Election 2017: what the parties haven’t told voters

Full Fact factchecks what the parties do say. Often what they haven’t said matters even more.

On the economy –

“The shame of the two big parties’ manifestos is that neither sets out an honest set of choices.”

“It is likely that the Conservatives would either have to resort to tax or borrowing increases to bail out public services under increasing pressure, or would risk presiding over a decline in the quality of some of those services, including the NHS.

“Labour’s commitment to a much bigger public sector would require higher taxes that affect many of us. A bigger state than the one we have been used to is perfectly feasible as many countries have demonstrated, but Labour should not pretend that such a step-change could be funded entirely by a small minority at the very top.”

— Institute for Fiscal Studies. Read more.

On the NHS –

“Projections by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility suggest that a real-terms funding increase of about £30 billion a year is needed in five years’ time to enable the NHS to deal with these pressures. None of the main political parties has pledged enough to cover even half of that, while the share of our national wealth spent on healthcare would fall under all of their plans.”

— Health Foundation, Nuffield Trust, King’s Fund. Read more.

On immigration –

“The manifestos are not credible on post-Brexit immigration... Both parties argue that free movement should end after we leave the EU, but details beyond that are patchy. Delivering change on this sort of scale will take years, and voters may find themselves back at the ballot box in 2022 before any new government’s manifesto promises on immigration become a reality.”

— Institute for Government. Read more.

On Brexit –

“The Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrats’ manifestos all ignore the true potential impact of Brexit.”

The academics point out how Brexit negotiations will affect the economy, health, and immigration and say: “What is striking, is that while all three parties view Brexit as a major event, the manifestos treat it largely in isolation from other aspects of policy, rather than the defining issue of the next parliament.”

— UK in a Changing Europe. Read more.

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