Fix free market or face hitting the poor, says PM

Theresa May has warned that the failings of the free market economy must be addressed if it is to continue to enjoy public support.

The Prime Minister said abandoning the market and adopting “ideologically extreme” polices instead would simply hurt the poorest and most vulnerable in society.

Her comments came the day after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn warned capitalism was facing a “crisis of legitimacy”.

Mrs May insisted a free market economy, operating under the right rules and regulations, remained the “greatest agent of collective human progress ever created”.

“Some argue a free market economy is an end in itself and that drawing attention to the downsides is somehow anti-business,” she said.

“Others would use the imbalances that are now apparent as a justification for the total rejection of the free market economy which has done so much to improve our lives.

“Instead, they advocate ideologically extreme policies which have long ago been shown to fail and which are failing people today in places like Venezuela.

“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.

“Far from somehow protecting the poorest and most vulnerable in society, that outcome would surely hurt them the most.”

Theresa May with Bank of England boss Mark Carney. Picture: PA.