DON’T mud wrestle with a pig, you get dirty and the pig likes it.
By the same token it is a reckless politician who — unless they are very sure of their facts — gets into a statistical standoff with the Institute of Fiscal Studies.
But however magisterial the tone deployed by Paul Johnson of the IFS in discussing the spending plans of the two main contenders in this election (and the LibDem also-rans) we have to step back and look at the politics.
Starmer sabotaged Labour with his second referendum campaign, mobilising a liberal backlash that sincerely felt progressive ideals were at stake — but the EU was then and is now an entity Britain should have nothing to do with, explains NICK WRIGHT
The BBC and OBR claim that failing to cut disability benefits could ‘destabilise the economy’ while ignoring the spendthrift approach to tens of billions on military spending that really spirals out of control, argues DIANE ABBOTT MP


