Corbyn-style hard left policies would make us more stupid, poorer and sicker warns Theresa May as she defends free market

THERESA MAY warned this morning that Corbyn-style socialism increases poverty, illiteracy and infant mortality in an uncompromising attack on Labour's hard-left agenda.

The Prime Minister delivered a stinging attack on "restricted centrally planned economies" where the free market is suppressed.

Although she did not mention Labour or its leader directly, her comments came less than 24 hours after Mr Corbyn set out his agenda of nationalisation and rent controls at his party conference.

Speaking at the Bank of England today, the Prime Minister said: "We should never forget the immense value and potential of an open, innovative, free market economy which operates with the right rules and regulations.

"When countries make the transition from closed, restricted, centrally planned economies to open, free market policies, the same things happen.

"Life expectancy increases, and infant mortality falls. Absolute poverty shrinks, and disposable income grows.

"Access to education is widened, and rates of illiteracy plummet. Participation in cultural life is extended, and more people have the chance to contribute.

"It is in open, free market economies that technological breakthroughs are made which transform, improve and save lives.

"It is in open, free market economies that personal freedoms and liberties find their surest protection."

She also insisted that embarking on a borrowing binge would cripple the economy and cost jobs.

The speech was designed to mark the 20th anniversary of the Bank’s independence. But the comments were taken as a direct response to Jeremy Corbyn’s threat to unleash a Socialist model on Britain.

The PM said: “A free market economy operating under the right rules and regulations is the greatest agent of collective human progress ever created.

“It is unquestionably the best, and indeed the only sustainable, means of increasing the living standards of everyone in a country.

“And we should never forget that raising the living standards, and protecting the jobs, of ordinary working people is the central aim of all economic policy.”

She insisted the central aim of economic policy was trying to help each generation to live longer, “more secure” lives, not “serving an abstract doctrine or an ideological concept”.

In another jab at the Labour leadership, Mrs May slammed people who "advocate ideologically extreme policies which have long ago been shown to fail, and which are failing people today in places like Venezuela".

But she admitted that many Brits had been left behind by globalisation - and found themselves hit by the financial crisis and austerity.

Mrs May said: "The British people, who played no part in causing the financial crisis, have had to make sacrifices in order to return the economy to health and ease the burden of debt on future generations.

"The impact those sacrifices have had on ordinary working people has led some to lose faith in free market capitalism.

"And globalisation, which has brought us a great many benefits, has also brought changes which have contributed to a wider sense that our economy is not working as it should for everyone in our society."

She added: "Our economy has made great strides in the last few years, but we know that for too long, too many communities across the United Kingdom have not seen the benefits of economic growth and prosperity.

"That waste of potential is bad for the areas concerned and bad for our country’s wider productivity."

The PM vowed to improve working conditions for employees on freelance and zero-hours contracts who want full-time work, and to introduce better technical education which will help the working classes.

Hitting out at small-state zealots who oppose any curbs on the free market, Mrs May also said: "My argument has always been that if you want to preserve and improve a system which has delivered unparalleled benefits, you have to take seriously its faults and do all you can to address them.

"Not to do so would put everything we have achieved together as a country at risk.

";It would lead to a wider loss of faith in free markets, and risk a return to the failed ideologies of the past."

In a Q&A session afterwards, the PM made a coded attack on Donald Trump for his pledges to crack down on global free trade.

She told reporters: "There are aspects of protectionism creeping in around the world and I want the UK to be a champion for free trade

"We need to show why free trade is so important in raising living standards."

The PM started her career as an executive officer at the Bank of England.

Governor Mark Carney joked that the PM could have held his job if she had not quit the Bank after six years working there.

The speech will start the countdown to a critical Tory conference, given the party is under huge pressure to find billions to lift public sector pay, scrap tuition fees and build more homes.

“It would damage our economy, threaten jobs and hurt working people.”