Corbyn accuses Tories of policy theft as civil servants head north
JEREMY CORBYN has accused Rishi Sunak of stealing the economic policies of his hard-left shadow chancellor John Mcdonnell.
Many of Mr Sunak’s announcements, including the relocation of civil servants to the north of England, were Labour policy proposals in the party’s 2019 manifesto, the former leader said.
“The Chancellor had obviously read quite a lot of my friend [Mr Mcdonnell’s] proposals before the last election, in which he pointed out that he wanted to move jobs to the North,” Mr Corbyn told the Commons.
He added that it was Mr Mcdonnell who had originally proposed the UK create a furlough scheme and bring about a green industrial revolution – which he said was similar to Mr Sunak’s policies to create green jobs.
Mr Corbyn said Mr Mcdonnell had “sent substantial papers to the Treasury” proposing a furlough scheme last year.
The Government’s proposal to increase corporation tax to 25 per cent by 2023 was only slightly less than Mr Corbyn’s proposal of 26 per cent, which he campaigned for at the last election.
His comments came as Sir Keir Starmer accused Mr Sunak of not truly
‘One day we will all be able to take our masks off – and so will the Chancellor’
caring about coronavirus support, telling MPS: “One day we’ll all be able to take our masks off – and so will the Chancellor.”
In his response to the Budget, the Labour leader said the Chancellor “doesn’t believe in an active and enterprising government”, and was “itching to get back to his free market principles and to pull away support as quickly as he can” after the pandemic.
Sir Keir criticised the Budget for not including any new money for the NHS, or for increasing public sector pay. He said the Government’s plans “papered over the cracks” of the economic consequences of coronavirus, and called for root-and-branch reform of the economy.
The Labour leader also said his party supported an increase in corporation tax – one of the Chancellor’s key revenue raisers – in the “long run”, but that taxes should not be raised “in the teeth of this economic crisis”.
Sir Keir accused the Government of raising taxes too soon after the third wave of the pandemic so they could be cut again in time for the next general election.