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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Dan Bloom & Tom Davidson

Corbyn vs Johnson debate fact checked: All the claims, lies and half-truths

Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn last night faced off in the first live TV clash of the general election.

Both party leaders made claims about funding the NHS, delivering Brexit and each other's campaign promises.

At one stage Johnson boasted that truth matters... and then the audience laughed.

And one audience member really let rip - piling into both leaders with a powerful diatribe about the loss of trust in politics.

And the public trust was further undermined by the Tories rebranding the official CCHQ Twitter account as a 'fact checker' for the course of the debate.

Twitter this morning threatened to ban them from the social media site if they do it again.

Were you in the audience at the debate? Email webnews@mirror.co.uk

The leaders clashed over Brexit, the economy and the NHS (JONATHAN HORDLE/ITV/HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/REX)

1. Boris's '40 new hospitals' claim

WHAT HE SAID: "I said we'd upgrade 20 hospitals and have 40 new hospitals. That programme is going ahead".

THE FACTS: Boris Johnson ’s '40 new hospitals’ plan includes renovations of existing hospitals, and would only be delivered over a long period that involves winning two elections with an overall majority.

The government has pledged £2.7bn for building work on six hospitals.

A further 34 will only share an initial £0.1bn to develop future plans.

2. Jeremy Corbyn on PM's Brexit deal

WHAT HE SAID: Johnson's Brexit deal "narrowly got through the House of Commons with the support of the DUP".

Boris has vowed to 'get Brexit done' (AP/AFP via Getty Images)

THE FACTS: Corbyn got this one wrong as all 10 DUP MPs voted against Johnson's deal.

The PM's deal was supported by 285 Conservative MPs, 19 Labour MPs and 25 independents.

3. Boris on Labour's planned changes to corporation tax

WHAT HE SAID: "I have shelved a plan to cut Corporation Tax, that's already the lowest in Europe - he will whack it up to the highest in Europe."

THE FACTS: Labour's plan has been to raise Corporation Tax back up to 26%.

According to experts at the respected OECD, Corporation Tax is still higher in France (32%), Portugal (32%), Germany (30%), Belgium (30%), Greece (28%) and Italy (28%).

Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn slugged it out on live TV (Handout)

4. Jeremy Corbyn on nurse vacancies

WHAT HE SAID: "There are 33,000 nurse vacancies at the moment in the NHS."

THE FACTS: This is actually a bit of an understatement. There are currently 39,500 nursing vacancies in the NHS in England.

That's according to figures from NHS Improvement.

Healthcare is devolved in Wales and Scotland.

5. Johnson on Labour's SNP 'deal'

WHAT HE SAID: " Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party, be in no doubt about it, in order to secure power and the keys to No10, are going to do a deal - and they probably already have done a deal - with Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP to form a Corbyn-Sturgeon coalition.

"And the price of that deal, the price of Nicola Sturgeon's support, would be a second referendum on the union with Scotland."

Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn waves after the ITV Leaders Debate (Handout)

THE FACTS: Mr Corbyn branded the claim he had done a deal “nonsense” and said: "There's not going to be a coalition between Labour and anybody else. There are no deals that have been done and there will be no deals that are done."

It's right to assume Nicola Sturgeon would ask for a second referendum on independence but Jeremy Corbyn has ruled out granting this in 2020, despite Mr Johnson repeatedly claiming he will.

6. 'Border down the Irish Sea' with new Brexit deal

WHAT WAS SAID: During the debate, ITV presenter Julie Etchingham said the PM's deal would put "a trade border down the Irish Sea".

Mr Johnson replied: "Not at all. Northern Ireland is part of the customs territory of the UK."

THE FACTS: This is a hard one to fact check. It all depends on how you define a trade border.

Northern Ireland will share single market rules with the EU. This means many animal products from Britain need checking at border posts, which carries a fee of at least £47. 

Boris Johnson was evasive at best (pixel8000)

As for customs rules, while legally Northern Ireland will share a territory with the UK not the EU, customs checks will still happen on goods from the rest of the UK.

That's because they will have EU tariffs applied if they're "at risk" of moving into the EU at a later date. 

Northern Ireland and the Republic would share some EU single market rules - forcing checks on manufactured and agricultural products crossing the Irish Sea.

7. Corbyn says Tories will 'sell out the NHS'

WHAT HE SAID: Jeremy Corbyn told Boris Johnson: "You're going to sell our NHS out to the United States and Big Pharma."

THE FACTS: The Labour leader has repeatedly accused Johnson of using Brexit to sell out the NHS and its workers to the US.

It's believed that in the case of future trade discussions, US negotiators would want "full market access" for US pharmaceuticals.

President Trump said during his UK visit in June that the NHS would form part of any future negotiations before pulling back a day later.

The prime minister responded to Corbyn by saying: "There are no circumstances… in which this government or any Conservative will put the NHS on the table in any free trade negotiation."

8. Corbyn says future trade deal 'would take seven years'

WHAT HE SAID: Corbyn claimed it would take “at least seven years” to negotiate a trade deal between the UK and the US

THE FACTS: It's not guaranteed how long it would take but seven years is what it took EU/Canada, and most experts don't believe Boris Johnson's claim that he can get it done by 31 December 2020 - the end of the transition period.

9. Labour's borrowing to fund campaign promises

WHAT HE SAID: Boris Johnson said that Labour's planned borrowing would 'push up interest rates for every UK household'

THE FACTS: One of the Tories attack lines has been that Labour will spend an additional £1.2tn over five years.

Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn during last night's live debate (Jonathan Hordle/ITV/REX)

However they have not based their claims on Labour’s manifesto and used estimates disputed as incorrect.

The government’s borrowing costs – interest rates – are at historical lows and economists do not expect a dramatic rise soon.

Both Labour and the Tories plan to raise public spending back to 1970s levels, according to the Resolution Foundation.

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