London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Aug 22, 2026

Johnson targets Labour Leave seats in final push

Boris Johnson will visit four Brexit-voting Labour-held seats across Humber and north-east England later, with three days to go before polling day.

In a speech in Sunderland - 61% of which voted to Leave - the PM is expected to tell voters: "The Labour party has let you down."

He will attack Parliament, saying it has "delayed" and "denied" Brexit.

Mr Johnson will also travel to south-west England, where he will warn against voting for the pro-EU Lib Dems.

Voters go to the polls on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Labour will deliver a budget to "end austerity", John McDonnell will promise in a speech setting out the party's priorities for its first 100 days in government.

The shadow chancellor will also set out how he would get "money moving out of Whitehall and the City".

The Liberal Democrats are, meanwhile, pledging to table legislation to stop Brexit immediately after the election by introducing two draft bills they say would pave the way for another EU referendum.

The first would enable the Electoral Commission to start the necessary consultation around a referendum question and lead campaign designation - and the second would provide a referendum on the government's Brexit deal versus remaining in the EU.

Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson said: "Every vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote to stop Boris and stop Brexit."

Elsewhere, the Scottish Conservative leader Jackson Carlaw and former leader, Ruth Davidson, will lead the campaign against a second independence referendum in Scotland.

The Conservative Party says the prime minister is intending to "visit every region in England and Wales" in the final three days before polling day on Thursday.

Mr Johnson "will be visiting high streets, businesses, pubs and markets across England and Wales", telling voters that "the only way they can get Brexit done and unleash Britain's potential" is to vote Conservative, the party says.


'Sunderland's roar'

The Conservatives are hoping to win longstanding Labour constituencies that voted heavily to Leave the EU in the 2016 referendum - these are concentrated in the Midlands and parts of the north of England.

The Brexit Party has a similar goal - it has said Hartlepool is its number-one target.

In his speech, Mr Johnson is expected to say: "It's now been 1,264 days since Sunderland's roar was heard on the night of 23 June 2016.

"1,264 days in which parliament should have delivered what you voted for, taken us out of the EU, and addressed all the reasons you voted so decisively for change."

He will attack Parliament, saying that it has "bent every rule and broken every convention as it has delayed, diluted and denied Brexit".

Mr Johnson will also say that "Remain MPs" who said they would deliver Brexit "shamefully did the exact opposite".

"The Labour party has let you down most of all. Under Jeremy Corbyn, they promised to honour the result of the referendum - before voting against Brexit every chance they had," he will say.

He will say that the choice is between a hung Parliament, with Labour leader Mr Corbyn and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon forming a coalition - leading to further referendums on Brexit and Scottish independence - and a Conservative majority govern that will "get Brexit done".

Ms Sturgeon has said she is confident an agreement on a second independence vote could be done if Labour needed SNP support to form a government if there is a hung parliament.

But Mr Corbyn has ruled out supporting a Scottish independence referendum until after the next Holyrood election in 2021.

A further referendum on Brexit is part of the Labour Party's policy. The party wants to renegotiate Mr Johnson's deal and put it to a vote.

On Sunday, Mr Johnson insisted there will not be any checks for goods travelling from Northern Ireland to Great Britain under his Brexit deal.

He told Sky News that a leaked Treasury analysis document was "wrong" to suggest this would be the case.

His Brexit deal means there will be goods checks from GB to NI, but there has been confusion on whether there will be checks in the other direction.

Labour said the PM's claims about his deal with the EU were "fraudulent".

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Petrol Bombs Set Luxury Cars Alight Outside Birmingham Wedding as Police Hunt Three Men
Bitcoin Surges Toward $80,000 as Short Squeeze and ETF Inflows Ignite Crypto Rally
Prince Harry and Co-Claimants Ordered to Pay £9.5 Million Toward Daily Mail Publisher’s Legal Costs
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Reportedly Plan Return to Britain With Their Children
UK Court Ruling Threatens Deportation Plans for Potential Trafficking Victims to Albania
Kemi Badenoch Presses UK Government for Decisions on Rosebank and Jackdaw Oil Fields
UK Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Calls for Ban on Goods from Occupied West Bank
Andy Burnham Government to Place Civil Servants Directly in English Mayoral Offices
Met Office Warns Major El Niño Could Bring Stormier, Wetter Autumn to UK
UK Economy Gains Unexpected Momentum Ahead of Andy Burnham Government’s First Budget
Twenty-Nine US States Take Meta to Trial Over Alleged Child Addiction on Instagram and Facebook
Former Scottish National Party Executive Peter Murrell Jailed for Five Years Over £400,000 Embezzlement
Moderna and Merck's Personalized Cancer Vaccine Succeeds in Historic Late-Stage Melanoma Trial
Prince Harry and Meghan to Move Back to Britain With Their Children
England and Wales Have Fewer Than 1,800 Prison Places Left for Men
Royal Navy to Accelerate DragonFire Laser Deployment Against Growing Drone Threat
Northern Ireland Approves Five Hundred Million Pound Belfast Harbour Expansion
Great British Railways Takes Full Control of Avanti West Coast as Rail Nationalisation Reaches Final Stage
UK AI Safety Institute Calls for Mandatory Security Audits of Advanced AI Models
Scotland Secures Three Billion Pounds for Floating Offshore Wind Hub in Aberdeen
Government Overrides Local Councils to Approve Green Belt Housing Across Southern England
UK and EU Move Toward Mutual Recognition of Food Standards to Ease Cross-Channel Trade
Government Plans Multibillion-Pound Private Healthcare Expansion to Cut NHS Surgical Backlogs
Bank of England Signals Faster Rate Cuts as Inflation Falls Below the Two Percent Target
Suspected People Smuggler Arrested After Investigation Identified Him
Children's Doctors Warn That Vaping Can Lead Young People to Smoking
Hundreds of Thousands of Students Receive GCSE and Vocational Results Across England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Here Is What Can Never Happen in Your Country: Taiwan Is Giving Money to All Its People Because It Collected Too Much Tax
UK Inflation Rises to 2.9% as Energy Bills Jump
UK Issues New Conduct Guide for Asylum Seekers on Consent and Respect
Moderna Shares Surge After Positive Personalized Skin Cancer Trial Results
UK Markets Watch US National Debt Surpass Forty Trillion Dollars
UK Broadcasters Urge Government to Invest in Digital Participation and Broadband
CVC Capital Partners and Standard Life Launch Two Billion Pound Pension Risk Transfer Venture
UK Private Sector Productivity Growth Accelerates in Second Quarter
UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband Condemns Israeli E1 Settlement Tender
UK Watchdog Investigates Trainline, Virgin Atlantic and RED Driving School Over Hidden Fees
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Plan Move to Private Home Outside London
UK Retail Sentiment Improves as Summer Spending Boosts Consumer Confidence
UK Aid Cuts Draw Warnings From Charities Over Humanitarian Consequences
UK Financial Conduct Authority Issues Guidance for Motor Finance Redress Scheme
UK Met Office Launches Aviation Programme to Reduce Climate Impact of Persistent Contrails
Former UK Civil Service Chief Received Record 500,000 Pound Severance Payment
West Midlands to Bring Bus Network Under Public Franchising Model
UK Government Drops Plan to Relax Affordable Housing Requirements After Backlash
UK Reaffirms Military Support for Ukraine Despite Russian Hybrid Warfare Threats
UK Technology Sector Expands Nearly 8 Percent as Digital Industry Outpaces Wider Economy
UK Drought Threatens Harvests Across England and Wales as Food Inflation Risks Persist
UK Government Pledges 442 Million Pounds to End Rough Sleeping by Christmas
UK Government Signals Willingness to Reconsider Digital Services Tax Amid US Tariff Threats
×