The countdown is almost over. In just a matter of hours, Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer will answer questions from Beth Rigby and audience members in the Sky News leaders’ special event.
The Battle for No 10 will be broadcast live from Grimsby with each leader facing 20 minutes of questions from Sky’s award-winning political editor and 25 minutes of questions from audience members.
In an FA Cup-style draw for which leader goes first, on the Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge, I pulled the red ball out of a bag first and the blue second, meaning Sir Keir goes first, followed by Mr Sunak.
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Sunak or Starmer? Who will go first at Sky’s event…
Earlier this week, speaking to Sky News, the Labour leader said: “I’m really looking forward to it because I enjoy being able to talk directly to Sky viewers and to the audience there in Grimsby.
“I think having slightly more time will allow us to develop some of the answers that we need to give.”
The Sky News programme, starting at 7pm, is the second live TV grilling of the two rivals for 10 Downing Street during this election campaign, following a one-hour debate on ITV.
At the ITV debate last week, which a snap poll by YouGov suggested Mr Sunak shaded by 52% to 48%, the two leaders were given 45 seconds to respond to each question put to them.
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Explaining the format of the Sky News programme, executive editor and managing director Jonathan Levy said: “People said they wanted to hear more from Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer.
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“So, Sky News is giving them more time to tell you about their plans for your future. Each candidate – 45 minutes, not 45 seconds – in-depth and unfiltered. We’re giving the nation the full story, first.”
Sky News’s lead UK presenter Sarah-Jane Mee will be among the representative audience – drawn from the local area and nationally – as they put their questions to Mr Sunak and Sir Keir in 25-minute slots.
The questioning of the two leaders comes roughly half-way through the six-week general election campaign, with polling day on 4 July.
It also comes as the latest YouGov poll for Sky News, carried out on Monday and Tuesday, showed Labour on 38% (down three points on last week), the Conservatives on 18% (down one point), Reform UK just behind the Tories on 17% (up one point) and the LibDems on 15% (up four points after their manifesto launch).
And it takes place in between the launch of the manifestos of the two major parties, the day after the Conservatives launched theirs at Silverstone motor racing circuit and the day before the Labour launch on Thursday.
The new parliamentary constituency of Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes is a key battleground in this election and Sky News has been broadcasting regularly from both towns during the campaign.
Previously there were two constituencies: Great Grimsby, Labour from 1945 until a “Red Wall” Tory victory in 2019, and Cleethorpes, Labour since it was created in 1997, but Conservative since 2010.
The former Great Grimsby constituency was steeped in political history, largely because it was represented from 1959 until his death in 1977 by a giant of Labour Party politics, Anthony Crosland.
He was a Labour moderniser long before Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson and was the author of the 1956 bible of Labour moderates The Future of Socialism, which was hugely influential among the centre-left.
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He held several cabinet posts under Harold Wilson and James Callaghan and was also a massive football fan, taking Henry Kissinger to watch Grimsby Town v Gillingham while he was foreign secretary in 1976.
After Mr Crosland’s sudden death in 1977, TV presenter Austin Mitchell – who famously refereed an explosive live studio clash between Brian Clough and Don Revie in 1974, immortalised in the film The Damned United – held the seat by just 520 votes in a by-election.
Mr Mitchell was an early campaigner for the televising of Parliament and presented a political show, Target, on Sky News from 1989 to 1998 with the Tory former cabinet minister Norman Tebbit, who’s now 93.
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A colourful and at times eccentric character, Mr Mitchell temporarily changed his name in 2002 to Austin Haddock, in a publicity stunt as part of a campaign to boost Grimsby’s fishing industry.
After he retired in 2015, the constituency stayed Labour until the 2019 general election, when it became one of the Red Wall seats won by the Conservatives. It had been Labour since 1945 but was not always a safe seat.
Cleethorpes was Labour in the Blair and Brown years until the Conservatives won it in 2010. Like Grimsby, it’s an old fishing town and is now a seaside resort with a beach, pier and amusements.
Both towns voted heavily for Leave in the 2016 EU referendum, 71.4% in Great Grimsby and 69.5% in Cleethorpes. Both towns have received up to £20m in levelling up cash from the government in recent years.
The Battle For Number 10 Leaders Special Event, airs tonight from 7pm-10pm on Sky News – free wherever you get your news.
Freeview channel 233, Sky 501, Virgin 603, BT 313 and streaming on the Sky News website, app and across social channels. It is also available to watch on Sky Showcase.
Evie likes scary movies, musicals and Taylor Swift – but there is something that sets her apart.
The 16-year-old hates the way other children at school casually joke about suicide.
“People saying things like ‘I’m going to kill myself if I have to sit another maths test’, you’d be surprised how often people say things like that,” Evie Roodhouse tells me.
“People don’t understand the seriousness, saying they are ‘depressed’ as if it’s a positive thing. I think it’s become even a trend that some people think is cool or funny.”
Evie and younger sister Ada lost their father in 2018, and what they rarely tell anyone is that was suicide. However, Evie’s approach to this deeply personal subject is about to change. She has decided to give a school assembly on the subject.
Image: Evie, Ada and their dad
Eight-year-old sister Ada supports Evie’s decision and has experienced her own frustrations: “She [Evie] gets people joking about it,” says Ada, “In my school I just get people, like, complaining about their parents being gone for a week, say on holiday, especially their dad. ‘My dad’s going to this place for a week, and I won’t get to see him.’ ‘Oh he’s not here on Father’s Day.’ Or, ‘he’ll be away for a whole month, that’s almost as much as you.’ – It’s not. It’s really not.”
It’s entirely understandable that, up until now, Evie has been extremely private around the cause of her father’s death. Her presentation on the subject for a room of her peers at Brighton Hill Community School in Basingstoke, would surely be one of the most courageous school assemblies ever given.
The night before, I met up with Evie along with Mother Caroline and sister Ada. “This is the first time I’ve openly shared my own personal experience, my story so that’s where the nerves are coming in,” Evie says as we get on to the subject of her presentation.
Image: Evie speaks to Sky’s Jason Farrell
Her previous experience of confiding in friends is that their response varies between asking invasive questions, wanting details that Evie doesn’t want to share, or they feel awkward and change the subject. What Evie wants is for people to be able to talk about the subject and understand how to talk about it, especially if they themselves are struggling.
“With mental health we know that opening up and talking about it is the best thing you can do,” she says. “I think we understand ourselves better if we talk about our mental health. Communication is the best way around the stigma.”
However, this conversation around Evie’s home dining table is going to take us to some dark places, and it occurs to me how difficult it must have been for Caroline to explain what happened, to her young children. Did she have a choice? Could she have invented some other form of death to protect them from the truth?
Caroline explains her decision to tell them. “I had no idea Steve was going to take his own life. On the day I found out, luckily a friend of mine contacted an amazing charity called Winston’s Wish and they gave me some important advice, and that was honesty.
“However, uncomfortable that was, however brutal that was at the time. I’m grateful for that advice – because it’s meant that we’ve always had trust between us.”
Image: Ada and mum Caroline
Suicide rates in the UK have remained roughly the same for the last two decades, although the 7,055 deaths recorded in 2023 was the highest rate since 1999.
Men are three times more likely to take their own lives, and with Evie and Ada’s father there was no warning and no note to explain why.
Caroline says loss by suicide is “grief with a microphone”. One of the hardest things for her to manage has been her feeling of abandonment.
“I wanted to talk to Steve, and he’s the person responsible for not being here. Trying to get your head round the fact that, yes, they took their own life, but they weren’t in a rational state at that point in time, but then you’re feeling angry at the same time. It’s tiring. It’s exhausting.”
Eight-year-old Ada picks up: “You don’t blame them for being sad – but you’re also angry that they are not here.”
“…And that they didn’t tell you that they were struggling,” adds Caroline.
“They act all happy and fine. It’s quite unusual,” says Ada.
“It doesn’t make sense, does it?” offers Caroline. It is just a glimpse into the impossible conversations, the heartbreak and tears this family has endured.
Photographs of Steve with his children tell of a loving husband and father, hugging his children close, taking pride in his girls and valuing his precious time with them.
Evie tries to explain her own feelings on this, “Rather than someone being taken away from you – that person’s chosen to take themselves away from you.”
“They don’t want to be with you,” says Ada.
Evie picks up: “There’s sadness that they must have been struggling – but you made that decision. You must have thought whatever you had going on, was a bigger deal than me needing a father in my life, and that’s been a big thing for me.”
But Caroline has a consoling thought – a moment she says that changed everything. “It wasn’t that long ago maybe last year I was asked a question that completely knocked me off my feet – and took away most of my anger. I was asked by somebody – ‘What do you think Steve would say if he could come back and speak to you, right now.'”
“And my response to that, knowing what an amazing person he was, is that he would say ‘sorry’ and he didn’t want to cause us any pain. And in that moment imagining him saying ‘sorry’ – took away all my anger.”
Then she adds, “The problem is that replaces the anger with sadness.”
Image: Evie hates when other pupils joke about suicide
There is a deep chasm in the room. They will never know why. There are no answers. No clues and no way to change that. The profound complexity of emotions is something anyone would struggle with, yet both children Evie have found ways of coping.
“You have the first couple of years of feeling – ‘this is going to be my life now this is how I’m going to feel…’ says Evie. Her emotions break through, she pauses to compose herself then determinedly finishes her point. “…and I think being able to move past that and understand that you are not defined by that loss – and you are more than the person who took themselves away from you – and you are stronger.”
The next day as the assembly loomed Evie emitted quiet confidence. Mum Caroline came to watch and said she felt protective but at the same time “unbelievably proud”.
Image: Evie gives her presentation at assembly
What then happened was an extraordinary 20 minutes. Around 80 children watched the presentation, which included a thought-provoking animated film that Evie helped to create. She told the room how she lost her father to suicide in 2018 when she was nine years old and warned, “When you hear someone joking about something that has completely turned your world around it can be so hurtful.”
She also had sage advice on where teenagers can get help themselves, listing school provision and organisations outside of school such as Childline and the Samaritans.
Research recently published by the Mental Health Foundation found a third of young people accessed self-harm content online and the theme this year’s Mental Health Awareness week was community. Evie’s presentation couldn’t have been more appropriate.
She told her peers: “Unfortunately, in my experience the people who don’t talk about it, the people who keep their emotions down and don’t want to speak about those feelings are the people who we lose thorough suicide.”
Image: Headmaster of Brighton Hill Community School, Chris Edwards
Caroline was right to be proud and so too was headmaster of Brighton Hill Community School, Chris Edwards. He said afterwards: “I bang on about this quite a lot – the younger generation – and the press that they get does not match the depiction that I see day in day out.
“They are phenomenal – and the assembly we’ve seen today which Evie ran was one of the most impressive things I’ve seen in my career. Not just because she was able to tackle a subject that’s very difficult to her, but to do it to her peers is doubly difficult. And I was also proud of the way the children responded.”
It is rare this subject is talked about, and it must be done sensitively. Evie gave a masterclass in how to do it.
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
A father has told Sky News how his partner was driven over, and his baby son was flung 15ft in his pram, after they were hit by a vehicle during the Liverpool parade collision.
Daniel Everson, 36, had been with Sheree Aldridge and their five-month-old baby, Teddy, at Liverpool FC’s victory parade on Monday.
“The best day of my life turned into worst”, said Daniel, a lifelong fan of ‘The Reds’.
Daniel described the moment the car came towards him and his family.
“I tried to hold on to the front of the car and try and stop it, push it, do whatever I could [to stop it] from hitting my partner and my baby.
Image: Daniel Everson was in the crowd for the Liverpool trophy parade when the incident took place
“Me and my partner were flat on the roof, on the bonnet… we were just both trying to hold on for dear life with Ted next to us.
“And my partner went under the wheels of the car, of the front of the car, and it rolled over her leg, and I just bounced off to the side, but my boy and his pram got bounced totally in the opposite direction – about 15ft down the road.
“As soon as that happened, I just started screaming for my partner, and I found her and I asked where Teddy was, and she didn’t know… and I found him and he was okay, thank God.
“He was in the road, in his pram, on his back, and I grabbed him. I chucked the pushchair to the side and I ran up to some paramedics with him.”
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The suspect is being held on suspicion of attempted murder, dangerous driving and drug driving.
Daniel, from Telford, said he felt like he was in “hell” as he rushed back to find Sheree.
“I had to carry her up the road with four police officers holding her while she was screaming and crying. At that point, I didn’t know what was wrong with her, but I could see the injuries to her leg,” he explained.
Sheree, 36, is recovering at Aintree University Hospital after suffering muscle tissue damage. Daniel has been allowed to return home with Teddy after he was assessed at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.
“I feel a lot of emotions right now. Upset, angry, traumatised. A lot of unanswered questions that need to be answered.
“To me, it just wasn’t handled properly – the situation with the car getting that far into the crowd, in my opinion, he should not have got anywhere near us.”
Merseyside Police have now been given more time to question a 53-year-old arrested after a car struck a crowd at Liverpool FC’s victory parade on Monday.
The suspect, who police have described as a white British man from the local area, is being held on suspicion of attempted murder, dangerous driving, and drug driving.
Police have said the extra time they have been given to question the suspect runs into Thursday.
Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan Tate have been charged with rape and other offences in the UK.
Andrew Tate, 38, faces 10 charges, including rape, actual bodily harm, human trafficking and controlling prostitution for gain, relating to three women.
His brother Tristan Tate, 36, faces 11 charges relating to one woman – including rape, actual bodily harm and human trafficking.
The charges were authorised in January 2024, but full details have only been released now.
Bedfordshire Police issued an international arrest warrant for the brothers over allegations, which they “unequivocally deny”, said to have occurred between 2012 and 2015.
The Tate brothers are facing separate allegations of trafficking minors, sexual intercourse with a minor and money laundering in Romania.
They are also accused of human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women in a different case, which has been sent back to prosecutors.
They are due to be extradited to the UK following the conclusion of proceedings in Romania.
Image: Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan outside a Bucharest court in January. File pic: Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea via Reuters
A Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) spokesperson said: “We can confirm that we have authorised charges against Andrew and Tristan Tate for offences including rape, human trafficking, controlling prostitution and actual bodily harm against three women.
“These charging decisions followed receipt of a file of evidence from Bedfordshire Police.
“A European Arrest Warrant was issued in England in 2024, and as a result the Romanian courts ordered the extradition to the UK of Andrew and Tristan Tate.”
The spokesperson added: “However, the domestic criminal matters in Romania must be settled first.
“The Crown Prosecution Service reminds everyone that criminal proceedings are active, and the defendants have the right to a fair trial.
“It is extremely important that there be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.”
Representatives for Andrew Tate have been contacted by Sky News for comment.
Lawyer Matt Jury, of McCue Jury & Partners, representing several alleged British victims of Andrew Tate, said: “We welcome the clarity from the Crown Prosecution Service that our authorities are working to ensure the Tates face justice here in the UK – they cannot be allowed to escape extradition.
“At the same time, we ask once more that CPS admit its mistake in failing to prosecute Tate when he lived in the UK and finally charge him for the rape and assault of the other three women, our clients, who originally filed criminal complaints against him as long ago as 2014 but were failed by the system.
“They deserve justice, too.”
The allegations were subject to a police investigation, which was closed in 2019.