An ice sculpture is standing in for Boris Johnson during a Channel 4 debate on climate change after he refused to turn up.
The prime minister joined Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage in declining attend, even though Jeremy Corbyn, Jo Swinson, Nicola Sturgeon and Sian Berry will all take part.
The Tories reacted angrily to the broadcaster’s move, complaining to Ofcom and accusing C4 of “conspiring with Jeremy Corbyn”, while Labour frontbencher Clive Lewis dubbed Mr Johnson “a coward and a bully”.
It came after Labour attacked the PM’s “dark ages” attitudes after highlighting remarks he made in a Spectator column on single mothers. Other unearthed articles show the PM dismissing people’s passion for the NHS being free, and claiming young people had “an almost Nigerian interest in money”.
Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of the general election, with only 14 days until we go to the polls.
Johnson on course for big majority, according to YouGov
The Conservative Party is poised for a comfortable win with 359 seats in parliament, according to new polling research.
The YouGov data, which uses the responses of tens of thousands of people, suggests the Tories could win a 68-seat majority if the election were held tomorrow.
Labour is on track for 211 seats, it suggested, losing 44 constituencies to the Tories including those of departing deputy leader Tom Watson and veteran backbencher Dennis Skinner.
All the details here:
The poll that accurately predicted the last election is saying Boris Johnson will win a majority
Comfortable victory to come mainly at Labour’s expense, YouGov MRP methodology suggestsTory and Labour manifesto plans both breach their own spending rules, study finds
Labour and the Tories would both break their own fiscal rules as a result of the spending plans contained in their manifestos, according to new research by the Resolution Foundation.
The think tank said unfunded spending promises announced by both parties mean they are likely to have to raise taxes further or cut spending if they are to meet their targets.
More here:
Tory and Labour manifesto plans both breach their own spending rules, study finds
Main parties' promises to splash the cash are putting UK's economic credibility at risk, think-tank warnsJohnson is ‘running scared’ of Andrew Neil, says Labour
Boris Johnson has been accused of “running scared” of an interview with the BBC’s Andrew Neil, after it emerged that he is the only major party leader not to agree a date for a grilling.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the PM was seeking to delay his inquisition until after the period when the bulk of postal votes are expected to be cast in the coming week.
McDonnell responded: “Johnson’s running scared after his disastrous debate performances. But he’s playing the BBC. He’s delaying the interview past the main postal vote period … the BBC is hardly covering itself in glory in this election. It should’ve fixed all dates in advance.”
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Boris Johnson refusing to agree date for Andrew Neil interview with BBC
Veteran interrogator has already given Jeremy Corbyn and Nicola Sturgeon a grillingSwinson accuses Johnson of dragging No 10 ‘through the mud’
Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson is intensifying her assault on Boris Johnson in a speech in which she will accuse him of repeatedly lying and dragging the office of prime minister “through the mud”.
A day after launching a poster campaign accusing the PM of “lying to the Queen”, Swinson will return to the attack with a warning that voters cannot trust anything he says.
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Jo Swinson accuses Boris Johnson of dragging office of prime minister ‘through the mud’
Liberal Democrat leader turns fire on PM as she argues her party is best-placed to stop him winning majorityHealth secretary insists drug prices ‘not on the table’ with US
Health secretary Matt Hancock has said drug prices will not be on the table in trade talks between the UK and the US.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: “In terms of drug pricing, we’ve said in our manifesto the price the NHS pays for drugs will not be on the table.”
On the wider health service, he added: “The NHS, in 451 pages, is only mentioned four times and the first time it's mentioned the documents say ‘We do not currently believe the US has a major offensive interest in this space’.
“That means that the Americans don’t think that it is something they’re going to ask for and very sensibly because we are crystal clear it isn’t an area on which we're prepared to give ground.”
Asked why the leaked dossier does not mention that the NHS and drugs prices would be exempt from trade talks, as the US indicated was the case relating to climate change, Hancock said there was “no need” to mention it.
He replied: “There was no need to say that because our position is absolutely crystal clear.”
On animal welfare, Hancock said the UK will have stronger animal welfare standards than the EU after Brexit. He added: “Some of the animal welfare standards around the rest of the world need strengthening as well.”
Labour hits reset button with two weeks to go
The Labour party has hit the reset button amid the latest polling saying the Tories are on course to win the election. The party is understood to be changing tack in its campaign, particularly in Leave-voting areas, where it is in danger of losing seats to the Conservatives.
Labour insiders say a key mistake up until now was overestimating the electoral threat from the Lib Dems, and underestimating the likelihood of Leave voters switching from Labour to the Conservatives, the BBC has reported.
Labour’s strategy so far had been - in part - to emphasise that the election is about more than Brexit and to get voters to focus on issues which would unite Labour voters in Leave and Remain areas.
The new plan is designed to appeal to those who voted for Brexit, and to try to convince them that Labour is not attempting to stop Brexit by offering another referendum.
Jeremy Corbyn and party chairman Ian Lavery, who favours leaving the EU with a deal, is expected to tour Leave areas to try to explain the deal Labour wants to negotiate and emphasise that they will protect workers’ rights.
Shadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner said he has had “no discussions” about a change of tack in the campaign to focus more on Leave areas.
Asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme whether the party would shift its focus, he said: “This is news to me this morning. I have not had any discussions on that.
“Obviously what we want to do is to make sure that we keep on, as we have been doing over the past few weeks, narrowing that margin in the polls.”
‘The government lied’ about NHS, says Labour
Labour’s shadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner said “politicians are implicated” in discussions over talks on the future of trade between the US and UK.
Following the leak of a dossier on Wednesday which outlines UK and US officials discussions on trade - before Boris Johnson became Tory leader - Labour claimed it was a sign that the Conservatives were preparing to put the NHS on the table in trade talks, something the party has denied.
Gardiner said: “Of course there’s ministerial oversight and, actually, in the documents themselves they refer to the views of the secretary of state on these matters, so it's not as though this is divorced from the politicians.
“The politicians are implicated on every single page of this.”
On the idea of the NHS being on the table, he told BBC News: “It is happening, the government lied about it”.
Hancock denies ‘baffling’ voters with 50,000 nurses promise
Health secretary Matt Hancock has been challenged again about the Tories’ pledge to deliver “50,000 more nurses” – despite the fact the party had acknowledged around 19,000 are existing nurses they want to persuade to stay in the NHS.
“We’re going to increase the number of nurses in the NHS by 50,000,” he told BBC News.
Told that voters were going to be “absolutely baffled by your maths,” Hancock again claimed: “We’re not saying 50,000 new nurses. We’re saying 50,000 more nurses.”
Labour suspends candidate in Scotland over alleged antisemitic posts
The Labour party has reportedly suspended its election candidate for Falkirk in relation to alleged antisemitic posts on social media.
According to the Falkirk Herald, Safia Ali was removed after remarks on Facebook came to light.
A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: “Safia Ali is no longer the Labour Party’s candidate for Falkirk. We have taken immediate action on this matter. We deeply regret Safia Ali was selected.”
It’s too late to replace her, meaning there won’t be a Labour candidate in the area – once a stronghold for the party.
Scottish Labour’s general secretary Michael Sharpe added: “I deeply regret the people of the Falkirk constituency will no longer have a Labour candidate to campaign and vote for on December 12.”
PM accused of ‘dark age’ attitudes to women after column unearthed
Boris Johnson described the children of single mothers as “ill-raised, ignorant, aggressive and illegitimate” in a newly unearthed article which Labour has claimed shows the prime minister’s “dark age” attitudes towards women.
In a column written for The Spectator, the Tory leader said it was “outrageous that married couples should pay for ‘the single mothers’ desire to procreate independently of men”.
And he suggested it was “feeble” for a man to be unable or unwilling to “take control of his woman”, arguing Britain needed to “restore women’s desire to be married”.
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Boris Johnson said children of single mothers were 'ill-raised, ignorant, aggressive and illegitimate'
Labour says 1995 article shows PM's 'dark-age' attitude to womenNeither Tories nor Labour offering ‘credible’ plans, says IFS
Neither of the big two parties are is offering a “properly credible prospectus” in their manifesto spending plans, a leading think tank has said.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said it was “highly likely” that a Conservative government would end up spending more than the party's manifesto implied - meaning either taxes or borrowing would have to rise.
It said that Labour would not be able to deliver on its promise to raise investment levels by £55bn a year as the public sector does not have the capacity to “ramp up” that much that quickly.
It was “highly likely” that a Labour government would have to find other tax increases beyond those it has announced for big business and the better off if it was to raise the extra £83bn a year in additional revenues it wants.
“In reality, a change in the scale and the scope of the state that they propose would require more broad-based tax increases at some point,” said IFS director Paul Johnson.
Johnson said that the chances of the Conservatives being able to hold spending down over the course of a five year parliament in the way that they proposed appeared to be “remote”.
“Why have they been so immensely modest in their proposals? Because to do otherwise would either mean resiling from their pledge to balance the current budget or would mean being up front about the need for tax rises to avoid breaking that pledge,” he said.
Boris Johnson? ‘I can’t bear the buffoon,’ says Molly
Do we have the new Brenda from Bristol?
Molly from Hampshire has provided some amusing election analysis – calling Boris Johnson “a buffoon”.
The 86-year-old told Sky News: “I normally vote Conservative, but I can’t bear the buffoon.”
Molly also revealed she wouldn’t be voting for “the red man” saying she wasn’t a fan “because he doesn’t like the Jewish people – and I don’t agree with that”.
Stella Creasy makes ‘labour gain’
The Labour candidate for Walthamstow Stella Creasy has revealed a “labour gain” – sharing news of the birth of her daughter Hester Corinna on Twitter and Instagram.
Chuka Umunna and others on course for defeat
Prominent centrist MPs who defected from Labour and the Conservatives are on course to lose their seats, according to the new YouGov research.
Constituency estimates by the firm indicate that candidates who quit their parties to stand as independents or for the Lib Dems will struggle to pick up seats, with a number of well-known faces under threat at the ballot box.
Labour MPs who joined the Lib Dems are struggling, with Chuka Umunna 13 points behind in Cities of London and Westminster, Luciana Berger 18 points back in Finchley and Golders Green, and Angela Smith trailing by 33 points in Altrincham and Sale West.
More details here:
MPs who defected from Labour and Tories set to lose seats, major poll predicts
Independents struggling to win back their old seats, according to YouGov model which predicted the 2017 resultYouGov poll ‘not the end of the election’
YouGov’s MRP poll – a model called multilevel regression and post-stratification – will give the Conservatives a boost this morning, showing Boris Johnson is on course for a 68-seat majority.
But surveys can be wrong, says our chief political commentator John Rentoul. And with two weeks of the campaign still to go, plenty can change.
The YouGov poll is not the end of the election – there is still huge uncertainty ahead | John Rentoul
YouGov's MRP does not stand for ‘Magically Realistic Polling’: all surveys can be wrongSwinson puts positive gloss on YouGov poll
Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson tried to put a positive spin on the YouGov poll showing her party may only gain one seat at the election.
She said: “What this poll shows is that there are 134 seats where either the Liberal Democrats are in first or second place as things stand.
“That shows there’s a huge amount to play for.”
She promoted her party’s policies to tackle homelessness on a visit to east London, meeting people at the Skylight centre run by Crisis.
The Lib Dem leader said the party would scrap the Vagrancy Act and introduce a “somewhere safe to say” duty for councils to ensure they provide immediate emergency accommodation for people who need it.
PM sings soul classic in south-west campaign stop
Boris Johnson has been singing Lovely Day by Bill Withers, joining in with a year seven on a visit to Chulmleigh Community College in Devon.
The PM sang the seventies hit with pupils as they performed to the school, having earlier taken part in an experiment in a science lesson.
Johnson, who toured the school with the Conservative candidate for North Devon Selaine Saxby, used a Bunsen burner to test foods for starch.
Most voters think PM’s wrong to snub climate change debate
Almost two-thirds of people (64 per cent) think Boris Johnson should take part in the leaders debate on climate change on Channel 4 News tonight, according to polling by YouGov for climate charity Possible and Friends of the Earth.
Johnson and the Brexit Party’s Nigel Farage look set to snub the hour-long Emergency On Planet Earth debate on the channel. Jeremy Corbyn, Jo Swinson, Nicola Sturgeon, Plaid’s leader Adam Price and Green co-leader Sian Berry have agreed to take part.
The PM’s own father, Stanley Johnson, former Conservative MEP, said it was “tremendously important that the whole climate and environment issue be fully aired during the general election”.
He added: “I would like to see the next UK government place a major focus on climate, the environment and nature protection, and make it part of the central business of the state.”
Both Labour and Tories without candidates in Scottish constituencies
More details on Labour sacking its candidate in Falkirk over allegations she made a series of antisemitic social media posts.
In a blow to the party’s hopes north of the border, Labour was forced to remove Safia Ali as its candidate in the Scottish constituency after it was informed of the Facebook remarks.
On Wednesday, the Conservatives withdrew support for their Glasgow Central candidate Flora Scarabello for allegedly using Islamophobic language.
A Scottish Conservative spokesman said “we have immediately suspended the candidate and the complaint will be thoroughly investigated”.
