Jeremy Corbyn’s plan to bankrupt Britain collapses as experts say his sums DON’T add up and his own team abandons it
The Labour leader unveiled an election manifesto packed with £48.6billion of new spending
JEREMY Corbyn’s socialist blueprint collapsed — as experts said his sums did not add up and his own team abandoned it.
The Labour leader unveiled an election manifesto packed with £48.6billion of new spending.
He vowed to fund it all with the largest tax hike on businesses and the well-off since World War Two.
Mr Corbyn also pledged to enforce the biggest state power grab since the 1970s with plans to renationalise water, energy, the railways and Royal Mail.
Business leaders warned the tax and spend bombshell would spark an exodus of talent and wealth.
In another day of chaos for hapless Mr Corbyn:
- A black hole of potentially hundreds of billions of pounds opened up;
- Experts warned huge income tax rises on 1.3million higher earners may not raise a penny;
- Senior MPs disowned the manifesto, with nine of his top team snubbing its launch;
- A promise to end the freeze on benefit rises was ripped up within the hour.
Launching the manifesto in Bradford, birthplace of ex-Labour PM Harold Wilson, Mr Corbyn pledged to revolutionise Britain just as his predecessor did in the 1960s.
It was full of commitments and giveaways, from abolishing tuition fees and building a million homes to four extra bank holidays and ending hospital car park fees.
Mr Corbyn insisted: “We’re providing hope and genuine opportunity for everyone.”
But it swiftly ran into trouble. After costing up the full programme the Tories claimed funding was short by £58billion.
The respected Institute for Fiscal Studies also said it will raise only £20billion to £30billion from its tax changes rather than the £48billion promised.
Big hikes for earners on £80,000-plus a year may “raise nothing” if many of the 1.3million people affected left the country or dodged tax instead, the IFS warned.
Mr Corbyn also plunged Labour into more turmoil by claiming on ITV News he would end the Tory freeze on benefit payments despite no mention of the policy in the manifesto.
Within the hour, senior aides insisted no commitment was made and he wanted to review the Tories’ benefit cap instead.
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Labour then later said the freeze will end, and was part of the £2billion a year set aside in the manifesto to fund the reversal of a range of welfare cuts.
But Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry then downgraded Mr Corbyn’s vow to “a review”.
Asked why Mr Corbyn made the pledge, she said: “He’d just made a speech, there were lots of questions.”
Mr Corbyn also annoyed traditional Labour voters by failing to make any commitment to reduce immigration.
His Brexit plans were attacked by Remainers and Leavers while defence policies were given just a page and a half at the end of the manifesto. His pledges delighted the unions but horrified business groups.
The CBI said his plans “fail to offer the pro-growth and competitiveness agenda the country so badly needs”.
Business grandee and former Labour minister Digby Jones said: “If this guy becomes Prime Minister the best shares to buy would be British Airways because of all the people who’ll be buying one-way tickets out of the country.”
Some moderate backbench MPs have refused to abide by the manifesto, publishing their own tax and spending promises on personal websites.
One Shadow Cabinet member told The Sun: “On election night, there has to be nobody else to blame but him.”
In an extraordinary interview last night Shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon hit out at the media for scrutinising Labour’s plans too closely.
He claimed Labour was being “put on trial” over its radical spending plans and accused BBC Newsnight of doing the “rather tedious thing of going through each number” in the manifesto.