Well, this is going well. In less than two hours Labour will launch its 2017 manifesto and John McDonnell has already got things off to a bad start with a questionable appearance on the Today programme. Aside from praising the decision by Labour’s new election aide Andrew Murray to trade the Communist party for the Labour party, the interview proved notable thanks to McDonnell coming unstuck on Labour’s financing.
After the party’s draft manifesto leaked last week, critics were quick to point out that the many policies were yet to be fully costed. However, party brains assured us that by the day of the launch, all proposals would be. Unfortunately that doesn’t appear to be the case. Speaking with Nick Robinson on Today, McDonnell insisted the policies had all been fully costed. However, when he came to specifics the shadow chancellor came up short. Asked how much Labour’s plan to nationalise water would amount to, McDonnell was forced to admit that he did not know. It turns out that Labour won’t include figures for water nationalisation even though this is expected to cost tens of billions.
Things took another turn for the worse when the shadow chancellor was asked about the deficit:
NR: What is Britain’s deficit at the moment, Mr McDonnell?
JM: If I can say to you… if I can say to you that what’s happened as well in terms of day to day expenditure, we need the investment… we need the investment…
Thanks to a background ruffling noise, Robinson went on to accuse McDonnell live on air of having an aide pass him a piece of paper with the answer.
NR: Just sounded like there was a bit of paper being handed across
JM: Not at all
Miraculously just moments later McDonnell had a figure. However, at ‘£68-70bn, it was the wrong figure. The deficit is £52bn.
So much for proving Labour can be trusted on the economy.
Comments