Labour's abuse of Civil Service now officially as bad as Tories

31.07.02

New evidence released today by the Liberal Democrats has again shown Labour breaking civil service impartiality. Parliamentary questions and letters written to the Treasury show that Labour has used Civil Servants to cost and criticise Liberal Democrat and Conservative budget plans.

Commenting Edward Davey MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said:

"It's outrageous for Labour to use taxpayers' money to attack other parties' policies.

"When the Conservatives broke civil service impartiality by using it to assess Labour's policies, Labour complained bitterly. Now Labour is copying the Tories' worst practices.

"In November 1996, Labour was outraged when the Tories used public servants to research a '89-point spending list.

"Political parties can legitimately cost other parties' policies by tabling Parliamentary Questions and they are published for everyone to scrutinise. But by using the Civil Service, Labour is hiding their research within Whitehall out of the glare of public scrutiny.

"Clearly, Labour's ethics are based on rhetoric rather than action."