It is of course the case that the outcome of any General Election is undecided until it actually happens; the voters could change their minds at any time and the polls are unimportant since the only poll that matters is the one on Election Day.

So all that can be said about the UK election which takes place a few days after the Summer Special issue of Catholic Herald magazine reaches subscribers, churches and retailers is that it looks very likely to return a large Labour majority. The party itself has been careful not to be triumphalist before the event, but broadcasters and journalists have been treating Labour as a government-in-waiting ever since Rishi Sunak rashly called an early election back in May.