Sir Lindsay Hoyle has been elected as the new Speaker of the House of Commons, winning the fourth and final ballot with a commanding 325 votes to Chris Bryant's 213.
Parliament missed the chance to elect its second female Speaker in 600 years, as Dame Eleanor Laing and Harriet Harman, the longest-ever continuously serving female MP, left the race.
Party leaders congratulated Mr Hoyle on his appointment, with Mr Johnson appearing to make a not-so-subtle dig at outgoing Speaker John Bercow as he stressed the need for the position to be impartial.
Earlier in the day, Nigel Farage accused the Conservatives of “conceited arrogance” as he unveiled 600 Brexit Party candidates who could split the Leave vote and scupper Boris Johnson’s chances of electoral victory.
Farage claimed the election is “likely” to result in a hung parliament and his MPs would be kingmakers. The senior Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg has pleaded with Mr Farage to “retire from the field ... it would be a great shame if he carries on fighting”.
Labour were forced to deny reports of an “allotment plot” which saw Jeremy Corbyn and his allies agreed to make the opposition a Remain party – before the plan was foiled by Corbyn’s adviser Seumas Milne.
Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of events at Westminster.
Farage claims Brexit Party success will lead to hung parliament
Nigel Farage will unveil the electoral threat to the Tories when he reveals 600 Brexit Party candidates who could split the Leave vote and scupper Boris Johnson’s chances of electoral victory.
Farage has claimed this morning that the election is likely to result in a hung parliament and his own MPs would be kingmakers.
“It is likely, it is likely that we are going to have a hung parliament next time around so actually if the Brexit Party get a reasonable amount of people in there they could exert a great influence,” he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain. “Mrs May was kept in power by 10 DUP MPs.”
Farage also claimed he would hurt the Labour party “in the most extraordinary way”.
Although Farage said on Sunday he isn’t standing himself, his refusal to back down from fielding candidates across the country is frustrating senior Conservatives. Steve “Brexit hardman” Baker says Farage “risks being the man who threw away Brexit”.
The Brexit-backing QC Martin Howe said the renegade had “spent a long time fighting the EU as a guerilla in the mountains” but it was now time “to come down from the mountains and lend your strength to Boris’s Conservative army”.
Farage was also grilled on GMB about his reluctance to stand as a candidate, claiming previous failed attempts were only “a means of getting a message out”.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle favourite to win today’s Speaker election
MPs are preparing to choose John Bercow’s successor in the first Speaker election in more than a decade, with eight candidates bidding to take on the role.
Deputy Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle is the bookies’ favourite to emerge victorious, with fellow Labour MP Harriet Harman - the current longest continuously serving female MP - also predicted to do well.
The other six candidates are Dame Rosie Winterton and Dame Eleanor Laing, who also both served as Bercow’s deputies, Labour’s Meg Hillier and Chris Bryant, plus Conservatives Sir Edward Leigh and Shailesh Vara.
The Commons will meet as normal at 2.30pm and each candidate will give a speech, before a secret ballot among MPs takes place.
Ballots will continue until either one MP wins more than 50 per cent of the votes or only one remains. A motion is then put to the Commons proposing the winner as Speaker and they will take the chair if this is agreed. If not, a vote takes place.
MPs to elect John Bercow's successor as House of Commons speaker
Eight candidates expected to stand in election that could influence Brexit outcomeLabour denies ‘allotment plot’ to make Labour Remain party
Labour kicked off its election campaign last week in a show of unity at a south London arts centre, but the obvious tensions over the party’s Brexit policy appear unresolved.
According to tonight’s episode of Channel 4’s Dispatches, there was “allotment plot” which saw Jeremy Corbyn, shadow chancellor John McDonnell and shadow home secretary Diane Abbott gather at the leader’s vegetable patch in East Finchley agree to make Labour a Remain party.
But the plan was reportedly thwarted by the Corbyn’s strategist and right-hand man Seumas Milne.
Corbyn has insisted he made his own decision to reject a clear pro-EU stance, telling the shadow cabinet: “I just said, ‘Look, this debate is now over. We’ve done it, the party has now made its decision, and that’s it; and that’s what we’re going to campaign on’.”
A Labour Party spokesman said: “The Dispatches claim is denied by the Labour Party, as the programme will make clear.”
Big two parties sending UK back to the 1970s
Britain is heading back to a “1970s-sized state” in terms of public service spending, whoever wins the general, a new report claims today.
As the political parties prepare to hit the campaign trail after the dissolution of parliament on Tuesday, the Resolution Foundation claimed both parties will “turn the spending taps back on”.
UK heading back to '1970s-sized state' whoever wins general election, report says
'Both main parties are gearing up to turn the spending taps back on,' says Resolution FoundationFarage would let Brexit ‘evaporate,’ says cabinet minister
The election stance of Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage puts EU withdrawal at risk, a cabinet minister has claimed.
Work and pensions secretary Therese Coffey told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The Conservative Party is the party that will get Brexit done.
“I cannot understand how Nigel Farage puts at risk ... being the person who lets Brexit evaporate.
“Only the Conservative Party, in this election, of the party that has the chance of being in government, are the only party that is going to respect the referendum of 2016.”
Farage has said the Brexit Party will stand against the Tories in every British seat unless Boris Johnson abandons its Brexit deal with Brussels.
Don’t ‘weaponise’ the NHS, both Tories and Labour warned by doctors’ groups
Two leading doctors’ groups have pleaded with politicians not to use the NHS as a “weapon” to win votes during the election campaign.
The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and NHS Providers say the Conservatives and Labour should not try to use the NHS to lure votes by making impossible promises which set the service up to fail.
Academy chairwoman Carrie MacEwen said the role of the NHS was to “manage the health of the nation, not to be used as a tool to swing voters in a three-way marginal”.
“Our fear is that when it comes to the NHS in these febrile times we will see irrational, undeliverable promises or even outright lies,” she wrote.
NHS Providers chief Chris Hopson, also writing in The Times, urged politicians not to make “empty promises” or create “unrealistic expectations”.
Hopson said “over-dramatising or distorting the difficulties for political ends will do nothing to help those frontline staff who are working flat out for patients”.
He also appeared on the Today programme to warn against “weaponising” the health service.
Tory candidate urged to step down after saying people on reality show need ‘putting down’
A Conservative candidate who said that said people on Channel 4’s Benefits Street reality TV show needed “putting down” should be removed by the party, Labour has said.
Francesca O'Brien, who is standing for the Conservatives in the key marginal seat of Gower in south Wales, wrote a series of comments critical of the people featured on the show on her Facebook account.
“My blood is boiling, these people need putting down,” she wrote in the now deleted comment.
More details here:
Conservative candidate urged to step down after saying Benefits Street cast need ‘putting down’
'My blood is boiling, these people need putting down' prospective MP wroteMPs carrying security alarms and warned not to campaign alone at night
General election candidates have spoken about using security alarms when they go out knocking on doors, as police warn they shouldn’t be out alone after dark.
With politicians suffering new levels of personal abuse, many are taking precautions on the campaign trail.
Former Tory Antoinette Sandbach, now a Lib Dem candidate, says he is using a security device that would trigger an alarm in an emergency.
Labour MP Luke Pollard said he and campaign staff would be carrying attack alarms on “at all times” Pollard explained: “It has a button that you press that connects to a network where an operator will listen in immediately wherever I am.”
On a police warning not to canvas alone at night, Labour MP Rosie Duffield told ITV: “I suppose it is shocking but actually we are used to that now, it’s just part of our everyday lives.”
Shadow health secretary ‘angry’ about NHS difficulties
Both the Tory party and Labour have been warned to use the NHS as “a weapon” by “over-dramatising difficulties” or making “disingenuous” funding claims.
But Labour MP Jonathan Ashworth, shadow health secretary, is unapologetic about the fact he’s “passionate and angry” about the state of the NHS.
He says the doctors’ groups are “right to put us under the microscope, but by the same token I’m passionate about the NHS, and I’m afraid I am angry, when a constituent of mine has his bladder cancer operation cancelled twice”.
Ashworth adds: “Nobody should be waiting longer and longer in pain and agony because their operation has been cancelled or their hospital cannot arrange it.”
Labour’s John McDonnell is holding a roundtable event with NHS staff later today.
Jacob Rees-Mogg says Nigel Farage should now ‘retire’
Some leading Brexiteers are suddenly appear to be extremely frustrated with Nigel Farage.
The Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg has said The Brexit Party leader should “retire from the field” now that “his life’s work” of getting the UK out of the EU is almost done.
Rees-Mogg also told LBC that the prime minister’s deal is “a fundamental delivery of Brexit. I’m afraid Nigel is seeking out bogeymen where they don’t exist”.
He added: “It would be a great shame if he carries on fighting after he has already won to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.”
The Tory MP’s fellow ERG member Steve Baker said Farage “risks being the man who threw away Brexit”, while another Conservative Brexiteer Mark Francois said at the end of last week that The Brexit Party leader’s “ego” was getting the better of him.
Brexit-backing QC Martin Howe said Farage had “spent a long time fighting the EU as a guerilla in the mountains” but it was now time “to come down from the mountains and lend your strength to Boris’s Conservative army”.
Plaid Cymru says Wales ‘held back by Westminster’
Nigel Farage may steal most of the headlines today when he unveils 600 Brexit Party candidates at a hall in Westminster, but it’s not the only big event today.
Plaid Cymru chiefs are launching their election campaign this morning in Anglesey. Leader Adam Price is expected to say Wales is being “held back by Westminster … we’re just invisible in the corridors of Whitehall”.
Price has said his party is in discussion with the Lib Dems and Greens on agreeing an electoral pact, with reports suggesting up to 60 seats across the UK could see contestants stand aside for the pro-Remain candidate with the best chance of winning.
Polling guru says ‘difficult’ for any party to get majority
The top polling expert Sir John Curtice has suggested that the strength of the smaller parties – the Lib Dems and Brexit Party – will make it “difficult” for the Tories and Labour to win an overall majority.
The country’s leading psephologist said: “The fact the Conservatives are in the lead is not the result of the Conservatives having won votes from Labour with any particular degree of success in recent weeks and months,” he told Channel 4 News. “It has been the result of the fact the Conservatives have squeezed the Brexit Party vote among Leave voters.
“The only prediction I’d be willing to give … is that we will end up with more MPs from parties other than the Conservatives and Labour than we have had in any previous parliament.
“That makes it more difficult for either the Conservatives or Labour party to get a majority.”
Following the campaign launch for Nigel Farage’s party at the end of last week, Professor Curtice said it was likely the Brexit Party would harm the Tories more than Labour if candidates were fielded across the country.
Tory MP drops out of race to be next Speaker
The Conservative MP Shailesh Vara has announced he’s withdrawing from the contest to replace John Bercow as Speaker – so we’re down to just seven candidates today.
Deputy Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the bookmakers’ favourite to win the vote, has revealed he has the signatures he needs to go forward.
In a weekend interview Sir Lindsay said it was time to end the cruel “bear pit” politics in parliament and offer better pastoral care for MPs.
He also revealed how much absolutely loves animals, posing with his two cats, terrier dog, Gordon the rottweiler (named about Gordon Brown), Maggie the tortoise (named after Margaret Thatcher) and Boris the parrot (after you know who).
Jean-Claude Juncker accuses Boris Johnson of ‘lies’
Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission’s outgoing president, has given an interview with German newspaper Der Spiegelin which he accuses Boris Johnson of “lies”.
He expressed his regret he didn’t get involved in the UK’s 2016 referendum, wishing he could have “countered” what was being claimed by Johnson and others in the Leave campaign.
“I decided not to get involved. Looking at it today, I think that was a big mistake. So many lies were told, including by current prime minister Boris Johnson, that there needed to be a voice to counter them.”
Juncker also had some unkind words for his “friend” Tony Blair, claiming he did nothing to help counter the narrative that close political union was a bad thing.
“When it came to the political union, to moving closer together, they wanted nothing to do with the EU. That was even the case with my friend Tony Blair. If you stick to that narrative for over 40 years, it should not come as a surprise when people remember it during the referendum.”
Police investigate suspicious package at Portcullis House, reports say
Police have reportedly cordoned off the third floor of Portcullis House after a suspect package was sent to an MP. According to ITV’s Paul Brand, it’s believed to be a Lib Dem MP’s office.
‘Anytime, anywhere’: Sturgeon challenges leaders to debate
Nicola Sturgeon has issued an election debate challenge to Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn.
Her comments came after Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson complained to broadcaster ITV about its decision to exclude her from debates, with the Tory and Labour leaders set to go head-to-head on the channel.
When asked if she would like to be included in the TV debates, the SNP leader said she “absolutely” would. “My message to Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson is: ‘What are you scared of?’ I'll debate one of them, I'll debate both of them, anytime, anywhere.
“Bring it on, stop running scared of meaningful debate in this election. The people can see you.”
Scotland’s first minister was speaking on a visit to a cafe in Rutherglen, warning broadcasters against “going back in time” by only inviting the leaders of the two largest parties to the debate.
“The population, certainly in Scotland, but across the rest of the UK, is moving away from the two-party system. You’ve got the broadcasters not only sticking to that but actually going back the way, because in 2010, 2015 and 2017 they had a different approach to that.
“My message to the broadcaster is make sure that you’re reflecting politics as it is and not just how you want it to be.”
Seven candidates for new Speaker announced
The seven candidates to replace John Bercow as Speaker have been formally announced. Ken Clarke, Father of the House of Commons, will in the chair overseeing the voting process from 2.30pm.
Tory HQ clock now shows time UK ‘should have left the EU’
A clock installed on a wall at the Conservative party’s headquarters to count down to October 31 has been changed following the extension to the Halloween Brexit deadline – now showing the amount of time since the UK “should have left the EU”.
A picture shared by Tory MP Harriett Baldwin shows the clock, now counting upwards, above which a message reads: “Time since we should have left the EU if Labour, Lib Dems and the SNP hadn’t blocked Brexit.”
Edwards replaces Dimbleby on BBC coverage
Huw Edwards will lead the BBC's coverage of the general election this year.
The veteran presenter will be at the helm during the overnight programming on December 12, following in the footsteps of the long-serving David Dimbleby. Jeremy Vine will feature again to measure electoral shifts with the “swingometer”.
Edwards said: “I hope to put my 35 years of experience to good use and to offer our viewers a service they can trust.”
Dimbleby has been the face of the BBC’s election coverage since anchoring the 1979 general election.
Director of news Fran Unsworth said: “Huw is the perfect presenter to have at the helm as a trusted and authoritative guide throughout election night.”
