Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, is being interviewed on Today.
Q: If you have 30 seconds, how would you describe Labour’s offering on the NHS.
Ashworth says Labour would increase investment into the NHS, to deliver the best quality of care for patients.
Q: But the IFS says what you are proposing is not what the NHS needs, if it is to meet the demands on it. The IFS says you are giving it a 2% increase, and it needs a 4% increase.
Ashworth says the IFS says Labour is offering more than other parties. Labour is proposing a substantial investment.
He says Labour would front-load investment in the early years of the parliament. And it would then set up a body to review what spending the NHS needs.
A week before the election, the public remain clueless about what Brexit would actually mean for the country, says the Guardian’s Brexit policy editor, Dan Roberts, who describes this as a huge failing of politics and the media:
With Labour renewing its focus on public services today – expect Corbyn later this morning to attack the government’s austerity agenda – shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth is doing the morning media round.
He’s already popped up on ITV’s Good Morning Britain where host Eamonn Holmes said he wouldn’t be asking for any figures after the Labour leader did not have his childcare costs to hand yesterday. Ashworth joked:
Theresa May’s support for LGBT rights was called into question at an election hustings on Tuesday evening.
Justine Greening, secretary of state for education, who announced she was in a same-sex relationship last year, was representing the Conservatives at the event organised by Stonewall, Pink News, and Pride in London.
She began by listing Conservative policies on LGBT issues passed while Theresa May was home secretary, as evidence of the prime minister’s awareness of the issues:
Under this government, since 2010, we passed the same-sex marriage act. Who did that? Actually it was Theresa May as home secretary. We’ve also toughened up on areas like reporting hate crimes. Since 2013, the police have had to gather and collate stats on LGBT-focused hate crime and then publish it. Who did that? Actually it was Theresa May.
Liberal Democrat peer Brian Paddick disputed Greening’s claim that the Conservatives had been pushing for the introduction of gay marriage, saying that within the coalition government the energy behind that policy had come from the Lib Dems:
The thing I can’t let past though, it was Lynne Featherstone, a Liberal Democrat MP who championed same-sex marriage in the coalition, and who got it through with David Cameron’s support. And I would urge people to look at Theresa May’s voting record on LGBT issues.
Greening disagreed, saying May had been the “unsung hero” of the legislation.
In 2010, May distanced herself from her voting record on LGBT issues, including voting against gay adoption in 2002 and voting against the repeal of Section 28, which banned councils from “promoting” homosexuality, in 2000.
Northern Ireland’s Alliance party is set to launch its manifesto and its leader, Naomi Long, has been speaking to Radio 4’s Today programme.
Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU, but with a sharp divide: most Catholics voted in, most Protestants out.
Long says Brexit shouldn’t be “an orange/green issue”, especially with the key issue of the border with the Republic of Ireland still to be resolved:
There is undoubtedly a new impetus that’s been given around the border issue … What we want to see are practical ways of addressing the border issues.
The public should have the final say on a deal, she adds.
Long suggests her party could make advances next week:
We’re certainly in serious contention for two Westminster seats at least.
I think there is a weariness with the orange/green politics.
And with the stalling of talks to revive power-sharing at Stormont, she adds:
At the moment, we do not have the devolved institutions to make a case on our behalf.
The government at Westminster has not been one that had had any sensitivity to Northern Ireland’s issues … There is a tone deafness in the government to what Northern Ireland’s needs are.
Some in the comments below would like to see Jeremy Corbyn’s fuller statement condemning the antisemitic abuse that was directed at Emma Barnett after she interviewed the Labour leader on Woman’s Hour yesterday.
Speaking later on Tuesday at the launch of the party’s race and faith manifesto, he said:
It is totally and absolutely and completely unacceptable for anyone to throw abuse at anyone else. Under no circumstances whatsoever should anyone throw personal abuse at anyone else because they’re doing the job that they’re employed to do. And I will not tolerate it under any circumstances.
He added, on the questioning over the cost of Labour’s childcare pledge:
I didn’t have the exact figure in front of me, so I was unable to answer that question – for which, obviously, I apologise. But I don’t apologise for what’s in the manifesto and I will explain exactly what the cost is: it’s £4.8bn by the end of the parliament and it means that 1 million children will get free childcare, 30 hours per week, between the years of two and four.
Last night, it was time for the event all of Wales was waiting for (kind of): the Welsh leaders’ debate! Except it wasn’t quite a leaders’ debate.
There was a bit of drama in Camp Welsh Conservative, meaning the biggest excitement of the night was before the BBC debate even got started. Assembly member Darren Millar, the Conservative education spokesman in Wales, ended up representing the party onstage as it emerged neither the leader, Andrew RT Davies, nor the Welsh secretary, Alun Cairns, would be taking part. The kerfuffle exposed a divide within the Welsh Conservatives as Davies’s spokesman released an extraordinary statement:
It led to some easy wins for other leaders. Plaid Cymru’s Leanne Wood quipped that she wanted some answers from the Conservatives on Brexit guarantees, but the Welsh leader was, alas, “on holiday”.
— BBC Wales Politics (@WalesPolitics) May 30, 2017
Away from inter-party politics, the big debate of the night, was, of course, about Brexit. Wales voted overwhelmingly for Brexit despite receiving quite a lot of funding from the EU, so what effects will it have on Wales?
The audience guffawed as Millar claimed it would be “right at the heart” of Brexit talks, but the other party representatives (because Millar is not the Welsh Conservative leader, remember) weren’t so sure. First minister Carwyn Jones and Wood both targeted Theresa May’s perceived lack of a Brexit plan, let alone a plan for Wales. And, in line with the rest of his party, Mark Williams of the Lib Dems was very clear on its anti-Brexit policy.
The only voice chiming with Millar was Ukip’s Neil Hamilton, who claimed there would be “plenty in the coffers” for Wales post-Brexit. Though he also seemed a little shaky on exactly how much money Wales got from the EU.
An interesting point: Jones very much presented himself as the true defender of Wales, a campaign move that is also at the heart of Plaid Cymru’s manifesto. Jeremy Corbyn was barely mentioned by the Welsh Labour leader, who maintained his party’s interest in making sure Wales gets the money it was promised by the leave campaign.
While Jones is not standing in the general election, it’s clear Welsh Labour won’t let the Conservatives take Wales without a fight.
Welcome to the last day of May, a joke I am allowed to employ because it is before breakfast but that will almost immediately become overused and infuriatingly unfunny. I’m Claire Phipps with the morning roundup and the day’s early politics news; Andrew Sparrow will be along later. Join us in the comments below or find me on Twitter @Claire_Phipps.
What’s happening?
After Theresa May burned the nation’s brains with talk of Jeremy Corbyn going “naked in the negotiating chamber” for Brexit talks – yes, it’s a version of an Aneurin Bevan quote; no, that’s not what most people took from it – it’s clear that the final week of the election campaign is going to get personal.
Personal isn’t always offputting, of course: Corbyn’s appearance on the One Show to chat about his love of manhole covers and refereeing under-10s (easier to wrangle than the PLP, he confirms) was warmly received as “human”, a quality often perceived as incompatible with “politician”.
But his F5-and-you’ll-miss-it Mumsnet webchat won fewer fans, even among the handful of posters who had their questions answered in his 25-minute visit:
Wellysocksbox: Jezza answered my question first! GET IN!! Still voting LibDem though.
That came, of course, after the Woman’s Hour run-in where Corbyn stumbled over the cost of the childcare pledge he’d gone on air to plug – memo to Labour politicians: if you have to go naked into the studio, at least scribble the numbers on the back of your hand – but here it was interviewer Emma Barnett for whom things got personal. The Labour leader later condemned as “unacceptable” the antisemitic abuse heaped upon her by some of his backers on Twitter.
It’s pick a theme and stick to it week, as May continues today to pound the Brexit line, and Corbyn doubles down on public services. The leak to the Daily Mail and the Telegraph of a “secret plan” to extend visas to unskilled overseas workers has been batted away by the Corbyn camp as “not a statement of Labour policy” but a discussion paper; expect the PM to discuss it as she heads to south-east England for another speech warning of the need for stability ahead of Brexit talks that fall inconveniently right after the election she called.
A load of mugs. Photograph: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images
There’s still a slim chance that Corbyn will pitch up for the BBC leaders’ debate this evening. He’s previously said he would not appear without May, who is sending Amber Rudd as a stand-in. But bouncing from the One Show and Monday night’s Sky News interview, and with a BBC Question Time special to come on Friday, he might fancy another peak-time outing. Squeeze in Springwatch on Thursday and he’d have the week sewn up.
A no-show dominated the Welsh leaders’ debate last night, too, with both the Welsh secretary Alun Cairns and Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies giving it a swerve. A snippy statement from Davies – gist: if Cairns can’t be bothered to turn up, why should I interrupt my wedding anniversary holiday? – gave those who did appear, including Labour’s Carwyn Jones and Plaid Cymru’s Leanne Wood, plenty to lob at the Tories’ reported resurgence. Stick with the live blog for more on that shortly.
Meanwhile, the SNP launched its manifesto, breaking the referendum/general election/referendum/general election pattern by giving us a year off in 2018: indyref2 would come “at the end of the Brexit process”, it pledges. Check out the key points and analysis here.
What to make of the Times/YouGov seat projection that puts May short of an overall majority? The modelling pushes the Tories down to 310 seats from the 330 they held before dissolution; gives Labour 257, up from 229; and awards the Lib Dems an extra seat, taking them to 10. The prediction would leave the SNP with 50 of the 54 seats they are defending; Plaid Cymru and the Greens would stay as they were, on three and one. (There is no breakdown for Northern Ireland seats.) The takeaway? The Tories would be 16 seats away from a Commons majority.
The Times says the modelling is “based on 50,000 interviews over the course of a week” with a voter panel convened by YouGov. But it also concedes:
The projection allows for big variations, however, and suggests that the Tories could get as many as 345 seats on a good night, 15 more than at present, and as few as 274 seats on a bad night.
Should we pay any heed? Many, including Newsnight’s Chris Cook, were scathing:
Anyway: this is a really interesting development for UK polling. I, for one, am keen on more really absurd maths in politics reporting.
Meanwhile, in utterly contradictory polling news (is there any other kind?), a fresh ICM poll for the Guardian put the Tory advantage at 12 points, 45% v 33%, with Labour skimming two points off the leaders since last week.
Diary
The humanist funeral for former Welsh first minister Rhodri Morgan takes place at 11am at the Senedd in Cardiff.
Jeremy Corbyn will make a speech in London this morning centring on the NHS, social care and schools.
Nick Clegg will also focus on schools as he shows off a new Lib Dem poster.
The Scottish Liberal Democrats publish their manifesto at 12.15 in Edinburgh.
Ukip Scotland follows suit at 1.30pm in the same city.
Theresa May is campaigning in south-west England, well away from the BBC studio in Cambridge…
…where at 7.30pm Mishal Husain hosts the BBC leaders’ debate. Amber Rudd, Tim Farron, Caroline Lucas, Angus Robertson, Paul Nuttall, Leanne Wood and Someone* from Labour will take part. (*Possibly Emily Thornberry, but the party hasn’t ruled out a last-minute substitution.)
And 5pm today is the deadline to apply for a proxy vote; find out how here. Unless you’re in Northern Ireland, in which case try here.
Read these
Alison Rowatin the Scotsman says the SNP leader is playing a dangerous game with talk of a progressive alliance:
Talking Labour down in Scotland outwith election periods, and raising the possibility of a pact as soon as an election is called, is fine as long as there is no other place for the votes of Scottish Labour supporters to go. That was the case in 2015, but now? It has perhaps not occurred to Ms Sturgeon that Labour voters might be wearying of being treated like voting fodder, their ballots smoothing the way to a second referendum at a time of her choosing. While they may not be able to stomach voting Tory in June, there is a more than fair chance that this time, particularly if they were Leave or No supporters, they will be considering voting tactically. At her manifesto launch yesterday, Ms Sturgeon repeated the claim that ‘only the SNP can keep the Tories in check’. Not in every case, first minister. Hell hath no fury like a voter who thinks they are being taken for granted.
Nicola Sturgeon at the launch of the SNP manifesto. Photograph: Murdo Macleod/The Guardian
Alice Thomsonin the Times says a little-noticed Tory pledge could have significant ramifications:
Tucked away on page 50 of the Conservative party manifesto is a mild-mannered, seemingly inoffensive line that is designed to be overlooked. I suspect it’s meant to sound so harmless and boring it’s hard to get to the end of the sentence – but try: ‘We will replace the unfair and ineffective inclusivity rules that prevent the establishment of new Roman Catholic schools, instead requiring new faith schools to prove that parents of other faiths and none would be prepared to send their children to that school.’
Stultifyingly dull, yes, but incredibly important. What the manifesto is saying is that the Tories are determined to lift the 50% cap on selection of pupils by faith that was introduced 10 years ago to prevent our education system becoming ghettoised. In other words, they are encouraging segregation in our playgrounds.
Revelation of the day
The LGBT hustings organised by Stonewall, Pink News, and Pride in London last night saw education secretary Justine Greening – who said last year she was in a same-sex relationship – label the prime minister the “unsung hero” of recent equality legislation. Others attending, including Lib Dem peer Brian Paddick, weren’t so sure that the woman who voted against the repeal of Section 28 was a champion of gay rights. Ukip’s thoughts on that, and every other issue raised, remain a mystery, though. As the moderator explained:
We did invite Ukip, but they didn’t reply to any of our emails.
The day in a tweet spat
Only Labour can be trusted to unlock the talent of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people. pic.twitter.com/St1TldsyVB
James Cleverly – who tweeted a succession of minority ethnic Tory ministers and candidates – communities secretary Sajid Javid and junior minister Sam Gyimah were among the Conservative candidates to offer … gratitude:
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