Today's news
- Tories won't be in opposition for 'decades' - but 'long road' back to power, Badenoch tells Sky News
- Talk of removing Badenoch 'worst possible thing' for Tory fortunes, Hunt tells Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge
- Number 10 says Kneecap's apology does not go far enough
- Investigation into themmust happen 'free from political interference', says security minister|He says Glastonbury should 'think very carefully' about having the band perform
- The band says they are a victim of a 'smear campaign'
- Foreign sex offenders to lose refugee status - but Tories say it's 'too little, too late'
- Government defends 'milkshake tax', saying it is facing a 'childhood obesity epidemic'
- Live reporting by Ben Bloch
Where is the prime minister tonight - and which famous face is he chatting to?
You might think Sir Keir Starmer would be out on the campaign trail, galvanising the Labour troops ahead of the local elections on Thursday.
But he has a far more important event tonight - his beloved Arsenal faces Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final.
The prime minister is currently in the director's box at the Emirates Stadium with his teenage son.
And one of his heroes is also there - former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, and the pair were pictured deep in conversation before kick-off.
That's all for today
Thank you for joining us for live coverage of today's events in politics, just two before voters go to the polls for the first time since the general election.
Use the key points above to see the main stories of the day, and scroll down for full coverage.
And if you missed tonight's edition of Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge, fear not - you can watch it in full below.
Join us again tomorrow for the very latest as parties frantically campaign ahead of the local elections on Thursday - and PMQs at 12pm!
What to expect from the local elections next month and how to follow them with Sky News
On Thursday, voters will be heading to the polls for a round of local elections.
On 1 May, there are 1,600 council seats up for grabs across England, as well as six mayoral elections.
What's at stake
Reform are hoping to make significant gains, while Labour will be hoping to avoid being punished for tough decisions at the national level.
Meanwhile, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch will be looking to prove her own party's potential for a return to government after a bumpy time in opposition so far.
Labour are also expecting a tight-run race with Reform in the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby, triggered by the resignation of Mike Amesbury following his conviction for assaulting a constituent.
How to stay up to date
Join Sky News live on the night for our Vote 2025 special coverage, looking at the results as they come in, as well as bringing you all the best analysis and reaction as soon as the polls close.
There will be continuous coverage on the Sky News app - including here in the Politics Hub.
Our special coverage will include:
- An overnight special from midnight on 1 May into 2 May as results come in, with presenter Jonathan Samuels and deputy political editor Sam Coates;
- An election special programme throughout the day on 2 May, with a special edition of the Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge showing from 7pm-9pm that evening. Economics and data editor Ed Conway and political correspondent Tamara Cohen will join Ridge during the day's coverage, with political editor Beth Rigby travelling across the country;
- Alongside that, we'll be running two podcast specials on Electoral Dysfunction, available on Saturday 3 May, and Politics At Sam And Anne's, available on Friday 2 May.
Could the local elections reshape British politics?
What exactly will the UK look like at the end of this week?
It's less than seven days until millions of people will go to the polls to vote in the local elections.
Can Reform UK turn votes into seats - and from there into power? How far do the Tories have to fall? How unpopular is Labour now that it's in government?
Our deputy political editor Sam Coatesexamines those questions below...
What could decide the Runcorn by-election?
It's not just councils and mayoral positions up for grabs in this Thursday's elections - we've also got the Runcorn and Helsby by-election.
Held by Labour at last year's general election, polling suggests Reform now have a great chance of victory there.
Our political correspondent Rob Powell reports on the factors that could decide how it ends up...
Electoral Dysfunction: Can there ever be a calm debate on trans rights?
Beth Rigby, Harriet Harman and Ruth Davidson discuss the UK Supreme Court's judgment on how a woman should be defined in law.
They also hear from Ellie, a trans woman who says she's now afraid for her safety and her future.
Harriet literally wrote the law in question, the Equality Act 2010 - she and the team dig into what the judgement means for individuals and institutions across the country.
And on 1 May, there are local and mayoral elections in England and the Runcorn and Helsby by-election. The polling group More in Common has helped us hear what's on the minds of voters in Doncaster.
đ Click here to listen to Electoral Dysfunction on your podcast app đ
Find all the candidates in Doncaster and in your area at the Electoral Commission:https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/voter/your-election-information
Come and join us LIVE on Tuesday 20th May at Cadogan Hall in London, tickets available now:https://www.aegpresents.co.uk/event/electoral-dysfunction-live/
Remember you can also watch us onYouTube!
Glastonbury should 'do the right thing' and ban Kneecap, says former chancellor
Finally with former chancellor Jeremy Hunt, Sophy Ridge asks ifBelfast rap trio Kneecap should have their Glastonbury invitation revoked after one of the group appeared to call for Tory MPs to be killed and another appeared to shout "up Hamas, up Hezbollah".
Hunt replies that "yes", they should be banned.
"I just think that Glastonbury should do the right thing. Whether I would legislate to stop Glastonbury doing it, I don't know.
"But it just seems to me that if you've got a group of people advocating the killing of MPs, that is just beyond the pale."
Hunt calls for phone ban in schools and no social media for under-16s
Former chancellor Jeremy Hunt is next asked by Sophy Ridge how worried he is about how much time young people spend consuming content on the internet.
Referencing his own teenage children, he says he is personally worried about the "addictiveness" of things like TikTok and YouTube Shorts.
"I can't believe that we're in a world where we actually think it's a good thing if we sit down and watch a movie together on TV," Hunt continued. "When I was growing up, actually, the TV was a bad thing - my parents wanted us to play Monopoly or something that I thought was incredibly boring."
What he worries about is the effect on young people's attention span, and their "ability to form relationships with human beings".
"It needs to be face to face. You need to spend time with people. You need to have the patience to hear people out.
"And I do worry that social media is making that much harder."
Cutting to the chase, Hunt says as a father: "I would support moves to ban social media for under 16s."
"I think it's a no-brainer," he continued. "I support schools not having mobile phones, pupils not even being allowed to bring them into the school grounds.
"So I think all those things in a few years time, we'll look back and say, you know, why didn't we do that earlier?"
'There are lots of people who vote Reform who would never, ever vote Conservative'
Reform UK is leading the Tories in the polls, and Sophy Ridge asks Sir Jeremy Hunt how he thinks his party should approach the challenge.
The former chancellor replies that "allpolitical parties are coalitions of voters", and "there are lots of people who vote Reform who would never, ever vote Conservative".
"They did it in 2019, but it was very exceptional because the Brexit deal had not been done, and they wanted Brexit," he said.
"But they lent us their vote. They won't come back. We've got to concentrate on our own coalition, which is, you know, aspirational people in their 30s, 40s and 50s with Conservative values who want a stronger economy, who want a government that is not going to kill businesses this government has been doing. And that is the way that you succeed in politics."
Hunt went on to say that the Tories "will only win if we win back people who've left to Reform and people who've left to the Lib Dems".
"We need to get ourselves into a place when the next time they have a choice [at an election], they think actually, 'I think these guys understand why we kicked them out before, we will give them another shot'."
Talk of removing Badenoch 'worst possible thing' for Tory fortunes, Hunt says
Next with Sir Jeremy Hunt, we turn to the local elections on Thursday, in which the Tories are expected to perform very poorly once again.
But he tells Sophy Ridge that he has full sympathy for Kemi Badenoch, saying she has "an impossible job".
"The electorate are still not willing to give us a hearing because we were in power for 14 years, and they decided they wanted to change," he says.
"And so, you know, itâd be the worst possible thing to have any kind of speculation about a change in leadership."
Hunt says the public is "very smart", and people can see that Badenoch "wants to listen" and "understand why it is that we were rejected on such a scale".
But "there is a process that we have to go through before we get a hearing again", he adds, and Thursday will be "a very difficult day".
