‘There should be no fear of borrowing to invest’ – Corbyn

BRITAIN should not be afraid of borrowing to invest, Jeremy Corbyn told delegates at Welsh Labour’s annual conference in Llandudno.

Delivering an unashamedly anti-austerity message, the Labour leader said: “Last week the Prime Minister twice accused me of wanting to bankrupt Britain by borrowing money to fund investment. But as every businessperson knows, there is a world of difference between borrowing for capital spending and borrowing to fund the payroll and day-to-day trading or service delivery.

“And as any homeowner who has ever had a mortgage knows, taking on huge debt can save you money in the long run.”

He mistakenly referred to the Prime Minister, before correcting himself, as “Theresa Hammond”.

Mr Corbyn also made an error in delivering his speech as he deviated from the script to refer to Labour candidates standing in May’s council elections “including here in Denbighshire”. Llandudno is not in Denbighshire, but in Conwy.

In his speech, the Labour leader said there should be no fear of debt or borrowing, citing the achievements of the post-war Labour Government: “At the end of the Second World War, the Labour Government of Clement Attlee didn’t say, ‘Oh dear, debt is 250% of GDP – let’s park those grand ideas about public ownership, a National Health Service, building council homes or creating the protection of social security.’

“No! They built a country to be proud of – they established the institutions that made our country fairer, more equal, and stopped people being held back.

“But people are being held back today. Despite your best efforts here in Wales, disposable incomes are the lowest in Britain, energy bills are the highest in Britain, one in four Welsh workers earns less than a living wage and an estimated 90,000 people are on zero hours contracts in Wales.”

Mr Corbyn claimed such statistics were the direct consequence of Tory ideology that believes our national assets should be sold off to the highest bidder, that the only industry that matters is the one in the City of London’s square mile, that trade unions should have the most restrictive laws in Europe and that if you cut taxes on the rich and big business it trickles down to us all, and you can cut your way to growth and prosperity.

He said as the UK leaves the EU, there is the need for a new agenda based on investment to support industries to succeed and create the high skilled, highly paid and high productivity jobs that have been destroyed in so many communities.

Contemplating a Labour victory at the next general election in 2020, Mr Corbyn said: “Very simply here’s three things a Labour government will do: we’ll build the homes that people need to live, not that investors need to make a profit. We’ll make the minimum wage a real living wage – at least £10 per hour by 2020. And we’ll repeal the Tories’ Trade Union Act.”