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McDonnell exposes black hole manifesto

Where are the costings of Tory proposals?

THE CONSERVATIVE manifesto was blasted as an uncosted “black hole” document yesterday by the BBC’s Andrew Marr, while shadow chancellor John McDonnell outlined Labour plans to end the government’s benefit freeze.

Work and Pensions Secretary Damian Green was accused by Mr Marr of double standards for demanding that Labour’s manifesto be fully costed while failing to provide figures for Tory pledges.

On the programme that bears his name, Mr Marr pointed to the Labour manifesto, which he said showed “very detailed costings.”

Then he asked Mr Green: “Why does this [Tory manifesto] have no costed detail at all? Why is this an uncosted document?”

Also on the Andrew Marr Show, Mr McDonnell warned that the £40 billion of uncosted spending commitments in the Tory manifesto would need to be paid for with tax increases of £1,000 a year for the average family.

Labour would invest £30 billion into welfare over the course of a parliament, he pledged, to reform the whole benefits system and make the issue of welfare freezes irrelevant.

The reform package would include “the introduction of a real living wage as well … the reform of universal credits and a whole range of other aspects, including scrapping the bedroom tax, sanctions, etc,” he added.

Labour would commit to funding social care by revisiting the “Dilnot proposals” — set to be scrapped by the Tories — which include a cap on care costs, Mr McDonnell continued.

He attacked the Tories’ plan for a “dementia tax” that could force families of pensioners to sell their loved one’s home after the person dies if it is worth more than £100,000 in order to recover the cost of their care, whether residential or at home.

Mr McDonnell said: “The reason some people are calling it, unfortunately, a dementia tax is because you don’t know what condition you’ll suffer from, and if it is a more serious one like dementia.

“I tell you, I’ve been through this in my family. I know what it’s like — what happens is the burden falls upon you.”

The Dilnot principle was the same as that in the NHS in which “you pool the risk and in that way people are not left … on their own,” he added.

Nonetheless, Mr Green ruled out a Tory rethink on the party’s the manifesto pledge to enforce the sale of homes.

“We have set out this policy, which we are not going to look at again,” he said.

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