General election 2019: Corbyn tells voters to 'make sure their voice is heard' – live news

Chris Moncrieff, one of the most respected lobby journalists of his generation, has died. He was 88.

The former political editor of PA, who was hailed as “the one journalist who mattered” by former prime minister Tony Blair, died in hospital on Friday morning after a short illness. his family said.

He retired after 32 years at Westminster in 1994, but returned to work the next day and continued to contribute to the agency until his death.

Pete Clifton, PA’s editor-in-chief, said: “Moncrieff was the ultimate news agency journalist – great contacts, always close to the action, working some epic hours and obsessed by getting stories out before everyone else.”

“He had no interest in any political agenda or viewpoint, just making sure he was first to write about it.”

Nigel Farage has called for immigration into the UK to be restricted to 50,000 people a year.

Farage, who is launching his Brexit party’s election “contract” later today, said there should be an Australian-style points based system limiting the numbers allowed to settle in the country.

“We had a 60-year post-war norm of about 30,000 to 50,000 people coming into the United Kingdom. That has completely gone out of the window,” he told Today.

“What I think is very real is that we now have in many ways a population crisis in this country. Nobody could possibly have foreseen the massive growth in our population.”

Farage said labour shortages in specific sectors such as the NHS could be addressed by issuing temporary work permits.

McDonnell suggested that Labour would allow a return to secondary picketing.

Under Labour’s manifesto the party committed to removing “unnecessary restrictions on industrial action”. Asked on the Today programme whether that meant restoring secondary picketing, McDonnell said: “We will make sure that people have the right, as in the ILO [International Labour Organisation] conventions to withdraw their labour. Yes … I believe any workers should have the right to withdraw their labour.”

But asked again whether that meant a return to secondary picketing, he said: “No, we’re not. We’re creating a new climate in this country, which is based upon a stakeholder economy where we all recognise we’ve got a stake in this economy.”

He added: “The idea is that we’re democratising the economy and providing people with a greater range of basic rights.”

On Today McDonnell again challenged the IFS’s claim that Labour could not assert that only the rich would pay for its spending plans.

Using the same phraseology he used on Sky, McDonnell said:

I have a greater respect for the IFS. I just think they’ve got it wrong on this one.

Yes, the top 5% will pay a bit more. The 95% of earners will not pay an increase in income tax rates or in VAT, or in national insurance, but we are we’re being straight with people. We are reversing some of the corporation tax cuts that have been given away by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats over the last 10 years.

He added:

It is not inevitable that when you increase [corporation] it lowers wages or increases prices.

The IFS needs to look at the structural changes in the economy we’re making … because we’re democratising the way in which these corporations work and are more accountable, they will actually invest in their companies, instead of being driven by short-term profiteering and shareholder interest only.

They will think for the long term, invest and grow the economy and that’s what’s happening elsewhere across Europe … they have longer term decision-making.

The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, has been defending the Labour manifesto in a round of broadcast interviews.

Asked on Sky News about a claim by the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank that Labour would impose the highest tax burden since the second world war, McDonnell said: “It is high. I don’t hesitate from that because we’ve had 10 years of austerity under the Conservatives and Lib Dems, [and] our public services are in a terrible state.”

He added:

We’ve got to be honest. It does mean raising taxes, but we protect those people who can least afford it. Income tax will go up. It’ll be the top 5% of earners, the highest earners will pay a bit more.

I’m reversing some of the corporation tax cuts that the Tories have given away. Corporations were given tax cuts and they haven’t invested that money.

And I am introducing a financial transaction tax so that the City pays a bit more.

McDonnell also challenged the IFS’s claim that ordinary people would have to pay for Labour spending plans in the long term. He said: “I have a lot of respect for the IFS. On this one, though, I don’t think they’ve got it right. And so do most other economists as well.”

McDonnell was vague on how Labour would tackle student debt. Asked if he would write it off, he said: “I’m going to look at a whole range of options … because the system is collapsing.”

The leader of Plaid Cymru, Adam Price, has said Labour must back an investment programme for Wales if it is to secure his party’s support in the event of a hung parliament, PA reports.

The party is launching its manifesto on Friday with a call for the Westminster government to allocate an additional 1% of GDP to invest in “green infrastructure” over the next decade, allowing Wales to spend an additional £15bn on green jobs, transport and energy.

Price said Jeremy Corbyn would have to adopt the programme if Plaid Cymru – which had four MPs in the last parliament – were to help him enter No 10.

“It has to be this investment programme. That has to be the key. Fair funding for Wales,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

“We want to make those investments in Wales. We don’t want them done by, as Labour is suggesting, creating state-owned monopolies based outside of Wales. This is not much better than privately owned monopolies based outside of Wales.”

Rishi Sunak, the chief secretary to the Treasury, has confirmed Conservative party plans to increase stamp duty for foreign buyers. Under the plan, those outside the UK will pay 3% more in the home purchase tax, he told BBC Breakfast.

Sunak said:

Today, if you are foreign company or someone living overseas, it is as easy to buy a property as it is for someone who is actually living here. We don’t think that is right so we are saying we will have a 3% stamp duty surcharge on those foreign transactions. That should make housing more affordable especially for first-time buyers.

Sunak could not confirm when the Conservative manifesto would be published. It is expected on Sunday, but Sunak said only that it would be published “soon”.

As I mentioned earlier, Plaid Cymru will be launching its policies today with a promise for a £20bn “green jobs revolution”. It will also be calling for another referendum on Brexit.

As one of the pro-remain MPs, Plaid has struck a deal with the Lib Dems and the Greens, in which they will stand aside for each other. It means the party will get a clear run in seven seats. Under the deal, the Lib Dems will have clear air in three seats in Wales and the Greens in one.

This foray into political ads from the Sun is getting a fair amount of traction on Twitter this morning.

Nigel Farage is hoping to enlist the help of Donald Trump in a global campaign to plant billions of trees to capture CO². The Brexit party leader, a friend of the US president, is due to make the announcement in Westminster on Friday as his party launches its version of an election manifesto.

You can re-watch Farage’s interview with Donald Trump below.

What else is happening today?

It’s going to be a busy Friday for all the party leaders:

• The PM will campaign in Nottinghamshire, Corbyn will be in the Midlands.
• Jo Swinson will campaign in Glasgow after announcing yesterday that a Lib Dem government would commit to building 300,000 new homes a year.
• Scottish Labour, Plaid Cymru and the Brexit party are all scheduled to launch their policies today.
• A BBC Question Time special with the four major party leaders will air at 7pm. The one-off episode will be filmed in Sheffield, in which Johnson, Corbyn, Jo Swinson and Nicola Sturgeon each have half-an-hour to debate with a live studio audience.

Boris Johnson will be out on the campaign trail in Nottinghamshire today, no doubt trashing Labour’s manifesto as unworkable, but also revealing a plan for a higher stamp duty rate for non-UK residents. The election pledge is most likely designed to link foreign purchasers to inflated property prices. Under a new Johnson government, they would pay an extra 3% stamp duty. It will apply to companies and individuals, and also to expats wanting to move back home. According to the Conservatives, as many as one in eight new London homes were bought by non-residents in 2014-16.

The Conservatives estimate the measure will raise up to £120m, which would be directed at programmes to tackle rough sleeping.

The stamp duty move follows Labour’s manifesto pledge to build 150,000 council and social homes a year by the end of the next parliament.

And at least one candidate is up early pushing the Tory line on housing. Robert Jenrick, the Tory candidate for Newark, who is standing for re-election, says “more homes of all types are built under @Conservatives”.

In a moment I’ll bring you up to date on all the day’s comings and goings with events planned for most parties, but first, let’s have a quick look at the front pages … where Labour’s manifesto is front and centre.

Given the reaction of the business community, I’m going to include some bonus business pages in today’s press coverage roundup.

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the general election. I’m Alison Rourke and I’ll be steering you through this early part of the day before handing over to colleagues.

As Labour embarks on its big sell of the party’s manifesto, Jeremy Corbyn will be out and about in the Midlands today. He’ll be urging people to register to vote this morning, before next Tuesday’s deadline to get on the electoral roll (applications must be submitted by 11.59pm that day).

He will tell people in Stoke that people need to sign up to achieve real change and “make sure their voice is heard”. According to Corbyn, a whopping 9 million voters are still not registered.

“We want to make the next five days the biggest voter registration drive that our country has ever seen,” he will say.

If you missed out on the detail of the manifesto, you can catch up here. My cheatsheet guide includes a huge investment in social housing, education, health, providing universal free broadband, a 5% pay rise for public sector workers, the nationalisation of rail, water and mail, and new powers to allow councils to take control of bus services. Total cost: £82.9bn.

There’s plenty of analysis from the Guardian’s experts and comment writers on the manifesto, including from Richard Partington (businesses say manifesto will suppress innovation and smother growth), John Crace (Corbyn has gone for broke).

It will all provide fodder for when Corbyn, Boris Johnson, Nicola Sturgeon and Jo Swinson appear tonight a special edition of the BBC’s Question Time.

So, as your captain says before takeoff: sit back, relax, and enjoy the (Friday) ride.