Cable: Labour and Tories will run public finance into the ground

Date: 1st April 2010

A Labour or Conservative Party victory at the forthcoming general election will see the UK's public finances "run into the ground".

This is the view of Liberal Democrat treasury spokesman Vince Cable, who said that both parties are "as bad as each other".

Commenting on the ongoing debate over whether or not National Insurance rises should be reversed, Mr Cable said: "Whether it's for tax cuts or filling in the deficit hole, both parties seem to be in a competition to see who can come up with the least credible cuts.

"While Labour resorts to sending home sick nurses, the Tories can't even tell you what departments their cuts will be made in. The Liberal Democrats have an honest and credible plan to tackle the deficit and a fully costed tax plan to put £700 back in the pockets of average workers."

Mr Cable and his Labour and Tory counterparts, Alistair Darling and George Osborne, recently debated their policies in a Channel 4 programme called Ask the Chancellors.