Unspun: Picking apart the parties' election campaign claims

  • Unspun
George Osborne and Cabinet colleagues attacked Labour's spending plans today. Credit: Anthony Devlin/PA Wire

Truth or untruth? Information or misinformation?

Politicians will fire all sort of claims at you over the 17 and a half weeks which remain between now and Election Day.

We will attempt to do what we can to unspin what has been spun.

And after the pledges and promises made by both Labour and the Conservatives today - there can be no better time to launch our Unspun series.

When George Osborne launched his dossier of claims about Labour's plans today, he alleged his opponents had committed to £23.3 billion of spending (policy announcements and promises to reverse government cuts) whilst finding only £2.5 billion of new revenue.

Spin or fact?

It's actually a bit of both.

Some announcements had in fact been costed - like a £45 million plan to hire one thousand new Border Force staff paid for by charging overseas visitors to come to the UK.

Some commitments were made as long ago as 2013 - and Labour quickly claimed they were no longer party policy (like the £477 million plan to stop sending food waste to landfill sites).

In other cases - Labour were forced to admit that yes, they had opposed the cuts when the government announced them, but they wouldn't be reversing them if Ed Miliband made it to Downing Street (like the £83 million cuts in Arts Council funding).

So far so unclear.

But the Conservatives today were clearly attempting to capitalise on what the focus groups and opinion polls tell them: voters trust the Conservatives more than Labour with the economy and the public finances.

You'll note David Cameron will speak about little else between now and May.

Ed Miliband setting out Labour's plans earlier today. Credit: Peter Byrne/PA Wire

Which is fine by us, said Labour.

Because Ed Miliband claims the Tories have a £7 billion spending hole of their own.

Last year, Mr Cameron promised to raise the level at which you start paying tax to £12,500 (cost £5.6 billion) and raise the rate the 40p income tax begins to £50,000 (cost £1.6 billion).

The Conservatives have not announced how they will fund these promises.

When we asked George Osborne's team how they plan to pay for them, they would only say that voters should judge the party on its track record of cutting the deficit AND cutting tax.

In other words, "Trust us".

Trust in politicians, however, is in short supply.

But in such a close election battle, it's more important than ever that we don't take their word for it, and we do what we can to unravel their claims.