General election latest: Farage announces election U-turn - and reveals which seat he will stand in (2024)

Taking a question from journalists, Nigel Farage is asked whether he has made Keir Starmer the "happiest man in British politics" by announcing his candidacy.

Mr Farage denies Reform will only take votes from the Conservatives.

He says the same question was asked of UKIP in 2015, and the party took more votes from Labour.

"You were all wrong. All of you were wrong," he says, gesturing to the journalists in the room.

"No. Those people currently saying they'll vote Reform won't vote Conservative. They've gone. The Red Wall feels completely betrayed."

He says Reform will draw "fairly evenly" from Labour and the Conservatives.

The first question to Nigel Farage comes from GB News.

They ask what Mr Farage's goal is.

In response, the new party leader says only one of his previous Westminster attempts was genuine.

The rest were as a pressure group.

He says he did not mind losing, but accuses the opposition of cheating.

Mr Farage says he cannot "turn his back" on the people who want him to stand.

"I can't turn my back on those millions of people who followed me, believed in me despite the horrendous things that were being said about me," he says.

Nigel Farage, who has just announced his candidacy, says Keir Starmer has won the general election.

But he says Reform UK will make sure "his percentage is a lot smaller" than current polls are suggesting.

He admits it is "another matter" whether Reform can win any seats under the UK's first past the post system.

But he says "we might just surprise everybody," adding that he is appealing to Conservative and Labour voters, and those who don't intend to vote at the moment.

"Keir Starmer, yes he'll win," he says, "but we are absolutely going to make sure" that Reform becomes "the voice of opposition".

"What I'm really calling for, what I intend to lead, is a political revolt. Yes, a revolt. A turning of our backs on the political status quo," he says.

"It doesn't work. Nothing in this country works any more. The health service doesn't work, the roads don't work, none of our public services are up to scratch. We are in decline.

"This will only be turned around with boldness."

Richard Tice says Nigel Farage is taking over as the leader of Reform UK.

Speaking, Mr Farage calls the election campaign the "dullest" in our lifetime so far.

He goes on to attack Labour and the Conservatives on "mass immigration".

"Frankly we are in a situation, I think, where nobody believes a word that they say."

Whoever wins, taxes will remain high, says Mr Farage, adding people are becoming poorer.

He says the country is in economic, social and more decline.

Mr Farage turns to D-Day and claims a poll shows "52% of 18-34-year-olds don't even know what D-Day is".

He claims that this is the result of the "political class" ruling the UK.

"We believe that the Westminster political class are now even more detached than when they were before that referendum stunned everybody," adds Mr Farage, referring to the Brexit vote.

Richard Tice, the leader of Reform UK, is giving a speech in South East London.

Nigel Farage, the party's honorary leader, is expected to follow Mr Tice on stage.

The Reform leader says the election "must be the immigration election".

He says Reform is "going up" in the polls.

As you can see from our post at 3.25pm, in one poll Reform is up one point, while the Conservatives are down three.

The Tories are on 20%, while Reform is only six points behind.

Going back to the speech, Mr Tice says he wants to put "the turbo boosters" on his election campaign.

He says: "I wanted Nigel to give as much energy and effort to this campaign as he felt able to do..."

"Does Nigel want to stand? I've got a different question."

He adds that he then invited Mr Farage to lead Reform UK.

Nigel Farage is holding what he's billed as an "emergency" news briefing from 4pm.

Sources have suggested to Sky colleagues that he could announce he's standing for Reform UK in the general election.

It comes just two weeks after he said he wouldn't be.

We'll bring you live updates on what he says - and you can watch the event live in the stream above.

Campaign Q&As can often throw up some unexpected enquiries, especially when those doing the asking are younger in years.

And so it was during a Tory visit to Wantage Town Football Club, where curveballs weren't only limited to the pitch.

To start off with, Rishi Sunak was asked what his favourite Nando's meal was.

The answer – a half chicken with medium spice along with chips and broccoli, which the PM said he had eaten twice last week.

The broccoli caused much amazement among the footballers, with one saying he thought the visiting guest would have been more of a pea man.

"It's good broccoli," said Rishi Sunak - in what is surely the first time a prime minister has ever spoken those words at a media event – before adding he would also recommend the boneless thighs.

There was also the revelation that the prime minister had recently started getting into country music, with Tim McGraw a particular highlight.

But predictably for a Southampton FC, when asked what his favourite song was, he plumped for "when the Saints go marching in".

We're still waiting for YouGov's massive poll at 5pm.

But before that, we've had another big survey come in.

Redfield and Wilton Strategies asked 10,000 people between 31 May and 2 June how they plan to vote in the general election.

Here are the results, with the change from the previous survey in brackets:

• Labour 46% (–)
• Conservative 20% (-3)
• Reform 14% (+1)
• Lib Dem 10% (+1)
• Green 5% (–)
• SNP 2% (-1)
• Other 2% (-1)

In total, Labour has a lead of 26 points.

The Conservatives have dropped three points, while Reform UK gained one point and the Lib Dems gained one point.

The SNP lost a point, as did the "other" group.

Redfield and Wilton says it is the joint lowest score for the Tories with Rishi Sunak as prime minister.

Spotting and sorting awkward backdrops is an essential skill for any party campaign official.

That can be difficult though when the backdrop is water-based and moving.

Rishi Sunak found this out today when a group of Liberal Democrats photobombed his visit to the banks of the Thames by sailing a placard-laden boat into shot in full view of a pack of TV cameras.

The party has been driving home one of their key campaign messages in the area, on the filthy state of the UK's waterways.

Speaking to some rowers at the Henley club, you do wonder if water quality would have been a more tailored campaign message than the Tories' announcement around gender today.

As Rishi Sunak cleaned a boat, one woman said he didn't really need to do that as it hadn't been in the water recently - pointedly adding that if it had been in the water, it would be covered in "poo" because the Thames is so bad in the area.

Some of the rowers who met the prime minister also seemed in the dark about the gender policy announcement, saying they'd just been told it was a visit connected to women's sports.

Indeed, Rishi Sunak didn't chat to the female athletes about the planned changes to equality law – instead keeping the conversation on rowing.

But when asked, most of the athletes seemed broadly sympathetic to the changes – with some expressing concern about the potential advantage transgender women may have in physical sports like their own.