IEA Director of Public Policy and Communications Matthew Lesh has written for City AM criticising the main parties’ claims that their General Election manifestos are ‘fully costed’.

Matthew wrote:

“The Tories, along with all the other parties, say a large chunk of revenue will come from ‘cracking down on tax avoidance’. This does not make for full costing. While everyone hates tax cheats, nobody can really know how much giving HMRC more money will achieve.

“This is all before getting to the other major uncalculated burden: the cost of new regulations. 

“Labour plans to increase the minimum wage and ban ‘exploitative’ zero hour contracts. The Lib Dems have promised everything from more financial services regulation to new laws cracking down on puppy and kitten smuggling. The Tories are pushing ahead with costly requirements on all nighttime venues to develop terrorism prevention plans, introducing a football regulator, and a new licensing scheme for Botox and fillers. 

“It’s much easier for politicians to make these sorts of commitments than those with an explicit spending requirement. These policies may even have a certain appeal. But again, they will impose costs on millions of businesses and individuals. Notably, no party has attempted to even begin to calculate the real-world effects of their proposals.”

Read Matthew’s full piece here.