Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg today wrote to Gordon Brown, accusing him of deliberately misrepresenting Liberal Democrat economic policy in the House of Commons and calling on him to accept the true costs of his Government’s projects.
Nick Clegg said:
I believe that a frank debate about each political party’s position on economic policy is a valuable part of the public debate as the recession deepens.
However, this debate is only worthwhile if it is based on fact not fiction.
The full text of Nick Clegg’s letter is copied below:
I am writing to you in response to your refusal to recognise the Government spending figures I quoted during today’s Prime Minister’s Questions, and your repeated mischaracterisation of Liberal Democrat policy on public spending.
The figure I referenced for the cost of the NHS IT scheme comes from the May 2008 National Audit Office report which lists the total cost of the scheme at £12.656bn. Regarding the communications database, during Monday’s Home Office questions my colleague Chris Huhne asked the Home Secretary what the likely cost will be. She, however, failed to answer, but it was reported on the 5 October that it will total £12bn. Finally, regarding the costs of the introduction of ID cards, the Home Office identity cards scheme cost report in May listed the total cost of the introduction of ID cards to be in excess of £5bn.
Further, on numerous occasions you have deliberately misrepresented Liberal Democrat economic policy in the House of Commons, claiming that we propose a £20bn cut in public spending:
As I have repeatedly made clear, Liberal Democrat policy is to identify £20bn of Government spending which is either wasteful or ineffective and to re-allocate it to Liberal Democrat priorities in areas such as education and care for the elderly.
If there is money remaining once Liberal Democrat spending priorities have been met we propose to increase the funded tax cuts we are already offering to those on low and middle incomes.
I believe that a frank debate about each political party’s position on economic policy is a valuable part of the public debate as the recession deepens. However, this debate is only worthwhile if it is based on fact not fiction.
October 29th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
[...] office has just issued a press release about today’s PMQs. In it, he accuses Gordon Brown of deliberately misrepresenting Lib Dem policy on tax and spend: On numerous occasions you have deliberately misrepresented Liberal Democrat economic policy in the [...]