Summary

  • Today marks one week until the general election

  • The BBC's Andrew Neil interviews Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage - and challenges the PM to face him

  • The Conservatives set out a pitch for their first 100 days in office, should they win, including a February Budget

  • Three Brexit Party MEPs have resigned the party's whip, to throw their support behind the Tories

  • Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has detailed his plan to tackle homelessness and recruit more teachers

  • The Lib Dems want to spend money on research and development

  • There are seven days to stop Brexit, the SNP's Nicola Sturgeon says, as she starts a national bus tour

  1. Watch: Farage quizzed over NHS stancepublished at 20:05 Greenwich Mean Time 5 December 2019

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  2. Corbyn asked: What is a credible Leave option?published at 19:59 Greenwich Mean Time 5 December 2019

    Over on ITV, Julie Etchingham has been quizzing Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on his plans for Brexit.

    "What is a credible Leave option?" she asks.

    It's one that "maintains a trading relationship with Europe" but also has a "customs arrangement protecting the Good Friday agreement", he says - that is, avoiding a hard border on the island or Ireland.

    On whether or not it's the right thing to do to hold another public vote, he says: "However people voted in 2016, they didn't vote to have their rights ripped up."

    Mr Corbyn revealed during the election campaign that he would maintain a neutral stance ahead of a new referendum.

    He says it's a stance that allows members of the public to make up their own minds - but other parties say he's sitting on the fence.

  3. Watch: Andrew Neil tells Johnson 'it's not too late'published at 19:53 Greenwich Mean Time 5 December 2019

    Media caption,

    Andrew Neil tells Johnson "it's not too late" for election interview

    Andrew Neil says he wants to quiz Boris Johnson about whether he can be trusted.

    Andrew Neil tells Johnson 'it's not too late'

    Andrew Neil says he wants to quiz Boris Johnson about whether he can be trusted.

    Read More
  4. Andrew Neil interviews Farage: What we learnedpublished at 19:45 Greenwich Mean Time 5 December 2019

    You can read our main story about the Brexit Party leader's apprearance on the show here.

    But if you'd rather skim over a quick summary:

    • Mr Farage believes his party has managed to stop a "Liberal Democrat surge" by stepping down in 317 Tory-held seats
    • He says candidates on the ballot paper who have made offensive comments - including one who said Islam is a "child rapist death cult" - are "idiots" who have "slipped through the net"
    • He says the country will be in a "crisis" within six months if the prime minister pushes through his Brexit deal
    • Mr Farage urges people to "not waste your vote" and instead vote tactically to make Brexit happen
    • He thinks there will be "no-one left" in politics if anyone who made offensive comments (such as those made by US President Donald Trump about women) was removed
    • And finally, Andrew Neil challenges Prime Minister Boris Johnson to join in with all of the other party leaders and agree to be interviewed on his programme
  5. Swinson: Why I don't regret calling to revoke Article 50published at 19:40 Greenwich Mean Time 5 December 2019

    Jo SwinsonImage source, ITN pool

    Ms Swinson, from the Edinburgh rally, reminisces about her own Andrew Neil interview, broadcast last night.

    "He, in his in imitable way, put the question to me: Do you regret campaigning to stop Brexit?" she says to the crowd.

    "I would say never - never will I regret that," she adds, for which she gets a cheer from the crowd.

    "Because we are saying it like it is. And some people don't like that, but that will not stop us," she adds.

    "I am proud that Liberal Democrats are the strongest, biggest, most consistent party of Remain, and we will continue to stand up for our place in the European Union."

  6. Swinson reveals doorstepping checklist - including extra sockspublished at 19:34 Greenwich Mean Time 5 December 2019

    Jo SwinsonImage source, ITN pool

    Away from the Andrew Neil interview on BBC One, Jo Swinson is addressing a rally in Edinburgh.

    The Lib Dem leader is keeping the audience entertained by going through a ticklist of must-haves for campaigning for a December election - including bobble hats, multiple pairs of socks, and gloves that you can wear while typing on your phone.

    There's a disappointed sigh from the crowd after she admits she hasn't brought Hugh Grant with her this evening.

  7. Andrew Neil issues interview challenge to Johnsonpublished at 19:30 Greenwich Mean Time 5 December 2019

    Andrew Neil

    Andrew Neil is now issuing a challenge to Boris Johnson to take part in a sit-down interview with him before next week's general election.

    Mr Johnson is the only leader of a main party not to have faced a half hour, prime-time BBC One grilling by Mr Neil.

    "It is not too late. We have an interview prepared. Oven-ready, as Mr Johnson likes to say," he says, in a monologue.

    "The theme running through our questions is trust - and why at so many times in his career, in politics and journalism, critics and sometimes even those close to him have deemed him to be untrustworthy."

    Read the full story here.

  8. Farage urges supporters to 'vote tactically'published at 19:28 Greenwich Mean Time 5 December 2019

    Andrew Neil and Nigel Farage

    Back to Brexit for the end of the interview, and Neil quizzes Mr Farage over Leave seats where polls put Labour and the Tories "neck-and-neck".

    "If Labour holds on to these seats because your voters didn't move to the Tories, even though you had no chance yourself, you will go down in history as the man who thwarted Brexit," Neil says.

    Mr Farage responds: "I would ask voters to understand two things. Number one: if we weren’t standing, the Tories wouldn’t even be competing in those areas.

    "And number two: vote tactically. In seats where the Conservative Party [has] not won in living memory, and where we are the challenger, don’t waste your vote - if you vote Conservative where we are challenging, you are splitting the Leave vote."

  9. Farage quizzed over Trump's comments on womenpublished at 19:26 Greenwich Mean Time 5 December 2019

    Neil points out that Mr Farage defended US President Donald Trump's comments about women during a live ITV debate.

    Mr Farage insists he did condemn the behaviour and does not excuse it, but adds that if making "distasteful" comments in private always barred politicians from public office "we will have no one left".

    "The argument here being made by the left is that Boris Johnson, because of flowery articles in the Telegraph, or President Trump, because of these bad comments, should not even be in public life, and I’m arguing we are going way too far with all of this," he says.

  10. Privatisation of the NHS has already happened - Faragepublished at 19:24 Greenwich Mean Time 5 December 2019

    Mr Farage is asked whether he would put things like drug prices, animal welfare, and environmental standards on the table in a free trade deal with the US, if he were elected.

    He is adament that the UK is "not going to buy expensive drugs", but declines to say whether would be a deal-breaker.

    "The view of the Trump administration is that this conversation you and I are having at the moment is probably wholly academic, because if the withdrawal agreement passes unamended after Boris has won this election, the chances of us doing free trade deals America or elsewhere will be hugely inhibited," he says.

    He is then asked if the NHS would be on the table in trade negotiations under the Brexit Party.

    Mr Farage doesn't answer directly but says privatisation of the NHS "has already happened".

  11. Work permits would fill in job gaps - Faragepublished at 19:20 Greenwich Mean Time 5 December 2019

    Nigel Farage

    Asked about his call for net migration to be capped at 50,000 a year, Mr Farage says that if the Brexit Party won the election, it would introduce "work permits" for overseas workers to fill in gaps in services like healthcare.

    He says the permits could last for one or two years ("whatever it needs to be"), that those who obtain one could not bring their families, and does not specify how many work permits would be granted.

    Neil asks why workers would come to the UK if they could not bring their families and could only stay for a year.

    "If they want to come and bring their own medical insurance and not be a burden on the state, then all of that is fine," Mr Farage says.

  12. Farage quizzed on referendum proposalspublished at 19:16 Greenwich Mean Time 5 December 2019

    Neil asks Farage about the Brexit Party's proposal that would allow anyone to propose a referendum on any issue if they have more than five million signatures, and points out the only petition to surpass that bar was one seeking to revoke Article 50.

    "I'm just wondering if your proposal... actually makes stopping Brexit more likely?" Neil asks.

    "In 2029 that's possible [as another party plan is that no referendum can be repeated within 10 years], but by 2029 we should be well out and free," Farage says.

  13. Farage predicts 'crisis within six months' with PM's dealpublished at 19:14 Greenwich Mean Time 5 December 2019

    Nigel Farage

    Mr Farage says Boris Johnson will win the election with a majority, but adds he hasn't decided who he will vote for - and that this is a "a 'don’t vote' election".

    "This is called the Brexit election and we are not having any debate about the withdrawal agreement," he says, adding that it does not offer a "clean break" from the EU.

    "I'll make a prediction... If [Mr Johnson] pushes through the deal as it currently is - with the attached political declaration, unamended - we will be back in crisis within six months."

    He adds: "How could I vote for something that isn’t Brexit?"

  14. Watch: Brexit Party has stopped a Lib Dem surge, says Faragepublished at 19:11 Greenwich Mean Time 5 December 2019

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  15. Farage stumbles over Islamophobic commentspublished at 19:10 Greenwich Mean Time 5 December 2019

    Mr Farage stumbles as he is asked about Islamophobic comments made by Brexit Party candidates, including the candidate in Edinburgh South West who said that Islam is a "child rapist death cult".

    When asked if the comments are acceptable, Mr Farage initially seems to think that Neil is accusing him, before answering: "No, it wouldn't be, why?"

    He says he is "sure" the party "got rid" of him, but Neil points out that the candidate is still on the ballot.

    Mr Farage is later asked if he knows the identity of the Brexit Party candidate in Birmingham Ladywood - who also made offensive comments - and responds: "I've absolutely zero idea, how would I? I'm not a walking encyclopedia, sorry.

    "I'm sure if some idiots slipped through the net they will have been got rid immediately," he says - but Neil points out that the candidate also remains on the ballot.

    Media caption,

    General election 2019: Farage on Brexit Party candidate quotes

  16. Farage says his parties 'shift the centre of gravity' in politicspublished at 19:08 Greenwich Mean Time 5 December 2019

    Neil, referring to UKIP and the Brexit Party, tells Mr Farage: "Any party that you lead soon descends into chaos and acrimony."

    Mr Farage responds: "I'll tell you what any party I lead does do - it shifts the centre of gravity in British politics in a very dramatic way."

    Neil points out that it doesn't win seats in the House of Commons, but Mr Farage asks whether that is necessary in order "to change politics".

    "In this case, in this election, what we need to do is to get established a bridgehead of Brexit Party MPs," says Mr Farage.

    He adds: "If I go to Doncaster, if I go to Barnsley, if I go to Hartlepool, these kind of seats... we are the challengers to Labour in those seats, and the vote that is being split is the Brexit Party vote by the Conservative Party."

  17. Farage hits out at ex-Brexit Party MEPs over Tory supportpublished at 19:04 Greenwich Mean Time 5 December 2019

    Former Brexit Party MEPs Annunziata Rees Mogg, Lance Forman, Lucy Harris and John LongworthImage source, Getty Images
    Image caption,

    Former Brexit Party MEPs Annunziata Rees Mogg, Lance Forman, Lucy Harris and John Longworth

    Mr Farage hits out at four former Brexit Party MEPs who are now urging voters to back the Conservatives in the election - three of whom quit and one of whom lost the whip.

    "I remember in 2015, when I was leading UKIP and people like you [were] saying to me, 'Aren’t you going to split the Conservative vote and let Labour in?' And of course the opposite happened. Because we took far more Labour votes in the key seats in the Midlands in that campaign. And, actually, the Conservatives got a majority because of us," he says.

    Asked about the resignations of Annunziata Rees-Mogg, Lucy Harris and Lance Forman from his party, Mr Farage says: "One of them [Ms Rees-Mogg] is the sister of a cabinet minister, another one has a boyfriend working for that cabinet minister - fact - and another one is a personal friend of Boris Johnson's."

    He adds: "The argument that's being made, that we all have to vote Conservative otherwise we'll split the vote... they're wrong, they don't understand it."

  18. Farage admits Brexit alliance failurepublished at 19:02 Greenwich Mean Time 5 December 2019

    Farage's interview kicks off with questions about his decision to stand down Brexit Party candidates in 317 Westminster seats won by the Conservatives in 2017 - a move he hoped would help Leave-supporting candidates win the election on 12 December.

    "We’ve stopped the Liberal Democrat surge, stopped a second referendum," he says.

    "What we are actually doing now is we're tearing chunks out of the Labour vote."

    He admits that he failed to form a Brexit alliance, saying: "The Conservative Party do not want anything to change."

  19. Farage sits down with Andrew Neilpublished at 18:59 Greenwich Mean Time 5 December 2019

    Andrew Neil and Nigel Farage

    We hope you're sitting comfortably, because Andrew Neil's interview with Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage is about to air.

    It's the fourth interview Neil has done with party leaders in this election campaign, and follows 30-minute sit-downs with the leaders of Labour, the SNP, and the Lib Dems.

    Grab your popcorn.

  20. Swinson 'confident' of election gainspublished at 18:55 Greenwich Mean Time 5 December 2019

    Jo SwinsonImage source, UK POOL

    Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson insists her party is looking to make gains next Thursday, despite the Brexit Party ditching plans to take on the Tories in more than 300 seats.

    Speaking to reporters during a campaign visit, Ms Swinson says Mr Farage's decision not to stand candidates "has clearly had some impact".

    But she insists: “I’m confident we will make gains at this election.”