This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2019/nov/18/general-election-boris-johnson-arcuri-business-tax-labour-immigration-lib-dems-debates-live-news

The article has changed 25 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 7 Version 8
General election: Johnson to tell CBI Brexit must happen even though 'big business' didn't want it – live news General election: Tory and Labour pledges about resolving Brexit quickly are misleading, CBI says – live news
(32 minutes later)
PM to unveil business tax cuts and Labour to expand on immigration plans. Follow the latest developments, livePM to unveil business tax cuts and Labour to expand on immigration plans. Follow the latest developments, live
Johnson says the country needs a government that “believes in business” and understands the importance of wealth creators.
He claims more businesses have been created in the UK since 2010 than in France and Germany combined.
Johnson is broadening out his speech now to wider policy areas. The Tories would cut crime, he says, and invest in education.
Young people must be able to, literally, find work, he says. And that is why infrastructure is so important, he says.
He says, as well as focusing on big infrastructure projects, Johnson says he wants to focus on smaller transport projects too: better roads, better buses, more cycleways. He loves cycleways, he says.
He says, by doing this, government can create “the platform for growth”. And, if it does that, the market will respond, he says.
Johnson says he wants to cut the productivity gap in the UK.
But he will do that not be decapitating the tall poppies, but by levelling up.
Johnson claims Jeremy Corbyn would be dependent on an alliance with the SNP.
And he says Corbyn’s position on the EU is “positively mind-boggling”.
He says it is still not clear whether or not Corbyn will campaign for the deal he will negotiate with the EU. Or, like Alec Guinness in the Bridge on the River Kwai, will he blow up the bridge he has himself constructed?
Johnson says there is a pent-up, tidal wave of investment waiting to come into the UK once Brexit is resolved.
He says he would not normally introduced party politics into a speech like this. But this is an election campaign, he says. He says the Tory Brexit deal is ready to go. You just add hot water and stir, he says (using his Pot Noodle simile again).
He says the Conservative plan would give stability and certainty to business.
It is a Blue Peter deal - “here’s one I prepared earlier”.
And he says every single Conservative party candidate has explicitly backed his deal. (In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph yesterday, he said they had been asked to give a pledge to that effect.)
Johnson says the economy is not achieving as much as it could.
There is so much more natural energy to unleash, he says.
The country is being held back by politics, by parliament, he says. He is using a version of the passage released in advance. (See 9.29am.)
Boris Johnson starts by saying it is a pleasure to be at this venue, a hotel near the O2 arena. He says as London mayor he gave planning permission for it to be built.
He is now delivering his familiar riff about who much the UK exports to the rest of the world.
Carolyn Fairbairn, the CBI director general, introduces Boris Johnson.
She says, as London mayor, he was very pro-enterprise. This is his first speech to the CBI as prime minister, she says.
These are from the BBC’s business editor, Simon Jack, on the speech and Q&A from Carolyn Fairbairn, the CBI director general.
All the main UK parties are proposing a resolution to the Brexit deadlock. In his speech to the CBI later Boris Johnson will argue that the Conservatives would “get Brexit done” early next year so that the government can focus on the people’s priorities. Jeremy Corbyn is also promising to “get Brexit sorted”, although under his plan it would take six months, for a renegotiation and a referendum.
In his speech opening the CBI conference, John Allan, the Tesco chairman and CBI president, claimed that both main parties were being simplistic. He said:
Carolyn Fairbairn, the director general of the CBI, is speaking at the conference now.Carolyn Fairbairn, the director general of the CBI, is speaking at the conference now.
She has just argued that business is at risk from ideologues on both the right and the left in politics: from those on the right, who want a no-deal Brexit because it will lead to deregulation; and from those on the left pushing a nationalisation agenda.She has just argued that business is at risk from ideologues on both the right and the left in politics: from those on the right, who want a no-deal Brexit because it will lead to deregulation; and from those on the left pushing a nationalisation agenda.
I will post the quotes shortly.I will post the quotes shortly.
The CBI conference has started. John Allan, the CBI president, is giving the opening speech.The CBI conference has started. John Allan, the CBI president, is giving the opening speech.
There is a live feed here.There is a live feed here.
Prof Sir John Curtice, the elections expert who is in charge of the exit poll used by the BBC and other broadcasters, told the Today programme this morning that he thought Labour had made “a bit of ground at the expense of the Liberal Democrats amongst remain voters” during the campaign so far but that it was still struggling with leave voters.Prof Sir John Curtice, the elections expert who is in charge of the exit poll used by the BBC and other broadcasters, told the Today programme this morning that he thought Labour had made “a bit of ground at the expense of the Liberal Democrats amongst remain voters” during the campaign so far but that it was still struggling with leave voters.
Curtice also said the Liberal Democrats were finding it difficult to win over remain voters from the Conservatives.Curtice also said the Liberal Democrats were finding it difficult to win over remain voters from the Conservatives.
Curtice said there was a “binary choice” when it came to Brexit at the election.Curtice said there was a “binary choice” when it came to Brexit at the election.
The leaders of the three main UK parties will be speaking at the CBI conference in London today and, as my colleague Peter Walker reports in his preview story, they will all be making arguments about why their policies are advantageous to business.The leaders of the three main UK parties will be speaking at the CBI conference in London today and, as my colleague Peter Walker reports in his preview story, they will all be making arguments about why their policies are advantageous to business.
But it is not just business who will be listening, and the speeches will also illustrate how the leaders are trying to frame the election. For Labour, it is about reversing a decade of austerity, and Jeremy Corbyn will be speaking about the number of apprentices that could be created by his party’s £250bn green transformation fund. But for the Tories primarily the election is about Brexit, and Boris Johnson will argue that he needs a majority because parliament has been trying to “sabotage the democratic will of the people”. Here is an extract from his speech released overnight by CCHQ. Johnson is expected to say:But it is not just business who will be listening, and the speeches will also illustrate how the leaders are trying to frame the election. For Labour, it is about reversing a decade of austerity, and Jeremy Corbyn will be speaking about the number of apprentices that could be created by his party’s £250bn green transformation fund. But for the Tories primarily the election is about Brexit, and Boris Johnson will argue that he needs a majority because parliament has been trying to “sabotage the democratic will of the people”. Here is an extract from his speech released overnight by CCHQ. Johnson is expected to say:
It is interesting to note that Johnson is admitting that big business does not want Brexit. Four years ago the CBI conference in London was disrupted by two protesters from Vote Leave, the organisation that Johnson subsequently went on to lead (in November 2015 he still had not yet committed himself to the leave cause), who accused the CBI of being the voice of Brussels, and not representative of business. One of the protesters said at the time:It is interesting to note that Johnson is admitting that big business does not want Brexit. Four years ago the CBI conference in London was disrupted by two protesters from Vote Leave, the organisation that Johnson subsequently went on to lead (in November 2015 he still had not yet committed himself to the leave cause), who accused the CBI of being the voice of Brussels, and not representative of business. One of the protesters said at the time:
At its party conference in September Labour passed a motion saying the party should work “towards a path to net zero carbon emissions by 2030”. But that does not necessarily mean the 2030 target will be in the party’s manifesto, and on the Today programme this morning Barry Gardiner, the shadow international trade secretary, implied the manifesto target will be looser. This is from the BBC’s Norman Smith.
UPDATE: This is what Gardiner told Today:
Here are the election items in the diary for today.
10.15am: The Liberal Democrat and the SNP take legal action in the high court against their exclusion from the ITV leaders’ debate taking place tomorrow.
10.40am: Boris Johnson speaks to the CBI conference.
11.15am: Jeremy Corbyn speaks to the CBI conference.
2.25pm: Jo Swinson, the Lib Dem leader, speaks to the CBI conference.
In an interview on the Today programme Andrea Leadsom, the business secretary, said that if the Conservatives won the election their immigration rules would be “fair to the world” and not just the EU. She explained:
Labour’s David Lammy has accused her of “migrant bashing”.
Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, taking over from Sarah Marsh.
As my colleague Matthew Weaver reports, Boris Johnson is facing fresh pressure over his relationship with the American businesswoman Jennifer Arcuri. Arcuri gave an interview to ITV’s Good Morning Britain this morning and, although she has refused to say whether she had an affair with Johnson when he was London mayor, she described their relationship as “very special”.
Asked directly on“was it an affair”, Arcuri replied:
We will be pausing the live blog for a while and resuming shortly. Thank you
The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, and the Liberal Democrat leader, Jo Swinson, are also speaking at the CBI conference.
Labour has promised to create a climate apprenticeship programme that will train an average of 80,000 people a year.
Under the plans, they said they will deliver 320,000 apprenticeships in England during their first term in government, with the programme creating 886,000 by 2030.
The conference comes after the CBI director general, Dame Carolyn Fairbairn, said Corbyn’s nationalisation plans would “freeze investment”, and called on Labour to work with business.
She told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “We look at the policies on the table and we have real concerns that they are going to crack the foundations of our economy.”
Boris Johnson will announce cuts to national insurance and business tax in a speech today.
The prime minister will tell leaders at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) annual conference on Monday that the Tories will put an end to Brexit “uncertainty and confusion” if they are returned to power on 12 December.
Johnson will increase the employment allowance from £3,000 to £4,000, providing a cut in NI of up to 1,000 for more than half a million businesses.They have also promised to increase the structures and buildings allowance (SBA) from 2% to 3% to increase the tax relief on the purchase, building or leasing of a structure.Johnson is expected to say:
He is expected to add:
Mike Cherry, the chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, said:
That’s it from me, I am now handing over to my colleague Sarah Marsh, who will then pass the baton to Andrew Sparrow. Thanks for reading.
If you need to wake up fast, click on this offering on rail transport from Jeremy Corbyn and turn the volume up to 11.
That’s the papers. Time for a little more on the latest from the Arcuri investigation from Matthew Weaver. The London assembly’s oversight committee is going to review a case stemming from 2010, when Johnson failed to declare an interest after having affair with the City Hall adviser Helen Macintyre, who later had a child with him.
At the time, Johnson acknowledged that a potential conflict of interest had not been disclosed and vowed to “bear in mind the definition of close associate for the future”.
Len Duvall, a Labour assembly member who chairs the committee, said: “I’m looking at the paperwork into Helen Macintyre. We need to understand that because he was advised to make those declarations in the future. The question is why did he hide the new relationship with Arcuri?”
You can read more here.