Afternoon summary
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The defence secretary, Sir Michael Fallon, said in an interview published today that high earners will not face income tax rises if Theresa May is returned to No 10. “You’ve seen our record. We’re not in the business of punishing people for getting on,” he said. “On the contrary, we want people to keep more of their earnings. The only way they can be sure their taxes won’t rise is to vote Conservative.”
- But during a campaign presser in West Yorkshire this morning, May refused to echo Fallon’s claims. “Our plans on tax have been set up in the manifesto, we are a party that believe in low taxes … when people come to vote they know they have a choice between a party that has always believed in lower taxes and a Labour party whose manifesto we know will cost ordinary working people,” she said.
- In response, Corbyn has said the Tories are in “chaos” over their tax plans. “One minister says they’re going to give no more tax rises, indeed possibly tax reductions, for the very wealthiest; then they can’t answer the question about tax rises for the rest of the population; then they can’t answer the questions about funding social care”. The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, said Fallon’s comments showed the Tories were the party for “the few, not the many”, and the Lib Dem former business secretary Sir Vince Cable said they indicated that the Tories would raise national insurance instead.
- During the same campaign stop in Lincoln on Saturday, Jeremy Corbyn promised to protect Britain from global threats after facing criticism for refusing to say whether he would launch a retaliatory nuclear strike. The Labour leader suggested he would sign off on more ships for the Navy and extra surveillance aircraft for the RAF alongside pledges to boost funding and numbers in the police and armed services. “We will protect the people of this country from any threat that they face anywhere in the world,” he said.
- Meanwhile, Iain Duncan Smith was on the Today programme to defend May’s refusal to debate with Corbyn, maintaining that debates didn’t change opinion. The former Labour leader Ed Miliband refuted this, stating: “I think that debates and opportunities to speak to the public do have an effect, particularly for leaders of the opposition.” Miliband also said Corbyn’s was a “more radical” manifesto but that “it’s a manifesto I’m proud to be associated with”.
- While Nicola Sturgeon told voters they have a “golden opportunity” to end austerity across the UK, Ruth Davidson said the election was the last chance to avoid a second independence referendum. “Thursday’s election is the last chance we’ll have to stop Nicola Sturgeon in her tracks,” she said.
We’re closing the liveblog now, but keep up to speed with our news reports as the next 24 hours promise to be significant in the campaign.
Six polls are due to come out later today and a series of interviews will take place on the Sunday politics shows tomorrow.
Voting intention polls due today (5pm onwards):
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) June 3, 2017
ComRes (GB)
ICM (GB)
Opinium (GB)
ORB (GB)
Survation (GB)
Survation (Scotland)
YouGov (GB)
Thanks for reading.
With less than a week to go before polling day, British newspapers and magazines have begun publishing their traditional election editorials, advising readers on how to vote.
The Guardian released its view on the 2017 election last night. Read it here. And here’s round-up of all the others:
Updated
Labour and Lib Dems attack Tory tax 'chaos'
Jeremy Corbyn has claimed the Conservatives’ tax plans are in “chaos” after Theresa May failed to back a senior minister who said higher earners will not face an income tax hike under a new Tory government.
Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said voting Conservative in the General Election on Thursday was “the only way” people could be sure income tax would not go up. His comments went further than the party’s manifesto, which said they would keep taxes “low” but did not rule out a rise in income tax.
Campaigning in West Yorkshire, the prime minister declined to be drawn on his comments, saying only it was their “firm intention” to reduce taxes for ordinary families. She said: “Our position on tax hasn’t changed. We have set it out in the manifesto. It is our firm intention to reduce taxes for ordinary working families.”
Her comments were seized on by Corbyn, who said the Conservative leadership was in disarray.
“I think there’s complete chaos going on at the top of the Government,” he said during a campaign visit to Lincoln. “One minister says they’re going to give no more tax rises, indeed possibly tax reductions for the very wealthiest, then they can’t answer the question about tax rises for the rest of the population, then they can’t answer the questions about funding social care.”
For the Liberal Democrats, former business minister Jo Swinson said: “The Conservatives are in utter mayhem over their tax policy.”
The Conservative manifesto said there would be no increase in VAT but dropped David Cameron’s pledge not to raise income tax or national insurance contributions after Chancellor Philip Hammond complained that it limited his room for manoeuvre.
However, in an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Fallon made it clear that income tax “absolutely” would not rise under a re-elected Tory government.
Asked if high earners could confidently vote Conservative next week, safe in the knowledge that their income tax would not go up, Sir Michael said: “Yes.
“You’ve seen our record. We’re not in the business of punishing people for getting on, on the contrary we want people to keep more of their earnings. The only way they can be sure their taxes won’t rise is to vote Conservative. We already know your tax will go up if you vote Labour on Thursday.”
More from Scotland now, where Ruth Davidson is seeing the election less as a “golden opportunity” (13:42) and instead as the last chance to avoid a second independence referendum.
“Thursday’s election is the last chance we’ll have to stop Nicola Sturgeon in her tracks,” The Scottish Conservative leader said. “It’s our last opportunity to have our say, make Nicola Sturgeon listen for once - and stop her second referendum.
“Come Friday morning, once we’ve cast our vote, we all know what she will try to do. She’ll try to use the result to push her demand for that second referendum.”
She urged all voters to back the Scottish Conservatives to stop the SNP.
The party leader said: “I’m not asking you to agree with me on everything. I just want us to come together on this one big thing - to stop the SNP in their tracks.
“This election isn’t about deciding whether you’re Tory, or Labour, or Lib Dem. It’s about sending Nicola Sturgeon a message. And by voting for me and my team, we can do just that.
“So - Thursday is the last chance we’ll have to shout out loud and clear what we think of Nicola Sturgeon’s plans. Only a vote for the Scottish Conservatives will make her listen.”
Corbyn challenged on nuclear deterrent, again
At a campaign stop in Lincoln on Saturday, Jeremy Corbyn promised to protect Britain from global threats after facing criticism for refusing to say whether he would launch a retaliatory nuclear strike.
The Labour leader suggested he would sign off on more ships for the Navy and extra surveillance aircraft for the RAF alongside pledges to boost funding and numbers in the police and armed services.
It comes after Corbyn came under tough interrogation over his attitude to nuclear weapons during Friday’s BBC Question Time leaders special. He has repeatedly been asked throughout the campaign about whether he would “push the button”.
Labour officially backs the renewal of Britian’s nuclear deterrent, but Corbyn has spoken against the move in the past.
After hosting a roundtable with pensioners in Lincoln, Corbyn was asked if he would keep the British people safe as prime minister. The Labour leader replied: “We will protect the people of this country from any threat that they face anywhere in the world.
He went on:
We will invest properly in our police service, we will invest properly in our armed services, the numbers in the armed services have gone down, the Navy are crying out for more ships, the Air Force are crying out for more surveillance aircraft. We would fund them properly to achieve all of that.
We would also face up to the terrible danger of cyber attacks against our society, look what happened to the NHS only two weeks ago, and we will deal with the issue of the terrorist threat which is obviously appalling.
What happened in Manchester was dreadful beyond belief, the way you deal with that is putting more police on the streets - we will put 10,000 more police on the streets, the Conservatives are taking 20,000 off the streets. We will fund the security services to monitor people and protect them, but also our strategy is to bring communities together.”
Sturgeon urges end to austerity
Nicola Sturgeon, who spent much of the morning in a helicopter (see 10:56), has been telling voters they have a “golden opportunity” to end austerity across the UK.
The Scottish first minister said the poll on June 8 will give people the chance to say “enough is enough” and urged them to back her party, saying “now more than ever it is vital that we have strong SNP voices standing up for Scotland”.
She said:
The Tories’ austerity agenda has failed on every count - not only has it choked off the economic recovery but the years of underinvestment have put huge pressure on public services across the UK.
We simply can’t go on with more of the same but that is exactly what the Tories are planning to do - and this snap election has presented a golden opportunity for voters across Scotland to say enough is enough.
With polls tightening across the UK, the votes of people across Scotland could determine the size of Theresa May’s majority in the next parliament.”
Nigel Farage has said he felt “a degree of vindication” after hearing that prosecutors had brought charges against Craig Mackinlay, the Conservative candidate who defeated him in South Thanet in 2015. The former Ukip leader told the Press Association:
I was very upset two years ago at the circumstances and what took place in that seat.
I never complained, I never said anything in public about it but I did feel, with the Crown Prosecution yesterday deciding to prosecute three people, a degree of vindication.
Yesterday it emerged Mackinlay will face court after the election over allegations relating to election spending in his battle with Farage, but insists he is confident he will be cleared and will continue to campaign for re-election as the Kent constituency’s MP.
After the charges against him and two Tory officials were announced, he received the backing of Theresa May, who said: “The Conservative Party continues to believe that these allegations are unfounded. Craig Mackinlay is innocent until proven guilty and he remains our candidate.”
But Farage claimed the charges reflected “badly” on the PM and said if he was running the party he would have told Mackinlay that he could not stand but would bring him back if he was found innocent.
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Corbyn says Tories in 'chaos' over tax plans
Jeremy Corbyn has said the Tories are in “chaos” over their tax plans.
After hosting a roundtable with pensioners in Lincoln, the Labour leader told reporters:
I think there’s complete chaos going on at the top of the government.
One minister says they’re going to give no more tax rises, indeed possibly tax reductions, for the very wealthiest; then they can’t answer the question about tax rises for the rest of the population; then they can’t answer the questions about funding social care.
Let’s be clear – what Labour are offering is no tax rises or national insurance rises or VAT rises for 95% of the population.
Updated
Labour launched its dedicated disability manifesto in Manchester today. It includes a pledge to scrap the bedroom tax and a promise to bring back housing benefit for the under-21s.
Labour's @Debbie_abrahams has launched Labour's #DisabilityManifesto today in Manchester. Nothing about you without you #Solidarity #GE2017 pic.twitter.com/C0zUEpUpfs
— Jeremy Corbyn for PM (@JeremyCorbyn4PM) June 3, 2017
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Lunchtime summary
- The defence secretary, Sir Michael Fallon, said in an interview published today that high earners will not face income tax rises if Theresa May is returned to No 10. “You’ve seen our record. We’re not in the business of punishing people for getting on,” he said. “On the contrary, we want people to keep more of their earnings. The only way they can be sure their taxes won’t rise is to vote Conservative.”
- But during a campaign presser in West Yorkshire this morning, May refused to echo Fallon’s claims. “Our plans on tax have been set up in the manifesto, we are a party that believe in low taxes … when people come to vote they know they have a choice between a party that has always believed in lower taxes and a Labour party whose manifesto we know will cost ordinary working people,” she said.
- The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, said Fallon’s comments showed the Tories were the party for “the few, not the many”, and the Lib Dem former business secretary Sir Vince Cable said they indicated that the Tories would raise national insurance instead.
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Meanwhile, Iain Duncan Smith was on the Today programme to defend May’s refusal to debate with Corbyn, maintaining that debates didn’t change opinion. The former Labour leader Ed Miliband refuted this, stating: “I think that debates and opportunities to speak to the public do have an effect, particularly for leaders of the opposition.” Miliband also said Corbyn’s was a “more radical” manifesto but that “it’s a manifesto I’m proud to be associated with”.
Updated
Vince Cable says Fallon's comments indicate Tories will increase national insurance
The Lib Dem former business secretary Sir Vince Cable has said Michael Fallon’s comments about income tax “raise the obvious question as to where the Conservatives will raise the money that their chancellor knows will be needed if promised funding for schools, the NHS, the police and defence is to materialise.
“Since they are ruling out increases in income [and] corporate tax and VAT we must assume that there will be an increase in national insurance and in various ‘stealth taxes’ yet to be specified. It undoubtedly raises suspicions.”
Updated
The foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, and shadow minister Andrew Gwynne were on the news channels to discuss last night’s debates. Here’s how it went …
Things got fiery between Boris Johnson and Shadow Minister Andrew Gwynne...for the second time in five days pic.twitter.com/dQCGTtBxQS
— Sky News (@SkyNews) June 3, 2017
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Nicola Sturgeon has embarked on her tour of Scottish constituencies via a helicopter, which has been dubbed the “Nicolopter”.
Updated
During the presser May said Labour was scaremongering on the closure of A&Es, and asked people to look at the Conservative party’s increased funding for the NHS.
Updated
May was also asked whether she was insulting the public’s intelligence “with stupid slogans”.
“I’ve been running a campaign which has been setting out the very clear choice the British people have and the very real challenges the government faces over the next five years,” she said. “It’s an important chance for our country, that choice is between a strong and stable leadership… or Jeremy Corbyn and a coalition of chaos.”
Asked whether she had a direct message which she didn’t have a chance to deliver due to any lack of head-to-head debate, the prime minister said her direct message was actually to the British people. If you want to ensure we get Brexit negotiations right and a government who delivers the will of the people, and a party that has a vision for a more prosperous, fairer future then the only vote is a Conservative one, she said.
Updated
Theresa May refuses to rule out income tax rises
Theresa May just gave a campaign speech in West Yorkshire before taking questions from the press, during which she refused to echo Michael Fallon’s claims that the Conservatives would “absolutely” not raise income tax.
“It’s the Conservative party that always has been a low tax party, and it’s our firm intention to reduce tax for ordinary working families,” May said when questioned on taxation.
Pressed on Fallon’s guarantee, she added: “Our plans on tax have been set up in the manifesto, we are a party that believe in low taxes … when people come to vote they know they have a choice between a party that has always believed in lower taxes and a Labour party whose manifesto we know will cost ordinary working people.”
The prime minister said the Tories were committed to lowering the tax burden on working families, but would not be drawn on specifically ruling out income tax hikes.
To recap, Fallon said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph that high earners would not face income tax rises if May returned to No 10. “You’ve seen our record. We’re not in the business of punishing people for getting on,” he said. “On the contrary, we want people to keep more of their earnings. The only way they can be sure their taxes won’t rise is to vote Conservative.”
Updated
Miliband - Corbyn manifesto 'more radical than mine'
Continuing to defend May’s performance in the election campaign, Iain Duncan Smith said: “I think in all campaigns you’ll get ups and downs, particularly when you’re defending records, it’s much more difficult as a government to defend a record, it means sometimes you get on the back foot. But I think, all in all, I sense that the Theresa May that I know is coming out much more.”
Miliband responded that May had lost the mantle of change. “She came on to the steps of Downing Street, and some people said she sounded a bit like some of what I’d said with a bit of Nigel Farage thrown in, but she’s lost the mantle of change,” he said. “I don’t know why she’s running for prime minister, I don’t know what her vision is for the country, I don’t know what her agenda is, whereas I do know what Corbyn’s agenda is. It’s a more equal society.”
He added: “It’s a more radical manifesto than mine but it’s a manifesto I’m proud to be associated with.”
Updated
Iain Duncan Smith and Ed Miliband were on the Today programme this morning to discuss last night’s debate.
IDS defended Theresa May’s refusal to debate with Jeremy Corbyn, stating: “If you watched the presidential debates all through the presidential election it didn’t really change anything at all, and my sense is actually the audience participation debates are better than the head-to-heads for the very simple reasons that you saw last night.”
He said the issue around the nuclear weapons was a big one. “Why would you have a policy in which you’re prepared to spend billions of pounds to have a nuclear deterrent and then tell the world you’ll never use it, in which case it’s a waste of money and they will know that you’ll never use it so it doesn’t deter anybody.”
Miliband rebutted this: “I think that debates and opportunities to speak to the public do have an effect, particularly for leaders of the opposition, because the reality is that at the beginning of this campaign not many people had seen Jeremy Corbyn in an unmediated way. And what we’ve seen in this campaign is actually Jeremy Corbyn strengthening with every public appearance and, if I may say so, Theresa May weakening,” he said. “She started off this campaign by saying she could be strong and stable, I’m afraid strong and stable now seems like a bit of a joke, because she’s seemed weak and wobbly in so many different circumstances. Whether it’s refusing to debate Corbyn, whether it’s her U-turn on social care [or] not standing up to Donald Trump.”
IDS said May had “made it very clear to Trump privately and publicly she disagreed fundamentally with his position [on climate change], she also said she stands for the Paris accord.”
Updated
Today's papers
Much of the focus of Saturday’s papers is on last night’s debate.
“PM falters as she is challenged over record on public services” is the Guardian splash.
The Telegraph leads on the line that the PM had “balls” to call the election and focuses on criticism levelled at Corbyn about Trident, while the Mirror takes another tack, saying May was “savaged over her dismal record”.
The Mirror shines a light on May in its piece headlined “Grilled chicken”, saying she was “savaged over her dismal record” by the audience, with one member saying she has made U-turns and broken promises.
May gets a lighter write-up in the Times, with sketch writer Patrick Kidd comparing her “straight bat” approach to questions to that of her hero Geoffrey Boycott.
The Sun says Corbyn was “heckled over his sums as an audience member compared his manifesto to a wishlist for Father Christmas”.
The other main story in the papers follows up comments from Nicola Sturgeon that she would be prepared to back Labour on a vote-by-vote basis.
The Mail runs the headline “Sturgeon: Vote Corbyn, Get Me”, while the Express has “Sturgeon: I’ll Help Corbyn”.
The announcement that Conservative candidate Craig Mackinlay would face charges over alleged electoral expenses fraud leads the Mirror and i.
Updated
Guardian editorial: 'Labour deserves our vote'
Yesterday the Guardian published its election editorial backing Labour. I’ve pasted a section below, but you can read the full article here.
As Mrs May’s credibility on the campaign has withered, Mr Corbyn’s has grown. Mr Corbyn unquestionably has his flaws. Many see him as a fluke, a fringe candidate who stole the Labour leadership while the rest of his party was asleep. In parliament he failed to reach beyond his faction. He is not fluent on the issues raised by a modern, sophisticated digital economy. His record of protest explains why some struggle to see him as prime minister.
But Labour’s leader has had a good campaign. He has been energetic and effective on the stump, comfortable in his own skin and in the presence of others. He clearly likes people and is interested in them. He has generated an unfamiliar sense of the possible; once again, people are excited by politics. The campaign itself has been unexpectedly strategic, based on a manifesto adroitly pitched both at energising Labour’s base and the under-35s, who have responded with rare enthusiasm. That manifesto quickened political pulses. It’s not perfect – it over-emphasises the state and fails to tackle Tory benefit cuts – but it is a genuine attempt to address a failing social and economic model.
Meanwhile, you can take a look at the Guardian’s leader line on every general election since 1918 here.
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Today's campaign schedule
- Theresa May is campaigning in Penistone and Dewsbury, Yorkshire, from around 10am.
- Jeremy Corbyn is in Lincoln from 11.15am, Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, from 2.15pm and Beeston from 3.45pm.
- Nigel Farage is in Thurrock from 10am and Thanet.
- Nicola Sturgeon is visiting 30 constituencies by helicopter from 9am.
- Other events include the Labour former chancellor Alistair Darling in Glasgow; the Ukip leader, Paul Nuttall, in Skegness, and Simon Hughes unveiling a Lib Dem campaign poster in Westminster.
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In response to Fallon’s comments, the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, said the policy showed the Tories were the party for “the few, not the many”:
The mask has finally slipped. The only guarantee the Tories are prepared to give at this election is to big business and high earners, while low and middle income earners have seen no guarantee from Theresa May that their taxes won’t be raised, and pensioners are left to worry about whether they will be able to heat their homes or even keep their homes, with no clarity on cuts to winter fuel payments or the dementia tax.
Updated
Michael Fallon says income tax 'absolutely' will not rise under Tories
The defence secretary, Sir Michael Fallon, has said in an interview published today that high earners will not face income tax rises if Theresa May is returned to No 10.
The Conservative manifesto committed to keeping tax “as low as possible” but did not commit to David Cameron’s triple tax lock, which ruled out increases in income tax, VAT and national insurance. Asked by the Daily Telegraph if high earners could confidently vote Conservative safe in the knowledge that their income tax would not rise, Fallon said:
Yes. You’ve seen our record. We’re not in the business of punishing people for getting on. On the contrary, we want people to keep more of their earnings.
The only way they can be sure their taxes won’t rise is to vote Conservative. We already know your tax will go up if you vote Labour on Thursday.
Updated
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the final Saturday of the general election campaign. The parties have released some of the big guns for a series of media appearances in a last-ditch attempt to win over voters.
Discussions continue over the events of last night, when Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn appeared on a special edition of BBC Question Time to answer audience questions and put forward their case for being elected to Downing Street. Both faced a string of hostile questions on everything from taxation to foreign policy.
May, under pressure after refusing to turn up for a TV debate earlier in the week, was animated at first and rejected an accusation that she had performed a U-turn by calling a snap general election. But the prime minister came under sustained pressure over the Conservative party’s record on public sector pay, mental health services and social care. The standout moment was when a nurse, Victoria Davey, confronted her over the 1% pay increase received by NHS staff, to which May responded: “I’m being honest with you saying we will put more money in, but there isn’t a magic money tree that we can shake to get everything we want.”
Another woman from the audience became emotional as she described emerging from a fitness-for-work test in tears after being asked about her suicide attempts.
Corbyn’s most uncomfortable moment was when he was questioned repeatedly over defence and security. Pressed over his willingness to push the nuclear button in the face of imminent threat, the Labour leader insisted that “the idea of anyone ever using a nuclear weapon anywhere in the world is utterly appalling and terrible”. Asked again if there were any circumstances in which he would use such a weapon, Corbyn said his party had committed to renew Trident.
The comments led to a heated exchange, with an exasperated member of the audience asking if Corbyn would not even fire back if attacked. He finally received support from one woman in the audience who said she could not understand why others wanted to kill millions of people by discharging a nuclear weapon.
You can read our full report of the debate below.
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