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General election: CBI chief claims 'extreme' views on right and left harming economy – live news General election: Court rejects Lib Dem and SNP bid to join Johnson and Corbyn in ITV debate – live news
(32 minutes later)
PM to unveil business tax cuts and Labour to expand on immigration plans. Follow the latest developments, live Liberal Democrats and Scottish National party fail in attempt to be included in ITV debate. Follow the latest developments, live
Willie Rennie, the Liberal Democrat leader in Scotland, has claimed the Lib Dems are “stronger” as a party after their time in coalition with the Tories. But he admitted he has “regrets” about some of the policies that were introduced. He told BBC Radio Scotland.
Speaking at a Unite conference in Brigton, the union’s general secretary, Len McCluskey, described Boris Johnson as “Eton’s answer to Del Boy”. He said:
And here is my colleague Owen Bowcott’s story on the high court decision.
The Press Association has just snapped this.
Patience Wheatcroft, a Conservative member of the House of Lords and former editor of the Sunday Telegraph, has announced that she is supporting the Lib Dem Chuka Umunna to be the next MP for the Cities of London and Westminster. She is a strong opponent of Brexit and supports a second referendum.
Here is the CBI reaction to Jo Swinson’s speech. This is from Dame Carolyn Fairbairn, the CBI’s director general.
We have not written much here today about Jennifer Arcuri, who has been giving interviews about her friendship with Boris Johnson, which has now led to him being subject to various investigations into whether he abused his position as London mayor because her firm benefited from sponsorship and trade mission access during his term in office. But my colleague Marina Hyde has been watching, and she has a great write-up here.
And here is an extract.
On the Today programme this morning Andrea Leadsom, the business secretary, said that cutting the rate of corporation tax had led to the overall income to the government from this tax going up. Given that she was speaking only hours before Boris Johnson announced that he was abandoning a proposed further cut in corporation tax, her comment could be seen as an implicit criticism of the policy her leader was about to announce. She told the programme:On the Today programme this morning Andrea Leadsom, the business secretary, said that cutting the rate of corporation tax had led to the overall income to the government from this tax going up. Given that she was speaking only hours before Boris Johnson announced that he was abandoning a proposed further cut in corporation tax, her comment could be seen as an implicit criticism of the policy her leader was about to announce. She told the programme:
This afternoon the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the tax and spending thinktank, has published a short briefing note on the Johnson announcement. It says that, while Leadsom may to be correct in saying overall revenue has gone up while the rate has gone down, she would have been wrong if she was implying a causal relationship. The IFS says: This afternoon the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the tax and spending thinktank, has published a short briefing note on the Johnson announcement. It says that, while Leadsom may be correct in saying overall revenue has gone up while the rate has gone down, she would have been wrong if she was implying a causal relationship. The IFS says:
The IFS also says the Johnson decision to abandon the proposed cut in corporation tax will free up £6bn for the government to spend on other things.The IFS also says the Johnson decision to abandon the proposed cut in corporation tax will free up £6bn for the government to spend on other things.
These are from the Press Association’s Ian Jones.These are from the Press Association’s Ian Jones.
Labour has softened its pledge to find a path to net zero carbon emissions by 2030 after unions pushed for a target of significant progress rather than a firm commitment, my colleagues Rowena Mason, Heather Stewart and Matthew Taylor report.Labour has softened its pledge to find a path to net zero carbon emissions by 2030 after unions pushed for a target of significant progress rather than a firm commitment, my colleagues Rowena Mason, Heather Stewart and Matthew Taylor report.
In an interview with BBC News Jo Swinson, the Lib Dem leader, has just ridiculed the idea that Brexit would be “done” under Boris Johnson’s plan to pass his withdrawal agreement. That would not be Brexit over, she said. She said it would just be the end of “series one”; there would be a whole “box set” yet to come, because of the post-Brexit trade negotiation with the EU. Swinson said the Lib Dem policy of abandoning Brexit and staying in the EU was the only way of resolving this quickly.
The Federation of Small Businesses has welcomed Jeremy Corbyn’s promise to tackle the late payments crisis, which has left many small businesses waiting without cash for invoices to be honoured.“Our late payment crisis remains the biggest scourge afflicting the UK’s small business community. It destroys 50,000 firms a year at a cost of at least £2.5bn to the economy,” said chairman Mike Cherry.
Q: Could the Lib Dems work with Labour if it replaced its leader?
Swinson says, if the Lib Dems do not get a majority, they will still want to stop Brexit.
She says neither Boris Johnson nor Jeremy Corbyn deserve to be PM. Lib Dems votes will not put either of them there, she says.
She says there is a real fear in the Jewish community about Corbyn becoming prime minister. There is no way the Liberal Democrats could vote for him to be PM on that basis, she says.
Jo Swinson is now taking questions.
Q: Won’t your plan to abolish business rates, and replace them with a levy on landlords, just lead to rents going up?
Swinson says business rates can be a crippling cost.
Swinson says the offer from the two main parties is a “terrible choice”. The Conservatives do not respect the rule of law. And Labour thinks little of property rights, she says.
Swinson says the Lib Dems would scrap business rates and replace them with a levy on landowners.
The party would also give every adult in England a £10,000 “skills wallet” so that they can invest in training.
Jo Swinson, the Lib Dem leader, is addressing the CBI conference now.
She says any party that wants to get Brexit done, or get Brexit sorted, cannot be said to be the party of business.
She says the Liberal Democrats are the only party that can really claim to be the party of business because they are opposed to Brexit.
A Tory official has been in touch to say that an Office for Budget Responsibility report earlier this year said cutting corporation tax from 19% to 17% would have cost the Treasury £5.4bn by 2023-24. (See para 4.36 on page 83 here [pdf].)
(So, when Boris Johnson told the CBI abandoning this tax cut would save £6bn for the NHS and other public services, it seems he was generously rounding up the total.)
From Sky’s business correspondent Paul Kelso, who’s at the CBI conference:
Nigel Farage, the Brexit party leader, claims small businesses would benefit from a “clean break” Brexit.