Hammond cannot get his sums right on HS2 – Peter Dowd

This
morning the Chancellor, Phillip Hammond, further proved that he and the
Conservatives have no grip on the public finances. After seven years of Tory
economic failure, which has seen £700 billion added to the national debt despite
massive spending cuts, every household in Britain should fear more years of
Tory failure and incompetence.

In
the course of only five minutes of a car-crash interview, Philip Hammond showed
that he:

·        
Doesn’t
know the cost of his government’s biggest single investment, the HS2 high-speed
line, getting the cost wrong by more than a staggering £20 billion;

·        
Doesn’t
know how his own fiscal rule for spending works as he confused day-to-day
spending and investment spending;

·        
Doesn’t
have any clear plan in place to balance the public finances, including filling
the £2 billion black hole that his National Insurance u-turn created.

Just
a day after Labour published its comprehensive and fully-costed plans for the
economy, the Tories’ plans are in total disarray. The Chancellor couldn’t even
rule out further tax hikes for low and middle earners, unlike Labour who have
guaranteed no rises in employee National Insurance, no rises in VAT, and no
rises in income tax for 95 per cent of taxpayers. 

And
Phillip Hammond confirmed that relations between him and Number 10 are so bad
that they are reduced to expletive-laden phone calls.

Even
Theresa May doesn’t trust Philip Hammond any more, refusing to confirm today
that he will stay on as Chancellor after the election. If the Prime Minister
can’t trust her own Chancellor, why should the British people?

Labour’s
Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Peter Dowd, said

“This
morning Philip Hammond has shown the Conservatives have no grip of the public
finances. It is worrying that the Chancellor clearly doesn’t know how much a
massive infrastructure project currently underway will cost, or the difference
between revenue and capital spending. The fact he doesn’t know how much money
he needs to put aside for major capital infrastructure projects and has no
plan to balance the public finances beggars belief.

“We
should not forget that there is already a £2 billion black hole in his first
Budget following his u-turn on increasing National Insurance. Nor should we
forget he has been part of a Tory government that has added £700 billion to the
national debt – more than all Labour governments in history.”

“Labour
is the only party with a fully costed plan to revive Britain’s economy and
close the Conservatives’ never ending budget deficit, while protecting
everyone from tax increases on VAT and NICs, as well as guaranteeing 95 per
cent of income taxpayers won’t face income tax rises.”