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Tory Chancellor Philip Hammond went on the radio this morning to attack Labour's manifesto - but ended up getting his own figures in a muddle.

Mr Hammond claims there's a £58 billion hole in Labour's funding - but didn't appear to know the true cost of HS2 - the major rail project linking London with Leeds, Birmingham and the East Midlands.

Asked for the cost of the major project by the BBC’s John Humphrys, Hammond said: "About £32 billion."

Humphrys said: "£32 billion? Not £52 billion?"

A flustered Hammond replied: "Er it's...over...I mean...there's a huge amount of contingency built in to the budgeting for these projects."

"And they're usually met, these contingencies, aren't they?" Humphrys shot back.

"These things almost always cost more than we expect."

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

Humphrys pointed out Hammond’s claim that Jeremy Corbyn ’s manifesto ‘doesn't add up’ relied on combining current spending and capital spending.

Current spending is the day-to-day expenses of the country, which need to be covered by taxation or other ongoing income.

Capital spending is one off costs, like buildings and the initial costs of nationalisation. Because they don’t have ongoing costs, they don’t increase the deficit, but they do increase the overall national debt.

Humphrys noted that even Hammond doesn't combine the two figures when making his financial statements.

But Hammond said even the one off costs have to be paid for "either through taxation, or through borrowing."

(Image: REUTERS)

Labour have accepted they will borrow to pay for investment in infrastructure.

Humphrys asked: “Are you honestly telling me that you are not going to borrow anything to spend on capital or infrastructure projects over the next five years?”

Hammond admitted: “Of course we’re going to borrow, but we’ve set out our fiscal rules in the Autumn Statement, you’ll have to wait and see in the manifesto what we say about fiscal rules going forward.”

The Chancellor insisted the cost of HS2 was to be spread over 15 years, but offered no explanation for how that was different to Labour's capital spending plans, repeating: "Labour's plans do not add up."

Humphrys said: "I understand that is the mantra, but the fact is they have covered the running cost. Things people would really like to see them spend a bit of money on, like scrapping tuition fees, investment in cuts, NHS and so on. Things that people say "yes, I want to see that happening."

"And they have covered that. They've told us how they're going to pay for it."

Again, Hammond blustered, insisting: "They haven't."

Asked when the Tories planned to release their manifesto, he would only say "very soon."