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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Politics
Andrew Sparrow (now); Mattha Busby and Kate Lyons (earlier)

General election: Johnson's record of lying and prejudice makes him unfit to be PM, say Lib Dems – as it happened

Afternoon summary

  • Tony Blair, the former prime minister and the last Labour leader to win a general election, has given a withering assessment of both main parties in his first significant intervention of the campaign. Describing British politics as chaotic, crazy and “utterly dysfunctional”, he said that both main parties were “peddling fantasies”, and that he did not want either of them to form a majority government. He was particularly critical of Boris Johnson, saying that he had no chance of negotiating a Canada-style trade deal with the EU before the end of next year and that if Johnson was telling the truth about not being willing to extend the Brexit transition (admittedly, quite a big if, given Johnson’s record when it comes to Brexit extensions), then a no-deal Brexit was the “probable outcome”. Blair said:

No-deal Brexit is not off the table. It is slap bang in the middle of it and if they mean their manifesto commitment to no extension past 2020, it is the probable outcome.

Blair implied that people should vote tactically for remain candidates. But he did not formally endorse any non-Labour candidates, and he confirmed that he would be voting Labour himself. Alastair Campbell, his former spin doctor, was expelled for Labour for saying he voted Lib Dem in the European elections, but Blair sounded determined to stay a member of the party so that he can participate in the debate about its post-Corbyn future that he suggested might start quite soon.

  • Boris Johnson has dismissed criticism that his manifesto promise to deliver 50,000 more nurses is bogus because this figure includes staff being retained, saying without government action there would be 50,000 fewer nurses. Speaking at the launch of the Welsh Conservative election manifesto, he claimed that Wales was closer to China than New Zealand is. Showing uncharacteristic concern for factual accuracy when making an outlandish claim in an off-the-cuff speech, he asked someone to check that this was true. He was told it was true. However, as various people have pointed out on Twitter, he was missing the point.

Rather, he was missing two points.

  • A poll for ITV and Cardiff University has shown Labour up nine points in Wales since the start of the month. Over the same period the Conservatives are up four points, the poll suggests.

That’s all from us for tonight.

Thanks for the comments.

Updated

Scottish Greens publish election manifesto

The Scottish Greens have proposed controls over executive pay, a four-day working week and trials of a universal basic income, arguing that wealth inequality increases climate emissions.

Although it is thin on detail, the party’s Westminster manifesto proposes a pay cap to limit salaries for public sector chief executives to 10 times that of the lowest paid, and moves to cap executive pay in the private sector; a new wealth tax on the richest !% and a land value tax to replace council tax. It says:

Our vision is to ensure everyone earns enough to allow us to phase in a four-day working week, shifting our society away from excessive working hours and towards one that values community action, caring and learning.

The Scottish Greens, who are independent of the Green party in England and Wales, are a co-signatory of the “green new deal” championed by its sister party but there are subtle differences in approach.

The Scottish Greens are pressing for North Sea oil fields to be shut down, but they do not share the Green party’s call for carbon emissions target of net zero by 2030. Instead their manifesto adopts the less ambitious stance the Scottish Greens took at Holyrood calling for an 80% cut by 2030.

The Greens in England and Wales want to introduce a universal basic income of £89 a week for adults; the Scottish party only wants further trials to see if it works.

Devolution of significant areas in domestic policy to Holyrood, including over education, transport, health and the environment, strips out many policies an English party would set out in detail for a Westminster election.

But on many headline UK-level topics – backing remain if there is a second EU referendum, introducing proportional representation for Westminster and abolishing the Lords - the two parties’ stances are the same.

While the Scottish Greens benefit from PR in Scottish parliament elections, holding six seats at Holyrood, unlike the English Greens the Scottish party has never had an MP elected. The latest Westminster polls in Scotland suggest that will not change on 12 December: the Scottish Greens are polling at around 4% nationwide.

Updated

Boris Johnson was challenged about his claim that a Conservative government would deliver 50,000 more nurses as he launched the Welsh Tories’ manifesto at Wrexham racecourse. Asked by reporters if the pledge was nothing more than sleight of hand, he said:

Let me absolutely clear these are 50,000 more nurses. If we weren’t doing this we would have 50,000 fewer nurses.

A pledge in the UK Tory manifesto to recruit 50,000 nurses on Sunday unravelled as it became clear that many of these would not actually be new but would include those who had been retained.

In Wrexham Johnson said:

The risk is that if we hadn’t taken the action we are taking then those nurses who would otherwise not have been retained will be retrained. That is a breakthrough.

The prime minister also insisted that new, profitable markets would open up for Welsh farmers after Brexit. He said:

We will make sure we open up new markets for Welsh lamb. Why should New Zealand be supplying huge quantities of lamb to China when as far as I know Wales is closer to Chinas than New Zealand is?

He then got a Tory supporter in the audience to google whether Wales was in fact close to China.

Many farmers are terrified that a hard Brexit will lead to soaring tariffs. Johnson said: “People are yearning, aching to get Brexit done.”

He described incompetently shearing a sheep at the Royal Wales Winter Show but said as the ewe looked up at him with “imploring eyes” he consoled himself with the idea that at least he wasn’t fleecing the country, as he said Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell would if they got into power.

Johnson said the Tories would protect Welsh steel workers and would tackle congestion at the notorious Brynglas Tunnels on the M4 in south Wales, which he compared to the blocked up nostrils of a Welsh dragon.

He rejected the notion that the Tories should be ashamed of the impact austerity has had on Wales, arguing the Conservatives had to run the economy sensibly following Labour mismanagement, but said Wales could look forward to an “infrastructure revolution”.

Earlier the Tory leader at the Welsh assembly, Paul Davies, described the Labour-led Welsh government as a “Corbynite” one and attacked its record on health and education.

Boris Johnson at the launch of the Conservative party Welsh manifesto in Wrexham.
Boris Johnson at the launch of the Conservative party Welsh manifesto in Wrexham. Photograph: Jacob King/PA

Tactical voting could cut Johnson's majority to zero, says Gina Miller

In the light of what happened in recent elections many of those active in politics are wary of relying too much on opinion polls. But it was hard for opposition parties to read yesterday’s papers without some sense of despair. The Observer reported on a poll giving the Tories a 19-point lead. The Sunday Times in its splash (paywall) reported on a Datapraxis analysis, based on 270,000 voter interviews by YouGov, suggesting “the Conservatives are on course to win 349 seats, enough for a majority of 48.”

But today Gina Miller, the anti-Brexit campaigner who is running a tactical voting campaign, Remain United, has urged fellow remainers not to despair. In a statement she said:

People are getting despondent when they read the headlines forgetting that in 2017, the 15% lead was supposed to translate to a 100+ seat majority for Mrs May. Remain United’s data points to a Boris Johnson majority of 70 seats, but this could shrink to zero with pro-remain smart tactical voting, as it did in 2017.

Remain United has a website giving advice on how to vote tactically on a constituency by constituency basis. It is here. Its recommendations get updated as new polling figures come in.

To make life complicated, this is one of at least five websites giving advice on tactical voting. The others include.

The People’s Vote one

The Best for Britain one

The tactical.vote one

The tacticalvote one

If this makes it all sound confusing, the blogger Jon Worth has written a useful post explaining where these five sites differ in their recommendations and offering further guidance.

Tactical.vote also has the equivalent of a price comparison website - a table explaining what all five sites recommend on a constituency by constituency basis.

Gina Miller
Gina Miller Photograph: James Veysey/REX/Shutterstock

Updated

Tomorrow is the deadline for registering to vote. If you are not registered, there are details of how to do it here.

Here’s John Lennon, from beyond the grave, joining those saying it’s a good idea.

Boris Johnson the Royal Welsh Wintr Show in Llanelwedd, Builth Wells.
Boris Johnson the Royal Welsh Wintr Show in Llanelwedd, Builth Wells. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Boris Johnson is not giving many formal speeches during the election campaign, and he is not spending much time either taking questions from journalists. But he is frequently posing for pictures, often giving the impression that he is clowning around, and he was at it again today, at the Royal Welsh Winter Show.

There is a video version too.

For an understanding of why Johnson thinks all this matters, it is worth reading the closest thing he has ever written to an autobiography – his book about Winston Churchill, called The Churchill Factor. It is not the most insightful book about Churchill, but Johnson clearly identifies with the great war leader and there are many passages in the book that read as self-referential. The chapter on how Churchill crafted his own image is a good example. Here is an extract on Churchill’s approach to photo opportunities.

All his life [Churchill] had been a showman, an extrovert, theatrical, comical: there is a photo of him dressed for a fancy-dress ball at Sandhurst – meticulously made up, with carefully applied white face paint, as Pierrot the Clown.

He knew how to project his personality, and the war called for someone who could create an image of himself – decisive, combative, but also cheery and encouraging – in the minds of the people ...

With his ludicrous hats and rompers and cigars and excess alcohol, he contrived physically to represent the central idea of his own political philosophy: the inalienable right of the British people to live their lives in freedom, to do their own thing.

You only had to look at Churchill, and see the vital difference between his way of life and the ghastly seriousness and uniformity and pomposity of the Nazis. Never forget: Hitler was a teetotaller, a deformity that accounts for much misery.

Johnson wrote that in 2014, long before he ever imagined he would be fighting an election campaign against Jeremy Corbyn, who also happens to be teetotal. But so is Johnson himself at the moment; he claims to have given up alcohol until Brexit is delivered.

Boris Johnson posing with sheep at Royal Welsh Winter Fair.
Boris Johnson posing with sheep at Royal Welsh Winter Fair. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/AFP via Getty Images

Updated

Boris Johnson is giving a speech in Wales. It is mostly a standard stump speech, but Johnson has just said that Wales is closer to China than New Zealand is. Expressing an uncharacteristic concern for factual accuracy, he asked someone in the audience to check that this claim was actually true. It was, he was told. He was making a point about export opportunities after Brexit.

After a few minutes, Sky News abandoned their live coverage, so if there were any more gems, I’ve missed them. But a colleague is at the event and will be sending me some copy later.

Ian Taylor, who was Conservative MP for Esher and Walton until 2010 and who was a prominent pro-European in the party, is backing the Lib Dem candidate in his old constituency, Monica Harding, and not his Tory successor, Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary. Taylor has explained why in an open letter to his old constituents. He says a hung parliament could lead to a second referendum, and that that could lead to a remain vote, which he says would be best for the country.

Harding has welcomed Taylor’s endorsement.

Raab had a majority of more than 23,000 at the last election. But yesterday a report in the Sunday Times (paywall) claimed that he was one of seven prominent Tory Brexiters at risk of losing their seats, according to one polling analysis.

Updated

The Scottish Greens have said it would be a mistake for a Scottish independence referendum to be delayed until after a Brexit transition period. As PA Media reports, speaking at the party’s manifesto launch in Glasgow, co-leader Patrick Harvie said a second independence referendum should take in 2020 if Brexit goes ahead in January.

Explaining his position, which is the same as the SNP’s on the timing of a second independence referendum, Harvie said:

If [Brexit] isn’t stopped, it’s perfectly reasonable to say that on that timescale, that transition timescale when every other country in Europe has a say on our future, when the UK has a say on our future, Scotland should also have a say in its own future.

If Scotland was to vote for independence within that timescale, then you have the option of ensuring that our transition to EU membership as an independent country can be smoothed.

I think it would be a mistake to leave it until after that transition period had ended. So it’s an entirely reasonable ask.

I do think, however, and I want to stress this, Brexit can be stopped, should be stopped and we absolutely commit to ensuring that Green voices will advocate for the public to have the final say on any withdrawal agreement that any UK government wants to promote.

Patrick Harvie.
Patrick Harvie. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA

Updated

Boris Johnson’s proposed date for the Queen’s speech (see 12.43pm) would fall on the day the monarch usually departs for her festive break at Sandringham, the Press Association reports. The Queen, 93, often travels to her Norfolk estate on the Thursday before Christmas, having hosted a family lunch for the royals at Buckingham Palace that week.

This is from Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader seeking re-election in Chingford and Woodford Green.

His Labour opponent, Faiza Shaheen, has condemned the attack.

Thanks for all your questions

Next up will be the Guardian’s political editor, Heather Stewart. She will be answering any questions you may have about the Labour party’s manifesto, campaign and policies at 12.30pm on Wednesday.

You can ask your question via our form here.

Updated

Q: Does the manifesto mention whether the Conservatives support reform of the Gender Recognition Act to allow self-identification of gender – as the Lib Dems and Labour do? By the way what happened to the results of the 2018 consultation on this reform? Anonymous, London

Johnson’s government has downgraded reform of the Gender Recognition Act as a priority, although it denies that it has been dropped altogether. There is no mention of either transgender rights or self-identification in the manifesto.

Q: Boris’s agreement: when do we see it and can parliament scrutinise, amend and agree it – or will they? Mike Humphrey, retired, Glasgow

The new withdrawal agreement and political declaration is published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-withdrawal-agreement-and-political-declaration.

If Boris Johnson is returned with a majority, he will attempt to rush some or all of it through parliament after a Queen’s speech on Thursday 19 December. MPs will probably have limited time to debate it but all Tory candidates have signed up to supporting the text as it stands so would be certain to vote it through at the earliest opportunity.

Q: Have they outlined any details of how their Australian-style points-based immigration policy will work. Robert Greasley, 63, retired police officer, Volkringhausen, Germany

In the party’s manifesto, the document said the new system would prioritise those who 1) Have a good grasp of English 2) Have been law-abiding citizens in their own countries 3) Have good education and qualifications. It also said “most people coming into the country will need a clear job offer”. It does not explain how it would work to bring over family members to live in the UK, but says it would equalise the system for EU and non-EU citizens so the best guess is that the rules applying to the rest of the world would apply to family members from the EU.

Updated

Q: Do they intend to maintain the marriage allowance? That is the £250 from the transferable tax allowance if one partner has income below the tax threshold? D, Wales

The Conservatives made no mention of the marriage tax allowance, suggesting they would maintain it but changes can be made at any fiscal event. Both Labour and the Lib Dems have said they would axe it.

Q: There has been no or little mention of Leveson two? Has this been dropped by all the parties? Anonymous, Pudsey

The Tories have said they will drop Leveson two and “repeal section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2014, which seeks to coerce the press”. That is the clause that would force newspapers to pay both sides’ costs when losing or winning defamation and privacy cases if they have not signed up to a royal charter-approved regulator. Labour says it would “address misconduct and the unresolved failures of corporate governance raised by the second stage of the abandoned Leveson inquiry”.

Q: Would it be of any use in the outside toilet, either for wiping, or blocking the door draughts? Chris, 71, retired headmaster, Bury St Edmunds

It is quite a shiny document, so not great for absorption. But might be more useful under a door or propping up a table leg.

Updated

Only 15 minutes left to ask any questions you may have on the Tory manifesto. Send them into us here.

Q: Is there five-years’ worth of action in there? Is there a perception about where the Tories intend on going, as a country? Anonymous, SW Scotland

Definitely not – although the manifesto does commit to repealing the Fixed-term Parliamenta Act, so it might not be five years until the next election. Paul Johnson, of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said the manifesto was so empty that it would be thin for a budget let alone a multi-year programme for government. It means Johnson would undoubtedly come up with other plans for taxes, social care, and other big issues that are not in the manifesto. But in reality, a lot of a new Tory government’s time is still going to be spent on sorting out Brexit, including aiming for a trade deal with the EU by the end of 2020.

Q: What plans have the Conservative party to eliminate people’s reliance on food banks and when will they be gone? Anonymous, retired civil servant, East Yorkshire

There is no mention of food banks or eliminating their use in the Tory manifesto. The prime minister was asked about this by an audience member at Friday night’s Question Time debate. He said: “Of course we want to deal with not just the expression of poverty but also the causes of poverty. And that means dealing with educational standing. It means spreading ambition and hope around the country by investing in education and investing in social services.”

Q: Does the Tory manifesto promise to address the Waspi women’s pension issue and if so what measures are envisaged and at what cost? Anonymous, Carlisle

No there is no promise to the Waspi women in the manifesto, unlike Labour’s promise to compensate them with £58bn for the rise in their pension age. Boris Johnson has said: “We have looked at it and looked at it and I would love to magic you a solution but it is very expensive to come up with the solution that you want.”

Updated

Corbyn tells Blair: Labour's manifesto 'sensible, costed plan' not a fantasy

And this is what Jeremy Corbyn said in response to Tony Blair’s claim that Labour and the Conservatives are both peddling “fantasies”. (See 11.27am.) Corbyn replied:

I simply invite all those who are looking at it to recognise what we have put forward is a sensible, costed plan of how we can improve public services and life opportunities in this country, and develop an economy for the futures at the same time as meeting our net zero requirements for environmental sustainability.

Jeremy Corbyn tries his hand at bricklaying during an election campaign event in Sutton-in-Ashfield.
Jeremy Corbyn tries his hand at bricklaying during an election campaign event in Sutton-in-Ashfield. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images

Updated

This is what Jeremy Corbyn said in Derbyshire this morning when asked if his £58bn promise to pay compensation to the so-called Waspi (Women Against State Pension Inequality) women meant Labour was breaking its promise to borrow only to invest. He replied:

It’s a moral debt we owe to these women and, had the court case gone the other way, or another court case goes against the government, the government would have to pay, the government is obliged to pay ... What we’re saying is we will pay it.

Jeremy Corbyn with Waspi women campaigners at Renishaw in north east Derbyshire.
Jeremy Corbyn with Waspi women campaigners at Renishaw in north-east Derbyshire. Photograph: Jon Super/Reuters

Updated

Here are some more of your questions answered:

Q: Has the Tory manifesto been clearly costed and when will it be released for public scrutiny? I would like to read it as I don’t trust the accuracy and completeness of media coverage, or sadly promises made by our current prime minister, as he has proven time and again that he lacks integrity. Anonymous, Eastbourne

It is available here: https://vote.conservatives.com/our-plan

Q: Has it been independently costed? Anonymous, London

The Tory manifesto has been costed but not independently.

Q: On BBC Question Time, Boris Johnson appeared to be wearing a ‘hearing aid’ in his right ear. If he was, presumably this was so that someone could speak to him, perhaps give him the answers. Do you know anything about this? Or was it fake news? Robert, Retired NHS surgeon, Dungannon

I’m afraid this was a false rumour. Johnson has a slightly unusual looking right ear that sometimes reflects the light in an odd way. There was definitely no earpiece.

Matt Hancock, the health secretary, and Nicky Morgan, the culture secretary, at the launch a Tory election campaign poster.
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, and Nicky Morgan, the culture secretary, at the launch a Tory election campaign poster. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA

Some of you have been sending in your questions about the Tory manifesto. I will be answering them until 1.30pm. You can share your questions with us via our form here.

Q: As the proposed increase in national insurance allowance will not be of benefit to pensioners, are there any tax incentives to encourage older people to vote for the Conservatives? Anonymous, Lancashire

Not really. There is the so-called triple lock that guarantees that the basic state pension will rise by a minimum of either 2.5%, the rate of inflation or average earnings growth, whichever is largest. But there is not much else and no pledge to restore free TV licences for over-75s.

Q: What’s happened to the national insurance threshold increase promised by Johnson? William, Portugal

This was promised in the Tory manifesto. The party is saying it will raise it to £9,500 next year – amounting to a tax cut of around £85 per household. A longer term raising of the threshold to £12,500 is planned amounting to £500 but there is no word on when this will actually happen.

Q: Why couldn’t Boris give a straight answer to the Guardian’s question regarding factcheck? Jay, 47, Hertfordshire

It can only mean he does not want to criticise the Tory fake fact-check stunt because he knows very well what the problem was and accusations are. He was asked a similar question off-camera last week, so it was obfuscation to say that he hadn’t been paying attention.

Updated

Welsh Labour to campaign 'unreservedly' for remain in second referendum, says Drakeford

The Welsh Labour leader and first minister, Mark Drakeford, has described this as the most important general election since 1945. Speaking at the launch of his party’s manifesto at a further education college in Wrexham, Drakeford said:

I believe that when the history of our times is written, this general election will stand as a moment of profound and lasting change – a time when our nation, our economy, our public services and our planet set out on a different course.

The destructive policies of the UK Conservative government have left our communities damaged, our economy one of the most unequal in Europe and the UK ill-prepared for the climate emergency it now faces. This election is the chance to put that right.

Drakeford said that many of the radical policies that the UK Labour party wanted to introduce in England had already been implemented in Wales, such as free prescriptions; free school breakfasts, free hospital parking, the abolition of right to buy, keeping guards on trains and banning fracking.

He said UK Labour’s plans to end austerity would mean a £3.4bn increase to Wales’ annual budget. The party promised to revive the stalled Swansea Bay tidal lagoon project, work with people on the island of Anglesey to “maximise its potential for new nuclear energy” and invest in railways.

On Brexit, Drakeford made it clear that the Welsh Labour government would campaign “unapologetically, unreservedly and enthusiastically to remain”. He said:

Three years on from the 2016 EU referendum we understand so much more about how Wales is uniquely exposed to a hardline Boris Johnson Brexit, about the devastation it would do to our manufacturing industry, about the protections it would shear from working people. About the damage it would do to individuals, business and communities the length and the breadth of Wales.

He ended his speech by quoting Aneurin Bevan, who said: “Private charity can never be a substitute for organised justice.” Drakeford added:

That is, at root, the choice at stake in this election. A future where those whose needs are greatest will have to rely on the cold charity of Boris Johnson or Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Or our view of a kinder, stronger and more sustainable UK under Labour where our people, our nation and our planet is strengthened through fairness, equality and respect.

Mark Drakeford.
Mark Drakeford. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

Updated

No 10 says Johnson to hold Queen's speech on Thursday 19 December if re-elected

The government has announced plans for a slimmed down Queen’s speech on Thursday 19 December, as Boris Johnson has said he would want to push through his Brexit bill as soon as possible if he wins a majority.

Preparations are being made for a curtailed process that cuts down on ceremony, in case Johnson is the new prime minister and wants to push ahead with a second reading of the withdrawal agreement bill before Christmas recess.

The election is due to happen on 12 December and the results will emerge through the early hours of Friday 13 December.

Parliament will then resume on Tuesday 16 December and then there would be the election of the new Speaker and several days of new MPs being sworn in.

A Queen’s speech would need to take place after that to allow legislation to brought forward, with the first and second readings of the Brexit bill possibly happening that week.

A government spokesman said:

The new parliament will be summoned to meet on Tuesday 17 December, when the business will be the election of the Speaker and the swearing-in of members.

Should this prime minister return, the state opening of parliament and the Queen’s speech will follow on Thursday 19 December.

The state opening of parliament will take place with reduced ceremonial elements, as was the case following the early general election in 2017.

This is due both to the early general election and the proximity of the state opening to Christmas.

If there is a change of government following the election it is anticipated that the Queen’s speech would be in January on a more usual timetable; but this would be a matter for the incoming administration.

10 Downing Street.
10 Downing Street. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty Images

Q: Where will the 50,000 nurses come from? Robert Footman, Hong Kong

Boris Johnson’s nurse numbers are as follows: 12,500 from abroad, 14,000 from the undergraduate route and 5,000 nurse apprentices. That leaves 18,500 who are not new nurses but nurses would otherwise have left and have been retained in the profession by various incentives. The Tories argue improving retention rates is a way of boosting nurse numbers but Labour say the headline 50,000 figure is fake.

Q: Much has been made of increases to public spending to the tune of £2.9bn including 50,000 nurses. With no increases in taxes or national insurance who will this be paid for? Gareth Jenkins, Pwllheli, north Wales

The biggest tranche of cash for this comes from a decision to postpone a cut in corporation tax, which Johnson claims will raise £6bn. Tories have in the past argued corporation tax cuts don’t cost any money but Johnson has acknowledged this is not really the case.

Q: Can you really trust them to deliver any of this – even the ones that appear to be socially responsible like extra nurses? Brian Robinson, 65, Bristol

That is something voters are going to have to grapple with. But Johnson’s record on keeping pledges has not been great even in his short time as prime minister (leaving the EU “do or die” by 31 October, tax cuts for higher earners).

Updated

Ask our experts

I’m Rowena Mason, deputy political editor of the Guardian, and will be answering your questions about the Tory manifesto today. I have written about Westminster politics for eight years, covering three elections and two referendums. During this election, I have been tracking the Tories since Boris Johnson’s first stump speech in Birmingham and was at the party’s manifesto launch in Telford on Sunday.

If you have a question you can send it to us by filling in the form here.

Boris Johnson's record of lying and prejudice makes him unfit to be PM, says Umunna

The Chuka Umunna Q&A is now over. This is what Umunna said in response to the question from my colleague Peter Walker about whether he thought Boris Johnson was fit to be prime minister. Umunna replied:

I am worried that you can say and do the things that Boris Johnson has done and for people to simply dismiss it as a factor that is priced in in this general election. I am alarmed that somebody can spew out the range of prejudice that has flowed from his mouth during his time in public office, and lie again and again and again, and it should not be an issue in a general election. It should be an issue in a general election when you are talking about giving somebody the keys to No 10 for another five years.

And so, clearly, I do not believe he is fit to be prime minister. And if you look at the things he has said and done in his behaviour, which follows the Donald Trump playbook, that should disqualify him from being able to be in office in my view. And it is a perfectly legitimate point for us to be making in this general election campaign.

Umunna did not give examples of Johnson lying in his examples, but there is at least one website devoted to false and misleading things Johnson has said. For examples of Johnson’s displaying prejudice, the BBC’s Fiona Bruce came out with a list on Question Time on Friday.

Q: Do you believe your friend Tony Blair when he says he will not be voting for you personally? (See 11.27am.) Do you think he is telling the truth?

Umunna says he did not see the Blair speech. He says he accepts Blair’s point about how Blair is in a special position personally. But Umunna says he thinks Blair was saying other people in the Cities of London and Westminster would be voting for him.

Q: Have you been surprised by the extent to which the Lib Dem vote is being squeezed?

No, says Umunna. He says this is his first election as a Lib Dem. But older hands in the party tell him they are not surprised.

Umunna says he thinks there will be more tactical voting during this election than in any election since 1997.

Q: You did not mention revoking article 50. Have the Lib Dems abandoned this as a plan?

No, says Umunna. He says it is still the case that, if they won a majority of MPs, they would revoke article 50. But the party is also campaigning for a people’s vote. And, unlike Labour, all Lib Dem MPs would be campaigning for remain.

Updated

Umunna's Q&A

Chuka Umunna is now taking questions at the end of his speech.

Q: Was it a mistake for the Lib Dems to start the campaign by saying that Jo Swinson could end up being PM?

Umunna says he does not accept that. It is the Lib Dems’ job to fight every seat with the intention of trying to win. It would be strange if they said anything else, he says. He says it will be for the voters to decide how many MPs the Lib Dems get.

Q: Do you think Boris Johnson is fit to be PM?

Umunna says he is worried that Johnson can do what he does, and it is treated as if it is “priced in”. He says he is worried that Johnson can “lie again and again and again”, and spew out racist language in his career, and that this is not a general election issue.

Updated

Britain could become 'vassal state of US' under Johnson's Brexit plan, says Umunna

Here are some of the main lines from Chuka Umunna’s speech, from the text released by the Lib Dems in advance.

  • Umunna, the Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesman, said Britain could become a “vassal state” of the US under Boris Johnson’s Brexit plan. He said:

From my own contacts with the US government, it is clear a high price will be demanded and close alignment with US rules and regulation demanded – we risk becoming a vassal state of the US if Boris Johnson gets a majority. Leave the EU and the UK under Johnson will become President Trump’s poodle. That is what is at stake at this election.

  • Umunna said Johnson was as populist and rightwing as Donald Trump. He said:

In his words and deeds [Trump] has been unafraid to engage in bigoted, racist, sexist, and Islamophobic behaviour, lie and break the law. All the same criticisms apply to the UK’s prime minister who is following the Trump playbook and has become part of this global network of populist, right-wing, authoritarian nationalists. Giving Johnson a majority is to give carte blanche to this type of politics in the UK – something which should worry us all.

  • Umunna confirmed the Liberal Democrats were committed to spending 2% of GDP on defence.

Updated

As part of a new series you can ask our political team any questions you have about the general election, and they will post their responses on the politics live blog between 12.30pm and 1.30pm every Monday, Wednesday and Friday until polling week.

Today at 12.30pm, the deputy political editor, Rowena Mason, will answer your questions about the Tory manifesto, campaign and policies, just how realistic the pledges are and what they might mean for you. You can ask your question via our form here.

Updated

Chuka Umunna's speech on Lib Dem foreign policy

Chuka Umunna, the Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesman, is giving a speech on foreign policy. There is a live feed here.

Chuka Umunna’s foreign policy speech.

Tony Blair's speech and Q&A - Summary and analysis

Tony Blair was critical of both main parties in his speech and Q&A this morning. That probably won’t worry the respective party leaderships very much; Tory Brexiters and Labour Corbynites are both united in their scorn for Blair and much of what he represents, and they tend to believe that any criticism from the former PM ends up being counterproductive. Maybe with some audiences it is, but Blair can still present a political argument with a clarity that very few others can match.

At one point quite recently it was assumed that Blair was hoping a new centrist party might emerge to challenge Labour. But the demise of Change UK may have killed that off as an aspiration for the foreseeable future, and one of the interesting features of the Q&A was Blair’s confirmation that he wants to stay in the Labour party to contribute to the debate he expects it to be having about its post-Corbyn future after the election.

Here are the main points from the speech and Q&A.

  • Blair accused both the Conservatives and Labour of peddling “fantasies” to voters in the election campaign. (See 9.17am.) He also said in that Q&A that as a result he did not think it would be good for the country for either main party to win a majority.

Both as majority governments pose a risk. It’s just that the chances I think of Labour doing that are - if the polls are right - negligible ... I don’t think a majority government of either side is a good thing.
  • He said there was no chance of Boris Johnson being able to negotiate a Canada-style trade deal with the EU before the end of next year. Johnson claims that this will be possible, and he says he will not extend the Brexit transition period. But Blair said a trade deal within this timeframe would only be acceptable if the UK agreed to stay aligned to the single market – an option Johnson has ruled out. (See 9.21am.) Blair said trade talks with the EU could in fact go on for years under the Tories. (See 9.22am.) This is an argument that Jeremy Corbyn and Nicola Sturgeon have also been making forcefully.
  • He said a no-deal Brexit was now a “probable outcome” if Johnson was telling the truth about not being willing to extend the Brexit transition. (See 8.57am.) In the Q&A he also said he did not think Tory Brexiters understood how damaging a no-deal Brexit would be. He said:

Within the Conservative cabinet there are people who are ardent Brexiters. They are perfectly content if Britain goes out without a deal and trades on WTO terms. Now, I think a lot of them have no idea what WTO terms really mean. And, by the way, when you talk to people in the WTO about what it means, you can see – it’s a risk no serious person would take with the country’s economy.

  • He described what Labour was proposing as “a revolution” and implied its promises were unrealistic. (See 9.23am.)
  • He implied that he backed tactical voting against Brexiter candidates. In his speech he said:

We should look at this election seat by seat. There is one general election but 650 mini-elections and each one matters.

There are good, solid mainstream, independent-minded MPs and candidates in both parties. Like many, I have been campaigning for great Labour candidates because we know parliament will be poorer without them. I am sure the same is true of the Conservative party and there are those who were expelled for their moderation also standing.

The Lib Dems can’t form a government; but they can play an important role in who does govern.

And in his Q&A he said:

There will be constituencies in which the Labour party has no chance of winning and in those constituencies - if I wasn’t me as it were and I was just an ordinary or a floating voter - in those constituencies yeah I’d want to [vote tactically].

  • But he said he would be voting Labour himself - even though he understood why people in his constituency, the Cities of London and Westminster, would be voting for the Lib Dem candidate Chuka Umunna. Blair said as a former party leader he was in a special category, and he implied that he thought it was important to remain as a party member (he would get thrown out if he publicly backed a candidate from another party) because he wanted to have a say in the party’s post-Corbyn future. He said:

I’ve said why I’ve got to vote Labour - one thing, by the way, there will be an enormous debate I feel coming in the Labour party at a certain point and it’s important – I’m in a particular position, there’s one of me. But I can understand why the people I know in the same constituency as me who will be voting for Chuka Umunna.

  • He said that he thought the chances of an outright Labour majority were “negligible”.
  • He said British politics was chaotic, crazy and “utterly dysfunctional”. He said this could end up causing “serious economic and social damage” to the UK. (See 9.08am.)
  • He said Britain needed to “up the quality” of its political discourse. In the Q&A he said:

One of the things, when this election is over, alongside everything is, is we’ve got to up the quality of political discourse because, if we don’t, we’re going to end up with these populist waves. And what does populism do in the end? Essentially, it rides the anger. And it’s actually born of pessimism. Because when you’re pessimistic, you look for people to blame.

Tony Blair speaking at the Reuters Newsmaker event this morning.
Tony Blair speaking at the Reuters Newsmaker event this morning. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

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Jeremy Corbyn speaking during a visit to the Renishaw miners welfare hall, in Sheffield this morning.
Jeremy Corbyn speaking during a visit to the Renishaw miners welfare hall, in Sheffield this morning. Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA

On a visit to Derbyshire this morning Jeremy Corbyn met a group of Waspi (Women Against State Pension Inequality) campaigners to promote the Labour plan to spend £58bn to compensate them. He told them:

I’m very proud that we’ve got that clearly in our manifesto and I’ll be very proud to go into government and say: ‘This is the policy on which we’ve been elected and this is the policy that will now be carried out to right the wrong and the injustice that’s been done to all of you.’

I will do absolutely everything I can to make sure we win the election on December 12 and put that pledge into practice.

People understand the injustice that’s been done to you and the need for the country as a whole to accept the moral responsibility for putting it right.

Waspi campaigners arriving at the Labour event in Renishaw where Jeremy Corbyn was speaking.
Waspi campaigners arriving at the Labour event in Renishaw where Jeremy Corbyn was speaking. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

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Blair says Britain needs to 'up quality of political discourse'

Blair is wrapping up now.

He says, whatever happens, Britain is a great country.

He recalls a visit to an African country recently. The president told him he was sorry for what was happening in Britain.

Q: Is it getting harder and harder to stay optimistic. What are the chances this will go your way?

Blair says he is naturally optimistic. But he is not sure he still is. He is worried, he says. Some days he thinks this problem will blow itself out. Other days he thinks the problems are really deep.

I’m clinging to optimism.

But we need to think deeply as a country, he says. He says he does not think the country can go on like this for long without “severe damage”.

People are less deferential, which is good. And they want a say, which is good. But people have to share responsibility.

When this is over, “we’ve got to up the quality of political discourse”, he says.

He says what populism does is “ride the anger”.

He says he is passionate about technology because he thinks that is an essential part of what a modern political agenda looks like.

And that’s it. The Q&A is over.

I’ll post a summary soon.

Tony Blair speaking at the Reuters Newsmaker event.
Tony Blair speaking at the Reuters Newsmaker event. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

Q: Where is Labour facing the most difficulties?

Blair says it is probably in the seats with electorates seen as working class.

He says his successor in Sedgefield is facing a tough election. But when he was MP there, the Labour vote was very solid. He says when he first used to canvass there in 1983, based on his experience in London, he would knock on doors and ask people if he could count on their vote for Labour. He says people used to be offended by that; they would think he was questioning their loyalty to Labour.

He says in some ways it is good that people are not as tribal as they used to be. But it has created problems for Labour, he says.

Updated

Q: Is Jeremy Corbyn a fit and proper person to become prime minister?

Blair says he will choose his words carefully. His differences with Corbyn are well documented, and his views have not changed. But he thinks there is a “pretty negligible” chance of Corbyn winning a majority.

Updated

Blair says Brexit has put Scottish independence 'back on table'

Q: You make a distinction between extremists and moderates. Where do the SNP fit in?

Blair says he does not agree with the Scottish National party on Scottish independence, but he does not see them as extremists.

UPDATE: Here is Blair’s reply in full.

I don’t think campaigning for an independent Scotland is extreme. I just don’t agree with it.

I think the United Kingdom is stronger if we’re all together, I think Scotland is better off inside the UK.

But, you know, Brexit has put it back on the table again. This part of the other problem, I’m afraid, is that you’ve got a situation with Northern Ireland which is very tricky if the Johnson deal goes forward.

You’ve got a situation where obviously the Scottish nationalists now have an additional dimension to their argument.

I still don’t agree with it, but, you know, they’re going to be saying: ‘You’ve allowed Northern Ireland to stay inside the single market, why aren’t we allowed to, we also voted heavily against Brexit?’

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Q: What are the prospects of a trade deal with the US?

Blair says trade deals are like “reform”. Politicians always say they are in favour of both. But when it comes to the details, that is a different matter.

He says anything happening in UK-US trade talks would impact on trade talks with the EU.

And he says, any trade deal would have to pass Congress. He suggests he does not think that is likely.

I wouldn’t hold your breath on a United States trade deal. I think it’s going to be really difficult.

Tony Blair.
Tony Blair. Photograph: Reuters

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Blair is now taking questions from the audience.

Q: Do you think a government of national unity is still possible?

Yes, says Blair. He thinks that is a possibility.

Q: If the Tories get a majority, will you give up fighting Brexit?

Blair says, if the Tories get a majority and the UK leaves on 31 January, we are going to have to make it work.

But he says at that point there will still be an argument to be had about Britain’s relationship with Europe.

Blair says some in the Tory cabinet would support a WTO Brexit (ie, a no-deal Brexit, with the UK trading on World Trade Organisation terms). He says he does not think they understand what it would be like. He has spoken to the WTO about this, he says. He says no serious person would advocate this for the UK.

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More from the Blair Q&A - from the Independent’s John Rentoul and HuffPost’s Paul Waugh

Blair says he will vote Labour at the election

Tony Blair is now taking questions from Alex Threlfall from Reuters.

Blair said that he would be voting Labour at the election. He said the Lib Dem Chuka Umunna is a candidate in the constituency where he lives (Cities of London and Westminster). Blair said he understood why people might want to vote for Umunna, but he said his position as a former Labour leader meant that he was in a special position. He implied that he thought it was important for him to remain in the Labour party (he would be thrown out if he publicly backed a candidate for another party) because he wanted a say in what would happen to the party next.

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Blair claims new parliament will end up agreeing to second referendum

Blair ended his speech by saying he expects the next parliament to agree to a second referendum at some point.

Once we acknowledge all the above, and vote accordingly, yes untying the knot will take longer. The new parliament will be obliged to let the country decide Brexit on its merits, in a referendum, whether in the light of what we now know, we want to proceed with exit from Europe and if so, on what basis.

And then we will have a fresh election to decide who governs.

This is counterintuitive. It will be resisted with all the force that the extremes can muster – extremes whose narrative runs through much of our present politics and media, reinforced by the scourge of social media, but the alternative is a choice between two risks whose consequences we live with for a long time.

He also said he hoped that at some point in the future someone would rebuild “the sensible mainstream” in British politics.

This is a moment to set aside the fatigue; to understand we’re taking a decision not just about a government but about a future. So, we should think deeply.

Then, at some later point, and not too later, we must set about the urgent task of reconstructing the sensible mainstream of British politics. Otherwise, this laboratory experiment in populism running riot will end very badly for our nation.

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Blair said he had been campaigning for “great Labour candidates”.

There are good, solid mainstream, independent-minded MPs and candidates in both parties. Like many, I have been campaigning for great Labour candidates because we know parliament will be poorer without them. I am sure the same is true of the Conservative party and there are those who were expelled for their moderation also standing.

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Blair also criticised Labour’s platform.

The Labour party manifesto is heralded by its leadership as the most radical ever.

This is true. It promises a revolution; and if implemented it would indeed amount to one. I won’t go through the list of spending pledges, but they’re combined with renationalisation, repeal of union laws, new taxes on business, taking parts of a company’s shareholding into government mandated funds, a stack of new corporate and private sector regulation, and virtually every demand that any pressure group has ever submitted chucked in for good measure.

The problem with revolutions is never how they begin but how they end.

Meanwhile we have a policy debate devoid of rational analysis of the real challenges facing modern developed countries: the technological revolution; reform of the public realm as well as investment in it; and the rising power of China which is the biggest geo-political shift of modern western history.

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Blair highlighted further problems with a Canada-style trade deal.

On Canada, I learnt two things. First, the Europeans, faced now with a Johnson government, regard the Canada deal as a problematic analogy for the British deal. Trade with Britain is roughly six times that with Canada and whereas Canada is the other side of a large ocean, Britain is next door, geographically and physically linked. They are not going to allow a Brexiteer-led British government to establish a competitor with access to their market but undermining their rules.

Second, despite being agreed 18 months ago, the Canada deal is not yet ratified and indeed is now facing considerable problems in various European legislatures. Should any of them block such ratification, the deal falls.

The risk is obvious once this is understood. We will be back in the exact, same argument as we had over Ireland. One side of the Conservative party will be demanding we leave without a deal if Europe refuses the access we want; the other will be wanting to compromise to get that access.

This could last for years.

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Blair says no one he has spoken to in Europe believes Canada-type trade deal possible by end of 2020

Starting with the Conservatives, Blair argues that there is no chance of Boris Johnson being able to negotiate a trade deal with the EU by the end of 2020, as he claims.

Brexit isn’t over on 12 December, nor even on 31 January next year. We immediately begin the new phase of Brexit negotiation. Only this time, we are negotiating the future relationship of Britain with Europe, not simply the Irish border question, and without the leverage which comes from still being a member of the EU, since, legally, we will have left the union and are in the transition period supposed to last up to the end of 2020.

What has become apparent in the last weeks, is that this negotiation has no chance of being concluded in that transition period. None. Except in circumstances where, as Boris Johnson effectively did in respect of Northern Ireland, we concede that Britain stays in the trading system of Europe, the single market.

It is belief that this might happen which motivated Nigel Farage to threaten to stand against the Conservative party.

But more likely is that a Conservative government will be obliged to go for the hard Brexit, ie, a third-country FTA [free trade agreement], like Canada, with divergence around tax, regulation and trade.

This is what ministers who are pro-Brexit are already saying and the position Boris Johnson recently praised in the US.

If this is so, this negotiation is going to be horrible. I have spoken to many people in Europe over the past few weeks. Not a single person believes that there is any prospect of Britain reaching agreement with Europe on this timeline if its position is divergence on rule-making.

On the contrary, they assert that Europe would be vigilant to ensure there was no ‘unfair competition’, particularly around tax and regulation.

Updated

Blair says both main parties in election 'peddling fantasies'

Blair says both main parties in the election are peddling fantasies.

The truth is: the public aren’t convinced either main party deserve to win this election outright.

They’re peddling two sets of fantasies; and both, as majority governments, pose a risk it would be unwise for the country to take.

Blair says there is “unprecedented volatility” in the electorate.

The result is an election where, despite the headline polls, there is unprecedented volatility and indecision, born both of uncertainty in the electorate as to what they want, and uncertainty as to how on earth they get it.

Blair says populism has become a feature of British politics, on the right and on the left.

In June 2016 Britain was a “reasonably successful and influential power”, he says. Now “we’re a mess”, he says.

Our politics is utterly dysfunctional. As proof, in the latest instalment of such dysfunction, we have a Brexit general election; and in December to boot.

Blair repeats an argument he has made many times before – that it was a mistake to use a general election to resolve Brexit. (He would have preferred a second referendum.)

He says both main parties are campaigning on the basis that the alternative would be worse.

The Conservatives calculate that they can force people to elect them, despite worry over Brexit, because Jeremy Corbyn is the alternative.

The Labour party leadership calculate they can combine traditional Labour support around issues like the NHS, with remain voters who hate Brexit, despite fear about the Labour Leader.

In other words, both parties want to win on the basis that whatever your dislike of what they’re offering, the alternative is worse.

And not forgetting the Lib Dems who, because of all this, thought they could turn a general election into a byelection.

Updated

Tony Blair's speech

Tony Blair is starting his speech at the Reuters Newsmaker event now.

He says British politics is crazy and chaotic.

Britain is home to a unique political experiment. We are testing – hopefully not to destruction – whether it is possible for a major developed nation to turn its politics into chaos and survive without serious economic and social damage to its essential fabric.

Round the world where political leaders are gathered, there is often a conversation about whose politics is crazier. I agree that right now the competition is fierce. But I still believe British politics is unfortunately ahead of the pack.

Boris Johnson's claim to get Brexit done by end of January 'a fantasy', says Blair

Tony Blair, the former Labour prime minister, is about to make his first proper intervention during the election campaign in a speech at a Reuters Newsmaker event. According to extracts released in advance, he will say that Boris Johnson’s claim about being able to get Brexit done by the end of January is a “fantasy”. He will say:

The Conservative party say vote Tory and Brexit will be done; it will be over. They even add – do it and we can get back to dealing with the important issues.

The cheek is quite breathtaking. So, having visited this debacle upon us, which has distracted us from those big issues for over three years, they now use the distraction as a reason for doing Brexit, not abandoning it.

But it appeals. It is, however, a fantasy. Brexit isn’t over on 12 December, nor even on 31 January next year. We immediately begin the new phase of Brexit negotiation.

Blair will also say that the prospect of a no-deal Brexit is back on the table because Johnson says he would not agree to extending the Brexit transition beyond the end of next year. Many trade experts think agreeing a UK-EU trade deal before then will not be possible. Blair will say:

Yet though Brexit is a distraction, it is also the vital determinant of the nation’s future. It remains the single most important decision since 1945. Because of its effect on the economy, it impacts every one of the non-Brexit promises the parties are making.

Doing it matters. How it is done matters. And exhaustion is not the frame of mind in which to do it.

No-deal Brexit is not off the table. It is slap bang in the middle of it. When people hear the phrase no deal, they often think we just mean failure to agree; which in Brexiteer language means we haven’t surrendered.

What it really means is throwing our economy off a cliff and hoping it finds a parachute on the way down. It is a risk no responsible leader would take. Yet we may be about to empower a leader – Boris Johnson – to take such a risk.

Updated

Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, taking over from Mattha Busby.

John Healey, the shadow housing secretary, has just been on the Today programme talking about Labour’s plans to protect renters. Echoing arguments he used in his earlier interview (see 7.39am), he said that this was a market that was “clearly failing” and that tighter rules were required. When it was put to him that strengthening protections for tenants might make landlords less willing to rent, he said that in Germany regulation of this market was stronger, but the size of the rental market was also much bigger.

Healey was also asked why Labour was now committed to spending £58bn compensating women who lost out from the sharp increase in the state pension age. This plan was not in Labour’s manifesto, and the cost was not included in the costings document that was published alongside the manifesto. Labour says it will raise the £58bn from borrowing.

When it was put to Healey that this plan contravened Labour’s promise to borrow only to invest, he said this was not normal government spending. It was a “one-off compensation payment”, he said. He said even if the Conservatives won the election, they might end up having to pay compensation like this if they lose a legal challenge.

UPDATE: A reader has been in touch to say that there is a reference in the Labour manifesto (pdf) to compensating the Waspi women. That’s true. What was not in the manifesto was the scale of the commitment, or the cost. For the record, this is what the manifesto says:

Under the Tories, 400,000 pensioners have been pushed into poverty and a generation of women born in the 1950s have had their pension age changed without fair notification. This betrayal left millions of women with no time to make alternative plans – with sometimes devastating personal consequences.

Labour recognises this injustice, and will work with these women to design a system of recompense for the losses and insecurity they have suffered.

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Voters want to see 'realistic policies', says Morgan

Nicky Morgan has defended the Conservative manifesto for what critics have termed a lack of ambition and content, saying voters wanted to see “realistic policies”.

The culture secretary was sent out on the important post-manifesto launch broadcast round, even though she is herself not standing as an MP. Morgan said last month she was not contesting her Loughborough seat again for family reasons.

Asked on BBC1’s Breakfast programme about the seemingly limited approach of the manifesto, she said:

I think what people do want to see from the parties, on the doorstep, is realistic policies – identifying what their priorities are but also being realistic and responsible about how we are going to pay for it.

She defended Boris Johnson’s decision to avoid difficult and potentially politically tricky decisions on long-term social care, saying a consensus approach was needed. “Social care is a long-term issue that could only be resolved by getting different parties together to reach a consensus on how that happens,” she said.

She did, however, readily concede that the 50,000 “new” nurses initially billed in the manifesto included elements such as better retention of existing staff.

Morgan said the number would be reached over 10 years – some reports said her Tory party handlers meant her to say five years.

She said: “The commitment is 50,000 more nurses. By the end of 10 years there will be 50,000 more nurses in the NHS than there are now. And you’re absolutely right to say this will happen in a variety of different ways.”

Amid reports of a major U-turn, she added that the Tories “got rid” of the nursing bursary because it was putting a cap on the places available for people wanting to go into the profession.

What we’re bringing back, or introducing, is a maintenance grant. People understand we will make changes. And I know, as a minister, you make a decision and then actually you see what happens, you actually make the decision, you then have to rework that or to do something a bit different to deal with that issue.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has described the “the lack of significant policy action” within the Conservative manifesto as “remarkable” and would “bake in” the day-to-day budget cuts of the last decade.

Questioned over whether she thought the IFS analysis was damning, the outgoing parliamentarian said:

The IFS also confirm there is more money going into public spending and I think they say the age of austerity is over. People want realistic promises identifying what their priorities are. But also being responsible about how we are going to pay for it. So yes, there is a stark contrast between the Conservative position of managing our economy well, setting out clearly how we are going to pay for things, and the Labour party position which is just we’ll spray money around.

On Labour’s promise to give backdated pension payments to almost 4 million women, Morgan said: “Its a very difficult situation, but its also very expensive to resolve. There isn’t the money available.”

“I think what people do want to see from the parties, on the doorstep, is realistic policies,” said Morgan
“I think what people do want to see from the parties, on the doorstep, is realistic policies,” said Morgan Photograph: Jonathan Hordle/REX/Shutterstock

Updated

The Conservative party has pledged to allocate an extra £1bn in funding each year for the ailing social care sector while guaranteeing that no one should have to sell their home to pay for care.

In its manifesto, the party pledges to “build a cross-party consensus” on how it should be funded in the long term.

However, Sally Warren, the director of policy at the King’s Fund, has said the pledge is “a couple of billion pounds short a year” of what the sector needs.

The former director of social care policy at the Department of Health told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:

The money we’ve seen from the Conservatives yesterday is not going to be enough to continue to meet demographic pressures as our population ages over the next five years.

So the money isn’t enough and all the money would be doing would be to continue funding the current system, and that current system is widely seen to be very unfair for people who need to use it, and it has been struggling to be able to have enough funding to deliver high quality care.

We do need a fundamental reform of the system. The Conservatives have been promising a green paper for more than two and a half years. That green paper could have started a process of seeking consensus and they haven’t yet published such green paper.

On how big the gap between the Tories’ promise and the amount needed to help the sector, Warren added: “It’s probably a couple of billion pounds short a year.”

Meanwhile, Andrew Dilnot, former chair of the Commission on Funding of Care and Support, has said he believes cross-party legislation on social care “can be done”.

Also speaking to the Today programme, he said: “I think the main difficulty here is that politicians, for reasons I don’t fully understand, just have found it hard to get something across the line here.”

He added that since 1997 all parties have found it hard to get social care legislation through. “Let’s hope that there is enough energy around this now and that there is a real commitment to getting a cross-party consensus … As I say, I think that can be done, it does just require political will.”

But he sounded a note of caution: “Until we find a better way of getting money to local authorities for this, we will have a challenge.”

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There’s further reaction to Labour’s proposals, as outlined earlier by the party’s shadow housing minister, John Healey .

Polly Neate, the chief executive of Shelter, said:

For decades renters have had to live with the fear of being evicted from their home for no reason, with damaging consequences particularly for families with children and the elderly.

This election marks a major step forward in the battle to secure basic protections for those who rent, as Labour and the Conservatives have made clear that they will scrap this outrageous practice, and give renters the security and stability they deserve.”

However, the Residential Landlords Association has claimed Labour’s plans would cause “a serious rental housing crisis”.

David Smith, policy director for the landlords’ organisation, said:

These proposals have not been thought through. We have been at the forefront of wanting to drive criminal landlords out of the market, but to place such ill-thought out burdens on the majority of good landlords would lead to a serious rental housing crisis, which would only hurt tenants as they struggle to find a place to live.

The sector does not need new obligations, but better enforcement of those that already exist. We hope that should Labour come to power they will work with us to bring in proposals that would better protect tenants against criminal landlords whilst still encouraging good landlords to invest in the supply that is needed to meet demand.

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Meanwhile, the Residential Landlords Association has welcomed the Conservative party’s housing policy proposals.

Its policy director, David Smith, said:

We agree that the system for repossessing properties is in need of reform and support the Conservatives’ proposals to [strengthen] the possession rights of good landlords.

It is vital that the reforms are got right. At present it can take over five months for a landlord to repossess a property through the courts in legitimate circumstances. We will be keen to work with ministers to establish a new system of repossession rights and the establishment of a dedicated housing court to ensure good landlords and tenants can secure justice swiftly in the minority of cases where something goes wrong.

It is disappointing that there is no mention of reversing some of the tax changes hitting landlords which have resulted in a drop in investment in the market making it more difficult for tenants to find the housing they want. Longer tenancies for tenants will be meaningless without landlords entering and staying in the market long term.

You can read more on the Tories’ policies here:

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Rogue landlords have been 'allowed to flourish', says Healey

People buying fridge freezers have greater consumer rights than private renters, Labour’s shadow housing secretary, John Healey, has said as he promises more rights for renters.

The party is proposing independent yearly checks on properties, inspecting things such as gas, electricity and damp, along with the introduction of rent increases capped at inflation as part of a charter of rights for private renters

The Residential Landlords Association have warned it could drive their members out of the business, but Healey said the purpose of the reforms and introduction of “tougher sanctions” was to drive bad landlords out of the business.

He told BBC Breakfast:

For too long, certainly over the past decade, the government has allowed rogue landlords to flourish and so its time to make the market fairer for renters and for the government to act.

Questioned over whether Labour would overcomplicate the market, Healey said:

We have more rights as consumers when we rent a car or buy a fridge-freezer, we have more protections as consumers in other markets. When one-in-four rental properties in this country aren’t even decent, they’re damp, in disrepair, some are unsafe, these are standards we can’t allow to go on for longer. This is about making all properties and all landlords operate to the standards that most already do. They are standards which are commonplace in other countries. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to do this.

Healey added that Labour’s plans to compensate millions of women who lost out on years of state pensions would be a “one-off compensation payment” paid for from government contingency funds.

“This rights a historic injustice,” he said. “They had been planning for retirement and had it disrupted at no notice.”

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Labour plan to compensate millions of women over pension payments would require further tax rises, says IFS

The director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies has criticised Labour’s promise to compensate more than 3 million women who lost out on years of state pension payments when their retirement age was raised after the party announced the plan late on Saturday.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Paul Johnson said the policy’s estimated cost of £58bn is “a very, very large sum of money indeed” and claimed Labour would need higher tax rises than those already slated to cover it.

I think there are two interesting things about that – one is the sheer scale of it, and of course it immediately breaks the promises they made in their manifesto just last week only to borrow to invest.

So, they would need even more than their £80bn tax rises if they wanted to cover that.

The other, I suppose, is just a statement of priorities or decisive lack of priorities, because there’s so much money for so many things, but they’re not finding money, for example, to reverse the welfare cuts for genuinely poor people of working wage.

Whilst some of these Waspi women really have suffered hardship as a result of not realising that this pension age increase is happening, although it was announced back in the early 1990s, many of them are actually quite well off.

Updated

Larry Elliott has this assessment of the Conservative manifesto.

Take no chances. Make no mistakes. Maintain strict message discipline. Like a football team two up with 20 minutes to play, the Conservatives think the only way they can lose the election is if they throw it away.

The contrast between the manifesto launched by Boris Johnson and Labour’s last week was marked. Behind in the polls and with only three weeks to go before election day, Jeremy Corbyn has gambled that voters are ready for radicalism. In sporting terms, he has thrown on three strikers as subs and sent his centre half up from the back in the hope of getting back in the game.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson launches the Conservative party’s manifesto in Telford.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson launches the Conservative party’s manifesto in Telford. Photograph: Tom Nicholson/REX/Shutterstock

The prime minister, by contrast, is seeking to run down the clock until 12 December, relying on the fact that his “get Brexit done” line has cut through. Things started to go pear-shaped for Theresa May in 2017 when her manifesto plans for social care were dubbed a “dementia tax”. This time, the Conservatives have said the answer is to build a long-term, cross-party consensus.

Johnson’s pitch throughout the campaign has been that Britain’s departure from the EU will unleash a wave of pent-up investment and, by ending the uncertainty, lead to faster economic growth.

But there is no guarantee that this will happen, particularly since even if Brexit does go ahead on 31 January, the rest of 2020 will be spent trying to conclude a trade deal with the EU before the transition period ends. The forecasts for growth and borrowing that will be provided by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility for the budget that will take place once the election is over will not make pretty reading.

So while Johnson was upbeat at the manifesto launch, the document itself was a much more cautious affair.

Updated

The papers on the Tory manifesto

Jeremy Corbyn will be in the East Midlands today talking about the housing crisis, as Labour prepares to announce a plan to compel property developers to meet the costs of building at least 50,000 discounted homes as part of a package of measures to help renters and first-time buyers.

The shadow housing secretary, John Healey, has drawn up proposals to allow local authorities to use the planning process to force developers to build a certain number of properties to be earmarked for local first-time buyers.

These would be sold at a discount of up to 50% on the local market rate, with the size of the reduction dependent on the gap between earnings and house prices in the local area – and the local authority could choose to target them at key workers such as nurses or teachers.

Updated

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the day’s politics news.

Yesterday the Tories launched their election manifesto. You’d be forgiven for having missed it, indeed that might have been the point, coming out, as it did, on a Sunday afternoon, but we’ve got a full wrap of what it contained and reaction to it.

John Crace suggests the Conservatives may have been employing a “take out the trash day” strategy, by launching their manifesto on a Sunday, “a day when almost everyone would either be watching football, Sir David Attenborough or Countryfile”. Crace writes the Tories managed to deliver “a manifesto with almost nothing in it”.

The plan is conspicuous for its lack of eye-catching policies, with Larry Elliott writing that Johnson is “seeking to run down the clock” with a “cautious, tepid manifesto”. One thing it does tell us is the stark difference between the public spending plans outlined by the two parties, with Johnson promising to fork out £2.9bn more a year against the £83bn outlined by Jeremy Corbyn. Among the headline promises is that the Conservatives would deliver 50,000 nurses, a line that we have factchecked and found somewhat wanting.

Updated

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