Anyone listening to Lord Mandelson’s claim this morning that the Brown stimulus saved “at least” half a million jobs would have smelt a large, whiskered rat. The Treasury has tonight told The Telegraph that the 500,000 figure was a maximum estimate, not a minimum as Mandy claimed. Your baristas here at Coffee House have asked the Treasury to show us their study – not available, it seems. So we have submitted a Freedom of Information request for it. While we all hold our breath, it’s worth looking at this claim in more detail because it is a Brownie we are highly likely to hear again.
First, here’s Mandy’s comments to an exasperated (and sometimes almost speechless) Evan Davis on the Today programme this morning:
“The Treasury estimates that there would have been at least, probably far in excess of, 500,000 jobs lost in the recession had it not been for the Government’s and the Bank of England’s intervention”
When asked, the Treasury points to an extract in Darling’s Budget
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