Jeremy Corbyn Hits Rich With Tax Hike in Radical Pitch for Power
Jeremy Corbyn Hits Rich With Tax Hike in Radical Pitch for Power
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn set out the most radical election policy platform from a major U.K. political party in nearly four decades, promising to increase tax revenues by close to 10% per year, fund free university education and care for the elderly.
At the launch of Labour’s manifesto in Birmingham, central England, Corbyn opened his speech with a long attack on his critics, whom he described as “billionaires and vested interests” who are the enemies of ordinary voters.
“They don’t want real change,” Corbyn said. “The system is working just fine for them. It’s rigged in their favor. But it’s not working for you.”
Corbyn has spent much of the four years he has been Labour leader fighting for control of the party from those who advocate more moderate programs. At the launch, it was clear he had won that internal struggle.
His calculation is that he can triumph in the Dec. 12 election by cashing in on public fatigue with almost a decade of austerity imposed by the Conservatives since the financial crisis. Two years ago, at the 2017 election, Corbyn put forward a policy package that was initially seen as a left-wing socialist agenda that would never be taken seriously.
But his plans, including scrapping university tuition fees and nationalizing the railways, proved hugely popular with the electorate, and brought Labour to within striking distance of taking power. He has gone even further this time, with proposals to tax the rich and rip up conventional wisdom in many areas of British industry.
Labour’s key proposals include:
- Industries including rail, water, energy production and Royal Mail to be brought under public control, as well as nationalization of BT Group Plc’s Openreach unit to deliver free full-fiber broadband across the country by 2030
- Taxing multinational corporations based on the proportion of their sales, workforce and operations in the U.K.
- The top 5% of earners -- those earning more than 80,000 pounds ($104,000) a year -- will pay more tax
- A windfall tax on oil companies. The manifesto contained no further details, but Labour said it’s expected to raise 11 billion pounds
- A sweeping new financial transactions tax: Expanding stamp duty reserve tax to foreign-exchange transactions, interest-rate derivatives and commodities trades at 50% of transaction costs
- Workers’ rights reforms, including moving to a four-day week within 10 years and raising the minimum wage to 10 pounds per hour
Corbyn’s speech was received with delight by supporters in the room. They greeted his arrival with song, interrupted him for standing ovations, and scoffed at questions from the press that they disagreed with.
When he claimed Boris Johnson’s Conservatives would hand the state-funded National Health Service over to private buyers, they leaped to their feet and chanted “Not for sale!”
When it came to questions, the Labour leader was asked why he expected people to vote for a more radical platform than he had offered in the 2017 election, when that saw Labour defeated.
Corbyn was unapologetic. “It is a radical manifesto,” he said. “But when you travel around the country and talk to people, radical answers are what’s necessary.”
The Conservatives pointed out that Labour did not have a clear position on whether to remain in or leave the European Union.
--With assistance from Kitty Donaldson, Greg Ritchie, Jessica Shankleman and Andrew Atkinson.
To contact the reporters on this story: Robert Hutton in Birmingham, England at rhutton1@bloomberg.net;Tim Ross in London at tross54@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Flavia Krause-Jackson at fjackson@bloomberg.net, Stuart Biggs
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