Sunday papers – 3 November 2019

The polls

The Conservatives are still ahead in the opinion polls but the numbers vary.  According to the Times:

Boris Johnson faces a double threat to his Downing Street hopes today — a new poll shows Labour has enjoyed a bounce in support since the election campaign began, and remain parties have finalised an electoral pact to thwart him.
A YouGov survey for The Sunday Times found that Labour had gained six points between Wednesday and Friday. Jeremy Corbyn’s party is now on 27%, 12 points behind the Tories, while the Liberal Democrats have slipped three points to just 16%.
The Conservatives have gained three points, in part because support for Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party has nearly halved, from 13% to 7%, since the campaign began.

The Express says the GE will not ruin Christmas.

VOTERS have welcomed a December election and do not think it will ruin Christmas. More than half of people (54 per cent) questioned by ComRes rejected the notion that the festive period would be spoiled by the ballot, with fewer than one in five (18 per cent) thinking it would.
In fact there was significant support for the first December election since 1923, with nearly half (46 per cent) agreeing it was necessary to restore trust in politics. Forty-five per cent agreed the election was the “best way to resolve the Brexit debate and allow the country to move on”, with only 26 per cent disagreeing.

Conservative Party

The Tory in charge of the party’s election campaign hasn’t had long in post, reports the Telegraph.

James Cleverly has had little over three months in post as the Cabinet minister tasked with preparing the Conservatives for the party’s next General Election campaign.
In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph three days before that campaign’s formal launch on Wednesday, the 50-year-old admits that “would have liked more time” to prepare.
“But you deal with what you have to deal with. We’ve got a Parliament that can’t work,” Mr Cleverly says.

The Mail says that Brexit will happen soon after the election, if the Tories are returned.

Boris Johnson has revealed his plan to get his ‘oven-ready’ Brexit wrapped up by Christmas should he wins decisively in the upcoming General Election.
The Prime Minister shared his ‘fast and furious’ proposal to pass his deal quickly if he commands a telling majority in the Commons, urging people to vote Tory to avoid missing out on Brexit and a Jeremy Corbyn government.
In a wide-ranging interview, he also admitted he had been angered by Remainer rebels who colluded to prevent an orderly Brexit after he secured a deal with the EU.

The Express also has the story.

BORIS JOHNSON says an election victory for the Tories could see Brexit wrapped up in days. Speaking exclusively to the Sunday Express, the Prime Minister insisted he will drive through his deal at full speed if he wins the election on December 12.
Mr Johnson said: “You could put it in Gas Mark 4, 20 minutes and Bob’s your uncle. He added: “I’ll get Brexit wrapped up fast. What I would say is, ‘Vote for us and you get Brexit done, you will get it done very fast and you will avoid another infinite period of dither and delay’.”
The Prime Minister added: “We get out of this thing – which we will, if I am lucky enough to be returned – then we have the opportunity of not just doing one big free trade deal with the EU but to become the centre of a great new push for global free trade.”

The Independent leads on a child benefit proposal.

Boris Johnson has been told to scrap the highly contentious two-child benefit restrictions amid warnings it will “push hundreds of thousands even deeper into poverty”.
In their final report before the dissolution of parliament, MPs on the Work and Pensions Select Committee said “no government should be willing to accept” the consequences of the policy.
Their damning assessment claimed “no evidence” has been presented to prove the two-child benefit limit is working the way the government intended, and instead it risks escalating levels of poverty.

The answers to voters’ questions have been leaked to Sky News.

A confidential Tory election dossier obtained by Sky News reveals details of the “attack messages” and “lines to take” for candidates at the upcoming election.
The leaking of the 22-page internal briefing document is likely to embarrass Conservative HQ as it exposes the party’s strategy ahead of the 12 December poll.
It also reveals areas where the party feels it may be vulnerable to claims by opponents, such as on the NHS, with suggested responses.

And the parties are setting out their policies.  Sky News says the Tories will raise the state pension.

Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn are setting out to woo older voters and those on benefits as the two main parties prepare for the formal launch of the General Election campaign later this week.
In an “end to austerity” pledge, the Tories are vowing to raise the state pension by 3.9%, up to £175.20 a week and worth an extra £344 a year, the largest increase for eight years.
As well as raising other benefits, the prime minister is also promising to make saving free TV licences for over-75s a top election priority and is demanding a showdown with BBC bosses to resolve the issue.

Free television licences are highlighted in the Sun.

BORIS Johnson has vowed to save free TV licences for over-75s as a top election priority.
The PM has ordered officials to find a way to pay for the £745million-a-year perk, warning: “It’s crucial we do this.”
He demanded urgent talks with BBC chiefs to thrash out a funding formula before the “lifeline” is axed next June.
It came as Mr Johnson also pledged to get his Brexit deal done by Christmas if he is returned to No10 with a clear majority on December 12.

The health of voters is being taken into account, says the Guardian.

Downing Street has taken emergency action to head off winter pressures in the NHS amid growing fears in government that a healthcare crisis could derail the Tory party’s general election campaign.
The prime minister Boris Johnson has been holding regular meetings at No 10 with the head of NHS England, Simon Stevens, as evidence mounts of lengthening delays in treatment caused by shortages of doctors and nurses. In addition, the health secretary Matt Hancock has been seeing Stevens every week, on Monday mornings, to assess how to prevent a deterioration in waiting times at hospitals and GP surgeries.

And the Telegraph claims the Tories will cut tax.

The Conservatives are preparing to offer millions of workers a tax cut worth up to £460. Ministers are drawing up plans to raise the threshold at which employees begin paying National Insurance, in a move previously described by economists as the most effective tax cut for lower earners.
The pledge is being discussed as a possible centrepiece of a manifesto designed to win over blue collar voters, particularly in the Midlands and the North, considering voting for the Conservatives for the first time.

Labour Party

Meanwhile, questions are being asked about vote rigging in the Times.

Jeremy Corbyn’s elections supremo faces serious questions after critics leaked a secret expert report about a historic “vote-rigging” scandal.
The Sunday Times has seen a copy of a “private and confidential” handwriting analysis which concluded that Karie Murphy may have completed signed party membership applications and direct debit mandates on behalf of dozens of new members in Falkirk while she was seeking selection as a prospective parliamentary candidate in the constituency.
Murphy, one of Corbyn’s most powerful allies, was recently appointed head of Labour’s national elections campaign, meaning she has oversight of strategy and spending nationwide.

And the Morning Star reports the Labour policy of cutting energy bills.

LABOUR in government would introduce a “tough new zero carbon standard” that would see residents of all new homes save hundreds of pounds a year on their utility bills.
Jeremy Corbyn will pledge today that people living in new-build homes would save around £200 a year in energy bills through better efficiency standards and renewable energy if Labour is elected into office.
This could also mean that all new homes would be fitted with solar panels, efficient insulation and triple-glazed windows.

The Brexit Party

The party leaders are under pressure, especially Nigel, says the Mail.

Nigel Farage was under huge pressure to rip up his election plans last night after an analysis showed he risks wrecking Tory hopes of snatching dozens of Leave-leaning seats from Labour.
An audit by the Daily Mail found Boris Johnson could miss out in almost 90 battleground constituencies if the pro-Brexit vote is split between the Tories and the Brexit Party.
If the Brexit Party choose not to stand and 70 per cent of their backers switch to the Tories (while 30 per cent go to Labour), then the Conservatives could take 38 target seats off Jeremy Corbyn’s party.
Mr Johnson could win a further 50 Labour-held seats if all those forecast to vote for the Brexit Party instead switch their support to him. The analysis is based on projections produced by the firm Electoral Calculus, based on current polling.

And a former leader has opined in the Sun.

NIGEL Farage has been urged to help Boris Johnson win the general election – by the Brexit Party’s founder.
Catherine Blaiklock told the charismatic leader to re-think his threat to stage a “kamikaze” election battle with Tories.
She warned his threat to fight every seat unless the PM agrees a non-aggression pact will rob him of votes, hand power to Jeremy Corbyn and halt Brexit.
Mr Farage has demanded BoJo ditches his departure deal, and promises a “clean-break” or he will fight his candidates in every seat.
But Ms Blaiklock, a former Ukip economics spokesman who first registered the Brexit Party, said: “How can Boris cave into a public demand akin to blackmail.”

But who is telling the truth and who is stretching it?  Breitbart reports:

A Brexit Party spokesman has said that Conservative MPs are “deliberately misrepresenting” Nigel Farage’s offer of a “Leave Alliance” after the Tories have said they cannot accept a no-deal Brexit.
Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage launched the Brexit Party’s election campaign on Friday, telling Prime Minister Boris Johnson to “drop the deal because it’s not Brexit”. Mr Farage said that his offer of an election pact with Mr Johnson remains on the table.
However, Conservative party chairman James Cleverly and Brexiteer Spartans Mark Francois and Steve Baker rejected the offer of a Leave Alliance. Mr Baker, chairman of the European Research Group (ERG), said in comments reported by the Daily Mail that it was “completely inconceivable” the Tories would back a no-deal Brexit.

LibDems

The televised head-to-head between the two main parties has irked the LibDem leader says the Independent.

The Liberal Democrats have complained to ITV about the exclusion of leader Jo Swinson from an election debate between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn.
The party urged ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall not to help the leaders of the two largest parties “stitch up the debates” ahead of the 12 December vote.
Lib Dem president Baroness Brinton wrote to the broadcaster’s chief arguing for Ms Swinson’s inclusion so an unequivocal Remain-backing voice is heard in the 19 November debate.
ITV, however, said it was already scheduling a separate live debate to include seven party leaders, as well as the head-to-head.
And the broadcaster said Ms Swinson and other party leaders have been invited to take part in a live interview programme later on during the night of the Corbyn-Johnson debate.

The Guardian says the leader should be an inspiration to other females.

Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson should be allowed to take part in TV election debates as a way of “inspiring girls and women into leadership roles”, the party’s female MPs, MEPs and peers have demanded.
The group issued the plea in an open letter to broadcasters, following ITV’s announcement that Swinson would be excluded from the first debate between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn on 19 November.
Nine female Lib Dem MPs wrote to broadcasters demanding that the only woman leading a UK-wide party be included as a way of combating the intimidation that female MPs face.

Scotland

Whether the whole of Scotland is adamant it wants to be independent is examined in the Express.

NICOLA STURGEON’s rally in Glasgow’s George Square calling for a second independence referendum was met with a counter protest from Scottish unionists.
The Scottish First Minister was Deputy First Minister during the 2014 referendum. 55.3 percent of voters voted that Scotland should not leave the United Kingdom. Activists from pro-Union group A Force for Good demonstrated against the nationalist rally.
The group said: “It is vitally important that we were there with an impressive crowd of fantastic pro-Union activists to show Sturgeon and all the media present that she does not speak for Scotland.”

BBC News also reports from the rally.

Thousands of independence supporters have heard Nicola Sturgeon call for “Scotland’s future to be put into Scotland’s hands”.
The first minister told a major rally in Glasgow the time would come to break away from the “chaos of Westminster” in a second independence poll next year.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said a new Scottish independence referendum was not “desirable or necessary”.
The Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats also oppose a further vote.

EU

Some Europeans don’t want us to leave the bloc says the Express.  Really?

A BREXIT PARTY MEP has explained how some colleagues in the European Parliament are “sympathetic” towards Britain, which has still not left the EU, while others “would be delighted to stop us leaving”.
Brexit Party MEP, John Longworth, has claimed some MEPs in the European Union would be delighted to see Britain fail to leave the bloc. The UK was scheduled to leave the European Union on October 31 this year, but the Prime Minister was forced to extend Britain’s departure from Brussels, following an intervention from MPs in the House of Commons.

And the Telegraph reports on constant ‘quantitative easing’.

Endless money printing programmes will cause “tremendous” and damaging changes to stock markets, Wall Street has warned new European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde.
The ECB restarted quantitative easing (QE) this week to tackle the region’s slowdown, but analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch predicted the bond-buying programme will mean debt, not stocks, is “the financing tool of the future”.
The cost of taking on debt for firms will be pinned down by QE, a key tool used by central banks to boost economies following the financial crisis.

The Express reports on the effect on German car makers.

BREXIT uncertainty is killing off the German car industry at a time when Berlin sits on the knife edge of a crippling recession, it has emerged.
The fourth delay to Britain leaving the EU was announced this week, with Boris Johnson also finally getting his Christmas wish to hold a general election on December 12 to end the Brexit deadlock. After 40 gruelling months of negotiations and the Prime Minister’s deal on the horizon, Brexit is now postponed until January 31. The move in delaying Brexit has seen German trade with the UK fall by more than 8billion euros in three years since the announcement of the EU referendum result in 2016, according to Alexander Börsch, chief economist at Deloitte, as well as head of the Brexit Task Force.

Vaping

Is vaping safe?  The Mail reports:

It is the kind of news that could easily prompt a flurry of worrying headlines. The latest official safety data on electronic cigarettes – seen by The Mail on Sunday – suggests that the increasingly popular devices, which are backed by health chiefs as a safe way to quit smoking, are linked to another UK death.
The fatality, the second in this country, was first reported to the UK regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), in 2012.
The cause of death was listed as a sudden heart attack. But, crucially, the individual had used electronic cigarettes.
It would be easy to assume the two are, somehow, linked. The pen-like gadgets contain the same addictive nicotine, without the toxic tar and carbon monoxide, found in cigarette smoke.

The Sun says already the US is suffering from vaping.

THE vaping lung disease which is sweeping the United States has killed 37 people – new figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal.
Officials yesterday confirmed 1,888 people have developed the illness, dubbed EVALI, in every state but Alaska.
It comes following a damning new report which says the dozens of deaths linked to e-cigarettes could just be “the tip of the iceberg”.
In particular, these numbers likely underestimate the true incidence and prevalence of EVALI due to the lack of understanding there is about e-cigarettes’ connection to disease.

Cancer

But there could be good news on breast cancer, reports the Sun.

EXPERTS have devised a blood test that spots breast cancer five years before symptoms show.
The technique could save thousands of lives as the disease is far easier to treat if detected early.
If a further trial supports findings the technique could replace the mammogram as a screening method  within four years, say scientists.
The test shows changes in the body’s immune response to proteins produced by tumour cells.

ITV News also has the story.

A simple blood test could detect breast cancer up to five years before any clinical signs of the disease, according to research.
Researchers are developing the test which they say identifies the body’s immune response to substances produced by tumour cells.
Cancer cells produce proteins called antigens that trigger the body to make antibodies against them – autoantibodies.
Researchers at the University of Nottingham have found these tumour-associated antigens (TAAs) are good indicators of cancer.

Dogs

Dog licences – by another name – could return, says the Star.

A tax on owning dogs may be brought in to cut the number of attacks and stop pets being dumped.
The levy would be similar to old-style dog licences, which were scrapped in 1987.
Ministers are investigating ways to promote responsible ownership and have asked experts at Middlesex University to carry out a study. It is due to be finished by the end of this year.