Labour and Conservatives rebuked for dishonest general election manifestos

Britain's two major political parties, the Conservatives and Labour, are not giving voters an "honest set of choices" at the general election, a highly respected think tank warned on Friday 26 May.

Tax and public policy experts the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said it was a "shame" that neither Jeremy Corbyn's nor Theresa May's parties had addressed the "long-term challenges we face" in their manifestos.

"The Labour manifesto comes with two big risks," said Carl Emmerson, the deputy director of the IFS.

"The first is that they might well not raise anything like the tax revenues they want from their proposed measures.

"The second is that some of the proposed tax increases, alongside the very big increase in the minimum wage, and other labour market regulation, would turn out to be economically damaging."

He also said Labour would raise government spending to its highest level since the mid-1980s, with tax hikes, including raises to income and corporation tax, culminating in their highest peacetime levels.

Emmerson added: "For the Conservatives the big risk is that, after seven years of austerity, they would not be able to deliver the promised spending cuts either at all or at least without serious damage to the quality of public services.

"Their tight immigration targets would, if delivered, also damage the economy and the tax base."

The damning assessment comes with less than two weeks to go before the general election on 8 June. The latest YouGov poll, of more than 2,000 people between 24 and 25 May, gave the Conservatives a lead of five points (43% versus 38%).