The Conservative party doesn’t seem to have published the manifesto online yet. This is from Huffington Post’s Paul Waugh, who is at the launch and has a hard copy.
IFS director Paul Johnson. Photograph: Felix Clay/The Guardian
Paul Johnson from the Institute for Fiscal Studies has been talking to the BBC.
He said that the claim that the Conservatives were promising the biggest ever “cash boost to the NHS” was “broadly true” in cash terms, but not in real terms, so was “misleading”.
“Once you take into account the fact that spending is a lot higher than it was in the past, it’s not such a big increase,” he said. “It’s a substantial increase. It’s bigger than we’ve seen over the past 10 years, but it’s not in line, actually, with what the NHS got in the past 40 or 50 years.”
He said that the big increases in spending in the manifesto were already announced in the last spending round.
“What this seems to imply is that outside of schools and hospitals there’s not going to be much to go around in the remaining four years of parliament,” he said. A lot of the cuts we’ve seen in justice and local government “are pretty much baked in if you take this manifesto at face value”.
Conservative pledges: housing offer may fuel demand without increasing supply
Hilary Osborne
Mortgage lending rules that came in after the crash are designed to stop people taking on loans they could struggle to repay in future, but the Conservatives appear to be saying they would make changes to free-up lending. Fixing interest rates offsets some of the risk, but if prices fall there will be more people at risk of negative equity. Previous attempts by lenders to offer long-term fixed-rate mortgages have failed, so this would need a big change in the market and homebuyers’ attitudes.
A big problem with cutting deposits for first-time buyers is it is likely to fuel demand for homes without tackling the supply-side problems. Renters will be pleased with the pledges on no-fault evictions, and lifetime deposits, but social housing will be lost with the maintenance of right-to-buy.
The Guardian’s deputy political editor, Rowena Mason, asks about the Conservative party’s decision to change one of its Twitter pages to resemble a fact-checking site during the first leaders’ debate
“I haven’t followed this Twitter stuff with the attention you would like, Rowena,” he says. “I will apprise myself of the detail of this”.
He then changes the subject to attacking Jeremy Corbyn’s decision to remain neutral on any second EU referendum.
Boris Johnson dodges question on 'FactcheckUK' at Tory manifesto launch – video
Asked why a pledge to lift the higher rate income tax threshold – which he promised in his leadership campaign – is not in the manifesto, Johnson says: “I haven’t lost my tax-cutting zeal.”
He says it’s “important to focus tax cuts where people need them most”.
The Daily Mail’s political editor asks him why there is no big plan to deal with the pressures on social care in the manifesto. Johnson repeats the line – used by cabinet ministers over the last few days - that they will be reaching out to other parties to find a way to address the problem. He promises that nobody will have to sell their home to fund their care.
The Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn asks about maintaining troop numbers. Johnson interrupts him to say they would not cut the armed services. He says there is a “sharp distinction” between his position and that of the leader of the opposition.
He responds to a question about fiscal discipline and he says “we are doing this sensibly” and that a Conservative government would be bringing debt down.
A journalist from the Shropshire Star asks about the A&E department in Telford. “We will certainly make sure the A&E in Telford is kept open,” says Johnson. He says that he is sure the health secretary, Matt Hancock, would be happy to talk to the reporter about it afterwards.
Sky’s Beth Rigby asks him about trust. Voters laughed at you in TV debates when you said that truth in politics is important, she says.
Johnson says he was determined to leave the EU by 31 October and parliament prevented this from happening. “That is why we do need to fix this broken parliament, get a working majority and get that deal over the line.”
A camera records Boris Johnson during his speech in Telford. Photograph: Frank Augstein/AP
The BBC’s political editor, Laura Kuenssberg, asks whether Johnson acknowledges that people would be making a big leap of faith in voting for him after he broke his promise on taking the UK out of Europe by the end of October. Johnson says that parliament blocked him from doing so. He says that for three and half years people have seen politicians engaged in endless “dither and delay” and that they want to see Brexit done.
