Britain's
governing Conservatives sought to move the election campaign on to the economy
on Wednesday, taking aim at opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn with a
poster warning of a tax "bombshell" if his Labour Party wins next
month's vote.
Parliament
will be formally dissolved on Wednesday, kicking off the campaign period ahead
of a June 8 election which Prime Minister Theresa May has said she called to
help strengthen her hand in upcoming Brexit negotiations.
The poster,
featuring an image of Corbyn in front of a bomb emblazoned with the words
"more debt, higher taxes", warned voters that under the anti-nuclear
Labour leader they would face "No bombs for our army. One big bombshell
for your family."
It echoed a
poster used by the Conservatives in the 1992 election campaign which also
featured an image of a large bomb under the words "Labour's tax
bombshell".
Wednesday's
poster was published alongside a document in which the Conservatives said
Labour had made spending and tax commitments which would cost the public
finances at least 45 billion pounds ($58 billion) by 2019/2020.
"His
economic policies are a recipe for chaos, instability, uncertainty and
insecurity. Britain simply cannot take the risk of Jeremy Corbyn ... unleashing
economic chaos on the country," finance minister Philip Hammond said at a
campaign event.
Labour disputed
the figure, saying their plans were fully costed and would be set out in their
election manifesto.
"In
common parlance, people would call what the Tories (Conservatives) have
published today lies, absolute lies," Labour's economic spokesman John McDonnell
told BBC Radio.
"It is
shoddy that the Tories have produced it."
Opinion polls
give May's Conservatives a double-digit lead over Labour, with a Panelbase
survey on Wednesday putting them on 47 percent, down two percentage points from
a week earlier but still 17 points ahead of Labour.
Despite
seeking to focus on Labour's economic credentials, questions from journalists
to Hammond and Brexit minister David Davis at the campaign event focused
largely on reports of EU negotiators hiking the bill that Britain could face
when it leaves the European Union.
Both said they
did not recognize the figures published in the media.
*Reuters*
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