i agree to some extent bodhi
10 Labour election lies - Telegraph
www.telegraph.co.uk
Lie 1: Warning: "The Tories will cut £35bn from public services" (Labour poster).
The truth: Oliver Letwin, the Shadow Chancellor, has said that the Tories would spend £35 billion per year less than Labour by 2011-12. However, it is completely inaccurate to describe this plan as a "cut". The difference between the two parties is over the extent of the projected increase in public expenditure over the next six years. The Tories say they would spend £664 billion in 2011-12 compared to Labour's projected £699 billion. Labour has mendaciously presented this gap as a slash in public spending, when both parties agree that they will spend more on frontline services.
• Lie 2: Warning: "The Tories will bring in charges for hospital operations" (Labour poster).
The truth: Under the Conservatives, no one will be charged for NHS treatment. Their "Right to Choose" policy would give patients the freedom to choose to be treated without charge in any NHS hospital, or any private hospital that can provide treatment at the NHS tariff.
• Lie 3: "Two undeniable facts: 2.7 million more pensioner households will get money with Labour's plans but would get nothing under the Tories; when we compare the policies we find that 3.7 million pensioner households will get more from Labour than from the Tories" (Alan Johnson, Labour press release, March 17).
The truth: The Conservatives will match Labour's one-off £200 for pensioners, so no one loses. They will also cut pensioners' council tax bills by up to £500 a year. Households where the adults are 65 or over will get a 50 per cent reduction in their council tax bill. A typical single pensioner in a Band D property will get a reduction of £438 a year and a typical couple will benefit by £500 a year.
• Lie 4: "The Tories claim that they will use £1 billion from savings in local government inspection to pay for today's pledge on council tax" (John Prescott, Labour press release, February 21, 2005).
The truth: The money does not come from savings in local government. It comes from savings clearly identified, which are set out in the Conservatives' "Value for Money Action Plan".
• Lie 5: "Scrapping the New Deal and cutting Jobcentre Plus is not an efficiency saving - it is a cut that would mean an extra 300,000 people on benefit by the fourth year of a Tory government" (Gordon Brown, economic briefing, January 20, 2005).
The truth: The fall in unemployment is not the result of the New Deal - it started falling before Labour took over. In fact, the New Deal has cost £5 billion but only 37 per cent of young people, and just 23 per cent of the over 25s, have found sustained work through the scheme.
• Lie 6: Rhodri Morgan, the Welsh First Minister, claimed that the Conservatives "would cut the block grant from Whitehall to Wales, given by the Treasury to the National Assembly". The claims were made during the launch of Labour's Welsh manifesto on Thursday April 14.
The truth: Bill Wiggin, the Tories' shadow Welsh secretary, said: "Mr Morgan's claim that we would cut the block grant is simply not true."
• Lie 7: On April 18 a letter signed by the Labour deputy leader John Prescott claimed that the party pledged to cut hospital waiting times to 18 weeks was sent out across Scotland.
The truth: Scottish waiting time targets are 36 weeks. The letter failed to mention that the 18-week target was for England only.
• Lie 8: "Interest rates halved with Labour" (Labour poster).
The truth: The bank base rate in May 1997 when the Conservatives were last in office was 6.25 per cent. The current figure is 4.75 per cent, a fall of around a quarter, not a half.
• Lie 9: The Scottish Labour website stated on April 3 that "Scottish Labour has ensured that no full-time undergraduate student has to pay up-front tuition fees in Scotland".
The truth: Full-time undergraduate students have to pay up-front tuition fees in Scotland unless they are Scottish domiciled.
• Lie 10: Hilary Benn and other Labour officials have repeatedly stated that the Tories "would cut £800 million from the international development budget". The claim still appears today on the Labour Party website.
The truth: The Conservatives plan to increase spending on the Department for International Development (DFID) by £800 million over three years, from £4.5 billion in 2005-06 to £5.3 billion in 2007-08. That is, measure for measure, exactly the same as the figures announced by the Government.
