The UK’s biggest political parties are locked in a war of words over each other’s spending plans - despite both refusing to reveal the details of their own budget projections to the public.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid claimed analysis carried out by his Conservative party showed that if Labour got into government, they would embark on a £1.2 trillion public spending spree. He has refused, however, to reveal his own spending plans if the Tories are returned to government in the December 12 election.
Labour’s John McDonnell swiftly dismissed the alleged spending projection as “fake news” - but his party has similarly repeatedly refused to reveal its actual figures.
Politicians from both parties appeared on TV on Sunday to condemn their rivals for their allegedly disastrous spending plans, without giving ground on what the final figure is for their own party.
Social media users were largely less than impressed with the parties’ efforts to score political points off each other using vague “worst-case scenario” figures, with Twitter commenters even posting their own mocked-up versions of the budgets.
Some joked that the Tories had erred with their analysis of Labour’s budget plans because a ‘spending spree’ probably sounds great to a lot of people, while others saw it in a more dismal light. “Reports like this morning are exactly why some other countries get independent Budgetary watchdogs to cost parties’ manifestos,” one person wrote.
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