CHANCELLOR HITS OUT AT LABOUR SPENDING PLANS
Labour would plunge Britain into an economic crisis "within months", Sajid Javid has warned.
And he's defended the Conservatives' claim that Jeremy Corbyn's policies would cost £1.2 trillion.
The Chancellor said the opposition would spend an extra £650 million a day if they win the General Election - labelling the levels of spending "eye-watering".
But Labour has condemned the analysis as a "ludicrous piece of Tory fake news" and an "incompetent mish-mash of debunked estimates and bad maths".
Mr Javid said the proposals - which include plans to renationalise rail, mail, water and energy - were "absolutely reckless" and equivalent to funding the entire NHS budget for nine years.
He told BBC One's The Andrew Marr Show: "This is the true cost of Corbyn's Labour: these are the numbers that John McDonnell did not want you to see, and they're out there today...
"These are eye-watering levels of spending - £1.2 trillion.
"It will be absolutely reckless and will leave this country with an economic crisis within months, not years."
But shadow chancellor John McDonnell said: "Labour will tax the rich to pay for things everyone needs and deserves, like decent housing, healthcare and support for our children.
"We will also use the power of the state to invest to grow our economy, create good jobs in every region and nation and tackle the climate emergency.
"The Conservatives will be able to read all about these plans - and how much they actually cost - when we publish our fully-costed manifesto."
The analysis, overseen by Mr Javid, is based on costings for Labour's last manifesto and its most recent pledges, spread across a five-year period.
Shadow defence secretary Nia Griffith said Labour would not implement every policy from its annual conference - as the party could "only do a certain amount at once".
Meanwhile, Business minister Kwasi Kwarteng was unable to put a price on his own party's pledges, and told Sky: "I'm not going to bandy around figures."
It came as:
- Party leaders displayed a rare moment of unity as they pause their campaigns to pay their respects at the National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph.
- Labour's shadow communities secretary Andrew Gwynne refused to say whether a Labour government's Brexit deal would end freedom of movement.
- Credit ratings agency Moody's lowering its outlook for UK debt to "negative" from "stable".
- Mr Kwarteng said Boris Johnson was right to claim there would be no barriers to trade crossing the Irish Sea after Brexit.
Mr Gwynne told the BBC that the £1.2 trillion claim was an "absolute work of fiction" by Tories, adding: "You can't trust a word that Johnson and his ministers say on this issue.
"We will have a fully-costed manifesto in due course when we launch that, and the challenge actually is for the Conservatives to fully cost their own manifesto, something they didn't do in 2017."
Asked what the correct figure for Labour's spending is, the shadow communities secretary said: "Well look, that's still being finalised."
Published: by Radio NewsHub