‘Both manifestos are economically unsound’ – IFS
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has released its report on the costing and economics of both Labour and the Conservatives manifesto and it’s not been kind to either party.
In summarising the two party’s pledges the IFS said that neither “has set out an honest set of choices”. It also went on to say that neither have addressed the long-term challenges facing the UK.
Tory policies that came under fire from the organisation included their pledge to cut migration massively, which the IFS has estimated would cost the economy £6 billion. They have also said that continued plans for austerity could actually prove to be completely unachievable without disastrous damage to public services.
The report also took aim at Labour’s spending proposals saying that public spending would be raised to levels not seen since the mid-1980’s and taxation would be raised to levels not seen since World War 2. The party’s main pledge to pay for the proposals, a hike in corporation tax and other tax crackdowns may not raise “anything like” the nearly £50 billion that the party claims it will and could, in fact, cause serious economic damage.
Deputy Director of the IFS, Carl Emmerson, was quoted as saying: “The shame of the two big parties’ manifestos is that neither sets out an honest set of choices. Neither addresses the long-term challenges we face. For Labour we can have pretty much everything – free higher education, free childcare, more spending on pay, health, and infrastructure.
“And the pretence is that can all be funded by faceless corporations and ‘the rich’. The case [for higher taxes] needs to be made with honesty about what it would mean for tax payments, not pretending that everything can be paid for by ‘someone else’.”
“The Conservatives simply offer the cuts already promised. Additional funding pledges for the NHS and schools are just confirming that spending would rise in a way broadly consistent with the March budget.”
“Their continued focus on reducing immigration would, if effective, cause considerable economic damage as well as creating an additional problem for the public finances,”
The stark and brutal warning comes as campaigning resumes following the tragic events in Manchester on 22nd May at the Manchester Arena. Both parties have been back out on the campaign trail with Jeremy Corbyn contending that cuts to the police force by the Conservatives and foreign policy failures have contributed to an unsafe environment.
