Election latest: Minister says election 'not about the past' as poll suggests Tory wipeout on 4 July (2024)

Our Sunday morning show has finished for today.

Join us again next week for the big political interviews.

Trevor Phillips is now talking to Lord Peter Mandelson, the former Labour communications chief and cabinet minister.

A key cog in the New Labour campaign machine, Lord Mandelson is asked by Trevor what he thinks has gone wrong for the Conservative attempt to get reelected.

Lord Mandelson says there are two in his view.

One is Rishi Sunak's failure to "repudiate" and reject Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, as that would have been needed to get "a hearing" from the public.

Secondly, Lord Mandelson says Mr Sunak is having to "constantly" outflank Reform UK on the right of the Tories, and that appeasing and throwing red meat to Nigel Farage he is only emboldening the former UKIP chief.

On Labour, Lord Mandelson is asked if he thought Sir Keir Starmer would get the Labour Party to where it is now.

The peer says a "lot of people underestimated Keir Starmer" - particularly because Labour had slumped to such a defeat under Jeremy Corbyn.

He says many people felt Labour "couldn't come back in one go".

Adrian Ramsay, the co-leader of the Green Party, says his group is setting a target of winning four seats in the general election.

This includes holding Brighton Pavilion, and winning Bristol Central, Waverley Valley and North Herefordshire.

Currently, the Green Party only has the one seat.

Mr Ramsay says these areas are ones where there is a "strong concentration of local support".

He says his party wants to try and push the next government to take a more green-friendly stance.

Trevor asks Mr Ramsay where the Greens would find the £350bn it wants to spend - close to the debt the UK incurred during COVID.

Mr Ramsay says his party wants to tax"multi-millionaires and billionaires" - and also implement a carbon tax to raise this amount of money.

Transport secretary Mark Harper tells Trevor Phillips that he believes the election "is not about the past" - and is rather about the future.

Mr Harper highlights his party's record on increasing schooling levels, before attacking Labour over tax.

He repeats that Labour will put up taxes if they take power - and the Conservatives are bringing it down.

Trevor challenges this, saying that the tax burden has risen to its highest level in decades under the Conservatives since 2010 - and is still set to go up further under the Tory's plans.

Mr Harper says: "I didn't say we had cut taxes over that period - I said we were cutting taxes."

The Conservative minister claims Labour will raise multiple taxes as the move has not been rule out.

You can readeconomics and data editor Ed Conway's analysis of the various manifestos and their costshere.

Trevor Phillips is now speaking to transport secretary Mark Harper.

They are speaking after another poll showed the Tories are on the way to electoral wipe out.

Trevor repeatedly asks Mr Harper if the Conservatives do believe they can win.

The minister says his party are "fighting for every vote".

"I know what all the polls say, but it's about what people do when they're actually voting," Mr Harper says.

Mr Harper adds that he is "very much up for this fight".

When asked if the Conservatives talking about a Labour "supermajority" is an admission of defeat, Mr Harper says the polls are saying Labour will win a "very large majority" - and that it is "reasonable to point out" that this scenario will give Labour a "blank cheque".

He says voting for smaller parties will lead to Labour getting a bigger majority.

Trevor Phillips asks Labour's shadow health secretary Wes Streeting if their claim that income tax will not go up is a "con".

He bases this point on the fact that Labour wants to keep income tax bands frozen - meaning more and more people are having to pay the higher tax rate on their wages.

Mr Streeting says "it isn't" a con, and that the position is a "reflection of the fact that the public finances are in a state".

But the Labour politician does concede that the party is "not comfortable" with more and more people being dragged into higher tax brackets.

He says the shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves "has said she wants to reduce the burden on working people".

"But it comes back to the fundamental test of our manifesto - everything in it has to be a promise we can keep and a promise the country can afford.

"Of course, we would like to go further on so many fronts, but we are dealing with a fundamentally weak economy."

As we reported at 7.48ama thinktank has claimed both Labour and the Conservatives would see the NHS face spending cuts harsher than under austerity.

Asked about this on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, shadow health secretary Wes Streeting says he disagrees with the analysis.

Mr Streeting says the Labour manifesto is not "the grand sum total of any future budgets" and spending reviews.

He goes on: "Where Labour is making the fundamental argument at this election is, we've got to get the economy back to growth.

"Because if the economy had grown under this government at just the same rate it did under the last Labour government, there'd be tens of billions of pounds more to either invest in our public services or to put back in people's pockets."

He adds that NHS spending would go up "if conditions allow" in the next parliament, should Labour take over.

Mr Streeting says his party cannot do what the last Labour government did and say national insurance will go up by one pence as "families can't afford it".

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting is calling on junior doctors to cancel their strikes during the election period.

Newly qualified medics are set to take industrial action from 27 June to 2 July.

They are campaigning for full pay restoration to the level they had in 2008 - equivalent to a 35% rise.

Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Mr Streeting says: "This government is incapable of resolving the dispute before polling day on 4 July.

"I don't think there's anything to be achieved by having strikes in the election campaign - the only thing we will see is more untold misery inflicted on patients who see their appointments and procedures delayed, and also junior doctors out of pocket."

Mr Streeting says that if Labour enters government, he will call the junior doctors' union on "day one" to begin talks to resolve the issue.

He adds that Labour "can't deliver" on the 35% as the money isn't there - but they are willing to negotiate.

It's 8.30am, and Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips is underway.

Coming up this morning:

• 8.30am: Labour shadow health secretary Wes Streeting;
• 8.55am: Conservative transport secretary Mark Harper;
• 9.20am: Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay;
• 9.30am: Labour peer Lord Mandelson.

We'll also be hearing from our panel throughout the show.

Today, this consists of former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, former head of Channel 4 News Dorothy Byrne and FT columnist Miranda Green.

Covering a general election campaign as a journalist can largely be summed up in two words - battle bus.

Not too dissimilar to the coaches that rockstars use for their tours, battle buses are the vehicles each political party uses to transport their leaders, candidates, and advisers around the country during the election campaign.

Sky's political correspondents have each been following a different party - often joining them on their battle buses.

Here we take you behind the scenes on the campaign trail this week for the Conservatives, Labour, and the Liberal Democrats.

Watch our political correspondents, Serena Barker-Singh, Darren McCaffrey, and Matthew Thompson below.