Labour accuse Conservatives of 'voter suppression strategy'

Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson says Labour victory is not 'done deal' and accuses Tories of trying to keep polling numbers low

Labour shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson appears on the BBC1 current affairs programme Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. PA

Opposition Labour shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson accused the Conservatives Party of seeking to suppress voter numbers when the country goes to the polls in the UK's general election in just over a week.

"What the Tories are doing – very, very cynically – is a voter suppression strategy," she told the Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips programme on Sky News.

"They want people to think this is all in the bag – don't worry about it, you don't need to come out and vote."

As such, Ms Phillipson said "people shouldn't look at the polls and think this is a done deal".

A recent poll by Techne found that even by the middle of the election campaign, 20 per cent of people had decided not to not to vote at all.

The poll of 1,645 people for the Independent Media found that apathy was especially high among young voters, because they do not see the policies of the major political parties addressing their problems or aspirations.

Among millennials and Generation Z, 38 per cent have decided not to vote, according to the survey, almost double the national average.

Techne also found that 30 per cent of 18-to-34-year-olds are not registered to vote.

"If people want change, if they want to turn the corner on 14 years of failure, then they've got to get out and vote Labour on July 4," Ms Phillipson said.

"I've been across the country, there's a lot of people that have still not made up their minds in this election and in those seats a couple of hundred votes will be the difference between a Labour government or five more years of the Conservatives."

Betting scandal

Meanwhile, Nick Mason, the Conservative Party's chief data officer, is understood to have taken a leave of absence following claims he placed bets on the timing of the general election.

Mr Mason is the latest Conservative to be investigated by the Gambling Commission for allegedly placing a bet on the timing of the polls before the date was announced.

The latest allegations were published by The Sunday Times, which claimed dozens of bets had been placed with potential winnings worth thousands of pounds.

Home Secretary James Cleverly told Sky News on Sunday that he would not defend any of his fellow Conservatives who are found to have placed bets on the election date.

"There is an investigation by the Gambling Commission and we have been told very, very clearly that we are not to discuss the investigations," he said.

He added that as far as he was aware only a "small number of individuals" might be involved.

When asked if any cabinet ministers were embroiled in the scandal, Mr Cleverly said he had no reason to believe "any of them were, at all".

The BBC previously reported that two Conservative election candidates and another party official are also being investigated.

The scandal has its roots in allegations of gambling on the election date first came to light in relation to one of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s closest aides, Craig Williams, who reportedly placed a bet on a July polling day three days before the date was set.

Mr Williams, who was the Conservative MP for Montgomery until parliament was dissolved, is standing again in the new constituency of Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr, previously apologised and said he made a "huge error of judgment".