Inside Politics | Party leaders get the Question Time treatment 20 days before voters head to polls

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There are now only 20 days until the general election

The penultimate episode of the BBC’s long-running programme, the Apprentice, is without a doubt always the best. The final candidates in line for a £250,000 investment face a dreaded interrogation, with their CVs scrutinised by experts in the field. Their business plans are put under the microscope by some of Lord Sugar’s trusted advisers. Try and think of the special general election Question Time today in a similar fashion: a more entertaining way to spend a Friday evening. Boris Johnson, Jeremy Corbyn, Jo Swinson and Nicola Sturgeon will all appear on the programme from 7pm. Each will be given half an hour to debate with a live studio audience. Thank God It’s Friday. I’m Ashley Cowburn, and welcome to The Independent’s Inside Politics newsletter.

Inside the bubble

What to look out for on the campaign trail today

Jeremy Corbyn will be campaigning in the Midlands today after launching his manifesto for “Real Change” on Thursday in Birmingham before heading to the BBC studios. Boris Johnson will take a trip to Nottingham – having already visited the county several times since campaigning began. Several other parties are also due to unveil their manifestos today, including Scottish labour and Plaid Cymru. Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party is also scheduled to launch its own policies.

Daily briefing

LIFESTYLES OF THE RICH & FAMOUS: Launching his manifesto - the “most radical” for decades – Corbyn declared war on the “rich and powerful” with plans to raise £83bn through increased taxation on corporations and the top five per cent of earners. This, he said, will fund free broadband, the abolition of university tuition fees and a five per cent pay rise for public-sector workers. The “manifesto of hope” will also include plans for the biggest social housing building project since the Second World War and ambitious plans to tackle the climate emergency. Of course, the Conservatives are out in force accusing Corbyn of planning a “reckless spending spree”. But as the Institute for Fiscal Studies warned earlier in the campaign: public spending as a proportion of GDP will be back to levels not seen since the 1970s, who ever wins the general election. You can read a round-up of some of Labour’s key policies here.
QUIDS IN: The latest donation figures, covering the first week of the general election campaign, make for an intriguing read. According to the Electoral Commission, the Tories raised 26 times as much cash from big money donations as the Labour Party in the same period. They raked in a staggering £5.67m in large donations over £7,500 in a single week, compared to just £218,500 for Labour. Those inflating Johnson’s election war chest included private hospital owners, and numerous property developers. It doesn’t necessarily mean the Tories hugely outstripped Labour’s funds, as Corbyn’s party prides itself on raising the majority of its money in small donations. In the ten days after the election being called, the party said it had raised over £1m in donations averaging just £26. 
NOT QUIDS IN: An anti-Brexit campaign group, who bought the website “thebrexitparty.com” is offering to sell it to Nigel Farage for over a million pounds. Led By Donkeys said the entire fee, which will increase by £50,000 each day, would be donated to the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants. “When Farage and his millionaire backers set up the Brexit Party they didn’t have the foresight to buy up all of the websites with their own name, and we did,” said the campaigns co-founder. The Brexit Party has issued a legal letter to the group, requesting they “cease and desist” from using the Brexit Party logo and materials. “So far they are refusing to transfer the domain name,” a spokesperson added. That’s the Christmas spirit this election campaign has been missing.
CHICKEN RUN: Was the ITV head-to-head debate not enough? Well, tough. You will no longer be spending a relaxing Sunday evening watching a direct clash between Johnson and Corbyn. Despite an agreement reached between Channel 4 and Labour, a producer for the broadcaster announced last night it had been cancelled. “Gutted we’ve had to cancel a planned leaders debate,” Louisa Compton posted on her social media account. “We were unable to secure agreement from Boris Johnson team”. But that’s not the only debate the prime minister seems to be ducking: according to The Times, Johnson will not appear at a hustings in his constituency of Uxbridge. Expect to see reporters disguised as chickens following the prime minister around the country in the coming days.
VOTER REGISTRATION: Earlier this week, The Independent issued a call for everyone to participate in the most important general election for a generation, urging people to head to the government’s voter registration website. It is estimated that nine million eligible individuals are missing from the electoral register. Today, Corbyn launches his own drive, saying: “To achieve real change, I’m calling on people to take just five minutes  to get registered so they can make sure their voice is heard”. It comes after Labour’s manifesto also included plans to introduce automatic voter registration in the UK, and extending the franchise to all legal residents, including 16 and 17-year-olds. Applications to register to vote in December’s general election must be submitted by 11.59pm on Tuesday 26 November.
DUTY HIKE: Johnson is expected to launch his own manifesto this weekend (who said politicians don’t know how to enjoy themselves?), as he attempts to clip Corbyn’s wings with his own spending plans. The manifesto will detail plans to force homeowners who are not UK residents to pay higher stamp duty under a majority Conservative government. The party points to a recent study showing that 13 per cent of new London homes were bought by non-residents between 2014 and 2016, adding a significant amount of demand to a limited supply and inflating house prices. The surcharge will be levied on top of all other stamp duty payable and charged at three per cent. 

On the record

“Politics is a brutal old business, remember they all have families too – Ben Corbyn told us today he reckons his Dad looked like a ‘genuine PM’ + he hopes he does get to No 10 because Ben’s promised his son he can play FIFA there!”

The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, who had been speaking with the eldest of the Labour leader’s three sons.

From the Twitterati

“Yeah this is just so out of touch with reality. Just be happy you earn £80k, because 95 per cent of the population don’t."

From the Guardian’s Kate Proctor after a member of BBC Question Time criticised Labour’s tax plans to increase payments from the top five per cent of earners.

“This video highlights why I think learning about the distribution of income in the country should be an essential party of the school curriculum. Absolutely bizarre.

… adds economics editor at Open Democracy, Laurie Macfarlane.

Essential Reading

Rosena Allin-Khan, The Independent: This is what really happens behind the scenes in a general election campaign

Mark Steel, The Independent: Priti Patel thinks the government has nothing do you with your finances

Andrew Grice, The Independent: This is what Conservative insiders told me about Boris Johnson’s secret care plans

Mary Dejevsky, The Independent: It’s not only Prince Andrew who is out of touch with the spirit of our age. The royals must modernise or die