We look at the plausibility of party leaders’ arguments in final head-to-head debate

Law and order

Claim: Johnson says the Parole Board and probation were not involved in the release of Usman Khan, the terrorist behind the London Bridge attack on 29 November.

Reality: The Parole Board was not involved in the case of Khan as he was released on automatic release but the probation service is always involved in the release of any offender on licence as it is the body responsible for the management of offenders in the community.

Claim: A “blockade” in parliament is blocking the government’s ability to change the law on automatic early release.

Reality: During their party conference, the Conservatives proposed scrapping the automatic release at the midway point for some serious sexual and violent offenders. The government could present a bill to pass through parliament regardless of whether Brexit or the election is happening. To tie it to the Brexit deadlock is misleading.

Brexit

Claim: Corbyn says Boris Johnson will spend at least seven years negotiating with the US on access to our public services and the price of medicines, which Labour claims are up for negotiation. Corbyn says he knows he cannot get a deal quickly with the US because of the way the political system works there.

Reality: It will not necessarily take that long for a deal to be worked out. The US has previously agreed trade deals with countries in a matter of months – a deal with Jordan, for instance, took just four months. However, a deal with the UK is likely to be a lot more complex and lengthy.

Unredacted documents released by Labour revealing details of high-profile UK-US trade talks showed that over the last two years officials have regularly discussed healthcare, including the structures in place that moderate the prices of drugs in the UK. The NHS may not be “for sale” but healthcare is certainly on the table.

Claim: Johnson claims there will be no border in the Irish Sea as a result of his Brexit deal.

Reality: The amount of friction in trade moving both ways across the Irish Sea is not wholly in the government’s control, but will depend on negotiations with the EU. Friction on the trade route from Northern Ireland will also depend on WTO rules as well as measures introduced by the UK government. As a result, there is still a lot of work to be done before it is established how trade can and will operate between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

Claim: Brexit will allow a Conservative government to cut VAT on sanitary products, Johnson claims.

Reality: EU rules do currently prevent a UK government from reducing VAT on sanitary products from the current rate of 20% to anything below 5%, so the statement is correct. However, new rules proposed by the EU will allow governments to introduce a 0% rate on these products.

Public services

Claim: Jeremy Corbyn says his party will invest £40bn in the NHS.

Reality: Labour party literature consistently says that £26bn will be committed to the NHS. The £40bn figure appears to be new.

It is unclear if increasing health spending by Labour’s previous figure of £26bn would be enough to deliver all the improvements it is seeking.

Claim: Johnson says Conservative government will recruit 20,000 more police officers and 50,000 more nurses.

Reality: Two familiar lines from the Conservative offer in Johnson’s opening. It’s important to put the recruitment of 20,000 police officers into the context of the cuts over the last nine years, when about 21,000 were cut. It is proposed that the officers will be recruited over the next three years – with 6,500 in the first year.

As for the nurses, the Conservatives have confirmed their target will include 20,000 retained nurses, who would have otherwise left the NHS, with no detail on how they will convince those nurses to stay.