Rishi Sunak defends claim local election results point to a hung parliament

Rishi Sunak has defended his claim that there will be a hung parliament after the general election, despite Tory MPs and polling experts describing it as "wishful thinking".

The prime minister said the result was not a "foregone conclusion", and repeated his insistence that the result would be closer than current opinion polls suggest.

Those current opinion polls point to a Labour landslide, with the Tories on average 20 points behind.

But which suggested Labour would be the largest party in a hung parliament. Elections expert Michael Thrasher had said that if Labour’s seven-point local election lead over the