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Ed Balls has ruled out the possibility of Labour borrowing to invest in extra capital spending if the party is elected to government next year.

The shadow chancellor has previously ruled out any unfunded commitments to support day-to-day or current spending, but had left the door open to the possibility of additional borrowing to boost capital spending

But in his speech to the Labour Party conference in Manchester today, Balls went further in asserting Labour鈥檚 commitment to austerity over the next parliament, pledging that all investment in capital projects would have to be fully funded by cuts to other spending and would not be funded by additional borrowing.

Balls said Labour would run a surplus in the next parliament, adding: 鈥淚n our manifesto, there will be no proposals for any new spending paid for by additional borrowing.

鈥淣o spending commitments without saying where the money is coming from. Because we will not make promises we cannot keep and cannot afford.鈥�

Following Balls鈥� speech, Chris Leslie, shadow Treasury secretary, confirmed the shadow chancellor had ruled out the option of borrowing to support extra capital spending.

Speaking to the World at One, he said: 鈥淣o. We鈥檙e absolutely clear. Our manifesto proposals will not have a reliance on extra borrowing for any of the spending or investment choices that we make.

鈥淲here we say we鈥檙e going to make those investments, we鈥檒l say exactly where the money comes from.鈥�

Leslie added: 鈥淲e have to prove to people not just that we want to do great things because they know that鈥檚 in our heart; but they want to know that we are prepared to take the tough decisions, that we鈥檙e not going to borrow to fund spending but that 鈥� whenever we say we want to pay something, for example extra childcare for working parents, we will say 鈥榓ctually we can raise that extra 拢800m from the bank levy to do it鈥�.

鈥淪o it鈥檚 very clear in our manifesto all those proposals will be set out.鈥�

In his speech, Balls also confirmed Labour would set up a British investment bank; give the Green Investment Bank borrowing powers; and set up a new independent National Infrastructure Commission in order to 鈥渆nd dither and delay on big infrastructure decisions we need for the future鈥�.

Balls also confirmed that if Labour formed the next government the national minimum wage would rise to 拢8 an hour over the course of the next parliament.