John McDonnell turned the tables on ITV’s Political Editor today by using the journalist’s recently published book to justify Labour’s spending plans.
The Shadow Chancellor quoted from Robert Peston’s “WTF” as he explained why Labour would borrow an additional £250billion to invest in the UK – despite the country already being in £1.8trillion of debt.
Peston was heard to mutter “Yeah I know what’s going to happen now” as McDonnell began referencing is latest book, leading the journalist to chuckle to himself as he heard his own arguments thrown back at him.
The Shadow Chancellor said: “There was a very good book published a month ago which actually said, the author said, we’ve got to stop being frightened off, by the myths around public investment and we have to use public investment to grow our economy, and I think you were right in that book.”
Peston pointed out his book also argued for “the importance of politicians telling the truth to the public” as he quizzed the Shadow Chancellor on how much it would cost to borrow the extra money.
When asked if he agreed with the Institute of Fiscal Studies analysis it would cost an additional £2billion a year, McDonnell replied: “No, I can’t predict it.”
He explained he was not able to predict what the cost of borrowing would be by the time Labour got into Government.
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