LIVERPOOL/MANCHESTER (England) • Britain's governing Conservatives vowed yesterday to spend billions of pounds more on infrastructure, stepping up an election battle with the main opposition Labour Party over who is best placed to drive growth and help struggling regions.
With Britons due to vote on Dec 12, the main parties are drawing up battle lines: Prime Minister Boris Johnson says only he can deliver Brexit, while Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn says he alone can offer real change.
Both parties focused on the economy on the second day of the official campaign.
Finance Minister Sajid Javid said his willingness to spend an additional £20 billion (S$34.8 billion) a year was the "responsible" way to drive growth following years of tight spending that has angered swathes of the electorate.
Mr Javid was speaking shortly before Labour's would-be finance minister John McDonnell set out his plan to spend £400 billion over 10 years on schools, homes and hospitals.
Early spending pledges from the two parties prompted a non-partisan think-tank, the Resolution Foundation, to declare on Monday that Britain appeared to be heading back to levels of spending seen in the 1970s, whoever wins the election.
Mr Javid said voters faced a choice over which party could be trusted to spend more to grow the economy without racking up debt.
"The difference between Labour and the Conservatives just couldn't be bigger in this. We have a responsible plan that will allow us to have that decade of renewal," he said in the northern English city of Manchester.
The election called by Mr Johnson to try to break the parliamentary deadlock over Brexit is shaping up to be a contest between two parties more than willing to break with years of economic austerity imposed since the Conservatives took power in 2010.
Both Mr Javid and Mr McDonnell travelled to the north of England to make their pitches, eyeing seats outside the main cities where many voters feel they have been squeezed by nine years of cuts and decades of deindustrialisation.
Mr McDonnell, a left-winger who opposes the current model of capitalism and promises to shake up the financial sector if he takes control at the Treasury, pledged an additional £150 billion of spending. He said this would "begin the urgent task of repairing our social fabric that the Tories (Conservatives) have torn apart".
The £150 billion is in addition to £250 billion Labour had already pledged to invest in capital projects over the next 10 years, financed by selling long-term bonds, to stimulate growth and make the economy more environmentally friendly.
The Conservatives are enjoying a lead over Labour of between 7 percentage points and 17 percentage points, though pollsters warn that voters are volatile and their models are wilting beside the Brexit furnace.
The Conservatives were also eyeing another key battleground yesterday, with Mr Johnson expected to visit Scotland and tell voters there that a victory for his Conservatives would halt the Scottish National Party's plans to hold another independence vote.
Meanwhile, three small parties opposed to Brexit yesterday revealed plans to work together to deliver anti-Brexit candidates in the election. The Liberal Democrats, the Greens and Welsh nationalists Plaid Cymru said they will stand aside for one another in 60 of the 650 seats contested.
REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
