Emily Thornberry creates chaos

Back in April, the idea of Jeremy Corbyn holding ‘transition talks’ with Sir Jeremy Heywood — the Cabinet Secretary — was enough to provoke mild amusement. But in a sign of how much things have changed with just seven days to go until polling day, Labour’s plans for government are now top of the agenda.

With a YouGov poll today claiming that the Tory lead is down to a mere three points, the pair were asked whether Labour would be ready to do a coalition deal – or even try to persuade Sinn Fein MPs to attend the House of Commons in order to support them. Corbyn declined to answer these questions but Thornberry broke a golden election rule and started to speculate. She said that in a hung Parliament Labour would put forward a budget and dare other parties to vote it down – thereby admitting Labour would have to work with other parties, like the SNP, in order to function:

‘If we end up in a position where we are in a minority, we will go ahead and we will put forward a Queen’s Speech and a Budget.