Labour’s economic policy is s*** or bust, says Corbyn ally
LABOUR’S economic strategy amounts to a ‘high risk’ gamble, a senior ally of Jeremy Corbyn admitted last night.
Angela Rayner acknowledged that Labour’s plan to raise taxes and borrow hundreds of billions to fund a massive spending spree amounted to a ‘s***-or-bust strategy’.
But she said ‘ great advancements in the past’ had only ever come when politicians had the courage to ‘take a risk’.
In a frank interview with The Spectator magazine, the shadow education secretary defended Labour’s lavish spending and borrowing plans.
‘We are in different times, radical times where we need to have a real investment in Britain’s future. Genuinely. I don’t mean that as a slogan, I mean it as an economic strategy,’ she said. ‘It is a bit of a s***- orbust strategy, I get that. It’s a high-risk strategy. But all of Britain’s great advancements in the past have been because we’ve had the gumption to take a risk.’
In comments likely to raise eyebrows on Labour’s Left, she also warned the recent focus on ethnic minorities and women’s agendas has had a ‘ negative impact’ for white working-class boys.
Tory MPs last night accused Miss Rayner of letting the cat out of the bag over Labour’s economic plans. Jacob Rees-Mogg praised her ‘refreshing honesty’, but said: ‘You can delete the expletive – it is simply a bust strategy. It has been tried and tested all over the world and has failed each time.
‘All the great advances overseen by governments have come from carefully thought out strategies – Margaret Thatcher’s economic reforms were the result of years of preparation, the welfare state took decades of work by Beveridge and others. Of course some plans turn out to fail. But the idea that great economic advancements are ever made by taking a punt is simply wrong.’ Miss Rayner’s comments stand in stark contrast to claims made by Mr Corbyn and shadow chancellor John McDonnell in the runup to last year’s election. Mr McDonnell has pledged to borrow up to £500billion to fund a massive spending programme, as well as nationalising utilities and raising taxes on the better off. He said Labour’s manifesto, which proposed almost £50billion of higher taxes was fully costed. But the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies warned the tax proposals would ‘not raise anything like’ the sums claimed, while the Tories warned that Labour’s borrowing plans would cost billions in higher debt interest payments.
After the election, Mr McDonnell admitted that Labour was preparing for a potential run on the pound and flight of capital if it ever seized power.
Miss Rayner is seen as one of Labour’s brightest stars and tipped as a future leadership contender. In the wide-ranging interview yesterday, Miss Rayner, who left school without qualifications after becoming pregnant at 16, said there was a ‘lag’ in achievement by white working- class pupils and that more support was needed to help them make a success of their lives.
‘They have not been able to adapt,’ she said. ‘Culturally, we are not telling them that they need to learn and they need to aspire. They are under the impression that they don’t need to push themselves, in the way that disadvantaged groups had to before.’