Chris Leslie MP, Labour’s shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, commenting ahead of a press conference by George Osborne and other cabinet ministers, said:

“It is David Cameron and George Osborne who have made over £7 billion of unfunded tax promises. These could only be paid for by another Tory VAT rise, even deeper cuts to public services or both.

"Labour has made no unfunded commitments. In fact the Institute for Fiscal Studies said last month that we had the most cautious approach and, unlike the parties, had promised no net giveaways.

"If the Tories wanted a serious debate they would not be blocking our proposal to allow the OBR to independently audit the manifestos of the main parties. Instead it’s clear they want to carry on spreading smears about Labour while avoiding scrutiny of their own plans.

"It is George Osborne’s plan to slash public spending back to a share of national income last seen in the 1930s which is the real risk to Britain’s future.”

Ends

Editor’s notes:

1. The IFS said last month:

“Of the main parties, Labour has perhaps been the most cautious of the three in that, at least on the basis of its own costings, it appears to have managed not to announce an overall net giveaway. Just looking at tax and social security spending policies, Labour has announced a small net takeaway of 0.1% of national income.”
Institute for Fiscal Studies, ‘Fiscal Aims and Austerity: The Parties’ Plans Compared’, December 2014, p.21, http://www.ifs.org.uk/uploads/publications/bns/BN158.pdf

2. Ed Balls has written to Sir Nicholas Macpherson, Permanent Secretary at HM Treasury, suggesting that - in the absence of the OBR being allowed to audit manifesto spending and tax commitments - Treasury officials should cost every spending and tax manifesto proposal of the main parties and that this process should involve the parties themselves clarifying their policies so that Treasury officials are not put in an impossible position of having to use blatantly false assumptions provided by Conservative advisers.

The full text of his letter can be read here: http://press.labour.org.uk/post//ed-balls-writes-to-hm-treasury-permanent-secretary