Labour’s plan to renationalise the railways would cost £13.9 billion, it was estimated

The CBI has hit back against claims it peddled “phoney figures” by projecting that Labour’s renationalisation plans would cost £196 billion.

The business organisation last night called on Labour to clear up the “ambiguity” surrounding its plans to bring railways, utilities and Royal Mail back under public ownership and publish its own estimates about the cost.

A Labour source responded by dismissing CBI calculations as “piss poor”.

Jeremy Corbyn led criticism this week after the CBI conceded that buying the actual trains that travel on Britain’s railways — the cost of which was incorporated into its £196 billion total — “isn’t official Labour policy”.

The lobby group’s analysis was examined yesterday by Full Fact, an independent charity, which also concluded that it “doesn’t factor