Corbyn is scaring away investment in UK says Hammond
JEREMY Corbyn’s Marxist plans are damaging the economy by scaring away investment in Britain, Philip Hammond warned yesterday.
In the most scathing attack on socialism heard at a Tory conference in a generation, the Chancellor accused the Labour leader of a “wicked and cynical” attempt to fool voters with superficial hard-Left policies that could ruin the country.
Mr Hammond said: “He is a clear and present danger to our prosperity, damaging our economy even in opposition.
“His loose talk is already deterring the entrepreneurs and the investors we need for our future success.”
The Chancellor also urged the Tory faithful to tackle the “mob rule” of hard-Left fanatics.
“We will take them on and we will defeat them,” he said. “And I promise you we will defeat them by the power of argument, by our logic, by the experience of history. We will not resort to the politics of the mob, nor will we be cowed by intimidation, whether it’s on the streets or online.”
Mr Hammond said Labour had been “taken hostage by a clique of hard-Left extremist infiltrators who despise our values and talk down our country”.
He said: “The hard-Left are preying on people’s worries, luring them with false promises. It’s a wicked and cynical business offering superficially simple solutions to complex challenges.”
Mr Hammond said Mr Corbyn and Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell wanted to “demolish our successful modern market economy and replace it with a back-to-the-future socialist fantasy”. He said: “I think we owe it to the next generation to show how Corbyn’s Marxist policies will inevitably lead us back to where Britain was in the late 1970s.”
Meanwhile, Mr Hammond re-opened his bitter row with Boris Johnson by claiming Britain will remain “closely tied to the EU” after Brexit. His remarks risked infuriating the Foreign Secretary, who is pressing for Britain to be free to forge a new role as a global trading nation.
The extraordinary spat between the two men has threatened to overshadow the party conference in Manchester. They are understood to have clashed repeatedly over the timescale of Britain’s transition out of the EU and the future relationship with the bloc.
His outburst came a day after Theresa May refused to answer a question about whether Mr Johnson was “unsackable”.
He is expected to respond with his own vision for Brexit in his keynote conference speech today.