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Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn have traded blows on the first day of the general election campaign trail as parties tool up for the 12 December poll.
Mr Johnson blamed the failure to meet his “do or die” pledge to deliver Brexit today on the Labour leader, while Mr Corbyn has lashed out at the “elite” at Labour’s campaign launch. He claimed the party would “get Brexit sorted within six months”.
As the UK braced itself for a gruelling campaign, US president Donald Trump waded into British politics by claiming Mr Corbyn would be "so bad for your country".
Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of events at Westminster and beyond, as both Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn hit the election campaign trail.
The prime minister is expected to do a series of photocalls in the south-east, while the Labour leader launches his party’s election campaign in London.
Corbyn set to blast ‘elite’ running ‘corrupt system’ at campaign launch
Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn will trade blows as they kick off their parties’ election campaigns by launching blistering attacks on each other.
Johnson will accuse Mr Corbyn of “incessant indecision”, while the Labour leader will use his first speech of the campaign to brand his rival’s party the “born-to-rule Conservatives”.
Corbyn is also expected to attack the “elite” – including businessmen including Sports Direct founder Mike
Ashley, media magnate Rupert Murdoch and the Duke of Westminster – as he promises to overturn a “corrupt system”.
Labour’s official Jewish affiliate boycotts election campaign
Not a great start to campaign launch day for Jeremy Corbyn. The Labour party’s official Jewish affiliate has announced that it will not support the party in the upcoming election campaign because of Corbyn’s “failure of leadership” over antisemitism.
The Jewish Labour Movement (JLM) – affiliated with the party since 1920 – said it believed Corbyn was unfit to be PM, revealed it would only campaign for “exceptional candidates” who had been staunch allies in the fight against antisemitism. All the details here:
Grant Shapps says parliament to blame for failure to leave EU
Transport secretary Grant Shapps has said parliament is to blame for the failure to deliver Brexit by the Halloween deadline.
Boris Johnson promised during the Tory leadership campaign that Thursday would be the day Britain left the EU “do or die”.
However, Shapps told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “It is quite clearly parliament that has failed to deliver it. He did absolutely everything in his power to get parliament to come its senses.
“The clear thing is that parliament is not going to let it happen and we have to have this election which nobody particularly wanted.
“Unless you want us to start breaking the law that parliament sets, there is nothing you can do when parliament is so dithering and delaying.”
Nicky Morgan cites ‘abuse’ as she quits politics
Culture secretary Nicky Morgan is the latest high profile MP to declare she will not stand in the looming December general election.
Her departure from the political frontline mirrors that of a slew of prominent Conservative figures including former home secretary Amber Rudd.
Citing Britain’s increasingly toxic political culture, Morgan said: “The clear impact on my family and other sacrifices involved in, and the abuse for, doing the job of a modern MP can only be justified if, ultimately, parliament does what it is supposed to do.”
Hancock ‘heartbroken’ at Tory MPs quitting over abuse
Health Secretary Matt Hancock commented on MPs citing online abuse as a reason for stepping down ahead of the December election.
There are now almost 60 parliamentarians who won’t be standing. Culture secretary Nicky Morgan and Amber Rudd were among the big hitters bowing out in the past 24 hours.
One departing Tory moderate, Mims Davies, said “too many” female MPs were leaving over the “horrid state of the discourse”.
Hancock said it was “heartbreaking” to see the number of colleagues stepping down.
Diane Abbott calls on Keith Vaz to ‘consider his position’
Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott has called on Keith Vaz to reconsider his decision to stand again as a Labour candidate in the forthcoming general election.
The Commons Standards Committee recommended the Leicester East MP should face a six-month suspension after he was found to have “expressed willingness” to purchase cocaine for others.
The committee said his explanation for what happened during an encounter with male prostitutes was “not believable and, indeed, ludicrous”.
Abbott told the Today programme: “I think he should consider his position. I think he himself should agree not to be a candidate. It has been a very sad issue, not just for him but for his family and his children.”
New poll shows eight-point lead for Conservatives
The latest Survation survey shows slight increases for the two main parties at the expense of the Lib Dems, Brexit Party and the Greens. A sign of voters returning to more familiar territory, perhaps?
Labour trailing by 15 points in YouGov poll
A new YouGov poll for The Times has the Tories on 36 per cent, a whopping 15 points ahead of Labour on 21 per cent.
A separate poll for the newspaper shows 49 per cent of people who voted Leave feel “betrayed” at the 31 October deadline being missed. The question is whether these angry Brexiteers blame Boris Johnson, or the opposition, for the failure to leave today.
Johnson’s failure to deliver Brexit by Halloween ‘his and his alone’, say Corbyn
The prime minister and his ministers may be desperate to blame the opposition for the fact the UK will not be leaving the EU by 11pm on 31 October, but the Labour leader is having none of it.
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