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Picardo challenges Caruana to explain how he will fund 'the pretty pictures in his manifesto'
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The GSLP Liberals say they are very pleased to know that they are the ONLY party at this election that is explaining how it would both pay for their programme in their manifesto AND reduce the gross national debt by half.
The gross debt stands at £480m, 48% of Government estimated GDP at £1bn.
It has grown from a maximum permissible level of £100m at the last election to almost half a billion pounds now.
At the time of the last election, Mr Caruana asked the GSLP Liberals to explain how we would pay for the implementation of our manifesto commitments.
It was explained to Mr Caruana that the projection for economic growth and estimated increase in Government revenue and expenditure would have covered the cost of implementation of the GSLP Liberal electoral programme for 2007/11. Mr Caruana said that those projections for growth would not be achievable.
The GSLP Liberals add: "In fact, the projections set out in the GSLP Liberal manifesto for the 2007 election have been reflected in the economy almost exactly as set out.
"For this General Election, we have also set out our projections for the performance of our economy for the next four years. This predicts how economic performance, Government revenue and recurrent expenditure will develop over the four year term."
They go on to say that in addition the Government will transfer the annual surplus to Community Care and halve the Gross National Debt by the time the next election is called. The formula Mr Caruana claims to have to reduce the Gross Debt (as he explained on The Alternatives question and answer session) is irrelevant.
It is clear that Mr Caruana funded the commitments in the 2007 manifesto for the GSD almost exclusively out of debt, which is why debt has grown to £480m.
The GSLP Liberals add: "WE CHALLENGE MR CARUANA TO EXPLAIN HOW HE WILL FUND THE THINGS IN HIS MANIFESTO FOR THIS ELECTION."
Mr Caruana is keen to put the spotlight on how we will fund our manifesto – but he doesn’t like to have to explain how he will fund the GSD’s programme.
Our position is clear and is set out in the Economy section of our manifesto, the
Alliance says.
And they add: Now it is up to Mr Caruana to explain how he will fund his programme or accept that he will simply continue to raise the Gross National Debt and to predict what the Gross and Net Debt position will be in four years time if the GSD win the election.
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