conservative parliamentary candidate sir geoffrey cox joins us now. ajority to the to the labour party. are the conservatives admitting defeat at. >> well, i think what grant shapps was saying was that if you believe the polls now three weeks out, the country is sleepwalking into a one party socialist state. >> and that would be profoundly unhealthy for british democracy , unhealthy for british democracy, certainly for conservative right wing values . we would be facing wing values. we would be facing a government with untrammelled power . and it's a wake up call. power. and it's a wake up call. it doesn't mean it's going to happen. it doesn't mean it's going to happen . it needn't happen. we've happen. it needn't happen. we've got three weeks to go and we have to fight with every fibre of our beings to prevent it, because the disaster it would mean for the future direction of this country, with the gradual and stealthy reversal of brexit, with the getting rid of the rwanda scheme, which is our only serious means at the moment of deterring boats coming

geoffrey cox, of a labour supermajority. .. and he wasn't the only one. the polls at the moment, we are sleepwalking into a one—party socialist state. and opposition is important. i don't actually believe these things because i don't believe the british people will opt for a one party social system. next stop for the prime minister — thejohn wick gift academy, a secondary school in grimsby. he did encounter one fan when he popped into a science class. the man after his job is also here in grimsby and trying to talk down all this chat about winning by a mile. i'm not complacent about this. i know that every single vote has to be earned. nobody has cast a vote in this election yet. but it is important, i think, for the country that we have change. one thing that hasn't changed is the liberal democrat leader goofing around. whoever wins, and by how much, will depend on the arithmetic in every corner of the uk. what we're seeing is the conservatives going down and the liberal democrats going up, and i think it'll be great for the country if we elect a whole g

geoffrey cox, of a labour supermajority. .. and he wasn't the only one.polls at the moment, we are sleepwalking into a one—party socialist state. and opposition is important. i don't actually believe these things because i don't believe the british people will opt for a one party social system. next stop for the prime minister — thejohn wick gift academy, a secondary school in grimsby. he did encounter one fan when he popped into a science class. the man after his job is also here in grimsby and trying to talk down all this chat about winning by a mile. i'm not complacent about this. i know that every single vote has to be earned. nobody has cast a vote in this election yet. but it is important, i think, for the country that we have change. one thing that hasn't changed is the liberal democrat leader goofing around. whoever wins, and by how much, will depend on the arithmetic in every corner of the uk. what we're seeing is the conservatives going down and the liberal democrats going up, and i think it'll be great for the country if we elect a whole great

things that have happened today, grant shapps on the radio was warning of a labour supermajority, geoffrey coxugendhat apparently on manoeuvres. does that suggest to you we are at a point with three weeks to go to some conservatives are saying out loud what they might have said privately for a while that the conservatives are going to lose? i for a while that the conservatives are going to lose?— are going to lose? i think the strate: are going to lose? i think the strategy has _ are going to lose? i think the strategy has always - are going to lose? i think the strategy has always been - are going to lose? i think the i strategy has always been about damage limitation. but not publicly. that is exactly right, that has a ways been the strategy behind the scenes. there is the air war and the ground campaign. i think lots of people are trying to secure their own seats in their own constituencies who might be saying something different on the doorstep. halfway through an election campaign, you do need to cope the message disciplined. however much you might think the best sega eight —— the best ca

joining us today, former attorney general, conservative sir geoffrey cox, labour's dame margaret hodge, the general secretary of the rmt, mick lynch and the editor of city am andy silvester. this is politics live — election 202a. welcome to viewers on bbc2, bbc iplayer & bbc news let's start with the headline on bbc news, the uk economy fails to grow during wet april. gdp figures out today show exactly that, the office for national statistics reporting no growth for the month which was broadly in line with economist expectations. the sluggishness comes after the uk economy recorded its fastest growth in two years from january to march, exiting the recession it fell into in the final half of last year. but my opening question starting with you, geoffrey cox, is rishi sunak right to say the economy has turned a corner? i think he is, no economy has turned a corner? i think he is. no doubt _ economy has turned a corner? i think he is, no doubt about _ economy has turned a corner? i think he is, no doubt about that. _ economy has turned a corner? i think he is, no doubt about that. all - h

. >> and that's what, sir geoffrey cox was saying, to me, i think it was yesterday, the one state, onel, one party state. that was his words , interesting that was his words, interesting message to put across , we should message to put across, we should mention the candidates for the clacton constituency because, sean mentioned clacton, so we must read them out . we've got must read them out. we've got jovan owusu, nepal for the labour party. giles watling for the conservative party. matthew bensalem, liberal democrats , bensalem, liberal democrats, nigel farage, reform uk, natasha osbourne, green party craig jamieson, climate party, tony mac, independent. tasos papanastasiou, heritage party and andrew pemberton for ukip. lots of candidates to choose for in the clacton to choose from in the clacton constituency. right. we're going to have more political analysis. up next. stay with us. keep your views coming in. get to them this. okay. welcome back to dewbs& co. it's 638 on your friday evening. lots of you getting in touch about the conversation. we were just having. a cliff. has taken

yesterday geoffrey cox, 20,000 a day, tyrese coffee.2019. these are seats which the party should win on a in a bad, bad day. a bad election day. and that shows the level of defensiveness , i think, in the defensiveness, i think, in the tory campaign. just two weeks to go. and but he was asked today about those record numbers of small boats arrivals. we featured them yesterday on gb news today, the home office confirmed that 880 arrived yesterday, a legal arrived. immigrants came here yesterday in 15 small boats. the total for 2024 so far this year is higher than in 2022 and 2023. and maybe that gives a clue as to why he went from an early election campaign when no one else forecast it. but this is what he had to say earlier to reporters as well. >> in the last 12 months, the numbers of people crossing the channelis numbers of people crossing the channel is actually down by almost a third. that hasn't happened before, and it shows that we can make a difference. that's what i've been focused on doing . but there's that's what i've been fo

senior conservatives like sir geoffrey cox coming out and saying, do you want a one party socialist state there are lots of parties within that one party. they'd be like the conservative party when they had their majority with the five families or however many they've got now. so what we can be guaranteed of is when one party has such a massive majority, they start fighting like cats in a sack amongst themselves. labour have got the unions, they've got the pro—palestine part of their party, socialist campaign group. >> i mean, there are, however, the question is when there is that scale of majority, there is an undeniably a big, big amount of power, especially in the first couple of years for the leader. so, i mean, even when bons leader. so, i mean, even when boris had his 80 seat majority, he lost some votes. if we're talking about a 300 seat majority, i mean, this is this hasn't been seen in the uk since 1931 when the government had a super majority. and actually it wasn't until after the second world war that that was dislodged. >> and, you know, what's even more incredible is the fac

just yesterday, geoffrey cox's seat 25,000. last election today therese coffey nearly 20,000.not seats you fight if you think you're going to win a majority. and maybe that's why boris johnson is saying you don't need me here. i'm your person for the red wall. you're not even fighting hard in the red wall. i can't help. >> and the pincer movement, of course, has been the unlikely rise of ed davey, the pratfalls, the paddle balls, the fashion shows, the makeover, the obsession with sewage. but it seems the liberal democrats might finally cleanse themselves of cleggmania. they may surge back to be the party of opposition cleggmania being 2010, when suddenly nick clegg surged from nowhere to become, well, big in the polls. >> but not not that many seats . >> but not not that many seats. in the end, i've been backing ed davey quietly as someone to watch because i think he's had a very clever campaign , an he's very clever campaign, an he's talked about care, he's put social care nhs at the heart of it , and he's social care nhs at the heart of it, and he's made fun of himself to g

there, i found perhaps the most extraordinary thing is that he's been visiting your colleague geoffrey cox'something about the shape of this campaign? >> i think ritchie's trying to get to many places, indeed, and he'd be very welcome to come to the isle of wight and to see the great campaign we're fighting in the isle of wight west, i think rishi is trying to get around the country and great that he is doing so. >> and yet doesn't this show that , >> and yet doesn't this show that, according to >> and yet doesn't this show that , according to the polls, that, according to the polls, there are going to be very few seats left for the conservatives in a normal campaign? he'd be in the marginals. he'd be in seats with less than 10,000 majorities. but he's there in a seat with over 20,000 majority. >> right, tom, let's talk about substance, okay? >> you're talking about process here. i'm not responsible for rishi's plans or rishi's diary movements. >> what i am responsible is for fighting the best i can in the west wight . just like rishi is west wight. just like rishi is doing his best in the c

i mean what on earth is he doing yesterday, swanning around in clavelli, hanging out with sir geoffrey cox. >> well, what he was talking about there, amongst other things, is exactly what my farming and rural community here are really, really worried about, which is the potential removal of a tax relief called agricultural property relief. and that means if a farmer passes on his farm at the moment, there isn't a, you have you have made that point. yeah, but but if well, it's an important point for our rural communities because if he does get rid of that relief, then what it will mean is farms being split up because that money will have to be found. it will be detrimental to the production of food in our country. we are a party that's brought in a very clear targets around food security, because we think it's it matters that we produce our own food. i'll tell you, the labour party are not going to stand up for rural communities. they've had very little to do with rural communities for an awfully long time, because they haven't had much representation in rural communities. and i'm afraid, y

joining us today, former attorney general, conservative sir geoffrey cox, labour�*s dame margaret hodge