1/ Call Norris McWhirter – record-breakers in this week’s poll ... A Labour surge sees their lead rise by 5 to 22 over the Conservatives, as Reform equals its highest ever vote share.

🔴 Lab 44% (+1)
🔵 Con 22% (-4)
⚪ Ref 13% (+2)
🟠 LD 9% (NC)
🟢 Green 6% (-1)
🟡 SNP 3% (+1)

The final Friday poll round-up before next week's local, mayoral and PCC elections.

The truth is, Rishi Sunak is leaving you worse off than ever.

This could be one of the defining images of the 2024 campaign ..

I was in the Oval Office with Trump when he said a WH staffer he believed leaked an embarrassing story about him should be executed.

We may want to take this line of argument from Trump’s attorney extremely seriously.

🫠

British people are not stupid. They can see Brexit has failed. They don't want divisions reopened. But once a big majority wants and prioritises getting back in the EU (will take time but will happen) then by definition it won't be so divisive and could become inevitable.

First we had Thèrése Coffey not knowing that Kigali is the capital of Rwanda, and now we have Chris Philp not knowing that Congo is a different country to Rwanda…

They're sending £576m to a country they can’t even pick out on a map… 😳

Samuel Alito is 74. Clarence Thomas is 75. Roberts and Sotomayor are 69. The next president may very well nominate replacements for multiple (if not all!) of these justices. If Trump is president, the Supreme Court is gone for the rest of our lifetimes. That means an all-powerful…

SCOTUS appears likely to clear the way for a second Trump administration to go full dictator from day one.

We'll see what he's doing, and will know what it means.

We just won't be able to do anything about it.

Whatever you think about Biden, it's better than what's coming.

Even worse, it seems that four Trumpist stalwarts on SCOTUS are ready to support him & analysts wonder whether chief justice John Roberts will stand up for the rule of law or Trump. To support both is impossible.

Wow. According to YouGov, of people who voted Conservative in 2019:

- 33% want to see them win the next GE

- 41% do NOT want them to win the next GE
(including 20% who don't want them to win another election at all)

- 26% say none of these / don't know

The Tories aren't even winning the support of people who watch a right-wing channel where half of the presenters are current or former Conservative MPs...

Our polling for We Own It found considerable support for public ownership of the railways.

Labour lead at 25 points in this week's YouGov poll for The Times

CON 20 (-1)
LAB 45 (+1)
LIB DEM 9 (+1)
REF UK 13 (-1)
GRN 7 (-1)

Fieldwork 23 - 24 April

Rishi Sunak's spokesperson confirms they're using two different methods for estimating the increase in defence spend vs amount they need to save

In other words they're massively exaggerating the increase (nowhere near £75m as Sunak claims) while playing down what has to be saved

Inflation fell to 3.2% in March, but only half of Britons can correctly interpret what this means

Prices are rising more slowly: 52% *correct*
Prices are falling faster: 18%
Prices are falling more slowly: 13%
Prises are rising faster: 4%
Don't know: 13%

While everyone will get very excited about election results next week, it's worth remembering that they tell us less about key groups at general elections than we might like. Those switching parties (Con to Lab) and undecided are less likely to vote at locals.

Beth Rigby Starmer: We'll spend 2.5% on defence.

*two weeks later*

Sunak: We'll spend 2.5% on defence

Media: How will Labour escape this trap?

Cameron explains that the Rwanda policy became necessary because of Brexit and the Government’s failure to maintain the returns agreement that we had with France when we were in the EU.