Corbyn spells out the perils of socialism
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and John Mcdonnell, the shadow chancellor, toured the TV studios at the weekend to make their case once again for a socialist future involving renationalised utilities, the scrapping of PFI contracts and a “more equitable” tax regime. At the same time, they were at pains to denounce all talk of Britain walking away from Brexit talks without a deal. That, they said, would be a calamity for the country, which they would seek to stop by using a parliamentary vote on the final outcome. What they cannot see through their ideological blinkers is that the real calamity would be for the UK to leave the EU in order to become an inwardlooking, statist, high-taxing country that would scare away international investors and entrepreneurs just when we need them most.
Brexit is a historic opportunity to strike new trading relationships, agree fresh partnerships and open up our markets to the world; and yet under Messrs Corbyn and Mcdonnell, those advantages would be rendered nugatory. Mr Corbyn told the BBC that he wanted to see an expansion “of the public realm”, a euphemistic description for a highly centralised economic and social model of governance not seen for more than 40 years. We would become protectionist and isolationist just when we need to be welcoming and expansionist. It is a recipe for impoverishing the nation.
Emboldened by their better-than-expected showing in the June general election, Labour’s Left are intent on unravelling the centrist dispensation on which Tony Blair won power in 1997. Mr Corbyn speaks wistfully of the old Clause Four of Labour’s constitution, whose rewriting marked a symbolic breach with the party’s past commitment to “the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange”. Mr Mcdonnell’s blithe claims that Ftse-quoted utility companies can be returned to public ownership at little cost to the taxpayer and PFI contracts reneged upon with equanimity are for the birds. The Left want to renationalise the railways or water companies not because they will be more efficiently run in the interests of the consumer but because ideologically they believe they should be owned by the state.
So when Mr Corbyn claims the Government’s handling of Brexit will harm the economy, his words should be measured against the damage a Left-wing Labour government would inflict. By the same token, Conservatives need to beware the disunity that could put them into office.