'You don't understand the economy!' Damian Green berates McDonnell in heated on-air clash
DAMIAN Green and John McDonnell locked horns over party manifestos this morning in a heated exchange live on TV.
Damian Green and John McDonnell clash over Labour manifesto
Andrew Marr was forced to intervene and calm tensions as political rivalry boiled over between Tory Damian Green and Labour's John McDonnell.
The animated pair battled over Labour's plan for nationalisation and the Tories' uncosted manifesto.
In an angry TV spat, the top Conservative ripped into the Shadow Chancellor for not "understanding capitalism".
The veteran Labour figure hit back and said Mr Green was one of the fatcat elites that Jeremy Corbyn's government will tax.
The animated pair battled over Labour's plan for nationalisation and the Tories' uncosted manifesto
Marr BLASTS Damien Green on 'biggest stealth tax in history'
Andrew Marr repeatedly tried to intervene but was rebuffed by the pair, who accused each other of not understanding the economy.
Damian Green started the row after Mr McDonnell had earlier used his solo interview with Marr to disparage the Tory manifesto as callous and mean-spirited.
Mr Green said Labour had not explained how much their plan to nationalise rail, energy and water firms would cost.
He warned taxes would rise under Labour because the party had not yet figured in the tens of billions needed to nationalise energy, rail, and water industries as well as the Royal Mail.
The Work and Pensions Secretary said: "John said he won’t borrow because he will issue bonds. But that is actually how Governments borrow. You don't understand the economy."
Marr was forced to intervene and calm tensions as political rivalry boiled over
The veteran Labour figure hit back and said that Mr Green was one of the fatcat elites
You don't understand capitalism
Mr McDonnell laughed off this criticism and tried to school his Conservative rival on economic logic before accusing him of "fatuous economic talk".
The Tory Cabinet minister accused Mr McDonnell of wanting to "tax the hell out of the economy".
He added: "You don't understand capitalism!"
Mr McDonnell hit back: "You certainly do, don't you."
He then ambushed the Cabinet minister by pointing out that he was once an associate director in the water industry and had made "quite a profit out it".
Andrew Marr repeatedly tried to intervene but was rebuffed by the pair
The left-wing politician said: "£18 billion of profits paid out to shareholders during your period.
"We're going to take that money and instead of using it for dividends for shareholders - for rich people - we're going to use that to cover the costs of our plans."
Mr McDonnell added that the Tory manifesto had £40 billion of "secret uncosted spending commitments" which would amount to £1,000 a year of tax rises for the average family.