time as Gordon Brown goes to see the queen and resigns he does remain prime minister well Sophie an absolutely Sensational res [Music] well there you go Adam how do you I mean first of all I mean it is worth reflecting isn’t it an extraordinary career how say talk me through the what was the first general election you covered it was 1983 which was Mrs SATA getting reelected after winning the Forkland and I was thinking actually you know I’ve uh covered I think 10 general elections this is my 11th on top of that nine Prime Ministers but the interesting thing is only two changes of party in government you know the when when M Thatcher um and then John Major were defeated by Tony Blair and then when Gordon Brown was defeated by David Cameron so I think what makes this election particularly exciting is the possibility according to opinion polls that we’re going to get another change in government because I do think that you know governing politics there is this thing called the pendulum that the party in power uh you know in its pomp uh what was it all power corrupts absolutely they run out of energy and the party that preceded them that have been kicked out having run out of energy has a period of time in opposition to regenerate and that that’s you know one of the things which happens in our democratic system that’s extraordinary isn’t it just two changes of of parties at this that election it really is quite St when you put it like that I mean so it must be quite rare then for parties to kind of get kicked out of power and then get back in quickly yeah it is and it has been happening here for a very long time I mean we had what we had uh was it 17 or 18 years of thater then we had uh uh I think it was 12 or 13 years of Blair and brown and and now we’ve had 14 years of well I went list all the prime ministers but anyway 14 years from Cameron tun yeah and um I’m really interested in your thoughts as well because um we’re going to be talking a lot on we call it kind of day two but it’s really you know the kind of the the new government coming in the the change of power if if that happens um what what what would you expect to see on that day well it it it it’s always very interesting and actually you know for us who have the privilege of getting close to all the parties it’s actually quite emotional because you see the utter desolation of if there is a change of government of the the side that’s been defeated you know I remember John Major coming out very stiff lips saying you know I’m off to watch the cricket and all that and then that was followed by those famous pictures of Blair coming down Downing Street it’s a new dawn is it not tremendous you know kind of kind of cheering going on um likewise of course in 2010 we had the Fantastic drama which is possible could happen again of a hung Parliament and at that stage you know it led to the formation of the Coalition with the liberal Democrats uh so that’s when you know and it was 5 days actually then before we got we we got a government and we could have a hung Parliament again so there’s always a lot of emotion and there’s always a lot of working out and then the final thing is how quickly they put in their new team and you know everyone thinks that uh if Labour were to win the election there wouldn’t be much change you know Rachel Rees would be chancing all the rest of it but you know again I was reading today that they’re currently on the front bench of the labor party five more people than there are ministerial jobs so right from the start you know some well are going to be very disappointed um we were talking earlier with Lee and Phil about the Jeopardy in an election campaign and I think they were both in agreement that they they see it’s it would be very difficult in their views for the conservatives to turn things around at this point what’s your sort of take on how much a campaign can make a difference well someone to remind me that I once said nothing in politics is ever more or less than a 40 60 probability so I remain open to things can happen quite go as far as John Curtis and his 99% chance of Labor government but I just wonder how much difference this campaign is going to make to voting intention it’s clearly going to be very important uh in terms of uh formulating what the policies are for the parties testing the leaders who you know another interesting thing about this election is that this is one of those elections where both leaders are not known qual quantities you know neither of them have led their party into a general election before uh so people have got to get to know them all of that I think is very important but at the same time you know another extraordinary exceptional thing about this election is the period of time where the opinion polls and the local elections which I know you’ve important have told the same story which is of a very big labor lead so will there be some kind of you know dramatic pivot during this campaign are people even interested and engaged enough and listening enough to really change their minds or have they simply you know are they simply waiting to cast their vote um be so interesting I’m really looking forward to having here in the studio a bit more this going be so much to discuss Adam thank you so much Adam Bolton there our election commentator get you to seeing him on politics Hub so to come on tonight’s program are the liberal Democrats managing to make enough of a splash see what we did there we’ll have the latest from their campaign Trail and just look at that latest stt coming up on the UK tonight at 8:00 we’ll be live at Bournemouth as a man hunt continues into a fourth day for the killer of a woman stabbed on the beach and we’ll bring you the story of two Brave teenagers who rescued a man from train tracks with seconds to spare all that much more to come on the UK tonight at 8 [Music] yeah I just did a challenge that I called Tower Power uh which was an ECOT Triathlon to get from the Leaning Tower of Pisa um to the Eiffel Tower in in France and then to my hometown Blackpool Tower so I did it for for three reasons really firstly uh in memory of a little boy called Jordan Banks from my hometown of Blackpool who tragically lost his life just gone three years ago um when he was struck by lightning of all things on a football pitch um we wanted to to do something for the Blackpool Community because Jordan was such a special little boy in his own right for fundraising and making a difference um we wanted to raise some funds and awareness for the Army Cadet charitable trust an amazing Youth Organization and charity that provides incredible opportunities for young people across the nation and also for me thirdly was to learn a bit more about sustainability because by my own admission I’ve been a bit of a serial of offender of flying around the world to various continents on my adventure so I just wanted to see how sustainable can we be I crossed the channel in a boat that was made from bottles uh plastic Bott that children across Hampshire collected for me um it was made from a bit of repurpose wood and and it was glued together um I got across and I’m still here of course but it was it was pretty scary at times I got knocked off my bike in Paris um by by a truck driver um but yeah only a few cuts and grzes I’m you know I live to tell the tal so but it was an amazing adventure you know to see the world how long did it take you it took me 31 days um 2,6 700 km um and it was expected it was it was physically harder than I expected um it was on a wooden bike so all the the bike was made out of of Copus woods so sort of Willow Birch and Hazelwood um and it was carried all my kit on my tent um my my my food my rations and and everything I stayed in a in in my in my tent and sleeping bag so I I literally carried my bedroom my kitchen all on the bike so it was yeah trying to be as sustainable as possible and and and give more back to the planet than I’m taking from it on a on an adventure and I’m not I’m not super green or anything like that as I say but I just wanted to see how it could be done uh the fundraising has been going great we’re just short of £25,000 which is amazing which will provide lots of opportunities and we built this incredible Memorial uh wall through through M walls uh up in Blackpool uh which is an amazing piece of art at Blackpool football club to remember uh little Jordan uh people can sponsor on Tower Power 2024 comom um and of course as always big thank you to the amazing sponsors hello welcome back well if the Liv Dems had yet to make a big splash during this campaign so far today they definitely did their leader Ed Davey took a rather dramatic tumble into Lake windir from a top a paddle board I mistakenly called it a kayak earlier but no there we go on a serious note there the party apparently wanted to highlight that lake windir has been the sights of sewage dumping during it there we go clambering back onto his uh paddle board there they can’t come to us yet and apparently he tumbled up a couple of times as well right let’s let’s talk to leam Phil here I mean look you know campaign stuns it’s always something that parties do what do you make of this one well if you’re the liberal Democrats your big worry is you’re not going to get any coverage and so here we are talking about it so inevitably you do this sort of thing I also thought though that’s it’s a slightly strange way of dramatizing the fact that you’re saying the water’s not safe is by diving into it that’s a good point actually that’s a very good point if he if he’s ill for the rest of the campaign maybe that will amplify it quite well capitalized after after falling into Lake windir but look you’ve shown it a few times we’re talking about it we’re talking about the liberal Democrats and being salent and in the campaign is as for any of the smaller parties that’s the task the first task is to get some coverage and you know so to that extent you can’t blame them it’s worked what do you reckon I mean Boris used to always say you know constantly you know lead gaffs are good make as many gaffs as possible and and then they never know which one to focus on which um you know was was mixed advice but I think you know they can see it’s probably the what the lib Dems are taking upon this campaign the more mff the better that’s incredible but I think the difference with Boris was there was an almost an authenticity of how he did things it was you know genuinely often a gaff and he people sort of they sort of took to him the way he leaned into the Gaff itself and owned it I he wouldn’t I think have taken on it’s unusual that he’s admitted he did on purpose isn’t it that’s that’s that’s unconventional that’s the thing I can’t get don’t admit anything you know just let everyone believe it was a genuine fall thank you both very much indeed Le and Phil that is it from us tonight I’ll see you tomorrow at 7 we’ve got a special show from our Target Town of Grimsby [Music] the most significant day of this conflict telling us that they want this is what’s left of it vehicle why only in America people want their country to work want a job in a normal life why are these homes empty I want you to be honest with people that has happened within minutes Sky News the full story first it’s 8:00 this is the UK tonight 4 days on a man hunt continues in Bournemouth to find a killer of a woman fatally stabbed on the beach officers carry out Cliffside searches the second woman remains in hospital tonight and the motive is unclear also Rishi sunat promises to protect pensioners from having to pay tax if he is reelected we’ll speak to those still campaigning for justice for women born in the 1950s affected by increases to their retirement age just seconds to spare two