The IFS made clear that Jeremy Corbyn's (pictured) 'numbers simply don't add up'

A respected independent think-tank delivered a devastating verdict on Labour's 'dangerous' plans for a huge spending splurge today - warning they would mean tax rises for everyone, not just the rich.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said Jeremy Corbyn's party was 'pretending' it could finance a wish list of commitments such as abolishing tuition fees purely by hitting companies and the wealthy.

But director Paul Johnson made clear that their 'numbers simply don't add up'.

The damning assessment comes on the eve of the election, and with polls showing that the race is too close to call.

Labour’s manifesto promises an array of expensive commitments, including scrapping university tuition fees at a cost of £11.2billion a year and ending austerity. Tens of billions more would be spent renationalising the energy, water, rail and mail industries - although that was not costed at all in the party's plans.

On the party's own figures, the tax burden would rise by around 10 per cent to the highest level since 1949.

Mr Corbyn has also made seemingly off-the-cuff commitments to lavish outlays such as writing off debts already accumulated by students - which could mean a bill of up to £30billion - without saying how they would be paid for.

LABOUR'S MANIFESTO SPENDING SPLURGE Education - £25.3bn a year Abolish university tuition fees, reintroduce maintenance grants. Nationalisation – Tens of billions of £ Railways, water, energy companies, and the Royal Mail re-nationalised. Infrastructure - £250bn Labour would borrow to invest in energy, transport and infrastructure. Law and order - over £300m An extra 10,000 police officers and 3,000 firefighters. Work, Welfare and Pensions - £4.6bn Scrap the 'bedroom tax' and reinstate housing benefit for under-21s. Public pay increases - £4bn Abolish 1 per cent cap. Health and Social Care: £7.7bn Some £5billion a year on healthcare, including abolition of hospital car parking charges. Advertisement

Appearing on BBC Radio 5 Live today, Mr Johnson rejected Labour's claim that it could finance 'enormous' increases in public spending purely by increasing taxes for the highest 5 per cent of earners and businesses.

essentially by huge increases in tax on companies and some big increases in tax on the highest earners,' he said.

'And actually they can't. Their numbers simply don't add up. They cannot raise the £50billion a year that they say they would raise in the way they would raise it from...

'If they tried it would be enormously economically damaging. Because none of these other countries that have these much higher levels of tax and spending do all of that additional taxation by hitting companies, and particularly in the context of Brexit when we are worried about inward investment.

'To be doing that would be dangerous.

'I think they are highly likely to have to increase other taxes, whether that be income tax or NI on ordinary workers - or have really unsustainable levels of public borrowing.'

Mr Johnson said the main parties were 'miles and miles and miles apart' and criticised the Tories for being guarded about their plans.

He said the Conservative offer appeared to be: 'We are the stable competent party, we're going to keep spending and taxes down as low as we can - it's just that we're not exactly sure how low that is.'