General election 2024 – live: Reform shakes up race pulling two points behind Tories

The election campaign trail has reached a tipping point. Reform UK have changed the game for the Tories and shockingly pulled two points behind them in the latest poll.

We expect members of the Conservative Party to give us their reactions on the results.

But here are other events also happening today:

• Party leaders are taking a light break from the campaign to continue D-Day celebrations.

• Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer will be in Normandy to attend the international commemoration at Omaha beach in the afternoon.

• The Prime Minister is expected to give a a short speech and lead a “heroes’ welcome” at the event in France.

• Shadow pensions secretary Liz Kendall is in Essex to speak to pensioners.

• The Greens will announce a “game-changing” plan to spend £50 billion on health and social care.

• The Lib Dems take the West Country to pledge on cancer care treatments.

During the media round this morning, Tory minister Mel Stride has accused Labour of adopting a “Ming Vase strategy” during the general election.

The Work and Pensions Secretary said the party is refusing to say anything to protect their poll lead.

He told Times Radio: “There is in total a blackhole of £38.5 billion [in Labour’s plans]. They have ruled out tax rises on income tax, National Insurance, after pressure from our press department they have finally ruled out increases in VAT as well which then begs the question where are they going to find that kind of money because that is a huge sum, what taxes are they going to go for?

“I have my suspicions on that but we will keep asking those awkward questions of Labour because they can’t keep going through this election with this Ming Vase strategy of not telling us what they stand for, not having a plan.

“The British people deserve better than that.”

It was a chaotic day for Nigel Farage at his campaign rally on Tuesday – which saw fans arrive to show their support for the new Reform Party leader before a protester covered him in milkshake, Matt Mathers reports.

After repeatedly saying that he wouldn’t run – and declaring the US presidential contest was more important than the UK election – Mr Farage will attempt to get a seat in the House of Commons for the eighth time, this time in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex.

• Eastleigh by-election (1994)
• Bexhill and Battle general election (2001)
• South Thanet general election (2005)
• Bromley and Chislehurst by-election (2006)
• Buckingham general election (2010)
• South Thanet general election (2015)
• MEP

A fresh embarrassment has emerged for Rishi Sunak after party chiefs were forced to put his hand picked chairman Richard Holden on a shortlist of one to ensure he had a seat to fight, David Maddox reports.

Mr Holden is on a shortlist of one for the Billericay and Basildon seat in Essex which had a majority of 20,412 in 2019.

The move has caused fury in the local association which, it is understood, had already been in a stand-off with CCHQ because it wanted its own shortlist and not the one imposed by party bosses.

But now the party has used emergency election rules which allow them to impose a single candidate 48 hours before the deadline.

But it is understood that the local association chairman has cancelled the special general meeting to make the selection in protest.

The Liberal Democrats have proposed a new Bill to clean up the UK’s rivers, with its Scottish party leader accusing the Government of being “neck-deep in failure”.

The legislation – announced on Wednesday – would update sewage networks, monitor sewage dumps and set targets for reduction and completely ban sewage being released into bathing waters or other protected areas.

Analysis from the party claims sewage was released 21,000 times into bathing waters in 2022.

The Lib Dems have made cleaning up the UK’s rivers a key staple of their election campaign.

Speaking following a visit to the River Almond, near Edinburgh, Scottish party leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “We want a clean water act for Scotland to update the sewage network, proper monitoring to find all the dumping and a complete ban on this filthy practice in protected areas such as bathing waters.

“People are sick of governments neck-deep in failure who just can’t get the basics right. Every Scottish Liberal Democrat you elect will be a local champion focused on cleaning up the sewage scandal.”

The veteran socialist was asked if he was tempted to join George Galloway’s Workers Party, he said: “I admire George’s work on Gaza and Palestine and his lifetime determination on that.

“But there are issues on social policy and social justice where he and I have a different view, we know that. He probably thinks I am a bit woke.”

The proposal by the former Ukip leader to cut immigration to zero has cast a spotlight on the Tories’ own record.

In this piece, Andrew Grice asks what sort of impact this could have on the wider campaign.

He writes: “Farage’s prominent role, and his ability to grab media attention, will probably propel the issue higher up the agenda. Some Labour figures fear, as Peter (now Lord) Mandelson put it, that Farage could ‘skew the debate’ towards his agenda and ‘syphon off some of the oxygen’ from Labour’s campaign.

“But the issue is likely to be less salient than it was in 2019, when Boris Johnson pledged to ‘take back control’ of Britain’s borders after Brexit.”