In a major blow to the party, the prime minister’s own seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip would likely fall to Labor control, with current results suggesting a 5 point Labor lead over the Conservatives.

According to latest YouGov modelling, of the 88 seats which Boris Johnson’s party either won from Labor in 2019 or currently hold with a slim majority, the Tories would only manage to retain its control of Ashfield, Bassetlaw, and Dudley North, writes Emily Atkinson.

Boris Johnson has been accused of misleading Parliament by one of his own MPs as the number of Tories calling for him to resign over No 10 lockdown parties continues to grow.

Veteran Conservative Sir Bob Neill and 2019 entrant Alicia Kearns both voiced their dissatisfaction with the Prime Minister’s insistence that he had not broken coronavirus rules by attending leaving-dos for departing officials.

Sir Bob, a qualified barrister and chairman of the Commons Justice Committee, confirmed he had submitted a letter of no confidence in Mr Johnson’s premiership following the publication of Sue Gray’s report into Downing Street partying.

Ms Kearns said the senior civil servant’s inquiry demonstrated that Mr Johnson had been “complicit in the holding of many goodbye parties for his staff” which the backbencher said “displayed a complete disregard” for Covid restrictions in place at the time.

The Rutland and Melton MP said she had reached the conclusion that the “Prime Minister’s account of events to Parliament was misleading”.

Rishi Sunak’s new tax relief on investment in oil and gas extraction in the UK will cost the taxpayer around £1.9 billion a year, it’s claimed.

Britain’s one million unpaid carers are facing a real-terms cut to their income of more than £200 after being excluded from Rishi Sunak’s cost of living package, the Liberal Democrats have warned.

With the carer’s allowance increasing by just 3.1 per cent from £67.60 a week to £69.70, rocketing inflation means claimants are taking a combined hit of £193m this year, after inflation of 9 per cent is taken into account, the party said.

There was dismay on Thursday when it emerged that a one-off payment of £650 to help benefit claimants with living costs was going to recipients of universal credit, tax credits and income support, but not those getting the carer’s allowance.

Our political editor Andrew Woodcock reports:

The Conservative party would hold just three of its 88 battleground seats in the UK were an election to take place tomorrow, stark new polling suggests.

In a major blow to the party, the prime minister’s own seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip would likely fall to Labor control, with current results suggesting a 5pt Labor lead over the Conservatives.

According to latest YouGov modelling, of the 88 seats which Boris Johnson’s party either won from Labor in 2019 or currently hold with a slim majority, the Tories would only manage to retain its control of Ashfield, Bassetlaw, and Dudley North.

It follows a dire result for Mr Johnson in this year’s local election, which saw voters move against the Conservatives in the PM’s seat – instead electing three Labor councilors across 21 seats in eight wards.

Leaving aside the inconvenient fact that the Liberal Democrats proposed such a levy in October, there is something in what Reeves says about our country’s two major parties. Rishi Sunak’s fiscal event was more or less scripted by Reeves, and she looked suitably pleased with herself at the dispatch box.

Rishi Sunak’s measures to help disabled people during the cost-of-living crisis are not enough and will be “quickly swallowed up”, a woman living on Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) has said.

Julie Inglis, 53, from Forres in the north of Scotland, worked in an ambulance control center but had to retire after multiple strokes.

She lives with chronic pain, and has been diagnosed with fibromyalgia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a lung condition that causes breathing difficulty.

Speaking to the PA news agency following Mr Sunak’s statement on Thursday, Ms Inglis said: “Although yesterday’s announcements were very welcome and will make a difference, I’d be lying if I said it was enough.

“I’m sure most in my position will be the same. We’ve been struggling for so long that a few hundred here or there is quickly swallowed up and just reduces the debt a little.

“I won’t feel a difference in my purse.”

Cleaners delivered a stinging rebuke to Boris Johnson’s government at a Downing Street protest on Friday evening, accusing the cabinet of looking “down on us like we’re the dirt that we clean.”

Workers told The Independent that the problems with respect went beyond No 10 and raised issues of insecure, outsourced contracts and low pay.