General election latest: Labour vows to reignite one of PM's flagship policies (2024)

Our political correspondent Tamara Cohenhas been giving her reaction to Nigel Farage's appearance on Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips.

He was challenged by Trevor about his comments about British Muslims, having suggested there's a "growing number" of young people in the UK who don't subscribe to British values.

He pointed to pro-Palestine protests as an example.

You can read more of the pair's exchange in our 9.42 post.

Tamara says there will be "a lot of pushback" against Mr Farage's "highly incendiary claims" this morning.

But she says it's also a question for the leadership of his party, Reform.

Mr Farage isn't standing in the general election but has said he will campaign for the party, led by Richard Tice.

Sky News will be asking the leadership if Mr Farage's position is one it agrees with.

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

Trevor ends his show with his panel by discussing how parties like the Greens and Reform are faring.

As you can see, Reform is currently polling higher than the Liberal Democrats.

Meanwhile, the Greens have stayed pretty much level for the past view years.

Of course, it is hard to use these headline figures to projects seats won due to the quirks of our first past the post system - but it does help paint a broader picture.

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 trackerhere.

Nigel Farage has revealed his "true colours as a nasty, race-baiting character", says Labour's Baroness Hazarika, following his interview withTrevor Phillips.

"I am a proud Indian, Scottish, British, Muslim. I just swore my allegiance to King and country on the Quran.

"The idea that he perpetuates that Muslims can't be trusted, that Muslims are somehow dangerous, is so divisive."

She says he doesn't want to run for parliament because he would get called out.

"Nigel Farage is a political influencer. He has got no political solutions."

She says he got everything he wanted in Brexit and "things have only got worse".

The Conservative Lord Finkelstein says that as the son of a refugee family, he is "very nervous about people who think that they are in charge about what the values of the country are, rather than something that is subject to an argument".

"Dismissing an entire ethic group or religious background as being un-British is a really dangerous thing to do."

He said it is "good for the debate" that Mr Farage's impact has been "massively reduced" by the election being called before he could run.

Trevor Phillipsasks Nigel Farage why the Reform UK director is not running again to be an MP.

Mr Farage says he had a "six-month plan" to come back and campaign "full-time".

But the announcement of an election left him "wrong-footed" - and he came to the decision that he could not start from scratch and campaign in the six-week period allowed.

Mr Farage denied he would need to back one of the two main party leaders, and instead wants to reshape the "centre right" of the UK's political scene.

He claims while Labour will end up in government, the Tories will not be the true opposition - instead pointing to Reform.

Trevor Phillipsputs migration figures to Nigel Farage, and the fact that people are increasingly travelling to the UK from non-EU countries, such as India and Nigeria.

"You're the father of the policy that produced this - that made EU migrants leave and increased the number of non-EU migrants," Phillips puts it to Mr Farage.

The Reform UK president says that is "the biggest load of cobblers I have heard in my life," before blaming Boris Johnson for the levels of migration.

Phillips: "Are you essentially denying that you have anything to do with the change in immigration even though the point of your whole [Brexit] campaign was to put it under our control?

"Boris Johnson used it."

Mr Farage says "that's absolute rubbish".

Nigel Farage, who is a director of Reform UK, singles out Muslims for being against British values - and also attacks Rishi Sunak for "open door" policies on immigration.

The former UKIP and Brexit Party leader says there is a "growing number of young people in this country who do not subscribe to British values - in fact, loathe much of what we stand for".

Mr Farage says "we see them on the streets of London every Saturday" - claiming a survey recently showed 46% of British Muslims support Hamas, a proscribed terrorist organisation.

He alleges that Mr Sunak is "building far more of that population than anybody before".

The Reform politician says there are young people "up and down the country in inner cities" who "in many cases are totally against our values".

Mr Farage then contrasts this with historical immigration from the West Indies, which he claims included people with a shared heritage with the UK.

Trevor Phillips, who was part of the Windrush generation, puts it to Mr Farage that part of this was that people had the British culture forced on them by their owners as they were slaves.

He suggests the Reform platform for this election is that "every problem you face is down to immigrants, and in particular Muslims".

Mr Farage is asked to put himself in the shoes of a British Muslim and imagine "how offensive" some of his comments will feel.

Mr Farage denies he's placing blame on anyone but then claims that there are places in the UK - like in Oldham - where "virtually no one speaks English".

He claims that he "is not here to attack the religion of Islam" - but rather talk about migration.

Nigel Farage has branded the Conservatives' plan to bring back national service "a joke".

"When you're a weak leader, and Sunak is not a leader in any way at all, you're a follower, so you follow what the focus groups say," the Reform UK honorary president tells Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips.

He calls the idea "totally impractical" due to how much the army has shrunk under the Conservatives.

Shadow minister Liz Kendall is pushed by Trevor Phillips about Labour's plans on asylum seekers.

He asks what the current opposition's plans are to deal with people who currently are in the UK but have no right to apply for asylum.

Ms Kendall starts by talking about the plans to "crack down" on criminal gangs - and then work on the asylum backlog.

But pushed again on the cohort who cannot claim asylum, Ms Kendall again starts speaking about the backlog of people who have launched an asylum claim.

"The real thing here is we need to stop the boats," Ms Kendall says.

Shadow work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall says Labour will keep the triple lock on pensions.

Asked if prioritising well-off elderly people is right given Labour's reluctance to make spending commitments on things like defence, Ms Kendall says there is a "misunderstanding about what is happening to many pensioners in this country".

There are one in five pensioners in poverty, more people are taking their pension early and relying on food banks, says Ms Kendall.

"For the future, more and more people are going to be paying off their mortgages or renting into retirement," she adds.

"So having that stability and a clear commitment on the basic state pension, alongside reforms to second pensions, is what we really need to give people a decent security in retirement."

Liz Kendall, the shadow work and pension secretary, is asked about Rishi Sunak's unfulfilled pledge to ban smoking for all children who are currently 15.

The flagship legislation was stubbed out when parliament shut down for the election (read more here).

But Labour says it backs the plans - and would reignite the scheme should they take office.

"If we're re-elected, we will make that happen and make it less likely that young people will smoke and then vote Tory," Ms Kendall says.