Johnson and Corbyn set for a TV head-to-head
Farage: Constituencies in North which would not vote Tory hold the key
THE FIRST televised election debate between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn has been set for November 19.
The debate will be aired on ITV and it will be the first time the party leaders go head to head in the election campaign. ITV Press Centre made the announcement on Twitter on and said details of further multi-party debates will be released in due course.
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn challenged Mr Johnson to a debate earlier in the week, and yesterday said it was “welcome” that he accepted.
Mr Johnson said he was “looking forward to making the positive case to the country” that we should achieve Brexit.
THE BREXIT Party’s “number one target” will be “old Labour seats that have never ever been Conservative”, Nigel Farage said, as he set his sights on securing General Election wins in the North.
Speaking after the party’s official campaign launch in Westminster yesterday, leader Mr Farage claimed that the seats he was punting for had “Leave majorities in the referendum but they’re represented by Remain MPs” – a description that matches many of Yorkshire’s constituencies.
Mr Farage also said the Labour Party “represents Islington not Islwyn, Hampstead not Huddersfield, and Dalston not Doncaster.”
He added: “The Brexit Party poses a very major problem to Labour, particularly in Wales, the Midlands, and certainly many parts of the North of England.
“There are so many Labour Leave seats represented by Remain Members of Parliament.
“Be in no doubt, in terms of winning seats, we view those constituencies around the country as being absolutely among our top targets.”
He also hit out at the Conservatives and said that if the Tories did not agree to an alliance and abandon Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal, he would make sure every household in the country was made aware that it was a “sell out” of Brexit.
He warned if Mr Johnson did not agree to his terms, the Brexit Party will “contest every single seat in England, Scotland and Wales”.
And he added: “I say to Boris Johnson – drop the deal.”
The party has already unveiled its Parliamentary candidates in the majority of Yorkshire constituencies, including key marginals such as Keighley and Penistone and Stocksbridge.
US President Donald Trump appeared to call on Thursday for an electoral pact between Mr Farage and Mr Johnson, saying the pair could become an “unstoppable force”. Mr Farage said an option would be a “non-aggression pact” , describing it as a “one-off opportunity”.
But asked by The BBC last night whether he would team up with Mr Farage, Mr Johnson said: “I will be very, very clear that voting for any other party than this Government, this Conservative Government, this One Nation Conservative Government, is basically tantamount to putting Jeremy Corbyn in.”
Countering Mr Farage, he stressed his deal did represent a “proper Brexit”.
He said: “It delivers exactly what we wanted, what I wanted, what I campaigned in 2016 to come out of the European Union. It takes back control of our money, our borders, our laws.
“It enables us to do proper all singing all dancing free trade deals around the world – but as one whole United Kingdom – so it’s got everything that you could possibly want and it is ready.
“Now the difficulty about doing deals with any other party is that any other party, I’m afraid simply risks or voting for any other party simply risks putting Jeremy Corbyn into Number 10.
“And the problem with that is that his plan for Brexit is basically yet more dither and delay.”
Meanwhile, Labour strayed away from Brexit in its electioneering and announced all new homes would be “zero carbon” within three years under the party’s plans to tackle the housing and climate crises at the same time.
The Wentworth and Dearne MP and Shadow Housing Secretary, John Healey, said: “The Conservatives’ decision to cave in to property developers and slash green standards means we are building homes today that aren’t fit for the future.
“They’re bad for the environment and expensive to run.”