General election not about 'Theresa May's hair', says Labour's Emily Thornberry

Emily Thornberry has accused the Conservatives of running a "presidential" campaign and said there is more to the general election than Prime Minister Theresa May's hair.

Labour's shadow foreign secretary said the prime minister and her party lack vision and ideas and were building their campaign around May and not policy.

"We have a ruling party that has no positive vision and no idea what it wants to do with the country," she said during an appearance on Peston on Sunday. "It is all about Theresa May."

Thornberry said the Tories were preparing for a presidential election and people should not be fooled.

"It's not good enough for people to say 'I like Theresa May's hair, I like that shade of blue'," she said on Peston on Sunday. "Politics is about changing peoples lives.

"We are being much clearer about what we are doing, why we are doing and how we are doing it," she added.

Comparing the prime minister to Jeremy Corbyn, Thornberry said the Labour leader was more in touch with the electorate. "He is genuine, talks like people talk and his preoccupations are the preoccupations of ordinary people… Why doesn't she find out what real people think?

Speaking on the Andew Marr Show earlier, Jeremy McDonnell guaranteed there would be no tax rises for those earning less than £80,000 a year.

Asked about the threshold, Thornberry said she did not know how much it would raise but reiterated that 95% of people's personal taxation will not go up under a Labour government and that those with the broadest shoulders would face increases to "restart the economy".

"When we close our eyes are we thinking about the 95% or the 5%. We need to be talking about the policies that can look after the many and not the few."

Prospective Labour MPs have complained that Corbyn's name is putting off voters across the country, but Thonberry said the party has to be united.

"People vote for united parties. We have to be a united party and be focused on winning the election and transforming Britain. We are the alternative government, there is a choice."