Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Politics
Mattha Busby (now); Andrew Sparrow, Matthew Weaver and Kate Lyons (earlier)

Labour pledges free broadband for all homes and businesses – as it happened

Closing summary

We’re now going to close our live blog, but here are the main political developments of the day:

  • In what might well be the most eye-catching pledge of the election campaign yet, Labour promised free full-fibre broadband for every home and business by part-nationalising BT. The party said the policy, estimated to cost around £20bn, would be partly paid for by high taxes on internet companies such as Amazon, Facebook and Google.
  • The Conservatives criticised the policy, saying it was a “fantasy plan to effectively nationalise broadband [that] would cost hardworking taxpayers tens of billions”.
  • The Brexit party claimed that senior figures within their ranks including former Tory minister Ann Widdecombe and its candidate in Peterborough Mike Greene were offered post-election roles by the Tories in exchange for stepping aside.
  • The allegations were vociferously denied by the Tories. A spokesman said: “Neither the Conservative party, nor its officials have offered Brexit party candidates jobs or peerages. We don’t do electoral pacts - our pact is with the British people.”
  • Jeremy Corbyn said people should be allowed to reunite with their families and stressed the necessity of inward immigration to the UK due to skills shortages. The Labour leader ruled out imposing what he described as “arbitrary” net migration targets after successive failures to achieve them.
  • His comments came after the Home Secretary Priti Patel appeared to retreat from a Tory pledge issued overnight to “reduce immigration overall”. By this afternoon she seemed to water down that commitment (see 3.52pm).
  • Meanwhile prime minister Boris Johnson said he welcomed “people of talent” migrating to the UK but that he was “also in favour of control”.
  • Fake nurse! The Labour party in Wales withdrew a party election broadcast after it emerged that a nurse featured in the video who criticised the Conservative party was an actor.
  • The Liberal Democrats dismissed suggestions (see 8.53pm) that the party has put itself before the national interest in fielding a replacement candidate in Canterbury (see 7.21pm) and in contesting the South West Hertfordshire seat where pro-Remain former minister David Gauke is running as an independent.

Earlier, my colleague Andrew Sparrow summed up the day’s events up until the late afternoon (see 6.06pm).

Thanks for joining us, and for all your comments.

Updated

The announcement, one of the most significant of the campaign so far, is now leading the major news channels.

However, Jim Pickard from the Financial Times has rightly highlighted the apparent inconsistency between John McDonnell’s claim in July that the nationalisation of the water companies was “the limit of [Labour’s] ambition when it comes to nationalisation” and the pledge this evening.

He had promised in an interview with the Sunday Times that “There are no tricks up my sleeve”, that Labour had no plans to nationalise companies such as BT and would limit takeovers to power networks, Royal Mail, rail and water companies.

Updated

'Fantasy' broadband plan would cost taxpayers billions, say Tories

Nicky Morgan, the outgoing culture secretary, has dismissed Labour’s pledge to provide free Wi-Fi as “reckless” and claimed it was part of an effort to distract from the party’s divisions over Brexit.

Jeremy Corbyn’s fantasy plan to effectively nationalise broadband would cost hardworking taxpayers tens of billions. Corbyn is so clearly trying to distract from his party’s divisions on Brexit and immigration that he will promise anything, regardless of the cost to taxpayers and whether it can actually be delivered. What reckless idea will be next?

Of course, the policy would indeed technically cost taxpayers billions, but according to Labour it would be delivered without raising taxes for individuals.

And here’s some more reaction to the eye-catching policy pledge.

Updated

Labour promise to provide free Wi-Fi to every home

A new tax on Big Tech companies including Facebook, Google and Amazon would help fund Labour’s plans to provide homes and businesses with free internet connections, while the part of BT responsible for broadband would also be taken under public ownership.

A new British Broadband public service would boost 5G connectivity and deliver fast full-fibre internet across the country, where parts have poor internet connections, the party said. If in government, it would aim to deliver the service at no cost to members of the public by 2030 after integrating the broadband-relevant parts of BT into the new public entity.

Jeremy Corbyn will make the announcement in Lancaster on Friday where is expected to describe the new free public service as central to his plans to transform the country and economy.

The rollout would begin with communities which have the worst broadband access, including rural and remote communities and some inner city-areas, followed by towns and smaller centres, and then lastly by areas currently well served by super-fast or ultrafast broadband.

Labour said it will be paid for through the party’s “Green Transformation fund” and the greater taxation of corporations, adding that it will save the average person £30.30 a month.

There would be a one-off capital cost to rollout the full-fibre network of £15.3 billion, in addition to the government’s existing and not yet spent £5 billion commitment.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell is expected to say that the plans represented “public ownership for the future” and would challenge “rip-off ‘out-of-contract pricing”.

Labour Party’s shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the UK was ‘dramatically falling behind’ other countries’ broadband quality.
Labour Party’s shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the UK was ‘dramatically falling behind’ other countries’ broadband quality. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

He told the Mirror:

We’re dramatically falling behind. The future of our economy has got to be based on the fourth industrial revolution and new technology and artificial intelligence.

In some areas it’s quite clear it’s holding back the local economy. We’re falling behind our international competitors when it comes to the roll out of broadband. It’s the basic form of communication and where the jobs will come from in future.

In the smaller towns and coastal communities, the same message comes up: we’re being held up by our transport connections and our broadband connections. This will also transform rural economies.

Cat Hobbs, director of campaign group We Own It, also told the paper:

It’s absolutely clear that privatisation is bad deal for the public purse, and for our public services. We’re wasting billions on shareholder dividends and the higher cost of investment in the private sector. By bringing our services into public ownership, we could use that money to deliver better services for all of us.

Updated

David Lammy has accused the prime minister of not knowing the words to “The wheels on the bus” after he appeared to initially falter when singing part of the popular nursery rhyme.

Boris Johnson mentioned his visit to a school in Taunton during his round up of his day’s exploits only to say that he discussed education funding.

Here’s a bit more from the Labour rally in Edinburgh. Holding off from committing to specific new policies, Jeremy Corbyn did not address demands for Scottish independence either.

Fundamentally our message is one of social justice, social justice that brings a sense of decency to people’s lives. That is foremost what we would do.

Somebody asked me the other day you would like to do when you go into office on December 13. Lots of things, hundreds of things, I could ask all of you what your priority would be and we would probably come up with lots of things different things.

I just thought for a second or two, and I thought the thing I would really like to do is use the power of government, the power of office to end rough sleeping homelessness once and for all.

He also repeated his pledge that a Labour government would establish a department of employment rights to “guarantee from day one of your employment you have got full rights at work, including the right to join a trade union”.

Meanwhile, the SNP’s logo and a slogan saying “Escape Brexit” was projected onto the facade of McEwan Hall in Edinburgh.

Updated

Brexit party officials are now claiming that senior figures within their ranks including former Tory minister Ann Widdecombe and its candidate in Peterborough Mike Greene were offered post-election roles.

In a video directly uploaded to YouTube, party leader Nigel Farage said:

They then tried something that borders on corruption. Repeatedly, it’s been suggested to me that I might like a seat in the House of Lords so I can go quietly. Every time this gets said my answer is the same: I’m not for sale. I’m not interested.

Knowing they couldn’t buy me off, there was a concerted attempt from people who work deep inside No 10 Downing Street – and I’m not blaming Boris for this, I don’t believe he would be part of this but it shows you the calibre of people he’s got around him, the culture that exists in Westminster.

He bypassed me and went to other senior figures in the Brexit party suggesting that eight of them could go in the House of Lords and all they had to do was come to Nigel and convince him to stand down in a whole load more marginal seats. As you can imagine, I said I do not want, and will never have anything to do with, this kind of behaviour.

At a rally tonight, Farage has also demanded the House of Lords is abolished to prevent people being “brought off”.

And some light relief from the Guardian’s sketch writer John Crace.

Updated

My colleague Severin Carrell is reporting from a Labour rally in Edinburgh where Jeremy Corbyn has announced the party’s manifesto will be “bigger, better and - I’m not sure I’m pleased to say it - longer than the last one”

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard earlier criticised the Scottish National party for what he claimed was a contradictory position in supporting unity in Europe but division in the UK.

However, Nicola Sturgeon predicted earlier today that Corbyn would soon back her call for a Scottish independence vote in 2020 after he appeared to soften a commitment made to journalists on Wednesday that such a referendum would not take place during Labour’s first hypothetical five years in power.

Brexit party chairman Richard Tice has hit out at the Conservative party and re-stoked the row (see 4.34pm) over whether the Tories offered “jobs and titles” to his party’s candidates standing in Labour-held seats.

Since our decision to stand down more than half our candidates for the good of this country, we have been dismayed by the behaviour of senior Conservative Party figures.

Our people have been offered jobs and titles to stand down as candidates on the last day of nominations, as part of a concerted campaign to undermine our party.

We made a unilateral gesture which should prevent a second referendum and keep Boris Johnson in office. We are proud and grateful that our candidates have resisted these distasteful overtures and stood firm.

A Tory spokesman said Brexit party candidates had not been offered peerages.

Neither the Conservative Party, nor its officials have offered Brexit Party candidates jobs or peerages. We don’t do electoral pacts - our pact is with the British people.

The only way to get Brexit done and unleash Britain’s potential is to vote for your local Conservative candidate, otherwise the country runs the risk of another deadlocked Parliament, or even worse a Labour/SNP coalition led by Jeremy Corbyn who would subject Britain to two referendums in 2020.

Earlier, Brexit party candidate Rupert Lowe – the former Southampton FC chairman – announced that he was not going to contest the election in Dudley North for fear of enabling a Labour victory (see 4.46pm).

Updated

Chuka Umunna, the Liberal Democrat economics spokesperson, has been fielding accusations that his party has put itself before the national interest in fielding a replacement candidate in Canterbury (see 7.21pm) and in contesting the South West Hertfordshire seat where pro-Remain former minister David Gauke is running as an independent.

He criticised the party’s former candidate in the constituency, journalist Tim Walker, for acting unreasonably and said there must be “reciprocity” among parties if candidates are to step aside.

Let’s take a look at the facts. We want to stop Brexit, we are the UK’s biggest and strongest remain party. We have agreed unprecedented arrangements … I can’t think of any other instance where one of the main parties in the UK has stood aside in an election for other parties in a number of seats.

These arrangements can only work where you have a party that is committed to remaining in the European Union. The Labour party has been steadfast in saying it is not a Remain party. But also, if you do these arrangements, there needs to be reciprocity.

The problem with what [Tim Walker] did there was that he took a unilateral decision and you operate as part of a team. You are a candidate for a political party. He didn’t consult anybody about that decision. That would be like you [the interviewer] announcing that you’re going to defect to CNN live on air before actually talking to your employers. That’s obviously not a reasonable way to conduct yourself.

Liberal Democrats Chuka Umunna helps unveil his party’s plan for Equalities and Human Rights in London on Thursday.
Liberal Democrats Chuka Umunna helps unveil his party’s plan for Equalities and Human Rights in London on Thursday. Photograph: Niklas Halle’n/AFP via Getty Images

Updated

A string of public figures have declared they will not vote for Labour due to its association with antisemitism. Authors John Le Carré and William Boyd are among two dozen signatories of a letter published in the Guardian which cites fears of effectively surrendering the fight against antisemitism.

Updated

The Labour party in Wales has withdrawn a party election broadcast after it emerged that a nurse featured in the video who criticised the Conservative party was an actor.

My colleagues Lisa O’Carroll and Pamela Duncan have the story

In the film, which was broadcast on Tuesday on the BBC, ITV and S4C, the nurse tells viewers how a trade deal with US president Donald Trump is a threat to the NHS.

The actor, dressed in a blue NHS style uniform, told viewers: “We will increase the funding available to our health service. Labour is the party that created the NHS, and we will defend it against Tory attempts to sell it off for parts to Donald Trump.”

Labour said it was not aware that the nurse was fake until someone pointed out she was an actor, in contravention of the guidelines for such broadcasts.

Plaid Cymru branded the advert “fake” and attacked the Labour party’s record on the NHS in Wales.

The Green party in Canterbury has announced it will not stand a candidate in the marginal seat where pro-Remain Labour MP Rosie Duffield is defending a wafer-thin majority against the Tories.

It comes after the Liberal Democrat candidate unilaterally stood down yesterday, citing fears of dividing the remain vote despite not trusting Jeremy Corbyn over Brexit.

Green Party spokesperson Henry Stanton said:

The Green Party - unlike other political parties - places local democracy and local parties at the heart of its operations. In this instance, members voted not to stand a general election candidate...

The local party will instead be focussing efforts on campaigning to save the Wincheap wet woodland and water meadows, improve public transport and clean up Canterbury and Whitstable’s dirty air.

Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson was forced to deny losing control over her party on Wednesday after Tim Walker suddenly announced he was standing aside in an article for the Guardian. The party – which came a distant but respectable third in 2017 – swiftly installed an outside candidate, Claire Malcolmson, a councillor in Surrey, to replace him.

Updated

Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster has confirmed her party will run 17 candidates across the 18 constituencies in Northern Ireland, with none of the major parties contesting all seats due to a unionist electoral pact and pro-Remain agreements.

Foster also criticised Sinn Fein over the party’s historic decision to not to take up seats in Westminster, which is due to their principled refusal to “validate British sovereignty over the island of Ireland”.

This will be a close election. It’s about who has a plan to deliver for Northern Ireland. The DUP has a strong team of candidates who have a plan to get Northern Ireland moving again. We will stand on our record as the only party to have delivered 1.5 billion more to support hospitals, schools, broadband and roads. Real investment in real lives.

Sinn Fein want a mandate to do nothing. They won’t take their seats in Westminster and won’t let the other parties form an executive in Stormont. It’s time to get Northern Ireland moving again.

This is from PA Media:

The Democratic Unionist Party is running in 17 constituencies, standing aside in Fermanagh South Tyrone in support of Ulster Unionist candidate Tom Elliott.

Sinn Fein is running in 15 constituencies, and will not field candidates in South Belfast, East Belfast or North Down and will instead support pro-Remain candidates in those seats. Meanwhile, the Ulster Unionist Party will run candidates in 16 constituencies.

Alliance is the only political party that is running candidates in all 18 constituencies. At the last election, the DUP won 10 seats and Sinn Fein won seven, along with independent Sylvia Eileen.

A total of 102 candidates will contest 18 constituencies across Northern Ireland at this year’s General Election. Nominations closed on Thursday ahead of next month’s polling day.

Steve Aiken from the UUP had previously suggested the party would run in all of the region’s 18 constituencies. He later rowed back from that position following pressure in North Belfast and from unionist rivals over standing a candidate against Democratic Unionist deputy leader Nigel Dodds, who is expected to face a tight race against Sinn Fein’s John Finucane.

The other constituency which the UUP will not run in is West Belfast, a seat which has traditionally been dominated by Sinn Fein with only a small unionist vote. Aiken also came under pressure for his party to stand aside in South Belfast where the DUP’s Emma Little Pengelly is expected to come under pressure from SDLP candidate Claire Hanna.

The Green Party has stepped aside in South Belfast for Hanna due to her Remain credentials.

Meanwhile, the SDLP announced it has completed the nomination of the 15 candidates it will run. The party had previously said it was stepping aside in three constituencies in support of other remain candidates. Those are North Belfast, East Belfast and North Down.

The Green Party is stepping aside in East, West and North Belfast in support of pro-remain candidates.

Of the smaller parties, People Before Profit is running two candidates, the NI Conservative Party is contesting four seats and Aontu will stand candidates in seven constituencies.

Updated

My colleague Jamie Grierson has debunked the Tories’ claim that net migration would reach 840,000 under a Labour government.

The Tories had said its analysis of Labour’s conference proposals suggested net migration could increase to 840,000 a year under Corbyn, but the opposition party dismissed the “fake news from the Conservative party’s make-believe research department”.

The Guardian has been fact-checking claims made during the run-up to the general election.

Mandu Reid, the leader of the Women’s Equality party, has responded to the news that O’Mara will not contest the Sheffield Hallam seat. She said his decision was “a victory for women across the country” and endorsed the Liberal Democrats in the constituency.

The Women’s Equality Party is the only political party that has won in four fifths of its target seats before a single vote has been cast. WE announced we would be standing against Jared O’Mara to hold him to account at the ballot box, after he publicly admitted sexually harassing a 20-year-old staff member and has yet to face any consequences. He was one of five MPs we targeted and is now the fourth of those men to step down.

This speaks to the enormous courage of survivors and campaigners who have spoken out against MPs facing allegations of abuse in this election. Our campaign has made it impossible for parties to continue to ignore abuse and for individual politicians facing unresolved allegations to continue as MPs. O’Mara’s decision is a victory not just for the constituents of Sheffield Hallam but for women across the country.

However, this situation should never have been allowed to continue for so long. That’s why the Women’s Equality Party is pleased to be endorsing the Liberal Democrats in Sheffield Hallam in exchange for them taking on our key policies in their manifesto. The changes we are calling for in the Recall Act will give the public more power to sack their MPs, ensuring that constituents never end up in this situation again.

Former Labour MP Jared O’Mara will not stand in the general election, as expected, Sheffield Council has confirmed.

He famously won the seat from former Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg in 2017, and shall not defend the more than 2,000 majority he achieved in Labour’s first ever victory in the constituency since it was established in 1885.

Former aid worker Laura Gordon will look to prevent local councillor Olivia Blake from upholding Labour’s majority, while the Conservatives’ Ian Walker will fight the Sheffield Hallam seat for the third time after coming a respectable third at the last election.

O’Mara was accused by a junior staffer of sexual harassment after his suspension from the Labour party when a series of sexist and homophobic tweets emerged, written before he was elected.

He had said he would be taking time out to deal with his mental health – he has autism and cerebral palsy – after a former aide accused him of being “the most disgustingly morally bankrupt person I have ever had the displeasure of working with”.

Please let everyone be assured that I will be tendering my resignation via the official parliamentary process as soon as term restarts. I am not in any fit state to continue and nor would that be appropriate if I was. I reiterate my apology to my constituents, the people of Sheffield and the people of the UK as whole.

Afternoon summary

  • The European commission has said it is launching “infringement proceedings” against the UK after the government refused to nominate a new British EU commissioner. This news only broke within the last few minutes, and the practical impact will probably turn out to be minimal or non-existent, but in symbolic or headline terms, this is probably a gift to Boris Johnson. For Tory leaders (and some Labour ones too) it has for years been taken as axiomatic that voters like to see their PM in a wrangle with Brussels (a flawed mindset that ultimately contributed to the Brexit vote) and now at last Johnson will be able to perform this role. Being in breach of EU treaties will go down better with his Brexiter base than sending the letter requesting an article 50 extension, something he did last month after promising he never would. In a statement the commission said:

As the guardian of the treaties, the European commission has today sent a letter of formal notice to the United Kingdom for breaching its EU treaty obligations by not suggesting a candidate for the post of EU commissioner.

The UK authorities have until Friday 22 November at the latest to provide their views. This short time period is justified by the fact that the next commission must enter into office as soon as possible.

Following the UK’s reply on 13 November to the two letters sent by president-elect Ursula von der Leyen recalling the UK’s obligations under the EU treaty - and the European council decision of 29 October 2019 extending the article 50 period (1) -, the commission has now analysed this reply and considers that the UK is in breach of its EU treaty obligations.

  • Labour was placed on the defensive as the Tories launched an attack on its immigration policy. CCHQ issued a press notice claiming that Labour is committed to an open border policy, or “free movement” for the whole world, and that as a result 840,000 people could come to the UK every year. CCHQ also said that, if Labour just maintained EU free movement, average net migration might be 260,000 every year for the next 10 years, or 2.6m in total over the next decade. Interestingly the press notice includes an implicit admission of the Tories’ failure to meet their own immigration target (getting annual net migration below 100,000), because it says 260,000 per year would be a “slight increase” on current immigration levels. The claim that Labour would operate an open border policy is untrue and ludicrous, but Labour has not yet finalised its immigration policy and there is a tension between those in the party who backed a conference “free movement” motion (the Momentum wing, crudely) and those who back immigration controls (the Unite wing, crudely). Jeremy Corbyn has said that he wants an immigration system that is “fair”.
  • Boris Johnson said that he favoured “controlled immigration” and that in some circumstances this would mean net migration levels falling. He said:

We want to have a controlled system ... And yes, that may mean in some sectors immigration comes down.

That’s all from me for tonight.

My colleague Mattha Busby is writing the blog now.

Corbyn criticises 'hostile environment' and calls for realism about immigration

People should be allowed to reunite with their families, Jeremy Corbyn has said in an interview where he also stressed the necessity of inward immigration to the UK due to skills shortages.

The Labour leader told the BBC that policymakers had to be realistic about the issues the country faces, and ruled out imposing what he described as “arbitrary” net migration targets after successive failures to achieve the stated goal.

We have to be realistic that in this country we have 40,000 nurse vacancies, we have a great shortage of doctors, we have shortages of many skills, and they cannot be met very quickly because we’re not training enough people, so there’s going to be immigration in the future.

Pressed on whether he would rather see the number of migrants in the UK go up or go down, he said:

As a point of principle I want people to be able to be reunited and I want British people to be able work across Europe as they are at the present time. Putting arbitrary figures on it as successive governments have done simply doesn’t work. Our immigration strategy is based on fairness, justice and the economic needs of our society, and they are considerable.

I have made my case very clear about the value of migration to our society, about the stability of people living in our society, about the horrors of the hostile environment created deliberately by Theresa May, and others, and the uncertainty that so many EU nationals have been put through. I think that uncertainty should finish, they should have guaranteed rights to remain in Britain.

The BBC reports that Corbyn said Labour’s eventual migration policy would depend on the outcome of Brexit. The party has, of course, promised a second referendum which could see the UK remain within the EU.

I recognise why people voted Remain and why people voted Leave in different parts of the country and for different reasons - in my own communities where I represent and also all across the country. [But] I think that is actually a sensible approach that a very large number of people [have] come to think, well, at least somebody has been grown-up about this.

Corbyn’s comments come after the Home Secretary Priti Patel appeared to retreat from a Tory pledge issued overnight to “reduce immigration overall”. By this afternoon she seemed to water down that commitment (see 3.52pm).

The prime minister Boris Johnson also spoke to the BBC earlier where he welcomed “people of talent” migrating to the UK but said he was “also in favour of control”.

Updated

The Labour party in Wales have withdrawn a party election broadcast after it emerged that a nurse featured in the video who criticised the Conservative party was an actress.

In the film, which was broadcast on Tuesday on the BBC, ITV and S4C, the nurse tells viewers how a trade deal with US president Donald Trump is a threat to the NHS.

Labour said the production company had used an actress without telling them and as soon as it was brought to its attention it withdrew the advert. It will not be working with the company in future, a spokesman said.

Brexit party candidate stands aside to help Tories win Dudley North ultra-marginal

The deadline for election candidates to be nominated was 4pm today. That means that, if a candidate now withdraws, it is too late for their party to replace them. And, right on cue, Rupert Lowe has announced that, despite being selected as the Brexit party candidate for Dudley North, he is not going to contest the election.

Dudley North is a Labour/Tory marginal where Labour won by just 22 votes in 2017. The MP was Ian Austin, who left Labour to sit as an independent and who is now urging voters to back Boris Johnson.

In a statement, Lowe says he cannot afford to take the risk of his candidature helping Labour win.

In an interview with Sky News Jeremy Corbyn confirmed that the “extend free movement” motion passed at conference would not necessarily be included in full in the party’s manifesto. The party’s manifesto policy on immigration (and everything else) would be decided at a Clause V meeting of the party this weekend, he said. He went on:

The conferences passes motions, and that is absolutely fine. The meeting that’s held this weekend will decide what actually goes in the manifesto, which is not necessarily every last dot and comma of every resolution passed at conference.

Tory sources are dismissing the Nigel Farage claim (see 4.20pm) as rubbish and “typical Farage attention-seeking”. They may say something more specific later.

Updated

Farage claims one of PM's most senior aides has been offering jobs to Brexit party candidates if they stand aside

Nigel Farage, the Brexit party leader, claims Sir Edward Lister, Boris Johnson’s chief strategic adviser in No 10, has been calling Brexit party candidates offering them jobs if they stand down in target seats.

I’ve asked the Tories for a comment, and will post their reply when I get it.

UPDATE: Tory sources are dismissing the Nigel Farage claim as rubbish and “typical Farage attention-seeking”. They may say something more specific later.

Updated

On the BBC’s World at One Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said that increasing demand was to a large extent responsible for A&E waiting times in England being at their worst level for 15 years. Over the last five years the number of people going to A&E had risen by a quarter, he said. “Parts of the system are responding extremely well,” he insisted. He went on:

In terms of getting operations done, there’s been a 7% rise, so when people talk about the performance of the NHS, in many ways the NHS is performing better than it ever has.

Jonathan Ashworth, his Labour shadow, said Hancock’s response was “staggering”.

Updated

According to the BBC’s Norman Smith, Priti Patel, the home secretary, did eventually confirm that the Tories went to reduce immigration in her broadcast interview. (See 3.52pm.)

Extinction Rebellion activists waiting for Boris Johnson in Glastonbury.
Extinction Rebellion activists waiting for Boris Johnson in Glastonbury. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Boris Johnson labelled climate change protesters “crusties” after security concerns forced him to change his election campaign visit to a bakery, the Press Association reports. Extinction Rebellion activists were positioned outside Burns The Bread in Glastonbury, Somerset, prompting a decision to divert the prime minister to one of the company’s shops in Wells. At the shop in Wells Johnson commented on the change in plan, saying: “There were lots of crusties there - more crusty than your loaves.”

Boris Johnson visiting a bakery in Wells.
Boris Johnson visiting a bakery in Wells. Photograph: WPA Pool/Getty Images

Priti Patel being interviewed at Chessington school in Chessington, Surrey.
Priti Patel being interviewed at Chessington school in Chessington, Surrey. Photograph: Aaron Chown/PA

Patel seems to back away from Tory pledge to reduce immigration overall

In a press notice overnight Priti Patel, the home secretary, said the Conservatives would “reduce immigration overall”. But in an interview this afternoon she has appeared to back away from that pledge, according to the BBC’s Callum May and Norman Smith.

Updated

Scottish Labour strategists have armed Jeremy Corbyn with data on the numbers of people giving disability payments for mental illness and child poverty for each of the Westminster constituencies he has visited in Scotland.

In an effort to switch the agenda from the harder territory of Brexit or Scottish independence on to core topics such as poverty, party officials have mined official data to produce fact sheets for Corbyn and Labour candidates to use in campaigning.

Corbyn’s two-day trip to Scotland, taking in key seats in Glasgow, Hamilton, Uddingston, Dundee and West Lothian, has been short on new policies but heavy in incident. He has been heckled by opponents, and tripped himself up on party policy on a Scottish independence referendum.

But addressing the small crowds and audiences which gather at campaign stops, Corbyn reels off data on local poverty levels. Speaking at Newtongrange Scottish mining museum in Midlothian on Thursday, where Labour’s Danielle Rowley won a shock victory in 2017, he lambasted the Conservatives and Lib Dems for their “political choice of imposing austerity on the whole of the UK … Nine years later we see the result of it.” He said:

In a constituency like this, which has almost 5,000 people in receipt of personal independence payments, almost 40% of those get it for what’s called ‘psychiatric disorders’ – in reality it’s mental health stress.

When you have so many people suffering from mental health stress: then you ask yourself, why is that? Is it just one of those things, or is it because of insecurity in their lives? Insecurity in housing, insecurity in the private rented sector, poverty at home.

Why are so many children living in poverty in this area? Why are 25% of the population in this constituency in fuel poverty? Are any of these things necessary? Why are 8,000 children living in poverty? Is any of this necessary? No.

Jeremy Corbyn speaking on a visit to the National Mining Museum at Lady Victoria Colliery, Newtongrange, Scotland.
Jeremy Corbyn speaking on a visit to the National Mining Museum at Lady Victoria Colliery, Newtongrange, Scotland. Photograph: Robert Perry/EPA

Updated

These are from Sky’s Lewis Goodall, who has been out on the campaign trail.

The Lib Dems published a plan for equalities and human rights at a new event this morning attended by Sal Brinton, the party president and two Lib Dem candidates who have joined from Labour, Luciana Berger and Chuka Umunna.

This is from the Jewish Chronicle’s Lee Harpin who was there.

The Lib Dem president Sal Brinton (left) with Luciana Berger and Chuka Umunna at a press conference this morning.
The Lib Dem president Sal Brinton (left) with Luciana Berger and Chuka Umunna at a press conference this morning. Photograph: Niklas Halle’n/AFP via Getty Images

Boris Johnson has an update on the flooding.

Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, has been tweeting about Labour’s stance on free movement. She confirms - as the party was saying earlier, see 9.45am - that Labour is not treating the “extend free movement” motion passed at conference in September as referring to maintaining free movement for everyone from EU countries after Brexit. It referred to “free movement rights”, she says.

But the Conservatives continue to clam that Labour actually go much further. Following up on the press release issued overnight (see 9.45am), Priti Patel, the home secretary, has released an open letter to Abbott saying party figures have consistently called for looser immigration rules.

Patel quotes John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, saying in 2013: “If we’re a civilised society, we should have open borders ... It should be a basic human right.”

But, of course, McDonnell wasn’t shadow chancellor in 2013. At that point he was just a backbencher.

Diane Abbott.
Diane Abbott. Photograph: Cristina Pedreira Perez/Getty Images

My colleague Paul Johnson has detected something of a pattern in Boris Johnson’s walkabouts around the country.

The Brexit party leader Nigel Farage says he does not expect to vote in the general election. According to the Press Association, there will be no Brexit party candidate in the Tory-held Kent seat where he votes (presumably Sevenoaks, where he had his family home), and he does not want to vote Conservative. He told reporters: “I doubt I’ll vote. I very much doubt I’ll vote.”

Asked whether he had ever not voted before, he replied:

I did spoil a paper in 1992. I couldn’t vote for John Major, I couldn’t do it. My last Conservative vote was 1987.

Nigel Farage holding a fish with local Brexit party candidate Christopher Barker (left) during a stop at the Grimsby Seafood Village
Nigel Farage holding a fish with local Brexit party candidate Christopher Barker (left) during a stop at the Grimsby Seafood Village. Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA

Updated

The BBC’s Alex Forsyth has more on Boris Johnson’s Glastonbury no-show. (See 1.56pm.)

Boris Johnson cancels Glastonbury event at short notice as protest gathers

There were lively scenes in Glastonbury as Boris Johnson dodged a crowd of protesters at a bakery in a business park on the outskirts of the Somerset town.

Word got out that Johnson was on his way and a crowd of about 100 – including Extinction Rebellion protesters, musicians and even a bard – turned up to greet him at the Burns the Bakery unit.

It got tense when the police moved the crowd away from the front of the bakery on to a grass verge close to a busy road.

Tory supporters including James Heappey, the party’s candidate in Wells, waited at the bakery for Johnson for more than an hour, but he did not show.

There was no explanation, leading to frustration and anger from those who had hoped to express their concerns about issues ranging from the climate emergency to the state of the NHS and pensions to the PM.

Retired NHS manager Martin Campbell said: “He’s running scared. He doesn’t want to talk to ordinary people about the issues that affect us all.”

At one point a rumour went round that Johnson was in Glastonbury high street, leading to a dash from Burns the Bakery into the town but there was no sign there.

A video clip later appeared on Johnson’s Facebook page of him serving a customer at a Burns the Bread shop, though not at either of the company’s two branches in Glastonbury.

Boris Johnson visiting a bakery in Wells.
Boris Johnson visiting a bakery in Wells. Photograph: Frank Augstein/AP

Updated

Corbyn says he disagrees with Tusk's claim UK would be 'second-rate player' outside EU

In an interview this morning in Scotland Jeremy Corbyn said he rejected the claim from Donald Tusk, the outgoing European council president, that Britain will become a “second-rate player” if it leaves the EU. Asked if he agreed, he replied:

No I don’t think we are ever going to be a second-rate player.

This is a big country, an important country and trading partner and I look forward to leading a government that will be working with others around the world.

[Tusk] makes many statements at many times and he is the president of the EU and, yes, he can make those statements and I look forward to discussing them with him.

Jeremy Corbyn visiting the National Mining Museum in Dalkeith, Scotland.
Jeremy Corbyn visiting the National Mining Museum in Dalkeith, Scotland. Photograph: Russell Cheyne/Reuters

HuffPost’s Paul Waugh has got hold of a briefing note from Momentum, the pro-Corbyn Labour group, advising activists how to respond to awkward questions on the doorstep.

Chances of Labour majority 'as close to zero as it is possible to be', says John Curtice

We have received a briefing from the monarch of UK psephologists, Prof Sir John Curtice of Strathclyde University, about what might happen in the election, and the short version is this: while there are many imponderables in play, it seems a toss-up between a Boris Johnson majority and a hung parliament.

Curtice said it was “pretty much a binary contest” between the two. And what of a Labour majority? The answer will not be welcomed by Jeremy Corbyn:

The chances of a Labour majority are as close to zero as it is possible to be.

He said the issues for Labour included Corbyn’s personal unpopularity with voters (although he also noted that Johnson was “the most unpopular new prime minister in polling history”), and the fact that they had lost both remain and leave votes through a middle-ground approach to Brexit. Curtice said:

Where they have demonstrated Blairite moderation is the one issue on which you shouldn’t demonstrate Blairite moderation, as it won’t get you anywhere.

The current Tory lead of about 10 percentage points would most likely be enough for Boris Johnson, Curtice said.

With a 10-point lead, however you look at it, if that was to transpire in the ballot box it would be highly likely the Conservatives would win a majority of a size that would be sufficient to get the withdrawal treaty through.

But given the likelihood the Tories will lose a “fair chunk” of seats in Scotland and to the Lib Dems, Johnson needed to keep the lead above about six or seven percentage points:

If it get below that, the odds are beginning to swing in favour of a hung parliament. So be aware: just because the Tories are ahead in the polls, it doesn’t mean to say that Boris is going to get a majority.

The key battle in northern Tory target seats, he said, would be for the Conservatives to hang on to gains made by Theresa May in 2017, and for the Lib Dems to take seats from Labour. Curtice said: “Boris Johnson would love the Liberal Democrats to go up.”

The one exception to the binary end point, he noted, would be the very particular result where the Tories won 320 or so seats, just below a working majority, and the DUP held the balance. With the Northern Irish party wanting neither to support Corbyn or back Johnson’s Brexit deal, this could bring a new deadlock.

Prof Sir John Curtice.
Prof Sir John Curtice. Photograph: Martin Hunter/The Guardian

Updated

According to the Press Association, which had a pool reporter accompanying Boris Johnson when he visited West Monkton primary school, near Taunton, Johnson held Rosie the rabbit and sang songs with pupils.

The PM then suggested singing The Wheels on the Bus, remarking: “The wheels are staying very much on the bus.”

Boris Johnson holding Rosie the rabbit during a visit to West Monkton primary school in Taunton.
Boris Johnson holding Rosie the rabbit during a visit to West Monkton primary school in Taunton. Photograph: WPA Pool/Getty Images

According to PA, Johnson asked a separate group of pupils for their favourite book before asking: “Have you got the Incredible Hulk? That’s the one I like.” In a newspaper article in the autumn Johnson famously compared himself, or the UK as a whole, to the Incredible Hulk.

Then he ended up talking about breasts. As PA reports, while looking at a Hulk book, one pupil shouted “boobies” to which the PM replied: “Those aren’t boobies, they are muscles.”

Boris Johnson at West Monkton primary school
Boris Johnson at West Monkton primary school Photograph: WPA Pool/Getty Images

While Johnson was inside the school, chants of “Boris out” could be heard outside, where Labour, Liberal Democrat and climate change activists were gathered.

Protesters outside West Monkton primary school.
Protesters outside West Monkton primary school. Photograph: WPA Pool/Getty Images

Updated

Corbyn rules out agreeing to second Scottish independence referendum in first two years of Labour government

Jeremy Corbyn is now saying that he would not agree to a Scottish independence referendum in the first two years of a Labour government - which would rule out one being held in 2020 or 2021. This is a change from what Corbyn was saying at one point yesterday, when he was ruling it out for the entire five years of a Labour government, although the party subsequently said it would be open to one after the Holyrood elections in spring 2021 (which, given the amount of time preparing for a referendum might take, would be close to saying 2023 at the earliest).

In response, Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has posted this on Twitter.

Updated

My colleague Steven Morris says it is starting to look as if Boris Johnson might be giving Glastonbury a miss after all.

Boris Johnson is due in Glastonbury shortly. According to my colleague Steven Morris, who is there, not everyone wants to give him a warm welcome.

Here is some footage of Jeremy Corbyn being confronted by a heckler at a meeting in Dundee. (See 10.53am.) According to the Press Association, the heckler later identified himself as Bob Costello, a former SNP activist.

It is often assumed that being heckled reflects badly on a politician, but it is hard to watch this and think that Costello emerges with much credit. “Is this democracy?” he shouted at one point, during his prolonged interruption of proceeding. Corbyn replied:

The democracy is that we have a public meeting where we conduct it in a reasonable manner, and those who wish to say something at the end are of course free to do so. Democracy is not when you interrupt somebody when they are speaking.

Updated

Nigel Farage, the Brexit party leader, had to delete a tweet this morning saying he would be “live from South Yorkshire” when he was in Hull. Hull is in East Yorkshire, as he subsequently acknowledged.

Swinson says she opposes Scottish independence for same reason she opposes Brexit

The Lib Dem leader, Jo Swinson, has pledged to revoke article 50 on day one of her premiership if she is elected to Number 10. Speaking to the PA news agency on a visit to the Guru Nanak Sikh temple in Glasgow, she said:

The Liberal Democrats have been very clear - we want to remain in the European Union.

We are an internationalist party and so a Liberal Democrat majority government would revoke article 50 on day one.

She also stressed her opposition to a second referendum on Scottish independence.

I want Scotland to stay in the United Kingdom for very much the same reasons I want the United Kingdom to stay in the European Union.

We work better when we are closely together with our nearest neighbours, where we share values and we share economic interests.

So I want Scotland to stay in the UK, I do not want another independence referendum, Liberal Democrats will not support indyref2.

Jo Swinson (left) during a visit to the Gurdwara Singh Sabha Temple in Glasgow.
Jo Swinson (left) during a visit to the Gurdwara Singh Sabha Temple in Glasgow. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA

Updated

Farage claims Tories involved in 'disgraceful' attempts to persuade Brexit party candidates to stand down

Here is the full quote from Nigel Farage alleging that Tories have been using underhand methods to try to persuade Brexit party candidates to stand down. He did not give any specific examples, and he did not say where this was happening, or who was responsible, but it was clear that he was claiming that this pressure was coming from Conservatives.

Farage said:

What is going on right now is nothing short of disgraceful. There is a full-scale attempt, going on out there as I speak, to stop men and women, freely, putting themselves up before the UK electorate. You would have thought this was Venezuela.

And that is what is happening. Our people, men and women – much like these on the platform here – who put themselves forward are now coming under relentless phone calls, email and abuse, and being told they must stand down. That is happening in 21st Britain. I think that is a complete and utter disgrace.

Nigel Farage speaking to Brexit party supporters at Ionians RUFC in Hull.
Nigel Farage speaking to Brexit party supporters at Ionians RUFC in Hull. Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA

Updated

Sturgeon accuses Corbyn of 'desperate stuff' as he accuses SNP of being willing to keep Tories in power

The battle for Scotland’s anti-Tory vote between Jeremy Corbyn and Nicola Sturgeon became bitter and personal on Wednesday evening after the Labour leader accused Sturgeon of “being willing to usher in another heartless Conservative government”.

The two clashed on Twitter after Corbyn’s two-day campaigning visit to Scotland got off to a rocky start, when he had tied himself in knots over Labour’s referendum policy.

He first ruled out backing one for a full five-year term, before retracting that after being corrected by his aides to say Labour would not support one for the first few years. He simultaneously rejected Sturgeon’s calls for a “progressive alliance” to defeat the Tories, insisting it was “their choice” whether to back Labour or allow the Tories to regain power.

Sturgeon retorted that Scottish National party MPs would only support a minority Labour government if it allowed Holyrood to stage a fresh independence referendum at a time of its choosing. Sturgeon wants one next year.

Corbyn retaliated by tweeting back footage from 1979, when SNP support for a vote of no confidence helped topple James Callaghan’s Labour government, allowing Margaret Thatcher to win her first general election and heralding 18 years of Tory government.

The SNP leader hit back by accusing Corbyn of “desperate stuff”, pointing out she was in primary school in 1979.

The SNP had tabled a no-confidence motion after Callaghan’s government decided not to introduce devolution to Scotland as the 1979 devolution referendum required 40% of all Scotland’s voters to say yes. After a low turnout, that threshold was not met.

With backing too from the Liberal party, Thatcher tabled an early day motion stating the house had no confidence in Callaghan’s government which went to a vote. Along with unionist MPs from Northern Ireland, the SNP’s 11 MPs voted against Labour, which lost the motion by one vote.

Those events are engrained in Labour folklore as proof of the SNP’s dishonesty about opposing the Tories. With the polls showing Labour support as low as 12% in Scotland, they face another wipeout on 12 December and are desperately trying to mobilise disillusioned and apathetic Labour voters.

Scottish Labour’s Facebook page features film of Ian Lavery, the party chairman and a former National Union of Mineworkers president, insisting a minority Labour government would challenge the SNP to vote down its budget, including £70bn extra spending for Scotland, rather than agree a deal.

He concluded: “Let the SNP decide whether they want to accept that or not. Let them decide whether they want to stick their fingers up at the Scottish people.”

Nicola Sturgeon posing for a selfie in Edinburgh yesterday.
Nicola Sturgeon posing for a selfie in Edinburgh yesterday.
 Photograph: Ken Jack/Getty Images

Updated

Farage says in September he offered to work with the Tories on a “leave alliance”. That could win an 80 or 100-seat majority. But the Tories were not interested, he says.

He claims this shows the Tories are putting party before country.

Updated

Here is one of the Farage quotes.

Farage says if his candidates get to Westminster they will not be “good little boys and girls”. They will fight for Brexit.

He cannot understand why people think it makes sense for the UK to be shackled to 15% of the world’s economy, he says.

Farage says the Tories have not been grateful for his decision not to stand candidates in Tory-held seats.

Instead, all that the party has had from the Tories has been “wall to wall abuse”, he says.

And he claims something “disgraceful” is happening that the audience do not know about. Brexit party candidates are coming under relentless pressure to stand down. They are getting phone calls, emails and abuse, he says.

Updated

Farage claims, again, that Boris Johnson signalled a “marked change of direction” in a video he posted on Twitter on Sunday about Brexit.

(Actually, he didn’t.)

Farage says he would be happy with a Canada-style trade deal, or a no-deal Brexit. Under either option, the UK would not be bound by EU laws.

Farage says the Tories are today talking about reducing immigration. “Are you having a laugh?” In the last three elections they have promised this, but failed, he says.

Farage says democracy only works if you have losers’ consent. The losers must accept the result of the election, he says.

He says the Brexit party will fight Labour in every seat in this country.

Farage says the audience probably used to think they lived in a 21st century democracy. But all the promises made by politicians have not been delivered, he says.

He claims Labour think people did not know what they voted for. Labour wants people to do it all again.

Labour is treating voters with contempt, he says.

In May the highest Brexit party vote came in areas with the most Labour MPs, he says. He says Labour is now more about Hoxton than Hull.

In Labour areas there is no enthusiasm for Jeremy Corbyn, he says. He claims many Labour voters will stay at home. That gives the Brexit party a phenomenal opportunity, he claims.

Nigel Farage speaks at Brexit party event

Nigel Farage is speaking at the Brexit party event.

He is in Hull, and he says this is Brexit country.

He says the Brexit party reset the political agenda when it was set up earlier this year. Its success in the European elections led to the removal of Theresa May as prime minister, he claims.

He welcomes Michelle Dewberry to the party.

Updated

At the Brexit party event Michelle Dewberry is speaking now. A former winner of the TV reality show The Apprentice, Dewberry is the Brexit party’s candidate in Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle.

Maybe this is the “big announcement” the party promised earlier. (See 10.15am.)

Dewberry stood as an independent, pro-Brexit candidate in the same constituency in 2017.

She says in this campaign it seems as though wanting to speak up for the north has become trendy. But for years the north has been neglected by Westminster, she says.

She says Brexit will allow the UK to decide how the country should be run. There should be deeper devolution, she says. She says she is tired of having the north treated “as an afterthought”. This has to stop, she says.

She says politics is broken. There has been a lot of talk of tactical voting. That shows the system does not work. Parliament should truly reflect the desires of the people. First-past-the-post does not achieve that.

She says the Brexit party wants constitutional reform.

She also rejects the claim that by standing in Hull West and Hessle (a seat Labour held in 2017 with a majority of 8,025) she is splitting the pro-Brexit vote. Every person can use their vote way they wish, she says.

Updated

The Brexit party event flagged up earlier (see 10.15am) has just started. Nigel Farage, the party leader, is due to speak soon, but at the moment David Bull, a doctor and Brexit party MEP, is speaking.

One in six patients waited longer than four hours in A&E in England during October – the worst-ever performance since a target was introduced in 2004, according to official data released this morning.

In response Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, said these figures showed why the NHS needed Labour’s £40bn rescue plan. He said:

The Conservatives have ushered in the worst NHS crisis on record.

Under Boris Johnson the NHS is in crisis and we’re heading for a winter of abject misery for patients.

Our A&Es are overwhelmed, more so than ever. In every community there’s an ever growing queue of people waiting for treatment.

In his response Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said almost nothing about why the figures were so bad, but instead just attacked Labour. He said:

With rising demand, and with dedicated staff already working exceptionally hard, the last thing our NHS can afford is Labour’s plans for a four-day week and uncontrolled and unlimited immigration, which would cripple our health service – leaving it understaffed and underfunded.

It is not true to say that Labour is planning uncontrolled and unlimited immigration. (See 9.45am.) Labour is finding it harder to explain how the NHS would absorb the possible costs of its plans for a 32-hour working week (the Times has splashed on the issue today), but, as John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, explained at a news conference yesterday, this is a 10-year aspiration, not something to be introduced immediately, and the idea is that productivity increases will make it affordable.

Here is an explanation of the Labour 32-hour working week plan.

Updated

It may feel to some of us as if the election campaign has been going on for ages, but on the Today programme this morning Deborah Mattinson, the pollster and public opinion specialist, issued a healthy corrective. Most members of the public are not yet taking any notice, she said. She told the programme:

One of the things to bear in mind is that nothing much is landing from this campaign at the moment anyway. There was a poll this week saying 42% of people had picked up nothing. I asked people in a focus group yesterday: ‘What have you heard since the campaign began?’ And literally they all looked at me blankly.

Mattinson said it was only in the last fortnight of the campaign that non-committed voters would start to take an interest in what was going on.

Updated

Jeremy Corbyn was heckled by a supporter of another Scottish independence referendum as gave a speech this morning at the Queen’s Hotel in Dundee, PA Media reports. The report goes on:

On the second day of his Scottish tour, Corbyn was interrupted by a shouting member of the audience who asked him what he planned to do about the “will of the Scottish people”. The man shouted: “Is this democracy?”

Corbyn tried to quieten him, saying: “It’s perfectly democratic when we listen to each other, so I’ll listen to you in a moment.”

“Take your hands off me,” the heckler shouted as people grabbed him. He was then ejected to the cheers and claps of the audience.

Updated

Boris Johnson began campaigning in a rainy south-west by visiting a school, the Press Association reports. Pupils at West Monkton primary school, near Taunton, welcomed the prime minister who was accompanied by Rebecca Pow, the Conservative candidate seeking re-election for Taunton Deane.

Boris Johnson on a train to Somerset.
Boris Johnson on a train to Somerset. Photograph: WPA Pool/Getty Images
Boris Johnson (centre, carrying his red box) leaving the train station at Castle Cary, Somerset.
Boris Johnson (centre, carrying his red box) leaving the train station at Castle Cary, Somerset. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA
Boris Johnson, right, visiting the West Monkton primary school.
Boris Johnson, right, visiting West Monkton primary school. Photograph: Frank Augstein/AP

Updated

In the overnight Conservative party press notice about immigration Priti Patel, the home secretary, restates her commitment to introducing an “Australian-style points system so what we can control our borders”.

What do you think David Cameron, the former Tory prime minister, thinks of that? Apart from a low-key day of canvassing in Reading West, he does not seem to have played a role in the election so far, and it would be surprising if he were to start giving interviews criticising his successor. But on this issue we know what he thinks, because he covers it in his revealing and extremely readable memoir, For the Record. Writing about the Brexit campaign, he says:

By the time we got to June, referendum month, Boris [Johnson] and [Michael] Gove were pledging to introduce an ‘Australian-style points-based immigration system’ before the next general election if Britain voted leave. Quite apart from the fact that we already had the equivalent of a points system (clear categories for immigrants, with some channels such as unskilled labour from outside the EU set at zero), our system was tougher than Australia’s, and our level of immigration much lower.

From the Brexit party

I don’t know what that will be about, but we’ll tune in ...

Boris Johnson on a train this morning on his way to an election campaign event near Castle Cary.
Boris Johnson on a train this morning on his way to an election campaign event near Castle Cary. Photograph: POOL/Reuters

In his Today interview Brandon Lewis, the security minister, said wealthy Russian businessmen had an “absolute right” to donate to the Conservative party if they were British citizens. Admitting that he had received donations from prominent Russians himself, he said:

I have had donations from Lubov [Chernukhin] and also Alexander Temerko, as has the Conservative party.

They are British citizens, they are prominent British businesspeople as well - Alexander himself has invested in the renewable energy industry in the East of England.

So British citizens have the absolute right, as any other British citizen does, to invest in and be part of the British political scene, and I think it’s wrong to accuse them of anything else.

Updated

Labour seeks to defuse migration row by saying 'extend free movement' motion passed at conference doesn't cover other countries

It is interesting that CCHQ put up Brandon Lewis, a Home Office minister, to give interviews this morning defending what is the Conservative party’s overnight attack line against Labour - the claim that average net immigration would rise to 840,000 a year under Jeremy Corbyn – and not his boss, Priti Patel. Patel, the home secretary, is very popular with with rightwing Tories and Brexit party supporters, but she is not one of the cabinet minister most skilled at dealing with forensic questioning.

Here is the extract from the Conservative news release explaining how the party justifies its claim. (Bold type in the original document.)

New analysis released today, using official figures and based on HM government’s own methodology reveals:

Maintaining free movement with existing EEA members would result in average net immigration to the UK of 260,000 per year over the next 10 years. This is equivalent to a city the size of Brighton moving to the UK every year. Labour’s policy of maintaining EU free movement would lead to 2.6 million more people moving to the UK over the next 10 years. This scenario is a minimal interpretation of Labour’s policy and represents a slight increase based on current immigration levels.

Extending free movement to the rest of the world would result in average net immigration to the UK of 840,000 per year over the next 10 years. This is equivalent to the combined populations of Manchester and Newcastle moving to the UK every single year. This means that levels of net migration would more than treble if Labour introduced their proposals for completely open borders.

This analysis is deliberately cautious and is likely to provide a significant underestimate of net inflows from non-EEA countries under Labour’s plans.

This claim is that it is based on a motion passed at Labour party’s conference. But there are two problems with citing it as evidence that Labour would allow annual net immigration to rise to 840,000 a year. First, the wording of the motion was very generalised (the full text is here), and it was not clear what it would mean in practice. And, second, Labour is only committed to implementing policies in its manifesto, not motions passed at conference.

Today Labour is arguing that, when the conference motion demanded a manifesto pledge to “maintain and extend free movement rights”, this was not a reference to allowing non-EU nationals to come and live in the UK freely. “There was no mention [in the motion] of geographically extending freedom of movement to other countries,” a party source said. Instead this was a reference to extending the rights that already apply to British citizens and others with the right to live in the UK, for example by making it easier for spouses to join them, the source argued.

This may be a fair way to interpret the motion passed by Labour conference, but this is not a point that the party made particularly forcefully at the time.

Today Labour has dismissed the Tory claims as “fake news”. In a statement Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, said:

This is more fake news from the Conservative party’s make-believe research department. Unlike the Tories we won’t scapegoat migrants or deport our own Windrush generation citizens. The damage done to our society has been through damaging Conservative cuts to our public services, not by EU nationals coming to work in them.

What is true, though, is that Labour has yet to say what its immigration policy would be. Jeremy Corbyn and others have said things that imply that they would like to keep free movement for EU nationals after Brexit, but during the campaign Corbyn has tended to sidestep questions about what Labour’s exact policy will be, saying details will be given in the manifesto. But Labour does want to negotiate a soft version of Brexit with the EU, keeping the UK aligned to the single market, and Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, has admitted that negotiating this would involve a negotiation about whether or not the UK would maintain EU free movement rules.

Updated

I’m Andrew Sparrow, taking over from Matthew Weaver.

Brandon Lewis, the Home Office minister, is now being interviewed on Today. He was talking about flooding on ITV’s Good Morning Britain earlier. (See 8.23am.)

He accepts that the Tories have let people down in the past by failing to hit their target of getting net migration below 100,000.

But he claims that was partly due to the Tories being in coalition with the Lib Dems from 2010 to 2015.

Q: Which immigrants would you allow? And don’t just say the brightest and the best.

Lewis says the migration advisory committee would advise the government on this issue. The government has to look at this methodically, he says. It would take the MAC’s advice.

Q: You claim there would be surge of migration under Labour. But this claim is based on a motion passed by the Labour conference that won’t be in the manifesto.

Lewis says the Tory claim is also based on what Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell has said.

He says the Tory claim that Labour could end up allowing more than 800,000 migrants into the UK per year is an understatement.

Protecting workers' rights more important than migration numbers, says Labour's Laura Pidcock

The shadow employment secretary, Laura Pidcock, has dismissed immigration targets as “arbitrary”.

Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme, Pidcock said:

We know actually that migrant labour does not undercut wages, it is exploitative bosses that seek to undermine national agreements – that’s our emphasis.

Questioned on whether she would be happy for immigration to rise under a Labour government, Pidcock added: “I think these targets are arbitrary.”

When pushed on comments in the Guardian by the leader of the Unite union, Len McCluskey, more free movement, Pidcock said:

It isn’t right that we place the blame on numbers of immigrants for wages. Actually those employers that seek to undermine those national agreements are to blame for the exploitation.

And he [McCluskey] talked about stricter regulations and that is what we are proposing.

Pidcock added: “I think it’s a false flag, this issue of immigration.”

She then accused the media of “mischaracterising” McCluskey. Pidcock said:

What you are actually doing is mischaracterising Len McCluskey as some kind of false division in the Labour party.

He is the leader of the trade union that I am a member of, he talked very clearly about there not being an environment where national terms and conditions can be undermined by exploitative bosses.

Pushed again on whether she is in favour of extended free movement rights, as was voted for at the Labour party’s conference, Pidcock added:

I am in favour of making sure there are conditions where no worker, whether they be British or a foreign worker are exploited in this country, because that is the real issue.

The issue is not about migrant labour, the issue is about what kind of legislative environment we have for workers, and we will create one where all workers are protected.

Pidcock also hit back at the CBI’s claims that Labour’s pledge to sanction businesses who cannot prove that they are working to remove their gender pay gap is “adding bureaucracy”. She said:

We don’t want employers, and some do, to see this as a tick box-exercise where they look and say: ‘OK we do have a gender pay gap, and we’ve written down that we do, but we’re not going to do anything about that.’

There has to be proof of how they’re working to close that gap, and if there’s absolutely no proof as to how they’re working towards the elimination of that gap then there will be some form of sanction.

Laura Pidcock.
Laura Pidcock. Photograph: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images

Updated

Boris Johnson may have interfered with clean-up operation if he had visited flood victims earlier, minister suggests

The security minister, Brandon Lewis, has defended the prime minister’s refusal to apologise over the government response to the floods in Yorkshire and the east Midlands.

Appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Lewis, a former floods minister, was played clips of Boris Johnson being heckled about his response to the flood and why he had refused to say sorry.

Lewis said: “Obviously, it’s not the PM’s fault that there’s been a flood.”

He also suggested Johnson had held back from visiting flood-hit areas because he didn’t want to hamper the clean-up operation. He said:

Sometimes when a big group of politicians and the media turn up, they get in the way and they distract people from doing the job.

The prime minister was able to visit when it’s right, not distracting from the core work of getting people’s lives back together as quickly as possible.

Lewis was challenged on why Doncaster, one of the areas worst hit by the floods, has had its funding cut by 50% since 2010. He defended the government austerity policy. He said:

We had such a dreadful economic situation back in 2010 that we inherited that we had to reduce spending so the country could get back gradually to living within its means. Local authorities are a huge part of the public sector expense. And if it was right that they played their part and there was a lot of efficiencies we could find.

Asked if he was claiming that 50% of Doncaster budget was being wasted, he said:

The 50% [cut] refers to just one part of their budget. It doesn’t include the council tax and other income they get. So it not a 50% cut overall.

When we have a situation like flooding, that’s why we have what’s called the Bellwin scheme and that’s something that kicks in to take on in this kind of natural disaster.

Updated

Farage confirms Brexit party will fight 300 seats

The Brexit party leader, Nigel Farage, has rejected pressure to withdraw more of his candidates in Labour or Liberal Democrat seats.

Speaking to Today, on the day when nominations for candidates close, he said:

We’re going to fight 300 seats and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.

The job of the Brexit party is to hold him [Boris Johnson] to account, because too many times over the last three years the Conservatives have made promises and not delivered.

He also criticised the Conservatives for refusing to do a deal with the Brexit party in Labour seats. “I’ve realised that the Conservatives want a Conservative majority in parliament, not a Brexit majority in parliament.”

He added:

There are very clearly seats in which we are the lead challenger and their are other seats in which they are the lead challenger to Labour, and we could have done a deal on that basis, but the priority for the Conservative party, they do not want the Brexit party to get seats in parliament.

They’d rather risk not winning the election than having a leave majority, a leave alliance.

He also criticised his old ally Arron Banks, who urged him to withdraw more candidates. Farage said Banks was suffering from “Brexhaustion”.

And he claimed the election would be decided by tactical voting.

Farage said:

I’m going to go out around the country saying to Labour voters: ‘You are being let down badly, betrayed by the Labour party who now want you to vote again.’

And the same for Conservative voters: in seats that the Conservatives have never won in 100 years, your best chance of getting Brexit is to get us in there and hold Boris Johnson to account.

And ultimately this election will be decided by tactical voting decisions all across the country.

Heavyweight boxer Dereck Chisora with Brexit party leader Nigel Farage (right) during a party rally at the Gator ABC Boxing Club, in Hainault, Ilford, Essex, yesterday.
Heavyweight boxer Dereck Chisora with Brexit party leader Nigel Farage (right) during a party rally at the Gator ABC Boxing Club, in Hainault, Ilford, Essex, yesterday. Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA

Updated

Luciana Berger defends Lib Dem decision to stand against Labour in Canterbury

Luciana Berger, the Liberal Democrat spokeswoman for health and social care, has defended the party’s insistence on putting up a candidate in Canterbury despite the previous candidate decision to stand aside in favour of Labour.

Berger, who defected from Labour earlier this year, conceded that the Labour candidate’s, Rosie Duffield, is “a very lovely person”. But speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme she added:

I know her very well personally, but she’s campaigning to put Jeremy Corbyn in Number 10.

This comes down to the choice who’s going to be our next prime minister at this general election.

Berger pointed out that Labour had refused to take part in cross-party talks on a remain pact. She said:

I wish the Labour party would have been involved in the unite to remain discussions. They had ample opportunity to do so but they refused to engage. One of the most senior members has said that the Labour party is not a party of remain. And if people want to party remain at this election, they have to vote for the Liberal Democrats.

Updated

The papers

Matthew Weaver brings us one of the more disturbing stories of the day.

Boris Johnson dropped a reference to “onanism” from an election campaign speech after previews of the text drew criticism from the opposition.

On Tuesday night Johnson’s advisers released extracts from the speech the prime minister was due to give at an electric taxi factory in the West Midlands on Wednesday. In the texts given to journalists, Johnson likened Labour’s approach to spending, Brexit and Scottish independence to “self-obsession and onanism”.

But when Johnson delivered the speech the word onanism was left out. Asked about the omission by the Sun’s political editor, Tom Newton Dunn, Johnson tried to laugh it off.

He said: “All I can say is that a stray early draft seems to have somehow found its way into your otherwise peerless copy, by a process that I don’t pretend to understand, but I will make inquiries.”

Reports of the pre-briefed version of the speech led to a spike in Google searches for the arcane term for masturbation.

Updated

Conservatives to ‘reduce immigration overall’, promises Priti Patel

The home secretary, Priti Patel, has promised that a Conservative government would reduce immigration overall, in an attack on Labour’s immigration policy.

Patel criticised Labour’s immigration policy, which has not been announced yet, saying:

Under Corbyn’s Labour, immigration would surge and put huge strain on schools and our NHS. Jeremy Corbyn has no credible plan for how to deal with the consequences of his open borders policy.

The biggest risk to our NHS is Corbyn’s plans for uncontrolled and unlimited immigration, for ever.

By contrast, the Conservatives will get Brexit done, end free movement and introduce an Australian-style points system so that we can control our borders and protect our public services.

We will reduce immigration overall while being more open and flexible to the highly skilled people we need, such as scientists and doctors.

Priti Patel has promised cuts to overall immigration numbers under a Conservative government.
Priti Patel has promised cuts to overall immigration numbers under a Conservative government. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, said:

This is more fake news from the Conservative party’s make-believe research department. Unlike the Tories, we won’t scapegoat migrants or deport our own Windrush-generation citizens.

The damage done to our society has been through damaging Conservative cuts to our public services, not by EU nationals coming to work in them.

Updated

Boris Johnson has hit back at claims he is “in cahoots” with Nigel Farage. In a speech he said that in fact “the Sturgeon-Corbyn alliance would consign this country to months, if not years, of dither, delay, discord, division”. Corbyn said Labour was “not doing pacts, not doing deals” if it failed to win a majority in the election, rejecting suggestions fuelled by Sturgeon that he had privately agreed to support a second independence referendum in exchange for Scottish National party support. Instead, he challenged Sturgeon to support a minority Labour government.

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, with SNP candidate for Edinburgh West Sarah Masson (left), during a visit to The Shed, a Climate Challenge community project at North Edinburgh Arts, Edinburgh.
SNP leader, Nicola Sturgeon, with SNP candidate for Edinburgh West, Sarah Masson, during a visit to the Shed, a Climate Challenge community project at North Edinburgh Arts, Edinburgh. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA

Updated

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

It is Equal Pay Day – when the average woman effectively stops earning for the year, taking into account a mean gender pay gap of 13.1%. The Lib Dems and Labour will use it to announce measures to tackle the gender pay gap. The Liberal Democrats have pledged to oblige bigger companies to publish data on employment levels by gender, as well as for BAME and LGBT staff, and would push for a law to end the so-called pink tax, whereby companies charge higher prices for fundamentally identical products such as razors or deodorants simply because they are marketed at women. Labour has pledged to eradicate the gender pay gap by 2030 through measures such as fines for organisations that fail to report on the subject, and by extending the reporting requirement from firms with 250 or more employees to those with more than 50.

Boris Johnson has come under fire for his government’s slow response to the flooding across parts of England’s north and has declined to apologise, saying a huge amount of work was going on to help and compensate victims. The PM spent time in deluged regions of Yorkshire, the east Midlands and Lincolnshire on Wednesday.

Corbyn has criticised the government, saying its spending on flood defences until 2021 “heavily favours London and the south-east of England”. Richard Partington has fact-checked this claim, and while it is technically true, those figures are seriously influenced by long-term funding for Thames estuary projects running up to 2100. Over the spending period to 2021, Labour is wrong, with more spent per head on flood defences in Yorkshire and the Humber.

I’ll be running the blog for the first hour or so, before handing over to my colleagues. You can get in touch with me on Twitter.

Thanks for reading.

Updated

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
The new Trump coin will have an eagle on the back. Here are some better options
The real defining image of this presidency should be the bank statement of the average American citizen
The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
‘What is literally the point’: Utah man sets up a date. Then he sees her address and tries to change the plan
Low effort, high red flags.
We Got This Covered
We Got This Covered
I Asked ChatGPT Which Rare Coins Are Worth the Most — Here’s What It Said
ChatGPT reveals rare coins worth millions: 1933 Double Eagle ($18.9M), 1794 Flowing Hair Dollar ($10M), 1787 Brasher Doubloon ($9.36M) and more.
GOBankingRates
GOBankingRates
Chess: iconic Reykjavik Open sparks memory of Bobby Fischer from 1973
The US legend declined a $25,000 offer from shoe firm Clarks to meet the cream of England’s juniors
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
I Thought Access Hollywood Got Canceled, So Why Was Mario Lopez Filming At Universal Orlando This Week?
I sleuthed so you don't have to.
Cinemablend
Cinemablend
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's Relationship Questioned by Fans Who Say They Look Awkward—Is the So-Called 'Endgame' Just for Cameras?
Fans question Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's relationship, claiming awkward public moments cast doubt on the so-called 'Endgame' pairing.
International Business Times UK
International Business Times UK
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.
Download on the AppStore Get it on Google Play