WHOOPS!
Diane Abbott muddles her numbers AGAIN as she struggles to explain how Labour would pay for more police officers
The shadow home secretary appeared flustered when she was pressed on ITV
DIANE ABBOTT has struggled to explain how Labour would pay for extra policing.
The shadow home secretary suffered another meltdown in a TV interview and was forced to ask an aide for help.
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In an interview with ITV about rising crime figures today, she tried to outline how Labour would raise the £300m to pay for them.
She initially claimed it would cost £170m a year to fund the pledge for 10,000 extra cops, nearly half the correct figure.
Ms Abbott said: "What we have said is we would find the money to recruit the 10,000 police people by cutting the, cutting the…
"We would find the money because we would look at capital gains tax. The Tories have cut capital gains tax, and we want to restore it. That would give us. 170…. Sorry."
She then appeared to turn off camera to speak to an aide and frowned, before confirming that Labour would find the money needed by slashing capital gains tax.
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Luke Hall MP said in response: “Yet again Diane Abbott’s inability to answer simple questions about Labour’s proposals show that Jeremy Corbyn and his team simply aren’t up to the job."
The shadow home secretary made the slip-up after returning to her front bench role following the election.
She was temporarily replaced shortly before June's vote when she had to take sick leave.
The interview comes just weeks after her car crash interview during the election where she got muddled over the same policy and appeared to suggest that hiring a policeman costs just £30.
The ITV interview in full
ITV: "How much is that and where would the money come from?"
Diane Abbott: "Well, what we have said is we would find the money to recruit the 10,000 police people by cutting the, cutting the…
"We would find the money because we would look at capital gains tax. The Tories have cut capital gains tax, and we want to restore it. That would give us. 170…. Sorry.
"We could find the money by restoring levels of capital gains tax."
ITV: "And that’s an extra £300m a year?"
DA: "We think that by restoring the cuts in capital gains tax, that would find us another £300m a year."