Rishi Sunak speech: Prime Minister to give pre-election speech claiming UK faces ‘dangerous years’ ahead

Right-wing Conservative MP Suella Braverman surprised many by calling for an end to the two-benefit limit for children to combat poverty.

But despite internal party pressure, this is not a policy Labor will pursue.

Rishi Sunak suffered fresh embarrassment ahead of his speech after former Tory donor Puneet Gupta announced he had switched his support back to Labour.

Gupta, owner of Scottish supplier PG Paper, recently donated £50,000 to the Tories and visited Downing Street.

However, he accused the government of “stagnant”, describing Sunak’s performance as “highly disappointing”.

Gupta was previously a Labor donor, donating money to Scottish Labor MSP Anas Sarwar’s failed leadership campaign in 2017.

Former Conservative Party communications director Amy Fisher says the Prime Minister plans to “sweep away the disastrous local election results” with his speech.

The former Conservative member said Talk about TV: “This has its dangers, Sunak is not the most charismatic of politicians!”

As Angela Rayner prepares to be interviewed under police caution, her shadow cabinet colleague says she is under attack because she is “a working-class success story”.

Speaking exclusively to The IndependentStreeting said the whole saga “makes my blood boil” and accused her colleague’s critics of attacking her because “she is a working-class success story”.

Former Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi appears to have already moved on to pastures new.

He will replace interim chairman Aidan Barclay at the company which is part of the Barclay family business empire.

The company, which owns Very and Littlewoods, said in a statement that Zahawi would work with the directors and management team to explore expanding the business into new areas.

Labor leader Catherine McKinnell accused the Conservative Party of supporting Elphicke’s lobbying claims.

The shadow schools minister has called for an investigation into why the Conservatives have not addressed concerns.

She said Sky News: “I’m really perplexed by this because it happened four years ago and he sat on these concerns that he says were too serious for a newspaper and did nothing about them for four years.

“So I am as perplexed as anyone else by these claims. Obviously Natalie says they’re not true, it’s not her memory of the encounter and that’s why she says it’s nonsense.

“I just can’t understand why, if something is as important and as serious as he claims, why it wasn’t addressed at the time. This is very worrying to me. So I think that’s something that probably needs to be looked at.”

Sir Keir Starmer was pressed to investigate the claim that Elphicke “pressured the minister to intervene in her husband’s trial”.

Elphicke allegedly told Sir Robert that it was unfair that her ex-husband’s case was the first to be heard at Southwark Crown Court following the Covid lockdown and that it was being overseen by Lady Justice Whipple, Sunday times reported.

Rishi Sunak will use his speech to outline bold ideas about how to fix a country at a crossroads.

In a desperate move to convince voters, he will:

• Pledge to face new threats, including security.

• Describe your intention to capitalize on artificial intelligence to transform people’s lives.

• Pledge to rebuild trust with the British public.

Shadow schools minister Catherine McKinnell said she would welcome more Conservatives into the Labor Party.

Speaking to Sky News, she said: “I think it’s really important that we’re not tribal about politics, that we’re open to people accepting the way we say things and the way we want to do things.”