Which would lose most jobs – Labour’s increasing of National Insurance Contributions, the so-called ‘tax on jobs’, or the Tories extra efficiency savings? According to my calculations, the Tories extra £6bn alone (they actually claim an extra £12bn) will include at least 40,000 job losses, possibly as many as 60,000+ if private sector losses from cuts in IT spending and purchasing are included.

So what about Labour’s NICs increase? Well, according to a very authoritative source it would cost just 23,000 jobs – so roughly a half  to a third of the Tories efficiency savings. The source – Rupert Harrison, the Conservatives’ chief economic adviser, as the FT reports. So as I guessed, the efficiency savings would cost more jobs than the NICs rise, and do considerable damage to public services and organisations into the bargain.