Leaders Special Countdown Question Time

Welcome to York, where in just half an hour's time

Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn will face questions

We're counting down to the start of

the BBC Question Time Leaders Special.

With just six days to polling day, Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn

are gearing up for a special edition of BBC Question Time.

They won't appear at the same time, instead each will take questions

We're here in the spin room at the University of York

along with commentators, bloggers and party representatives.

This is where the battle of the party message will be played

The party leaders arrived here a short while ago where

in tonight's programme, hosted by David Dimbleby,

each party leader will separately answer questions from the studio

Theresa May will go first and Jeremy Corbyn second.

We'll bring you the full debate at 8.30pm, with on-screen analysis

We'll have the latest reaction from the BBC Reality Check team,

who will be fact-checking the leaders comments in real time.

And thoughts of the BBC's politics team and political commentators.

Then at 10pm, I'll be back with a special reaction programme

hearing from the parties and the pundits.

Let's talk now to Shadow Business Secretary Rebecca Long Bailey,

and Culture Secretary Karen Bradley.

Karen Bradley, if I can start with you. You know Theresa May well, you

work the third The Home Office, and wanted a sense of how the campaign

was going as you see it. I worked with Theresa May Futuna half years

and I've been honoured to serve in a Cabinet for nearly 12 months. She is

determined lady and leader and you can trust her to make the right

decisions. In six days we're going to be facing the most important

election for a generation. The decision is whether people want

Theresa May leading the Brexit negotiations or if they want Jeremy

Corbyn. Tonight they can see what they think of those two leaders.

When you first had that message a couple of weeks ago, did your magic

that at this stage polls and everyone else seems to suggest

Theresa May is under pressure. We always said that going into an

election things can happen and the polls have been wrong in the past

and they are tightening, there is no doubt about it. There is a risk that

this time next week Jeremy Corbyn could be negotiating deals to get

himself into Downing Street in the event of a hung Parliament. The

Conservatives only need to lose 60s for that to be a reality. So tonight

is an opportunity for people to see both readers and to decide who they

want to go into the Brexit negotiations 11 days after the

general election. How will Jeremy Corbyn be approaching tonight? He

will be giving it his all. We do not want another seven years of

Conservative rule. My community has been destroyed by the cuts in the

local authorities do to the NHS. We have seen very little support for

business to help our economy grow and prosper, productivity is down,

we are in a state of affairs where wages are 10% lower than they were

before the financial crash. While we are offering in the manifesto is a

bold and transformative vision. This does not incur when the sides to

make life a little better, this will transform our economy and society

and make Britain a world leader. Today I launched our industrial

strategy Barak committed to making us and innovation nation, where we

will increase our investment in research and development to 3% of

GDP. It is currently the low competitors across the world.

Audiences like the one tonight have a knack of cutting to the chase and

Afghan leaders questions they find uncomfortable. How do you think you

will cope with those? I think he will cope very well. To debate him

head-on. I hope the audience will have cleared the social cap is going

to be, where Prime Minister Mac will put that, how many people will lose

their winter tour fuel allowance, we have been told I could be up to 10

million pensioners who feel they have been kicked in the teeth. The

IFF says there is no money in the Conservative manifesto for the NHS

or public services and there is no reference to costing or spending

plans. I hope she is held to account on this policy issues tonight and

ensure the audience will do that. Between you and me, how do you think

Theresa May has ran the campaign so far? A lot of criticism for not

turning up to the debate. She always said she was never going to go to

that debate and she sticks to her plan, unlike Jeremy Corbyn who

decided on the morning of the debate. It took in six weeks to

decide. Rebecca Omega point about the economy and we will not have a

strong economy unless they get a good deal from Brexit. -- Rebecca

has made the point. This is why it is the most important election in a

generation because in one week there is a risk that Jeremy Corbyn will be

in number ten in Barking on Brexit negotiations not upside the SNP, the

Liberal Democrats and who knows who else. Theresa May stood on the steps

of Downing Street a few weeks ago deluded with paranoia accusing

Europe of getting involved in the general election. She is not winning

friends are influencing people. She says that no deal is better than a

bad deal, although businesses are saying that is the worst outcome.

They have picked some winners and losers, Abbas spoke the author

Nissan, while leaving other companies out in the cold. This is

not a strong and stable the go shooting position that this

Government has set out to achieve. Are you nervous about tonight? I'm

not nervous, I think Jeremy Corbyn will smash it. I hope that people

see the risk that the rays and that it is not safe to vote for the

Labour Party. So we're hearing from

the politicians and the pundits, Sophie Long has been

to a bar here in York. I'm just in the centre of York,

just along the banks of the River Ouse, in a wine bar,

and there's been quite a debate here ahead

of tonight's special programme. Let me just introduce

you and give you a taste. Steve, hi, have you been

following the election campaign? And what you think of

Theresa May's campaign so far? I think she shot herself

in the foot by trying to hurt I'd like to ask her why she thinks

it's OK for our friends who own a ?150,000 house

to have their son left with ?100,000, and for my wife

and I, who own a ?450,000 house, that if we get dementia,

we have just got ?100,000 left, and it's cost us 350,

and our friends it's cost 50. I will still vote for her,

I would normally vote Ukip, but I will vote for her to keep

the nutcase out. Let's speak to Ruby and Joe,

you have a different perspective, you work at this wine bar,

and you're a bit younger, shall we say, than Steve

there, just in your 20s. Have you been

following the campaign? Yeah, I've been following for

Labour, following Jeremy. My main concern is the NHS,

that I don't want it to be sold off or privatised and it remains

accessible and So you'll be looking for questions

on that tonight in tonight's debate. I just think that Labour has come

out with the manifesto that been fully budgeted,

and Corbyn as a leader, he's just so relatable and actually

wants to spend the time getting That is the view of the voters and

they will be asking questions tonight. Let's speak to Sir Michael

Stoute on, the Defence Secretary. Are you nervous? No, but it is a big

debate because this decision is only six days away and the country has to

choose the right person to lead us into a successful Brexit

negotiations. We say that is Theresa May, she has proven her leadership

credentials already, and then Jeremy Corbyn has it all to do tonight, to

explain how he will finance is spending promises, to explain his

third offence record, and to defence how he will be propped up by Liberal

Democrats Scottish Nationalists, what can you call it a quality

Government could that be? What do you think about how Theresa May has

ran the campaign so far? We never believed we were 20 points ahead

five weeks ago, we never believed that. Inevitably as the campaign

goes on the focus begins to sharpen. Only two people can become Prime

Minister next Friday morning, Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn, that

is the choice the country faces. It is difficult for the incumbent Prime

Minister and it is difficult because she is going first as well. How do

you think she will respond to the questions on past policy, the NHS,

how has she been rehearsing? She has been preparing to defend our

record... That got a laugh from the audience in a previous debate. We

have seen a massive drop in unemployment, we have a strong

record of putting more money into public services, getting the deficit

down, but above all she has set out a clear vision for this country of

how we negotiate this Brexit decision that we all took last year

and how we build a stronger future for Britain after that. How

important is tonight? It is very important, it is the last chance for

people to focus on who will be Prime Minister next Friday, who has the

leadership potential to take this into country Brexit and to build a

stronger, fairer Britain have the Brexit. That is Theresa May and

Jeremy Corbyn has a lot to prove tonight. Thank you for joining us.

Everyone will be looking at the body language.

Whenever there's a debate like this, no matter the format,

the leaders will be aware that we're watching a performance,

and body language, of course, has a lot to do with how

Let's speak now to Darren Stanton, who's a body language expert.

As we have been hearing, both Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May have been

primacy -- have been practising. What will they have been told to

avoid? I think any gesture that there is insincere or defensive. I

look for a baseline, both politicians are very well coached.

It any questions are as that the politicians are not happy to answer,

they will be a break in their pattern of behaviour. So folding

their arms are putting their hands in the pockets, these are breaks and

the gestures that the politicians generally use. When you think of

American elections, sweating is an issue. People think that sweating

comes across as insincere or that they have something to hide, so I

think sweating could be something that makes the voters think there is

something not right. In terms of how they and so the question the

audience will follow. They have got to be straight tonight. Absolutely.

With 96% of communication being nonverbal, voters will not just be

hearing what they say but also what they are not saying and is their

body language consistent with the message they are trying to convey.

Is this a discussion that can be lost more easily than it can be one?

I think so, I think it will be very interesting and potentially very

close. If one politician says the wrong thing, even if they have had a

perfect performance, one thing to be the tipping point that makes the

difference to the whole debate. What are the little things that most of

us do not notice? What will you be looking for that gives away how they

are feeling any particular moment? The way people present themselves is

linked to a motion, so there are micro-expressions that are very

fleeting flashes of the motion and these generally are happy or sad or

fear or surprise or content, so if either politician says they are

happy to answer the question but then they shall fear, why would they

be masking that a motion? I will be looking for inconsistencies in terms

of what they are saying and what their emotions are betraying. I

would be terrified sitting in front of an audience of 150 people knowing

that at least half of them were about to expose me, so how will they

have camped themselves down before this? They will have had coaches,

maybe rehearsing as best they can because if we rehearse as much as

possible when they do go into the real setting the mind will imagine

it has been through it before, so I think a little bit of nerds is a

good thing but essentially it is just the fact that they rehearse so

much. -- a little bit of nerves. It will be very very interesting. Thank

you for joining us this evening. I'm going to talk to someone who is

responsible for the Labour campaign. Andrew, is this where you thought

you would be six days before polling day? I am pleased with the way that

we have been able to get our progressive view of the different,

more equal Britain and across to people and we are seeing that many

of the policies we happily tied are resonating with people, it is the

change for the better people want to see. If you had said six weeks ago,

would we be here, I remember getting last that by one of the BBC Radio

stations that interviewed me and they said, come on, you do not have

a chance of winning this election, you are 20% behind in the polls and

you are going to get battered. I said, let us have a bit of optimism

and fairness here, because I think when people understand exactly what

the Labour Party is about, the vision of a fairer and more equal

Britain, we will see that public opinion shift, and that is what has

happened in the last six weeks. Is the issue not Jeremy Corbyn the man

and people have heard from him directly now. That is part of the

reason why peoples have shifted, because the print media is

traditionally hostile towards the Labour Party, that has always been

the case, and we don't always get a fierce hearing in the media. What we

have seen is because of the impartiality rules that govern the

broadcast media, that actually people are listening and hearing the

real Labour Party message and seeing the real leadership qualities, not

what they might read in some sections of the print media. How

have you advise Jeremy Corbyn to respond tonight? It is a difficult

big and there is a lot to play for. My advice is just to be who you are,

because one of the reasons I think people are moving towards the Labour

Party is because for two long politics has been stage-managed in

this country, we have played by the same rule books on the left and

right of British politics, but people are beginning to see we are

robots and we sound the same and look the same. Now people are

starting... Here we have a Labour manifesto and the Labour top team

that does not play by the traditional rule books, they look

and sound like ordinary people with a desire to improve our country for

the better. What are you saying to those in your own party who said at

the beginning of the campaign that the leader was a liability. The

thing about a six-week campaign is that we are out there knocking on

doors and trying to convince people that there is a better way of doing

things, politics is not have to be as it has been in recent years, that

is a unifying factor across the Parliamentary Labour Party and the

candidates out knocking on doors as we speak. We now that a Labour

Government is better than any alternative Conservative Government

that is on offer. We want to put that case, to change our country for

the better on education, on health, on the economy, making sure our

elderly people had dignity in old age, and that is the vision we are

putting forward and why people are coming home to the Labour Party.

Thank you very much. Now we can speak to Sam, the former director of

community is and is for Jeremy Corbyn. We are also joined by a

journalist and former Conservative spin doctor. How should Theresa May

be approaching tonight? I think it is important, we heard Michael

Fallon testifying to that earlier and I think it is interesting how

people in your spin room are building up the significance of this

evening. It will potentially set the tone to the run-up to the election

and bearing that in mind, I would hope, and I'm sure that by Minister

Mac has been preparing carefully to make sure she has antlers for some

of the areas that have not been answered adequately throughout the

campaign, as well as adding some new material to take us through to

polling day. -- and sure that Theresa May has been preparing

carefully. Jeremy Corbyn faces the same audience and follow-up

questions, not what he is normally used to. How would you advise him to

deal with that? He's seriously -- she once the Brexit negotiations but

she is refusing to say since head-on. She seems to be kowtowing

to Donald Trump's climate change decision today. I think Jeremy

Corbyn will do very well tonight. Once we have unvarnished genomic

cordon, people are realising that he is honest and he has integrity. --

unvarnished Jeremy Corbyn. For Theresa May, it is falling apart, it

is a disaster. You already hear rumours about the 9th of June. I

advise Jeremy Corbyn to take things head-on, be honest, and set out your

vision for this country and how were going to transform it for the

better. Tax plans that say 95% of people will not pay any more and

those at the very top, the super-rich, will pay a little more

so we can have more nurses, are Fire Service is not slashed, our Navy and

RAF are not better mated and we have 10,000 new police officers on the

street under Labour. Is this where you thought Theresa May and the

Conservative Party would be at this stage of the campaign? At the start

of the campaign at the polls were extraordinary. Speaking to friends

of mine at various levels of the Conservative Party, no one believed

those polls at face value. People were talking about a Conservative

win, but not in those amounts. That said, as I have indicated, I do not

think it has been a very skilful campaign, there have been some

problems with it, they the focus so much on Jeremy Corbyn and his

personality has played to his advantage and we have lost touch

slightly with what Theresa May's vision for post-Brexit Britain is

about. She was good at the beginning spelling out something quite

interesting that appeal to people beyond the Conservative Party, when

she first came to power as Prime Minister, and in her speech that she

gave to the Conservative Party conference last October. I am hoping

we will get bored of that in the final days. Sam, if I can return to

you, the attack tactic, will that work in front of an audience who had

Jeremy Corbyn in front of them. I will Jeremy Corbyn deal with that?

Jeremy Corbyn is about common decency in principle. I have come

back from the campaign trail in the north-east of England and what is

interesting is that the Labour Party manifesto usually cutting through

those working-class voters that it or is that they could go at that,

perhaps they voted for Brexit or in the past Ukip, but what I'm finding

all the country is they are saying, the Labour Party has an agenda after

taking back control of our country properly, rather than giving away

all our national assets to foreign bidders. It is an interesting

dynamic that the Tories but they keep coming and pick up all the Ukip

thoughts and we're finding that lots of those people are saying it is too

risky to have the Tories, the dementia tax, the cuts to local

schools, people have had enough and they are thinking what the Labour

Party has put forward is sensible, costed, and will make their lives

better. Finally, is tonight's debate, debate is the wrong word,

but her performance tonight, how crucial is it that she does not make

a mistake or get something wrong? I think it is very important that we

see the best of Theresa May this evening, it is the final one of

these set piece debates or interviews and it will set the tone

that the next couple of days, but it is important that she puts to rest

some of the suggestions that we have heard from Sam on how the economy

could support the kind of plans we have heard from Jeremy Corbyn. I

have been critical of the focus on Jeremy Corbyn's personality in the

campaign, that is been at the expense of picking holes in the

Labour Party manifesto and how undeliverable it is. It is important

she does that this evening. Thank you both very much for joining us

tonight. Joining me is Owen Bennett,

deputy political editor And Vicky ran schoolbag Young, our

editor the stakes are a large? Jeremy Corbyn has the campaign, but

with the momentum comes the chance that the quicker you go the tiniest

thing contribute up. If he misspoke or gave the wrong figure again, it

could derail the momentum. Theresa May has to get a strong and stable

performance, she does not need to be flashy, she does not need to put on

a fantastic performance, she just needs to show that she is not

worried by the polls, she's taking it in her stride, and I think that

will put a lot of boaters' fears to bed. Is this occurs to lose because

of that reason? People's have different expectations of Jeremy

Corbyn? Even though Labour seem to have this rise in the polls, the

Conservative Party are still ahead and there is a long way for the

Labour Party to golf. It is very much hers to lead. If could be

strong and keep trying to -- could be strong and she keeps trying to

see it as a choice between her and Jeremy Corbyn, who do you want

running the country, I think that is the line she will go down tonight.

Here are pictures of the two leaders arriving here earlier tonight. They

have rehearsed, they have done what they can, the difficulty is that

this is a Yorkshire audience which is a difficult act. You never know

if the question is will curve ball or if they will heckle or what the

mood of the room will be. On Monday, the audience were laughing at

Theresa May will stop if they start getting on Jeremy Corbyn's back and

start booing at him, it will be interesting to see how he copes with

that. We will perhaps speak to you later on. The key young is here with

me. This is important. Most people are probably just starting to

finalise how they are going to vote in this election, the campaign has

been going on for weeks but we are getting to that last bit now where

people are focusing on who they are going to choose to be their next

Prime Minister, and that is what Theresa May will be trying to do,

she has been in the role for a year and will be saying that she is the

person to lead us into Brexit negotiations, but she cannot have it

all her own way, she needs to take questions, so if someone acts about

local school funding or a local hospital, she will need to answer

that and she cannot do that with sound bites. Jeremy Corbyn has been

a backbencher all his life and now he has to convince people that he

could be Prime Minister. The body language will be interesting.

Neither of these two leaders that they would be in the position that

they are six days before the election. The wider point that

neither of them, although Pamina Sir has been at the top of Government

for many years, she has not done a campaign like this. -- although

Theresa May has been at the top. For her, this is the first time she has

been exposed to this as well as Jeremy Corbyn. He has been elected

twice to the Labour leader, he has done some hustings and debates.

Explain the importance of this spin room, because in half an hour this

will be busy. Each party has sent a number of people to come here to

speak to us that the words, to talk about how they think it went, and

how they think the other side did not do well, and they will be

pointing at what one or the other is said and why that is significant or

could have a big impact on the campaign, so everyone will be

watching it very closely. Last time there were difficult questions for

David Cameron and Ed Miliband. The format was harder than a lot of

leaders shouting at each other. We will be back at 10pm immediately

after that programme. At 8:30pm, it is time to go over the road