I missed one earlier (though, actually, this is such a whopper it probably needs a post of its own anyway):

A family with two children pays no net tax until their earnings reach £21,000.

That sounds good. It’s from the Labour manifesto. But, as usual, it’s not even a half-truth. FactCheck have discovered that they’d have to pay £1234.04 in National Insurance.

Now, before some Blairite comes back with the claim that National Insurance is not a tax, let me remind them of Mr Blair’s own preface, to which I’ve added some bold:

We do not duck the tough choices – from independence for the Bank of England to the tax rise we made for the NHS, to the war in Iraq.

The ‘tax rise for the NHS’ was an increase in National Insurance rates. So the party leader thinks National Insurance is a tax.

So, without doubt, the first claim must, quite simply, be a lie. Has Labour not learned anything from the lies they told about Iraq?

Apparently they [the Liberal Democrats] want to declassify not just cannabis but crack and heroin.

So said John Reid on Sky News yesterday. Which would be fine, if it were true. But it’s another blatant Labour lie.

The Liberal Democrats do not want to even change the class of cannabis. Nor do they want to declassify heroine or crack cocaine. They do want to downgrade ecstasy from Class A to B. But, and I can’t stress this enough, they do not want to declassify any of the above. This is another case of Labour openly lying.

FactCheck have uncovered three blatant lies about Mr Blair’s record in his manifesto, and a number of dodgy claims.

Here are the Labour lies:

The UK has the lowest unemployment for 30 years

Actually, we have higher unemployment that in 1979. So unless we’ve been magically transported to 2009, that’s a blatant lie.

Longest Period of uninterrupted growth in modern history

I guess it depends on your interpretation of ‘modern’, but he’s clearly not including 1948 to 1973. Since his Chancellor was making claims about ‘since 1701’, then this is clearly another lie.

We will invest more in renovating and building new kitchens as well as investing an extra £210 million in school meals.

Except the £210m was already in the education budget. So how can this possibly be classed as extra money?

And now for some general dodginess:

Crime has fallen by 30 per cent overall, with almost five million fewer crimes a year than in 1997

According to one set of statistics – the British Crime Survey. Mr Blair says the BCS is ‘the most authoritative crime survery overall’. So why, in the exact same manifesto, does he criticise the Tory figures using the Recorded Crime Statistics, instead of the BCS?

The number of asylum applications has been cut by two-thirds since 2002.

How can Labour possibly even begin to claim the credit for this, when the number of refugees has fallen worldwide?

How could anyone want to re-elect a party which can’t even be honest about its record in its own manifesto? After eight years, they should be shouting from the rooftops about their acheivements, not having to lie about them to be re-elected. It’s crazy.

Today’s swing figure:

» 2.73% swing to the Conservatives «

Unless something drastic happens in the next few days (which, with the announcment of the Conservative tax proposals, it just might) then it looks like Labour are going to storm this election once again, with a three-figure majority. I just hope that this doesn’t happen, as I highly doubt that it would be good for the country to have a third Labour party victory with such a big majority.

Today’s swing figure:

» 3.38% swing to the Conservatives «

This comes as two new polls are included today, which has given a small boost to the figure, albeit well within the margin. The Conservatives are still a whole point down on their position from this time last week, so it’s still not going well for them.

If you didn’t witness the premiere of This Week‘s eleciton titles on Monday, you’re clearly not a dedicated enough viewer of the late night political show. But you can always have a gander by clicking on the above link.

That seems like an appropriately cheery link for my 500th post!

I’ve had little more than a flick through the Labour manifesto, but one thing immediately jumped out at me:

New Labour’s record:
The contract delivered Our country is changing for the better, because we fulfilled the promises of our 1997 and 2001 manifestos.

This jumped out for two reasons: Firstly, it’s in absurdly large type. Secondly, it’s not true: It’s another Labour lie.

Back in March last year I listed a number of Labour Lies and broken promises, six of which were drawn from the 2001 manifesto. You can look for yourself, here. And here’s another list of nine, which I originally posted on an internet forum:

» We will now give British people the final say in a referendum on the single currency
Not delivered.

» We will now reform the appointments system so that by the end of 2005 every hospital appointment is booked for the convenience of the patient making it easier for patients and their GP to choose the hospital and consultant that best suits their needs.
Will not be delivered anywhere near on time.

» We want to help the Post Office keep up with the best in a fast-changing market.
Apparently by allowing hundreds of branches to close.

» We will not introduce ‘top-up’ fees and have legislated to prevent them.
So what happened to this legislation when Labour broke their promise?

» By 2004, patients will be able to see a GP within 48 hours.
Not fully delivered.

» Same day tests and diagnosis will become the norm.
The fastest I’ve seen an out-patient blood test come back is 48hrs.

» We will give every citizen a personal smartcard containing key medical data giving access to their medical records.
Have you got yours?

» The Criminal Records Bureau will help stop paedophiles and others who are a danger to children from working with them
Except it didn’t work for the Soham girls, did it?

» By 2004 we are pledged to reduce teenage pregnancy by 15 per cent.
Complete and utter failure.

So, given that the first jump-out page of the new manifesto is a lie, which bits of it are things that Mr Blair actually means, and which ones are bits that he’s saying just to get votes? I think we should be told.

Today’s swing figure:

» 3.30% swing to the Conservatives «

For the first time since I started doing these updates, there’s no change today in the swing figure. Whether today’s news will change the figure, with the launch of Labour’s manifesto, we’ll just have to wait and see!

Ignoring MediaGuardian‘s inability to use words to form proper sentences, take a look at this quote:

And controversy surrounding the party’s election slogan, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” surfaced when which turned out to be the catchphrase of a pair of Australian children’s TV characters called Bananas in Pyjamas.

If the fact that the Conservative slogan is the same as that of Bananas in Pyjamas is the best attack that it’s rivals can come up with right now, then they should be polling at around 98%. It’s a ridiculous (though comical) statement to make.

Today’s swing figure:

» 3.30% swing to the Conservatives «

More bad news for the Conservatives today, with the publication of an NOP/Independent poll. It’s not looking good for Mr Howard recently, but Mr Blair will be smiling to himself. Let’s just hope that things will pick up again soon!