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General election: Boris Johnson speaks at Scottish Conservatives' manifesto launch – live news General election: Chief rabbi's attack on Corbyn over antisemitism 'unjustified and unfair', says Lord Dubs – live news
(32 minutes later)
Party’s chief whip hints that it may rethink opposition to Labour if there were a new leader Labour leader speaks at launch of race and faith manifesto after chief rabbi says Jewish anxiety of Corbyn win is justified
Jeremy Corbyn is now speaking at the Labour race and faith manifesto launch.
He starts by thanking Alf Dubs for what he said, and for all his campaigning on behalf of immigrants.
He is speaking at the Bernie Grant arts centre in Tottenham. Corbyn says he know Grant very well, and is proud to be speaking at an arts centre named after him.
He says Grant taught people a lot about the impact of Britain’s colonial past.
He says N15, the postcode area where he is speaking, is the most diverse in Britain. He says 150 languages are spoken here.
Lord Dubs is speaking now at the Labour event.
He says he is “bitterly disappointed” at what the chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, said about Jeremy Corbyn and antisemitism. He does not accept a lot of what Mirvis said, although Dubs says he thinks Labour should have addressed the problem more quickly. But the chief rabbi’s comments were “unjustified and unfair”, he says.
Q: Why won’t you take part in the Channel 4 News debate on the environment on Thursday?
Johnson says he is taking part in other debates. He says as mayor of London he showed how emissions could be cut without the economy being harmed. But Labour would take a sledgehammer to the economy, he says.
And that’s it. The event is over.
Q: Do you think Nicola Sturgeon should consider the chief rabbi’s comments before propping up a Labour government?
Johnson says Corbyn has not been able to stamp out antisemitism in his party. That is part of a wider failure of leadership, he says. He says you cannot be PM and refuse to take a position on Brexit. He says you cannot be neutral on that any more than you can be neutral on antisemitism.
Q: If you are the largest party after the election, but don’t have a majority, will you rule out holding a second referendum on independence or on Brexit.
Johnson says he normally does not answer hypothetical questions like that. But he will answer this. Yes, he says. He says he genuinely thinks they would be bad for the country.
Q: Polling shows your personal popularity in Scotland is only slightly better than Jeremy Corbyn’s. You’re on minus 34.
Johnson interrupts. Minus 34 – we can build on that, he says, to audience laughter.
Q: Would you have any more city deals for Scotland?
Johnson says he will have a sectoral deal for the oil industry. And he will put £3.1bn more into Scotland as a result of his manifesto plans, as a result of the Barnett formula.
On city deals, Johnson says the whole of Scotland is covered.
Q: How much of Brexit will be done by 31 January?
Johnson says the UK will be out of the EU. It will be in control of its laws and money. Getting a trade deal by the end of the year will be tight. But people said he would not be able to get a Brexit deal, and he did get one, he says.
Q: You have been talking about the cost of two referendums next year. How does that compare with how much you have spend on no-deal planning, and now much Brexit will cost Scotland?
Johnson sidesteps the question, and says what is harming the economy is the delay.
Johnson is now taking questions.
Q: Scotland voted remain. Nicola Sturgeon thinks your policies are catastrophic for Scotland. She does not like Jeremy Corbyn, but she seems to have a loathing for you. Is that mutual?
Johnson says he does not nurture grudges like this. He says our politics needs less of that. All that Sturgeon and Corbyn would do together would be waste 2020 on another Brexit referendum.
Sturgeon said the 2014 independence referendum was a once in a generation one. She should stick to that, he says.
Johnson ends with his joke about wanting to go carbon-neutral by 2050 and Corbyn neutral by Christmas. He urges people to support sensible, moderate, one-nation Scottish Conservatism.
Johnson says in 10 years’ time people in Scotland will be passionately proud of their Scottish identity, but also citizens of a proud United Kingdom.
Johnson says a space port in Scotland is under construction or almost complete. He asks someone in the audience to clarify. It is “on its way”, he says subsequently.
Johnson says Nicola Sturgeon confirmed her plan for Scottish independence in her interview with Andrew Neil last night. This would involve borders at Berwick, and handing back control of Scottish fishing waters to the EU, he claims.Johnson says Nicola Sturgeon confirmed her plan for Scottish independence in her interview with Andrew Neil last night. This would involve borders at Berwick, and handing back control of Scottish fishing waters to the EU, he claims.
Johnson is now speaking French, imagining Jeremy Corbyn’s first meeting with Michel Barnier. “What do you mean, you don’t really want it, Mr Corbyn?”Johnson is now speaking French, imagining Jeremy Corbyn’s first meeting with Michel Barnier. “What do you mean, you don’t really want it, Mr Corbyn?”
Johnson speculates about whether “Monsieur Starmer” or “Monsieur MacDonnell” or “Madame Abbott” might back it. Johnson speculates about whether “Monsieur Starmer” or “Monsieur McDonnell” or “Madame Abbott” might back it.
In Fife Boris Johnson is still speaking. It’s a rehash of his standard stump speech. He has just used the line about how Jeremy Corbyn supposedly sided with Russia at the time of the Salisbury novichok poisonings. In Fife, Boris Johnson is still speaking. It’s a rehash of his standard stump speech. He has just used the line about how Jeremy Corbyn supposedly sided with Russia at the time of the Salisbury novichok poisonings.
Here is a live feed of the Labour event.Here is a live feed of the Labour event.
More from the Labour race and faith manifesto launch in London. The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg has posted these in the last few minutes.
Johnson says the climate change conference is coming to Glasgow next week. That is happening because Scotland is in the United Kingdom, he says.
Boris Johnson is speaking at the Scottish launch now.
He says he did not want a general election, but parliament was blocking Brexit. He has a deal ready to go, he says. But he says Jeremy Corbyn would hold a second referendum. And Corbyn won’t say how he would vote in a second referendum. It is the only time in history someone has stood for PM without saying how they would vote on the most important issue of the day, he claims.
This is from ITV’s Peter MacMahon.
Boris Johnson has repeated the same mixed metaphors and rhetorical flourishes in his preface to the Scottish Tories election manifesto that he used in the UK manifesto on Sunday, somewhat tweaked for Scottish voters.
Alluding to more than 12 years of Scottish National party rule at Holyrood, Johnson asserts:
The Scottish Tory manifesto puts blocking a second independence referendum in the foreground. Johnson repeats his usual tropes, insisting a Tory government would defend and protect the “awesome foursome” of nations which make up the UK.
Unlike Jeremy Corbyn, Johnson writes, who is plotting to stage a second referendum with Sturgeon, “I can guarantee that we will reject any request from the SNP government to hold an independence referendum. There will be no negotiation – we will mark that letter return to sender and be done with it.”
Jackson Carlaw, the acting leader of the Scottish Conservatives, is speaking at the launch now.
He urges Labour unionists to back the Tories at this election, saying the Conservatives are best placed to oppose the SNP plans for independence.
Boris Johnson is about to speak at the launch of the Scottish Conservative manifesto in Fife.
There will be a live feed at the top of the blog shortly.
From the Telegraph’s Michael Deacon
From ITV’s Paul Brand
PoliticsHome’s Kevin Schofield says it seems that journalists won’t be able to ask any questions at the launch of the Labour race and faith manifesto this morning.