Putin is hoping for Labour victory, says Sunak
RISHI SUNAK today warns voters that Vladimir Putin is hoping for a Labour victory as the general election campaign enters its final week.
Speaking to The Telegraph, the Prime Minister says the UK’S staunch support of Ukraine means that “Russia does not want us to be re-elected”. In a final appeal to stave off a Labour supermajority, he accuses Reform leader Nigel Farage of “appeasing” Moscow and claims that Sir Keir Starmer would cut defence spending “on day one”.
Mr Sunak said: “The Conservatives have stood up to our adversaries to protect British interests and British values time and time again. We have stood shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine against Russian aggression and we will keep doing so if re-elected. It is clear from the evidence, Russia does not want us to be re-elected.
“Putin would like nothing more than for Britain to step back, to appease his aggression rather than face it down and that is what will happen with another party in power.
“Nigel Farage has talked of appeasing Russia which will only play into Putin’s hands and Labour will cut UK defence spending on day one. This will embolden our enemies and send a signal to our allies that Britain is not with them anymore.
“We cannot allow that to happen. Vote Conservative on 4th July.”
The last-minute intervention comes amid reports that Russia is attempting to bolster Reform’s prospects on July 4 with a coordinated social media campaign. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) claims to have uncovered a network of five Facebook pages “spreading Kremlin talking points” ahead of the UK election, with some encouraging support for Nigel Farage’s party.
It is understood that Richard Holden, the Conservative chairman, has written to Simon Case, Britain’s top civil servant, and Sir Tim Barrow, the national security adviser, urging them to investigate.
It comes as the polls show the Tories are heading for a landmark defeat. They go into Thursday’s election 20 points behind Labour, and face being reduced to just 100 seats in the House of Commons.
The intervention is a sign of a change of policy at Conservative party headquarters, moving from ignoring the threat posed by Reform to attacking Mr Farage’s party.
Mr Farage dismissed claims that Russian-inspired bots are interfering in the election as “cobblers”.
The Tories are also keen to highlight what they see as Labour’s failings on defence.
Although the party has pledged to increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent of national income, it has not put a date on it, unlike the Conservatives.
Yesterday, interviewed by the BBC’S Laura Kuenssberg, the party’s election coordinator Pat Mcfadden was unable to explain why Labour had not made the commitment on defence.
BRITAIN has become a better place to live under a Conservative government, Rishi Sunak has said.
Speaking on the BBC’S Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, the Prime Minister said: “It’s a better place to live than it was in 2010.”
He said he “wholeheartedly rejected” the “declinist narrative” of many commentators – and insisted he still expected to be in No10 on Friday.
Mr Sunak said that although the past few years had been difficult, thanks to Covid and Ukraine, Britain was now on the right track.
“Of course I understand that the last few years have been difficult for everyone,” he said, adding: “Inflation is back to normal, the economy is growing again, wages rising, energy bills set to fall again just next week, and now we’re able to start cutting people’s taxes.”
When it was put to him that the county has become poorer by many measures since 2010 and public services are worse, Mr Sunak said: “I just don’t accept that.
“Thanks to the reforms of the Conservative government, our schoolchildren are now the best readers in the Western world.
“Nine out of 10 schools are good or outstanding – a huge improvement compared to what we inherited.
“Where Labour are in charge of education in Wales, you haven’t seen that improvement.”
Asked whether Britain had lost its standing in the world because of Brexit, the Prime Minister said: “That is completely and utterly wrong.”
He said Britain had signed the Hiroshima Accord with Japan last year “unequivocally stating that we are their closest ally in Europe”.
Mr Sunak added: “We’re building a new generation of nuclear submarines with Australia and America. It has never happened before that we have shared technology on that scale.
“People are queueing up to work with us because they respect what we do. So I just completely reject that. It’s entirely wrong.
“This sort of declinist narrative that people have of the UK I wholeheartedly reject.”
Mr Sunak said a vote for the Tories was a vote for lower taxes.
He told Laura Kuenssberg: “We will continue to cut taxes for people at every stage of their lives, giving them the financial security that they rightly want and deserve after what has been a difficult few years.
“None of those things are going to be made any easier by a Labour government that would whack up everyone’s taxes by thousands of pounds.”
He said the use of the “P-word” by a Reform UK canvasser in Clacton was “deeply inappropriate and racist”. The Prime Minister said any politician expects a degree of criticism because it “comes with the territory”.
Yet he went on: “But in this instance, you know, what was said was deeply inappropriate and racist.”
Mr Sunak said he hated having to repeat the phrase used about him but thought it was important to call it out. He said that Britain is “the most successful multi-faith, multi-ethnic democracy anywhere in the world”, adding: “That’s why views like this are so damaging and so wrong.
“They belong to a minority of people and they deserve to be called out for what they are, and that’s what I did.”
The Prime Minister claimed he was “proud” of the Tory campaign, despite mistakes such as leaving a D-day commemoration early and having senior party figures questioned over insider betting.
And asked whether he thinks he will still be PM on Friday, Mr Sunak said: “Yes, I’m fighting very hard, and I think people are waking up to the real danger of what a Labour government means.
“I don’t want people to surrender their pension, their finances, our borders, their security to a Labour government.”