BBC Breakfast

Back to BBC Breakfast, where Jeremy Corbyn was challenged over his credentials as a leader - and reports that some candidates are finding voters do not want to support him personally and others are choosing not to include him on their campaign leaflets.

The Labour leader replies that he is "proud" of his party's manifesto and "my job is to deliver it".

“It’s not a presidential election, it’s a parliamentary election where we elect members of Parliament," he adds.

Asked whether criticisms of how he has dealt with anti-Semitism in the Labour Party have lost him the support of Jewish voters, Mr Corbyn acknowledges that many Jewish people are "obviously upset at any accusations of anti-Semitism", but other Jewish members are thankful for the new processes he has put in place to deal with allegations.

Just a bit more on the reference we made in a previous post to reports of a punch that circulated yesterday. It was all pretty confusing but let us try to elaborate a bit.

Following the phone incident involving Boris Johnson, Health Secretary Matt Hancock was sent to Leeds General Infirmary. His colleague Robert Buckland said he went to "find out more about what happened" to the young boy forced to sleep on a hospital floor.

There were a small number of angry protesters there who shouted at Mr Hancock and his team, and two sources told journalists - including our political editor Laura Kuenssberg and ITV’s political editor Robert Peston - that an adviser to the health secretary had been punched by one of the activists. There were also rumours that someone had been arrested.

Once the footage became available - see below - it was clear that hadn't happened and that instead, the aide walked into a protester's outstretched arm. The police also confirmed no arrests had been made.

Labour said the Tories had "resorted to bare-faced lying" over the incident.

Mr Buckland said he "didn't know who'd briefed what to whom", but he criticised those demonstrating for creating a scene of "civil disorder".

BBC Breakfast

The interview then moves to Brexit and Mr Corbyn is asked about his plan to negotiate a new deal with the EU and then put it to the public alongside the option of Remain in another referendum - which the Labour leader would remain neutral in.

Mr Corbyn denies this is a "betrayal" of Leave voters and says the negotiating team would be "balanced" and made up of people with different views and from different parts of the country.

As well as ministers, Mr Corbyn says his negotiating team would also have a back-up advisory group made up of trade unions, businesses and academics to advise on the process.

Asked whether this would include new ministers, Mr Corbyn replies: "Well of course, yes," but declines to name any.

Read more about Labour's Brexit plan here.

The Conservatives argue that Labour would bring further "dither and delay" to the already drawn-out Brexit process.

BBC Breakfast

The interview then moves on to some of Labour's other manifesto pledges and Mr Corbyn is pressed on whether the party's promise for a four-day working week would apply to the NHS - after the shadow health secretary suggested it would not, but the shadow chancellor later said it would.

“It’s not going to be forced on the NHS, the whole point is that over a period, increases in productivity will lead to lower working time hours," he replies.

The Labour leader is then challenged over analysis from the IFS think tank that his party's spending pledges were not "credible" and could not be delivered.

Mr Corbyn replies that Labour is the only party to publish a costing document alongside it's manifesto, adding that other economists think Labour's plans to address lack of investment are "sensible".

Questioned on why promises to compensate the so-called Waspi women are not included in manifesto costings, Mr Corbyn says this is a "moral debt" which will be paid "through headroom or at a later stage through borrowing".

"It’s not all paid straight away, it’s paid over some years," he adds.

The interview with Jeremy Corbyn continues and it's put to the Labour leader that maybe he's the issue for some voters.

Political correspondents listen in...

BBC Breakfast

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is now being interviewed on BBC Breakfast, where the first topic of questioning is the NHS.

Asked whether his party is using a photo of a sick four-year-old boy sleeping on a hospital floor as a "political football", Mr Corbyn insists NHS funding is a "political issue".

He says the photo is "an example of what's happening in our NHS" and there are a "very large number of hospitals" across the country where patients are at risk.

Mr Corbyn is also challenged over Labour's record on the NHS in government in Wales, where A&E waiting times in September were the worst on record.

He admits this is "a bad record" but says this is the case across the country, adding that Wales has lost £1bn funding from central government.

“The issues have to be about investment in our NHS," he adds.

Reality Check

Nicola Sturgeon has claimed before during this campaign that more people in Scotland are being seen within NHS target waiting times than before.

BBC Reality Check says this is true - but is only part of the story.

The Audit Scotland report , externalMs Sturgeon has referred to did find that the number of people seen on time went up.

But that is because the demand was higher - so there were more patients overall. If you look at the percentage of patients seen on time, it actually went down for five out of eight patient categories from the previous year, external. It's worth noting that in three categories - one improved, two not - the percentage difference was less than 1%. So the improvement in drug waiting times of 0.1%, for example, only affected 44 people.

And the actual targets were only hit in two out of eight categories - patients starting cancer treatment within 31 days of a decision being made on their treatment, and drug and alcohol patients being seen within three weeks.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

With the NHS dominating the headlines this morning, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon is also asked about the state of the health service in Scotland..

She says the NHS in every part of the UK is facing challenges because of rising demand due to an ageing population.

She says Scotland is not immune to those problems and the SNP are addressing those issues “head on”.

“We are performing better than the health services” in the rest of the UK," she insists, when looking at waiting time targets.

She adds: "The point I'm making is not that we don't face challenges but when you look at how we're responding to - and meeting - those challenges, we are doing much better than the Tories in England or Labour in Wales."

Chris Mason
Political Correspondent

The row over little Jack lying on a hospital floor plays into a subject Labour are very comfortable talking about - the NHS and the struggles it faces. So you can expect Jeremy Corbyn to keep on talking about it - to keep on saying that it proves Mr Johnson just doesn't care, doesn't get it.

And it really was quite a moment - Boris Johnson was clearly very uncomfortable and tetchy when confronted with that picture.

Now, it's a long campaign, everyone's human and tired, and he did get there in the end and look at it. But it was still a moment - and in a campaign that hasn't had many, it stands out.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Labour is seeking to keep the focus on the NHS today, citing figures which it says show a health service in "crisis" and claiming that under-funding is putting patients at risk.

Appearing on the Today programme, shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth is asked whether it's a mistake to try to capitalise on a photo - published in the Daily Mirror - of a sick four-year-old boy sleeping on a hospital floor, when his mother later wrote to the press watchdog asking that her son's treatment not be used as a "political football".

“We aren’t using his case as a political football and my heart goes out to Jack and his family," Mr Ashworth replies.

However, he adds: "I think, unfortunately, across the country, these are not one-off events.

"We’ve seen in this election campaign other images of elderly people literally wasting away, if you like, on trolleys in corridors for hours and hours because they simply cannot get a bed.”

Mr Ashworth says a Labour government would "bring the Tory bed cuts programme to an end", adding that while NHS workers were working hard under intense pressure to provide a high quality service, people were waiting too long for treatment.

It's important to point out that the Conservatives insist there is no such bed-cutting programme and that this month there are 2,000 more beds than last month. They point to a report released on Monday by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine which they say shows John Ashworth is wrong in what he’s saying.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Mr Buckland was also challenged over why the prime minister decided yesterday to suddenly suggest the possible abolition of the BBC licence fee needed "looking at".

He tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It think what he’s responding to is genuine concern on the doorsteps… from people, particularly on fixed incomes, who worry about the cost of the licence fee and the fact that this system now, which has been in existence since the foundation of the BBC - is it really fit for purpose in the modern age?”

“What we are talking about as a first step is the decriminalisation of failing to pay the TV licence," he adds.

“Is it right to criminalise and target a vulnerable section of society for what really is, I think, an issue of civil liability?"

He says the Tories would launch a consultation on whether criminalisation was the right approach to the issue - and denied that the policy was made up on the hoof in an attempt to deflect attention away from the hospital photograph row.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

A bit more from Justice Secretary Robert Buckland who has the job this morning of defending the prime minister's reaction to a photo of a sick four-year-old boy who had to sleep on the floor of a hospital.

Boris Johnson initially refused to look at the image when shown it on the phone of an ITV reporter, before taking the device and putting it in his pocket. However, he later looked and returned the phone.

Mr Buckland tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think that in all the hundreds of interviews the prime minister has done… there will come moments where you are suddenly sprung with something and it’s difficult to know exactly what is happening."

Challenged over the fact the photo had been on the front page of the Daily Mirror that day and it was unlikely the prime minister was not aware of it, Mr Buckland says Mr Johnson "clearly hadn't seen the photograph".

He adds that the prime minister expressed "sorrow and regret" for what he saw and apologised to the family, while Health Secretary Matt Hancock also went to Leeds to apologise.

Mr Buckland is also asked why Tory press officers appeared to brief to journalists inaccurate reports that an adviser to the health secretary was punched by a Labour activist on the visit - when footage showed that this did not happen.

"I don't know who briefed what to whom," Mr Buckland replies, adding that he had seen the footage.

“What I saw was a very confusing scene of public disorder, people who had clearly organised themselves to come along, create trouble and mischief.

"It’s not a way to conduct civilised politics, people were shouting, gesticulating towards Matt Hancock and his team."

During the election campaign we've profiled the main party leaders in detail, and with polling day so close now it feels like the right time to show them off again.

In this piece, the BBC's political correspondent Iain Watson looks closely at Jeremy Corbyn and his long march to power. From accidental leader to prime ministerial hopeful, it's quite a journey.

You can also read our pieces on the other leaders here:

• Boris Johnson
• Jo Swinson
• Nicola Sturgeon
• Nigel Farage

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Image source, Getty Images

A short time ago Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage was also on Today.

He said he was "disappointed" with the direction the Conservatives were taking - after his party stood down its candidates in seats won by the Tories in 2017 to give them an electoral leg-up.

He said Boris Johnson's suggestion a few weeks ago that the next phase of negotiation would be "along the lines of a Canada-style trade deal" was "great".

However, he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Now he’s gone back to saying that his Brexit deal is oven-ready... and if he wins the election - which looks likely - if we pass the current EU treaty, this doesn’t get Brexit done, it takes us into years of negotiation."

The prime minister's "oven-ready deal will give us indigestion for years and years", he adds.

Read BBC Reality Check's breakdown of what's in Boris Johnson's deal.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Conservative Robert Buckland is now on Today and is asked about Monday's NHS row.

He says the "family want their privacy to be maintained" and for their son "not to be used as a political football".

"This is an election that should be fought on the high ground, rather than an argument of who said what to whom," Mr Buckland argues.

He says it's "insulting" to those who work in the NHS when presenter Nick Robinson puts to him that the Conservatives have failed to maintain standards of care in the health service while in power.

He puts the blame for stress on the system on rising demand and insists investment is going in - citing the fact that the Tories are promising to build a whole new hospital in place of the building where the four-year-old boy was pictured.

There's not long left now to make your mind up - but what if you're only just switching on to this whole election thing? Or maybe you've followed it all along but still aren't sure.

Check out our policy guide to compare the parties' manifestos - it'll hopefully make things clearer.

As we mentioned, a row broke out on Monday over a picture of a four-year-old boy with suspected pneumonia asleep on a Leeds hospital floor. The hospital was extremely busy and there were no beds available in the treatment room.

The story was broken by the Yorkshire Evening Post and picked up by the Daily Mirror. This morning the Mirror leads with another picture of a child asleep on a chair in a hospital where her family say she had to wait "hours" for treatment.

The Mirror's associate editor Kevin Maguire says Boris Johnson should apologise...

Electioncast looks back at a difficult day on the campaign trail for the Conservatives and Adam heads to Crewe to chat to a group of undecided voters.

Listen back to the full episode here.

Image source, PA Media/AFP/Getty Images

• Labour claims NHS under-funding is putting patients at risk, citing reports produced by NHS trusts in England which it says show a health service “in crisis and on the brink”. Read more about why the NHS matters in the election here.
• It comes after Boris Johnson faced criticism on Monday over his response to an image of a sick four-year-old boy who had to sleep on the floor of a hospital. Read our political editor’s take on yesterday’s events.
• Meanwhile, Mr Johnson will try to keep the focus on Brexit, using a speech later to warn there is a “clear and present” danger of another hung Parliament if voters do not turn out to support the Conservatives on Thursday.
• However, Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson will focus her campaigning on the cost to government of Brexit in a speech later.
• The Green Party is focusing on its pledge to cancel student debt.
• Later this evening, the leaders of the main parties in Northern Ireland and Scotland will take part in two separate BBC TV debates.
• We’ll also bring you any reaction to last night’s Question Time special, which saw senior politicians face questions on housing, climate change and trust from an audience of young people. You can read our write-up here and Reality Check’s analysis of the politicians' claims here.