What is really going on in politics? Get our daily email briefing straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

A top Tory has been skewered over the party's "ludicrous fake news" claim that Labour would spend £1.2trillion in five years in a car crash TV interview.

Kwasi Kwarteng failed eight times to answer the most obvious question of them all - if you're claiming Labour will cost £1.2tn, then what will the Tories' plans cost?

The Business Minister wheeled out a £150bn cost for Tory investment in infrastructure - but the hapless minister couldn't give a proper overall figure like he did for Labour.

Eventually he told Sky News "I'm not going to bandy around figures" - as host Sophy Ridge hit back: "That’s what you’ve been doing for Labour!"

Tory researchers cooked up the £1.2tn figure in a 35-page dossier handed to right-wing Sunday newspapers, and later all Westminster journalists, after a plan to make Treasury civil servants do it was blocked.

(Image: Sky News)

The document claims Labour's previous manifesto pledges would cost £600bn, nationalisation would cost £196bn and the 32-hour working week would cost £85bn.

Yet Labour said its 2017 manifesto would cost just £48.6bn; the nationalisation bill has been found unreliable by the website Full Fact; and the working week bill incorrectly assumes it would be brought in on day one, when actually it's a long-term ambition over a decade.

The document also includes motions passed by members at Labour conference, despite the fact there is no guarantee they will be included in the 2019 election manifesto.

Chancellor Sajid Javid was also grilled over the figures by the BBC as he insisted they were "the true cost of Corbyn's Labour". "These are the numbers John McDonnell did not want you to see," he said. "They don't want to see this kind of transparency."

He claimed the spending would "It will be absolutely reckless and will leave this country with an economic crisis within months, not years, within months."

But he too would not be drawn on exact policies such as cutting inheritance tax.

In heavy questioning, interviewer Andrew Marr suggested they were "bogus figures and dodgy accounting", putting to him that "this is fake news" and "you've been very unfair on them".

(Image: PA)

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said: "This ludicrous piece of Tory fake news is an incompetent mish-mash of debunked estimates and bad maths cooked up because they know Labour’s plans for real change are popular.

“Labour will tax the rich to pay for things everyone needs and deserves, like decent housing, healthcare and support for our children.

"We will also use the power of the state to invest to grow our economy, create good jobs in every region and nation and tackle the climate emergency.

“The Conservatives will be able to read all about these plans – and how much they actually cost – when we publish our fully costed manifesto."

(Image: Peter Summers)

Labour will hold a 'Clause V' meeting next Saturday with dozens of party chiefs to draw up the manifesto.

Shadow Communities Secretary Andrew Gwynne said it would include costings, but as it has not been agreed yet a final figure is not available.

"This is an absolute work of fiction by the Conservatives. You can’t trust a word Johnson and his ministers say on the issue," he told the BBC.

Shadow Defence Secretary Nia Griffith confirmed the manifesto would not include " every single thing that was in our conference". She branded the "cobbled together" £1.2tn figure "absolutely ludicrous".

Despite the Tories' attack, both the Conservatives and Labour turned on the spending taps in the last week by vowing to massively increase borrowing.

Labour would increase borrowing by around £55bn a year to service two 'Transformation Funds' while the Tories would add around £20bn a year.

Business minister Kwasi Kwarteng was forced to defend the £1.2tn figure on Sky News' Sophy Ridge on Sunday.

He told Sky's Sophy Ridge On Sunday: "It is absolutely right that the public know that Labour's plans are reckless and unaffordable."

However, he could not state the total cost of the Tories' pledges.

Asked repeatedly, he feebly said there would be "a lot more" money for police and "a bit more" in other areas.

Eventually he said: "I'm not going to bandy around figures.

"It's absolutely right for us to say this is what the opposition are saying and this is how much it is going to cost."