Liberal Democrats target Boris Johnson with new election posters: 'He lied to the Queen, parliament, the people'

Election ad shows prime minister with Trump and Farage, asking: 'Brexit's good for them, how is it for you?'

The Liberal Democrats have gone on the attack on Boris Johnson personally, with new general election posters accusing the prime minister of lying to the Queen and parliament and being in league with Donald Trump and Nigel Farage on Brexit.

The posters, which focus on the question of trust in the 12 December election, will be displayed in target seats which Jo Swinson’s party believes it can win from the Conservatives to deny Mr Johnson the overall majority he needs to deliver Brexit.

They come after TV debate audience members laughed at the prime minister when he said that trust was an important issue in the election.

One shows Mr Johnson by the slogan “He lied to the Queen, parliament, the people”, while the other has him flanked by a laughing Trump and Farage with the question: "Brexit is good for them, how is it for you?"

Lib Dem Brexit spokesman Tom Brake said: "Boris Johnson and his backers Nigel Farage and Donald Trump may stand to benefit from Brexit, but it is families across the country who will suffer.

"Johnson has shown time and again that he can't be trusted. He's lied to the Queen, he's lied to Parliament and he's lied to the British people.

"Now he is trying to dupe the public into believing that voting for him will make Brexit go away. This the biggest lie of all and it must be challenged head on. His disastrous Brexit plan would mean years more uncertainty and damage to our economy, NHS and public services.”

The launch came as Lib Dems unveiled an offer to increase the minimum wage by 20 per cent for employees on zero hours contracts, to compensate for the uncertainty of their incomes, along with a right to request a fixed-hours contract after 12 months.

(Liberal Democrats (Liberal Democrats)

The party’s business spokesman Sam Gyimah also pledged to establish a new ‘dependent contractor’ employment status for workers tied to one employer to enshrine rights such as minimum earnings, sick pay and holiday entitlement.

Mr Gyimah said: “The Tories are gambling with our economic future which would make workers in the gig economy vulnerable to the consequences of a damaging and destructive Brexit.

"The Liberal Democrats, as the natural party of business, will improve pay and enshrine rights and protections for gig workers.”

Meanwhile, Labour announced plans to expand 18 Violence Reduction Units to tackle gang-related crime.

Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott and shadow justice secretary Richard Burton will set out plans for units with an average of 20 additional officers each in police forces tackling the highest rates of gang-related violent crime.

(Liberal Democrats (Liberal Democrats)

Alongside this initiative, Labour was promising investment to tackle reoffending rates, with pilot innovations supported by a £20m annual Justice Innovation Fund for Police and Crime Commissioners and local criminal justice boards to develop and trial the best practice ways of reducing re-offending.

Ms Abbott said: “Tory cuts to the police have made our communities less safe.

“You can't have safety and security on the cheap and you can't believe a word that Boris Johnson says on policing.

“Labour will fully resource our police forces after Tory cuts and our focus on violence reduction units will make a public health approach to tackling crime a reality.”