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IFS: Electorate 'left in the dark' by political parties

None of the top political parties has provided "anything like full details" on plans to cut the deficit in the next Parliament, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has said.

The IFS said the electorate had been left "somewhat in the dark" over the size and scale of cuts planned by the Tories, Labour, Liberal Democrats and SNP.

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IFS 'wrong' that Labour will only get budget balanced

Ed Balls. Credit: John Stillwell/PA Wire

Ed Balls, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, has defended his party's budget plans after the Institute for Fiscal Studies said voters were 'in the dark' over the plans of four major parties.

The IFS’ numbers wrongly assume that Labour will get the current budget only into balance. Our manifesto pledge is to get the current budget not only into balance but into surplus as soon as possible in the next Parliament. How big that surplus will be, and how quickly we can achieve that in the next Parliament, will depend on what happens to wages and the economy.

The Tories might be able to make the cuts but the last five years show they will fail to cut the deficit as they claim. They have borrowed £200 billion more than they planned because their

– Ed Balls

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