Rishi Sunak has insisted he has “absolutely not” lost hope of winning the 4 July general election despite Tory allies warning of the risk of Labour winning a “super-majority”.
Defence secretary Grant Shapps claimed the Tories were fighting hard to prevent Labour from securing a crushing win bigger than the 1997 landslide. The Tories fear the Blue Wall could be knocked down with chancellor Jeremy Hunt warning he faces a battle to hang on to his Godalming and Ash seat, a key Lib Dem target.
It comes as the Conservative Party could make a surprising U-turn on its flagship pledge to bring National Service after the defence secretary suggested the scheme would last less than a month. The Tory manifesto confirmed the scheme would be a “year-long full-time placement in the armed forces or cyber defence”. But he today said it would be much shorter.
Elsewhere, the Green Party launched its manifesto, which includes a pledge to raise taxes on the “super-rich” and nationalise water, railways and energy companies, as well as scrapping university tuition fees.
Meanwhile, Mr Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer are preparing to face a grilling live interview in front of an audience for Sky News in Grimsby.
