John Rentoul: "Yes, we would make two-thirds of the cuts" - The Independent (blog)

Gratified to see Evan Davis (right), in his interview with Ed Miliband on the Today programme, use the same analysis of Labour's policy on the deficit as my post on Tuesday. He asked Miliband to accept that Labour planned to cut spending by two-thirds as much as the Government intends to do: 63 per cent of the cumulative total cuts planned by 2014-15.*

Miliband's response was to say that the Tory-led Government wants to go £40bn further and faster than the deficit reduction planned by Alistair Darling before the election. Davis, who knows his numbers, got him to clarify that this was £30bn of extra spending cuts and £10bn of extra tax rises.

Actually, if we refer to table 1.1 from the Budget Red Book again (below), the actual amounts are £29bn of extra spending cuts and £9bn of extra tax rises, making £38bn per year by 2014-15 more than Labour had planned.

The difference between Labour and Tory plans to cut the deficit is significant. And yet George Osborne's plans bring public spending as a share of national income by 2014-15 back to only the same level as in 2007-08.

*I said in my previous post that I could not find any figures to support Boris Johnson's claim that Labour planned to make 80 per cent of the Coalition's cuts. The Mayor's press office was unable to help either.

Tagged in: fiscal responsibility