Johnson and Corbyn Face Off in Final Debate
ALLEN: All right. Time is ticking for Britain's candidates to get out the vote ahead of a crucial general election with just days to go before voters head to the ballot box. The leaders of the U.K.'s two largest parties went head to head one final time.</s>ALLEN: CNN's Anna Stewart breaks down Friday's debate.</s>ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: With less than a week to go before Britons head to the polls to elect a new government, this last head- to-head debate brings much anticipation. But there were no knockout blows of facts. Leaders repeated many of the same claims, promises and attacks they have in recent weeks. Whether it was domestic policy, trust in politicians or that divisive topic, Brexit.</s>JEREMY CORBYN, LEADER, U.K. LABOUR PARTY: No one voted to lose their job or lose trade with Europe. They voted for many reasons. But I think we have to come together and bring this issue to an end. Not go down the road of sweetheart deals with the</s>USA. BORIS JOHNSON, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: Actually what should we should do is respect the word of the people. People do not trust in politics. Look at the promises made by Corbyn and all the other parties that they would honor the referendum result. And they are refusing to do it.</s>STEWART: Ahead of this debate two former prime ministers Conservatives John Major and Labour's Tony Blair spoke at an anti- Brexit rally and endorsed candidates outside of their own party. Current party leaders were asked their reaction.</s>JOHNSON: I have the respect for all former Conservative leaders and</s>CORBYN: A vote for Labour is to invest in the future of this country. So Tony Blair and John Major are welcome to make the comments that they do. I urge them to think for a moment. Think for a moment at the reality of what nine years of austerity has done to the people of this country.</s>STEWART: The Conservative Party leading polls with six days left is a very long time in politics. Campaigning will not let up until the nation goes to the ballot box on Thursday -- Anna Stewart, CNN, London.</s>ALLEN: Let's talk about it now, Quinton Peel, associate fellow with Chatham House joins us, he's also been a top journalist. Hi, Quinton, good morning to you. All right. At this juncture how ready or how sick are voters of this process? We'll break down the candidates next but talk about that first.</s>QUENTIN PEEL, CHATHAM HOUSE: Well, I think voters are pretty fed up with the whole subject of Brexit. And yet they know it's absolutely central. The thing is that Boris Johnson's slogan, get Brexit done, which is pretty meaningless but, nonetheless, it's having an effect across the country. It's the one thing that people seem to be relating to. So even if they know that electing Boris Johnson won't get Brexit done, because this is going to drag on for months, if not years in negotiations, we will be out on January 31st, if Boris Johnson wins the majority.</s>ALLEN: I want to ask you, how should the world be watching this, first, the U.S.? What would a win by Boris Johnson, the Conservative, who wants to push Brexit through, with what you just said, we might not see a Brexit for ages, oh, my goodness, what would that mean to Britain's future?</s>PEEL: Well, Britain outside the European Union is undoubtedly going to be much more dependent on its relationship with the U.S. So those arguing for this process have been really pushing to get a swift trade agreement with the U.S. And they say that's going to be a wonderful thing. The problem is, I'm not sure; I think they're exaggerating the benefits. And they're also exaggerating the speed with which you can do these things. We all know that trade negotiations are fantastically complex. You get every lobby group in the country, on both sides, trying to get their special interests taken into account. And you're not going to be able to do that where the British are negotiating at the one time with the whole of the European Union, which is after all where 45 percent of their trade goes, and on the other hand, trying to do simultaneous negotiations with the U.S. I don't think it's going to work.</s>ALLEN: And Boris Johnson chummy with President Trump, many Brits don't like Mr. Trump. And we'll see if that can have any kind of impact when they go to the polls. I don't know about that one. But I want to ask you about position Labour Party candidate Jeremy Corbyn now. He would hold a second referendum on Brexit. He's been critical of NATO. If he came out how would that affect relations with the U.S.?</s>PEEL: He's undoubtedly a very skeptical politician as regards the entire transatlantic relationship. He's always been skeptical about the purposes of NATO. He is fundamentally deeply skeptical of Britain still having nuclear arms and the Trident nuclear missiles. So I think he would be a very difficult person for a U.S. administration to deal with. Having said that, the chances of him emerging with an outright majority are very, very small. If Boris Johnson doesn't win the majority, then the chances are we're going to have a hung Parliament again, in which case, there will be some sort of coalition of interests to get this whole Brexit exercise done. And we will drag on, I suspect, for months more. The Labour Party says they can do it all in six months, have another referendum. But I think both the Conservatives and the Labour Party are profoundly unrealistic about the process.</s>ALLEN: Enter the wild card, a young female candidate, a Liberal Democrat, if she wins, she promises to cancel Brexit. How about that chance? I mean, I'm not sure if she has a chance but what if that were to happen?</s>PEEL: Well, you know, it would actually be the simplest solution just to say, we're not going to do it any longer. Because I think throughout this process, it's been absolutely clear that trying to extricate yourself from a very integrated trading system, this single market that there is in Europe, where we have no barriers, where we recognize all each other's standards across borders. So you have no cross-border checks and so on, all of that's got to go and be replaced by something else. Now I think Jo Swenson's idea of saying we just revoke it and stop it is brilliant at a logical level. The problem is, it's not popular politically because people say, we voted in a referendum to leave, you just can't revoke it. And she's not managed to win that argument. So we're back to a country which is divided between remain or leave and also desperately wanting the whole subject to go away.</s>ALLEN: All right. We've got to go. But can you just wrap up in one sentence that defines where the U.K. is with all of this?</s>PEEL: It's in a complete muddle. We're utterly divided. We don't know who is running country. We're probably still going to have Boris Johnson, who is a man deeply mistrusted by voters to carry on as prime minister. It's not a happy situation.</s>ALLEN: Got it. Quentin Peel, we appreciate your insights. Good luck.</s>PEEL: Thank you.</s>ALLEN: Uber releases a highly anticipated report that reveals just how prevalent cases of sexual violence have become at the firm. Also a thick layer of smoke is choking, yes, that city right there, Sydney. The flames are still burning. We'll have the latest as we watch CNN NEWSROOM.