Election latest: More bad news for Tory campaign as latest donation figures released (2024)

Government borrowing was less than expected in May, new figures have revealed.

Net borrowing - the difference between public sector spending and income - was £15bn, an increase of £0.8bn on the same time last year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported on Friday.

The amount is below the £15.7bn forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) and less than expected by economists.

However, it was still the highest amount for the month of May since theCOVID-19 pandemic.

The ONS also said that public sector net debt, excluding public sector banks, was provisionally estimated at 99.8% of gross domestic product (GDP) in May - the highest level since March 1961.

The figure is also 3.7 percentage points higher than during the same period last year.

Economists said it showed that whoever wins theupcoming general electionwill face a string of potential financial challenges.

Nigel Farage has stood by his comment describing Andrew Tate as an "important voice" for men as he greeted supporters in Clacton-on-Sea.

The Reform UK leader had praised Tate while speaking on the Strike It Big podcast in February for defending "male culture" and said the "jury is out" on investigations into the influencer, The Guardian reported.

Since December 2022, Tate has faced charges in Romania of human trafficking, rape, and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women, which he denies.

Asked whether Tate was an "important voice" for men as he was leaving a meeting with supporters, Mr Farage said: "He's got a massive following and that shows you how big the gap is.

"I mean, clearly he's facing some serious allegations and has said some things that are difficult to level with, but the fact that he's got the following shows you how big the gap is."

Mr Farage did not specify what "gap" he was referring to.

Our live poll tracker collates the results of opinion surveys carried out by all the main polling organisations - and allows you to see how the political parties are performing in the run-up to the general election.

It currently shows a drop in support in recent days for Labour and the Tories - with a jump for Reform and the Liberal Democrats.

Read more about the tracker here.

The Politics Hub is live on Sky News every night at 7pm throughout the general election campaign.

But stick with us online - we'll have updates throughout the evening.

Norman Phillips and his wife Ros - who lives with multiple sclerosis and dementia - are the human faces of the social care crisis.

Initially Norman was able to combine work with his caring responsibilities, but as Ros's condition worsened, he took early retirement.

The couple found help hard to come by and after Norman suffered an injury, they were forced to sell their home to settle care-related debts.

Ros is now subject to an NHS continuing healthcare plan after Norman suffered a breakdown earlier this year and authorities decided he was unable to carry on caring for his wife.

This includes around the clock care for Ros - something Norman said would not have been needed if a lower level of help had been made available earlier.

He said: "They've got six million of us unpaid carers. If they… help us, we can help the system.

"But what's happened to me, you know, is the system just kept backing away and backing away until I cracked."

By Laura Bundock, news correspondent

The election might seem like a two-horse race, but other parties are jockeying for votes too.

We put their manifestos to the Sky News YouGov Voters Panel.

Representing different political backgrounds and more than 40 different constituencies, they pored over the promises and policies.

Turning to the issue of social care, Labour frontbencher Alison McGovern admits it's a topic that is "often overlooked in politics".

Ali Fortescue points out that it isn't covered much in their manifesto - only one page - and hasn't been spoken about much in the Labour campaign.

Ms McGovern says: "I think that it gets overlooked because it's to do with older people, and it's a lot of women who work in social care.

"But the Labour Party has been talking about this for a long time.

"Back in 2021, when we started talking about a new deal for working people, we knew that we wanted to have fair pay agreements... but there's just so much poor pay and bad practice.

"By getting a better system, where we can get a negotiated agreement on pay, so that workers can do better by taking on exploitative employment practices, I think we can reform social care."

Shadow employment minister Alison McGovern is now asked about how the Labour Party would negotiate with striking workers in the UK.

It comes after Tata Steel announced its staff will be striking indefinitely for the first time.

The frontbencher says: "My heart goes out to those workers in South Wales because they've lived with, you know, serious uncertainty over their heads."

Ms McGovern adds that the UK has "needed a plan for steel" for "a long time".

So what will Labour do to stop these strikes going ahead?

"What we need is to get through this general election," she says.

"We are working so hard to get a Labour government, and we really can't take any vote for granted."

Shadow employment minister Alison McGovern joins Ali Fortescue on the Politics Hub.

She is first asked about the latest donation data from the Electoral Commission, which shows the Labour Party was handed £4.3m in funds in the second week of the election.

Ali asks how Labour plans to keep both unions and Blairite donors on side.

"What we want is a big coalition of people who want to see an end to the chaos that we've had over the past 14 years, and to get the kind of changes that can start to make life better for people," Ms McGovern says.

"Whether that's rescuing or giving people good jobs that are going to help sustain them and be able to pay for the shop at the weekend and keep a roof over the family's head.

"That's the kind of big change that we need to make sure our country does better in the future than it has over the past 14 years."

Ali presses that it will be hard to please everyone - and asks again who Labour would choose, unions or large donors like Lord Sainsbury.

"It won't surprise you to know that I don't think that it's either or when it comes to being pro-business or pro-worker," Ms McGovern says.

"I think that you can do both, and I think that strong economies are ones that pay people decently, where people go to work and they're able to contribute and make our economy grow."

Conservative candidate Richard Graham is facing questions on the Politics Hub now and is first asked about news of falling Tory donations - and fears that donors are abandoning the party.

The Conservatives had £300,000 in donations in the second week of the election campaign, compared to £4.3m for Labour.

Mr Graham says: "I really don't know a great deal about who is giving and who isn't giving.

"But I do know we have a sizable war chest and it's enough to fight a very decent campaign.

"By now, people would have already been reached or be very close to reaching the maximum spending limits in their constituencies."

Here is a full list of candidates for Gloucester:

• Chris Farmer - Reform UK
• Steve Gower - Workers Party of Britain
• Richard Graham - Conservative and Unionist Party
• Alex McIntyre - Labour Party
• Adam Shearing - Green Party
• Rebecca Trimnell - Liberal Democrats
• Wing Commander (Rtd) Fred Ramsey - Independent
• Akhlaque Ahmed - Socialist Labour Party