What Boris Johnson wants to talk about vs the real issues

The Tories are trying to pull the focus of this general election campaign away from the flooding in areas of England where a ‘danger to life’ warning have been issued and residents are braced for even more rain with devastating effects. The reception received by Boris Johnson yesterday leaves us in no doubt as to why he’d quite like the story quashed. “Do you want the truth? Arsehole,” one community activist told ITV News when asked about the visiting Prime Minister. “He’s not interested in this community… He’s just come to show his face, love.”

Another made the astute point that they were promised town funds but have seen nothing: “We’re still waiting for it Boris! So are you just sat here now, is that a lie again?”. And another asked whether cuts would be fully reversed. “I don’t know the exact figures,” he replied, as usual, knowing there is no chance of getting the kind of treatment Diane Abbott would receive when making such an admission. The look of the PM during these conversations can be described as nonplussed. When Jeremy Corbyn visited, he listened intently, gave upset locals a hug – behaved like a normal, compassionate person. This appears to be beyond Johnson’s capabilities, much like the ability to exude warmth eluded Theresa May.

Instead of immediate problems being faced by people right at this moment, the Tories would rather try to secure the votes of Labour Leavers with talk of immigration. Sweeping statements and made-up figures are far more comfortable territory. Priti Patel is claiming today that Labour plans to roll out “uncontrolled and unlimited immigration, forever”, whereas the Tories want to introduce an “Australian-style points system”. Could we have a little detail on that system, please? Afraid not. All we know is that the Conservative Party has wisely dropped the ‘tens of thousands’ target that was favoured by Theresa May and that the government never came close to meeting.

Diane Abbott has branded the Tory claims “fake news”, adding: “Unlike the Tories, we won’t scapegoat migrants or deport our own Windrush generation citizens. The damage done to our society has been through damaging Conservative cuts to our public services, not by EU nationals coming to work in them.” This is the kind of response that many Labour members advocate. Want to talk about immigration? Fine, let’s talk about how you wrongly deported British citizens. Let’s talk about how cruel and inefficient the Home Office continues to be. Let’s bring the debate back to real lived experiences.

That said, there is no unity within Labour on freedom of movement. Conference voted in favour of maintaining and extending it, but Len McCluskey is publicly advising the party to refrain from endorsing the policy. Abbott has suggested the motion’s key demand will be ignored in favour of a “new system of work visas”, yet Jon Ashworth has said there will be free movement for NHS workers and Corbyn has been promoting the general benefits of free movement. The final wording of the manifesto on this point will be much scrutinised.

Today is Equal Pay Day – when women effectively stop getting paid for the rest of the year compared to our male counterparts. Labour’s big policy announcement is a new target that would see the party in government aim to close the gender pay gap by 2030. It is an ambitious one, considering that the current rate of progress means we’d have to wait another 60 years for the gap to close, according to the Fawcett Society. Read the full details of how Labour intends to meet the deadline here.

Going beyond the subject of equal pay, the leadership might also want to make more noise about the revelation that the CPS does have a secret target for rape prosecutions, as suspected by women’s rights campaigners. Shami Chakrabarti spoke passionately about it on Newsnight, and Richard Burgon has tweeted about Labour’s related policy offer, but this needs to come from the top. Women in this country deserve for this failing to be highlighted as a central point rather than just a side issue.