Tory pledges are ‘trivial & damaging’
..and Labour’s tax plans are ‘mere pretence’ say influential think-tank IFS REPORT
JEREMY Corbyn yesterday blamed domestic terrorism – including the appalling attack in Manchester on Monday – on the West.
He was careful to put at least some of the blame on the killers themselves (there’s an election on,
by Tom Harris, former Labour MP after all) but he believes foreign policy in the only most of the blame must way they know how – by never be put at the door murdering innocents. of those who actually And so the man who make the bombs and would be Prime Minister detonate them. told us that if we just let
Such individuals, in the dictators get on with the Labour leader’s their lives uninterrupted, eyes, are merely victims terror would no longer of the West and its visit Europe’s shores. unwarranted intrusions Does he really believe into Muslim lands. that? The rapists and
They’re simply mass murderers of Isis reacting to UK and US have said publicly that even if we didn’t invade “their” lands, they would still attack us. Because of our values. Because of who we are.
Corbyn repeats his fantasies because they’re comfortable, because they offer easy answers.
But there are no easy answers to the all-tooreal threat of Islamist terrorism. TORY promises to cut immigration and impose more austerity will hurt vital public services, an economic think-tank have warned.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies reckon dishonest Conservative pledges will cause “considerable damage” to the economy.
However, they also branded Labour plans to lean on the rich for increased public spending as a “pretence”.
IFS deputy director Carl Emmerson revealed the damaging verdict in a report out yesterday.
He said Theresa May’s plan to reduce benefits to the elderly – by meanstesting the winter fuel payment and scrapping the pensions triple lock – will make “wholly trivial” savings.
And he warned the manifesto U-turn over a cap on care costs would result in “presumably increasing public spending overall”.
Emmerson said: “The Conservatives simply offer the cuts already promised.
“Additional funding pledges for the NHS and school confirm that spending would rise in a way broadly consistent with the March Budget.
“Compared with Labour, they are offering a relatively smaller state and consequently lower taxes.
“With that comes risks to the quality of public services and tough choices over spending.
“Their continued focus on reducing immigration THE Institute for Fiscal Studies have made a damning assessment of the promises made by the Tories and Labour ahead of the General Election. Around £11billion of Labour’s planned £52billion in tax rises is based on “factual mistakes”. The party would “raise tax to record levels in peacetime” and hikes would not only affect the richest five per cent.
Tories plan to raise personal allowance to £12,500 but left the door open to income tax and NI hikes. WELFARE Tory benefit cuts would reduce incomes of poorest households “significantly”, saving £11billion a year. Ending pensions triple lock and means-testing fuel payments would lead to “very modest change”.
Labour pledge to maintain the triple lock and hold pension age at 66 would be “immensely expensive”. Tory plans for the NHS could be “undeliverable” – they may have to plough in more money or axe services. Consulting on social care reform “would be a better way to make policy than Monday’s U-turn”.
Labour pledged to spend more but “even their plans look tight”. Wages could cost £2.9billion more. EDUCATION School funding under the Tories would suffer first real- terms cut since the mid-90s with spending per pupil expected to fall 6.5 per cent by 2019/20.
Labour want to reverse cuts with 1.6 per cent increase per pupil. Plans to end tuition fees and bring back maintenance grants “very expensive”. Immigration promises repeatedly made by the Tories could hit Treasury coffers by £6billion a year – if the target was ever actually achieved.
Labour plans for extra infrastructure spending of £250billion in 10 years, a level not seen since the 70s, would keep national debt at current high levels. would, if effective, cause considerable economic damage as well as creating an additional problem for public finances.”
Emerson added: “For Labour, we can have pretty much everything – free higher education, free childcare, more spending on pay, health, infrastructure. And the pretence is it can all be funded by faceless corporations and ‘the rich’.
“As a country, we could have a bigger state. That would not make us unusual in international terms but that comes at a cost in higher taxes which would inevitably need to be borne by large numbers of us.”