Hard-Left aide pens Labour manifesto

ASSISTANT POLITICAL EDITOR LABOUR’s election manifesto is being drawn up by an aide who once called for all banks to be nationalised and Britain to have a three-day week.

Andrew Fisher joined Jeremy Corbyn’s team days after he was elected as the party’s leader.

He has previously suggested companies should be banned from sacking people and giving workers powers to take over their businesses. The hardLeft ideas were contained in his book, which was published in 2014.

Mr Fisher questioned why politicians were “obsessed with economic growth” and suggested policy ideas in the wake of the 2008 financial crash.

“The first thing to do therefore must be to nationalise the banks,” Mr Fisher writes, suggesting the “entire high street banking sector” should be taken into public ownership.

On giving people longer weekends, Mr Fisher writes: “Why shouldn’t the four or even three-day week become the norm?” he asks. “Surely if mechanisation, robots and other technology is reducing or replacing the need for human input, then we should all share that benefit, and all reduce our hours.”

John McDonnell, the Labour shadow chancellor, praised the book when he was a backbencher.

He said: “This is the best thing I have read in years. It will be readily used by campaigners as a basic handbook to explain our recent history.”