Ed Miliband to put deficit reduction first in vow to balance nation's books

ED MILIBAND will today risk a fresh row about Labour’s tarnished economic record by putting deficit reduction at the heart of his manifesto.

Ed MilibandGETTY

Ed Miliband's manifesto vow will come under scrutiny

The Labour leader is to open his General Election pledge to voters with a vow to balance the nation’s books “as soon as possible”.

In what will be seen as an attempt to repair the damage from his failure to mention the deficit in his Labour conference speech, he will say protecting national finances would be his mission.

But a series of multi-billion pound spending pledges is expected to come under intense scrutiny today.

Last night Chancellor George Osborne said: “Labour’s manifesto will be a dangerous cocktail of higher taxes and more debt that will cost jobs and cut incomes.”

he start of our manifesto isn’t a shopping list of spending policies

Ed Miliband

Key policies to be detailed include a £2.5billion-a-year NHS fund, 25 hours a week of childcare for working parents of three and four-year-olds and smaller primary school class sizes.

At the launch, Mr Miliband will say: “The start of our manifesto isn’t a shopping list of spending policies.

"Every policy is paid for without a penny of extra borrowing.”

Other measures listed include a freeze on gas and electricity bills until 2017, a ban on “zero hours” contracts and a minimum wage of £8 an hour. 

Ed Miliband gets egged

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