Campaign highlights: Sturgeon and Johnson press the flesh out on the trail
Jeremy Corbyn was joined by senior party figures to hammer out the final details of the Labour manifesto amid mounting divisions over what stance will be taken on immigration.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson went door-knocking in Mansfield and Nicola Sturgeon met voters and activists in Arbroath.
Here are some of the highlights of Saturday’s campaign trail:
– The Metropolitan Police is assessing allegations of electoral fraud
Scotland Yard said it received two allegations of electoral fraud and malpractice after claims the Tories offered peerages to senior Brexit Party figures to persuade them to stand down in the General Election.
Lord Falconer wrote to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner and the Director of Public Prosecutions calling for a probe into what he said were “exceptionally serious allegations”.
The Labour former lord chancellor said it should be investigated as a matter of urgency and must be looked at by police in order to maintain public confidence in the integrity of the election.
– A hung parliament, a referendum and another general election ahead, Sir Vince Cable predicts
The former leader of the Liberal Democrats thinks a hung parliament is the most likely outcome – “but hung in a different way, with more of us and more SNP”, he said.
Asked if a hung parliament means Mr Corbyn would get into Number 10, Sir Vince told Sophy Ridge on Sky News: “No it doesn’t and we’ve been absolutely clear we couldn’t possibly allow that to happen.
“It would probably be some more neutral figure and then leading into a referendum to resolve the Brexit issue and another general election soon after that.”
– The Conservatives and the Lib Dems are in competition over who will plant the most trees
Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson has insisted her party’s pledge to plant 60 million trees a year if it wins power is realistic.
.@joswinson planted a tree in Hampstead today to launch our plan to undertake the largest tree-planting programme in UK history
LibDems will plant 60 million trees every year as part of our plan to combat the #ClimateEmergency & build a #BrighterFuture👇https://t.co/lvWPhIGvpgpic.twitter.com/cWCFKXJUCo
— Liberal Democrats (@LibDems) November 16, 2019
The Lib Dems moved to put the environment at the centre of the election campaign as they doubled the 30 million tree-planting promise put forward by the Conservatives.
Meanwhile, former environment secretary Michael Gove blamed the Common Agricultural Policy for the Government not being able to meet its targets for planting trees.
– A Brexit Party MEP said that with the benefit of “hindsight”, maybe his party should not have stood down 317 candidates
Ben Habib has suggested his party may have made the wrong decision in standing down so many candidates.
Brexit Party’s @benhabib6 explains the party's decision not to stand in Tory-held seats in the #GE2019, saying they didn't want to create "another hung parliament – or worse give power to the Labour Party".
Follow #Ridge live: https://t.co/4knkwKt1crpic.twitter.com/1Whu1VV47B
— Sophy Ridge on Sunday (@RidgeOnSunday) November 16, 2019
“Well I think with the benefit of hindsight maybe we shouldn’t have stood 317 candidates down, with the benefit of hindsight, because the Tories haven’t responded positively to it.
“They haven’t stood down and assured a proper Leave mandate in Parliament,” he told Sophy Ridge on Sky News, adding that he will be surprised is his party does not win “at least five” seats.
– The Prime Minister can expect an unpleasant letter from a Mansfield resident if he does not deliver on his Brexit promise
Susan Kitchen, 71, held her dog Peggy while speaking to the PM about the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, as he knocked on doors in a bid to boost the election cause of Tory candidate Ben Bradley.
She told the PA news agency: “I told him I was worried about the deal he was making and asked him specifically if their laws could overrule our laws because that’s what I’ve heard.
“He said no, absolutely not, so I says to him if you’re wrong I’m going to write you a letter – and it won’t be pleasant.”
Tweet of the day
Jeremy Corbyn has hit back at Boris Johnson’s claim his plans to nationalise the UK’s broadband network are a “crazed communist scheme”.
If I was proposing the creation of our NHS today, the Conservatives would call it health communism.
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) November 16, 2019
Picture of the day
Video of the latest polling positions for the major parties
Here is a round-up of the average polling for the major UK parties over the past seven days.
What’s next?
Leaders of the main parties in England have not yet revealed their plans for Sunday.
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon will join Kirsten Oswald, SNP candidate for East Renfrewshire, to talk about plans to help residents save on their energy bills.
Scottish Liberal Democrat campaign chairman Alex Cole-Hamilton and Edinburgh North & Leith candidate Bruce Wilson will be canoeing down the Water of Leith helping clear up plastic, while Scottish Conservative Women will stage a street stall event in Glasgow to raise awareness of female candidates.
Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard will deliver a letter from himself and Jeremy Corbyn demanding that workers at Glasgow Art School's student bar are reinstated on guaranteed-hours contract following a dispute with management.