By Megan Harwood-Baynes, news reporter

The president of the Birmingham Young Conservatives has defected to the Lib Dems in the wake of the Tories' national service announcement.

The scheme would give 18-year-olds the choice of a year-long full-time military placement, or volunteering for one weekend a month in a public service like the NHS.

But the move has been met with disquiet from the youngest corners of the party.

Harvey Whitby, 20, called the plans "particularly concerning" and said he feared they would not just lose the party the election, "but lock us out of government for a generation or more".

He said, by contrast, the Liberal Democrats offered Britain a "true centre party", posting a statement on X with the simple caption: "I'm done."

'Pure desperation'

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Whitby said this particular policy pushed him over the edge was because "my vested interest is the rights and political say of young people and a policy like this directly impacts young people".

The mood, he said, was downhearted among his peers.

"Many felt like CCHQ was throwing policies at the wall, hoping to see if something sticks. It's pure desperation to go after policies like this to try and woo back voters who have switched to Reform," he said.

And his final warning to the party he has supported since he was 17?

"The majority of my peers are set in a 'let's ride out the storm', mentality, but a few more policy mistakes like the national service one, and more could follow [me out the party]."

Our interview with SNP leader John Swinney (see previous posts) shows just how much the party is relying on an "anti-Westminster" message for this general election, says our political correspondent Mhari Aurora.

She says the party's pitch is all about Westminster being "the problem", one which has "inflicted a lot of economic chaos" and policies "that have damaged Scotland".

It's a message Mr Swinney will hope stands the party in good stead against not just Tory candidates, but Labour ones too.

The Conservatives are "not really expecting to make any gains" in Scotland this time out, she says, instead hoping to hold what they have.

But Labour has been tipped to do well, having mostly floundered in Scotland since the 2014 independence referendum.

It means it's in Mr Swinney's interests to try to paint both main Westminster parties with the same brush.

SNP leader John Swinney was asked what his message is to voters who may be in favour of independence, but know it isn't coming in the next couple of years, so can safely vote elsewhere until it is more realistic.

He replied that businesses and households across Scotland are "facing a real challenge" because of austerity, followed by the cost of living crisis that was "exacerbated by the foolishness of the Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng budget".

"That combination of austerity, Brexit, and the cost of living are all decisions taken by Westminster that have had a damaging effect on Scotland."

So his message to voters is if they want to address those factors, they need to vote SNP to be able to achieve independence.

We put to Mr Swinney that reversing the effects of austerity, Brexit, and the cost of living crisis are Labour's pitch, and ask why voters should back the SNP if they aren't promising independence in the next five years.

He replied that Labour is accepting the Tory "fiscal discipline", are "full-throated in favour of Brexit", and aren't proposing measures to support households.

He argued that Westminster parties are not dealing with issues "relevant to people in Scotland", so voters need to vote SNP "to make sure we can take the action to reverse these consequences for Scotland".

We spoke to the new SNP leader, John Swinney, a short while ago, and we asked what victory in this general election would look like for his party.

He replied that the aim is to "win as many seats as I possibly can" so they can "make sure there's a very strong voice for Scotland at Westminster that can tackle the real damage that's been done to Scotland as a consequence of Conservative government".

He argued that the SNP has "demonstrated that decisions made here in Scotland are the best decisions for Scotland".

Mr Swinney only became SNP leader and first minister a few weeks ago, and so we asked if this has come a bit too soon for him.

He replied that while it has "come very, very early" in his term, but said the SNP itself "is ready for it", with candidates ready in every constituency.

He said if people want to get rid of the Tories, "the SNP is the best vehicle to do that".

The new SNP leader, John Swinney, is out and about campaigning in Dumfries and Galloway today - which is the seat of the outgoing Tory MP and Scotland secretary, Alister Jack.

He delivered a speech to party supporters a short while ago, arguing there is a "fantastic opportunity in Scotland today to do something decisive to protect the people of Scotland".

He hit out at the "disastrous Conservative government that's inflicted austerity, Brexit, and the cost of living crisis in Scotland".

He argued that the SNP are the challengers in "every single Tory-held constituency", and so "votes for the SNP are the quickest way to get rid of the Tory MPs and get rid of the Tory government from Scotland".

The first minister appealed to campaign with "all our energy, all our campaigning strength" to elect their candidate in the seat.

Our political correspondent Darren McCaffrey is on the Conservatives' election battle bus today, heading out into the home counties.

He says it's a sign the party can't afford to focus just on Labour, or stopping some voters heading to Reform, but also the threat of the Liberal Democrats.

The party's leader Sir Ed Davey has been talking about "specifically targeting" marginal seats between them.

Darren explains that tactical voting could be a huge boost to the party, that Labour and Green voters "will hold their nose" and back them in seats where they are the main threat to the Tories.

The Lib Dems came out of the last general election with just 11 MPs, though they have added another four through by-elections.

With the general election campaign officially under way, what better time to keep a close eye on the latest polling?

The Sky News live poll tracker - collated and updated by our Data and Forensics team - aggregates various surveys to indicate how voters feel about the different political parties.

See the latest update below - and you can read more about the methodology behind the tracker here.

Our political editor Beth Rigby has been giving her take on Sir Keir Starmer's first major speech of the campaign (scroll down for full coverage).

She explains there were two elements to the event.

The first was "an admission within the Labour Party that whatever the polls are suggesting, he understands that he has not sealed the deal with voters, that many voters might be unhappy about the Conservatives, but they are also disillusioned with politics".

So "part of this speech was Keir Starmer trying to impart on to people" who he is as a person and what his background it, she said, noting it is "no coincidence" that the speech took place "near where he grew up".

The aim was "to try and cut through to voters" and "make that connection".

The second element was "trying to set his political priorities around those values", talking about "putting the country before party" and "being in the service of working people".

The other thing that "really stuck out", Beth said, was his defence of his plan to put VAT on private school fees, and the Labour leader has previously told her that it is "intolerable" that "kids at state schools didn't have the teachers they needed".

"What you're beginning to see now from the Starmer campaign is trying to find a connection with a politician who, it's fair to say, has found it in the past quite difficult to emote and connect with voters," she said.

"You can see as the campaign builds up that this is going to be a massive priority for the party.

"The change message is potent, and now they need to try and seal the deal with voters."

Beth added that while the Labour top team - including the likes of Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves - will be very visible every day, the Tory campaign has become "very presidential", which isn't pleasing everyone.

We've just had a response from the Conservative Party to Sir Keir Starmer's first major speech of the general election campaign - and it's safe to say they were unimpressed.

Richard Holden, the Tory party chair, said the Labour leader "stood up to tell the country absolutely nothing".

"In this wearisome and rambling speech there was no policy, no substance, and no plan," he argued.

"The question remains: will Starmer ever find the courage and conviction to tell us what he would do, or does he simply not know?"

He added that voters should "stick with the plan that is working" with the Tories, rather than "go back to square one" with Labour.

Sir Keir Starmer has delivered his first major speech of the six-week election campaign.

He gave voters a flavour of his background and the values that underpin his character, before setting out his "first steps" for government.

Scroll down to read all the key detail from the speech - and the Q&A afterwards.