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General election: Corbyn sets out Labour's plans for lifelong learning – live news
General election: Labour sets out its plans for lifelong learning – live news
(32 minutes later)
Jeremy Corbyn and Angela Rayner speak in Blackpool as Johnson prepares to chair Cobra meeting on floods
Jeremy Corbyn and Angela Rayner speak in Blackpool as Johnson prepares to chair Cobra meeting on floods
Rayner says Labour will also ensure that workers can get time off to study.
Rayner says Labour will also offer maintenance support to people in further education.
Rayner is now summing up Labour’s offer.
Back in Blackpool Angela Rayner is still speaking about Labour’s plans.
This is from my colleague Rowena Mason.
Angela Rayner, the shadow education secretary, is speaking now.
She says she has seen four education secretaries since she took up her post.
She says Corbyn was one of the first people in the party to call for a cradle-to-grave education system. So it is fitting he is here, she says.
She says her life was transformed by adult education. When her friends were sitting their GCSEs, she was thinking about her new baby. Adult education gave her a second chance. She enrolled in a sign language course, and then a counselling course, and that led to volunteering and then a job. Then she went to get a qualification in care. Education helped her, but also her son, she says. She says this experience encouraged her to become a union rep.
Corbyn says the Tories should apologise for the way they have cut eduction funding since 2010.
Corbyn says Labour would offer “the best” in education.
Corbyn says multinational corporations need an educated workforce, and should pay for it.
Corbyn is now speaking about education. He says the party’s plan for a national education service is one of the policies he is most excited about.
Corbyn calls for an assurance that local councils will get reimbursed by central government for the money they spend on dealing with the flooding.
In fact, the government announced on Saturday that Bellwin funding would be available.
Jeremy Corbyn starts by thanking Blackpool football club for giving the party a venue for the speech today.
Jeremy Corbyn starts by thanking Blackpool football club for giving the party a venue for the speech today.
He says, before he gets on to eduction, he wants to talk about the flooding.
He says, before he gets on to eduction, he wants to talk about the flooding.
No 10 claims that Johnson decided to call a Cobra meeting on flooding before Corbyn called for one publicly yesterday afternoon.
No 10 claims that Johnson decided to call a Cobra meeting on flooding before Corbyn called for one publicly yesterday afternoon.
There is a live feed of the speech at the top of the blog.
There is a live feed of the speech at the top of the blog.
Gordon Marsden, who is seeking re-election as Labour MP for Blackpool South, is introducing Jeremy Corbyn.
Gordon Marsden, who is seeking re-election as Labour MP for Blackpool South, is introducing Jeremy Corbyn.
He says the policy announced by Labour today for adult learning is the product of policy work that goes back years. It is based on the work of Labour’s lifelong learning commission (pdf), he says.
He says the policy announced by Labour today for adult learning is the product of policy work that goes back years. It is based on the work of Labour’s lifelong learning commission (pdf), he says.
Jeremy Corbyn is about to give a speech in Blackpool on Labour’s plans for adult education.
Jeremy Corbyn is about to give a speech in Blackpool on Labour’s plans for adult education.
And this is from the Reuters news agency on the cyber attack on Labour.
And this is from the Reuters news agency on the cyber attack on Labour.
These are from Rowland Manthorpe, Sky News’s technology correspondent, on the cyber-attack on Labour.
These are from Rowland Manthorpe, Sky News’s technology correspondent, on the cyber-attack on Labour.
Some Brexit party candidates have been criticising Nigel Farage’s decision not to stand candidates in constituencies won by the Tories in 2017.
This is from Robert Wheal, who was due to stand for the Brexit party in Arundel and South Downs.
In an interview with LBC this morning, Wheal said:
This is from Neil Greaves, who was due to stand in Harlow for the Brexit party.
Greaves told PA Media:
And this is from Ruth Jolley, who was due to stand for the Brexit party in South West Norfolk.
And Jolley told PA Media:
The Labour party says it has suffered a serious cyber-attack. A spokesperson released this statement.
Every Conservative election campaign in recent history has involved a version of a Labour “tax bombshell” claim, a phrase famously used in a 1992 election poster. The Tories have unveiled theirs today, alleging that personal taxes would go up by £2,400 a head under a Jeremy Corbyn government. Sajid Javid, the chancellor, has been tweeting about it this morning.
The Conservatives have tried to justify their claim in a news release here. They have also released a more detailed, 15-page document with their costings here (pdf).
All figures published by one political party about the tax and spending plans of another are hypothetical. But they can range between plausible guesswork and mostly made-up. The Tory figures are nearer the “mostly made-up” end of the scale, to a large extent because their baseline assumption is that Labour would spent an extra £1.2tn over the course of a parliament and, for reasons that my colleague Richard Partington explained in a good article on Sunday, some of the assumptions used to come up with this figure are so wrong or unfair as to make it wholly implausible.
Labour does have hugely ambitious spending plans, and, although the party says just the richest 5% would pay more under its plans, it is not unreasonable to assume that, in practice, others would have to contribute more. After all, Labour firmly believes that using taxation to fund public services is a good thing. But the Tory claim is not credible. The party could have proposed a plausible figure, but instead put forward a sensational figure.
Will it make a difference? Who knows, but it is interesting that it has not featured on any of the front pages of the Conservative papers this morning. The Daily Mail has got a story on page two, and the Sun has got a spread on pages 6 and 7. But the Daily Express and the Daily Telegraph are only running small stories on the claim, on pages 4 and 5 respectively.
This is what Jonathan Reynolds, a Labour Treasury spokesman, said about the Tory claim last night.
Labour has described the recent government announcement about a fracking moratorium as bogus, following the release of a Whitehall report showing some support for loosening planning rules related to the process.
At the start of this month the government announced an immediate halt on fracking in England, saying it should be stopped with immediate effect “until compelling new evidence is provided” that shows fracking is safe.
But after that announcement the government quietly released responses to a consultation on changing fracking planning rules. While the document (pdf) acknowledges that current policy is to not allow fracking, it suggests this could change in the future, and it says: “The government remains committed to making planning decisions faster and fairer for all those affected by new shale developments, whilst also ensuring that local communities are fully involved in planning decisions that affect them.”
In a statement, Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary, said:
Labour would ban fracking, she insisted.
Nigel Farage has branded Conservative calls for the Brexit party to stand down in Labour marginals as “almost comical”, saying his party needs to get MPs into parliament to hold Boris Johnson’s feet to the fire, my colleagues Rowena Mason and Kate Proctor report.
When Boris Johnson became prime minister he commissioned a review into whether the HS2 rail project should go ahead. The report is not due to be published until after the election, but the Times today says a leaked copy of the document is recommending that HS2 does go ahead - even though the cost is rising to £88bn. In their story (paywall), Louisa Clarence-Smith and Graeme Paton write:
In an interview on the Today programme, highlighting the plans Labour is announcing today to offer every adult in England six years of free study, Angela Rayner, the shadow education secretary, confirmed that Labour would abolish university tuition fees. She said:
She also said Labour wanted university vice-chancellors to be paid less. She explained:
Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, taking over from Mattha Busby.
Nigel Farage, the Brexit party leader, was on BBC Breakfast earlier. We have already quoted a line from him (see 8.31am), but here are details of what he said.
Farage urged the Conservatives to stand aside in some Labour-held seats to give the Brexit party a better chance of winning in them. He said:
He said it was important for the Brexit party to have MPs in parliament to hold Boris Johnson to account. Assuming a Conservative election victory, he said:
Farage rejected suggestions that Donald Trump played a role in persuading him not to stand candidates in Tory-held seats. Asked if he had had any communication with Trump about the “leave alliance” he announced yesterday, Farage said:
Farage’s answer ignored the fact that, when he did interview Trump on his LBC show two weeks ago, Trump said explicitly that he did want to see Farage and Boris Johnson cooperating. Trump told Farage:
Sunak did not directly respond to the question of whether anyone apart from the prime minister was preventing the report on Russian influence being published.
Asked if the non-disclosure of the report was “shameful”, Sunak turned his fire on Labour – in comments that would be strongly rebuked by the party.
The chief secretary to the Treasury, Rishi Sunak, is the latest minister citing disputed figures on Labour’s spending commitments. He said the Tories’ pledges would be delivered without increased taxation.
Asked if Labour’s pledge of an extra £6bn for social care was appropriate, Sunak told the Today programme:
Pressed on the specific social care figure, he said: “We’ve invested in the social care system to ensure it is stable for the next year. I’m not actually sure of the details of the Labour plans. I can’t tell you what it does or doesn’t do.”
However, Sunak went on to claim Labour’s plans would effectively cost each taxpayer an extra £2,400 each year.
