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Tory leadership: Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt answer questions in digital hustings - live news Tory leadership: Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt answer questions in digital hustings - as it happened
(over 1 year later)
Q: How would he get young people to vote for the Tories? Brexit watcher Christopher James has reservations about the Grieve/Beckett plan to derail a no-deal Brexit via an amendment:
Johnson says via appealing policies in the areas of housing, environment, and one “crucial thing”, the “excessive burden” of student debt. And the solution “may lie in the interest rate”, or elsewhere. Have gone through the Estimates. ‘Stop No Deal by defunding the Government’ would also mean:🚨 No NHS or schools funding🚨 No funding for Electoral Commission or National Audit Office🚨 No pay for anyone employed by the House Service (e.g chefs, security)🚨 No pay for MPs https://t.co/BajHtXsKdz
Q: How will he unite the country and heal Brexit divisons? His concerns are echoed elsewhere. This from tortoise’s Chris Cook and the Observer’s Michael Savage:
His answer is erratic, excuse my inability to note down one clear line it contained. Wait: all spending? Or designated No Deal spend?
Q: What will be his stance on immigration? And how will he avoid for his immigration policies to be viewed as xenophobic? It’s just a device to stop no deal that govt can’t ignore. Spending this financial year (as I understand it)
Johnson says he doesn’t think there has been any other Tory politician being as committed to talent as he has been, “but I do believe it should be controlled.” Says he is in favour of an Australia-style points-based system. No, i get that. I was just wondering whether it was literally all supply!
Who would be in his cabinet? He wants a more positive approach to Brexit, but wants to “leave it at that”, says he “made no promises”. Indeed. A vote on no deal seems to be their price.
Enter Boris Johnson. And this from the ex-director of legislative affairs at No 10, Nikki da Costa:
He opens his statement by saying the Tory party is “in crisis”. I had thought via @adampayne26 Grieve and Beckett were targeting main estimates. But apparently they are targeting departments DFID, DfE, DWP, MHCLG. So in a no deal scenario, no funds for overseas, schools, pensions, benefits, housing. Lovely plan!
These three things, Johnson says, need to happen: That’s it from me. Goodnight and thanks for tuning in.
1) “We need to come out of the EU on Oct 31”, with the help of someone who believes in the Brexit project And this from Kevin Schofield from PoliticsHome on the matter:
2) “We need to unite our party and our country”, says he was able to unite Londonders as Mayor. This is Huda Elmi, who sat on a Labour NEC panel today and voted for Chris Williamson’s suspension to be lifted. https://t.co/FMkJDpTaIV
3) Faster broadband for all parts of the country This from MP Luciana Berger, who left the Labour party earlier this year because she felt it had become an “institutionally anti-Semitic” party:
And he’s got a 4th: I thought when I left it wouldn’t be so painful. But it hurts now even more.For anyone left behind in @uklabour who expressed outrage at the time - what is your red line? What are you going to do? Silence/mealy tweets are tantamount to complicity.https://t.co/oZbOgqBD4l
4) Get the Tory party ready to fend off Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party at a general election. This from Sky’s Tom Rayner, in reaction to Berger’s tweet above:
The final question to Hunt is what he would do to improve children’s mental health. Ruth Smeeth & Margaret Hodge insisted tonight that under no circumstances would they leave Labour, despite their outrage over the Chris Williamson decision. They say they want "stay and fight"But Ian Austin & now Luciana Berger are asking how long they can hold that position https://t.co/brmlRmSDwH
Hunt says he wants to employ an extra 19.000 people totackle the youth mental health crisis, and that he wants the UK to be the first country to take children’s mental health seriously. And that’s it for him, his time is up. This just in from my colleague Patrick Wintour on the Chris Williamson case. Read the whole thread he has retweeted.
Next question is about how Hunt would reduce knife crime. The Young Labour rep on the Labour NEC in her concluding argument suggests it might have been expensive not to reinstate Chris Williamson. https://t.co/kMveKMFVPx
Hunt says reduction in police numbers went too far. Says Conservatives had to make difficult fiscal decisions post-financial crash, and the reductions in police spending and social care “went too far”, and that this would have to change. Says depite this scenario, he managed to negotioate an extra £20bn for he NHS as health secretary. My colleague Rowena Mason has written up a summary of the Tory hustings:
Hunt is asked about tariffs in case of no-deal. Boris Johnson: chances of no-deal Brexit are 'a million-to-one against'
Says “there isn’t a no-deal route” in regard to Gatt24 that wouldn’t require both sides to consent. Asked whether Boris Johnson has been lying in that regard then. Hunt gives evasive answer, says he wouldn’t exactly call it lying. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Chris Williamson’s readmission to the Labour party is generating more comments on Twitter than the Tory hustings.
Hunt is asked what his own faults are. Answer: “I certainly have plenty of faults.” Here my colleague Jessica Elgot’s story:
But adds it would “demean the competition” if he and Boris Johnson only pointed fingers at each other. 'Disgusting': Labour fury over return of Chris Williamson
Q: How will he ensure the north of the country is getting a better deal if he becomes PM? This from Ian Austin MP, formerly Labour and now independent:
Hunt says he is backing the Northern Powerhouse rail, and that he wants he UK to be “the world’s next Silicon Valley”. He wants a “northern tech-triangle”, like the “London-Oxford-Cambridge triangle” in the south. It’s a disgrace that Chris Williamson is let off with a warning. It shows the extent to which a party which had a proud record on racism has been poisoned under Jeremy Corbyn. The only question is when decent Labour MPs will finally say enough is enough and do something about it. https://t.co/m6vgRyaZqd
Hunt is asked whether he would simply go from Brexit extension to extension if he became PM. And this from Labour’s Jess Phillips MP:
Hunt says he wouldn’t. “I will leave without a deal, [...] but I will do so with a heavy heart.” If I'd said the things Chris Williamson did I would be out of the party no question.
Q: How confident are you that you can beat both Corbyn and Farage at a next general election? This from Labour MP Stella Creasy:
Hunt: “My absolute commitment is to not provoke a general election before we have left.” The decision to let chris Williamson back into party in time for him to stand again as a labour candidate is best example yet of why we need an independent process for anti Semitism and sexual harassment complaints and not mates rates ... #EnoughIsEnough
Says Conservative Party is the actual party standing up for small people, not Labour, and the party that “walks the walk” in terms of social justice, to a bit of jeering from the audience. This from The Times’ Henry Zeffman:
Hunt now says he will give “full rights” to the 3 million EU nationals in the UK. Hope Not Hate on Labour’s decision to readmit Chris Williamson pic.twitter.com/BcZ1eHwSs9
A question about big infrastructure projects: Would he support HS2 and a third Heathrow runway? Hunt says he would back both as PM. And this from Sky News’ Tom Rayner:
Hunt says US-UK relationship should be treated as “sacred”. NEW: Senior source tells me Jewish Labour Movement will ask the @EHRC to use statutory powers to request WhatsApp messages of @ClaudiaWebbe in relation to the NEC dispute panel meeting on Chris Williamson
He is asked about the future of the NHS in case of no-deal and the potential threat of “creeping privatisation” of the health service. Hunt said president Trump misunderstood British demonstrants campaigning for better NHS funding. This from The Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn:
Hunt now speaks about the rise of China, which, he says, “is not a democracy”, mentions his wife, jokes: “Got the nationality right!” Justice Secretary David Gauke tells #Peston he will resign from the Cabinet if Boris becomes PM: "On the basis of what I’ve heard so far, I wouldn’t serve. To be fair to him, I wouldn’t be able to give him full-hearted support".
My colleagues Rowena Mason and Heather Stewart have written a piece about a planned Tory MP attempt to throw a spanner in the works of no-deal proceedings.
Tory MPs try to stop no-deal Brexit with amendment
This is from the BBC’s Glenn Campbell:
“Get #Brexit done right, I think we can cement and intensify the Union”⁦@BorisJohnson⁩ thinks #Brexit will make Scottish independence “less likely”Weekend poll suggested #indyref2 would go the other way if he becomes PMClip via ⁦@Conservatives⁩ digital hustings pic.twitter.com/NETVG6SziW
An interesting piece of info from the Observer’s Michael Savage:
NEW: Cross-party group of MPs to launch plan next week to block all government spending in the event of No Deal.Amendment to be attached to government estimates next week. Grieve/Beckett leading it. #CommonsCoup
This from the Daily Mirror’s Pippa Crerar:
Boris Johnson, asked if he would suspend Parliament to force through No Deal, refuses to answer. If that is his strategy, it’s deeply worrying. 👇🏼👇🏼 pic.twitter.com/gDlUkT8ZsQ
Conservative MP Mark Francois, the deputy chairman of the European Reserach Group, has told Robert Peston that Boris Johnson has promised the ERG not to bring the withdrawal agreement back for another vote.
There is absolutely no way the ERG would vote to revive the Withdrawal Agreement and @BorisJohnson has “absolutely guaranteed” he won’t be bringing it back Mark Francois tells @Peston #Peston pic.twitter.com/AyeMQPoETq
This from the Spectator’s Andrew Neill on Hunt’s and Johnson’s comments regarding the rules of Gatt24 in case of a no-deal exit:
Indeed. https://t.co/87sKe69MZn
Jeremy Hunt just posted this video on Twitter:
Today in Essex I spoke to small businesses about how I am going to cut business rates to help them thrive. Watch my video: pic.twitter.com/hM6qql0VQz
And this is from the official BackBoris campaign:
🗣️ @BorisJohnson: "When I was Mayor of London, we got police back on the streets, we kept police numbers high, and the murder rate came down by 50%."#AskTheNextPM #BackBoris pic.twitter.com/cotbIEdCLz
Jeremy Hunt just told Peston on ITV that he “presumes from what Boris is saying” that Johnson would call a general election in case parliament takes no-deal off the table. I thought I’d heard Johnson say the opposite, but who knows with all this mumbling.
.@Jeremy_Hunt says that unlike Boris Johnson, he will not call a General Election if Parliament takes ‘no deal’ off the table #Peston. pic.twitter.com/5iTkZew7d3
This from Buzzfeed’s Emily Ashton:
Jeremy Hunt says impossible to use GATT 24 in case of no deal. So Johnson is lying? No "not a lie" just "factually incorrect" 🤷‍♀️ #AskTheNextPM