A Conservative Treasury minister has been mocked by a live audience for refusing to set out the impact of the party’s spending plans – despite attacking Labour for its proposals.
Rishi Sunak was openly laughed at after failing to say – four times – what the “cost of Johnson” would be, after releasing a much-ridiculed dossier on the “cost of Corbyn”.
Asked whether higher Tory spending would also push up voters’ taxes, he said repeatedly: “We don’t think we should borrow for day-to-day spending.”
Amid loud laughter, the BBC Radio 4 presenter Justin Webb, carrying out the interview in front of students at the University of Bristol, protested: “That wasn’t my question."
“You have just put a figure on what you say the cost of Corbyn will be to individual families. I’m asking you what is the cost of Johnson,” Webb asked.
“I’m asking you just to say openly what you believe the costs of your plans will be.”
The clash came after the Conservatives were accused of peddling “fake news” after claiming a “huge black hole” in Jeremy Corbyn's plans would cost each taxpayer £2,400 in higher bills.
That followed a claim at the weekend that Labour is plotting an “eye-watering” £1.2 trillion of spending over five years, something Mr Corbyn's party has branded an “incompetent mish-mash of debunked estimates and bad maths”.
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