BBC debate: Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn clash over Brexit and NHS in final election showdown

Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn clashed over their rival visions for Brexit and the NHS in the final head-to-head TV debate in the run up to the general election.

With less than a week to polling day on December 12, the Labour leader warned of “chaos” and “huge job losses” if a Tory government was unable to get a free trade deal with the EU by the end of the year.

While Mr Johnson questioned how Labour could negotiate a new withdrawal agreement with the EU when Mr Corbyn is “neutral” and other frontbenchers are pro-Remain.

A snap poll by YouGov has now found Mr Johnson won the debate by 52 per cent to 48 per cent.

During the debate, Mr Corbyn highlighted leaked Treasury documents released earlier in the day which he said showed Mr Johnson’s withdrawal agreement meant there would be customs checks and restrictions on trade between Britain and Northern Ireland.

Appearing before a live studio audience in Maidstone in a debate hosted by the BBC, the Prime Minister retorted that the claims were “not true”.

He added: “I do find it slightly curious to say the least to be lectured about the union between Great Britain and Northern Ireland by a man who all his political life has campaigned to break up that union and actually supported for four decades the IRA their in their campaign violently to destroy it.”

Mr Corbyn in turn challenged Mr Johnson to show a “degree of honesty” about the arrangements he had made for Northern Ireland.

He said: “He spoke at the DUP conference and said there would be no restrictions whatsoever. We now know there are restrictions. He could and should have said that at the time.”

Answering a question from a student nurse about how he would deal with a shortage of nurses, Mr Johnson said he would put in £34 billion more into the NHS and 50,000 more nurses, adding that he would “unpack that figure” as people “complain about it”.

He said: “But it means retaining the 19,000 who might otherwise drop out of the service and then recruiting another 31,000 new nurses.”

Mr Johnson added: “What I think is totally incomprehensible is to have a system where you try to get more nurses and more staff into the NHS and simultaneously ask the whole of the public sector to work a four day week.”

Mr Corbyn said there are 43,000 nurse vacancies, pointing out that it was a Tory Government that cut the nurse bursary, and a Tory Lib Dem coalition that increased student fees.

The Labour leader said: “The Prime Minister, the day after he was appointed, announced there was going to be 40 new hospitals, a week later that became 20, a bit later on it became six new hospitals. He seems to have a problem with the figures about hospital building in Britain.”

Mr Johnson said he has a clear agenda to upgrade 20 hospitals and build 40 new hospitals.

“It’s perfectly true,” the Prime Minister said, adding that the cash allocated for the whole hospital build is for six initially, but the seed funding is being sorted for the rest.

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