Election predictions live: Keir Starmer urges Sunak to meet Post Office bosses ‘in next hour’ to sort voting chaos

Sir Keir Starmer, who is a keen footballer and Arsenal fan, said seeing Bukayo Saka play at left-back during the England vs Slovakia Euros game made him “very nervous”.

England’s boss Gareth Southgate moved Bukayo Saka from the right-hand side to the left during the 2-1 seismic game on Sunday.

Speaking on BBC, he said: “He actually did start in his early days at Arsenal playing as a left-back so you could see the logic in it.

“But I think he’s been one of the major outlets on the right.”

England are set to go up against Switzerland in the quarter-finals on Saturday at 5pm.

Sir Keir Starmer has refused to name his cabinet if he wins the General Election on Thursday and speculated “plenty of constituencies” could come down to “just a few hundred votes”.

The Labour leader told the BBC: “I’m not going to get ahead of myself and announce, say, cabinet or possible cabinet.”

He added: “To do so two days before the election, to do so would to be complacent – and you would never expect a leader to do that.”

Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney has sent a letter to the Rishi Sunak urging for a review into the timetable for the general elections.

It comes as he reported ongoing concerns about people not getting ballot papers delivered to their homes on time for polling day.

Scotland has been particularly struck by the issue where he says families have been “disenfranchised” as the contest is taking place during Scottish school holidays.

In an open letter to the prime minister, the SNP leader criticised Mr Sunak for claiming he was not concerned about the problems with postal votes.

Mr Swinney said: “When so many people have confirmed that they did not receive their packs before leaving their home in the holiday season in Scotland, and with hundreds of voters applying to their local councils for emergency replacement postal votes, this is major cause for concern for many, including your postal affairs minister who is “urgently investigating” the delays across the UK.

“This has led to people in Scotland who did everything they were meant to do in order to secure their right to vote in this general election not being able to exercise that right. These include people who had already-arranged holidays that they had to leave for before the delayed postal votes arrived, and people for whom the alternatives, including organising a replacement postal pack from their local authority, were unsuitable or unavailable.”

Former DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson is facing more sex offence charges as he is set to appear in court tomorrow.

Mr Donaldson, 61, had faced 11 holding charges and is now being accused of a total of 18 offences after evidence was reviewed by the Public Prosecution Service (PPS).

Sir Jeffrey said he will contest all the charges.

He will face one charge of rape, four of gross indecency and 13 charges of indecent assault at Newry Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday in a preliminary enquiry.

Sir Keir Starmer has urged the government meet Royal Mail chiefs “in the next hour” to fix the ongoing postal vote row.

It comes as reports emerged that voters hadn’t received their ballot papers with just 48 hours to go to the polls.

In response, the Labour leader told reporters in Derbyshire: “If you’re in government, and they are in government, at least for the time being, they need to sort it out and get on with sorting it out.

“Because what we can’t have these people who are entitled to a vote not being able to exercise it.

“So get on with the job, I’d say, and if the Post Office minister hasn’t met them, do it now in the next hour or two. Seriously, though, I mean, we’re running out of time. It’s not something you can do tomorrow.”

A candidate from George Galloway’s Workers party has suspended his campaign after his son was attacked while campaigning for him.

Wajad Burkey, who is standing in Sutton Coldfield, said the incident left him “fearful for life”.

He reported that his son and two other people were canvassing at 7.20pm on Sunday when they were attacked by eight men.

After his son was left with a head injury, Mr Burkey said: “I have suspended my campaign as I am fearful, frankly, for my life.”

In a statement, West Midlands Police said: “Around eight people arrived on motorbikes and cars before attacking the man with a baseball bat. A knife was also produced during the attack.

“The victim was left with an injury to the back of his head and went to hospital for treatment. We are examining CCTV and carrying out other enquiries.”

Sir Keir Starmer was questioned about his approach to tackling the small boats crisis during a visit to a warehouse in Derbyshire.

The Labour leader said: “We have to get to grips with it. We’ve got too many people making that journey across the channel, 50,000 people have come since Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister – he said ‘I’m going to stop the boats’, 50,000 people have come on the boats.”

Sir Keir again set out Labour’s plan to tackle the gang by using cross-border intelligence-sharing and law enforcement action.

One worker said military veterans were on the streets while asylum seekers were being held in hotels.

Sir Keir said: “That is exactly why we’ve got to fix this problem. Because at the moment, it’s costing millions of pounds for the rent in hotels, that is just not sustainable.

“So, we’ve got to fix that problem. And you’re absolutely right, that you’ve got ex-military who are really struggling.”