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Tories Focus on Security Before NATO Summit: U.K. Campaign Trail

Tories Focus on Security Before NATO Summit: U.K. Campaign Trail

(Bloomberg) --

Boris Johnson’s Conservatives will move to bolster their law and order credentials on Monday, as the U.K. prepares to welcome Donald Trump for a NATO summit in the wake of a terror attack in London.

With polls showing the race for the Dec. 12 election is narrowing, the Tories are focusing on security. Home Secretary Priti Patel is due to say that Brexit provides a once in a generation opportunity to strengthen the U.K. border. It follows a weekend where Johnson and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn clashed over who is to blame for the early release of a convicted terrorist who killed two people on Friday.

For more on the election visit ELEC.

Tories Focus on Security Before NATO Summit: U.K. Campaign Trail

Coming up:

  • Conservative Justice Secretary Robert Buckland will tour TV and radio studios on Monday morning.
  • Corbyn will visit a major London train station at 8:30 a.m. to announce Labour’s plan for public ownership of the railways and cut train fares.
  • Brexit Party Leader Nigel Farage holds an event in Wales at 11 a.m.

Polls:

  • A Survation poll on Monday showed Labour has closed the gap to the Conservatives to 9 points, from 14 two weeks ago. The survey put the Tories at 42%, Labour at 33% and the Liberal Democrats at 11%.
  • A number of other polls released over the weekend also showed the Conservatives’ lead narrowing, with one of them signaling a possible hung parliament.
  • There is a 69% chance of a Conservative majority, according to Betfair. Despite speculation that Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab may be in danger of losing his seat, Betfair’s odds give him a 67% chance of retaining it.
  • Here’s a summary of recent polls

Catching Up:

  • Friday’s terror attack became increasingly politicized on Sunday, as Johnson and Corbyn sort to blame each other’s parties for creating the circumstances that led to the atrocity.
  • The weekend also saw Johnson seek to distance himself from decisions on crime made by previous Conservative governments, and announce plans to review Britain’s security, defense and foreign policy in the wake the attack.
  • Leaving the European Union with an “ambitious deal” on trade will help unlock U.K. investment and lead to a gradual improvement in growth, the Confederation of British Industry said Monday.
  • The European Commission’s Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis warned that the EU is ready to cut off the City of London’s post-Brexit market access if it diverges from EU standards, the Financial Times reports.
  • Leading party officials clashed over Brexit and terrorism in a seven way debate hosted by broadcaster ITV on Sunday.
  • Facebook Inc. removed seven Conservative Party social media ads on Sunday after the British Broadcasting Corp. complained they distorted the perception of the news service’s impartiality.

The Markets:

  • The pound was little changed at 1.2918 per dollar at 6:24 a.m. on Monday.
  • HSBC Holdings Plc analyst Robin Down expects U.K. banks to rally as much as 10% if Johnson seals a majority, while Barclays Plc analysts see an outright Conservative victory boosting sterling and pushing up yield curves, all to the benefit of bank earnings.
Tories Focus on Security Before NATO Summit: U.K. Campaign Trail

--With assistance from Peter Flanagan.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jessica Shankleman in London at jshankleman@bloomberg.net;David Goodman in London at dgoodman28@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Chris Kay, Guy Collins

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