General election 2024 live: Rishi Sunak responds to Reform poll lead insisting Tories ‘still fighting hard for votes’

Rishi Sunak has responded to last night’s YouGov poll result placing Reform ahead of the Tories for the first time.

The prime minister claimed: “We are only halfway through this election, So I’m still fighting very hard for every vote.

“And what that poll shows is – the only poll that matters is the one on July 4 – but if that poll was replicated on July 4, it would be handing Labour a blank cheque to tax everyone, tax their home, their pension, their car, their family, and I’ll be fighting very hard to make sure that doesn’t happen.

“And actually, when I’ve been out and about talking to people, they do understand that a vote for anyone who is not a Conservative candidate is just a vote to put Keir Starmer in No 10.

“So if you want action on lower taxes, lower migration, protected pensions or a sensible approach to net zero you’re only going to get that by voting Conservative.”

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said Rishi Sunak has “no connection to working people in this country at all”.

Former City trader Mr Farage, who was a schoolboy at fee-paying Dulwich College, told BBC Breakfast: “He doesn’t know where the centre-ground of opinion in this country is. Rishi is Winchester College, Oxford University, Goldman Sachs – he has no connection to working people in this country at all.”

His remarks came after he was challenged to explain what he meant when he said Mr Sunak does not understand “our culture”, in the wake of the Prime Minister leaving the D-Day commemorations early.

Reminded of his previous employment, Mr Farage replied he “wasn’t at Goldman Sachs” before adding: “I get on with people of all backgrounds, all classes, Rishi Sunak lives in this very, very narrow little world, like so many politicians.”

Told he was wealthy compared with the average worker, Mr Farage replied: “Yes I am. But I am able to connect.”

Nigel Farage has taunted Rishi Sunak this morning after a crashing opinion poll result.

The Reform leader posted a video signing along Eminem’s song “Without Me” featuring the lyrics “guess who’s back”. 

Panicking Tory members described Penny Mordaunt as “a fishwife” as they reacted to the seven way debate last night in despair, our Political editor David Maddox reports.

With the debate on ITV starting just hours after a YouGov poll put Nigel Farage’s Reform UK ahead of the Tories, morale was low among Conservative activists.

Leaked messages from a Conservative members only Facebook group showed that activists took out their frustration on Ms Mordaunt as she battled with Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner, Mr Farage, Daisy Cooper from the Lib Dems and representatives of the SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Greens.

The Conservative Party Members Group, a private group for verified members, has over 3,000 Conservative members including MPs such as Andrew Rosindell, Joy Morrisey, John Penrose and Virginia Crosby.

In posts during the seven-way party leader debate on Thursday evening, Conservative members were dismissive of Ms Mordaunt’s performance against Mr Farage.

The shadow health secretary has reacted to the news that Reform Uk has overtaking the Tories in the polls.

Mr Streeting has been asked on Sky News Breakfast whether Reform could become their new opposition if they win the election.

The Labour candidate said: “Reform is very much part of the Tory party psychodrama. We’ve seen Conservative candidates like Andrea Jenkyns putting Nigel Farage positively on her leaflets instead of her own leader.

“We have to bear in mind if we have another Conservative government that is the kind of chaos and division we are going to have for another five years. The country can’t afford that.”

But he vowed to “take Reform on in the battle of ideas and the battle of arguments”.

He added: “I urge people to bear in mind that Nigel Farage is a formidable campaigner, I don’t doubt that, don’t underestimate him.

“But he has never had to deliver the change that he always says he is calling for. He has never been tested as a politician and he is never been elected for Parliament.”

Nigel Farage has claimed the reason Brexit has failed on migration is because the Conservatives “haven’t delivered”.

The Reform leader said the Tories promised to reduce net migration, which he claimed is “running at three quarters of a million” slamming it “complete breach of trust”.

He told the BBC Breakfast: “Be in no doubt, we are in charge in these things. Brexit gives us self-governance. It doesn’t guarantee success, but it does mean we’re in charge.”