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| General election 2019: Court rejects Lib Dem and SNP bid to join Johnson and Corbyn in ITV debate – live news | General election 2019: Court rejects Lib Dem and SNP bid to join Johnson and Corbyn in ITV debate – live news |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Liberal Democrats and Scottish National party fail in attempt to be included in ITV debate. 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 |
| Jeremy Corbyn has paid tribute to a Labour campaigner with terminal breast cancer who died days after describing being left in hospital without treatment for hours. | |
| Jayne Rae, 53, from Whittle-le-Woods in Lancashire, died on Monday morning after a year with the disease. In a video shared by the Labour leader on Sunday she painted a grim picture of the difficulties patients faced in accessing treatment. | |
| “I have never seen people lying in corridors covered in blood, dying, doctors under stress, nurses unable to help to the point of they were crying in frustration,” she said, adding that her mother was “begging” staff for help as she spent several hours waiting for treatment in “extreme pain”. | |
| Corbyn tweeted following news of her death: “Incredibly sad to hear that Jayne died this morning. Jayne’s life ended as she lived it: making the world a better place for others. Jayne sent me this video which shows her passion for defending our NHS and making sure it’s there for everyone whenever they need it.” | |
| An ITV election debate featuring just Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn is due to go ahead tomorrow night after a legal challenge from the Lib Dems and the SNP failed. The two smaller parties both objected to their leaders not being included, but the high court concluded that this was not a matter over which it could exercise judicial review and that, even if it could, ITV was not ignoring its impartiality obligations. The SNP says this means Scottish voters are being treated like second-class citizens. Even though leaders’ debates have been a feature of ever UK election since 2010, tomorrow’s will be the first to feature just the PM and the leader of the opposition and smaller parties argue that this means voters are being given the impression that the election is a binary choice between two parties. There is some evidence to suggest that, in England at least, voters are already coming to this conclusion, before the first debate has already aired. Opinion polls may not be accurate predictors of final election outcomes, but they are seen as being reliable guides to shifts in opinion during campaigns, and so far the GB-wide polls have been showing support for the two main parties rising since the campaign started, and the Liberal Democrats and the Brexit party seeing their vote squeezed (particularly the Brexit party, whose vote may even be collapsing.) | |
| Boris Johnson, Jeremy Corbyn and Jo Swinson all gave speeches at the CBI’s annual conference, which led to the event becoming something of an electoral beauty parade for the benefit of corporate Britain. And corporate Britain was not over-impressed. In a speech Dame Carolyn Fairbairn, the CBI director general, said extremists on the right and the left in politics were causing “great harm to the economy”. My colleague Phillip Inman, economics editor of the Observer, says it was Swinson who got the best reception. After her speech Paul Drechsler, a former CBI president, posted this on Twitter. | |
| Boris Johnson has told business leaders he will shelve a planned cut in corporation tax, claiming he would put £6bn into public services instead. In his speech he did not commit to ringfencing the money for the NHS, but he strongly implied that this was where much of it was going. He told his audience: | |
| As explained earlier, this surprise move neutralises the Labour announcement last week to beef up spending on the NHS - also to tune of £6bn a year. In a Guardian fact check, my colleague Richard Partington explains that Johnson’s announcement also undercuts frequent Tory claims that cutting the headline rate of corporation tax is the best way to increase total revenue from it. | |
| Swinson has confirmed that the Lib Dems would abolish business rates, and replace them with a commercial landowner levy. This policy would “shift the burden from the tenant to the landlord so that we can breathe new life into our high streets”, she told the CBI. | |
| Corbyn has told the CBI that Labour’s nationalisation programme does not represent a return to the failed policies of the past. He told the conference: | |
| 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. | |
| Jennifer Arcuri, the US businesswoman at the centre of conflict of interest allegations against Boris Johnson, has said she warned the prime minister last week that she would speak out against him after he repeatedly refused to take her calls. | |
| Extinction Rebellion activists have begun hunger strikes outside a number of UK political party headquarters to push for more robust policies on tackling the climate emergency in the general election. | |
| That’s all from me for today. | |
| My colleague Mattha Busby is now taking over. | |
| ITV’s Rachel Younger has more on the reason for the high court’s decision not to allow the Lib Dem/SNP legal challenge to tomorrow’s two-party election leaders’ debate. | ITV’s Rachel Younger has more on the reason for the high court’s decision not to allow the Lib Dem/SNP legal challenge to tomorrow’s two-party election leaders’ debate. |
| From my colleague Jim Waterson | From my colleague Jim Waterson |
| The SNP has said the high court decision allowing ITV to go ahead with an election leaders’ debate excluding Nicola Sturgeon means that Scottish voters are being treated as “second-class citizens”. This is from Ian Blackford, the party’s leader at Westminster. | The SNP has said the high court decision allowing ITV to go ahead with an election leaders’ debate excluding Nicola Sturgeon means that Scottish voters are being treated as “second-class citizens”. This is from Ian Blackford, the party’s leader at Westminster. |
| The SNP says decisions about who gets invited to election debates should be taken by an independent body, not by politicians or broadcasters. | The SNP says decisions about who gets invited to election debates should be taken by an independent body, not by politicians or broadcasters. |
| A Labour government would launch an investigation into British colonialism and its legacy today, the party’s election manifesto is expected to declare, according to this HuffPost UK story by Paul Waugh. | A Labour government would launch an investigation into British colonialism and its legacy today, the party’s election manifesto is expected to declare, according to this HuffPost UK story by Paul Waugh. |
| David Gauke, the former Tory justice secretary who is trying to defend his South West Hertfordshire seat as an independent, having been thrown out of the parliamentary party for rebelling over Brexit, has been campaigning today with Amber Rudd, another former Tory cabinet minister who resigned the whip over Brexit. | David Gauke, the former Tory justice secretary who is trying to defend his South West Hertfordshire seat as an independent, having been thrown out of the parliamentary party for rebelling over Brexit, has been campaigning today with Amber Rudd, another former Tory cabinet minister who resigned the whip over Brexit. |
| 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. | 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: | 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. | And here is my colleague Owen Bowcott’s story on the high court decision. |
| The Press Association has just snapped this. | 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. | 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. | 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. | 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. | 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 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. |