Many businesspeople have supported the Tory plan not to increase the NI contributions. Perhaps Mr Brown was unwise to tell business leaders that they have been deceived by the Conservatives. Anyway, tax on jobs is a pretty good slogan. Yet, it could still backfire, because of the funding gap and the opaqueness of the efficiency savings. All parties’ figures, if past experiences were any guide, will not stack up, but the figure of 12 billion pounds will be often repeated, and the Tories may be pressed to be more specific about where this money will come from. British voters will have to decide whether the benefits of letting yet-untested Tories into government outweighs the risks and the known quantity of Labour. What are the odds on a hung parliament?
