Corbyn branded dinosaur in speech

Labour policies would take Britain back to the 70s, says Chancellor

The Chancellor has declared war on Labour “dinosaurs” for plotting to return the country to the economic turmoil of the 1970s.

Philip Hammond challenged Jeremy Corbyn to an ideological duel over whether capitalism or socialism is best for Britain.

It comes amid claims that voters are losing faith in the free market since the 2008 crash and are being wooed by Mr Corbyn’s alternative, which calls for the state to have a greater role in managing the economy.

In his address to conference, the Chancellor said the Labour leader was a “clear and present danger to our economic prosperity”.

The Conservative MP said he relished the coming debate with “dinosaurs”, branding opponents “a political version of Jurassic Park”.

“I think we owe it to the next generation to show that Corbyn’s Marxist policies will inevitably lead us back to where Britain was in the late 1970s,” he told delegates.

At the Tory gathering in Manchester he said Labour had become “a party taken hostage by a clique of hard-left extremist infiltrators, people who despise Britain’s values and talk down our country”.

The Labour conference in Brighton had shown a “resolutely negative agenda of failed ideas dredged up from a bygone era, threatening not only our economic progress but our freedom as well”, Mr Hammond claimed.

“They say politics is about the clash of ideas, so we say to Corbyn: bring it on,” he said.

“Let them put their arguments, let them make their case, we will take them on and we will defeat them.”

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the speech contained “more baseless smears on Labour than Tory policy announcements”.

“It betrays how fearful the Tories are of the challenge posed by Jeremy Corbyn,” he said.

“There was nothing of real substance on infrastructure, on tackling the housing crisis, the funding shortfall in our NHS and care system, and nothing at all for hard working families who are struggling to keep up with rising prices.”

Stephen Martin, director general of the Institute of Directors, said there was “little red meat” for business leaders.

“If (the Chancellor) wants to unleash the nation’s potential, he must use the Budget to boost investment by individuals and companies, he added.

Mr Hammond also told activists that Britain’s economic future will still be “closely linked with the EU” following Brexit.

He stressed the need for “careful and cautious” negotiation of Britain’s EU withdrawal in order to ensure it does not reduce trade with European neighbours.

His comments put him at odds with hardline Brexiteers who have urged Theresa May to be ready to take the UK out of the EU without a divorce deal, and expose his differences with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who has stressed the importance of a clean break with the remaining 27-nation bloc.