The General Election on Sky News

Faisal Islam and Jeremy Paxman to Host Live Leaders Programme

Adam Boulton and Sophy Ridge to Host Vote 2017 on Sky News

Live on Election night from an unprecedented 300 declarations

Sky News will be offering its viewers comprehensive coverage of the 2017 snap election across multiple platforms, and will be live from a record breaking 300 declarations. 

As consumption habits change Sky News will ensure customers get the latest election news and analysis when they want it and how they want it, whether on television, digital platforms, social media or radio. 

Television

On Monday 29th May at 8.30pm a special joint programme between Sky News and Channel 4, May v Corbyn Live: The Battle for Number 10, will feature the first party leader interviews of the campaign in front of a live studio audience. Hosted at Sky’s headquarters in West London, the 90 minute programme will feature an interview and live audience Q&A with both Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn. The show will open with an audience Q&A hosted by Sky’s Political Editor, Faisal Islam, before Jeremy Paxman interviews the respective party leader. The second half of the programme will follow the same format with the other party leader. 

On election night Adam Boulton and Sophy Ridge will co-host Vote 2017 from 9pm, with Adam at the election hub at Sky’s studios in Osterley crunching the latest results, and Sophy on Abingdon Green in Westminster watching the story unfold. Kay Burley will be with Theresa May at her Maidenhead constituency, Colin Brazier will be in North London following Jeremy Corbyn, Anna Botting in the Lake District with leader of the Liberal Democrats, Tim Farron, Niall Paterson in Glasgow with the SNP, Gillian Joseph with UKIP and Paul Kelso will be with the Green Party in Brighton. Michael Thrasher, Sky News’ election expert, will be analysing all the results as they come in. Dermot Murnaghan will lead Sky’s covering the following day as the story continues to develop from Westminster. 

The broadcasters’ exit poll, carried out by Ipsos MORI and GfK for Sky News, the BBC and ITV News will offer the first dramatic snapshot of the results at 10pm before the results come in throughout the evening and into the following day. 

Using the Sky News team and stringers across the UK, Sky News will be live from an unprecedented 300 constituencies allowing the channel to be live in more party target seats than ever – ready to tell the story whether a Conservative landslide, a narrow May win, a hung Parliament or a shock victory for Jeremy Corbyn. 

The election campaign coverage will continue to see the Sky News political team on the road with the party leaders. Beth Rigby and Robert Nisbet are with the Conservatives, Jason Farrell and Tamara Cohen with the Labour party, Darren McCaffrey and Siobhan Robbins with the Liberal Democrats, Tom Rayner is following the UKIP campaign and James Matthews and Ian Woods are with the Scottish National Party. Sky News regional correspondents – David Blevins in Northern Ireland, Gerard Tubb in the North East, Becky Johnson in the Midlands, Becky Williams in the West Country, Tom Parmenter in the West Midlands and Nick Martin in the North West – are all on the ground reporting on what is happening when the campaign buses leave town. 

Faisal Islam, Sky’s Political Editor, is based in Westminster giving regular analysis on what the latest political developments mean for the individual parties, and the political landscape in the UK with Chief Political Correspondent, Jon Craig, doing nightly round ups on the day’s political news for the special nightly 9pm programme ‘The Campaign with Sophy Ridge’.

Political Correspondent, Lewis Goodall, will also be on the road with the #LewisLorry where he will visit 30 key seats across the UK and talk to voters on the ground. 

Sky News will also be featuring four short films that will run in the week ahead of the election which will combine to make a one hour special and will be presented by Sky News specialists. Paul Kelso will look at the crisis in the NHS, Adam Parsons will look at the world of work, Lisa Holland social mobility and Sam Kiley at Britain’s place in the world. 

Mobile

Sky News mobile will offer customers a wide range of tools to dig deep into the election results. Users will be able to check results in real time and find out the state of the respective parties wins and losses. A live blog will run from 8pm right through election night giving viewers snap results and analysis from the Sky News expert team from around the country. Notifications will bring all the key results to customer apps as they happen.

During the campaign the Sky News website will see leader profiles, analysis from Michael Thrasher, Sky’s election expert, Sky Views opinion pieces from the editorial team and interactive explainers - all in addition to the latest news from the campaign. 

Social Media 

Sky News will be creating more content specifically for social media and directly engaging with audiences across social media platforms than ever before. This includes a daily ‘Vote 2017’ Facebook Live every day at 1pm until 8th June. The series is hosted by a different Sky News political expert from different locations across the UK and will tackle major election issues. It is a way for audiences to directly engage with the Sky News team and ask the questions on their minds ahead of the General Election. All 300 live declarations will also feature across social media platforms including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. 

The Sky News social media team will also be capturing the night in virtual reality for the Sky VR app and will be promoting the 360 experience across all social platforms. 

There will be pacey coverage on social platforms over election night and all results will be tweeted from @SkyElections. There will also be a rolling edition of Snapchat from 10pm. 

Radio 

Sky News Radio bulletins for commercial radio will have up to the minute news and analysis on the election campaign. Throughout election night bulletins will be broadcast live from Westminster and break the broadcaster exit polls results at 10pm to the sound of Big Ben’s chimes. 

John Ryley, Head of Sky News, said: ‘Sky News will offer their customers the most comprehensive coverage out there both during the rest of the campaign to the drama of election night Whatever the results, Sky News promises to bring you the latest news first with immediate analysis from Sky News experts and guests with accuracy, flair and a healthy dose of fun.’

Sky News will also devote Monday 22nd May to focus on engaging with the issues that matter most to young people. The day will be a chance to hear from those who are not particularly engaged in politics or who are voting for the first time. Sky News has invited a group of young people to be guest editors for the day and help set the editorial agenda with the matters they care about. As part of the day a group of 18-25 year olds will edit a special edition for the Sky News Snapchat channel, Sky’s morning show, ‘All Out Politics’, and the evening show, ‘The Campaign with Sophy Ridge’, and contribute to Sky News’ social media platforms including Facebook. 

Ends

For further information please contact:

Lucy Ellison lucy.ellison@sky.uk  or Stephanie Jones stephanie.jones@sky.uk