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General election: Tories accuse Corbyn of 'lying to public' about what UK-US trade talks dossier reveals – live news General election: Tories accuse Corbyn of 'lying to public' about what UK-US trade talks dossier reveals – live news
(32 minutes later)
Labour leader says he has obtained 451 pages of unredacted documents that reveal the US is demanding NHS services are part of trade negotiationsLabour leader says he has obtained 451 pages of unredacted documents that reveal the US is demanding NHS services are part of trade negotiations
The National Education Union - the merged NUT and ATL teachers’ unions - has released polling it commissioned of 1,000 voters with school-aged children in England, showing that 38% of parents plan to back Labour, compared with 33% for the Conservatives, 11% for Lib Dems, 9% for the Brexit party, and 4% for the Green party (excluding don’t knows).
The polling breakdown showed a sharp division by age: 41% of those aged 18-34 backed Labour but just 27% of those aged 35-54. While only 15% of the younger group would vote Tory, support doubled to 30% among the older group.
The polling was carried out by Deltapoll last week as the parties unveiled their manifestos and education pledges. The NHS was named as an important election issue by 55% while education was mentioned by 28%, close to the 29% who named Brexit as a key issue. Some 54% of parents agreed funding for their local schools was insufficient.
Mary Bousted, the NEU’s joint general secretary, said:
The poll showed one surprising result: Labour was the most popular party among parents with children at private schools, despite its manifesto policy of adding VAT to school fees. Some 42% backed Labour while 30% backed the Tories, although the poll appears to significantly over-represent the proportion of parents with children at private schools.
Charles Clarke, who was home secretary when Tony Blair was prime minister, told Emma Barnett on Radio 5 Live earlier that, if there were a hung parliament, Labour could ditch Jeremy Corbyn as leader. He explained:
Clarke also said he thought Corbyn’s refusal to apologise to the Jewish community in last night’s interview with Andrew Neil was “disgraceful”.
These are from the Financial Times’ Sebastian Payne
The Scottish Conservatives have suspended their general election candidate for Glasgow Central following complaints about Islamophobic language.
Flora Scarabello will have support for her campaign withdrawn, following the submission of a complaint to the party’s central office about the alleged use of “anti-Muslim language”. It is being reported that the details emerged in a private phone call, which was recorded and sent to party officials.
While the complaint is being investigated, Scarabello will have her party membership suspended. The deadline for removing her as a general election candidate has passed, meaning there is no option but for her name to still appear on the ballot paper.
A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives said:
Alison Thewliss won Glasgow Central for the SNP in 2017, with a 2,267 majority over Labour. The Tories were a long way behind in third place.
Jeremy Corbyn has posted this from the train taking him to Cornwall for an election rally tonight.
From the LBC’s Theo Usherwood
More from my colleague Peter Walker on Michael Heseltine’s speech.
Here is the latest election polling from YouGov. As usual, it is worth stressing that conventional polling badly underestimated the Labour vote at the 2017 election.Here is the latest election polling from YouGov. As usual, it is worth stressing that conventional polling badly underestimated the Labour vote at the 2017 election.
But there was one polling exercise that did very well two years ago. YouGov produced a model for the election using multilevel regression and post-stratification (MRP), a technique that involves trying to work out how Britain will vote on a constituency by constituency basis, using data about the demographic composition of each constituency and polling information about how particular demographics are likely to vote. The model predicted a hung parliament. When it was published, in the middle of the 2017 campaign, this was seen as so unlikely that it was widely dismissed, but it turned out to be the best polling guide to the final result.But there was one polling exercise that did very well two years ago. YouGov produced a model for the election using multilevel regression and post-stratification (MRP), a technique that involves trying to work out how Britain will vote on a constituency by constituency basis, using data about the demographic composition of each constituency and polling information about how particular demographics are likely to vote. The model predicted a hung parliament. When it was published, in the middle of the 2017 campaign, this was seen as so unlikely that it was widely dismissed, but it turned out to be the best polling guide to the final result.
We will find out what the YouGov MRP model is saying about the 2019 result tonight, when the figures are published in the Times.We will find out what the YouGov MRP model is saying about the 2019 result tonight, when the figures are published in the Times.
Michael Heseltine, the former Conservative deputy prime minister and pro-European who is backing the Liberal Democrats at this election, is speaking now at a Lib Dem event, my colleague Peter Walker reports.Michael Heseltine, the former Conservative deputy prime minister and pro-European who is backing the Liberal Democrats at this election, is speaking now at a Lib Dem event, my colleague Peter Walker reports.
Nick Dearden, director of the campaigning group Global Justice Now, has written an article for Open Democracy about what we’e learned from the leaked dossier about the UK-US trade talks. Here’s an excerpt.Nick Dearden, director of the campaigning group Global Justice Now, has written an article for Open Democracy about what we’e learned from the leaked dossier about the UK-US trade talks. Here’s an excerpt.
And here is the line-up for the BBC seven-party debate on Friday night.And here is the line-up for the BBC seven-party debate on Friday night.
We knew that Boris Johnson would not be turning up. But Jeremy Corbyn and Nigel Farage are also giving it a miss too, and so it does not really count as a leaders’ debate.We knew that Boris Johnson would not be turning up. But Jeremy Corbyn and Nigel Farage are also giving it a miss too, and so it does not really count as a leaders’ debate.
(Caroline Lucas isn’t a party leader either, but she is an ex-leader, and arguably she has a higher profile than the two Green co-leaders, Sîan Berry and Jonathan Bartley.)(Caroline Lucas isn’t a party leader either, but she is an ex-leader, and arguably she has a higher profile than the two Green co-leaders, Sîan Berry and Jonathan Bartley.)
The BBC has said that Boris Johnson has yet to agree a date for an interview with Andrew Neil, as part of the leader interviews series that Neil is doing. It is not hard to guess why Johnson’s team might be having second thoughts. Neil is the most aggressive and forensic interviewer on TV, and Nicola Sturgeon and Jeremy Corbyn were both left looking diminished after their encounters with him this week.
Is it conceivable that Johnson might just refuse point-blank to show up? In a healthy political culture, that would be unthinkable. But sadly there is no law yet saying someone cannot be appointed PM without having given a lengthy interview to Andrew Neil, and Johnson did try to suspend parliament for five weeks for his own political convenience. So it doesn’t seem impossible that he might pull out entirely ...
Obviousl
From the BBC’s Nick Eardley
This is what Boris Johnson said in the Q&A about the leaked dossier about the UK-US trade talks.
Q: You say the Labour allegations about the NHS and a UK-US trade deal are nonsense. So why was the NHS being discussed at all?
Johnson says it is nonsense to say the NHS would be part of a trade deal. He says Labour is trying to distract attention from the problems with its Brexit policy.
He says Labour is showing a vacuum of leadership on antisemitism and on Brexit.
That’s it. The event is over.
A questioner says hello to Johnson in Cornish. He replies with a word of what sounds like Cornish – to applause from the audience.
Q: Cornwall council has lost £370m since 2010. Is it right, then, to be putting £2bn into a pot hole fund?
Johnson says he thinks some of that pot hole money will go to councils.
Q: Are you sorry for the state of the NHS in Cornwall?
Johnson says he has seen the pressure the NHS is under. People do an incredible job, but they are under huge pressure.
He says Truro is getting a new maternity unit.
He says Labour’s plan for a four-day week would be “catastrophic” for the management of all public services, including the NHS.
Boris Johnson is now taking questions.
Q: You said you would fix the crisis in social care when you became PM. But there is not much detail about this in your manifesto. Don’t you think voters deserve a bit more detail?
Johnson says he visited a hospital this morning, and heard about the pressures on the social care system.
He says the government has put £1.5bn into the system to meet immediate needs.
There will be another £1bn a year for the life of this parliament.
And he says he wants to establish cross-party consensus on this. It should be based on two principles: dignity for people in old age, and no one having to sell their home to pay for care.
Johnson says his party backs his Brexit deal. He goes on:
That gets a round of applause.
Johnson jokes about Michel Barnier asking Jeremy Corbyn whether anyone in Labour would back the Brexit deal that Corbyn proposes to negotiate with the EU.