Thread by @PickardJE

finally got around to skimming the Tory dossier on Labour’s “£1.2 trillion” of extra spending and it’s either

1) very much a worst-case scenario if you extrapolate everything ever said almost to stretching point

2) nonsense

depending on your perspective

for example the dossier days that a 32-hour working week would cost £85bn....

But as Labour made clear at the time, the 32-hour plan is a flaky aspiration rather than something that would be compulsory for either public or private sector...

google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.ft.c…

Also dossier suggests Labour will nationalise Big Six energy firms for £124bn.

1) the idea was voted through autumn conference but isn’t party policy yet....wait to see if it’s in the manifesto.

2) McDonnell nationalisations are (controversially) not usually at market price

Another example: Labour wants to take HS2 up to Scotland...eventually.

Dossier gives this a price tag of 43bn.

Yet the £1.2 trillion is meant to cover “over the next five years”.

HS2’s 2nd phase (to Manchester and Leeds) is scheduled to finish in 2035-2040.

Spot the flaw?

but yeah it’s a lovely sunny day and I’m off work and you get the idea

what’s so peculiar is that there are legitimate ways to question or attack Labour economic plans....but this is just cobbling together fake statistics