Election latest: Starmer avoids saying where funding for NHS reform will come from as poll suggests public backs tax rises to pay for healthcare (2024)

After attending the G7 summit in Italy, the PM jetted back to the UK for Trooping the Colour this morning.

Following that national celebration of the King's birthday, he has immediately flown to Switzerland for the Ukraine Peace Summit.

Over 100 countries and organisations are attending the conference this weekend - including Ukraine's President Zelenskyy - to find a way of setting a path towards peace with Russia.

Vladimir Putin has not sent a delegation, however.

By Alexandra Rogers, political reporter

The Conservatives have raised just 10% of the donations they managed to collect in 2019 under Boris Johnson in the first week of the election campaign.

Electoral Commission data released today shows the Tories raised £574,918 in the period 30 May to 5 June, compared with the £5.7m they received from 6-12 November five years ago.

The figures show political parties reported £3.2m in donations in the first week of the election campaign.

Mr Sunak's party raised £574,918 through donations alone, on top of £22,453 that came from public funds.

Meanwhile, Labour generated £926,908 from donations alone and £652,411 from the public funds that are given to opposition parties with more than two MPs.

They show a complete turnaround in Labour's fortunes from the 2019 election, when the party raised just £218,500 in the first week of that campaign.

This time round, the single biggest donation given to Labour totalled £500,000 from film company Toledo Productions.

Read the full story here:

By Professor Will Jennings, Sky News elections analyst

Even a poll-obsessive like me would have to admit that during election campaigns we often spend too much time focusing on the election 'horse race' - who is up and who is down in the polls - on an almost hourly basis.

Even in this election, where Labour has been well ahead of the Conservatives from the outset, the focus has been on how much.

Figures for the Labour lead span a huge range from 16 to 25 points. And now there's talk of "crossover".

Has Nigel Farage led Reform past the Tories into second place for the first time in a general election campaign?

There's a 10-point difference between pollsters in the figures reported for Reform UK starting at nine points and reaching 19.

The unprecedented nature of what the top end of these results suggest means we could be heading for a seismic reordering of the political landscape on 4 July. Alternatively, many pollsters could end up with egg on their faces.

What lessons can we learn from polling at previous British general elections?

Perhaps the most fundamental thing is that polls become more informative about the result as election day nears.

Read the full analysis below:

By Dr Hannah Bunting, Sky News elections analyst, and Joely Santa Cruz, data journalist

This week, the leaders were selling their visions to voters as they launched their manifestos, and Sunak and Starmer went head to head in Grimsby at the Sky News live election special The Battle For Number 10.

Watch their journeys in the latest week in our animated map below.

This campaign is being fought on new electoral boundaries, with many constituencies undergoing significant changes since 2019.

For the purposes of this analysis, we use notional results based on calculations by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher, Honorary Professors at the University of Exeter, which estimate the 2019 election seat results if they had taken place on the new constituency boundaries.

Read the full piece below:

On Wednesday, Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer faced a grilling from Sky's political editor Beth Rigbyand our live audience in Grimsby on their plans for government.

The two men were questioned on their pledges to the electorate, their trustworthiness, their records, and whether they are suited to lead the country as it faces challenges on many fronts.

If you were not able to watch the programme - fear not, because we are airing an hour-long highlights show live on Sky News now.

You can also watch live in the stream above, and at the link below.

You can watch Sky News free wherever you get your news.

Sky channel 501, Virgin channel 602, Freeview channel 233, on theSky News websiteandappor onYouTube.

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.

So far, only one poll has shown Reform ahead of the Conservatives - the Tories are currently an average of 7 points ahead of Nigel Farage's party.

Read more about the tracker here.

Earlier today, it was announced that former Arsenal and Everton footballer Kevin Campbell had died aged 54.

Labour leader and Arsenal fan Sir Keir Starmer has paid tribute to the former Gunner.

Writing on social media, Sir Keir said: "Deeply saddened to hear about the death of Kevin Campbell.

"I had the privilege of watching him play for Arsenal in the early 90s - a cult hero at Highbury, loved by so many in football and beyond. My thoughts are with his friends and family."

Read more tributes to Campbell in the piece below:

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been off the campaign trail today, as he attends Trooping the Colour.

The ceremony in central London takes place to honour the King on his official birthday.

Mr Sunak flew back from the G7 summit in Italy to watch proceedings, and will be flying out to Switzerland for a Ukraine peace summit later today.

Labour are campaigning on the NHS today.

Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, has given an interview to The Times.

Mr Streeting says that while he does "feel a loyalty to the NHS", he reiterates that it is "a service, not a shrine".

His position - that the NHS needs to be reformed - has seen him criticised by some in unions and on the left of his party.

But he defends people who choose to use private healthcare - as he considered when he was being treated for kidney cancer.

"People who are going private are refugees, not traitors," Mr Streeting said.

"People are voting with their feet, through no fault of their own, I don't judge people who have paid to go private — they're fleeing from the NHS."

Speaking to reporters today, Sir Keir Starmer says that putting capital gains tax on first houses was never a Labour policy.

The Conservatives have been trying to claim Labour will raise any tax that has not been ruled out.

Asked about capital gains, Sir Keir says: "Absolutely, it was never a policy.

"It doesn't need ruling out, but let's rule it out, in case anyone pretends that it was (a policy)."

Asked whether he had been "vague" in his tax pledges, Sir Keir said: "Well, I think when it comes to tax, we've been really clear they won't rise, so that's no rise in income tax and national insurance or VAT.

"This is just a desperate story by the Tories in relation to capital gains tax on primary residences."