Boris Johnson news: Corbyn handed election debate poll boost, as Tories face angry backlash over fake fact checker

Follow events from Wednesday’s day of campaigning as they unfolded

General Election 2019: What you need to know

The Conservative Party faced accusation of misleading the public during a TV election debate after rebranding its official Twitter account as an independent fact checker.

As Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn endured jeers from the studio audience over their answers on Brexit and the NHS, the Tory press office changed its Twitter handle to “factcheckuk” – mimicking independent organisations such as FullFact.

Twitter warned the party that it would take “corrective action” to prevent such behaviour – but foreign secretary Dominic Raab said “no one gives a toss” about the cut and thrust of social media.

To follow events as they unfolded, see our live coverage below

Key Points

• Johnson suggests Tories will offer national insurance cut for workers
• Corbyn won clear victory against Boris Johnson among undecided voters
• Tories condemned over 'dystopian' fact checker during election debate
• ... as Johnson and Corbyn jeered in clash over Brexit and NHS
• Swinson tells voters to reject Labour and Tories who are 'gambling with your future'

[20 November 2019 08:24 · Lizzy Buchan]

Welcome to The Independent's election liveblog, where we will be bringing you all the latest updates from the campaign throughout the day.

[20 November 2019 08:36 · Lizzy Buchan]

Tory minister says 'no one gives a toss' about fake fact checker set up by official Conservative Twitter account

Dominic Raab has claimed “no-one gives a toss” about the fake Tory “fact-checking” service set up for the TV election debate, as the party faced calls for an official investigation.

The foreign secretary faced mounting criticism after the Conservative press office Twitter account – with nearly 76,000 followers – changed its name to 'factcheckUK', before pumping out support for Boris Johnson.

[20 November 2019 08:46 · Lizzy Buchan]

Tories accused of 'dystopian' fact-checking during election debate

Tory chairman James Cleverly insisted the Twitter handle remained the same - @CCHQPress - so it was "clear the nature of the site".

He told Newsnight: "The reason we did that is because we were calling out the inaccuracies, the lies that were coming out during the debate. The NHS is not for sale."

Asked if he knew about the change, Mr Cleverly said: "The digital team have got a remit, I set that remit, they work within the remit and I'm absolutely comfortable with them calling out when the Labour Party puts what they know to be complete fabrications in the public domain - and we will call that out every time they do it." 

[20 November 2019 08:54 · Lizzy Buchan]

Missed the ITV election debate last night?

Our political correspondent Ashley Cowburn has written an essential briefing on last night's events and what is to come on the campaign trail today.

[20 November 2019 09:03 · Lizzy Buchan]

How Twitter’s rules let Tories convincingly rebrand as fact checkers

Our technology correspondent Andrew Griffin has taken a look at the row over the Conservative Party's Twitter account during last night's TV debate.

[20 November 2019 09:17 · Lizzy Buchan]

Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn jeered by studio audience during election debate

Boris Johnson drew laughter from the audience in the ITV leaders debate, when he claimed he thought the “truth matters” - despite repeated accusations of misleading the public.

His Labour rival Jeremy Corbyn also attracted jeers when he spoke about Brexit, and some audience members seemed to take against his suggestion climate change could affect the poorest.

[20 November 2019 09:28 · Lizzy Buchan]

Liberal Democrats to launch election manifesto

Jo Swinson will put forward her party's manifesto this afternoon, which is expected to contain an offer to boost mental health services for new mothers.

The first of the three major national parties to unveil their manifesto, the Lib Dems are fighting to turn around a squeeze in the polls which has seen them struggle to push beyond the mid-teens since the election campaign began.

[20 November 2019 09:35 · Lizzy Buchan]

Electoral watchdog reminds Tories over 'campaigning transparency'

The Electoral Commission has put out a statement on last night's debate as the Tory fact-checker row rumbles on.

A spokesperson said: "Voters are entitled to transparency and integrity from campaigners in the lead-up to an election, so they have the information they need to decide for themselves how to vote.

"The Electoral Commission seeks to deliver transparency to the public through the political finance rules. While we do not have a role in regulating election campaign content, we repeat our call to all campaigners to undertake their vital role responsibly and to support campaigning transparency."

[20 November 2019 09:50 · Lizzy Buchan]

Lib Dems pledge 'emergency cash injection' for schools

Layla Moran, the party's education spokesperson, said the Lib Dems would spend £4.6 billion - rising to over £10 billion by 2024/25.

She told Today: "Well, actually, I think school leaders that I've spoken to would very much welcome this money, and, yes, we do need to keep spending, which is why we overshoot that by the end of the parliament.

"But we need to be doing that responsibly and so we've said by stopping Brexit we would create an uptick in the economy. We've taken the lowest numbers of that, it's independent numbers, and it would be £50 billion in what we're calling a 'Remain bonus', and we would plough that into education."

Pushed on how a "Remain bonus" can be estimated at £50 billion, Ms Moran said: "Well, it is a prediction, it's a prediction based on - there are a range of economic forecasts and we've purposely taken some of the more conservative estimates of that, and it comes predicated on the fact that we also know that by stopping Brexit there will be an uptick to our economy, there is no independent forecast which doesn't suggest that's true."

[20 November 2019 10:05 · Lizzy Buchan]

Social media firms 'must do better' says Labour after Twitter row

Shadow women and equalities secretary Dawn Butler said social media firms must "do better" following the row over the Conservatives changing their CCHQ Twitter account handle into factcheckUK during Tuesday night's leaders' debate.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Ms Butler said: "I think they (Twitter) had options. They could either have renamed the account and put back the original branding, because, in order to try and deceive the public, the Conservative Party changed everything."

On whether Twitter should have taken more immediate action, she said: "I think that's one of the options they could have done. They could have just suspended the account and taken it down and, to me, that would have been the better punishment.

"And I think the other thing is remove the blue tick, because you cannot have a blue tick if you are trying to impersonate a legitimate account."

Pushed on whether the Conservatives being warned not to do it again is enough, Ms Butler said: "No, it's not enough, and we've been talking about the responsibilities of the social media platforms for quite a while and they have to do better.

"And I think this is another example where social media has failed and it's terrible."