to wonder why the media and tory voters don't ridicule the Conservative manifesto for being totally uncosted?

[deeedeee]

and in a similar vein, why Diane Abbot getting figures wrong is a major story whereas Phillip Hammond and Michael Gove getting figures wrong isn't?

[FaFoutis]

Any why every time Labour come up with something the question is 'what is the cost of that?'. But that's rarely the question for Conservatives. Radio 4 is really pissing me off for this.

[LittleBearPad]

Because conservatives have a reputation for economic competence and labour don't. Each reputation may be undeserved and unfair but that's how it is.

[shinyredbus]

What LittleBearPad said

[InvisibleKittenAttack]

Yep, what LittleBearPad said. The general view is Labour = economically crap, so they have to prove they are not. On the other side, Conservative = nasty party who only care about rich old homeowners, hense them making a song and dance about any policy that involves them showing a caring side or something that will hit rich pensioners.

Labour got this under Blair and the genius plan of promising to stick to the Major government's spending and borrowing plans meant that the Tories couldn't attack them on economic mismanagement grounds.

[topcat2014]

But, surely, everything any government do is 'costed' in so far as they can tax and spend and borrow however they wish?

[InvisibleKittenAttack]

Oh and Diane Abbot gettng figures wrong is a story because the first one, the radio interview was just so car-crashingly awful, it was a great story. She didn't manage to gloss over it at all, seemed completely flustered and unable to cope with an interview. The others have been far less funny.

politics is so smooth and well managed these days, all the media training means that even when they make a mistake, most politicians are able to still bluff their way through, Diane Abbot's complete brain-fart was a rare thing and all the more entertaining for it.

[PortiaCastis]

This is just as bad

www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/tory-philip-hammond-skewered-bbc-10438641

[deeedeee]

But since 2010 the conservative Governement have created more new public debt than every single Labour government in history combined. The debt is still increasing and the Conservative manifesto admits that it won't stop increasing the debt until at least the middle of the next decade. In 2013 David Cameron was chastised by the UK Statistics Authority for lying that the Government have been "paying down" the national debt when actually increasing it.

[deeedeee]

But since 2010 the conservative Governement have created more new public debt than every single Labour government in history combined. The debt is still increasing and the Conservative manifesto admits that it won't stop increasing the debt until at least the middle of the next decade. In 2013 David Cameron was chastised by the UK Statistics Authority for lying that the Government have been "paying down" the national debt when actually increasing it.

[ivykaty44]

The media is own by right wing billionaires, who want a Tory government as it's in their I retests. Therefore they will attack the left and boost the right as they want people to vote Tory and keep them rich

[FaFoutis]

Yes ivy. Funny seeing the Daily Mail trying to rehabilitate the Conservative policies that affect pensioners lately.

[makeourfuture]

The debt is still increasing and the Conservative manifesto admits that it won't stop increasing the debt

Hammond blamed it on Brexit. Which is pretty rich coming from the party that dumped us out with no plan.

[kittytom]

Slightly OT but... I have been listening to R4 PM interviewing voters this week and Tory voters are saying stuff like 'well Theresa May has a nice manner'. 'Ooh no that Jeremy Corbyn can't do his tie up right'.

One person listed almost everything in the labour manifesto as her desires for the country (including nationalisation) and when asked if she was voting labour said 'oh goodness no'.

I have given up trying to understand people.

[kittytom]

makeourfuture yes, rich indeed

[InvisibleKittenAttack]

Thing is, ignoring the rights or wrongs of this - the Labour party know they are seen as economically incapable. They rarely win unless the economy is booming and voters don't have fear of economic melt down high up on their worry list.

They know this - so logically they should be trying to present themselves as having rock solid economic plans. They know they will be asked "how will this be paid for?" so need to have the answers, and those answers better be right! If anyone isn't good at face to face interviews when they will be drilled on numbers, then Labour Party HQ shouldn't let them be interviewed.

Yet this time round, there's been little attempt to present themselves as "a safe pair of hands" on the economy, focussing instead on their strengths of NHS and public services, with little attempt to deal with their weaknesses. Which is bloody annoying.

[newtlover]

YANBU, OP, but it's just another example of how the media is biassed.
Another example, Corbyn was ridiculed for stating that he would only consider armed conflict when it was the last resort and endorsed by the UN, criteria which strike me as pretty basic and reasonable.

[Squeegle]

Hear hear Invisible, they are rather naive not to be presenting their plans and to have forethought these answers. Dianne Abbot has obviously been particularly foolish.

[PortiaCastis]

Phillip Hammond made a huge gaffe but the media seemed to let him off
Very true the rags are tory

[Squeegle]

The thing that is obvious also is that JC is emminently reasonable and actually not radical at all. Unfortunately he has not been at all successful at being A leader and gainjng the confidence of most labour MPs and so they haven't been working together. It's silly really but these politicians need to be working as if they were army generals and if they work like they were Jesus it doesn't really happen!

[PortiaCastis]

More gaffes

www.independent.co.uk/voices/theresa-may-brexit-sterling-drop-gaffe-general-election-diane-abbott-far-worse-being-attacked-a7741116.html

[Squeegle]

People don't seem to be looking any further than their copy of the Daily Mail. Depressing.

[PortiaCastis]

Never read the Daily Fail

[JamieXeed74]

I think its 2 reasons.

1. The Conservatives are already perceived to be trusted on the economy so if they say they are going to do something its easy to believe they will do it. Conversely Corbyn and Abbot have never run a single thing in their whole lives so its almost impossible to believe they can run a country.
   
   
2. Jeremy is talking about spending mega amounts of money, borrowing hundreds of billions of pounds, nationalising several massive industries. Its a tad more important to understand how that will be funded. Conversely May is making promises that are a magnitude of ten smaller, so its a lot easier to take them at their word when its only a few billion.
   
   Labour aren't trusted on the economy, Conservatives are. Vice versa when it comes to the NHS etc. Its swings and roundabouts, reputations are decades in the building and weeks in destroying.

[ivykaty44]

Seriously? Do people really trust the conservative government with money when they have go the country into more debt than was even imaginable?

[ivykaty44]

www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/uk_national_debt_chart.html

/Blog/2016/03/13/the-conservatives-have-been-the-biggest-borrowers-over-the-last-70-years/

Labour governments are more fiscally conservative than Tory government - it's a fabricated myth by the media that labour are reckless with money and people believe it