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If Labour stands together we can turn back the Tory tide – Jeremy Corbyn

Jeremy Corbyn MP, Leader of the Labour Party, writing in the Sunday Mirror, said:

Theresa May talks about delivering an economy that works for working people. But in practice, she’s doing the opposite. 

In next month’s Budget, the Tories are set to press on with their endless austerity: still deeper cuts to health and social care, education and local services.

They’re now trying to take away more money from people with disabilities – while they’re handing out multi-billion pound tax breaks to the wealthiest. It’s the nasty party all over again.

Labour is campaigning for an investment-led economy that restores pride to every community. And we are determined to end to a tax system rigged for the richest. We think everyone should pay their fair share.

On Thursday, the people of Stoke rejected Ukip’s politics of hate and division – and its sham claim to represent the working class. They voted instead for the NHS, decent jobs and homes, investment and fairness.

But the result in Copeland was deeply disappointing. Labour’s share of the vote in Copeland has been falling for 20 years and of course I take my share of responsibility.

Both these areas, like many others in Britain, have been left behind by globalisation and lost out from a rigged economy.

So it’s no surprise that they rejected the status quo by voting to leave in the EU referendum. That’s why it was important for Labour to respect the result and vote for Article 50.

The task now is to fight for a positive future for Britain after Brexit – not the kind of bargain basement tax haven the Tories want to engineer.

And we must take our message of economic renewal and fairness to every part of Britain – and show that Labour has changed under my leadership.

The Conservatives have neglected working people by cutting investment and letting wages stagnate or fall year after year. Six million people now earn less than the living wage.

Labour will be campaigning for investment in decent jobs and homes, education for all, support for the NHS and social care, and fair taxation.

Last year Labour forced the Government to U-turn on £4bn cuts to personal independence payments for people with disabilities. If we stand together we can stop the latest attack too. 

We haven’t done enough yet to rebuild trust with people who have been ripped off and sold out for decades and don’t feel Labour represents them.

But if we stand together, I am confident we can do that and turn back the Tory tide. 

I was re-elected Labour leader five months ago with a bigger majority and I am determined to finish that job: to reconnect Labour with our working class voters and values – so we can win power to rebuild and transform Britain, for the many, not just the few.

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Labour

Stop the exaggerations about Brexit

Most days I hear or read a news item that tells me something has happened because of Brexit, or something has happened despite Brexit. Usually the item has nothing to do with Brexit whatsoever, would have happened without the Brexit vote and would have been given a different explanation then.

Some of the media and political spin post Brexit were classic examples of fake news. The commentators , forecasters and journalists put on their dark Brexit glasses, and decided that anything bad which happened happened because of Brexit, and anything good which happened happened despite Brexit. They went out looking for negative stories. The property commentators and some of the valuers wanted to show commercial property was down 15-20%. The only problem was there were plenty of buyers and no sellers at such discounts. They wanted to show housebuilding declined and home prices fell. Apart from top end prices which had been in freefall ever since Mr Osborne’s anti Non Dom anti dear property budget  in April,  home prices stayed up. Housebuilders, often gloomy themselves, had to report good levels of sales and expand their production to cater with rising demand. There were plenty of large company executives prepared to say they were worried  and reviewing their investment in the immediate aftermath of the vote, but when actual news came out about investment it was of new investment being made in the UK to reflect the good levels of consumer and business demand.

So here’s a thought for the gloomy commentators. Most of what is happening on jobs, inflation, investment, car buying, homeownership is nothing to do with Brexit. The price rises we have seen come from higher oil and commodity prices and are in line with similar rises in the USA and Germany which are not undertaking an exit from the EU. Just as joining the EEC did not lead to any increase in UK GDP, just as completing the single market did not lead to any increase in GDP, leaving it should not lead to any fall in GDP. I think leaving the EU is a most important political and constitutional event, but it is not for the UK much of an economic event. It is a bit bigger economic event for the rest of the EU, as they are the ones who will lose our contributions and need to secure their favourable access to our market which they use to such good effect at the moment.

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John Redwood MP • • •