Boris Johnson news – live: Tory ministers face embarrassment over spending plan figures, as ‘scruff’ PM and Corbyn under fire for Remembrance Day wreath laying
All the latest updates from Westminster and beyond as they happened
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Business minister Kwasi Kwarteng refused to say how much Boris Johnson’s election pledges would cost – despite attacking Labour’s “reckless” spending plans.
The Conservative MP dodged the question during a TV interview after repeating his party’s claim that Jeremy Corbyn’s plans amounted to £1.2 trillion over five years.
In what was quickly described as a “car crash interview”, Mr Kwarteng told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “I’m not going to bandy around figures.” Ms Ridge replied: “But that’s what you’ve been doing for Labour.”
Meanwhile both the prime minister and the Labour leader faced criticism over their handling of the Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph, as the election campaign geared up for a second week.
Follow the latest developments in our liveblog below:
Good morning and welcome to The Independent's politics liveblog on the day election campaigning takes a back seat to the Remembrance Sunday commemorations. Boris Johnson, Jeremy Corbyn and Jo Swinson are all attending the traditional wreath-laying at the cenotaph in Whitehall, along with members of the Royal Family.
As Big Ben strikes 11am, a two minutes silence will be observed, with its beginning and end marked by the firing of a gun by the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery.
Buglers of the Royal Marines will sound the Last Post before wreaths are laid at the Cenotaph by members of the royal family, politicians, foreign representatives and senior armed forces personnel.
The Prince of Wales will lay the first wreath on behalf of the Queen, who will watch the service from a nearby balcony.
An equerry is due to lay a wreath for the Duke of Edinburgh who is not expected to be present after retiring from royal duties two years ago.
The Duke of Cambridge and the Duke of Sussex will follow their father in laying wreaths, while their wives will also watch the ceremony from balconies.
Five former prime ministers - Sir John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Theresa May - are also due to be in attendance.
Meanwhile the Conservatives have launched the second week of the general election campaign by attacking Labour's spending plans - which they say will cost £1.2 trillion over five years.
Chancellor Sajid Javid, suggested Jeremy Corbyn's party is committed to spending £650 million a day, telling The Sunday Times that the country "cannot afford Corbyn's spending spree".
However business minister Kwasi Kwarteng was unable to say how much the Conservative Party's own pledges would cost.
"I'm not going to bandy figures around," he told Sky News' Sophy Ridge on Sunday.
"But that's what you've just done for Labour," points out Ms Ridge.
Mr Kwarteng tries to bluster through it: "It's absolutely right for us to say this is what the opposition are saying and this is how much it is going to cost."
It has already been described as a "car crash interview".
As you can see, Mr Kwarteng repeatedly attempted to dodge questions about how much Conservative spending plans would cost.
The business minister also attempted to defend Boris Johnson's claim that there will be "no forms" or barriers to trade crossing the Irish sea after Brexit - which led to accusations the prime minister was reneging on the terms of his own Brexit deal.
Mr Kwarteng told Sky: "The Prime Minister is absolutely right: I think that the whole point of the deal is that we want to have a frictionless border but at the same time we want to leave the EU...
"From our side we want to have as little bureaucratic interference as possible and I think what the Prime Minister said is absolutely on the money."
And in his final contribution to the campaign this morning, Mr Kwarteng acknowledged that comparing Jeremy Corbyn to Stalin was not 100 per cent accurate.
He said: "The comparison was about the philosophy and the Marxism. Nobody is suggesting that Jeremy Corbyn is going to line people up and shoot them, nobody is suggesting that.''
Shadow defence secretary Nia Griffith has dismissed the Tories' £1.2 trillion figure as "absolutely ludicrous".
Ms Griffith told Sky: "We're not going to be implementing every single thing that was in our conference in this manifesto...
"You can only do a certain amount at once, can't you?"
Labour's shadow communities secretary Andrew Gwynne also told BBC's Andrew Marr that he is unable to say how much Labour's spending plans would cost because the manifesto hasn't been agreed yet.
The Conservatives have not enjoyed a great first week of the election campaign, with rows over Islamophobia in the party, the resignation of Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns and a series of gaffes including Jacob Rees-Mogg's comments about the Grenfell Tower fire.
Now another Tory candidate has been forced to step down over his racist and sexist posts on Facebook.
Green MP Caroline Lucas has told BBC's Andrew Marr that this election is a "climate election" after facing questions about her own contributions to carbon emissions.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments