George Osborne claims a Miliband/SNP deal would leave families £350 worse off
The chancellor is determined to bring the election campaign back to the big issue of the economy where he thinks the Conservatives have the edge over Labour.
He has used a big front page interview in the Telegraph to point to “independent Treasury analysis” he says shows that SNP policies would add £6 billion to Britain’s debt interest bill – the equivalent of £358 per household per year.
He’s been on Radio 4 this morning to hammer home the point (plus sending out a five page briefing notes to journalists with quotes from businesses ostensibly backing the Conservatives).
What business commentators point out is that many business leaders are also extremely concerned about the rhetoric of some Conservatives about Britain’s place in the EU and the prospect of a referendum. Others say that voters won’t be overly impressed that Mr Osborne is quoting the very people who caused the financial crash in the first place.
He first points to one of Canada’s largest banks CIBC which he claims think of Labour and the SNP as a “dangerous cocktail”.
They have been joined by Morgan Stanley, the US investment bank, BlackRock, which is the largest pension fund in the world, Deutsche Bank, the largest German banks. These are pretty unsentimental people.
Labour have hit back with an alternative briefing from Citigroup which says they are “relaxed about UK political uncertainty” and that there “is less to fear from a minority government than in the past”.
Humphrys finishes the interview by asking Mr Osborne for his marks out of ten for the election campaign so far.
Unsurprisingly he dodges it – he says we’ll have to wait for May 8 for that, but he’s confident it’s going well.