Labour’s shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald struggled today to explain how much the party would spend on transport if it were in power.
Appearing on BBC Radio 5′s Emma Barnett programme, McDonald was asked how much of Labour’s proposed £250bn fund National Transformation Fund would “specifically” go to transport.
“I haven’t got that in front of me,” McDonald said. “So the proportion I don’t know.”
And he was not able to be more specific than “about ten billion pounds”.
A disatisfied Barnett pressed: “Sorry but you don’t know the total amount of money from that 250 billion National Transformation Fund that will be spent on transport?”
“I’d like the total that would be spent on transport as the shadow transport secretary. Do you not have a total”?
McDonald replied: “I have not got that total in front of me Emma. Forgive me if I I don’t pull that one out for you today.”
Politicians have developed a habit of appearing on Barnett’s show and not knowing their figures.
The BBC interviewer caught out both Jeremy Corbyn and Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry during the election campaign.
However Thornberry was a last minute replacement on the show and managed to find the correct numbers in her bag during the interview.