General election news – live: Boris Johnson campaign hit after ‘secret plan to sell off NHS’ revealed, as PM’s most senior adviser warns about hung parliament
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Jeremy Corbyn has released an uncensored version of government documents which he claims shows the NHS is “on the table” in any post-Brexit trade deal with the US. “This is not only a plot against our NHS, it’s a plot against our country,” said the Labour leader.
It comes as a record number of people registered to vote on the final day applications were open, with 660,000 signing up in the huge last-minute spike. Around 450,000 of them were under the age of 35 – the demographic most likely to vote Labour at the general election.
Nicola Sturgeon, meanwhile, has warned “there is worse to come” if the Tories win the election as she launched the SNP manifesto today. She claimed her party can stop the Conservatives “selling off Scotland’s NHS” under any future trade deal with the US.
SNP candidate forgets which constituency he’s standing in
Dearie me. John Nicolson, the SNP’s candidate for Ochil and South Perthshire, appeared to forget which constituency he is standing in during a hustings event.
He said “here in East Dunbartonshire” before the audience began booing loudly. Despite the reaction Nicolson carried on and said he would “always listen”. East Dunbartonshire is the seat he lost to Jo Swinson in 2017.
Tory lead cut to 11 points in latest poll
Latest YouGov poll shows another slight narrowing in the Conservative lead. The Tories are up one point of 43 per cent, but Labour is up two on 32 per cent. The company’s tracker shows a clear two-party squeeze going on in recent weeks.
The latest YouGov poll has found that exactly the same proportion of people – 30 per cent – think Jeremy Corbyn is “personally antisemitic” and Boris Johnson is “personally racist”. Grim.
‘No sale of the NHS,’ says Johnson
Boris Johnson has responded to Jeremy Corbyn’s big announcement this morning – saying it was “total nonsense” to suggest the NHS has been discussed in trade talks with the US.
Speaking in Cornwall, he said: “It’s total nonsense. This is brought up time and again by the Labour Party as a distraction from the problems that they are having, particularly with the absence of leadership on stamping down on antisemitism and also the absence of leadership on the EU.
Asked if he would guarantee that the length of drug patents would not be on the table in trade negotiations, Johnson said: “I can give you an absolute cast-iron guarantee that this is a complete diversion. That the NHS under no circumstances would be on the table for negotiation, for sale. Look at what we’re doing with it – we’re funding it massively.”
Johnson added: “We are absolutely resolved that there will be no sale of the NHS, no privatisation. The NHS is not on the table in any way ... in no aspect whatever.”
He was speaking after touring Goonhilly Earth Station, the international satellite teleport where he fired three thrusters on a simulator and met staff.
Swinson’s favourability has declined in recent weeks
Ipsos MORI has released a poll on the favourability of party leaders with voters – and it shows a marked decline in the popularity of Jo Swinson since the early days of the campaign.
Jeremy Corbyn’s “ratings” have improved slightly (though still pretty bad), while Boris Johnson have dipped slightly.
PM offers apology, of a kind, for Islamophobia in Tory party
Boris Johnson has apologised – sort of – for the “hurt and offence” that has been caused by Islamophobia within Conservative ranks.
He told reporters: “Obviously whenever we have an incident of antisemitism or Islamophobia or whatever in the Conservative party, we take a zero-tolerance approach ... We have a one bounce and we deal with it approach to this.
“We are going to have an independent inquiry into Islamophobia, antisemitism, every manner of prejudice and discrimination, and it will start before Christmas.”
Asked if he apologised for the Islamophobia that has taken place in the Tory party, he replied: “Of course and for all the hurt and offence that has been caused - of course we do.
“All that is intolerable and it’s so important as a country that we don’t allow that kind of thing, and that's why we're going to have the independent inquiry.”
Johnson and Corbyn blank BBC debate
Neither Boris Johnson nor Jeremy Corbyn will attend the BBC’s seven-way election debate on Friday.
The BBC News press team has announced that Treasury minister Rishi Sunak will attend for the Tories while shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey will represent Labour.
Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson and SNP chief Nicola Sturgeon will both feature in the debate. Also due to take part are leader of Plaid Cymru Adam Price, former Green leader Caroline Lucas, and Brexit Party chairman Richard Tice.
The debate is due to take place on BBC One on Friday at 7.30pm.
Cleverly accuses Corbyn of ‘dead cat’ press conference
The Tory party chairman James Cleverly has claimed Jeremy Corbyn’s NHS sell-off claims were merely a “dead cat” stunt designed to distract from his Andrew Neil interview.
The phrase refers to the introduction of a shocking topic to change the conversation – and is most associated with Tory strategy Lynton Crosby.
Cleverly tweeted: “Corbyn and Labour clearly believed that if the lie was big enough they could get away with it. The #NHS is not, and will never be for sale.”
SNP would need ‘zero tolerance’ on racism to support any PM
Nicola Sturgeon has said that any would-be prime minister seeking SNP support in a hung parliament must be committed to “zero tolerance” of antisemitism, Islamophobia or any other form of racism.
While saying Jeremy Corbyn had failed to deal properly with the issue of antisemitism in Labour, she made clear that she would not rule out supporting him in return for an early referendum on Scottish independence.
‘Rabbi Mirvis doesn’t speak for me, but that doesn’t mean he’s wrong about Jeremy Corbyn’
Our columnist Matthew Norman explains why he believes fears about a Corbyn government have become outsized – but he does not doubt the sincerity of the concern.
Can British service companies really flourish after Brexit?
Michael Gove has come in for criticism after he wrongly claimed there is no single market for services in the EU and argued British companies will “flourish” after Brexit.
Our associate editor Sean O’Grady has taken a look at the cabinet minister’s claims.
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