LONDON, June 28: The UK general election on July 4 is just days away now, no doubt to the relief of the party leaders who have crisscrossed the country in a gruelling month of campaigning.
This campaign doesn’t seem to have shifted the political dial much, if at all, with the left-of-centre Labour Party still the clear favourite to defeat the Conservatives of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and return to power for the first time in 14 years. If the polls are broadly accurate — and even the Tories have acknowledged their likely defeat — then Labour leader Keir Starmer will at some point on July 5 be driven to meet King Charles III at Buckingham Palace in order to get the go-ahead to form a government.
The Conservatives’ campaign, already lacklustre, was beset this week by growing claims about election betting.
Betting slips
The investigation into widespread betting on the date and outcome of the general election by figures connected with Sunak is still rumbling on.
People close to Sunak within the Conservative Party ranks and even police officers connected with his protection have been caught up in the inquiry.
Really the best?
There were more debates again. Luckily, it’s fair to say, there are no more.
The latest, and the last, debate aired on the BBC on Wednesday evening, and both Sunak and Starmer repeated the things that they’ve been saying for weeks. A Labour government, according to Sunak, will lead to higher taxes, while Starmer said now was the time for change. (AP)
