General election news – live: Boris Johnson 'did not contact' family of London Bridge terror victim, as PM faces fresh accusations on NHS crisis
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Boris Johnson has faced new questions about the state of the NHS after The Independent revealed a 12-year-old with learning disabilities and mental health issues had to stay in an Essex hospital A&E for 57 hours for a specialist bed to become available.
Mr Johnson remained under fire for his apparent lack of empathy for a four-year-old boy who slept on a hospital floor.
It came as the father of London Bridge attack victim Jack Merritt accused Mr Johnson of using his son’s death as “an opportunity” and said there was “no attempt” to contact the family from Downing Street, despite the insistence of a Number 10 spokesperson to the contrary.
Labour have accused the Conservatives of lying about an alleged assault on health secretary Matt Hancock’s aide in a bid to distract attention from the NHS crisis, while Jeremy Corbyn denied his party was using the case of the four-year-old boy as a “political football”.
Trade experts also uncovered fresh evidence that Boris Johnson is misleading voters about the impact of his Brexit deal on Northern Ireland – leading them to warn it is unlawful. The UK Trade Policy Observatory found tariffs would be charged on around 75 per cent of imports, including those from Britain, under the PM's plan for a customs border in the Irish Sea
PM accused of stealing Labour candidate’s Love Actually parody
Boris Johnson has been accused of stealing a Labour MP’s Love Actually parody in his new election campaign video.
The PM posted a clip of himself acting out a famous scene from the 2003 festive romantic drama, in which he appears on an apathetic voter’s doorstep armed with a stack of placards.
But Rosena Allin-Khan, Labour’s candidate for Tooting, in London, said Johnson had copied her spoof. She tweeted: “Tanks. On. The. Lawn. Don’t share his version in outrage – instead, share my original version.”
Remainers pulling together to remove the DUP in key seats
Sinn Fein, the SDLP and Alliance are hoping the Remain vote will help them remove senior DUP figures in several seats in Northern Ireland.
Ben Kelly has taken a look at the pro-Remain parties hopes of changing the picture in Belfast.
Jonathan Ashworth pulls out of BBC interview
Labour’s shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth has pulled out of a planned interview of Radio 5 Live with Emma Barnett.
It follows the leaked comments he made about Jeremy Corbyn and Labour’s potential election fortunes.
Barnett said: “He wanted to speak about that photo that was published yesterday and Labour’s criticisms of the Conservative handling of the NHS. We’re now told we can’t speak to him. We haven’t been given a reason why.”
Fake story aimed at undermining photo of boy on hospital floor shared on Twitter and Facebook
Thousands of Facebook and Twitter accounts have shared an entirely false claim that the photograph of the sick four-year-old boy forced to sleep on a hospital floor was staged or fake.
Leeds General Infirmary has confirmed that incident took place and has apologised to the family of Jack Williment-Barr.
Our technology editor Andrew Griffin has taken a look at how the fake story spread.
PM’s oven-ready deal will give us ‘years of indigestion,’ says Farage
Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage has said he will spoil his ballot at on Thursday. In his home constituency the Brexit Party is not standing a candidate against the incumbent Conservative.
Farage again attacked the prime minister’s Brexit deal and defended his decision to stand down his party’s candidates in Tory-held seats as “the right thing to do”.
He added: “It was a case of putting country before party. But since that time, I know it is very rare to have an appearance from Boris Johnson or Jeremy Corbyn but on Friday night, he has gone the wrong way.
Referring to his “oven-ready deal,” Farage said: “All I can say is that will lead to many long years of indigestion because we will be trapped inside an international treaty. We have given Michel Barnier the upper hand.”
Nigel Farage at Westminster press conference (AFP)
Corbyn denies politicising case of sick Leeds boy
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has addressed another rally – this time in Nelson, Lancashire, before answering questions on the case of sick Jack Williment-Barr, the NHS adopting a four day week and tactical voting.
“A four-year-old boy being treated on the floor in a hospital – doesn’t that say an awful lot about of national health service? That there’s such a shortage of staff … That it’s not right.”
Ashworth apologises to Labour members
Jonathan Ashworth has apologised to Labour members over a leaked recording of him offering a frank assessment of the party’s electoral prospects.
The shadow health secretary insisted that, during the conversation with a Tory activist friend, he was trying to make the Conservatives “complacent” by suggesting that Labour was set to lose the general election.
He told BBC’s Politics Live: “He’s a Tory activist with friends in CCHQ and I’m trying to say to him ‘these are your attack lines - they are working’. I’m trying to make one of my friends, who is a Tory opponent, complacent.
“In the cold light of day, when those quotes are read out, I look stupid and I apologise to the Labour Party and party members.”
He added: “Of course it’s embarrassing – I look a right plonker.”
Government aide suggests voters do not 'really care' about cancer waiting times
A Tory candidate and government aide has suggested that people only 'really care' about cancer survival rates, and not about waiting times.
Chris Philp, who is seeking re-election as the MP for Croydon South, said it was a "good thing" that diagnosis times were going up because it was a result of more people getting screened.
Philp is the parliamentary aide to Robert Buckland, the justice secretary.
Full story:
Police receive nearly 200 reports over candidate safety
Almost 200 reports were made to police over parliamentary candidate safety in less than three weeks during the election campaign.
Around half of the 198 reports made between November 15 and December 4 were serious enough to be treated as crimes, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) said.
Most of the incidents were allegations of malicious communications online. There were also reports of criminal damage and harassment. Three were reports of assaults against campaign volunteers but none against parliamentary hopefuls and the incidents were not thought to be serious.
A third of reports came from campaign volunteers and staff, with the remainder coming from candidates themselves, the NPCC said.
Ed Davey: Lib Dems would only support Tories or Labour ‘issue by issue’
The Lib Dems’ deputy leader Sir Ed Davey has said his party wouldn’t be going into coalition with either of the big two parties.
“We’re not going to vote for Boris Johnson or Jeremy Corbyn. What we are going to do is vote issue by issue,” he said on the BBC’s Politics Live.
He denied there had been a major change in the party’s strategy, a quietening of the revoke Article 50 pledge. Reading from the Lib Dem manifesto, Davey said there would only revoke Article 50 if they form a majority government.
“We say that in other circumstances we continue to fight for a people’s vote. We have been saying that from day one.”
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