General election news - live: Tories plunged into spate of fresh fake news scandals, as BBC admits 'mistake' over edited Boris Johnson footage
Follow all the latest developments live
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.Boris Johnson has been accused of “deceit” after his promise of 50,000 more nurses for the NHS turned out to include almost 19,000 existing nurses the government simply wants to retain.
It comes as the BBC admitted it made a “mistake” by editing out the audience launching at Mr Johnson in a BBC Question Time clip. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, said it was “unbelievable” that the Tories re-named its official press office account “factcheckuk” during the recent TV debate.
A Tory candidate in Nottinghamshire, meanwhile, was caught getting one of his friends to pose as a fake swing voter, raising further questions about the party’s use of disinformation.
Tory social care pledge ‘couple of billion short’, says expert
Sally Warren, director of policy at the King’s Fund, said the Conservatives’ funding pledge for social care - which was already announced before the manifesto unveiling - is “a couple of billion pounds short a year” of what the sector needs.
Warren, who is a former director of social care policy at the Department of Health, told the Today programme: “The money we’ve seen from the Conservatives yesterday is not going to be enough to continue to meet demographic pressures as our population ages over the next five years.
“So the money isn’t enough and all the money would be doing would be to continue funding the current system, and that current system is widely seen to be very unfair for people who need to use it, and it has been struggling to be able to have enough funding to deliver high quality care.
On how big the gap is between the Tories’ promise of an extra £1bn a year over the next five years and the amount that is needed to help the sector, Warren added: “It’s probably a couple of billion pounds short a year.”
Tory claims not meeting ‘standards we expect’, says fact-checking group
The independent fact-checking organisation Full Fact has pulled Boris Johnson up on his claim that his ministers would increase day-to-day government spending by only £3bn.
The figure is small compared to Labour’s promised £83bn increase in spending, paid for by higher taxes on big businesses and the highest 5 per cent of earners.
But Full Fact said the Tories had not explained how every pledge in the manifesto would be funded. Full fact chief executive Will Moy said the party could “do more to meet the standards we expect” when it came to providing voters with “accurate and honest” information in the run up to polling day.
The organisation also poured scorn on the Tories’s estimate that retaining, recruiting and training nurses for the NHS in England will cost £879m in 2023/24.
“While it’s not clear how this has been calculated, that clearly isn’t the total cost of eventually having 50,000 more nurses on the NHS,” it stated.
It’s ... David Gauke’s dad
Independent candidate David Gauke has posted a rather nice video on Twitter with a family-related plot twist at the end.
The former Tory minister appears alongside Jim, a “dismayed longstanding Conservative”, whom Gauke says is now backing him.
“I am dismayed what has happened to the Conservative party now,” he says. “I could not vote for the Conservative party now, or the Labour party of course. Where I live I would have to vote Liberal Democrat.”
Jim adds that if he were living in Gauke’s constituency, he would “certainly” vote for him.
Gauke replies: “Thanks Dad.”
Jim was actually his father all along!
“You’re welcome son.”
Tactical voting could wipe out Tory majority, says Gina Miller
Gina Miller has warned that talk of a Tory landslide is premature, and claimed tactical voting could still ruin Boris Johnson’s dream of a majority.
Analysing the most recent poll of polls, the anti-Brexit campaigner’s Remain United team have found that the poll of polls Conservative lead over Labour of 13.1 per cent is actually lower than the 15 per cent recorded at the same time in the 2017 election campaign under Theresa May.
Miller said: “People are getting despondent when they read the headlines forgetting that in 2017, the 15 per cent lead was supposed to translate to a 100+ seat majority for Mrs May.
“Remain United’s data points to a Boris Johnson majority of 70 seats, BUT this could shrink to zero with pro-Remain smart tactical voting, as it did in 2017.”
Corbyn meets waspi women – and promises to ‘right the wrong’ over pensions
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been speaking to a group of “waspis” (women against state pension inequality) in Renishaw, north-east Derbyshire.
Labour has admitted its promise to give payouts to the three million women born in the 1950s – done out of their pension at 60 by changes in retirement age – may cost as much £58bn.
He told them: “I’m very proud that we’ve got that clearly in our manifesto and I’ll be very proud to go into government and say ‘this is the policy on which we’ve been elected and this is the policy that will now be carried out to right the wrong and the injustice that's been done to all of you’.
“I will do absolutely everything I can to make sure we win the election on December 12 and put that pledge into practice.”
Corbyn added: “People understand the injustice that’s been done to you and the need for the country as a whole to accept the moral responsibility for putting it right.”
Jeremy Corbyn meets women in Derbyshire (Getty)
Mayor cites ‘pattern of failure’ by Uber following London licence refusal
One of the big stories of the day so far is Transport for London’s shock decision to refuse Uber a new licence to operate in the capital.
Could it become an election issue? We’ve had no response from any of the parties’ big hitters so far.
But London’s Labour mayor Sadiq Khan has issued a statement saying he supports the decision and said TfL had identified a “pattern of failure” when it comes to passenger safety.
Blair says Corbyn winning majority would ‘pose a risk’ to UK
Former prime minister Tony Blair has said a Labour majority, however unlikely, would “pose a risk” to the country.
He also spoke out against a Tory majority, telling an audience at a Reuters Newsmakers event in London: “Both as majority governments pose a risk.”
He continued: “I don’t think a majority government of either side is a good thing.”
Attacking the rise of populism worldwide, Blair said: “In Britain populism focused on a policy, Brexit, which may be permanent. This policy has become the defining feature of the main party of government in Britain for around 200 years – the Conservative party.
“But then there is a populism of the left, and here the main opposition party of the past 100 years, the Labour party, has been taken over by left-wing populism.”
“In June 2016 we were a reasonably successful and influential power … fast forward to today and we’re a mess. The buoyancy of the world economy has kept us going. But should that falter we’re in deep trouble.”
The key seats that will decide the general election
With more talk of tactical voting today, there’s plenty of intriguing marginal constituencies to watch out for as polling day approaches.
Our associate editor Sean O’Grady has taken a closer look at some of the most crucial battles.
No 10 welcomes Hong Kong leader’s vow to ‘reflect’ on election results
Downing Street has said it remains “seriously concerned” at the situation in Hong Kong but welcomed chief executive Carrie Lam’s commitment to “reflect” on the election results.
Victory for Wu Chi-wai, leader of the city’s biggest pro-democracy party, is being seen as a clear rebuke to city leader over her handling of violent protests.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “We welcome the fact Carrie Lam has acknowledged the dissatisfaction in Hong Kong and has committed to reflect on the result of the election.
“We are pleased that this weekend’s vote took place peacefully but remain seriously concerned by the ongoing situation and continue to urge calm. Political dialogue is the only way forward and we want to see the Hong Kong authorities agree a path to resolve the situation.”
Foreign secretary Dominic Raab said there is now an opportunity to “find a way through the crisis” in Hong Kong after a landslide win for the opposition in local elections.
Raab said: “I welcome the Hong Kong government facilitating these elections, which were an important opportunity for the people of Hong Kong to make their voices heard.
“We don’t want to see any more violence. It was reassuring to hear Carrie Lam commit to reflecting seriously on the message delivered by the people of Hong Kong.”
‘Bring back Ceefax’: Count Binface unveils manifesto pledges
Count Binface – the comedy candidate standing against Boris Johnson in Uxbridge – has released his election manifesto.
Promising that it’s all full-costed, the man who was Lord Buckethead at the last election is pledging to rename London Bridge ‘Phoebe Waller’, ban speakerphones on public transport and bring back Ceefax immediately.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments