Shropshire Star

Corbyn's cure for hospital parking woes

That's it then. Election campaign over. Mark my words - Jeremy Corbyn is going to walk in to Number 10.

Published

Anybody who has been to the Princess Royal Hospital or the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital will know what it's like to pay those detestable hospital parking charges.

Well, under Jeremy, you will pay no more.

He says he is going to make parking free at hospitals in England. A sure-fire vote winner if ever there was one.

The cost is estimated at £162 million. He says it will be funded by putting up tax on private healthcare insurance.

And so Mr Corbyn has stolen a policy from Ukip's manifesto for the 2015 general election. Back then Nigel Farage and his merry bunch promised to pump in £200 million to ensure free hospital parking.

Thinking about it, Ukip only won one seat. So maybe Mr Corbyn should hang fire before choosing new curtains for No 10 after all.

With another week of campaigning under way in the phoney war before the manifestos let us know what they are really committed to, immigration was the topic of the day for Theresa May.

She will bring it down to the tens of thousands.

Haven't we heard that before? Wasn't it while she was home secretary?

There is an important nuance. David Cameron made a "no ifs, no buts" commitment to bringing it down to the tens of thousands. Mrs May has not gone that far. So hers is a no-"no ifs, no buts" commitment. A sort of political maybe.

As I've mentioned before, what you see on camera in this election will be only part of the story, as revealed in coverage of a speech by Mrs May in which she stood in front of what, large posters declared, was "Mrs May's team," mention of the Conservatives appearing in small letters. This is no doubt part of the Tories' strategy to make the election a comparison between her leadership and that of Mr Corbyn.

A journalist's tweet revealed what you didn't see. While "Mrs May's team" was a 50-50 split of male and female candidates, off camera in the wings were serried ranks of men in suits.

And as she rallied her troops, Mrs May called on them to step up the campaigning.

She says she is going to "leave no door unknocked on."

If that prospect worries you, you could always duck below the windows and pretend to be out.

One thing that was caught live on camera was Tim Farron taking a minor stumble.

For those who see significance in these things, he took a lurch to the right as he did so.