Lib Dems accuse Tories of not being honest over cuts

The Liberal Democrats have said today that the Tories are not being honest about the scale of the cuts they want to 'inflict' on the country. The Lib Dems also say that they are not being honest about how they intend to pay for their major new spending commitments. During the TV debates and at the Conservative manifesto launch, David Cameron repeatedly said that Tory cuts would only amount to ‘the equivalent of a normal household saving just £1 a year in every £100 it spends’.

However, Liberal Democrats say the Tory plans go much further than this, and would mean cuts of £36bn to balance the books in two years. The Lib Dems says that the Tory refusal to raise a penny from raising taxes for the wealthy, along with an extra year of ideological driven cuts once the books have been balance, plus their unfunded election giveaways, the total scale of their cuts to public services is closer to £60bn. That means, the Lib Dems claim, Tory cuts amount to taking £6 for every £100 the government spends for three years - more than the UK’s entire defence and police budget combined.

Commenting on the scale of the Conservatives plans for cuts,Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander said: "Freed from the shackle of Liberal Democrats in coalition, the Tories are returning to type. They will balance the books on the backs of the working poor while giving tax breaks to millionaires. The figure repeatedly used by David Cameron in the debates and in the Tory manifesto is completely made up. A nonsense. A dangerous deceit."

Continuing Mr Alexander said: "They will not raise a single penny in tax from the wealthiest to help pay down the deficit, and incredulously, won’t tell us where this axe will fall.This means David Cameron knows and refuses to tell us, or he simply doesn’t know. This is a dangerous deceit and it will end up hurting the most vulnerable people in our society and millions of the working families. The reality is they want to cut more than our entire defence and police budget combined. It spells disaster for schools, nurses and the live chances of our children."

"It is time David Cameron comes clean about his plans to cut the welfare budget and the true scale of Tory cuts." Danny Alexander added.