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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Your support makes all the difference.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
Alastair Campbell attacks ‘Boris Johnson propaganda machine’ for leaked Ashworth recording
Former Labour communications chief Alastair Campbell has been talking about shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth’s leaked comments on Jeremy Corbyn and Labour’s fortunes.
“Jonathan’s been put into quite a difficult position with it,” he said.
“The public can see through some of this. Guido Fawkes used to be a journalist but is now part of the whole sort of Boris Johnson propaganda machine. They’ve probably been sitting on it for a while waiting for a difficult moment – which is what happened yesterday.”
Father of Jack Merritt says PM saw his son’s death as ‘an opportunity’
David Merritt, father of Jack Merritt, has accused Boris Johnson of using his son’s death in the London Bridge attack as “an opportunity”.
He has been speaking to Sky News about the 25-year-old’s death and the aftermath.
“Instead of a tragedy, Boris Johnson saw an opportunity,” said Mr Merritt. “He went on the offensive and saw the opportunity to score some points … At that point I had to say something.”
“I look on Twitter on the Saturday and already there was discussion about what it meant … immediately people started jumping on the criminal justice bandwagon, advocating longer sentences and harsher penalties. And I knew how passionate [Jack] was about rehabilitation. I thought it was important to just push back against that narrative.”
Asked about Johnson’s comments on sentencing and release, he said: “What was required was just a dignified approach whereby the politicians would expressed their regrets … and get on with the election campaign.”
He said the prime minister made no effort to contact him before using his death to justify tougher sentencing.
Asked if he found Johnson’s remarks offensive, Mr Merritt said. “I did. There was attempt to reference us. No attempt to contact us and discuss this with us or with anybody else.”
Boris Johnson drives JCB digger through fake wall
The prime minister has just gone through a wall of Styrofoam blocks bearing the term “gridlock” with a JCB bearing the slogan “Get Brexit Done”. I think you get what’s he’s driving at.
Johnson, at a JCB factory in Staffordshire, posed for a photo before giving a thumbs up.
Our correspondent Lizzy Buchan captured the moment.
DUP leader admits saying thing that ‘shouldn’t have been said’
Arlene Foster has acknowledged she has made mistakes as DUP leader, expressing regret for some of the things she has said.
Reflecting on some “dark moments” that have marked her four-year tenure, Foster insisted she would not walk away from the post, regardless of the outcome of the election.
Critics of the DUP leader have accused her of making overly antagonistic remarks that have angered nationalists. The most frequently referenced came ahead of the March 2017 Assembly election when, explaining her opposition to Sinn Fein calls for an Irish Language Act, she said: “If you feed a crocodile it will keep coming back and looking for more.”
In an interview with BBC Radio Ulster’s Talkback programme, Foster said: “I think things have been said that shouldn’t have been said,” she replied. “I would paraphrase the Queen – ‘would have been better said differently, or not at all’.”
When asked if she referring to the crocodile comment, Foster replied: “You may say that, I couldn’t possibly comment.”
Arlene Foster speaking to business leaders in Belfast (PA)
Johnson drives through 'Gridlock wall' in JCB digger
Here's the video of that bizarre campaign stunt:
Boris Johnson is now speaking at the JCB factory in Staffordshire.
He calls Jeremy Corbyn a "Hamas backing, IRA supporting, antisemitism allowing appeaser of the Kremlin"
The prime minister refers to Jonathan Ashworth's comments, revealed earlier today, saying the shadow health secretary had "made absolutely clear that he believes the reason that Mr Corbyn is falling to persuade large numbers of people to vote for him is because he is blocking Brexit...and he is absolutely right."
He tells voters they have "48 hours to end the deadlock, end the gridlock, end the roadblock".
Boris Johnson takes questions from journalists
Boris Johnson only took three questions from journalists after his speech in Staffordshire.
He was asked whether he believed that he was "home and dry" in the general election and insisted that this was not the case, that the race was tight and that polls had been wrong before, including in 2017.
Asked whether he would leave the UK if Jeremy Corbyn becomes prime minister, he said (unsurprisingly) that he would not.
And pushed on what his Plan B for Brexit would be if he fails to win a majority, Johnson said it would be "very hard" to take the UK out of the EU if he was leading a minority government.
Tory candidate parks in disabled parking space
Conservative candidate Richard Drax, who is hoping to be re-elected as the MP for South Dorset, has been photographed parking in a disabled space while out campaigning.
The candidate apologised for what he called "a real moment of thoughtlessness".
He told the Daily Echo:
“I popped in to get some literature and very thoughtlessly parked on those lines which I immediately regretted and apologise to the organisation straight away.
I rushed in and rushed out. I’ve never done it before and never done it since but it was a real moment of thoughtlessness and it won’t happen again.”
Smaller parties urged to make electoral reform price of their support for coalition
Britain's smaller parties have been urged to make reforming the UK's "undemocratic" voting system a red line for supporting a government in a hung parliament.
The Electoral Reform Society (ERS) urged the Liberal Democrats, Greens, SNP, Brexit Party, and Plaid Cymru to demand proportional representation in exchange for their support if they hold the balance of power.
Full story:
Protesters stick themselves to Tory campaign bus
Extinction Rebellion activists dressed as bees have stuck themselves to the Conservatives' campaign bus, stopping it from leaving the the JCB factory where Boris Johnson had been given a speech.
Members of the group pulled a similar stunt with the Liberal Democrats' campaign bus last week.
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