Boris Johnson just took a very big political risk, by not making any serious attempt to compete with Labour on bunging cash at public services and the fabric of the UK.
Where Corbyn is pledging £83 billion a year of increased spending on students, the elderly, health, schools, public-sector pay and so on by 2023, the Tories offer £3 billion.
For Labour’s £80 billion plus per year on new housing, pension compensation for women born in the 1950s, nationalisations, greening businesses and multiple other projects, Johnson is committing to £8 billion by the end of the next parliament.
To be clear, Johnson’s relative parsimony is not quite what it seems – because the Tories already made their big pledges to increase hospital, police and schools funding before the election.
And his manifesto does include just under £1.6 billion a year of new money to train and recruit 50,000 additional nurses and 50m more GP appointments.
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