Labour candidate says 'ignore the deficit'

Labour's candidate for the safe Conservative seat of Derbyshire Dales says he wants to “ignore the deficit”.

Andy Botham – who wants to take the constituency from Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin – said on Monday: “Yes, I do want to ignore it if it means I’m putting people to food banks. I do want to ignore it if it means I’m leaving people in rural poverty and rural isolation.”

Labour is committed to reducing the size of the budget deficit every year and to getting the current budget into surplus “as soon as possible within the next parliament”.

The 45-year-old train driver had been accused at a campaign hustings by his Lib Dem rival of ignoring the deficit when he pointed out that the UK had run a deficit “since the turn of the century”.

“Yes I do want to ignore it if it means that I am making people go into the NHS much quicker than they need to because we can’t provide social care,” Mr Botham responded. “Yes I do want to ignore it if it means I’ve got to cut bus services and I’ve got to cut child care and I’ve got to cut Sure Start.

“Yes I do want to ignore the deficit.”

Earlier he told the hustings: “We have said we will work within a budget and we will pay the deficit off when we’re able to.”

Conservative Mr McLoughlin has a majority of almost 14,000, achieving 52% of the vote in 2010 while Labour finished third.