“This dodgy Tory dossier is riddled with untruths and errors on every page.
“It
isn’t an impartial exercise but a political smear based on false assumptions
made by Tory advisers, including dozens of claims which are not even Labour’s
policies.
“Labour has made no unfunded
spending or tax commitments.
“In contrast the Tories have made over £7 billion a
year of unfunded tax promises. George Osborne failed to explain today how they
would be paid for.
“Will it be another VAT rise, even deeper cuts to public
services or both?
“As the IFS said Labour has the most cautious approach of all
the parties and has promised no net giveaways.
“If the Tories wanted an honest debate they would stop blocking our proposal to
allow the OBR to independently audit the manifestos of the main parties.
“And
they would have allowed the Treasury to involve Labour in the production of
proper costings, as I suggested in my letter to the Permanent Secretary
yesterday.
“It’s now clear the Tories want to carry on spreading smears about
Labour while avoiding independent scrutiny of their own plans.
“George Osborne claimed his plan is working.
“But there is nothing competent
about Tory policies that leave working people worse off and lead to over £200
billion more borrowing than planned.
“Labour will cut the deficit every year and
balance the books in a tough but fair way - not risk taking Britain back to
public spending as a share of national income last seen in the 1930s.”
Five examples of dodgy Tory claims
1. They say it’s Labour’s policy to ban food waste from landfill, based on an out of date 2013 quote. This is not Labour’s policy - it was not agreed at Labour’s National Policy Forum in July 2014 and is not in the NPF document.
2. They say we will reverse over £5 billion of cuts they have made in 2015/16 - but we have been explicit that we won’t:
“We won’t be able to reverse all the spending cuts and tax rises that the Tories have pushed through. We will have to govern with less money, which means the next Labour government will have to make cuts too…. The government’s day-to-day spending totals for 2015/16 will be our starting point. There will be no more borrowing for day-to-day spending. Any changes to the current spending plans for that year will be fully-funded and set out in advance in our manifesto.”
Ed Balls, speech to Fabian Society Annual Conference, 24 January 2014
3. They say it will cost £3.7 billion to give the Green Investment Bank
borrowing powers - but it is their policy to give it borrowing powers.
In his
2011 Budget speech, George Osborne said that “from 2015-16, and subject to our
overall debt target being met, we will allow the Green Investment Bank to
borrow and invest in a better future”.
4. They say our plan to provide 48-hour GP access is unfunded - but they have
previously said there is no problem with GP access.
In any case, we have set
out how this guarantee would be funded by scrapping competition requirements
which are costing billions in legal and tendering fees, and by funding 8,000
additional GPs from our Time to Care Fund.
Even the Government’s own costing
admits that our plans would save money, but does not take that into account:
“This costing does not include potential savings to other parts of the system
which might arise as a result of hypothetical changes in patient behaviour
impacting where and when people access health and social care services.”
5. The dossier is full of wild assertions.
They say that a commitment to “take
steps to promote cycling by making it safer and more accessible” amounts to a
£63 million spending commitment to cancel the abolition of Cycling England
Towns and Cities initiatives - this is just nonsense.
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