[1andrew1]

Conservative and Labour manifestos slammed by independent think tank The Institute for Fiscal Studies for not being honest about their manifestos.

Carl Emmerson, the IFS deputy director, said: "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, infrastructure.
"And the pretence is that can all be funded by faceless corporations and 'the rich'."
"The Conservatives simply offer the cuts already promised ... Compared to Labour they are offering a relatively smaller state and consequently lower taxes. With that offer comes unacknowledged risks to the quality of public services, and tough choices over spending."
The IFS said it was likely that the Tories would have to resort to increasing tax or borrowing in order to "bail out" public services to prevent their decline during a proposed continuation of austerity measures. Withdrawing the winter fuel allowance from wealthier pensioners and scrapping the triple lock on pension increases is "a nod towards dealing with the costs of ageing" but "would make a whole trivial difference to spending", it said.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017...ire-tax-rises/
https://election2017.ifs.org.uk/arti...riefing-23-may