Boris Johnson has admitted that under his revised Brexit withdrawal agreement there would be checks on goods passing between Northern Ireland and Britain, and conceded that the Conservatives’ pledge to employ 50,000 “new” nurses includes the retention of 19,000 existing nurses.
The prime minister appeared on Sky News on the final Sunday ahead of the general election, and refused to say if he would stand down if he fails to win a majority, potentially becoming one of the shortest-serving PMs in history.
While the Conservatives retained a lead as high as 15 points over Labour in an Opinium poll, Jeremy Corbyn‘s party enjoyed a four-point boost in a survey by ComRes, cutting the Tory lead to six points, which would put Britain in hung parliament territory.
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App launched by Final Say campaigners offers tactical voting help
Campaigners for a Final Say referendum on Brexit have launched an app providing advice to voters ahead of the general election.
In an effort to deprive Boris Johnson of a majority government, the Vote for a Final Say organisation provides tactical voting recommendations and identifies the candidate in each constituency who is backing a referendum and best-placed to win.
Tony Blair and Sir John Major united to urge voters to put aside tribal loyalties in order to boost the chances of securing a Final Say referendum at the ballot box next week.
Voices – Young people are ready to make a difference this week
Enough Remain voters ready to vote tactically to stop Tory majority, poll says
The survey of 10,000 voters found that 44 per cent of Labour Remain voters would back the Liberal Democrats where they are best-placed to defeat Brexit-backing Conservatives, while 39 per cent of Lib Dem supporters are prepared to do the same to help a Labour candidate beat a Tory.
Despite Boris Johnson’s overall lead in the polls, campaigners for a Final Say referendum believe tactical voting on this scale could be enough to deny him the overall majority in the Commons – scuppering his plans to force through Brexit by 31 October.
The survey, released by the Vote for a Final Say campaign, which recently splintered from the People’s Vote group, suggests that movement in the polls during the election so far are largely explained by tactical votes, with Brexit Party supporters switching to Tories as the best means of delivering EU withdrawal and Lib Dems swinging behind Labour candidates in seats where Jo Swinson’s party stands no chance of victory.
Conservatives and Brexit Party received donations worth £8m from aviation
The Brexit Party, the Conservative Party and their MPs have received donations worth £8m from the aviation industry, according to new analysis.
The boss of a jet fuel company who regularly donated to the Tories over a decade has given the Brexit Party £5.2m in the past six months, figures show.
Extinction Rebellion climate campaigners said the donations showed that politicians could not be “trusted to protect the planet while they’re taking money from the biggest polluters”.
What are the marginal seats that could decide 2019 vote?
A general election is a nationwide ballot, but in reality the UK’s first-past-the post system means the outcome is decided in a few dozen swing seats which change hands.
Final polls of 2017 election campaign show wide gaps between pollsters
A chart of the final polls (via the BBC) ahead of the 2017 general election makes for interesting viewing. It shows the Conservatives under Theresa May had a lead of anything between a one point and 13 point lead. Overall, the pollsters in their final results had underestimate Labour support and sightly overestimated Conservative support.
The latest from Survation, Kantar, YouGov, and Opinium in the 2019 campaign now give the Tories a 9 point, 12 point, 10 point and 15 point lead respectively.
Boris Johnson’s immigration plan attacked by business leaders
Boris Johnson’s plans for strict restrictions on EU immigration after Brexit have been attacked by business chiefs, while Labour warned the NHS would “not survive”.
Long-awaited details of Tory plans for an ‘Australian-style points system’ – which would force lower-skilled migrants to leave the UK after their work visas expire – triggered a backlash.
The Confederation of British Industry criticised “too heavy an emphasis on the brightest and best”, who would face no limits on coming to Britain if Brexit goes ahead.
We’ll be open to pacts with Labour if Corbyn steps down, say Lib Dems
“I have been working with people from the Labour Party, and people from the Conservative Party, and the SNP, and Plaid Cymru, and the Green Party to try and stop Brexit and try and secure a people’s vote so that we can remain in the EU.
“I’ve been doing that for the last couple of years and I will certainly be continuing to do that.
“Obviously, Jeremy Corbyn… is completely unfit to be prime minister, as is Boris Johnson for a whole host of different reasons.
“And so, if Labour are in a situation where they consider that Jeremy Corbyn is no longer fit to lead them, then we will of course look to keep working with people to try and secure a people’s vote.”
Swinson admits the ‘naughtiest thing’ she has done in smoke cannabis
Pressed on what the naughtiest thing she had done was, Liberal Democrat leader, Jo Swinson, told the Press Association: “I did smoke a fair bit of cannabis at university.
“I don’t know whether that counts as particularly naughty, but your readers and viewers will be able to make up their own mind on that.”
Pressed to define a “fair bit” of cannabis, Ms Swinson said: “It wasn’t just one, and I did inhale.”
Where do the parties stand on LGBT+ rights?
With less than a week to go until the British public head to the polls in the first December election for nearly a century, all the political parties have now published their blueprints for government. Here The Independent looks at where each party stands on LGBT+ rights, and how they propose to extend them should they win power.
Channel 4 election debate tonight
Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson will go head-to-head with shadow education secretary Angela Rayner tonight in the latest televised debate of the general election campaign.
Ms Swinson and Ms Rayner will be joined for Channel 4’s Everything but Brexit Debate by the co-leader of the Green Party, Jonathan Bartley, Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price and the SNP’s health spokesperson, Philippa Whitford.
Boris Johnson admits there will be Brexit customs checks
Here’s Ashley Cowburn with more detail on the PM’s backtrack over checks on goods travelling between Northern Ireland and Britain under his revised withdrawal agreement.
#VoteNotTory top trend on Twitter amid tactical voting push
A hashtag urging the public not to vote Conservative is currently the biggest trend on Twitter in the UK, as campaigners step up calls for people to vote tactically.
This video from Femi Oluwole has been viewed three quarters of a million times in little more than an hour…
…while The Guardian publishes advice on voting tactically…
…and campaigners launch a Final Say app to help voters decide how best to cast their vote to ensure a second Brexit referendum.
Brexit Party to become Reform Party
Nigel Farage has announced the vehicle for achieving his vision for Britain post-Brexit.
He told Sophy Ridge that his party will “have to reform into the Reform Party” – a name he’s already registered.
“It’ll have to campaign to change politics for good, get rid of the House of Lords, change the voting system,” Mr Farage said. “So much to do and again you’ll see on Thursday a turnout much lower than the pundits expect because people have lost faith in politics.”
Farage says Brexit Party has good chance of winning some of ‘a handful’ of seats, despite polling at three per cent
Nigel Farage has denied suggestions that his party will not win a single seat in Thursday’s vote.
Having initially fielded 600 candidates, Mr Farage ceded the vast majority of constituencies to the Tories in a controversial electoral pact of sorts. He has since been urged by Brexit Party defectors to pull out of the election, according to The Times.
“Well I think there’s a handful in which we’ve got a seriously good chance of winning and I think we will get some in, I genuinely do.”
He said the way the polling industry operates is “laughable” and he expects to receive 13 per cent of the total vote on election day.
James Cleverly apologises for Tory Islamophobia and claims Boris Johnson ‘has apologised’ for letterbox comments
Appearing on BBC5 Live, the Tory Party chairman was asked if he wanted to apologise for Islamophobia within his party.
“Well, course, I’m sorry and I’m sorry when people do or say things that are wrong,” he said. “But I am confident that my party has a robust mechanism for dealing with it.
He says where people have had to be sanctioned or expelled from the party, “that has happened”.
The Muslim Council of Britain has demanded the Equalities and Human Rights Commission investigate the Tories over Islamophobia, with spokesman Miqdaad Versi telling Radio 4 in late November of a “structural problem” within the party “where Islamophobia is not only tolerated, but people who have engaged in Islamophobia in different ways are let back into the party if any action is taken in the first place”.
James Corden plays Boris Johnson in ‘good-looking bad boys of NATO’ sketch
Saturday Night Live has been treating US viewers to an alternative look at Britain’s prime minister, courtesy of James Corden.
It re-imagines some of the other goings on amid the chatter of last week’s Nato summit that saw Donald Trump leave early.
Jo Swinson challenged over her popularity and asked if sexism plays a role
“It almost feels like the more people see of you, the less they like you – is that difficult?” Sophy Ridge asked the Liberal Democrat leader.
“We’re in an election and I’m taking a very clear position on Brexit – I want to remain in the EU – and I do recognise that some people aren’t going to like that,” Ms Swinson replied.
“They might not like what I say on Brexit, some people don’t like that I say I want Scotland to stay within the UK.
“Some people don’t like the way I talk or what my shoes look like or whatever else, but, you know what, I’m going to still stand up for what I believe in because I want to change things. I believe our future can be better, our country can be better.”
Asked if she believes sexism plays a role in the public’s opinion of her, she said she knew that “double standards apply” in public life before she took on the role, and said one of the ways to make the world less sexist is “by having women in leadership roles, blazing a trail” and that she was “delighted to be doing that”.
Enough Remain voters ready to vote tactically to stop Tory majority, poll says
Around a tenth of the electorate could be prepared to switch allegiances and vote tactically at the general election next week, new polling released by the Vote for a Final Say campaign suggests, Andrew Woodcock and Lizzy Buchan report.
The survey of 10,000 voters found that 44 per cent of Labour Remain voters would back the Liberal Democrats where they are best-placed to defeat Brexit-backing Conservatives, while 39 per cent of Lib Dem supporters are prepared to do the same to help a Labour candidate beat a Tory.
Despite Boris Johnson’s overall lead in the polls, campaigners for a Final Say referendum believe tactical voting on this scale could be enough to deny him the overall majority in the Commons – scuppering his plans to force through Brexit by 31 October.
…As Final Say campaigners launch tactical voting app
John McDonnell says Labour has done ‘everything I think we can possibly do’ in response to antisemitism crisis
The shadow chancellor gave what appeared to be an emotional response as Andrew Marr challenged him on antisemitism within the Labour Party, which he describes as a “horrible, horrible period”.
“I apologise to the Jewish community for the suffering we’ve inflicted on them,” he said. “I say to them we’re doing everything possible.
“We’re going to learn more lessons and we want to be the shining example of anti-racism the Labour Party should be and I hope I come out of this now, having gone through this horrible, horrible period, actually showing respect to the Jewish community and tackling this issue.”
