Lib Dems launch manifesto with pledge to invest ‘remain bonus’
Jo Swinson launched her party’s manifesto at an event in north London saying the Conservatives and Labour were “gambling with your future” over Brexit, adding that the Lib Dems were the only ones who could take a significant number of seats from the Tories.
The Liberal Democrat manifesto promises more than £60bn extra spending a year within the next parliament, focused on areas such as schools, mental health and childcare, financed by what the party calls the “remain bonus” brought by higher GDP from cancelling Brexit.
The party is also pledging £130bn in infrastructure spending, £80bn of which would go on environmental policies. The manifesto promises to introduce higher air passenger duties for frequent flyers, raising nearly £5bn a year by 2024-25.
“There is no form of Brexit that will be good for the future of our country,” she said. “It would put our jobs at risk, hurt our NHS, reduce our environmental protections, threaten workers’ rights, and it would make us less safe.
“Whether Brexit is done by Boris Johnson or sorted by Jeremy Corbyn, they are both gambling with your future.”
Boris Johnson confirms he wants to lift national insurance threshold
In response to a question about whether his “low tax” policies would just mean low taxes for people like himself, or for workers, Boris Johnson said he wanted to raise the national insurance threshold, appearing to let slip a major Tory tax cut from the manifesto as he was speaking to workers in Teesside:
I mean low tax for ... working people. If we look at what we’re doing, and what I’ve said in the last few days, we’re going to be cutting national insurance up to £12,000 [it later became clear that he meant he would be lifting the threshold up to £12,500, rather than £12,000], we’re going to be making sure that we cut business rates for small businesses. We are cutting tax for working people.
However, it soon emerged the Tories would only pledge to raise the threshold to £9,500 next year then lift it gradually over many years until it reached the target £12,500. Johnson was vague on the details, getting the figure wrong and telling one broadcaster it would be over the course of a parliament before it was later clarified to be a long-term ambition with no deadline. He also appeared to suggest wrongly that the initial £9,500 level would lead to tax bills lower by £500 a year, instead of £85 per year.
Scottish independence would not be as disruptive as Brexit, claims Sturgeon
In the Q&A after her speech in Dundee Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, insisted that the SNP had not done a deal with Labour about supporting a minority government after the election. It is the line the party has always used, and there is no reason to believe that a private deal has been agreed. But what was striking was how, even without any pact, the SNP and Labour are starting to sound very similar in what they say about the Tories.
Sturgeon said a Tory government would strike a post-Brexit trade deal with the US that would lead to the cost of drugs rising. This is word for word what Labour says.
She said there were three threats from Brexit: a “direct economic threat”, a “threat to the workforce” as “the end of freedom of movement will make it harder to attract NHS and social care staff” and a “third threat from the Tory power grab on the Scottish parliament in their pursuit of their Brexit vision”.
She insisted that, even if Brexit were stopped, that would not undermine the case for Scottish independence.
She backed claims that in practice Labour would have to agree to holding a second Scottish independence referendum in 2020, regardless of what Corbyn says now.
She said that the SNP was the only party that could take seats from the Conservatives in Scotland.
Meanwhile
• Labour says Twitter has failed to punish the Tories properly after they rebranded one of their official party accounts to make it look like a factchecking service during the ITV leaders’ debate. The foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, defended the move, saying: “no one gives a toss about the social media cut and thrust”.
• Boris Johnson has said flood-hit families and businesses will be eligible for government grants worth up to £5,000 for new resilience measures
• Brexit supporter Amy Dalla Mura, who is standing against the remainer Anna Soubry in the general election, has been found guilty of harassing her and banned from campaigning in her constituency
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