02/06/2017 The Election Wrap

Hello and welcome to The Election Wrap -

our guide to all the election news of the day.

The Conservatives' election expenses scandal returns -

Craig Mackinlay, who beat Nigel Farage in South Thanet last

time round, is charged with overspending in his 2015 campaign.

She'll be there this time - and so will he.

Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn slug it out tonight in a BBC

Those two might not be going head-to-head tonight,

but our guests tonight will - Anne McElvoy from the Economist,

and political reporter for the Guardian, Jessica Elgot.

Now, it's gone this way and that in recent elections,

but who will take the marginal swing seat of Enfield North this time?

And talking the talk, and walking the walk -

we're on the campaign trail with CBBC's Hacker T Dog -

Here I am, Hacker the dog, at Downing Street.

But look who's here, Cocker - it's my first constituent.

And talking the talk, and walking the walk -

we're on the campaign trail with CBBC's Hacker T Dog -

We should have invited him here to join us!

Let's bring you up to date with the latest developments

Police charge the Conservative candidate for South Thanet,

Craig Mackinlay, over an alleged breach of election spending

Well, the Conservative Party continues to believe that these

allegations are unfounded - he's innocent until proven gulity

Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage, who lost to Craig MacKinlay

in South Thanet in 2015, says he's baffled by

Once again, it is bad judgment from Theresa May.

Why on earth would you allow someone to go ahead as a general election

candidate when this cloud was clearly hanging over him?

The reaction to Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Paris climate

change accord sparks a political row here - opponents attack

the Prime Minister for not joining other European leaders

Given the chance to present a united front for our international

partners, she has instead opted for silent, and once again,

It's a dereliction of both her duty to this country,

And Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, clarifies her

position on whether the SNP should join a potential

I don't think it's going to be a hung parliament, but if it was then

I've made very clear in the past I would want to be part of a

progressive alternative to a Tory Government, and in that situation of

course the SNP, on Scotland's the half, would wield significant

influence, and we would seek to pursue progressive policies -- on

Scotland's behalf, we would wield significant influence.

Let's talk first about Craig Mackinlay being charged

by the Crown Prosecution Service over his 2015 election expenses,

along with his election agent and a party official.

He's released this statement on his Facebook page.

With me is Jessica Elgot from the Guardian, and Anne McElvoy

We must be very careful of course because there is a potential to

prejudice this case. He is only just being charged. But, Jessica, how

much of a concern will this be for the Conservatives? I think this is

the end of another quite bad week for the Conservatives and their

campaign. The first signs of misfire came at the manifesto launch,

launching it at the social care policy which other parties have been

naming the dementia packs. Throughout the week a series of

criticisms for the Prime Minister, for not turning up for the last TV

debate and sending Amber Rudd instead -- the dementia segment.

This will be seen at Conservative Party headquarters I think as

another knot. But so many twists and turns in this election campaign. How

much, Anne, could this be seen as a minor distraction? The Conservatives

were well ahead and thought this would not get to a serious enough

matter to be sent to the Crown Prosecution Service in the first

place. They could be found innocent in the end and he has put up a

strong defence themselves today, Mr Mackinlay, but it is another

problem, another thing you would probably rather not have around, and

as it happens, and in this case, you know, it has happened to all parties

in the past, but in this case it happens to be the Conservative

Party. This campaign, really every rule of campaigning has probably

been broken, we have heard. We have had U-turns, people not being

certain about how Theresa May wants to comport herself. She has many

strengths but I would not see this week has been the best one we have

seen them in. Not what they would probably have chosen. Not their

finest. This is surely one of the most bizarre images of the election

campaign so far... Picked up by conservative Jacob Rees Mogg, there

he is, with his little boy. Probably not one of the most tech savvy

people in the world, but who is? But he has opened an Instagram account

and posted this photograph of himself with his son, and you might

have noticed they are standing in front of a Labour poster, rather at

odds with their rosettes, I'd say that tattoo parlour, and Mr Rees

Mogg has never been into the tattoo parlour himself, but the owners say

he is welcome for a visit. This is causing quite a stir on social

media. I think he has quite a few followers already on social media

because people want to see what he is posting. I guess that shows you

need to get your locations carefully and choreographing events...

LAUGHTER Not tech savvy, but I would think

you would know a lot about the tech world but whether he chooses to use

it is another matter. There might be a lot of irony there. That notion of

people with very different outlooks and very different views who

instinctively will think Jacob Rees Mogg, what a snotty Tory, and others

who think, God, I hate tattoo parlours. Giving him the benefit of

the doubt, I think it is very amusing. And what is written next to

the picture on Instagram, we will have to take custom elsewhere. So he

is clearly aware of what he is standing next to, but they need to

reach out and try to convince people who would not normally vote for

them. I think Jacob Rees Mogg has always had a good eye for a good

eye-catching stud. A lot of his Tory colleagues affectionately refer to

him as the honourable member for the 19th century, and I think that is

part of this charm, perhaps. He was certainly very entertaining when he

appeared on Have I Got News For You, I think you took everybody by

surprise. But on one hand you hear people saying, if I hear the words

strong and stable, I'll go mad, so people do a bit of us don't, take a

bit of RS, I don't think we should... Not at all! We have

enjoyed it immensely and I hope he does it again in the few days --

take a bit of a risk. In an hour's time, the Prime

Minister and the Labour Leader will face each other

in a Question Time special. It will not be

a head-to-head debate. Instead, members of the audience

will ask a question, which Mrs May and Mr Corbyn

will then answer one Earlier today, Simon McCoy went

onto the set of the show in York, ahead of the debate,

where he found out more about this As you can see luggage rack, nothing

left to chance. All the microphones labelled here. Two for Babel --

David Dimbleby, putting the questions to the members and taking

those from the audience. This set has yet to be unveiled. Let's talk

to the director of tonight's show. I call it a show, but you have to be

ready for anything, haven't you? Yes, because it is live. The public

here will ask the questions, and who knows what will be said and what

will spark or ignite the clamour, the sort of success or failure of

the night of course depended on the interaction between the politicians

and the audience. A quick word on the audience. How are the chosen?

That is a very complex issue. It is very balanced. It is demographically

and politically representative of the area. That is our formula for

Question Time but tonight I think it is even more focused on a national

agenda. I know you have a lot to do so I will let you get on. So of

course all the cameras will be focused on here, but in many ways it

is not just the two people performing here that will be the

focus, but the questions from the audience. 150 people sitting here,

and as we have seen before it is a question from a person sitting here

and the response to that that could be making the headlines tomorrow.

STUDIO: Well, we will find out of course, in the paper review at

10:30pm when Jessica and Anne are still here. Jessica, what do you

think the leaders need to do tonight? The last time they went

head-to-head, and you couldn't call it a debate because they never saw

each other's faces, Jeremy Corbyn did a lot better than people may

have expected of him, and I think Theresa May played it quite safe. I

think the main thing to take away from the last debate, what it took

away, neither of them had a real knockout blow, not a real special

moment when you could say that was the moment when the won the campaign

or they threw it away, and I think they will clearly be trying to avoid

the latter, but both of them I think will be hoping to land some sort of

knockout moment in each of the debates they do. How problematic is

that they are not facing each other? I am sure the audience will give

them a tough time. Yes, they will, but the format is interesting the

way it is. It is interesting given that they did not want to do debates

they have never been backed the television, have they? More than

East Enders! LAUGHTER

In terms of Jessica's comment on the knockout blow, I've remit a bit

differently. I think it is about people in the country watching, way

beyond the audience in the studio, about who will be the next Prime

Minister. Going into the last days, all that stuff about a late Jeremy

Corbyn a bit more comedy not as left as I thought, even though he is, or

I don't like Theresa May even though she is reliable, but we are not

inviting them in for a cup of tea, it is about who will run the

country, and I get that is the -- I guess that is what their teams will

be focusing on. A bit different from the earlier part, the software

shows, where they could just establish themselves as all the

people. And Jeremy Corbyn has had a good week and Theresa May not so.

There is an opportunity and risk for them both tonight? Definitely an

opportunity. I think Jeremy Corbyn goes into this having had the easier

week. He will be looking not to jeopardise any of the momentum he

has gained in the past week by making some sort of terrible gaffe,

and this is Theresa May's opportunity to try to seize back

whatever momentum she has lost in the last week and really take the

initiative going into the final days. I suppose that is what makes

question Time so exciting. Politicians might be able to

second-guess what journalists can ask, but not so much members of the

public? I think that is very true. I have been out for lots of this

campaign, more than I care to reveal on your show! But when I have seen

politicians really look like they were grappling, not sure what they

were reaching for, it was when somebody just said something that

through them off, thinking back to Mr Blair, being asked about the

health service, you don't really care, and that really threw him in a

way journalist would have gone after the figures, said this is what you

said then, but that direct thing, and the public is unpredictable

which is what makes it so interesting and I think it is very

good they are doing it, even if they don't want to debate each other, I

think it will bring out something. I think as well, parties do prep this

kind of thing to the nth degree, they have their aides standing in

for other politicians, pretending to be David Dimbleby, but you can't

prep for everything. Things came up in the last debate with the leaders

that Theresa May did not anticipate. There was a question about climate

change, and a couple of the aides admitted to me in the spin room

backstage they had not prepped a question on climate change, perhaps

telling in a different way. Of course they will have tonight after

Trump's decision. And that Question Time leaders special debate with

David Dimbleby featuring Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn takes place this

evening. There will be full coverage on the BBC news from 8pm and the

debate starts at 8:30pm. One of the most important

battlegrounds in this election may well be the London suburbs,

where Labour, the Lib Dems and the Conservatives will all be

hoping to pick up crucial seats. And nowhere more so than in

the marginal seatof Enfield North. It's currently held by Labour,

but for in recent years has swung back and forth between them

and the Conservatives. So what might tip it

one way or the other? It is London's northernmost

constituency and come election day in Enfield North every vote counts.

For many years this seat has swung between Labour and the

Conservatives. At the last election there was just 1000 votes between

the two candidates. Both parties will also be trying to woo Ukip

voters whose candidate last time polled 4000 votes. The Labour

candidate was first elected when Tony Blair came to power in 1997. In

the last election she took the seat back from the conservative. The

hospital was the biggest issue. The Labour Government under Gordon Brown

side of my plans to downgrade it and in opposition David Cameron vowed to

save it, but later as Conservative Prime Minister both the maternity

and A units were closed down. Can local people trust the Conservatives

on the NHS given what happened with the Hospital? I think local people

do trust us because they know we are the party in the government that

will continue to keep the economy strong to fund those services we

need. We are already seeing now that the CCG has effectively got its act

together, GP surgeries, we are seeing health care very much on the

agenda. My view is no hospital, Noel A, is currently safe under the

Tories. There is only a Labour Government that will protect and

properly invest in the NHS is available free at point of use. How

will they pay for an? They have made it clear how they will pay for it.

Do think it is important that the Labour Party has costed all of its

proposals. Like many other parts of London, Enfield has also seen a rise

in knife cream. As the MP worked to amend the legislation -- knife

crime. Those in possession of a blade will be given an automatic

jail service. We have now had 11 stabbings, three of which were

fatal, since April the 1st. We have lost 188 uniformed officers off the

streets of Enfield since 2010, since the Tory Government, and in that

very same period we have seen a doubling of violent crime. Austerity

cuts under the Conservatives have not helped. Cuts to local youth

services, the police force. What would you say about

that? Firstly, in terms of the police force, when I arranged for

the Home Secretary to, here to Enfield two weeks ago we met with

the borough commander and he was absolutely clear he has the

resources to do the job and he has echoed that sense. Here, as in some

other seats, Ukip have not fielded candidates were pro-Brexit

candidates are standing, but that has not happened here. Our Ukip

still relevant given the conservative support for Brexit?

Very relevant, because Theresa May could backslide at any minute. We

need to be there to be fully pushing the buttons and be there, a force to

be reckoned with, to keep her on her toes. With just a few days of

canvassing left, all the candidates running in Enfield North will be

working hard to get their message across.

STUDIO: The Liberal Democrats and the Greens are also standing in

Enfield North. Here's the full list of the candidates.

With the election fast approaching, my colleague Victoria Derbyshire has

been organising a series of Election Blind Dates -

a lunch between two people with very different political views.

Today it's the turn of Labour's Jess Phillips

and the Conservative's John Whittingdale.

I am Jess Phillips and I was the Member of Parliament for Birmingham

in that election. I was raised to in that election. I was raised to

hit the Tories and there are still some I see as the headed monsters. I

feel slightly anxious about going to meet somebody, I don't know who it

is... I'm John Whittingdale, the parliamentary candidate at the

moment for Maldon Essex, some I can fashion to you, I am taking a night

off from the election campaign for this. Hello, how are you? Nice to

see you. Sit down. Sign actually, we have put more money into education.

When people stand up at the dispatch box and say there is more money in

education, I look around and wonder where it has gone, because it is not

on my children's School it is not just university education.

All the college funding has gone. There have been cuts. These are

things that really matter. Again, every problem, yes, you could be

spending more money. The problem is in every area you want to spend more

money. Yes, I want to spend more money on the kids in my

constituency. Yes, but I also want to get the economy to work properly.

This tells you, on ridiculous lives we lead, I went to Ibiza and all I

did, put up a tweet, and it got picked up. Sacked culture secretary

spends weekends in Ibiza. People have this idea that MPs are not

normal people and we don't enjoy doing the things everybody else

enjoys doing. People are always looking at me, you like rock music?

As if it is somehow bizarre. I was buying something backs the other day

my constituency and somebody said, I can't believe you are in Wilkinson

's! -- buying some bin bags. I have to put things in the Ben! I don't

have people to put things in my bins! We agreed on quite a lot of

things but did not agree on how the nation should spend its finances.

There was a line in the sand but... That was Jess Phillips and the

conservative's John Whittingdale. You can see the full version of that

blind date on the BBC website. A great idea. They turn up and really

don't know who they are meeting! It has been quite a week on the

campaign trail. The polls apparently began

to narrow; Theresa May didn't turn up for a TV debate; Jeremy Corbyn

forgot his figures while live on the radio; Tim Farron said

everyone should be watching Bake-Off; while Nigel Farage denied

the FBI wanted to speak to him and claimed he was the

victim of "fake news." So what more can the campaign

throw at us as it enters Let's ask Jessica and Anne. What are

you looking forward to? LAUGHTER

After that what... You need a lie down! It is like, the skittles have

gone down and... Yes, this is the week coming up with people who are

not consuming politics by the bucket load thinking, OK, well I change my

vote? Well I always do what I did before? Have I changed since the

beginning of the campaign? All of this stuff looks very dramatic when

you're sitting in Westminster village, or maybe you just what a

lot of politics on television because you enjoy it but a lot of

people are not like that. These are the people the parties need to

appeal to and I think in the last week we will see the message honed

towards them. It might get a little boring again for that reason but I

am taking a bit of a risk... Saying that we will have a boring week!

That has not turned out to be the case! Such an unpredictable election

and I think a lot of us journalists, we thought what a boring election,

huge Government polls, but it has been very unpredictable. I expect in

the last week it will get more predictable, Theresa May talking

about strong and stable leadership, Brexit negotiations... It is all

still there. To bring us back to that, but I expect to really focus

on that and last week and I expect Jeremy Corbyn to try to go back to

his safe space, if you like, about social justice, domestic policies,

education, the health service. To personal might it be, though? It

could get personal to the extent that it Theresa May is saying I am

the only one who can be trusted with Brexit, she can do a positive

message, but I think she has underline it and presence. I don't

think she is a politician who is very comparable with a negative

message. She likes to think of herself as quite an upright person

but I think she needs to take on this new soft Jeremy, because the

Corbyn team has done very well by focusing on his qualities and making

his own jam and everything, but a lot of the Labour members think he's

too far to the left, so I think she will go the other way round, saying

you are much more right-wing than you seem and much more the all-party

-- not to much older tradition that you pretend. And I wonder what the

polls will throw up this weekend. Yes, they have been so

unpredictable. Such a gulf between what some and others are saying.

Earlier in the week YouGov predicted a hung parliament and others are

saying the Tories are 12 points ahead. No one seems to know what is

going on. Someone will have egg on their face. Yes, they are! Never

journalists. Especially us, we don't have opinions! Forgave me for

this... We all know politics

is a dog-eat-dog world, but what happens when a pooch tries

to get into parliament? CBBC's Hacker T Dog has

pounding the pavements, and hounding the political

establishment, as he tries to find out exactly what it

takes to become an MP. So very soon adults

in the UK will be voting I thought that stood

for meat paste, Cocker. Here I am, Hacker the dog,

at Downing Street. But look who's here, Cocker -

it's my first constituent. I'm here with Edwina Currie,

who used to be an MP. Now, where's that

Newsnight studio... Are you going to help me out

with my big plan to be an MP? I'm standing to be Prime

Minister or something - I I want to get plenty of votes here,

Edwina Currie, so I win And become the new king -

the King of Wigan! You'd like me to come

on the show and be interviewed It's about the policies that you're

taking to the people of the United Kingdom

for this election? He is a shoo-in, isn't he?

Especially with that jacket. Would you vote for him? I think he's one

of those terrifying TV animals. He looks a bit like Basil Brush. And he

does actually have some little political tropes going on, slightly

worrying! I think people can run far less competent election campaigns

than that! LAUGHTER

He certainly had Evan on his toes. Both of you, thank you very much.

It's time for a look at the weather forecast.

Hello. Good evening. A bit of a mixed bag through the day-to-day.

The weather fronts working eastwards, a few showers and

thunderstorms, spells of rain in Wales, but some places managed to

see some sunshine.