General Election 2015: Did Labour’s campaign chief just suggest Ed Miliband could break his election tombstone pledges?

They might be carved in stone but Lucy Powell has had to come out and deny she suggested Labour's main pledges could still be broken

Labour leader Ed Miliband unveils Labour's pledges carved into a stone plinth in Hastings (PA)

Labour's campaign chief has just cast doubt over Ed Miliband's decision to carve his main election pledges on a giant stone.

It was meant as a stunt to try and convince voters he would not break his promises in a bid to restore trust in voters.

But now Lucy Powell, vice-chair of Labour's election campaign, has had to deny suggesting Mr Miliband could break them after appearing to say carving the pledges in stone made no difference as to whether Labour would honour them.

Asked by BBC Radio 5 live if carving the party's main manifesto commitments in stone made them more believable to voters, Ms Powell said: "I don't think anyone is suggesting that the fact that he's carved them into stone means that he is absolutely not going to break them or anything like that."

listen to ‘Lucy Powell on stone pledges’ on audioBoom

She added that Mr Miliband "stands by his promises," saying the tombstone was "just another way of highlighting that, which is that he's a guy of principle, of decency, a guy who is tough and he is going to deliver on his promises he set out, unlike some of this opponents."

Conservative party chairman Grant Shapps used the quote to claim Mr Miliband had "no intention of keeping the promises he makes during the election campaign" because "his sums don't add up".

But Ms Powell hit back, accusing Tories of mis-quoting her and taking it out of context.