Lib Dems left ‘red-faced’ by manifesto leak
A draft of the Lib Dem election manifesto has been accidentally leaked to Labour.
The Liberal Democrats sent the document, marked “confidential – not for circulation”, to all 30 Labour member of the Welsh Assembly, to the delight of the party’s Labour and Conservative rivals.
The Liberal Dems have not yet costed all their plans and part of the draft reads: “To add, costings summary”.
The party has admitted being “red-faced” but insists that the leak will get voters talking about their plans, which include scrapping Labour’s New Deal, reducing the number of spin doctors and having more congestion charges for drivers.
Senior party officials have denied the leak was deliberate and have promised that there will be an internal investigation into the error.
Other proposals outlined in the draft document include scrapping tuition fees and the Child Trust Fund and establishing an elected senate.
Tax plans, costings, environmental tax proposals and pensions proposals are all missing from the draft manifesto.
Lib Dem chairman Matthew Taylor told BBC News 24 that the document was not a manifesto itself but a discussion document, forming part of plans for the Lib Dem platform at next year’s General Election.
Labour’s chairman, Ian McCartney, commented: “This document confirms the Lib Dems have no idea how they will pay for their long list of spending commitments.
“It also shows that Charles Kennedy is secretly planning to axe the new Child Trust Fund and return Britain to Tory levels of unemployment by axing the New Deal.”
Conservative shadow transport secretary Damian Green said: “The Liberal Democrats have confirmed that they plan to pile even more burden on hard pressed British motorists with the extension of congestion charging to other towns and cities.”
Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy is now expected to face a grilling in the Commons today over the leaked document.
