Johnson Leads Polls as Election Enters Final Days: U.K. Votes
Campaigners opposing Brexit are now urging voters who agree with them to vote “tactically” against the Tories.
The U.K. is now in the final days of campaigning ahead of the Dec. 12 general election. Polls in Sunday’s newspapers all give Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservatives a clear lead over Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party, though they differ by how much.
Campaigners opposing Brexit are now urging voters who agree with them to vote “tactically” against the Tories -- essentially backing the candidate most likely to beat the Conservative in their area. This, along with complacency among his supporters, is now the main threat to Johnson.
For more on the election visit ELEC.
Key Developments:
- Johnson has insisted there won’t be any border checks in the Irish Sea
- The Conservatives have proposed a three-tier immigration system
- But Labour accused him of lying over how it would work
- Anti-Brexit campaigners urge tactical voting
McDonnell: I Don’t Want to Overthrow Capitalism (10 a.m.)
John McDonnell, Labour’s shadow chancellor, rejected the idea he was going soft on his socialist principles as he said he doesn’t want to end capitalism. Asked on the BBC whether he intended to overthrow capitalism and create a socialist state if his party were to win the election, McDonnell said he simply wanted to “transform” the British economy.
“I want to make sure our economy works for everybody,” he said. “It means transforming capitalism into a new form and I think there’s a real debate now happening -- not just here, across Europe and America itself -- about how our economy is failing the vast majority of our people. I think we can transform it in a way that meets the objective of having a much more equal, just economy, but also a much more successful one.”
McDonnell also said it would be “relatively cheap” for his government to borrow money, given low interest rates. This, alongside a “fair” tax system, which includes a rise in corporation tax, would fund Labour’s spending plans.
He acknowledged that the emergence of a strain of anti-Semitism in Labour under Corbyn’s leadership was hurting the party in the election. “I worry that this has had its effect,” he said. “We’ve done everything I think that we can possibly do.”
Sturgeon: I’ll Never Put Johnson in Office (9:40 a.m.)
Nicola Sturgeon, first minister of Scotland, told the BBC that her Scottish National Party would never vote to put Johnson into office. But she denied that Labour was right to say this means they wouldn’t have to offer her a referendum on Scottish independence to get her support for Corbyn becoming prime minister instead.
Lewis: No Threat to Judges From Conservatives (9:30 a.m.)
Security Minister Brandon Lewis denied that a line in the Conservative manifesto that promised to change the way courts work was an attack on judges. The independence of the judiciary is “sacrosanct,” Lewis told the BBC.
Labour: Johnson Lying Over Immigration (9 a.m.)
Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s health spokesman, said his party will give free personal social care to the elderly, no matter how wealthy they are. Labour will commit 10 billion pounds ($13 billion) to ensure “no one will have to pay anything for the care” they receive in their home.
Ashworth also said Johnson was lying over his commitment to get immigration down. “When you look at the detail, he’s going to hand over the details of who gets a visa to an independent committee,” he said.
“So he’s actually misleading people when he says he’s bringing immigration down. There will be no democratic control, no accountability, over any decision any immigration minister makes. It will be handed over to a statutory independent committee. Again, Boris Johnson is lying to the British people.”
Johnson Insists: No Goods Checks in Irish Sea (8:30 a.m.)
Johnson has insisted that, despite the statements of his ministers and internal work by officials in his own government, there will be no checks on goods traveling between Britain and Northern Ireland after Brexit.
Labour on Friday revealed a leaked Treasury document showing that goods moving across the Irish Sea would be subject to paperwork and checks, something that would increase costs for Northern Irish businesses trading with the rest of the U.K.
“That’s wrong because there won’t be checks,” Johnson told Sky News in an interview broadcast on Sunday. “There’s no question of there being checks on goods going NI/GB or GB/NI. If you look at what the deal is, we’re part of the same customs territory and it’s very clear that there should be unfettered access between Northern Ireland and the rest of GB.”
The agreement that Johnson reached with the European Union in October outraged his allies in Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party. They say it creates a barrier between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. And while Johnson denies that, it’s far from clear that’s he’s right.
Tactical Voting Could Swing Election: Poll (Earlier)
The Conservatives could be denied a majority in next week’s election as both Labour and Liberal Democrat supporters prepare to vote tactically in their districts, according to a new poll. Without a majority, Johnson will struggle to find the votes to get his Brexit deal through Parliament in time for the Jan. 31 deadline.
The poll -- which surveyed 10,000 people and was commissioned by anti-Brexit group Vote for a Final Say -- suggested 44% of Labour supporters who back remaining in the European Union were willing to vote for the Liberal Democrats where they are best-placed to beat the Conservatives. Meanwhile, 39% of Liberal Democrat supporters were prepared to do the same if Labour are best-placed.
In an interview with The Observer newspaper, Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson appeared to endorse tactical voting because of the way the U.K.’s electoral system works. “I understand tactical voting is part of our system, because it’s a rubbish voting system,” she said. “One way people can use that system to deliver more of what they want is to consider voting tactically.”
Johnson Immigration (Earlier)
Low-skilled migrants will face new restrictions on moving to the U.K. under a new three-tier immigration system if the Conservatives win Thursday’s election. What the party describes as an “Australian-style points-based system” sounds like it will more closely resemble the U.K.’s existing practice of offering a smooth pathway into the country to the highly skilled and the rich, and a route to citizenship for those who have skills that are needed.
Immigration is a key issue among voters and was an important driver of the 2016 Brexit vote. The official Leave campaign led by Boris Johnson pledged to “take back control” of Britain’s borders.
The new plan will have three tiers of incoming migrants: those with “exceptional talent,” who will be allowed in regardless of whether they have a job offer; skilled workers, who will require a job offer in addition to a specified number of points; and those in lower skilled sectors such as construction, who will only be allowed entry as a result of labor shortages in that sector.
The Conservatives say the new system will be rolled out from Jan. 2021, immediately after the proposed end to the transition period with the EU.
Polls Put Tories in the Lead (Earlier)
Polls in the Sunday newspapers all put Johnson’s Conservatives in the lead, although one projection suggested a huge Tory landslide is as possible as a hung Parliament.
A projection by Datapraxis in the Sunday Times, in which a YouGov poll gave the Tories a 10-point lead, put the cushion at 38 seats. Its previous analysis put the majority at 48, and the organization warned that as many as 90 constituencies are still up for grabs.
A Savanta ComRes poll for The Sunday Telegraph, showed that the Tories’ lead fell to 8 percentage points, back to where it was shortly before the starting pistol was officially fired on the campaign. That would be enough for a parliamentary majority of 14, the report said.
Earlier:
To contact the reporters on this story: Robert Hutton in London at rhutton1@bloomberg.net;Greg Ritchie in London at gritchie10@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, James Amott, Sara Marley
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