Boris Johnson news – live: Expert warns Tory rail fund ‘would only buy 25 miles of track’, as PM makes string of false claims in BBC interview

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General Election 2019: What you need to know

Boris Johnson has made a series of claims about immigration and knife crime picked apart by fact checkers, and said there was “no evidence” of Russian interference in the UK. He also shut down questions about his family in testy BBC interviews.

He has also earmarked £50m for the rejuvenation of railways closed under the Beeching cuts of the 1960s - however figures in the rail sector are unconvinced by the amount pledged

It comes as Labour promises to nationalise part of BT and deliver free broadband for all the country if elected, with Jeremy Corbyn set to reveal more as he campaigns in the north-west today.

Nigel Farage, meanwhile, has claimed that the Tories offered jobs and peerages to his Brexit Party candidates in a bid to get them to drop out of marginal seats. Mr Farage said he expected “police investigations into what has gone on here”.

Key Points

• Labour's free broadband pledge sparks industry backlash
• Johnson makes false claims in BBC interviews
• Farage threatens to call police over alleged 'dirty tricks' by Tories
• PM claims 'no evidence' for Russian interference
• ...and says 'no comment' to make on his children

[15 November 2019 17:06 · Vincent Wood]

Private firms vent anger over Labour broadband plan

Telecoms firms have said Labour’s plan to provide free broadband for all would be a “disaster” for the industry.

Industry lobby group TechUK warned that renationalisation of Openreach, the part of BT that owns and maintains

Britain’s telecoms infrastructure, would halt broadband investment being undertaken by private companies.

Meanwhile BT chief executive Philip Jansen said the Labour Party had underestimated the price of its pledge – adding that  it would cost close to £100bn.

Ben Chapman has more:

[15 November 2019 18:16 · Vincent Wood]

Majority support for free broadband - but not for nationalisation 

More than six in ten people support Labour's new policy to provide free broadband for all - according to a YouGov poll.

However the number who back the way Labour plan to achieve this is dramatically lower- with only 32% approving nationalisation.

Opposition is somewhat unremarkably split down party lines - with 54% of Labour voters in favour of the approach and 53% of Conservative voters opposed. 

[15 November 2019 18:42 · Vincent Wood]

Beeching restoration fund commitment ‘will only build 25 miles of track’

Even more scrutiny is falling on Boris Johnson’s rail restoration project  – this time from railway engineer Gareth Dennis.

In a series of tweets Mr Dennis laid out the average prices for a number of rail restoration projects – stating that the £500m pledged would likely cover the costs of 25 miles of reopened railways.

The amount of track accounted for by the Beeching cuts of the 1960s? Around 3,300 miles.

[15 November 2019 19:23 · Vincent Wood]

How Nigel Farage can still help the Tories to win Labour seats

Even without a formal pact between the Conservatives and Nigel Farage's Brexit Party, the Eurosceptic in chief might still be able to aide Boris Johnson's campaign - according to Sean O'Grady.

Writing for the Independent, he says the party might decide to take a light-touch approach in key marginal constituencies.

"In the case of the Brexit Party in this election" he adds "it could choose to put relatively few resources where the Conservatives are hoping to take a parliamentary seat from Labour".

"Yes, the Farageists will put up a candidate, and claim to be on the brink of winning; but in reality they will be Potemkin campaigns.

"If it is feared by local Brexit Party candidates and associations that the intervention of a Brexit Party candidate might split the Leave-inclined vote, then the Brexit Party, locally or even nationally, might well chose to soft pedal its efforts in such tight Lab-Con marginals."

More below:

[15 November 2019 19:40 · Vincent Wood]

Party leaders have been asked what they will do to end violence against women and girls by a UK-wide coalition of more than 90 women's organisations – who are calling on politicians to announce legislation protecting victims of domestic abuse.

In their letter to the leaders of each party with representation in the last parliament - including the Prime Minister - the End Violence Against Women Coalition said:

"Violence against women and girls is not inevitable, but it is enduring because it relates to women's persistent inequality.

"This election is taking place at a time of crisis in the criminal justice response to rape - even though more women than ever are coming forward to report to the police, just 1.5% of cases are being prosecuted.

"Domestic abuse homicides are at their highest level for five years, reports of sexual harassment are reaching epidemic levels in our workplaces and education institutions, and many women MPs are leaving political careers citing online abuse and threats of violence against them as factors.

"These issues are deeply related and require urgent action by an incoming government."

[15 November 2019 20:23 · Vincent Wood]

Boris Johnson adviser says newspaper attacks on Labour have been ‘full on from the off this time’

Tim Montgomerie, a special adviser to Boris Johnson, has suggested some of Britain’s biggest selling newspapers have chosen to begin an onslaught against Jeremy Corbyn earlier than was the case before the previous general election.

However it's not clear that it's an allegation that stands up to scrutiny. Analysis by researchers at Loughborough University of print coverage in the run-up to the 2017 general election found that, while no party achieved net positive coverage without weighting the papers by circulation, Labour received the most negative overall coverage by a considerable margin.

However left-wing commentator Ash Sarkar described Mr Montgomerie’s comments on Twitter as an admission that “the press is biased against Labour ... they’re attacking Corbyn because they’re scared he can win”.

Andy Gregory has more:

[15 November 2019 20:44 · Vincent Wood]

Priti Patel’s vague pledge to lower immigration would be devastating for the UK economy - editorial

On Thursday Home Secretary Priti Patel said a Tory government would "reduce immigration overall" - a pledge Boris Johnson appeared to roll back on later on as he pledged an "Australian points-based system".

But Ms Patel's vague pledge echoes that of the Conservative Home office going back to its time with Theresa May at the helm - when reducing net migration to the tens of thousands was an oft-repeated mantra that has, ultimately, never been fulfilled.

As the Independent's editorial puts it: "It has been difficult to take the Tories’ meandering stance on net migration seriously for many years. Even the most magisterial of figures might find it difficult to defend it with a straight face."

More below:

[15 November 2019 21:23 · Vincent Wood]

The Russia report could be damning for the Tories, but not for the reasons you think - Mary Dejevsky

The Russia report into Moscow's meddling in the UK loomed quietly over the early part of the election thanks to interventions by one of the politicians behind it, Dominic Grieve - and with legal proceedings to release the document underway it doesn't appear to be going away any time soon.

Mary Dejevsky believes it could still prove a problem for the Conservative party - and that while election interference is likely to turn up in the report, it is unlikely to be its main finding.

More below: