The truth behind the Tory-Labour spending row is that neither party is getting it right

Editorial: Like battle plans, few fiscal ones survive their first skirmish with reality, whichever party is in power. Tax cuts and spending splurges are easily reversed, post-election. It is an old trick

A few days ago it was reported that the head of the civil service, Sir Mark Sedwill, refused to allow independent impartial British civil servants to produce Conservative Party propaganda. It was a brave decision, because this government, more than most, tends towards vindictiveness, and the prime minister’s principal adviser, Dominic Cummings, holds the institution in the deepest contempt. Sir Mark may therefore find himself suffering some personal discomfort as a result of his stance.

The chancellor, Sajid Javid, was reportedly furious at such impudence by a mere official, a member of the fabled “unelected elite”. Sir Mark may in due course be replaced by “one of us”, as a previous generation of Tory supremacists used to say. Much the same, by the way, may be expected when the next governor of the Bank of England is appointed in the coming months, should the Tories gain a majority at the election.

No matter. The Conservatives went ahead anyway and came up with a very large number indeed – £1.2 trillion – for Labour’s spending plans over a period of some years, whether they happen to be official policy or not. It is the sort of number that might look good stuck on the side of a bus, were the electors not somewhat sceptical about such things, based on recent experience. Their dossier on Labour is rather audacious given that their own fiscal plans are as ambitious, and unaffordable, as Labour’s in 2017 – condemned as “magic money tree” economics by the now forgotten Theresa May.