The true cost of Labour's spend: pounds 700bn lair and Darling boast of generosity but gilt market reflects growing alar
Topic 1THE DAILY TELEGRAPH(LONDON)The true cost of Labour's spend: pounds 700bn lair and Darling boast of generosity but gilt market reflects growing alarm in CityMarch 18, 2005, FridayBy George Trefgarne and Malcolm MooreLABOUR is planning to spend nearly pounds 700billion by the end of the next Parliament, according to a party document intended to expose Conservative proposals.The Treasury and the Chancellor refused to endorse the number, as the Red Book only forecasts as far as 2007-08, when the Government is officially expecting to spend pounds 580billion, compared with pounds 484billion this year and pounds 372billion when Labour came to power in 1997.However, the pounds 698.4billion number was used by the Prime Minister to set against the Conservatives' published plans to try to prove the Opposition aims to cut spending by pounds 35billion by 2011-12. "It is a cut over Labour's plans," he told ITV. In a press release on Labour's website, Alistair Darling, the Transport Secretary, also described the pounds 698.4billion figure as "Labour's plans".
