Election live: Postal vote system ‘creaking’ as Sunak urged to meet Royal Mail bosses

Mr Farage has previously been pictured with Ms Le Pen, the French far right leader, and suggested he could work with her on issues like immigration. However, he also suggested that she could be a “a disaster” for France.

Our Political Editor David Maddox has the full story:

A row has erupted after the Tories criticised Sir Keir Starmer for his commitment to spending time with his children after 6pm on Fridays.

But the Labour Party leader countered that safeguarding time for his 16-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter makes him more relaxed and a better decision-maker, adding: “There are a few exceptions, but that’s what we do.”

Now we want to know what you think. Would Sir Keir be right to stop work for his family at 6pm on Fridays if elected prime minister? Or should someone in this position always be on call as the Conservatives suggest?

The UK’s postal vote system is “creaking”, the chief of the election watchdog has said, as a “record” amount of postal votes are expected this year.

Vijay Rangarajan, chief executive of the Electoral Commission, said: “We think about 6.7 million postal votes have already been sent and people have voted and have been returned back to electoral administrators.

“That’s better than previous elections … we could have a record amount of postal votes this time, so there is a bit of the system creaking.”

As election day approaches and the Tories look set for a defeat of historic proportions, Sean O’Grady busts some myths about what Labour might do in the event of a landslide.

He writes: “Wisely or not, the Conservatives have tacitly conceded not just defeat but an appalling humiliation on polling day, and are now begging for mercy. Somewhat unconvincingly.

“The home secretary, James Cleverly, agrees and says that Labour would ‘distort’ the constitution.”

Sir Keir Starmer has told the BBC voters “(will) be better off” if he is able to grow the economy, but he refused to pledge a tax cut.

Quizzed about his party’s tax pledges and the status quo, in particular that “the tax burden is going to remain high” if he wins Thursday’s General Election, the Labour leader replied: “Well, no, no tax rises needed for the plans in our manifesto, other than the ones we’ve set out, but I’m not going to pretend that we could make tax cuts unless they’re funded and sustainable.

“We have to repair the damage to our economy and that’s why our central focus is on growth, on wealth creation, on making sure that people feel materially better off under a Labour government.”

Sir Keir added: “(Voters will) be better off because we will grow the economy, people will feel their living standards are rising, and better off in the broadest sense of the word because we intended to get the NHS not just back on its feet but fit for the future, make sure our public services are what people expect, what they’re entitled to, in fact.”

Sir Keir Starmer, who is a keen footballer and Arsenal fan, said seeing Bukayo Saka play at left-back during the England vs Slovakia Euros game made him “very nervous”.

England’s boss Gareth Southgate moved Bukayo Saka from the right-hand side to the left during the 2-1 seismic game on Sunday.

Speaking on BBC, he said: “He actually did start in his early days at Arsenal playing as a left-back so you could see the logic in it.

“But I think he’s been one of the major outlets on the right.”

England are set to go up against Switzerland in the quarter-finals on Saturday at 5pm.

Sir Keir Starmer has refused to name his cabinet if he wins the General Election on Thursday and speculated “plenty of constituencies” could come down to “just a few hundred votes”.

The Labour leader told the BBC: “I’m not going to get ahead of myself and announce, say, cabinet or possible cabinet.”

He added: “To do so two days before the election, to do so would to be complacent – and you would never expect a leader to do that.”

Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney has sent a letter to the Rishi Sunak urging for a review into the timetable for the general elections.

It comes as he reported ongoing concerns about people not getting ballot papers delivered to their homes on time for polling day.

Scotland has been particularly struck by the issue where he says families have been “disenfranchised” as the contest is taking place during Scottish school holidays.

In an open letter to the prime minister, the SNP leader criticised Mr Sunak for claiming he was not concerned about the problems with postal votes.

Mr Swinney said: “When so many people have confirmed that they did not receive their packs before leaving their home in the holiday season in Scotland, and with hundreds of voters applying to their local councils for emergency replacement postal votes, this is major cause for concern for many, including your postal affairs minister who is “urgently investigating” the delays across the UK.

“This has led to people in Scotland who did everything they were meant to do in order to secure their right to vote in this general election not being able to exercise that right. These include people who had already-arranged holidays that they had to leave for before the delayed postal votes arrived, and people for whom the alternatives, including organising a replacement postal pack from their local authority, were unsuitable or unavailable.”