Labour Poster Attacks VAT Rise On Food, But You Don't Pay VAT On Food

Labour Poster Attacks VAT Rise On Food, But You Don't Pay VAT On Food
Labour Party

The Labour Party's latest election campaign poster has been widely mocked for not making any sense.

The advert, which is being driven around by vans, reads: "They put £450 extra VAT on your shopping bill: Cameron & Clegg, two peas in a pod."

However as critics have pointed out that the advert is more than a little bit inaccurate, as a lot of the food items pictured are VAT exempt.

Tory MP Henry Smith MP said: "It’s the same old economic incompetence from Labour. They have no long-term plan to fix the economy so instead Ed Miliband resorts to political gimmicks that don’t even add up."

In January 2011 the coalition increased the standard rate of VAT from 17.5% to 20% in an attempt to boost tax revenues to cut its deficit.

A Labour spokesman defended the advert:"It is not an itemised list of everything they've increased VAT on - it's a representation of average shopping basket."

Earlier this week Labour also took a lot of stick, including from many of its own supporters in the commentariat, for its latest party political broadcast which mocked Nick Clegg.

The TV broadcast was criticised both for targeting the Lib Dem leader, rather than David Cameron, and for being overly trivial.

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