Boris Johnson has come under fire for failing to address a shocking image of a four-year-old boy forced to sleep on a NHS hospital floor – snatching the phone of a reporter attempting to show the image to him and putting it in his pocket.
Health secretary Matt Hancock was met with protesters shouting “shame on you” as he visited Leeds General Infirmary later on Tuesday. The Tories were accused of trying to “cheat and manipulate the media” after incorrectly briefing broadcasters that Mr Hancock’s aide had been punched by a protester.
It came as Mr Johnson faced a backlash over his remarks about EU citizens being able to “treat the UK as if it’s part of their own country”.
Meanwhile, John McDonnell unveiled Labour plans to begin nationalising utility companies within 100 days, while the DUP leader Arlene Foster said the prime minister “broke his word” that the Brexit deal would not include a customs border in the Irish Sea.
During a Question Time special to address the concerns of voters under 30, Nigel Farage was accused of “peddling racism” and “dog-whistle politics” during the Brexit referendum by Jo Swinson and Angela Rayner.
Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley described Mr Farage standing in front of the infamous anti-migration “breaking point” poster as “the lowest moment of my life”.
Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of the general election campaign, with only three days until we go to the polls.
‘You’re a Tory in disguise’: C4 audience member attacks Swinson
Jo Swinson was accused of being a “Tory in disguise” by a member of the audience at a TV election debate.
The leader of the Lib Dems came under fire on Channel 4’s Britain Decides: Everything But Brexit after she said her party would raise the basic rate of income tax to fund the NHS.
An unidentified woman in the audience asked her: “Why doesn’t Jo Swinson show her true colours? They’re blue. You’re a Tory in disguise, state what you are.
“You dare to try and raise taxes on lower earners when the country is in austerity. How dare you.”
Swinson responded by saying her party was being “honest” about how it would end austerity and invest in public services.
Audience member accuses Jo Swinson of being 'Tory in disguise' during TV debate
Conservatives and Brexit Party replaced with empty podiums after refusing to take part in 'Everything But Brexit' programmePM says sorry ‘everybody who has a bad experience’ in NHS
The prime minister has apologised to “everybody who has a bad experience” in the NHS – but did not offer a personal apology to the family of Jack Williment, the four-year-old boy who had to sleep on a hospital floor.
“Of course I sympathise very much and I apologise to everybody who has a bad experience,” Johnson told LBC radio this morning.
“By and large, I think the NHS do an amazing job and I think that they deserve all praise for the service they provide – but they do need investment and that’s why we’re doing it now.
“But they need investment from a one nation government that really cares and understands – that’s us that cares and understands – and you need long-term funding.”
Asked if he had an apology for the family, he replied: “Yeah, I do, and this is exactly why we need to move on.
“We’re putting £34bn into the NHS now, this is the biggest investment we’ve seen in modern times but we need to drive it forward.”
Swinson admits victory ‘unlikely’ – and admits to ‘fair bit’ of cannabis use while at university
Liberal Democrats leader Jo Swinson admitted it “doesn’t look likely” her party will win a majority as she insisted the Lib Dems have led the campaign for a second EU referendum.
Asked about her party's manifesto pledge to revoke Article 50, Swinson said: “It’s only in the circumstances of a Liberal Democrat majority government which of course in itself would be democratic.
“But where we are right now that obviously doesn’t look likely.”
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, she added: “The most likely way we can stop Brexit is through a people’'s vote and the Liberal Democrats have led the campaign for a people’s vote for three-and-a-half years.”
Asked on Sunday about the naughtiest thing she had done, Swinson said: “I did smoke a fair bit of cannabis at university.
“I don't know whether that counts as particularly naughty, but your readers and viewers will be able to make up their own mind on that.”
Pressed to define a “fair bit” of cannabis, Swinson said: “It wasn’t just one, and I did inhale.”
Labour would begin nationalising utilities within 100 days
A Labour government will begin nationalising water and energy companies within 100 days of taking office, John McDonnell has said.
The shadow chancellor said the new state-owned companies would be run by governing boards consisting of workers, customers and local officials.
The board’s meetings would be streamed live online so that people can watch the decisions being made on their behalf, he said.
McDonnell will lay out the plans in a speech in London on Monday as he announces what would be in Labour’s first budget, which would be held within 100 days of the election.
More details here:
Labour to begin nationalising energy and water within 100 days of winning election, party vows
John McDonnell promises immediate move to give workers and customers control of water and energy companiesArlene Foster turns on Boris Johnson: ‘Once bitten, twice shy’
The DUP leader Arlene Foster has accused Boris Johnson of a “betrayal” over Brexit, saying he “broke his word” that a withdrawal agreement would not include a border in the Irish Sea.
Foster, whose party propped up the current Conservative government, defended standing alongside Johnson since he entered No 10 and said it was “right for the leadership of unionism in Northern Ireland to work with the prime minister of the day”,
Asked if Johnson’s Brexit deal represented a “betrayal”, she told the BBC’s Today programme: “I think it says more about the person who broke their word, than me and leadership of the unionist party, the betrayal.”
Arlene Foster turns on Boris Johnson, saying she will never take him at his word again
The IndependentDUP leader says customs officials told her there would have to be checks at Irish Sea, contrary to Boris Johnson's promisesLabour calls on Boris Johnson to apologise after boy slept on hospital floor
Labour’s shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth has called on Boris Johnson to personally apologise to the family of a four-year-old boy who had to sleep on a hospital floor.
Leeds woman Sarah Williment covered her son Jack in coats to keep him warm as he waited for a bed at Leeds General Infirmary, where she had taken him last Tuesday fearing he had pneumonia.
He was eventually moved to a ward, where he waited for five hours on a trolley before a bed was found at 3am, Williment told the Daily Mirror. Diagnosed with flu and tonsillitis, Jack was allowed to be taken home at lunchtime.
Williment, 34, told the paper she would now switch allegiance and vote Labour in Thursday’s election, owing to her concerns about the state of the NHS.
“This is shameful,” said Ashworth. “Boris Johnson should personally apologise to Jack and his family. A decade of Tory cuts has brought us to this crisis in our NHS.
“If the Tories win on Thursday, patients including children will suffer five more years of this. We need a Labour government to save our NHS.”
Williment told the paper: “I am frustrated about the system and the lack of beds, which I am presuming is due to a lack of funding to the NHS to deliver the services that are required.”
Four-year-old boy forced to sleep on hospital floor due to lack of beds
‘It was chaos,’ says the child’s motherBoris Johnson visits Labour heartlands
Boris Johnson is heading in Labour’s heartlands today, amid growing confidence that a repeat of the “roar” that helped deliver victory for the Leave campaign will lead to election victory later this week.
The PM is expected to visit several Labour-held seats in Humber and the north-east, including Sunderland, where 61 per cent of voters backed Leave in 2016.
The decision to campaign in traditional Labour areas comes on the back of an exclusive BMG Research poll for The Independent which showed the Tories leading by nine points on 43 per cent.
A slew of polls over the weekend gave the Conservatives an average lead of 10 points, and a major new seat projection by Datapraxis indicated suggests a solid-enough Tory majority of 38 seats.
Boris Johnson to visit Labour’s heartlands to call for repeat of Brexit ‘roar’ to deliver election win
With just days of campaigning left, Labour will promise a quickfire Budget to ‘end austerity’ and ‘get investment flowing to neglected communities’PM unable to explain Tories’ claim on Labour causing more murders
Boris Johnson appeared unable to explain his party’s claim that there would be 52 more murders a year under a Labour government.
The prime minister was pushed on the suggestion, made by home secretary Priti Patel, during his LBC interview after the Tories were accused of releasing “more dodgy numbers”.
Johnson did not explain where the figure had come from.
On immigration, Johnson pledged to get “the numbers down”, but also insisted he was “not going to get into a numbers game”.
The PM was also asked about HS2, a project he says will probably cost “north of £100bn” even though the current estimate is £88bn. Questioned on why he was using the £100bn figure, he said: “It’s a figure I’ve used many times in the past.”
Johnson, asked if he was still planning to lie down in front of bulldozers at Heathrow if work starts on the third runway, said: “I don’t see much sign of any bulldozers yet.”
He added: “I would have to find some way of honouring that promise. It might be technically difficult to achieve.”
‘We won’t need to plan for no-deal,’ says Tory minister
Rishi Sunak, the chief secretary to the Treasury, has said there is no need for further no-deal Brexit planning.
Asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme whether “no-deal planning” would resume if the Conservatives win a majority on Thursday, Sunak said: “We won’t need to plan for no-deal because we will have a deal.”
He added: “There is going to be a trade deal... everyone said we wouldn’t be able to get this deal, we have got this deal.”
He continued: “The trade deal, the outlines of it, the framework of it, is already there contained in the political declaration in quite a lot of detail and talks about an ambitious, comprehensive trading relationship with close cooperation on security, on economic matters.
“And we can go and sort the details of that over the course of next year.”
Swinson: ‘Someone told me to wear lower cut tops’
Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson said she has had lots of “unsolicited advice” during the campaign – including a tip to wear lower cut tops.
The Lib Dem leader said she has had people telling her to speak and dress differently, but said she will be “true to myself”.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Swinson said: “I get lots and lots of unsolicited advice. I’m not short of people telling me that I should speak differently or wear different shoes or wear different earrings.
“Or in one case, somebody suggested that I should wear lower cut tops. I mean as if that’s going to be the thing that changes the poll rating. I’m not short of unsolicited advice.”
Asked if the “advice” was coming from her own election team, she said: “Not in my election team, but as I say, I do get these gems of advice that come to me.”
Who are the big beasts in danger of losing their seats?
Boris Johnson paid a visit to Iain Duncan Smith’s constituency of Chingford and Wood Green on Sunday – with the former Tory leader at risk of losing the seat to Labour’s Faiza Shaheen.
Sean O’Grady has taken a look at some prominent MPs – including the PM himself – who will be sweating as the results come in on Thursday night.
Six parliamentary big beasts who could lose their seats in the general election
Some prominent MPs will be looking over their shouldersBoris Johnson giving partner ‘Brexit’ for Christmas
The prime minister has been asking on BBC Radio West Midlands what he’s getting Carrie Symonds for Christmas. “I’m going to get Brexit done,” he replied.
It follows Johnson’s refusal to say whether he would start a family with Symonds. But the PM did predict a baby boom if the UK left the EU.
“Cupid’s darts will fly once we get Brexit done,” he told The Sunday Times. “Romance will bloom across the nation.”
Johnson’s claim that there was a baby boom in 2013 following the London Olympics was rejected by the Full Fact group: the year actually saw the largest fall in births across England and Wales in almost four decades.
Sturgeon: EU referendum would happen before indyref2
Nicola Sturgeon has suggested that another referendum on Brexit would be held before a second vote on Scottish independence next year.
Scotland’s first minister said that Labour’s intention to hold an EU poll within six months of being elected – with a choice between Remain and a deal negotiated by Jeremy Corbyn – would indicate that a Brexit vote would be first on the ballot.
Speaking on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland, she said: “It looks as if the EU one (referendum) would come first and then an independence referendum towards the end of next year. That’s the sequencing.
“In terms of the priority, in order of importance if you like, I want the whole UK to get the opportunity to escape Brexit, but of course an EU referendum doesn’t guarantee that Scotland escapes Brexit, we could have the same result we had in 2016.”
Asked whether a vote to remain in the EU could effectively wipe out the “material change in circumstances” for another Scottish independence vote, Sturgeon said: “I don’t accept that because the material change is, yes, the prospect of Scotland being taken out of the EU, but also the contemptuous way which Scotland has been treated with our interests, our voice, our views, completely ignored.”
PM faces heckles and jokes at fish market
Boris Johnson started his final election campaign push with a visit to Grimsby Fish Market.
“Nice to see you, Jeremy,” one market shouted, while another added: “Boo Boris.” Another man could be heard saying: “He brings them out, eh? Phoney b******s.”
We’re expecting the PM to visit four or five Labour-held seats in the Humber and north-east today.
We’re also expecting Jeremy Corbyn to visit Bristol first, then several places in the West Midlands.
Labour’s John McDonnell is set to be make a speech about 11am setting out Labour’s plans for the first 100 days if victorious.
Brexit has received more coverage than Labour priorities
Media coverage of the general election has been dominated by the Tories’ desired focus on Brexit, rather than Labour’s desired focus on the NHS, according to Loughborough University research.
In a piece for The Conversation, the academics Cristian Vaccari and David Smith state: “The Tories’ top two themes – Brexit and taxation – have received 24.5% of the coverage overall and 29.8% on broadcast TV. By contrast, Labour’s top two issues – health and the environment – have been featured in only 14.1% of all the coverage and 13.4% of the TV coverage.”
Swinson challenged on ‘alienating’ voters with revoke pledge
Jo Swinson was challenged on Lib Dems’ much-criticised election policy of revoking Article 50 if the party was to win a majority – and whether it “alienated” voters.
She told Radio 5 Live: “We’re a party that believes in remaining in the European Union … we found ourselves facing a general election that might be the last opportunity that people would have to stop Brexit.”
She argued that the revoke policy meant they had been “straightforward” with voters. “It does have the benefit of being honest about what we would do … there is a lot of said for that.”
Swinson was also asked about whether she was willing to enter coalition with any party after the election, she said it was “pretty inconceivable” the Lib Dems could form a deal with the Tories.
“At the moment both the Labour party and the Conservatives have gone off to the extremes. Whether or not that will change in the future, it’s very difficult to get involved into hypotheticals.”
‘I’m not sure we can trust the Lib Dems ... Corbyn is promising way too much’
Liberal Dem candidate Wera Hobhouse was asked about tuition fees and maintenance grants during a live Victoria Derbyshire programme debate in Crewe, where undecided voters are asking questions.
“We will make sure maintenance grants are reinstated,” said Hobhouse. “The one thing that’s made it so incredibly difficult for young people to look to the future is the interest that you pay on the tuition fees was introduced after the coalition government by this Tory government – and that has to stop.”
Undecided voter Amelia replied: “I’m not sure we can trust whatever the Lib Dems promise after you broke your promises last time.”
But she also said didn’t know if she could “trust” Labour’s pledge to scrap tuition fees altogether. “I feel like Jeremy Corbyn’s promising way too much,” she said.
‘I can’t believe anything they say any more’
Undecided voter Katie said he was “fed up” with the politicians on the Victoria Derbyshire programme’s live debate.
“Brexit has been a big thing on the truth, because I can’t believe anything they say any more,” she said. “I’ve just had enough.”
Jamal, who runs a youth organisation – who said none of the parties were offering any “prevention” policies on knife crime. “I might just go to the box and tick any box and just walk out,” he said.
‘Hate-mongering’: Boris Johnson faces backlash for comments on EU citizens
There is a growing backlash over Boris Johnson’s negative remarks about EU citizens being able to “treat the UK as if it’s part of their own country.”
The prime minister has been accused of “hate-mongering” and “dog-whistle politics” for his attacks on European migrants living in the UK.
Johnson told Sophy Ridge on Sunday on Sky News: “You’ve seen quite a large number of people coming in from the whole of the EU … able to treat the UK as though it’s basically part of their own country, and the problem with that is there has been no control at all and I don’t think that is democratically accountable.”
David Lammy said: “Boris Johnson attacking our European friends for using the free movement rights we agreed together is the worst of this country.”
The Lib Dems’ Christine Jardine said: “Johnson is demonising the EU nationals who contribute so much to our NHS, social care and economy. This dog-whistle politics is straight out of... Trump’s playbook.”
The commentator Ian Dunt called it “divisive, hateful crap,” while Labour MEP Seb Dance said it showed why Johnson was “unworthy of high office”.
The writer and TV presenter David Weinczok tweeted: “I’m literally shaking - this is hate mongering aimed at me, my partner & 3 million EU citizens.”
