Not again, Diane... she stumbles on TV over funding for police
DIANE Abbott has stumbled again over Labour’s plan to raise the number of police officers.
The shadow home secretary appeared confused in a TV interview yesterday about how it would be funded.
Speaking to ITV about crime figures in England and Wales, she attempted to explain her party’s plan for 10,000 extra officers.
But Miss Abbott came unstuck when she tried to outline how Labour would raise the £300million it says is needed for the policy.
She said the party would do so by reversing cuts to capital gains tax but she could not recall the figure and looked desperately off camera for help before being prompted by the reporter.
In the interview, Miss Abbott said: ‘We would find the money to recruit the 10,000 police people by cutting the... we would look at capital gains tax. The Tories have cut capital gains tax and we want to restore it. That would give us I think £170... sorry.’
Miss Abbott appears to look to an aide before continuing but needs to be told by the reporter that the figure is £300million. The embarrassing incident recalled a series of gaffes during the election campaign in which Miss Abbott stumbled over Labour’s spending plans, including a ‘car crash’ interview on LBC radio.