Crabby Corbyn offers nothing but gloom

IT IS the pivotal concern of the day. But Jeremy Corbyn does not possess the decency to tell voters if he wants Brexit.

In the head-to-head TV pre-election debate, he refused to come off the fence. Nine times he was asked if he favoured leaving the EU. Each time he waffled. Unsurprisingly, he was mocked.

The ITV hustings aimed to test the opinions and characters of the aspirants for No 10. As front-runner, Boris Johnson had everything to lose – and little to gain. The great Tory fear: He would appear bumbling and bombastic. He didn’t.

Instead, he offered Tiggerish optimism and hope. Mr Corbyn, who refused to rule out offering Nicola Sturgeon another referendum while his counterpart put it above all else, seemed crabby and tired.

Crucially, Boris was strong on social care and the NHS – drumming home how excellent public services go hand in hand with a strong economy. His message was perfectly timed. Yesterday, the Institute of Fiscal Studies unravelled Labour’s tax bombshell on higher earners. Under Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell’s socialist scheme, two million hard-working people face punishing hikes.

And, of course, he is not finished there – launching a full-throttled assault on business. It would leave the economy a smoking pile and herald national decline.

It’s not rocket science: Hammering the rich will drive them abroad, meaning they pay less tax – forcing the less fortunate to pick up the tab for his expensive wish list.

As ever with hard-Left ideology, the very people the militants want to help most will be the ones hurting the hardest.