Parties keep voters guessing over cuts

ALL three major parties are accused of being "particularly vague" about where the axe will fall as public spending faces the deepest cuts since the 1970s whoever wins the election.

More tax rises and welfare cuts are also likely to be on their way after polling day according to analysis by the respected think-tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).

As the three party leaders prepare to clash over the economy in the final televised prime ministerial debate tomorrow, the IFS warns it is "striking how reticent" all three have been at explaining how they would plug the gaping hole in the public finances. It blamed Labour's failure to hold a spending review ahead of the election.

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The IFS analysis says that the Tories would deliver cuts to public spending from 2011 not seen over any five-year period since the Second World War, while between 2014–15 and 2016–17 cuts would be deepest under the Liberal Democrats. It estimates that Labour would have to find further tax rises worth 7bn a year in order to meet its plans, while the Tories would need an extra 3bn to meet theirs.

IFS director Robert Chote said no party had come "anywhere close" to identifying where spending cuts would be made.

Examining some of the parties' key policies, the IFS raised question marks over the Liberal Democrats' flagship proposal to stop people paying the income tax until they earn 10,000, warning of "uncertainty" around the party's estimates for how they would fund it.