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A spending row has broken out after Britain’s Conservative Party published what it claims would be the cost of a Labour government over five years.
The report, compiled by the party and not the Treasury, is based on a number of commitments from Labour’s annual party conference but not its manifesto. Chancellor Sajid Javid said Labour’s proposals would leave the United Kingsom “on the brink of bankruptcy”.
But shadow chancellor John McDonnell condemned the report as “fake news”. The Conservatives claim that Labour’s policies would cost £1.2tn over the course of the next five years, if the party wins next month’s general election.
The figure is based on costing Labour’s 2017 manifesto and other pledges it has made since then.
But the Labour Party has yet to publish its 2019 election manifesto, detailing its policies and spending proposals.
Senior Labour figures will meet next weekend to decide which policies passed by the party’s annual conference will become manifesto proposals for government, with some unlikely to be confirmed. Labour’s shadow communities secretary Andrew Gwynne said the manifesto would be “fully costed” when it is published.
Challenged on the assessment by the BBC’s Andrew Marr, Mr Javid stood by the figures. He told the programme: “This is the true cost of Corbyn’s Labour. These are the numbers that John McDonnell did not want you to see.”
