Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team The only way to save Brexit is to vote Conservative, urges Boris Johnson… Boris Johnson has today urged Sunday Express readers to back the Conservative Party in a “critical once in a generation election” on Thursday. The Prime Minister warned that despite the polls giving him a healthy lead the General Election “will be close” and insisted his party must fight for every vote. In an impassioned letter to voters today, he likens the election to the historic ones in 1906, 1945 and 1979 which changed Britain forever and set its course for decades to come. The intervention, with just four days to go until election day, comes as polls show how close the battle is becoming. A Savanta ComRes poll puts the Tory lead narrowing from 10 to eight – 41 percent to Labour’s 33 percent. This would give a majority of 14. In an interview with the Sunday Express, Mr Johnson praised the newspaper’s pro-Brexit stand and urged readers to get behind him in one last push to get Brexit done, pleading with them not to be persuaded to back Mr Farage and his Brexit Party. He said: “There is only one way to get Brexit done and that is to vote Conservative. Unfortunately, a vote for any other party simply risks Jeremy Corbyn and a coalition of chaos next year. We are fighting for every vote in this election and it is going to be a very tough election and very hard-fought. “I think it will be close, I really do. That is why I urge everybody to get out to vote and get out to vote for us, because it is going to be very close. The only way to save Brexit and get it done is to vote for us.” He added: “This is a critical once-in-a-generation election. I think this is one of the most important in modern times. On this election, the direction of the country depends. We can either go forward united or face more years of paralysis.” – Sunday Express …as he unveils strict post-Brexit limits on unskilled migrants… Low-skilled migrants will face sweeping new restrictions on moving to Britain, under a radical post-Brexit immigration shake-up planned by Boris Johnson. The Prime Minister will announce on Sunday that he is planning to prevent lower-skilled workers moving to the UK unless there is a “specific shortage” of staff in their sector, such as construction. Those who arrive will only be able to stay in the UK temporarily. The plan, made public in the final days of the general election campaign, forms the centrepiece of Mr Johnson’s proposals for an Australian-style points-based immigration system after the UK’s planned exit from the EU next year. Immigration was a key factor of the 2016 Brexit vote and the official Leave campaign led by Mr Johnson pledged to “take back control” of Britain’s borders. The scheme will offer fast-track entry to migrants identified as high skilled or “exceptional”, including those with “world-leading awards” and sponsored entrepreneurs setting up new businesses – none of whom will require a job offer to move to the country. Anyone convicted of a serious crime will also be banned from entering the country, after the free movement of EU citizens ends following the UK’s exit from the EU. – Sunday Telegraph (£) PM vows to reduce immigration – Sky News …and says the source of the UK-US trade document leak must be found Boris Johnson has said an investigation is needed into the source of leaked documents on UK-US trade negotiations posted on Reddit. Labour says the documents show the NHS would be at risk under a post-Brexit trade deal with the US. On Friday, forum website Reddit said unredacted documents were uploaded as “part of a campaign that has been reported as originating from Russia”. It has suspended 61 accounts that showed a “pattern of coordination”. The government said it was looking into the matter with help from the National Cyber Security Centre. Speaking on Saturday, Mr Johnson said “we do need to get to the bottom” of the leak but said he had seen “no evidence of any successful interference by Russia in any democratic event in this country”. The Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan said this all pointed towards foreign involvement: “I understand from what was being put on that website, those who seem to know about these things say that it seems to have all the hallmarks of some form of interference.” – BBC News Labour seeks legal advice over whether it could implement its flagship broadband policy if the UK remained in the EU Labour has sought formal legal advice that Jeremy Corbyn will still be able to implement one of his flagship election pledges if he keeps the UK in the European Union. The Sunday Telegraph understands that a QC has provided the party with advice on the legality of creating a nationalised broadband service, under state aid rules and other relevant laws. The disclosure highlights Mr Corbyn’s readiness to overturn the UK’s planned exit from the EU if he becomes prime minister. A majority of the shadow cabinet is preparing to campaign to Remain if Mr Corbyn delivers on his promise of a second referendum on the UK’s membership of the bloc. It comes as an analysis by the Tories claims that up to 10 of Labour’s major manifesto commitments, including the plan to nationalise BT’s broadband business, would fall foul of EU directives and laws Steve Barclay, the Brexit Secretary, said Labour’s manifesto showed an “alarming misunderstanding of EU laws, despite the fact most of their MPs want to remain in the bloc.” – Sunday Telegraph (£) Parties in final campaign push as polling day nears The main political party leaders are continuing to push their election pledges to voters, as the campaign enters its final few days. Conservative leader Boris Johnson says in a open letter that Thursday’s poll is “historic” and a choice to “move forwards” after Brexit. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn says the election is a “chance to vote for hope” and he has “the most ambitious plan to transform our country in decades”. The UK goes to the polls on Thursday. With just four days to go, the candidates are travelling around the country in a bid to spread their election messages. SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon is warning “the very future of Scotland” is at stake in the election. She is appealing to voters to back her party “to escape Brexit, protect the NHS, and to put Scotland’s future in Scotland’s hands”. Liberal Democrat deputy leader Ed Davey said: “Neither Labour or the Tories can square their spending promises today with the cost of Brexit. They are writing promises on cheques that will bounce… Every vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote to stop Brexit so we can invest billions across the UK, helping to tackle ingrained inequality.” – BBC News How do exit polls work, where is the data from – and how accurate are they? – Sunday Telegraph (£) Annunziata Rees-Mogg warns Nigel Farage that he faces going ‘from hero to zero’ as Leavers would blame him for a hung parliament Annunziata Rees-Mogg has warned Nigel Farage faces going “from hero to zero” over Brexit because leavers will blame him if there is a hung parliament next week. The Brexit Party MEP, who resigned the whip with three colleagues on Thursday, urged her supporters to vote for the Conservatives, accusing Mr Farage of splitting the leave vote. “The only option now is a Tory government, led by Boris Johnson, with Boris Johnson’s deal or remain,” she told The Telegraph. “I’ve got respect for the Brexit Party but I can’t stand by and watch their strategy risk Brexit.” Criticising the Brexit Party leadership as “politically naive and lacking in strategic awareness” the 40-year-old former Conservative candidate, whose brother Jacob is Leader of the House of Commons, said: “The decision Nigel Farage has made with the clear support of the majority of his MEPs and clearly, his chairman, Richard Tice is one I think is so fundamentally flawed, that it does take him personally, but also the party, from hero to zero in the space of a few weeks and that is a great tragedy.” – Sunday Telegraph (£) Nigel Dodds suggests Brexit rift with Tories could be healed as DUP battles ‘Remain pact’ in Belfast Boris Johnson will take a big step towards winning unionist support for his Brexit deal if he removes the need for any red tape on trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, the DUP’s deputy leader has said, as the party battles to retain its power base in Belfast. In an interview with the Telegraph, Nigel Dodds said the gesture would “go a long way” towards gaining the DUP’s support, in a sign that their rift with the Tories over Brexit could yet be resolved. Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal has set alarm bells ringing in Belfast as it would carve up the United Kingdom, with a trade border placed in the Irish sea that keeps Northern Ireland tied to many EU regulations, while the rest of the country would be free to set its own rules. Before the election was called, the DUP voted down Mr Johnson’s deal, and intends to pile on yet more pressure for key changes if their support is required to form a government. “There is no doubt that if we reach a tariff-free trade deal with the European Union, that will eliminate the need for most if not all customs checks,” Mr Dodds said. “I sincerely hope that will be the case. It should certainly be the stated objective of the British government – and indeed the Irish government, to be fair.” He added: “Certainly that would go a long way, in the long run, to alleviate most of these problems about checks.” However, Mr Dodds warned that the party would also need a unionist veto to be included in the deal to ensure it had their backing. “That deals with the customs stuff, it doesn’t deal with the regulatory stuff and the consent issue, which is very important.” The DUP’s electoral performance would have a major impact on the Brexit negotiations in a hung parliament scenario, as the party could once again put the Tories in Government. But the DUP is facing tough challenges in North and South Belfast, where a pact of pro-Remain parties risks unseating Mr Dodds and Emma Little-Pengelly. – Sunday Telegraph (£) Top buyout boss Daniel Zilberman predicts the UK economy will take off after Brexit The European chief of one of Wall Street’s top buyout firms says the UK economy will “take off very considerably” after the election and Brexit and warns that people with a negative outlook are “missing something”. In a Telegraph interview, Dan Zilberman of Warburg Pincus, part of the private equity consortium that last week completed the £5bn takeover of satellite operator Inmarsat, said a flood of pent-up business investment is due to wash through. Mr Zilberman said: “I’m at industry dinners and the level of negativity on the UK just blows me away. Brexit may as well be an atomic bomb dropping.We can debate whether Brexit is good or bad. But what I do know is this is the world’s fifth-biggest economy and British people [are] some of the most innovative, well-educated, rule of law following, productive global citizens. “Whatever Brexit does, there will be trade agreements. Everybody that’s so negative on the UK is missing something, and our view is post-election, post-Brexit the UK markets are going to take off very considerably.” “The reason is we see too many examples of people afraid to take risks. CEOs are waiting to see what happens with Brexit on hiring and building factories. I believe that once Brexit is resolved one way or the other, all that pent-up demand is going to come into the market and it is going to take off”. – Sunday Telegraph (£) The Tories are down to an eight-point poll lead with ComRes… The Conservatives’ lead has fallen back down to eight points over the last week, according to a poll which puts the party on course for a majority of 14. A Savanta ComRes poll for The Telegraph suggests the gap between the Tories and Labour has narrowed to match the lead Boris Johnson enjoyed shortly after the formal start of the General Election campaign. However half of those surveyed (46 per cent) said they would feel worried if they woke up on Friday to find that Jeremy Corbyn was the new prime minister. Some 38 per cent said they would feel worried to find that Mr Johnson was to remain in Downing Street. The poll put the Conservatives on 41 per cent and Labour on 33 per cent, matching The Telegraph’s first Savanta ComRes poll of the campaign, which was published on November 16. The Conservatives have dropped by one point and Labour have gained a point since an earlier survey published by The Telegraph on Wednesday. The Liberal Democrats remained on 12 per cent and the Brexit Party’s share of support stayed steady at 3 per cent. The survey comes ahead of a significant campaigning push by the Conservatives in the final days of the campaign, with Mr Johnson expected to criss-cross the country as the party’s headquarters simultaneously spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on digital advertising. – Sunday Telegraph (£) John Curtice’s guide to general election night 2019: the seats to watch and the MPs under pressure – Sunday Telegraph (£) …while YouGov puts them 10 points ahead as they execute a social media offensive… Boris Johnson launched a final offensive on Brexit and immigration last night as polls suggested he should secure a comfortable working majority on Thursday. The prime minister used an interview with The Sunday Times to set out his immigration plans, which will prevent low-skilled migrants from settling permanently in the UK. The move signals that he will emulate the Vote Leave campaign in the 2016 referendum by hammering one of his trump cards in the last days of the campaign. The Tories also launched a £500,000 online advertising blitz, buying a banner advert on YouTube urging voters to “end the argument” on Europe and vote Conservative to “get Brexit done” in a multi-million-pound social media offensive up to polling day. A seats projection today by the data company Datapraxis, which uses almost 500,000 YouGov voter interviews, suggests a Conservative majority of 38. That is 10 less than two weeks ago but still a solid working majority. – Sunday Times (£) Just 10,000 voters in battleground seats have destiny of Brexit in their hands – The Sun …although Opinium puts them 15 points ahead of Labour… The Conservatives hold a 15-point lead over Labour just days before polling day, according to the last Opinium poll for the Observer before the election. The Tories appear to have maxed out the number of pro-Leave voters who will support them. However, the poll suggests that Labour is not winning Remain voters over at the speed required to close the gap. Boris Johnson’s party is on 46% of the vote, while Labour remains on 31%. The Lib Dems remain on 13%. The poll suggests that Labour is slowly reclaiming some of the Remain voters who drifted to the Lib Dems. However, the Conservatives have also managed to win back some of their pro-Remain voters. Brexit remains the most important issue at the election, but health has increased in importance. In the first week, the most important issue deciding voting choice was Brexit (40%), with health in distant second on 18%. Although this has narrowed, with days to go Brexit (33%) retains a slight lead over health and the NHS (22%). – Observer …but tactical voting could yet deny Boris Johnson a majority Boris Johnson would be denied a majority if just 41,000 people voted tactically in 36 seats that could swing the election, according to a new poll. A survey of almost 30,000 voters found the Conservatives are on course to win 345 seats in the House of Commons, giving Johnson a majority of 40. However, analysis for Best for Britain, a campaign for a second EU referendum, found that in 36 seats, the Tory candidate could be defeated by 2,500 or fewer anti-Brexit voters switching their vote — with an average of just 1,131 votes needed in each constituency. Overall, the campaign group said as few as 40,704 pro-EU tactical votes in these seats could produce a hung parliament, which could in turn deliver a second referendum. According to the poll, Johnson’s majority has been more than halved since a similar survey was conducted by Best for Britain a fortnight ago, which predicted that the Tories could end up with a majority of 82. The campaign group said if remainers were prepared to “hold their nose and vote for the party with the best chance of stopping the Tories” then Johnson could still be deprived of overall victory. – Sunday Times (£) App launched by Final Say campaigners offers tactical voting help to elect MPs who support second Brexit referendum – Independent Boris Johnson: Don’t let the nation wake up to a Jeremy Corbyn and Nicola Sturgeon nightmare on Friday the 13th Very occasionally a historic election takes place that changes not just the following few years, but shapes future decades. In 1906, the Liberal government won a majority and the balance of power crucially tipped towards democracy. In 1945, the Conservative Party had lost its way and the Attlee government created the NHS — one of the great achievements in British politics in the 20th Century. And in 1979 the Thatcher government dragged Britain out of the nightmare of the 1970s. Now, in 2019 we face another of these historic elections. Like 1906, 1945 and 1979 the impact of this election will be felt for decades to come. But unlike those elections, in 2019 it is not a single party that has lost its way, but the entire Parliament. Three years ago this country voted to leave the EU with the biggest democratic verdict ever passed down in British politics. Yet ever since that vote, those MPs who campaigned to Remain in the EU have paid lip service to leaving while doing everything in their power to delay, obstruct, and block Britain’s exit. This election is happening because Parliament refused to honour the will of the British people and respect the democratic result of the referendum. We need to break the gridlock in Parliament, end the uncertainty that has held this country back, and get Brexit done to restore trust in democracy in this country. As in those other historic elections, today we face a simple choice — to move forwards or go back to the past. – Boris Johnson for the Sunday Telegraph (£) Liam Fox: Shout it loud – Britain is about to get its voice back During this election those who refuse to accept the people’s referendum result have continued to dripfeed an unrelenting pessimism about Britain’s future outside the European Union. They seem to forget that the United Kingdom and its constituent countries have had an enormous and positive effect on the world around us for hundreds of years, whereas our membership of the EU and its predecessor organisations has lasted for fewer than 50. Indeed, it was Britain’s independence from continental Europe that enabled us, in alliance with America, to defend and free its peoples from totalitarian fascism in the 20th century. So why is it that the pessimists are glum about our country’s role in the world after we leave the EU? Are we retreating from the world stage, abdicating our international influence or embracing a protectionist economic nationalism? Quite the reverse. The vision set out by Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party is one of an optimistic, outward-looking and engaged UK, keen to play its role in the management of the complex challenges created in the era of globalisation. – Liam Fox for the Sunday Times (£) Priti Patel: On Thursday no candidate can hide – make sure you hold them to account! In four days’ time, we have a final chance to take back control and get Brexit done. We must not let this opportunity slip. This Thursday, when we go to vote, it will be three and a half years since Britain voted to leave the EU in the biggest democratic exercise in this country’s history. Since that momentous day in the summer of 2016, our Parliament has been gridlocked by the most anti democratic, democracy denying manoeuvres, with MPs who have worked against the democratic will of the people and shattered our faith in democracy. That’s why this general election, is the most important election in a generation. Parliament has been paralysed, MPs have voted against the very manifestos they claimed to have supported and the British people are desperate to move on and get Brexit done. On the 12th December there will be nowhere to hide, and every candidate will have to face you, the voters. – Priti Patel for the Sunday Express Michael Gove: The stakes in this era-defining election could hardly be higher Every election matters. Our democracy is precious. But in some elections we are faced with historic choices that will define our future for many years to come. In the post-war era, the 1945 and 1979 elections charted the country’s course for decades to come. Through the creation of the welfare state and the reversal of our national decline, they still shape our politics today. This election in 2019 is also era-defining. There are two, starkly different, possible paths the country could take on Thursday, each with far-reaching consequences. The first leads to another hung parliament. The democratic impasse which has defined Westminster for the last three years would continue. Trust in our democracy would erode further. Jeremy Corbyn could engineer his way into Downing Street with the votes of SNP and Lib Dem MPs. Instead of getting Brexit done, we would face two referendums next year – one on Brexit and one on Scottish independence. Jeremy Corbyn wants to hold another Brexit referendum. Ludicrously, he says he would negotiate a new deal with the EU and then decline to support it in the referendum he is so determined to secure. Even more alarmingly, he would call the legitimacy of the whole exercise into question by changing the rules – extending the franchise to 2 million EU citizens who are overwhelmingly likely to vote Remain. For the 17.4 million who voted to Leave this would inevitably be seen as an outrageous bid to overturn a mandate that politicians of all parties pledged to honour. The damage to faith in our democracy would be profound. – Michael Gove for the Sunday Telegraph (£) Arron Banks: It’s time for Nigel to back Boris and get us Brexit Enoch Powell famously said that all political careers end in failure. After 25 years of fighting for an independent United Kingdom, Nigel Farage faces his final week in UK politics with the Brexit Party in total disarray and I wonder how his political career will end. The unfortunate fact for both Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn is around three million Labour voters love and follow Nigel – they trust him on Brexit. Nigel can still deliver or deny victory for Boris and I wonder if he will thrust himself centre stage this week for the final time. I wouldn’t bet against it. Most Conservative voters have returned home from the Brexit Party to back Boris and the support left is based in those Labour heartlands. The problem is Boris is also popular with patriotic working-class voters which is leading to the vote being split. This risks letting Labour sneak in through the middle. With the polls moving against the Brexit Party there are probably fewer than 10 seats where they might stand a chance. My view is we face a stark choice at this election. If Boris and the Conservatives are not returned with a working majority then Brexit will be pulled into the shadows by Parliament and quietly strangled. The election is about more than just Brexit, and a Corbyn/SNP alliance government would be a disaster for all of us. It is now unlikely that the Brexit Party will win any seats and they will end up costing Boris. Nigel has a final card to play in the Brexit drama and it will determine whether his career ends in success or failure. They should issue a list of 10 seats where the Brexit Party have a shot. It’s time to play the ace card that will swing this election. Back Boris and deliver Brexit… – Arron Banks for the Sunday Express James Cleverly: We need one last push, with your help, to deliver Brexit, stop Corbyn – and win On Thursday, voters will go to the polls in an election unlike any I have seen before. The stakes are high. The choice is stark. And we have just five days to secure the result we need. Nine seats stand between us and the majority that would allow us to get things done. To deliver Brexit, bring the country back together and move forward. All 635 Conservative candidates will back the Prime Minister’s Brexit deal – that’s the deal, by the way, that we were told he’d never get. We will re-introduce the Withdrawal Agreement by Christmas and leave the EU in January. Just think what we could achieve then. We’d be able to refocus the efforts and energy of Government and Parliament on the ambitious agenda the Prime Minister presented in our manifesto. On levelling up education funding, helping families onto the housing ladder, supporting local businesses and boosting the number of nurses in our NHS. A vote for any other party is a vote to put Jeremy Corbyn in Number Ten, leading a chaotic, Remain alliance propped up by the Liberal Democrats and the SNP. Voting Conservative is the only way to end the paralysis that has characterised the last three and a half years and restore faith in the democratic system we all live by. – James Cleverly for ConservativeHome Sarah Baxter: Boris Johnson gets my Remainer vote of confidence Which side were you on in the great Brexit debate? If you were fuming when Theresa May claimed at the 2016 Tory party conference, “If you believe you are a citizen of the world, you are a citizen of nowhere,” then you probably voted remain. I certainly did and never regretted my decision. I’m a polyglot mixture of British, French, Irish and American with family on three continents. But Brexit versus Jeremy Corbyn as prime minister? No contest. The leave vote is clustering around Boris Johnson, while remain voters are traipsing with a heavy heart and shuffling gait towards Corbyn. I’d urge them to reconsider. Is the Labour leader fit to be prime minister? Would you trust him in office? Ah, but Boris, you say. Surely he’s the shifty, duplicitous one. I disagree. He’s not a details man, admittedly, nor perhaps the best person to drive you home in the evening, as Amber Rudd joked, but I do trust him on the big picture. Johnson argued for leave in 2016, was shafted by envious colleagues — and here he is, three years later, still fighting to “Get Brexit done”. He said he wanted a deal with the EU, critics scoffed that he didn’t mean it and yet he came back from the Brussels summit in October with a withdrawal agreement. – Sarah Baxter for the Sunday Times (£) Brexit in Brief Dominic Grieve stunned as radio host savages him on Brexit – Sunday Express It’s a Brexit! Boris Johnson predicts British baby boom – Sunday Times (£)