Lord Hammond has claimed a Tory defeat at the general election was “determined” in 2022 after Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget.

The former Chancellor told LBC: “In my own mind, the outcome of this election, maybe not the magnitude of it, but the outcome of the election was determined in the autumn of 2022.

“I think the public had started to make up its mind during the Partygate shenanigans, and then the Liz Truss government was the final straw for many people.”

As the sun begins to set down, Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer are probably carefully plotting out their debates at a classroom from Nottingham Trent University.

The prime minister wannabies will be at the line of fire of dozens of voters shooting questions at them for 75 minutes.

Mr Sunak was previously seen losing his cards after being heavily grilled by an audience member at previous debates.

The other combatant, Keir Starmer, knows how to keep calm but voters could frustratingly see him repeat the same campaign lines.

At 8.15 they will have the last opportunity to convince members of the audience who haven’t made up their minds.

With just 8 days before the general election, both party leaders have little margin for error.

The live audience in the BBC final leaders’ debate has been chosen by Savanta pollsters not the broadcaster.

The Prime Ministerial Debate will include both Conservative and Labour supporters as well as unedcided voters.

At the beginning of the televised debate, Mishal Husain will tell the audience at home this for transparancy purposes.

The BBC Radio 4 presenter will also explain that both men tossed a coin to decide where they will be standing and the order in which they will deliver their closing thoughts.

With less than an hour to go before the BBC’s general election debate kicks off, it has been reported that a top Tory placed an £8,000 bet on himself to lose his seat on 4 July, Archie Mitchell reports.

According to The Sun, Sir Philip Davies wagered that he will not hold his Shipley constituency, where he is defending a 6,242 majority.

There is no suggestion he broke the law, but asked by the newspaper whether he had placed the bet he said it was”nobody’s business” and that he “fully expected to lose” the marginal seat.

The Sun also revealed that Scotland Yard is poised to take over the investigation into the election betting scandal from the Gambling Commission.

A bore draw was enough to ensure England topped their Euro 24 group last night and head off to the easier side of the draw. But this will not do for Rishi Sunak, our Political Editor David Maddox reports.

As he preps for tonight’s last head-to-head debate with Sir Keir Starmer he knows he needs to score multiple goals in a rout to even hope to turn things around.

The polls keep telling us that the Tory blue team is miles behind the Labour reds with many of their supporters off at a different stadium watching Nigel Farage’s light blue Reform instead.

This is definitely not the night for Sunak to play safe while the Labour can park the proverbial bus in front of his goal and see the 90 minutes out.

Even if Sunak wins tonight though it feels like it is far too late to turn his fortunes around. He has suffered too much from gambling and D-Day own goals and terrible discipline within his own team.

Home Secretary James Cleverly said all taxes would be put at risk under a Labour government as he warned of a “tax bombshell”.

Mr Cleverly told reporters on the campaign trail in Nottinghamshire: “Rachel Reeves is now refusing to rule out other tax rises, we know that they are going to have to make up that shortfall in their finances, and so everything is at risk.

“Taxation on pensions is at risk, taxation on businesses like this one is at risk, likely to go up, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, council tax bands, all these things are going to go up under Labour because they have a gaping hole in their finances.”

The televised event will be the last chance the two party leaders have to put their policies before a live audience chosen by pollster Savanta.

It comes as ITV and Sky News hosted their own debates throughout the month of June.

From a debate stage at Nottingham Trent University, the contenders to be prime minister will face moments of jeopardy and opportunity during 75 minutes.

Tonight’s debate will be hosted by Mishal Husain, a senior radio presenter and TV host who has been at the BBC since 1998.

Here’s everything you should know about the veteran BBC host.