With just over a week to go until the general election, Labour is making a last-ditch bid to win votes by claiming that the party’s policies would save families an average total of £6,700 a year.
In a speech today, shadow chancellor John McDonnell will say that households would save cash as a result of the nationalisation of public services; reductions in the cost of rail season tickets; free childcare and school meals; and the axing of prescription charges.
The renewed focus on the cost of living and the total touted saving for families reportedly comes in response to concerns that the key messages in the party’s manifesto are getting lost.
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“The manifesto is good – it’s just long and confusing. You need a few targeted, short messages and keep repeating them,” an unnamed Labour candidate in a Leave-voting seat told The Guardian.
In other news, Boris Johnson met with Donald Trump at No. 10 last night, where the two “discussed the future of Nato, what is going on in Syria and various other matters”, according to the prime minister.
Meanwhile, Jeremy Corbyn has apologised for alleged anti-Semitism within Labour, telling ITV’s This Morning that “our party and me do not accept anti-Semitism in any form” and that he is “sorry for everything that’s happened”.
The latest polls show the Tories on top but with Labour gaining. A Sky News/YouGov poll puts the Tories on 42% and Labour on 33%.
As campaigning reaches its peak, all of the parties have been warned over sending out election leaflets that mimic local newspapers. Industry group the Society of Editors said that doing so could undermine the public’s trust in local press and that voters wouldn’t forgive politicians who “attempt to take them for mugs”.
The Liberal Democrats have suffered a further image blow as leader Jo Swinson suspends a party member for faking an email that was sent as part of a legal battle with the openDemocracy political website. The row relates to a story about the Lib Dems selling personal data - something the party denies.
Swinson’s party has also come in for criticism over a leaflet with advice from a “polling expert” urging locals to vote tactically for the Lib Dems, with just a small disclaimer that the correspondence was from the party.
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