Election latest: Battle for Number 10 - final preparations as Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer set to face questions from Beth Rigby and a live audience (2024)

Sky News might be famous for, well, breaking the news, but our talents don't stop there and this snack table says it all.

The spin room is filling up and it's been catered out to boot - from old school Fruitellas to a classic snickers and even some gluten free choco buttons.

Rumour has it there's also an order of fish and chips on the way because.. when in Grimsby!

This area is famous for its fish and chips so it would basically be rude not to. (Don't worry the audience have already had their share!)

More on that later. For now.. rate the snacks!

We've just seen Sir Keir Starmer arriving for tonight's event, which starts in the next half an hour.

The Labour leader was greeted by Sky News executive chairman David Rhodes as he headed into Grimsby Town Hall.

By Faye Brown, political reporter, in Grimsby

It's not long to go before the show begins and Grimsby is abuzz with Westminster journalists.

That includes Sky News commentator Adam Boulton, who will be giving his take on the debate tonight.

Adam says it will be a "really interesting event", with the leaders subject to scrutiny for 45 minutes.

"It's probably the most testing time they are going to have, with a mix of interviews from Beth Rigby and the audience ".

Any advice for the pair?

He says Rishi Sunak "will be looking to come out of it well" and needs to decide "to what extent he wants to go on the attack".

For Sir Keir Starmer, he says "it's been an election campaign that's been pretty downbeat" and given the expectation he could be the next prime minister with a rather large majority, the event is an opportunity "to get people excited and have a more positive image of him".

"Not necessarily because it will help him in the debate, but it will help him if he does become prime minister".

While the Conservatives and Labour battle it out for Number 10, recent polling reflects a changing mood from the electorate towards the smaller parties.

The latest YouGov poll suggests Reform UK have climbed within one point of the Conservatives, the Lib Dems are up four points, and Labour are dropping below 40%.

In 2017, the two big parties got 82% of the vote. Now, the combined Labour-Tory vote could be as low as 56%.

With the Green Party launching its manifesto today, on this episode of the Sky News Daily, Niall Paterson and our deputy political editor Sam Coates dive into the dissatisfaction with Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer.

Plus, Scarlett Maguire, director at polling company JL Partners, discusses how well the smaller parties are doing.

👉Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts👈

By Faye Brown, political reporter, in Grimsby

There's less than an hour to go before the event kicks off - and things are ramping up.

There’s lots of locals out here trying to get a glimpse of the action, the first audience members have arrived and tucked away on a side street you can even see the Conservatives' bright blue battle bus.

But what of their leader?

Police here tell me that Rishi Sunak could arrive any time between now and five minutes before the show.

Co-leader of the Green Party Adrian Ramsay has told Sky News his party's "bold set of proposals" are needed both in the election and in parliament to "push for the bold action that's needed".

He was responding to Sky'sSophy Ridge who was challenging him on a series of funding proposals in the party's manifesto, which was unveiled today.

The Green Party offered a raft of policies, with many being covered by the top 1% of earners having to "pay a bit more into the pot".

This would include a 1% annual wealth tax on assets above £10m and 2% on assets above £1bn, along with reforms to Capital Gains Tax to align with workers' income tax, and removing the upper earnings limit on national insurance.

Unlike some of their rivals, the party also said they were "prepared to borrow to invest".

"What we're talking about is very different to what Labour and the Conservatives are doing and proposing, where they do have a conspiracy of silence over the facts that this next government is going to have to either cut public services or increase taxes," Mr Ramsay says.

"The other parties have got so far out of step with the levels of investment that we need if we're to defend and restore our NHS, ensure we have good quality, affordable housing for people, and we invest in that transition to a green economy that can tackle the cost of living crisis.

"So these are a bold set of proposals - absolutely.

"But we need that Green voice in the debate, both in the election and in parliament to push for the bold action that's needed."

You can read more on the Green Party's election manifesto here:

And you can see a breakdown of all the manifestos unveiled so far here:

Sophy Ridge has just been talking to two former directors of communications at the two main parties - and it's not good news for Rishi Sunak.

Asked whether there is any hope for the prime minister to turn things around, Boris Johnson's former communications director Lee Cain said: "Honestly, no."

He has spoken to some of Sir Keir Starmer's team, who "already privately feel they're one foot in Downing Street now".

The Conservatives' pivot to calling on voters not to give Labour a "super majority" is effectively "conceding defeat from their ranks", he said.

Former Labour director of communications and strategy Tom Baldwin said it was "extraordinary" that this was being discussed now with three weeks to go until the vote.

He said it is "the sort of thing a party might do in the final week" and is a form of "damage limitation".

"It's a last shot and they're playing it now because they've not got much left," he said.

As for what Sir Keir needs to do now, Mr Baldwin said he just needs to "get to the finishing line".

"He just needs to not drop the baton - he doesn't need to do somersaults, he doesn't need to do cartwheels," he said.

By Faye Brown, political reporter, in Grimsby

Marc Lawless , 40, has not decided who he'll vote for yet.

He tells me the "war on drugs is the biggest issue" for him.

He opens up that his late mother, who he lost recently, suffered from a drug addiction and the problem is "just getting bigger and bigger".

He says people can access drugs as easily as going on Deliveroo for a takeaway.

"You'd struggle to get someone in Grimsby whose not been affected some way."

Marc is a "bellwether voter" so he typically votes for the government of the day - though he actually bucked the trend in 2019 when he took a chance on Jeremy Corbyn's Labour.

"I thought he was a great guy and he was misunderstood. I did not like all of his policies but I thought he was a good bloke."

But he's not so sure on the current Labour leadership.

He thinks Labour "target the poor, they say 'vote for us because you're poor' but they never make us richer".

That being said he could vote for Sir Keir Starmer still.

"If he had a good plan for crime, drugs, getting people out of prisons, giving kids a chance, then he might get my vote."

And the same goes for Rishi Sunak, he says.

Leaders - listen up!

We've just been speaking to the secretary of state for security, Tom Tugendhat, as the clock ticks down to Sky's leaders' event in Grimsby.

He is asked by Sky's Sophy Ridge whether events like this can change the court of an election campaign.

"Of course they can. Absolutely they can," he says.

Sophy asks him whether he would accept that the Conservatives and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak have had a bit of a bumpy campaign so far.

"One of the things I'll say for Rishi is that he really just battles on," Mr Tugendhat says.

"He's a guy who has got a very clear sense of duty and he just gets on with it".

He adds this evening's event is "one of those moments" where the prime minister has an "opportunity to demonstrate, again, his remarkable ability to handle the detail and complexity of government and to set out the agenda and vision that he has for making sure that all of our homes are safe for all of our lives".

The Battle For Number 10 leaders' special event will take place tonight from 7pm-10pm on Sky News - free wherever you get your news.

By Faye Brown, political reporter, in Grimsby

You may have seen that Rishi Sunak has faced a bit of a backlash for saying he went without Sky TV as a child.. and one man has travelled 120 miles totell the PM what he thinks about that.

Phil Thompson, 55, has come all the way from Hartlepool brandishing a sign that says "Rishi no Dishi" - "cos the poor lad never had a Sky dish when he was young," he tells me.

Phil says the gaffe was "on par with Theresa May running through the corn fields" (if you know you know).

"He should have just been honest and said he had a good upbringing with two parents who did well and sent him to a good school, I'm not gonna hold that against him. What he said was just desperate," says Phil.

Phil says he's never voted Conservative and has always floated between the Lib Dems and Labour, but he will be tactically voting Labour to "get the Tories out".

He says he is "Pro European" and Brexit is the most important issue for him.

"I don't like what they're doing with immigration.. most of the country’s problems stem from Brexit."

In fact Phil often joins the Stop Brexit "mob" outside parliament alongside Steve Bray.

But he's having some "time off today" (so there's some good news for Rishi Sunak at least!)

As well as Brexit, Phil is concerned about local services.

He says his area's Conservative mayor Ben Houchen "would have us think Hartlepool is a Utopia but there's no money for basic needs, the council is nearly broke and services have been cut".

"Under the Tories the last six years especially has been a farce, we need change."