FINANCE

The new election game is fantasy public finances

The pre-election phoney war is a comedy of the absurd in which bad policies and wild spending commitments from politicians do the voters a grave disservice, writes Michael Burton.

This general election campaign still has another 80 days to go and already it is mind-numbingly banal with politicians who should know better making utterly asinine comments.

It was absurd for the Prime Minister to suggest that overweight people would be refused benefits until they could fit into a size 34 pair of trousers (I paraphrase). It was ludicrous that Ed Balls thinks we should ask for receipts every time we have the hedge cut (who actually employs hedge cutters anyway? What's wrong with a pair of shears?)

Michael Burton

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