BORIS Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn went up against each other in their final head-to-head tonight, but both failed to land a killer blow on the other.
They clashed on Brexit, the NHS, security and the economy with less than a week to go until Britain goes to the polls.
A snap poll after the debate showed 52 per cent of Brits think Boris just about won it – the same amount as voted Leave in the referendum.
Here were some of the best moments from the hour-long BBC debate tonight.
On Brexit:
Boris: “How can you get a deal, a new deal from Brussels for Brexit, if you don’t actually believe in it? That’s the mystery that I fail to understand.”
Corbyn: “We will have a final say. I want to have a government that represents the whole country.”
On the NHS:
Boris:On the accusations that he wants to sell the NHS, Mr Johnson said: “This is pure Bermuda Triangle stuff. We’ve heard it time and time again from the Labour Party during this election campaign.
“We’ll be hearing about ‘little green men’ next.”
Mr Johnson added: “Under no circumstances will we sell it off to anybody in any kind of trade deal.”
Corbyn: “There is no plan to bring in a four-day week in the NHS.” (Direct contradiction to his Shadow Chancellor)
“”Mr Johnson will spend at least seven years negotiating with the USA on access to our public services, on the price of medicines in Britain, on the access to our national health service and he knows he can’t get a deal quickly with the USA because of the way in which the USA political system works, so what he will do is walk out of a relationship with the EU into a relationship with nobody.”
On the economy:
Boris: “Labour always ends their time in office with an economic crisis… Corbyn and McDonnell would start their time in office with an economic crisis.”
Corbyn: “Labour is ambitious for our country and ambitious for you.”
On security and the union:
Boris: “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.
“It is extraordinary and wrong [the London Bridge terrorist] should be out on automatic early release.”
Corbyn: “There are no plans whatsoever to disband MI5 or any part of the security services… We need the security on our streets, it doesn’t come on the cheap.
On racism:
Boris: “His unwillingness to take a stand, to stand up for Jewish people in the Labour Party… to put an arm around them, is in my view a failure of leadership. You can’t be neutral on this issue.”
Corbyn: “A failure of leadership is where you use racist remarks to describe people in different countries or in our society.
“We need a world where we treat people with respect.”
On taxes:
Boris: “The poor will be clobbered, which is totally wrong. The burden always falls most heavily on those on modest and low incomes.
“People on as little as “20,000 a year will be paying 1,000 a year more in tax.”
Corbyn: “Conservative governments look after the very richest in our society.”
