READY FOR A SNAP ELECTION
Jezza: We are on the threshold of winning power Plan to spend £2.5bn a year on training and skills
JEREMY Corbyn will today declare he is ready to take the keys to No10 for his “government-in-waiting”.
Addressing thousands of delegates in Brighton on the final day of his party’s conference, Mr Corbyn will say Labour is now on the “threshold of power”.
And he will call on the hapless Tories to either “pull themselves together” or “get out of the way” so Labour can properly negotiate Brexit for Britain.
In a landmark speech, he will vow to run a “different” kind of government – giving “power back to the people” by nationalising utilities and the railways.
And as PM, he will put skills and training “centre stage”, pumping in an extra £2.5billion a year to education make all college courses free – as well as technical and vocational training.
The investment to make college courses free for millions will be paid for by raising taxes on the wealthiest.
In a further sign that Labour is preparing for another snap election, a senior Labour source confirmed to the Daily Mirror that party officials have met ex-civil servants since the June election.
Mr Corbyn is expected to say today: “Against all predictions, in June we won the largest increase in the Labour vote since 1945 and achieved Labour’s best vote for a generation. It’s a result which has put the Tories on notice and Labour on the threshold of power.
“Yes, we didn’t do quite well enough and we remain in opposition for now.
But we have become a governmentin-waiting. And our message to the country could not be clearer: Labour is ready. We are ready for government.”
And in a bid to present Labour as a “different” type of government, the Labour leader will add: “I promised you two years ago that we would do politics differently. It’s not always been easy. There’s quite a few who prefer politics the old way. But let me say it again. We will do politics differently. And the vital word there is ‘we’.
“Not just leaders saying things are different in a way that leaves everything the same – but everyone having the chance to shape our democracy. Our rights as citizens are as important as our rights as consumers. Power will be devolved to the community, not monopolised in Westminster and Whitehall.”
On Theresa May’s “bungling” of Brexit, Mr Corbyn will say: “The Tories are more interested in posturing for personal advantage than in getting the best deal.”
Mr Corbyn believes the Grenfell Tower disaster represented the worst of how the country has been run since the 1980s and will tell delegates: “Grenfell is not just the result of bad political decisions. It stands for a failed and broken system, which Labour must and will replace.”
And on the need for new skills and training to be “centre stage”, the Labour leader will pledge to build a National Education Service which will help millions of people get the training they need to find work in new technologies
and changing workplaces. He will add: “And that will include, at its heart, free tuition for all college courses, technical and vocational training, so that no one is held back by costs and everyone has the chance to learn.
“Lifelong learning for all is essential in the economy of the future. The huge shift of employment that will take place under the impact of automation must be planned and managed. It demands the re-skilling of millions.”
Mr Corbyn will also restate his June election pledges to bring rail and water companies and Royal Mail back into public ownership as well as a number of other large spending commitments – to be funded by borrowing and taxes on business and the better-off.
Meanwhile, Mr Corbyn yesterday insisted it was “right to look at all these scenarios” after his Shadow Chancellor said there may be a run on the pound if Labour won power.
At a fringe event, John McDonnell said “war-game-type scenario-planning” was being carried out for events such as “a run on the pound”.
A party spokesman said the preparations were for events that could occur under any government while Mr Corbyn backed Mr McDonnell by saying that his colleague was “making the point that you’ve got to look at all these things and all these scenarios”.
Labour governments in the 1960s and 1970s came under pressure in the markets, leading them to devalue the pound by lowering the exchange rate.