General election 2019: IFS rejects Labour's claim 95% taxpayers would not pay extra for its plans – as it happened

Barry Gardiner, Labour’s candidate in Brent North, discussing his party’s manifesto on BBC’s Newsnight.

Overseas residents and companies buying properties in the UK will be forced to pay more stamp duty under Conservative proposals to help more Britons get on the housing ladder.

Buyers who are not tax resident in the UK will be made to pay a higher rate of stamp duty land tax if the Tories win a majority at the election.

The surcharge will be levied on top of all other stamp duty payable and charged at 3 per cent.

The party estimates the measure will raise up to £120 million a year, which would be directed at programmes to tackle rough sleeping.

Currently, people who reside abroad and companies can buy homes as easily as UK residents.

Chief secretary to the Treasury, Rishi Sunak, said: “The Conservative Party is levelling up opportunities across the country, helping millions of people into home ownership.

“Evidence shows that by adding significant amounts of demand to limited housing supply, purchases by non-residents inflate house prices.

“That is why we are introducing a higher rate of stamp duty for non-UK residents that will help to address this issue and could raise up to £120 million.”

The Lib Dems’ Chuka Umunna and housing secretary Robert Jenrick clash over the issue of public trust in politicians.

Richard Burgon, Labour’s candidate for Leeds East, on the party’s manifesto.

Jeremy Corbyn has tweeted about Boris Johnson not participating in a leaders’ debate which had ben scheduled for Sunday.

Meanwhile, the first ever election leaders’ debate focusing on the climate crisis will be broadcast by Channel 4 next week with the prime minister the only major party leader set to be absent.

Channel 4 News said it was awaiting confirmation from Johnson as to whether he would take part and could place an empty chair in the place of the PM if he declines to attend.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/21/boris-johnson-election-leaders-debate-climate-crisis

Housing secretary Robert Jenrick on Question Time on his party’s strategy.

The Lib Dems’ Chuka Umunna on the BBC’s Question Time discussing Brexit.

Friday’s Mirror front page

Tomorrow’s Financial Times front page

The Times is also splashing on Labour’s election manifesto.

Friday’s Daily Express front page

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon believes Scotland does not want to leave the EU and she still wants to hold an independence referendum in 2020.

She told BBC Scotland that the way to solve the country’s “problem of having our future determined by Westminster” was to be independent.

“The UK is in a mess right now – it’s not a mess of my making, and it’s got to plot its way out of that.”

The i’s front page for Friday

The Liberal Democrats have committed to building 300,000 new homes a year.

A third of the homes planned by the Lib Dems would be social rented homes, with a 10 billion capital infrastructure investment to support this.

Labour has committed to building 150,000 a year in its manifesto, two-thirds of which would be council houses, with the rest being “genuinely affordable homes”.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives said they would build “at least” a million more homes in the next parliament - a move housing charity Shelter said would be a “significant disappointment to many” as it is actually 100,000 fewer than the current target.

The Lib Dems would also set up a “Rent to Own” model for social housing and providing government-backed tenancy deposit loans for all first-time renters under 30.

The party’s housing spokesman Tim Farron said the Lib Dems are “the only party with a bold plan to build a brighter future for all.”

He added: “Whether renting or buying, across the country too many people - people who work hard and play by the rules - are struggling to afford good homes in the right location. We are facing a national housing crisis.

“To meet demand we need to build 300,000 homes a year. Both Labour and the Tories, in pursuing Brexit, show they are willing to risk 10% of our construction workers who are from the EU, making this crisis worse.

“Liberal Democrats will build 100,000 social homes for rent every year, to ensure that everybody has a safe and secure home. We will tackle rogue landlords with mandatory licensing, and promote long-term lettings.

“We will also tackle wasted vacant housing stock by allowing local authorities to increase council tax by up to 500% where homes are left empty for more than six months.”

Friday’s Guardian front page

Tomorrow’s Indy front page

Friday’s City AM front page

Tomorrow’s front pages are starting to filter through, starting with the Telegraph

Sir Keir Starmer has said Britain “won’t go back to normal” after Brexit or whether there is a vote to remain.

During a meeting in support of Edinburgh Labour candidate Ian Murray, the shadow Brexit secretary said regardless of the decision made after his party’s proposed second referendum, the country will remain divided.

The claim comes on the same day his party released its manifesto with a promise to negotiate a new deal with the EU and hold a second referendum on the issue within six months.

The shadow Brexit secretary said the only way to unite the country will be to take action to ensure people no longer feel disenfranchised.

Sir Keir told the meeting: “Anybody who thinks that the deal with Europe is going to resolve the issue, needs to think again.

“This isn’t going to be resolved. There isn’t going to be a happy day, when it’s either the deal or remain is decided and it just goes back to normal.

“That’s never going to happen.”

Brexit Party candidate Ann Widdecombe has repeated her claims that she was offered a role by the Conservatives in the Brexit negotiations if she stood down in the general election in an interview on LBC.

In response, the Lib Dem’s Brexit spokesman Tom Brake said the allegation “must be added to the police investigation into whether peerages were offered to Brexit Party candidates to stand down”.

Last week, Boris Johnson said claims that Brexit Party election candidates had been offered peerages to encourage them to stand down were “nonsense”.

Robbie Williams has disclosed he will be voting for the first time in the upcoming election and believes it will be an entertaining outcome.

The singer said: “I couldn’t possibly say. The next question is: ‘Who?’ I couldn’t possibly say the right thing to that question.

“Do you know what? It is going to be really entertaining. That’s how much I know about the run-up to this election and the night itself.

“I’m going to be glued to the television like everybody else. And ‘yes’, the answer is.

“The first time I will be voting is in this election. I have now got the right to vote by post. But I’m not saying who.”

There are five days left to register to vote in next month’s election. The deadline is 23:59 GMT on November 26th.

Channel 4 News has called on Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage to participate in a debate on climate change ahead of the general election.

While the leaders of Labour, the Lib Dems, the Green Party and the SNP have all agreed to take part, the broadcaster said it is still waiting for responses from the leaders of both the Conservative and Brexit Party.

My colleague Jim Waterson on the controversy over Jeremy Corbyn’s interview with the Evening Standard newspaper.

The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, has said that if Labour decides on a Brexit deal, he’ll “abide by the democratic wishes” of the party.

More from Nigel Farage. He has also pledged that once Brexit is concluded, he will walk away from politics and his campaigning has nothing to do with ego -

https://twitter.com/itvnews/status/1197577283051147265

The Brexit party leader, Nigel Farage, has said he will abstain from voting in the election.

Green Party co-leader Sian Berry on its stance on nuclear energy -

The Greens’ co-leader Sian Berry on the party’s environmental policies:

Nigel Farage has faced renewed criticism for discussing tropes and conspiracy theories associated with the far right and antisemitism after it emerged he said migration would “imperil the future of our civilisation” and called Goldman Sachs “the enemy”.

In an interview this year with Revelation TV, a UK evangelical Christian channel, the Brexit party leader alleged that banks and multinational corporations were trying to created a dictatorial world government.

An anti-Brexit campaign group has bought thebrexitparty.com and is offering to sell the domain name to Nigel Farage for more than £1m.

Led By Donkeys said the fee would increase by £50,000 each day and if paid would be donated to the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, a charity.

The move comes after Brexit party lawyers contacted Led By Donkeys asking them to remove their logo from the site. The party said the campaign group was refusing to transfer the domain name, which is similar to that of their official site, thebrexitparty.org.

The website features a rising total of the cost being sought, along with an “election advent calendar” offering examples of the “lies, lunacy and hypocrisy” of the Conservatives and Brexit party every day until the election on 12 December.

Oliver Knowles, a co-founder of Led By Donkeys, said: “When Farage and his millionaire backers set up the Brexit party, they didn’t have the foresight to buy up all of the websites with their own name – and we did.

“With the advent calendar, we are telling the story of the Brexit party and the Tory party, who are now election partners, and the threat they represent to the country.”

All versions of the Brexit party logo have been removed from the website.

Ireland’s justice minister, Charlie Flanagan, has said he was “extremely concerned” to learn of another incident of people being found in a sealed lorry container, on this occasion onboard a ferry.

Detectives are speaking to the driver and owners of the lorry after 16 people were discovered inside on a Stena Line ferry that arrived in Rosslare, Co Wexford, this afternoon from Cherbourg in France.

Police said they were investigating possible immigration offences and had seized a truck involved in the incident.

Flanagan said: “There is an active garda investigation under way and I would appeal to anyone with any information on these nefarious activities to come forward. I welcome the statement issued by An Garda Siochána earlier today.

“The persons found in the lorry container are now being cared for by state services. As part of that care, they will receive initial medical assessments.”

Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has insisted due process must be respected after her predecessor appeared in court on a series of sexual assault charges.

Alex Salmond pleaded not guilty to 14 separate allegations involving 10 women. He faces a charge of attempted rape, 11 charges of sexual assault, including one with intent to rape, and two charges of indecent assault.

Speaking outside the high court in Edinburgh, Salmond said: “I am innocent and I will defend my position vigorously.”

Sturgeon said her only interest was that “justice is done, whatever that might be.”

The SNP leader, who was campaigning in Glasgow, said: “This is a live, ongoing criminal trail so there is nothing it is appropriate for me to say. In fact there is nothing it is appropriate for anybody to say because it is absolutely essential that due process is allowed to take its course.

“My only interest as first minister and as an ordinary citizen is that justice is done, whatever that might be. So I will say nothing that in any way might influence or prejudice that trial because it is vital that goes ahead and due process is respected.”

Boris Johnson has pulled out of a planned Channel 4 leaders’ debate, according to Channel 4’s Louisa Compton.

Boris Johnson’s main election pitch is that, unlike Labour, he would “get Brexit done”. He says he would take the UK out of the EU before the end of January, and he claims he would be able to negotiate a trade deal with the EU before the end of 2020 so that there would be no need to extend the transition period (the period during which the UK is out of the EU, but EU rules still apply, to allow people time to prepare for Brexit proper). Even though many experts think the transition period will have to be extended for up to two years, the government has said categorically that it will not allow it.

According to the BBC’s Europe editor, Katya Adler, Johnson’s position is implausible. She explains why in a good Twitter thread starting here.

Boris Johnson has been at a building site in Bedford today promoting Conservative plans to help people buy a home. (See 9.48am.) As well as saying that the Tories would build 1 million more homes over the next five years, he mentioned two specific measures for would-be homeowners.

Number one: helping local people so that they have a 30% discount on their home. And they’ve got to make sure that when the home is sold it goes on to a local person. Also, helping people who are renting to get the high-value mortgage they may need to buy the home.

But the impact of the first home programme for local people is relatively limited. According to the Tory briefing, by the mid-2020s this discount could apply to up to 19,000 homes. (See 9.48am.) And, as Sky’s Ed Conway reported earlier (see 10.58am), there are some doubts as to the feasibility of the new mortgage products Johnson is proposing.

According to the Press Association, Johnson smoothed cement and laid a few bricks on a metre-high wall at a new home at the Willow Grove estate in Bedford. He remarked that his efforts were “not bad”, before looking back on his work and adding: “Kind of.”

From the Daily Mirror’s Pippa Crerar

Billionaires and financiers are among those who have helped the Conservative party raise £5.7m in a single week, according to official figures.

Data published by the Electoral Commission on donations received between 6 and 12 November shows the Tories far outstripped other parties, most of which raised a couple of hundred thousand pounds during the same period.

The top donors to the Conservatives were:

• John Gore, a theatre producer and recent addition to the Sunday Times rich list, with an estimated net worth of £1.5bn. He donated £1m.
• WA Capital, the vehicle of the Dunelm Group founder Bill Adderley, worth an estimated £1.4bn. He donated £500,000.
• Trailfinders Limited, a travel company, donated £500,000.
• Countywide Developments Ltd, which is owned by the property billionaire Tony Gallagher, donated £500,000.

The Tories received £4.1m in the first week of the 2017 general election campaign.

Here is Jeremy Corbyn’s one-minute summary of his manifesto plans.

New polling from Ipsos Mori gives the Conservatives a comfortable 16-point lead over Labour. The research for the Evening Standard has the Conservatives on 44%, Labour on 28%, the Liberal Democrats on 16%, the Brexit party on 3% and the Greens on 3%.

Asked what issues were driving their decisions, 63% of voters mentioned Brexit, 41% the NHS and 21% education. Taxation and protecting the environment were each brought up by 11% of those surveyed, while the economy was cited by 9%.

Brexit was particularly important to Conservative and Liberal Democrat supporters (76% and 77% respectively), while only 45% of Labour supporters mentioned it.

Possibly most interestingly, those who said they’d vote Conservative were surer of their vote than those voting Labour. Seventy-one per cent of Tory supporters said they would definitely back the party, compared with 54% of Labour supporters. Just 40% of Liberal Democrats supporters said they were definitely decided.

At Holyrood, first minister’s questions did not touch directly on the election, but the session did go nuclear.

First, SNP MSP Jenny Gilruth gave Nicola Sturgeon the opportunity to answer the question posed to Jo Swinson in the ITV Leaders’ Interviews on Tuesday: would you use nuclear weapons?

While Swinson attracted much criticism for her short and direct “Yes”, Sturgeon gave a similarly direct “No”, describing nuclear weapons as “immoral, ineffective and a waste of money”.

She was later asked by Mark Ruskell of the Scottish Greens about the costly 15-year delay in decommissioning nuclear submarines at Rosyth dockyard in Fife. Ruskell wanted to know “what the Scottish government could do to free up the yard for low-carbon shipbuilding ... while removing those weapons from Jo Swinson’s reach”. After some laughter in the chamber, Sturgeon reiterated that she did not want Scotland to be home to WMD.

This is especially pertinent today given that Labour’s manifesto includes a commitment to Trident renewal (we’ll find out the Scottish Labour policy at their manifesto launch tomorrow, as it has diverged from the UK position in the past). And the SNP leadership has said previously that removing the weapons from Scotland could be a red line in any post-election negotiations (see my report yesterday for where we’ve got to on this between Labour and the SNP).

And talking of Labour’s manifesto, it is noteworthy that it has retained the rather vague guarantee not to agree to a section 30 order request for the powers to hold a second independence referendum “in the early years of a Labour government”. This gives them ample flexibility should the SNP win a pro-independence majority at the next Holyrood election in 2021.

And here is my colleague Heather Stewart’s story about the manifesto launch.

Here is my colleague Rowena Mason’s guide to what’s in Labour’s manifesto.

Corbyn is now responding to questions from students at the venue, Birmingham City University.

He says young workers will benefit from the living wage.

They will also have full rights at work from day one of their employment. And they will have the right to trade union representation from the start, he says.

He says, as part of ending universal credit, Labour will end the two-child policy and the so-called rape clause.

He says the education system is too competitive. There are too many pupils being excluded. Exclusion affects their achievements later in life. Labour will get schools to support each other, so teachers should face less stress.

He says the Tories introduced what they called a fair funding formula. But it was the very opposite; it took funds away from many schools, he says.

He says headteachers should not have to beg for money from parents. This might work in wealthy areas. But in areas where parents are on the minimum wage, the schools do not get top-up funding, and their pupils lose out.

He says Labour will have a ringfenced pupil arts premium so every pupil can learn a musical instrument.

He ends by saying how proud he is of the manifesto.

And that’s it. The launch is over.

As the day goes on, we will be looking at the manifesto in detail – here, and elsewhere on the website.

And I will post a summary of the main points from the launch shortly.

Q: Some voters do not see you as patriotic. Is that fair?

Corbyn replies:

Yes, I do support this country. I am patriotic about this country.

He says patriotism is about caring for the whole of society – not walking by on the other side, and ignoring the homeless.

He says members of the armed forces working on disaster relief have told him how proud they are of the work they do.

He says patriotism should be about supporting each other, not attacking people.

And he loves this country’s literature, he says. When he travels, he goes on about the history of different places. He jokes that those travelling with him may find this hard to put up with.

Q: Do you think Prince Andrew should cooperate with the lawyers for the victims of Jeffrey Epstein? And do you think there needs to be a wider review of the royal family.

Corbyn says the interests of Epstein’s victims should come first. He says no one should be above the law.

Q: Now the Tories are also promising high levels of investment. Why should voters trust you to deliver?

Corbyn says some of Boris Johnson’s claims about his spending plans are - Corbyn says he is trying to be generous - inaccurately sourced. For example, Johnson said he would create 40 new hospitals, when it turned out to be only six projects.

And the proposals in other areas, such as police funding, do not match the cuts enacted by the Tories since 2010.

He says his proposals are bold.

The costings document (see 11.56am) goes into a great deal of detail, he says.

He asks what the country will be like if it carries in the way things are going now.

The Tories are just offering “same old, same old” and “more and more inequality”.

There is also a question about whether Corbyn would cooperate with the Tories on a cross-party solution to social care, but Corbyn ignores this. Long-Bailey is taking questions three at a time, and some journalists are asking two questions at the same time, and so that one got overlooked.

Q: A lot of your manifesto is reminiscent of the 1970s. The 1970s gets a bad press. How do you remember it - as a good time or a bad time?

Corbyn says the businesses he wants to nationalise are natural monopolies. He says the way postal workers are being treated is terrible. If you stop to talk to them, they do not have time to stop because they are being monitored. They would be treated better if the Royal Mail were in public ownership, he suggests.

He says water deserves to be nationalised. The private companies are not providing a good service. We waste enough water to fill Loch Ness with leaks.

He says the public ownership model will be one with consumer involvement. He is not going for a top-down nationalisation model. It will be more community-orientated and more consumer-orientated.

He says British Rail was under-resourced. Private rail companies are now getting more in public subsidy than British Rail ever got.

Q: What do you say to claims you are good at spending money, but that you do not understand how to raise money?

Corbyn says he spends a lot of time talking to groups such as the CBI, and to small business owners. He is absolutely on their side. Often these are the most innovative people, he says.

He says they say they want broadband, buses, trains and good quality roads.

So the Labour broadband offer will create opportunities all over the country.

Q: Many windfarms are being made abroad. So will your green plans benefit workers in Scotland?

Corbyn says up to 5% of the UK’s electricity needs could be met by windfarms off the Scottish coast. Those wind turbines could be built in Scotland. But Scotland needs an industrial strategy.

He says workers in Scotland are annoyed these are being manufactured abroad. He wants those turbines to be built here.

He says he will invest £100m in Scotland.

Q: The Scottish Labour party does not want a second independence referendum. So is this a manifesto that excludes them?

Corbyn says he is fighting the election to win as Labour. He is not fighting to go into coalition with anyone.

Q: Why do you think the public will back this manifesto when voters weren’t won over by the 2017 one?

Corbyn says this is a radical manifesto. But radical answers are what is necessary. When you have a mental health crisis, working people in poverty, overcrowded schools, unqualified teachers and people unable to buy their own home, you realise what is needed.

And when you live in a community that once had a proud industrial basis to it, a steelworks or coalmine, and you walk down the high street and see empty shops, you recognise the scale of need.

He says he is very proud of the fact it is a radical manifesto.

The levels of poverty are horrific. And poverty is such a waste of the abilities of people.

Corbyn says children cannot achieve properly at school if they are growing up in poverty.

He says Labour did not win the last election. He knows that every day, because he sees that in his advice surgery, and he sees problems getting worse. That is why he is determined to get his message across.

Q: In the TV debate you were laughed at when you would not say how you would vote in the second Brexit referendum. Is your policy credible, and how would you vote?

Q: Some of your plans would fall foul of EU rules on state aid. So could Labour really campaign for remain?

Taking both questions together, Corbyn says people voted to leave the EU in 2016.

People have spent a lot of time discussing Brexit, and the shadow cabinet has too.

He has sought to understand why people voted leave. There are people facing the same problems, some of whom voted remain and some of whom voted leave.

He sets out Labour’s policy: a renegotiation followed by a referendum.

He says it is responsible to try to bring people together.

He does not accept that the UK must remain divided. He wants to give people the final say, and then carry out the result of that vote.

Regarding EU state aid rules, he says Labour has looked at this carefully. He says all his policies are possible under EU state aid rules.

And here is Labour’s 44-page document (pdf) with its manifesto costings.

Rebecca Long-Bailey asks Labour supporters in the audience to let journalists ask their questions without interruption.

She calls the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.

Some in the audience start booing.

Jeremy Corbyn protests. “We don’t do that,” he says.

Here is Corbyn’s peroration.

Ignore the wealthy and powerful who tell you that’s not possible.

The future is ours to make, together.

As the writer Pablo Neruda wrote so beautifully: “You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep Spring from coming.”

Vote for this manifesto of hope.

It’s time for real change.

From the Times’ Henry Zeffman

The Conservatives are expected to propose repealing the Fixed-term Parliaments Act in their manifesto too.

Here is my colleague Heather Stewart’s first-take story on the Labour manifesto.

And this is how it starts.

A Labour government would put an £11bn windfall tax on oil and gas companies to create a “just transition fund” and help shift the UK towards a green economy without creating mass job losses, Jeremy Corbyn has said.

The one-off tax would be calculated according to an assessment of each firm’s past contribution to the climate crisis, Labour said – and could be paid over years.

The total is 10 times the £1.1bn that the Treasury expects to raise from the oil and gas sector this year.

Corbyn confirms that Labour would scrap tuition fees, and universal credit.

If you’re a patient or a nurse, Labour is on your side. We’ll rescue our NHS, make dental check-ups free, recruit thousands of nurses and doctors and bring down waiting lists.

If you’re a student, Labour is on your side. We’ll create a national education service, make lifelong education a right, value technical education as highly as academic learning and we’ll bring back maintenance grants and, yes, scrap university tuition fees.

If you’re reaching old age, Labour is on your side. We’ll protect pensions and provide free personal care. If you’re living with a disability, Labour is on your side. We’ll update the Equality Act and scrap universal credit.

If you’re a tenant, Labour is on your side. We’ll launch the biggest council housebuilding programme since the 1960s and cap rents. If you’re a new parent, Labour is on your side. We’ll guarantee 30 hours of free childcare for all two- to four-year olds.

From ITV Cymru Wales’ Adrian Masters

From my colleague Heather Stewart

More from the manifesto.

Corbyn says people’s votes can be “more powerful than all the wealth in the world”.

(That claim might struggle to get past the factcheckers, I’m afraid.)

He is now urging people to vote.

More from the manifesto.

From the BBC’s Norman Smith

Jeremy Corbyn is speaking now.

He says this is a manifesto for hope.

Long-Bailey says Jeremy Corbyn is someone who has a track record of standing up for his principles.

And he has already transformed politics - even before getting into Downing Street.

She introduces him as “our next prime minster”.

Here is the Birmingham Post and Mail’s Jonathan Walker on what the Labour manifesto actually says about the target for reaching net zero carbon emissions. As expected, the manifesto does not include the firm 2030 target date set out in a motion passed at conference.

According to Dawn Butler, the shadow minister for women and equalities, it’s chilly at the Labour manifesto launch in Birmingham.

These are from Sky’s economics editor Ed Conway, who says the Conservative housing plan announcement overnight (see 9.48am) contains a misleading promise.

The UK’s GDP growth rate will slip to 1% next year even if a no-deal Brexit is avoided, according to the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation. My colleague Phillip Inman has the full story here.

Jeremy Corbyn and his shadow cabinet have arrived for the launch of the Labour manifesto in Birmingham.

These are from Sky’s Sam Coates, setting out exactly what Boris Johnson said about the proposed Tory tax cut yesterday and how CCHQ’s own briefing points out that what he said was wrong. Earlier Sajid Javid, the chancellor, dodged the question when asked whether Johnson should apologise for misleading voters. (See 8.48am.)

These are from Faisal Islam, the BBC’s economics editor, on the Labour manifesto.

Google will no longer allow political advertisers to target voters based on their political affiliation, the company has announced, in a move that will increase pressure on Facebook to limit micro-targeting. My colleague Julia Carrie Wong has the full story here.

Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, taking over from Mattha Busby.

Sajid Javid, the chancellor, has just been on the Today programme now. As when he was on BBC Breakfast earlier (see 7.32am), he was asked about Boris Johnson’s claim yesterday that his proposed tax cut (an increase in the national insurance threshold) would make people £500 a year better off. Mishal Husain, the presenter, put it to Javid that Johnson was misleading people, because people will only save £500 a year when the threshold reaches £12,500, and that is only a long-term aspiration. The saving from the specific pledge announced by the Tories, raising the threshold to £9,500, is only about £100. Husain asked Javid whether Johnson would apologise for saying something that was untrue. She did not get an answer from the chancellor, who sidestepped this specific accusation and focused on defending his boss.

It emerged last night that a reporter from the Mirror was not allowed to board the Conservative’s election bus yesterday despite having initially been offered access, according to the paper.

Senior Tory aides told the Mirror as early as last week they could have access to the trip - the Tory leader’s first with the bus - but pulled the offer at the last minute.

Our reporter was then blocked from boarding the red, white and blue emblazoned campaign coach when she arrived in Manchester city centre, where it set off just before 8am. As the bus headed for crucial electoral battlegrounds in the north east with Mr Johnson, our correspondent was forced to wave goodbye.

The Tories had blamed the Mirror’s critical coverage of the Prime Minister in recent weeks.

The paper’s political correspondent Mikey Smith notes that a number of former Tory leaders have provided access to their battle bus to the Mirror during general election campaigns. Its worth noting that the Mirror has long supported the Labour party.

Back in May 2017, ahead of the election in the next month, the Mirror had asked the then prime minister why she was “such a chicken”. But access to the Tory battle bus was seemingly unaffected.

The Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesman, Tom Brake, refused to be drawn over suggestions that the party’s narrative has shifted since the election campaign begun, when the leader, Jo Swinson, claimed she would be the next prime minister.

Instead, he said spreading the message of the Liberal Democrat’s manifesto would “greatly enhance” her chance of becoming the next PM.

He had been asked three times why Swinson no longer believed she could be prime minister.

We are fighting very hard, particularly in Conservative seats, to take seats from Boris Johnson’s Conservatives, we know we’re best placed to do that. There’s no evidence Labour can. That is what we are doing and I’m convinced what we are setting out in our manifesto, setting our proposals to fund the health service properly, tackling climate change, investing in childcare, much of it paid through the £50bn remain dividend over a five-year period. When people hear that, her prospects of becoming prime minister are greatly enhanced.

Questioned on whether the Liberal Democrats would go into coalition with either Labour or the Tories, Brake said: “We have made it absolutely clear that in no circumstances whatsoever are the Liberal Democrats going to prop up either a Boris Johnson government or a Jeremy Corbyn government.”

Worth harking back to John Crace’s sketch yesterday on how Swinson used to insist she was going to be the next prime minister.

How Jeremy Corbyn would vote in a second referendum on Brexit “doesn’t matter”, according to Angela Rayner.

She had been asked what side of the debate her party leader would be on in a future vote – as Labour eventually pledged.

Jeremy stands on the side of the people. We’ve had three years of the Conservatives propped up with the DUP who have failed to get a deal on Europe. We’ve said that we will get a deal that will put jobs, the economy, consumers, the environment, and employment protections first, within six months of a Labour government.

We’ll put that back to the people in a vote. For that deal or Remain. Then we’ll do the investment in Britain that we need. That’s the important thing, that people understand that we’re respecting that they have the final say. It doesn’t matter how Jeremy Corbyn votes, it matters what he’s going to do for the people of this country.

Sajid Javid, the Chancellor, is on BBC Breakfast elaborating on the Tories’ plans to raise the threshold which lower earners begin to pay national insurance contributions.

A Conservative-majority government would cut taxes for working people by raising the national insurance to £9,500 in the first year, before seeking to raise it to £12,500 throughout their possible term in office. The current threshold is £8,632.

We’ve shown this since we’ve been back in office, that hard working people should be able to keep more of their hard earned cash.

Questioned over Boris Johnson’s claim that the initial threshold rise would immediately put £500 in every person’s pocket, Javid restated the policy without directly responding before he was pressed further.

We’ve been very clear, as soon as the prime minister had finished answering a very straightforward answer to a very good question from a young woman in Teesside where he was at the business, he set out what the plans were and since then we’ve set out in far more detail how it is going to work.

Once the threshold reaches £12,500, people will be saving £500 each – but that figure only remains an intention at this stage.

Johnson was in Teesside yesterday, where he appeared to disclose details about the policy prematurely.

The PM may selling this election as all about Brexit, but the apparently marginal issue of animal rights could yet prove surprisingly influential, writes the Guardian’s Patrick Barkham.

While Extinction Rebellion and the youth climate strikes have turned the climate crisis into a popular priority, Barkham says the Conservatives hope to harvest this sentiment by championing animals, after former environment secretary Michael Gove demonstrated how animal welfare action such as the ban on all ivory trade were financially painless “easy wins”.

YouGov polling commissioned by the League Against Cruel Sports has found that strengthening the 2004 Hunting Act to prevent the killing of foxes via trail hunting has the support of not only 89% of potential Labour voters but also 68% of Conservatives and 71% of Brexit party supporters.

So don’t rule out a pivot towards animal rights ... possibly partly inspired by the PM’s partner, Carrie Symonds, who has worked for international charity Oceana, championed anti-whaling causes, and who also made a surprise appearance at this summer’s Birdfair, dubbed “the conservationists’ Glastonbury”.

In case you missed it, Jo Swinson launched the Liberal Democrat’s election manifesto yesterday. You can catch up on the key policies here, including:

• revoking article 50
• education promises including more childcare for working parents
• a £7bn education cash injection into the NHS raised through a 1p increase on income tax
• a £130bn infrastructure investment in public transport

You can read the Guardian’s fact check on the party’s claim that there will be a £50bn “remain bonus” from revoking Brexit.

As usual you can read plenty of Guardian opinion pieces today, including Owen Jones on why Jeremy Corbyn must convince voters under 40 that Labour’s manifesto is worth voting for, or Johnson will triumph.

There’s also Martin Kettle on why it’s time for tactical voting in this election. He says it is right for voters to cast their ballot for the candidate with the best chance of beating the Conservatives: “This is not a time for political piety, prissiness or pride. It’s about facing the Brexit danger – and taking the one real chance of preventing it.”

The Conservatives haven’t officially unveiled their manifesto yet, but Boris Johnson let a fairly large cat out of the bag yesterday when he revealed plans to raise the threshold at which people start paying National Insurance contributions from £8,628 a year to £9,500 – eventually rising to £12,500.

And the party pushing this policy this morning, tweeting in the past hour about the PM’s support for people on low and middle incomes being able to “keep more of their hard-earned money”.

Back to housing and the Conservatives divulge plans to build 1m extra homes over the next five years today, as well as outline measures to make it easier for renters to buy. We’ll bring you more details on that later.

What else is happening today?

Apart from Labour’s manifesto launch at 11am, Boris Johnson is expected to be campaigning in Bedfordshire.

And not election-related but still on politics, the former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond is due to appear in court on a series of sexual assault and attempted rape charges. According to Press Association, the preliminary hearing is to take place at the High Court in Edinburgh. Salmond, 64, has previously denied the allegations and said he will defend himself “to the utmost” in court.

The papers front pages are less election and more Prince Andrew today. You can see a full round up here, but here are the visual highlights.

Good morning and welcome to all things politics for today. I’m Alison Rourke and I will be guiding you through the first hour or so of today’s coverage. So let’s get into it.

The big set-piece event of the day is Jeremy Corbyn launching Labour’s manifesto in Birmingham this morning. Its centrepiece is the party’s big promise on social housing ... to the tune of £75bn in a promise to “build for the many”.

Corbyn will pledge to be “on your side”, including promising to build 100,000 council houses a year and 50,000 social homes through housing associations by the end of its first term. That’s a massive jump from the 6,287 council homes built in 2018-19.

No doubt Labour hopes this pitch will appeal to the almost 1.6m families raising children in rented homes.

And how will the pledge it be paid for? The money is earmarked to come out of the recently announced £150bn “social transformation fund”.

You can see the Guardian’s fact check on whether the numbers stack up here.

(Not to be outdone on housing, the Tories will announce their “fairer deal for renters” today, so stay tuned for that.)

Another big set piece in the manifesto is Labour’s promise to create a million green jobs to tackle the climate crisis. New jobs will be promised in insulation upgrade projects, offshore wind and carbon capture developments. As the Guardian’s Kate Proctor writes: “The focus on tackling climate change while also supporting mass job creation is likely to be a resolution of tension between ambitious de-carbonisation targets set by Labour activists at the autumn party conference and union concerns about job losses.”

According to the Press Association, the manifesto will also include plans to renationalise key utilities, following a pledge to take part of BT into public ownership to deliver free full-fibre broadband for all, as well as promises to significantly boost NHS spending.

So stay tuned for a day of announcements.