The Scotsman

May: ‘Corbyn is not prepared to

● PM seizes on rival’s stuggle to remember cost of key manifesto pledge as she seeks to get back to her core campaign message

- By AMY WATSON

Theresa May launched an assault on Jeremy Corbyn’s credibilit­y yesterday as the Labour leader struggled with the cost of a key manifesto commitment.

The Prime Minister sought to get on the front foot after the U-turn on social care and the Manchester bombing pushed her campaign off course, claiming Mr Corbyn was “simply not ready to govern and not prepared to lead”.

Meanwhile, the Labour leader apologised after a difficult broadcast interview saw him repeatedly fail to provide the cost of the party’s childcare policy.

During an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour he paused several times when repeatedly asked to give a cost for the pledge to roll out free care to all two- to four- year-olds, before asking: “Can we come back to that in a moment?”

Mrs May had Mr Corbyn in her sights as she launched a personal attack on his record and ability during a speech in Wolverhamp­ton.

In an effort to get back to her key election messages of leadership and Brexit, she said Mr Corbyn was not prepared for the crunch talks with Brussels that will start within days of the general election and would find himself “alone and naked” in the negotiatio­ns.

Looking back at Mr Corbyn’s performanc­e when questioned by Jeremy Paxman and a studio audience in Monday night’s televised showdown, Mrs May said: “He is not prepared to use the nuclear deterrent. He is not prepared to take action against terrorists. He is not prepared to give the police the powers they need to keep us safe.

“He is not prepared to take a single difficult decision for the good of our economy. He is not prepared to answer questions about his long track record of supporting people who want to harm and even attack our country.

“And with Brexit negotiatio­ns due to begin only 11 days after polling day, he is not prepared for those negotiatio­ns.”

Setting out the challenge facing whoever is in Number 10, she said: “The Europeans are ready to go and are determined to fight for a deal that works for them.

“This is not time for a weak government and a weak leader to be making it up as they go along, particular­ly not when that leader has shown poor judgment and weak leadership throughout the process so far.”

She added: “As always with Jeremy Corbyn and Labour, the shambles and the responsibi­lity would be theirs but the consequenc­es and the bill would be ours.”

Mr Corbyn was attempting to focus on policy issues with the commitment to the extension of free childcare, but his own performanc­e was firmly in the spotlight after the Woman’s Hour interview.

Despite having a copy of the manifesto and apparently logging on to his ipad for help as he was pressed to give the cost for the policy, it was left to presenter Emma Barnett to provide the Opposition’s estimate of the £4.8 billion annual price tag by 2022.

Answering questions on the interview at a campaign event in Watford, Mr Corbyn said: “I didn’t have the exact figure in front of me, so I was unable to answer that question, for which obviously I apologise.

“But I don’t apologise for what’s in the manifesto and I will explain exactly what the cost is.

“It’s £4.8bn it will cost by the end of the Parliament and it means that one million children will get childcare, free childcare 30 hours per week between the years of two and four.”

The figure differed from a costing he had earlier given in a webchat on Mumsnet of £5.3bn, because that included an additional £500 million to reopen Sure Start centres.

Mr Corbyn also dismissed suggestion­s made by some of his supporters online that he had been treated unfairly in the Woman’s Hour interview.

“There isn’t such a thing as being unfair to politician­s – if you put yourself up for elected office in public life you are subject to permanent scrutiny,” he said.

“I never get upset by these things. Never be so high and mighty that you can’t listen to everybody else and make sure that you understand the motives of the majority of our people and the kind of society that we want to live in.”

Mr Corbyn defended journalist­s after Ms Barnett was subjected to abuse online, some of which appeared to be anti-semitic, with several Twitter users calling her a “Zionist”.

The Labour leader said: “It is totally and absolutely completely unacceptab­le for anyone to throw abuse at anyone else.”

0 Prime Minister Theresa May used a speech in Wolverhamp­ton

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