Campaign highlights: Labour dials up a controversial policy as PM gets a new bus
Friday’s campaign trail saw Boris Johnson with a new set of wheels and Jeremy Corbyn sending shockwaves through the City with his technology plans.
Labour’s plans to turn broadband into a public service had a big impact on the stock market on Friday, while the Lib Dems announced they had one policy that was even more important to them than stopping Brexit.
Jeremy Corbyn said Labour will deliver free full-fibre internet to every home and business by 2030 if it wins the General Election – while the Lib Dems pledged to spend £100 billion over five years to tackle the effects of climate change.
Here are some of the highlights:
– Labour wants to partly nationalise BT and give free broadband to every home by 2030
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the “visionary” £20 billion plan, to be paid for by introducing a tax on tech giants, would “ensure that broadband reaches the whole of the country”.
But Prime Minister Boris Johnson called Labour’s policy “a crackpot scheme”.
BT chief executive Philip Jansen said Labour had under-estimated the price of its pledge and warned that the party needed to think carefully about the impact their proposals will have on the company’s pensioners, employees, shareholders and the millions of investors via pension schemes.
– Boris Johnson said there was “no interference” by Russians in UK politics
The Prime Minister was asked why Number 10 was not publishing Parliament’s Intelligence Security Committee report.
The report includes evidence from UK intelligence services concerning alleged Russian attempts to influence the outcome of the 2016 EU referendum and 2017 general election.
Mr Johnson added that he saw “absolutely no reason to change the normal procedures for publishing Intelligence Security Committee reports just because there is an election”.
– Labour announced that their manifesto will be published next week
He added that people are “going to love it”.
His comments come ahead of Saturday’s Clause Five meeting where the shadow cabinet, trade unions, affiliated organisations and the national policy forum will finalise Labour’s policies for the election.
– The Liberal Democrats pledged to spend £100 billion on tackling climate change… and said it’s more important than stopping Brexit
The Lib Dems pledged to spend £100 billion to tackle the effects of climate change if they get into power.
Their economic spokesperson Sir Ed Davey said the five-year investment, to be paid for by borrowing and tax changes, would “jump-start” efforts to combat the crisis.
He added that the Lib Dems are introducing this policy as they “believe that stopping climate change is probably even more important than stopping Brexit”.
– The PM promised to deliver buses greener than his own
The bus, which Mr Johnson described as “wonderful”, contains the slogan “Back Boris and vote Conservative to… Get Brexit Done.”
He told activists that once a Conservative government has implemented its “fantastic” policies, there will be “buses that are a lot greener than this”.
The bus was built at the Mercedes-Benz factory in Hosdere on the outskirts of Istanbul in Turkey and meets the latest EU emissions standards.
Tweet of the day
James Lusher, Virgin Media’s head of external communications, made his views on Labour’s new broadband policy clear…
Picture of the day
Boris Johnson was in Greater Manchester to unveil his Turkish-built Mercedes-Benz Tourismo bus, which uses diesel and AdBlue to reduce emissions.
It has the slogan: “Back Boris and vote Conservative to… Get Brexit Done.”
A small amount of text reading “emergency exit break glass” can also be seen, but this is a safety measure connected to the bus rather than a Conservative slogan.
Jeremy Corbyn vows to tax Facebook and Google “fairly” as he announces plans to deliver free full-fibre internet to all by making broadband a public service.
