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General election: Amber Rudd joins exodus of MPs quitting parliament ahead of December poll – live news General election: Boris Johnson faces Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs amid pre-poll exodus of MPs – live news
(32 minutes later)
Corbyn says of course the NHS needs to import medicines. He just wants it to be done openly. He does not approve of secret talks.
Patients are waiting longer for cancer treatment, he says. Why can’t Johnson put the necessary resources into the NHS. Corbyn asks why NHS privatisation has doubled under this government. Nearly £10bn is spent on the NHS under this government.
Johnson says, if Corbyn is saying that he does not want dentists and Macmillan nurses to work with the NHS, he is “out of his mind”. Corbyn should pay tribute to the hard work of NHS staff. He should not talk down their achievements. He says a strong economy supports the NHS. Corbyn would wreck that.
Corbyn says we should not have private companies like Virgin Health suing the NHS. NHS money should not go into making people richer. Why has the number of people waiting for an operation reached a record high?
Johnson says the NHS is working harder and achieving more. He says the SNP government negotiated a much higher price for the cystic fibrosis drug than NHS England did. If people want to know what a Labour NHS would look like, look at Wales. Targets there are routinely missed, he says.
Corbyn says he welcomes the cystic fibrosis drug decision. But we have not been told what the deal actually was.
He says, although Johnson talks of 40 new hospitals, the real figure is just six.
He says the US wants full market access to the NHS. While the government is having secret meeting with US corporations, patients here are suffering. Why has the number of patients waiting longer for urgent NHS treatment tripled over the last nine years?
Johnson says waiting lists are improving. He says Corbyn should not be claiming credit for the cystic fibrosis drug decision. The drug company involved is American. Is Corbyn really saying the NHS should not be talking to companies like that?
Jeremy Corbyn pays his own tribute to John Bercow. He says Bercow has stood up for parliament. He says Labour hopes to form a government and expects to be held to account.
Bercow has also done his bit to open up parliament, Corbyn says. He has changed some of the strange customs, and has promoted diversity. And he has tried to change the Commons from being a gentlemen’s club and turn it into a democratic institution.
Corbyn says the PM’s sellout deal with Donald Trump will mean more NHS money going into private profit. He says the Channel 4 Dispatches investigation showed the health service has been repeatedly discussed with US officials. Why does Johnson say the NHS is not on the table?
Because it is not on the table, says Johnson.
He pays tribute to the way the NHS has recently made a cystic fibrosis drug available.
The NHS is getting more money because the economy has been growing under the Tories, he says.
Johnson confirms that the scheme for giving grants to thalidomide victims, which is due to end soon, will be reviewed with a view to it continuing.
Labour’s Alan Whitehead asks about the news that the Tory manifesto will be written by a lobbyist for the fracking industry.
Johnson says the government will soon make an announcement about fracking.
But this government yields to no one in its enthusiasm to cut carbon emissions, he says.
Boris Johnson starts by saying that after PMQs he will open the debate on the Grenfell Tower fire report.
He goes on to pay tribute to John Bercow, the Speaker, saying this is his last PMQs. He says Bercow has peppered the chamber with comments like some tennis player machine. (Bercow is a huge tennis fan, and an accomplished player himself.)
He says he disagrees with some of Bercow’s innovations as Speaker. But Bercow has done more than anyone since Stephen Hawking to “stretch time” in the chamber. (See 12.03pm.)
From Sky’s Lewis Goodall
I remember the last #pmqs of the previous Parliament was the longest ever. Given this will be the last PMQs of this one AND John Bercow’s final one too, we can expect to still be here tomorrow lunchtime.
From ITV’s Joe Pike
In Press Gallery for final pre-election #PMQs:-Lots of cross-party hugs for Amber Rudd who is standing down.-Sally Bercow and kids watching on (Speaker’s final #PMQs too).-Cheers from Tory benches as PM takes his seat (he had a chat with Nigel Dodds behind Speaker’s chair).
PMQs is about to start. It is only Boris Johnson’s third PMQs since he became prime minister in July.
Here is an interesting question from below the line.
Andrew, what is the likely effect on the election of 51 MPs standing down? Are those seats more likely to switch from current party to another? Or less?
Psephologists will tell you that there is a minor incumbency advantage in election; ie, sitting candidates do better all other factors considered than new candidates, because voters know who they are.
However, the impact is marginal. And since both the Conservatives and Labour have broadly similar numbers of MPs standing down, it is hard to see this factor making a difference. Some of the MPs standing down represent very safe seats. But in places like Putney, which is 35th on a list of Labour target seats and where Justine Greening is standing down, and Ashfield, 10th on a list of Tory target seats and where Gloria De Piero is standing down, the departure of an incumbent might arguably make a bit of a difference.
Here is an up-to-date list of MPs standing down from the Institute for Government’s Gavin Freeguard.
*CORRECTION*We reckon it's 53, excluding John Mann (h/t @MShepheard)Data here, corrections welcome: https://t.co/gXQRdXv3sR pic.twitter.com/T1Glt3Pqnv
What is probably more significant is how these departures will affect the composition of the parliamentary Conservative party and the parliamentary Labour party after the election. There are clearly some people around Boris Johnson who want to purge his party of remainers like Philip Hammond. And, in Labour, replacing centrists with leftwingers who back the Corbyn project has long been an ambition of those in the leader’s circle. It is too early to be know quite to what extent both these parties will be transformed after the election, but in both parties the post-election centre of gravity will probably be in a slightly different place.
You can read all of the Guardian’s election 2019 coverage here, including my colleague Dan Sabbagh’s analysis of the latest polling.You can read all of the Guardian’s election 2019 coverage here, including my colleague Dan Sabbagh’s analysis of the latest polling.
And here are three other articles from today’s papers about the polling situation.And here are three other articles from today’s papers about the polling situation.
Prof Sir John Curtice, the BBC’s lead polling expert, says in an article in the Times (paywall) Boris Johnson cannot afford not to achieve a majority.Prof Sir John Curtice, the BBC’s lead polling expert, says in an article in the Times (paywall) Boris Johnson cannot afford not to achieve a majority.
If the substantial net swing from Labour to Conservative in the present polls were to be realised at the ballot box, there are nearly 50 Labour seats that would fall into the Tory column. Winning those would more than compensate for losses elsewhere.If the substantial net swing from Labour to Conservative in the present polls were to be realised at the ballot box, there are nearly 50 Labour seats that would fall into the Tory column. Winning those would more than compensate for losses elsewhere.
Moreover, they are disproportionately located in the north of England and the Midlands, where many a voter backed leave, though, at 55%, the average support for leave in these seats was only somewhat above the 52% vote across the country as a whole.Moreover, they are disproportionately located in the north of England and the Midlands, where many a voter backed leave, though, at 55%, the average support for leave in these seats was only somewhat above the 52% vote across the country as a whole.
But while Mr Johnson’s hopes rest on taking Labour seats, the principal foundation underpinning his lead over Mr Corbyn’s party is not any marked success in winning over Labour votes.But while Mr Johnson’s hopes rest on taking Labour seats, the principal foundation underpinning his lead over Mr Corbyn’s party is not any marked success in winning over Labour votes.
Rather it rests on his success in squeezing support for the Brexit party ...Rather it rests on his success in squeezing support for the Brexit party ...
Above all, this is a contest that Mr Johnson cannot afford to emerge from without an overall majority. Biggest party in a hung parliament will not do. In that event, Labour will potentially be able to look to the Liberal Democrats and the SNP for support – for they all want to stop Mr Johnson’s Brexit deal in its tracks.Above all, this is a contest that Mr Johnson cannot afford to emerge from without an overall majority. Biggest party in a hung parliament will not do. In that event, Labour will potentially be able to look to the Liberal Democrats and the SNP for support – for they all want to stop Mr Johnson’s Brexit deal in its tracks.
The academic Matthew Goodwin says in the Daily Telegraph (paywall) that it is possible for Johnson to win a majority.The academic Matthew Goodwin says in the Daily Telegraph (paywall) that it is possible for Johnson to win a majority.
One crucial piece of the puzzle is in Labour leave seats. Two years ago, Theresa May won only six of these seats and so found herself unable to compensate for losses elsewhere. This time around, Johnson will have to do much better. If his invasion of Labour Brexit territory can go as far as Wolverhampton North East, which was last Tory in 1987, or Stoke-on-Trent North, which has never been held by the Conservatives in the postwar era, a wave of other pro-Brexit Labour seats will likely turn blue, from Dudley North to Barrow and Furness, from Ashfield to Bishop Auckland. A strong majority would surely follow.One crucial piece of the puzzle is in Labour leave seats. Two years ago, Theresa May won only six of these seats and so found herself unable to compensate for losses elsewhere. This time around, Johnson will have to do much better. If his invasion of Labour Brexit territory can go as far as Wolverhampton North East, which was last Tory in 1987, or Stoke-on-Trent North, which has never been held by the Conservatives in the postwar era, a wave of other pro-Brexit Labour seats will likely turn blue, from Dudley North to Barrow and Furness, from Ashfield to Bishop Auckland. A strong majority would surely follow.
Consolidating the leave vote would be made infinitely easier were the Brexit party to stand down, or the two parties to form some kind of pact. May did manage to squeeze the Ukip vote down to less than 2%. Farage is polling at about 10%.Consolidating the leave vote would be made infinitely easier were the Brexit party to stand down, or the two parties to form some kind of pact. May did manage to squeeze the Ukip vote down to less than 2%. Farage is polling at about 10%.
Sebastian Payne and John Burns-Murdoch in the Financial Times (paywall) say Boris Johnson is in much the same position as Theresa May was at the start of the 2017 campaign.Sebastian Payne and John Burns-Murdoch in the Financial Times (paywall) say Boris Johnson is in much the same position as Theresa May was at the start of the 2017 campaign.
An analysis by the Financial Times of the opinion polls suggests Mr Johnson’s party is facing an electoral landscape hardly changed since the 2017 election was called. Labour was polling on 25% on Tuesday, exactly the same level as when Mrs May called her snap vote.An analysis by the Financial Times of the opinion polls suggests Mr Johnson’s party is facing an electoral landscape hardly changed since the 2017 election was called. Labour was polling on 25% on Tuesday, exactly the same level as when Mrs May called her snap vote.
Worryingly for Mr Johnson, however, the Conservatives are significantly further behind than at the start of the last campaign. Whereas the Tories were polling 44% on the day the previous election was called, they are currently projected to garner 36% share of the vote.Worryingly for Mr Johnson, however, the Conservatives are significantly further behind than at the start of the last campaign. Whereas the Tories were polling 44% on the day the previous election was called, they are currently projected to garner 36% share of the vote.
The political circumstances mirror those of Mrs May who was seeking to win a majority to secure a Brexit deal; Mr Johnson is doing so to achieve the same goal.The political circumstances mirror those of Mrs May who was seeking to win a majority to secure a Brexit deal; Mr Johnson is doing so to achieve the same goal.
From the Times’ Steven SwinfordFrom the Times’ Steven Swinford
I'm told Boris Johnson raised fact his own seat of Uxbridge is on internal CCHQ list of seats potentially at risk at Political Cabinet.@oliver_wright spotted Tories spent £1,178 on Facebook this week targeting 200,000 Uxbridge voters with call to keep police station openI'm told Boris Johnson raised fact his own seat of Uxbridge is on internal CCHQ list of seats potentially at risk at Political Cabinet.@oliver_wright spotted Tories spent £1,178 on Facebook this week targeting 200,000 Uxbridge voters with call to keep police station open
Here is Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, on tactical voting. (See 10.32am.)Here is Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, on tactical voting. (See 10.32am.)
Seeing lots of chat this morning about tactical voting to maximise Remain vote. @theSNP is the challenger in every Tory held seat in Scotland. So if you want to stop Brexit and remove Boris Johnson, #VoteSNP is the only way to do it. #GE19Seeing lots of chat this morning about tactical voting to maximise Remain vote. @theSNP is the challenger in every Tory held seat in Scotland. So if you want to stop Brexit and remove Boris Johnson, #VoteSNP is the only way to do it. #GE19
Boris Johnson is on course to win a Commons majority unless remain voters work tactically to block a Tory victory and ensure an EU-backing leadership, according to research. As PA Media reports, the Conservatives would achieve a majority of 44 if no tactical voting took place but anti-Brexit voters could scupper this, according to a study by the Best for Britain campaign. If fewer than a third of remain voters (30%) used their vote tactically they could swing the election to deny the prime minister and to secure a remain majority of four. The research by the anti-Brexit campaign was based on seat-by-seat analysis of 46,000 people over September and October and was released this morning, PA reports.Boris Johnson is on course to win a Commons majority unless remain voters work tactically to block a Tory victory and ensure an EU-backing leadership, according to research. As PA Media reports, the Conservatives would achieve a majority of 44 if no tactical voting took place but anti-Brexit voters could scupper this, according to a study by the Best for Britain campaign. If fewer than a third of remain voters (30%) used their vote tactically they could swing the election to deny the prime minister and to secure a remain majority of four. The research by the anti-Brexit campaign was based on seat-by-seat analysis of 46,000 people over September and October and was released this morning, PA reports.
The study does not seem to be online yet, but when it goes up, I will post a link.The study does not seem to be online yet, but when it goes up, I will post a link.
Now we’re up to 51 MPs standing down. (See 10.04am.) Amber Rudd, the former Conservative work and pensions secretary, who sits as an independent, has announced that she won’t stand as a candidate at the election.
Moving on. Good luck to colleagues in forthcoming GE. Amber Rudd reveals she will not stand at next general election https://t.co/MPkxUrQa3b
Rudd had been talking about possibly standing as an independent (see 9.43am.) But, in an interview with the Evening Standard (edited by her Tory ally, the former chancellor George Osborne), she hinted that she might try to return in the future. She said:
I’m not finished with politics, I’m just not standing at this election.
Rudd also insisted that her relations with Boris Johnson were good. She told the paper:
I spoke to the prime minister and had a good meeting with him a few days ago. I’m really confident of my position.
I will be leaving the House of Commons on perfectly good terms with the prime minister and I want him to succeed.
That is not how it was a few weeks ago. When she resigned from cabinet in early September, Rudd accused Johnson of “an assault on decency and democracy” because he had removed the whip from the 21 Tories who rebelled over Brexit. She also said she did not think Johnson was seriously committed to getting a Brexit deal.
That judgment is now looking rash, in the light of the fact that Johnson did manage to negotiate a Brexit deal with the EU that passed its second reading in the Commons, although it is arguable that Johnson committed properly to a deal only when rebels like Rudd made it clear to him that a no-deal Brexit would be unacceptable to parliament.
The Labour MP Adrian Bailey, 73, who represents West Bromwich West, has also announced he is standing down, the Express and Star reports.
Gavin Freeguard from the Institute for Government, who is keeping a tally, says Bailey’s decision takes the number of MPs leaving parliament to 49 – although his table does not include Patrick McLoughlin (see 9.59am), and so there are now at least 50 MPs leaving.
49https://t.co/Z75eABlsAc pic.twitter.com/0EB2nXaIyT
The Tory MP Sir Patrick McLoughlin, a former chief whip and former transport secretary, has announced that he is standing down. He is the only former miner in the Conservative parliamentary party and got involved in Tory politics after he was one of the miners who carried on working during the 1984-85 strike. Aged 62, the MP for the Derbyshire Dales has been in parliament since 1986.
This morning, I am announcing my intention to retire as the Member of Parliament for Derbyshire Dales at the forthcoming General Election
From Sky’s Sam Coates
Tory MP: “You’d be hard pressed to find a colleague who is certain this election is a good idea”
Worries include- Knocking on doors at Christmas will generate backlash (some say they won’t doorknock at all)- How does brexit impact the debate- How do Tories make net gains when their own ministers predict lots of losses in Scotland
Last night, as my colleague Peter Walker reports, the Tories announced that 10 of the MPs who had the whip withdrawn after rebelling on Brexit were being readmitted to the parliamentary party. But the list did not include Amber Rudd, who voluntarily resigned the whip when she resigned as work and pensions secretary, also in protest over Boris Johnson’s Brexit policy.
This morning on the Today programme, Nick Robinson said he had heard Rudd was coming back to the party. But it seems the situation is not straightforward. These are from the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg and the Spectator’s James Forsyth.
Rudd is not back with the whip yet - she has apparently had a positive conversation with Johnson but they haven't agreed a way back - No 10 indicate it's not happening
On Amber Rudd, figures at the top of the Tory party think she doesn’t want to return to the fold. Remember she resigned the whip rather than having it taken away. Also manner of her resignation created a lot of bad blood
One problem might be that Rudd has already told her constituents that she does not want to stand again in Hastings and Rye, where she had a majority of only 346 at the last election. In recent interviews, she said she might stand as an independent somewhere else, but she has not committed herself to a particular constituency.
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, will ask the UK government for a section 30 order to proceed with planning a second independence referendum before the end of this year, despite the general election.
Speaking to the National newspaper, her spokesman insisted she would make the request this “calendar year”, saying:
As the first minister has made clear, we will be demanding the transfer of power for a referendum before the end of this calendar year. Independence will be at the very heart of this election campaign, and another win for the SNP will be an unequivocal and irresistible demand for Scotland’s right to choose its own future.
This assurance comes despite practical concerns about when exactly Boris Johnson’s government would be able to respond to the request, given that the Commons will shortly be dissolved and no policy announcements are made during the campaign period.
Meanwhile, the Scottish secretary, Alister Jack, has left open the possibility of a no-deal Brexit. Speaking to BBC Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme, he said: “31 January is the next threat if you like for a no-deal Brexit, that’s the next deadline.”
Jack added: “We have a deal which we’re going to put in our manifesto and we’re asking people to give us a mandate to put that deal through and that will bring the matter to a conclusion”.
In his Today interview, Matt Hancock, the health secretary, was asked if drug pricing would be on the agenda in trade talks with the US after Brexit. The question was prompted by the Channel 4 Dispatches investigation saying drug pricing has been discussed at meetings between UK and US officials.
Hancock said drug prices would be “off the table” in a future trade deal.
Asked why it had come up in talks, as Dispatches revealed, he replied:
It is off the table. There has been no agreement and no formal meetings. There is no mandate for how these trade talks will happen.
He also said it was “against the government’s policy to make any changes to drug pricing”.
Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, taking over from Mattha Busby.
It may feel like the first full day of the 2019 election campaign, but the legislation for the December poll has not cleared parliament yet and the Commons is still sitting. Here are the items on the agenda for the day.
10am: The first report from the public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire is published.
10am: The anti-Brexit Best for Britain campaign publishes research intended to assist anti-Brexit tactical voting at the election.
11am: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, launches the SNP’s general election campaign at an event in Stirling.
12pm: Boris Johnson faces Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs.
Around 1pm: Johnson is expected to make a statement to MPs about the Grenfell Tower fire report. There will then be a three-hour debate on the report.
After 3.30pm: Peers begin their debate on the early parliamentary general election bill. It is due to clear all its Lords stages today. In theory, peers could amend the bill but in reality, given that the House of Commons has agreed to an early election with the backing of all the main parties, it is very hard to imagine circumstances in which unelected peers would want to tamper with this legislation.
The health secretary, Matt Hancock, was asked if he would like to apologise on behalf of the Conservative party for breaking their “do or die” promise that Brexit would take place on 31 October. He told the Today programme:
No. Because it’s parliament that’s blocked delivering Brexit.
Asked if he could clear up whether Amber Rudd would be a Tory candidate in the election, Hancock said: “I don’t know. I’m not in the whips office.”
He said he considers Rudd a good friend, adding: “Amber chose to resign from the Conservative party,”, before adding: “What I’d say is the Conservative party is at its best when we’re a broad church.”
He was questioned over his previous statements regarding a general election, after he said that “people didn’t want to do it” and it was “an unacceptable risk”.
“Well I’m certainly not yearning for a general election and haven’t been, but its the only way to move the country forward,” the MP, who has a 17,000 majority in West Suffolk, said, adding: “We have to respect the result of the referendum because we’re democrats.”
Asked if he thought the public could punish the Tories for not delivering Brexit this year:
I don’t think anyone in this country thinks that that Boris Johnson hasn’t been doing everything he possibly can to deliver on Brexit. He was the architect of the campaign to leave and he’s now succeeded in getting a new deal with the EU, which many people said was impossible.
It’s parliament that has blocked delivering Brexit and that’s why we need a general election. Parliament was given the vote and chose to delay.
He said the Tory party had an “optimistic, positive one nation agenda rooted in the centre ground of British politics”, and that this was not the case in 2017.
On what the party is offering voters, Hancock said:
What we’re proposing is to be able to deliver Brexit on a deal, and then to be able to get on to the NHS, to having 20,000 more police, to the increases in spending on schools and strengthening school standards, on to strengthening the environment, and all the other things on the domestic agenda that only we can deliver, because it’s only by having a majority in parliament we’ll be able to move beyond all the things that have blocked this from all happening in the last few years.
Asked if he had doubts about a general election, John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, said the Lib Dems “went into coalition with the Tories basically and the SNP jumped ship”. Meanwhile, no deal was taken off the agenda.
Bring it on, let’s have a go, despite it being December and cold and dark .. we’re going to have a real go at this and I think we’ll win. I think we’ll have a majority government by Christmas, so I can’t think of a better Christmas present.
Asked on the Today programme about Jeremy Corbyn’s personal popularity, McDonnell pointed towards Boris Johnson’s own ratings and said the Labour leader was “one of the best campaigners I’ve ever seen”.
He said Labour in government would make sure there is a “sensible, Brexit option” in contrast to the “disaster” deal being offered by the Conservatives, but also give people the option to remain. “We’re saying, let the people decide.”
On the possibility of deciding to go forward as an overtly pro-remain party, McDonnell said: “We’re a much more democratic party than that.”
He added there would be “a range of views” in Labour, “like every political party”, confirming the party would seek to convey a nuanced message on doorsteps.
The basic principle for us, not like the Lib Dems who are just saying ‘we’re just going to revoke, that’s it’, not like the Tories who are saying ‘we’re going to foist upon you virtually a no deal to damage the economy’, we’re saying – democracy, let the people decide.
On the possible ending of EU freedom of movement laws, McDonnell said the UK needed immigration into the country. “We’re going to have an immigration policy which has as much freedom of movement as possible.”
McDonnell turned his fire on to the government at the end of the interview.
People aren’t mugs out there. They’ve listened to these Tories, they’ve seen what they’ve done over this near decade to our public services, they’ve seen what they’ve done to their living standards and quite honestly, most of them will never forgive them for what they have done.