Chancellor: Labour's Sums Simply Don't Add up
17 May 2017, 10:13 | Updated: 17 May 2017, 10:23
The Chancellor has told LBC there is a £58 billion black hole in Labour's manifesto spending promises.
Jeremy Corbyn says the plans he unveiled in the Labour manifesto are fully costed.
But Philip Hammond says analysis shows many unfunded commitments.
Speaking to Nick Ferrari, he said: "There's a £58 billionblack hole in the numbers. £105 billionof spending pledges and just £47 billionof tax raising measures, even if you take Jeremy Corbyn's numbers at face value."
Nick queried the numbers, suggesting they are differnt to the figures quoted in the newspapers.
The Chancellor sounded unsure, as he responded: "Wellthere is £95 billion pounds worth, £94.5 billion pounds worth of new policy commitments, £10.5 billion pounds worth of current savings that Labour is proposing to reverse. And against that they've got £47 billion worth of revenue that they claim would be raised. But look, the IFS has already rubbished that figure.
"If you increase Corporation Tax from 16% to 26%, there will be a response to that. There will be a reduction in investment. There will be fewer jobs created.
"Fewer jobs means fewer people earning money and paying income tax.
"So Labour's figures simply do not add up."
Labour claims it can save households more than £200 a year with their plans to nationalise the water and energy industries.
