General election news: Boris Johnson admits truth about ‘new’ NHS nurses and Brexit border checks, as Labour narrows Tory poll lead
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Your support makes all the difference.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.
Meanwhile both the Conservatives and the Brexit Party again refused to take part in an election debate on Channel 4. They were represented by empty podiums as Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson was accused by an audience member of being a “Tory in disguise”.
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."
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."
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.
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.
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.
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”.
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.
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.
Johnson said female suffrage only happened after cars invented 'because men realised women could run them down'
Boris Johnson said female suffrage only happened because men realised women could “run them down” with cars, in a video that has resurfaced on social media.
Mr Johnson made the bizarre comment to Sir Drummond Bone in an interview for the Voices from Oxford website in 2013 after he was asked about his 2007 book on cars, Life in the Fast Lane.
“I think that women's liberation – female suffrage – probably wouldn't have happened, if it hadn’t been for the motorcar,” said the prime minister, who was then mayor of London.
“Basically because men realised that women were at the wheel of a machine that could run them down.”
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