London: Jeremy Corbyn’s last-minute gamble of taking part in the BBC leaders’ debate backfired last night when he came under sustained attack from all sides over terrorism, migration and spending. The Labour leader — who had previously said he would sit out the televised debates — announced just hours before the event in Cambridge that he had changed his mind. He had hoped the ploy would expose Theresa May, who was being represented by Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, but found himself caught in the crossfire between the six other participants.
Corbyn’s worst moment came when he refused to described the Manchester suicide bomber as a terrorist, leaving him struggling to form a sentence as he said the attack happened “because somebody decided they wanted to go and kill a large number of people”. He was responding to condemnation from the other party leaders of his suggestion last week that British foreign policy was partly to blame for the bombing. Rudd, the Home Secretary, pointed out that as recently as 2011 Corbyn had boasted of opposing “every piece of anti-terror legislation in his 30 years” as an MP. On migration, Corbyn was accused by the SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson of adopting Ukip’s policies by promising “managed migration” to end the exploitation of workers.
Also taking part in the debate were Green Party co-leader Caroline Lucas, Ukip leader Paul Nuttall and the Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood.
Corbyn said leadership was about understanding people, protecting them, and caring for everyone.
Nuttall said he doesn’t “flip-flop” and had always followed the principle that Britain should leave the EU.
The Home Secretary added that part of being a good leader was having a strong team — justifying her appearance at the debate instead of May. She pointed out that in a vote of no confidence four out of five Labour MPs had failed to support Corbyn.
“300,000 people elected me to lead this party,” he replied, to audience applause.
Lucas, Wood and Farron used the opportunity to continue attacks on May for failing to take part in the debate. “The first rule of leadership is to show up,” said Lucas.
Robertson said this was a “totally unnecessary election” and called Mrs May “the U-turn Queen”.
Economy and taxation Rudd said the Conservatives had a strong record on the economy which allowed the party to ensure people “keep more of the wages they earn”. She warned that Mr Corbyn has a “fanciful” list of things he would like to spend money but no means of funding them.
She said: “He has this money tree wish list in his manifesto ... it’s very easy to think about how you’d spend money but much harder to think about how you raise money. This is people’s hard earned money, we will protect that, we won’t roll the dice.” The Labour leader hit back and claimed living standards have fallen over the last seven years. “Have you seen the levels of poverty that exist because of your Government’s conscious decisions on benefits?,” he said.
“We cannot go on giving money away to the very rich ... instead I say turn it round and invest in the future of our people.”
Public spending Lucas said the Green party would scrap HS2 and nuclear weapons and raise taxes for those with “the broadest shoulders” to fund public spending. The point was echoed by Corbyn, who said he would protect 95 per cent of people from increases in their tax bill but those at the top would pay more. But he was challenged by Wood over Labour’s record in Wales after he vowed to scrap tuition fees. The Plaid leader asked why this policy was not already implemented in Wales where Labour is in power.
Corbyn was unable to answer. Corbyn was repeatedly asked by Mishal Husain whether he would pledge to cut immigration. He said that following Brexit “free movement will end” but Labour would guarantee that those EU citizens already in Britain could stay. He added that “managed migration” was necessary to prevent problems in communities caused by the “exploitation of workers”. Ms Wood said she wanted to ensure EU workers in Wales could stay.
Robertson said he was more concerned with the people Scotland was “losing”. Security Robertson cited the “horror” of the attack in Manchester, saying it was important to invest in the police and that Corbyn’s link between foreign policy and domestic attacks was “dangerous”.
Corbyn said that under Rudd and May 20,000 police officers had lost their jobs and “I think it’s important that we restore that.”
Rudd said the first job of any government was to keep the public safe and secure and that the Conservatives had increased the budgets of security services.
The Home Secretary was “shocked” that Corbyn had boasted of opposing every piece of anti-terror legislation since becoming an MP. Corbyn pointed out that May and other Conservatives had also opposed some anti-terror legislation because of concerns they had. Nuttall said the war in Iraq and the air strikes in Libya were wrong, but the cause of domestic attacks was “Islamist extremism”.
