It's a quiet day for the election campaign, owing to commemorations marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day. But new polls published today have brought no respite for the Tories, with one putting them at their lowest level since Liz Truss was PM - and with Reform breathing down their necks.
Thursday 6 June 2024 23:26, UK
We're ending our live coverage for the night - but don't worry, we'll be back in the morning.
Before you go, here are the major announcements from the two big parties tonight.
Make sure to check back in the morning as the general election campaign rumbles on towards the end of another week.
Labour are going on the offensive after Rishi Sunak left the D-Day ceremonies in Normandy today early.
While the prime minister was present for the initial parts of the commemoration on the 80th anniversary of the landings, he was absent later on.
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps and Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron took his place, with the latter pictured alongside leaders like Germany's Olaf Scholz, the US's Joe Biden and France's Emmanuel Macron.
Labour has also been keen to highlight a picture of Sir Keir Starmer alongside Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
A Labour Party source said: "If the prime minister has skipped this afternoon's D-Day commemorations to try and convince people he's not a liar, he should just tell the truth".
Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s shadow paymaster general, said: "The prime minister skipping off early from D-Day commemorations to record a television interview where he once again lied through his teeth is both an embarrassment and a total dereliction of duty.
"Our country deserves so much better than out-of-touch, desperate Rishi Sunak and his chaotic Tory Party."
Meanwhile, Reform leader Nigel Farage said: "The prime minister has ducked out of the international D-Day event to fly back to the UK to campaign.
"I am here in Normandy in a personal capacity because I think it matters. Does he?"
The accusation that he was trying to defend himself against accusations of being a liar came after ITV News tweeted a clip of an interview with Mr Sunak.
Allegations that Mr Sunak was lying about the Labour Party wanting to raise tax by £2,000 were put to him.
The prime minister said this was "desperate" - and did not accept the claim was "dubious".
ITV's Paul Brand, who carried out the interview, later confirmed the chat took place after the PM came back from France - but ITV did not choose the time.
The £2,000 figure relates to alleged tax rises the Conservatives think Labour will put in place over the next four years - equating to £500 a year.
As Sky data and economics editor Ed Conway explained here - there are many flaws with the figure, and it ignores the fact the Conservatives have raised tax by £13,000 in the past five years if you use the same method.
It's just gone 10pm on what has been a reasonably quiet day on the election front - given the D-Day commemorations in Normandy - but there are still developments to bring you up to speed on.
Notably, it's emerged the Conservative Party accepted fresh cash from donor Frank Hester days after the prime minister had condemned "racist and wrong" comments he made about Diane Abbott.
Here is what you may have missed:
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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.
Nadine Dorries, who was one of Boris Johnson's most loyal allies, has predicted the party is facing "annihilation" and might "disappear".
The former culture secretary has laid the blame at the feet of Rishi Sunak for not paying attention to Reform and UKIP and allowing them to take votes off the Conservatives.
Ms Dorries has been a prominent critic of Mr Sunak since she failed to get an honour on Mr Johnson's resignation list.
She was also asked about her opinions on allies of Mr Sunak - like party chairman Richard Holden - being given new seats to stand in.
Ms Dorries told the News Agents podcast it's "incredibly disgusting actually".
She said she and others were "reeling from the shock of it".
This morning we reported news that the Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross would stand in a seat where the party's expected candidate is recovering from surgery.
Mr Ross had announced he was standing down as a Westminster MP to concentrate on his job as an MSP (Member of the Scottish Parliament) ahead of the 2026 Holyrood election campaign.
But with 24 hours left for nominations to be confirmed, he announced he will be standing in the new Aberdeenshire North and Moray East constituency.
The expected candidate, David Duguid, has just released a statement disputing claims from his own party that he was "unable to stand" due to his recovery.
'I am very saddened'
"This is simply incorrect," he said.
"Having been adopted by local members, I was very much looking forward to campaigning - albeit in a different format from normal.
"It was not my decision not to stand."
He said the Scottish Conservatives made the decision without visiting him and without any "professional medical prognosis".
"Needless to say I am very saddened by the way this whole episode has unfolded, and it would be wrong of me to pretend otherwise," he added.
Our chief political correspondent Jon Craig has described the ordeal as "highly unusual" and said it "looks like a shabby stitch-up".
To close out tonight's Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge, her panel discussed whether manifestos make a difference to general elections.
These documents - which we expect to be start being published next week - contain the detailed set of policies each party wants to enact if it enters government.
Charlie Rowley, who was previously an advisor to Michael Gove, highlights the 2017 general election.
It was after the Conservatives and Theresa May published their manifesto that a row erupted over her social care plans - which contributed to the party losing significant ground in the polls.
He suggested that something "too bold" being in the Labour manifesto could see a similar change in electoral fortunes.
You can read more about Mrs May's manifesto woes in our Campaign Heritage post here.
Andy Street, who was until last month's shock election defeat the Tory mayor of the West Midlands, is speaking with Sophy Ridge.
Seen as a totem of the centre ground in the Conservative Party, Mr Street lost his job to Labour by fewer than 2,000 votes.
He calls on Tories to try not to overly focus on Nigel Farage and the threat of his Reform party.
Instead, the Conservatives need to focus on the centre ground.
Tories shouldn't focus on 'core voters'
Mr Street points out how every major political change in the past 100 years has come from the middle.
Mr Street highlights Stanley Baldwin, Neville Chamberlain, Harold Macmillan, Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair and David Cameron as examples.
Pursuing the party's "core voters" - like pensioners and the wealthy - will see the Tories "cede the middle ground".
He says his message to the party is that "the real battle is with Labour and the Lib Dems over the middle ground".
"We're all obsessed with what Nigel Farage is doing at the moment - but that is just one flank," he says.
"The real debate is in the centre."
Controversy around political donations has erupted again today after it emerged the Tories had received yet more money from their top donor Frank Hester.
That's despite him having made comments about Labour's Diane Abbott that the prime minister said were "racist and wrong".
It prompted our deputy political editor Sam Coates to dive into the numbers - many of them strikingly large - behind how our political parties get their money...
Perhaps the most noteworthy moment on the campaign trail today was news that the Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross would stand in a seat where the party's expected candidate is recovering from surgery.
Mr Ross had announced he was standing down as a Westminster MP to concentrate on his job as an MSP (Member of the Scottish Parliament) ahead of the 2026 Holyrood election campaign.
But this morning, with 24 hours left for nominations to be confirmed, he announced he will be standing to be a Westminster MP in the new Aberdeenshire North and Moray East constituency.
The expected candidate, David Duguid, had said he'd been recovering well from his op and was looking forward to standing.
You can read more on the controversy from our political reporter Alix Culbertson:
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