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Election 2015: Labour manifesto pledge of no 'additional borrowing' Election 2015: Miliband says he is 'ready' to lead country
(about 1 month later)
Labour says it will guarantee that each of its policies will be fully funded and require no additional borrowing, as it launches its manifesto on Monday. Ed Miliband has said Labour will "change the way the country is run and who it is run for" as he launched the party's election manifesto.
Leader Ed Miliband will rule out a "shopping list of spending policies" and promise a Labour government would cut the deficit every year. Saying he had been tested as opposition leader and was "ready" for power, Mr Miliband said Labour would be a "party of change and responsibility".
The Conservatives would go on a "reckless spending spree", he will say. He ruled out a "shopping list of proposals", guaranteeing all policies would require no extra borrowing.
Tory Treasury Minister David Gauke said Mr Miliband had "no plan to clear the deficit" and would have to borrow more. But PM David Cameron accused Mr Miliband of trying to "con" the public.
"Even Ed Miliband's own campaign chief admits Labour will borrow more to pay for their unfunded spending promises," he argued. The 86-page manifesto, which is 20,421 words long, sets out Labour's main policy pledges, including:
In other election news: Speaking in Manchester, Mr Miliband said the first page of Labour's manifesto "sets out a vow to protect our nation's finances; a clear commitment that every policy... is paid for without a single penny of extra borrowing".
The first page of Labour's manifesto, Mr Miliband will say, "sets out a vow to protect our nation's finances; a clear commitment that every policy... is paid for without a single penny of extra borrowing". Labour would not promise anything it could not fund, he said, contrasting this with the Conservatives which he described as the "party of sums that do not add up and commitments that cannot be kept".
Mr Miliband will add: "In recent days you have seen the Conservatives throwing spending promises around with no idea of where the money is coming from, promises which are unfunded, unfair and unbelievable." He added: "The plan we lay before you is no less ambitious because we live in a time of scarcity.
"It is more ambitious because it starts from a clear commitment to balance the books and more ambitious because it does not stop there.
"It meets the scale of the challenges we face today with not one policy funded by extra borrowing."
'Tested'
Mr Miliband said Labour would put the interests of working people ahead of vested commercial interests, promising to raise the minimum wage to more than £8 by 2020 and requiring the wealthiest in society to pay more in tax.
He said he would not seek to "carry on from where the last Labour government left off" but would "seek to solve the challenges of our time".
Addressing criticism of his leadership and suitability to be prime minister, which the Conservatives have made an election issue, he said: "Over the last four-and-a-half years, I have been tested.
"It is right that I have been tested for the privilege of leading this country.
"I am ready. Ready to put an end to the tired old idea that as long as we look after the rich and powerful we will all be OK.
"Ready to put into practice the truth that it is only when working people succeed, that Britain succeeds."
But Mr Cameron told BBC Radio Newcastle: "When people hear Ed Miliband today they will think this is not a conversion to responsibility. It is not a conversion, it is a con."
In other election news on Monday:
With political parties under increasing pressure to explain how they will fund their pledges, the Institute for Fiscal Studies complained on Sunday that they were making "lots of promises" without producing much detail on how to deliver them.With political parties under increasing pressure to explain how they will fund their pledges, the Institute for Fiscal Studies complained on Sunday that they were making "lots of promises" without producing much detail on how to deliver them.
But Labour is hoping to position itself as "the party of responsibility" for the public finances. It is aiming for a budget surplus "as soon as possible in the next parliament". Carl Emmerson, the IFS deputy director, said Labour had not indicated whether cuts would be made to police, defence or local government budgets to balance the books.
Its manifesto - being unveiled in Manchester - commits a Labour government to what it calls a "budget responsibility lock". Labour has said it would "do what it takes" to support the NHS but would not make any funding promises which could not be met.
This would "guarantee" that every policy is paid for without additional borrowing and would, in future, require all the major parties to have their tax and spending plans audited by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility before a general election. It is guaranteeing that every policy is paid for without additional borrowing through a "budget responsibility lock", which would also require all the major parties to have their tax and spending plans audited by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility before a general election.
The manifesto sets out Labour's pre-announced policy pledges, including:
Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls told the BBC that people had had a "hard few years" and Labour had to show it could offer people a "better future" while also making "unequivocal" promises to cut the deficit.
"The Institute for Fiscal Studies has said we have been the most careful of the parties," he told BBC Breakfast. "We are not making any unfunded commitments. We are only spending money where we can identify where it will come from."
Analysis by political editor Nick RobinsonAnalysis by political editor Nick Robinson
Labour are already briefing that reassurance about the party's greatest perceived weakness - their seriousness about tackling the deficit - will feature on page one. Ed Miliband's "mission" as your prime minister would, he said, be simply summed up: "I will always stand up for you."
The prominence they're giving to their promise to be prudent is new. The detail which we have so far been told about is not. It was one of the most powerful speeches I've seen him make.
So, today I'll be looking to see what eye-catching, vote-attracting, focus-group tested pledges the party will add to its retail offer. It was, though, the front page of the manifesto with its "Budget Responsibility Commitment" and "clear vow to protect our nation's finances" which revealed his greatest fear. How can he convince voters so soon after the Great Crash of 2008 to put Labour in charge of the economy again?
Much more importantly than the promises and the slogans, though, will be seeing whether Ed Miliband's manifesto paints a picture of the radical change he wants to produce in this country. He and his allies have always seen himself as being in the mould of an Attlee or a Thatcher. If so, today's manifesto should tell us a lot more about what the next five years of a Miliband led Britain could be like. Read Nick's blog in full. He promises a "triple lock ….everything in this manifesto is funded. The deficit will be cut every year. The books will be balanced and the national debt will be falling."
Mr Balls said Labour would "do what it takes" to support the NHS but would not make any promises which it could not meet, claiming that the Conservatives had made "dangerous and risky" pledges on funding for the NHS and tax cuts. The language is new. The prominence it's being given is new too and a stark contrast with that last big speech Ed Miliband made in Manchester, at the Labour Party conference, when he "forgot the deficit". The content is not though. Read Nick's blog in full.
Both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have pledged to eliminate the fiscal deficit by 2017/18. Both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have pledged to eliminate the £90bn annual deficit by 2017/18.
However, while Labour promises to reduce the deficit during every year of the coming parliament, the party offers no deadline, saying it would commit to achieving a budget surplus "as soon as possible "in the next Parliament. However, while Labour promises to cut borrowing during every year of the coming Parliament, the party offers no deadline, saying it would commit to achieving a budget surplus on current spending "as soon as possible" between 2015 and 2020.
And Treasury Minister Mr Gauke pointed to polls suggesting Labour could have to rely on a deal with the Scottish National Party - which is campaigning to end austerity - in order to form a government. Labour's rivals said its track record was one of economic mismanagement, with Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg likening Labour's borrowing pledge to "an alcoholic, who drinks a bottle of vodka every day, claiming they have no plans for additional vodka".
He said: "Everybody knows the SNP will call the tune and force even more borrowing, even more debt and even more taxes on a weak Ed Miliband government. Britain's hard-working taxpayers will pay the price for the economic chaos." UKIP leader Nigel Farage said there was no detail about how the deficit would be cut, while the SNP's Nicola Sturgeon said Scotland would see further budget cuts under Labour.
Employers group the CBI welcomed Labour's focus on fiscal responsibility but said its proposed interventions in markets such as energy were worrying.
The Conservatives and Greens are due to launch their manifestos on Tuesday, followed later this week by the Lib Dems and UKIP.
Several manifesto pledges made in 2010, including a Conservative plan to raise the inheritance tax threshold and a Lib Dem commitment for a £2m "mansion tax", did not make it into the coalition programme the two parties agreed on after the two parties went into government together.
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