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.

Sir Keir Starmer is asked about questions people have about him and his inability to command the enthusiasm from the public of many previous opposition leaders.

He says when he looks at opinions polls "by and large there is a consensus that this changed Labour Party is what has put them in a position to win".

"That is what I have been doing for four and a half years," he says.

"I am very proud of that work.

"The changed Labour Party is my project."

The Labour leader is asked next about briefings from the Tory party that he is "sleepy Keir", and how he would characterise his energy levels.

Conservative election strategists are trying to paint Sir Keir, 61, as a tired candidate compared to the younger Rishi Sunak.

He replies: "You've seen the energy that not only I, but the whole team are putting into this election.

"We've been waiting for this for four years - I've had a smile on my face since 1 January 2024 because I knew this was going to be election year.

"I've wasted nine years of my life in opposition, I've worked four and a half years to change this Labour Party, and now I've got the chance to take that to the country.

"So, we're doing that not only with energy, but with a smile, with positivity across all of our candidates in this election."

On Rishi Sunak, he replies: "The idea that a man standing in the rain without an umbrella claims that he's the only person with a plan is farcical."

Next, Sir Keir Starmer is asked what he would say to critics who suggest that in addition to his plan to give 16-year-olds the right to vote, he will rule out giving EU citizens the right to vote.

"Yes," he replies.

And he moved on to defend his plan to give 16-year-olds the right to vote, saying if one can serve in the armed forces (albeit not in combat), or pay taxes, they should be able to vote.

He says he has "long believed" in that.

Now the question moves on to tuition fees.

He is asked if he can rule out raising tuition fees as PM.

Sir Keir says the "current arrangements don't work for students or universities".

"There's a powerful case for change and we are looking at options to change the approach," he says.

"Now, abolishing tuition fees is one option and I said five years ago that I would want to do that. 

"But now there's been huge damage to the economy by Liz Truss and the Tories and difficult choices have to be made. 

"Abolishing tuition fees will cost a huge amount of money and we can't both abolish tuition fees and have 40,000 extra appointments every week in the NHS."

He says "he has done the sums" and decided "at the moment we need to protect the NHS".

"That is the political choice of the Labour Party," he adds.