Sunak says he won't give up as Shapps warns of wipeout

Rishi Sunak yesterday insisted he has not accepted defeat in the election after a senior cabinet minister appeared to concede the Conservatives have lost.

- ARCHIE MITCHELL & KATE DEVLIN

A defiant prime minister said he had “absolutely not” given up on winning just a day after launching the Tory manifesto. His denial followed comments by the defence secretary Grant Shapps, who urged voters not to give Labour a “supermajority”.

The PM’s message came as Sir Keir Starmer prepared to unveil a pledge to lead a government whose number one priority is wealth creation. The Labour leader said his No 10 would be “pro-business and pro-worker” as he seeks to woo disaffected Tory voters with a manifesto designed to rescue the flatlining economy.

Growing the economy at the same rate as the last Labour administration would mean an extra £70bn for public services, Sir Keir said. In a direct appeal to voters, he said the party’s manifesto “represents a total change in direction, that is laser-focused on our cause”. He would lead “a government back in the service of you and your family”, he added.

• Official figures showed the economy flatlined in April, undermining the party’s key message that the country has “turned a corner”

• Labour said the Tories had “completely blown up” the PM’s flagship national service plans after Mr Shapps said they would involve young people spending just 25 days in the military

• Mr Sunak was ridiculed for claiming his family had had to go without Sky TV when he was a child

• He also came under fire for saying the D-Day commemorations last week “ran over”

• Polling experts warned him it was now or never to change the fortunes of his moribund campaign, with the first postal votes set to be cast within days

In an extraordinary moment, Mr Shapps appealed to voters to ensure that after the election “there’s a proper system of accountability” adding, “you don’t want to have somebody receive a supermajority”.