Last day of election campaigning
- Coming up:The final Sky News/YouGov MRP poll
- Under-threat Labour frontbencher hits out at postal vote delays
- Starmer reveals his biggest fear|And it's not Boris Johnson
- Beth Rigby:Labour insiders can't help feel the party's time has come
- PM reveals favourite food - and meets UK's most tattooed mum
- Lib Dem leader makes most of final day - with a tractor race
- Electoral Dysfunction:What to watch out for on election night
- Live reporting by Faith Ridlerand Brad Young
Election essentials
- Manifesto pledges:Conservatives|Greens|Labour|Lib Dems|Plaid|Reform|SNP
- Trackers:Who's leading polls?|Is PM keeping promises?
- Follow Sky's politics podcasts:Electoral Dysfunction|Politics At Jack And Sam's
- Read more:Who is standing down?|Key seats to watch|What counts as voter ID?|Check if your constituency is changing|Guide to election lingo
- How to watch election on Sky News
Sky News will reveal the results of YouGov's final MRP poll of the election campaign at 5pm.
The polls have been consistently disastrous for the Tories throughout the campaign and the previous two in this series have been no exception.
Our last one, from 19 June, projected Labour to win a majority of 200 and many big name Conservatives to lose their seats.
Could things have got even worse since then?
Find out at 5pm, live on Sky News and here in Politics Hub.
The Sun backs the Labour Party
Another poll projects worst ever defeat for Tories
A second major poll in 24 hours has forecast a bigger Labour landslide than 1997.
The Tories would face their worst ever defeat with upsets for several cabinet ministers, according to More in Common.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps and veterans minister Johnny Mercer were forecast to lose their seats in the poll of 13,556 adults for The News Agents podcast.
More In Common has listed Portsmouth North, which former Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt is contesting, as "too close to call".
More in Common forecast:
- Labour: 430 seats on 39.3% of the vote (Tony Blair won 418);
- Conservatives: 126 on 22.7%;
- Liberal Democrats: 52 on 13.5% (up from 11);
- SNP: 16 (slashed from 48);
- Reform UK: Two on 13.1%;
- Plaid Cymru: Two seats;
- Green: At least one seat.
Labour is set for one upset - Islington North, where Jeremy Corbyn has a 91% chance of winning.
A poll by Survation yesterday evening said Labour were 99% certain to beat the landslide win secured by Tony Blair in 1997.
Poll tracker: Where do parties stand on the eve of the election?
Our live poll tracker collates the results of opinion surveys carried out by all the main polling organisations - and allows you to see how the political parties are performing in the run-up to the general election.
With just 24 hours to go, the Tories and Labour have taken a drop, while support for Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats is on the rise.
Read more about the trackerhere.
'I was supposed to parachute in': Davey makes penultimate campaign stop
"I was supposed to parachute in," jokes Sir Ed Davey as he addresses supporters in Hampshire, his second stop of the day.
Campaigning alongside vet and Winchester candidate Danny Chambers, Sir Ed says: "We've got the pet vote, and the farm animal vote, all sewn up."
He continues: "This is a once in a century election. A chance where we can change the political geography of our nation, and in doing that, I want us to become a caring nation."
As the event winds down, he apologises for keeping his supporters waiting: "An hour?! I'm so sorry - I blame the Tories."
The full list of candidates running in Winchester include:
- Chris Barfoot, independent;
- Danny Chambers, Lib Dems;
- Kevin D'Cruze, independent;
- Andrew Davis, Social Democratic Party;
- Hannah Dawson, Labour;
- Flick Drummond, Conservatives.
Tories 'desperate' for attacking Starmer over Friday evening breaks, says Plaid leader
The leader of Plaid Cymru has said the Conservatives are "desperate" for attacking Sir Keir Starmer for wanting to spend Friday evenings with his children.
Sir Keir said earlier this week that Friday night dinner is important to his family and that he tries to "not do a work-related thing after 6pm" on Fridays.
This led to senior Conservatives criticising the Labour leader, accusing him of being a "part-time prime minister".
Rhun ap Iorwerth, the leader of Plaid, said: "I think that the Conservatives are pretty desperate if they're coming down to that kind of level of personal attack.
"People attack me personally all the time and I tend to try to ignore it."
Plaid vows to 'hold Labour to account'
"What we need to focus on is what's really at stake in this election," he added.
"Conservatives are going - high time - Labour will form the next government, but we can hold them to account."
SNP leader John Swinney also criticised the Tory attacks on Sir Keir earlier today, labelling them "disgusting".
Police say Reform activists who used racist and hom*ophobic language did not commit criminal offence
No criminal offences were committed by Reform UK activists campaigning for Nigel Farage who were filmed by an undercover journalist for Channel 4, Essex Police says.
"Having assessed the comments made during a Channel 4 news programme, and all other information available to us, we have concluded that no criminal offences have taken place," said the force in a statement.
The footage showed canvasser Andrew Parker using a racial slur about Rishi Sunak and suggesting migrants arriving in the UK on small boats should be used as "target practice".
Another activist described the Pride flag as "degenerate" and suggested members of the LGBT+ community are paedophiles.
Mr Farage claimed he was the victim of a stitch-up because Mr Parker is an actor, but Mr Parker insisted he was there as a Reform activist and Channel 4 said he was not known to the broadcaster before being "filmed covertly via the undercover operation".
More than £232m paid in compensation for HS2 line that will never be built
By Jennifer Scott, political reporter
More than £232m has been paid out in compensation to people affected by the now-scrapped northern leg of HS2, Sky News can reveal.
Responses to our Freedom of Information requests show just shy of £550m has been spent so far on a range of government compensation schemes for both residents and businesses impacted by the planned route between London and Manchester.
But more than 40% of the pot went to land and property owners in phase two of the project - starting at Birmingham and heading north - which was cancelled by the Conservatives at their 2023 party conference and will never be built.
A total of 2,446 successful applications for pay outs have been made across five schemes, but 53 are still yet to be settled - 10 years after compensation was first made available.
You can read more from Sky News here:
Labour frontbencher who could lose seat to Greens 'very concerned' about missing postal votes
By Faith Ridler, political reporter
A Labour frontbencher in a hotly contested seat is "very concerned" about delays to arrivals of postal votes in her constituency - which she could be set to lose to the Greens.
Thangam Debbonaire, the shadow culture secretary, wrote to a British citizen who lives in Hong Kong - but is registered to vote in Bristol Central - to explain she is "certainly not the only person" who has experienced delays.
'Completely unacceptable'
Bronwen Baynes, 34, did not receive her postal vote and now there is no way of her getting it back to the count before the deadline of 10pm on Thursday.
She is now applying for an emergency proxy vote in the hope that one of her friends can vote on her behalf - but this is proving difficult.
Ms Debboinaire told her in an email seen by Sky News that this situation is "completely unacceptable" - and she is "very concerned" about the "failure of postal votes to be sent out on time".
She added that Ms Baynes is "certainly not the only person who has experienced this".
Bristol City Council told her to pick up a re-issued postal ballot from the council offices - some 9,762km away from where she lives - and resubmit this to register her vote.
The latest MRP poll shows Bristol Central could well be a Green gain, with a possible 12-point majority.
The Labour candidate holds a 16,000 - or 32.5% - majority in the seat.
There are reports of thousands of postal ballots not being delivered in time, with postal affairs minister Kevin Hollinrake calling onRoyal Mail"to do all they can" to make sure postal votes get to people in time.
More than 90 constituencies, including those of cabinet ministers, have raised concerns about ballots failing to arrive, according to The Telegraph.
But Royal Mail said it is delivering postal votes as soon as they arrive in its network - and has called for a review of how the printing and administration of postal votes is handled before the ballot papers are given to Royal Mail.
The other candidates in Bristol Central are:
- Robert Clarke, Reform UK;
- Nicholas Coombes, Liberal Democrats;
- Carla Denyer, Green Party;
- Kellie-Jay Keen, Party of Women;
- Samuel Williams, Conservatives.
Sunak: 'I'm a big sandwich person'
Rishi Sunak has said his favourite meal is "sandwiches".
Asked about his final meal in Number 10, should he lose his role after voting on Thursday, the Prime Minister told ITV's This Morning: "Well, my favourite meal generally is sandwiches.
"You know, I'm a big sandwich person.
"But, actually, I always have on election night - we have a bit of a tradition, my local butcher, one of my local butchers called Kitson's in Northallerton High Street, always do a special election pie."
PM will 'check in' with favourite butcher
Mr Sunak described the pie as a "very good pork pie with a special chutney and some cheese as well, on top", and added he has had the pie at all the elections he has stood at in the Richmond, Yorkshire, constituency.
"I have to check in with them," he said.
And a photo taken ahead of the interview - featuring a fellow guest (Britain's most tattooed mum, apparently) is gaining traction on social media...
The other candidates in Richmond and Northallerton are:
- Jason Barnett, independent;
- Count Binface, Count Binface Party;
- Daniel Callaghan, Lib Dems;
- Angie Campion, independent;
- Louise Anne Dickens, Workers Party;
- Kevin Foster, Greens;
- Rio Goldhammer, Yorkshire Party;
- Niko Omilana, independent;
- Brian Richmond, independent;
- Sir Archibald Stanton, Monster Raving Loony Party;
- Lee Taylor, Reform;
- Tom Wilson, Labour.
