- Labour’s plans on infrastructure, welfare, employment legislation, tuition fees and shale gas could cost every household nearly £17,500 in just one parliamentary term (see Table 8).
- Their infrastructure plans alone could lead to a cost over £14,000 per household over the parliamentary term (see Table 2).
- Their pledges on employment legislation could lead to the loss of 1.3 million jobs by 2024/25 and cost the UK Treasury over £10bn a year by 2024/25 (see Table 4).
- The pledge to end tuition fees could cost over £50bn over the parliamentary term (see Table 5).
- The proposed ban on fracking could hit Treasury revenues and add over £9.5bn to Britain’s trade deficit over the parliamentary term (see Tables 6 & 7).
SUMMARY
In 2010, the UK’s budget deficit was the highest in the western world as a proportion of GDP, equating to nearly £200 billion. Since then, significant progress has been made in reducing the budget deficit, helping to shield the UK from turbulent economic times. It is, of course, hoped that this progress will continue for the remainder of this Parliament.
However, the danger now is that, if implemented, some of Labour’s economic and welfare proposals would undo much of this progress. While a Labour government may seem unlikely today, turbulent political times mean that anything is possible. Bookmakers still offer 6/1 on there being a Labour majority at the next general election. So it must be useful to try to estimate the effect of those Labour economic plans which have been put forward so far.
This paper examines Labour’s proposals in five areas:
- infrastructure
- welfare
- employment laws
- tuition fees and
- a ban on fracking
Labour’s 17500 Bill for Families by Katharine Croft on Scribd
