This is the second post in a series summarising the key points of interest in the views of the Leader of the Opposition.
Yesterday, we looked at his views on defence. Today, what are his opinions on economics?
- He thinks the last Labour Government “spent too little”. Speaking at the Nottingham hustings on 28th June he said: “We made a huge mistake in allowing the Tories to get away with the idea that the last Labour government spent too much. We didn’t, we actually spent too little.” Readers will recall this very issue played a major part in Ed Miliband’s lack of credibility during the General Election. (As an aside, he does believe he thinks Labour spent too much on one thing: defence.)
- If elected in 2020 his first act would be to start borrowing more. George Osborne plans to balance the books by the end of this Parliament. Corbyn would use that achievement as an excuse to run up new debts: ‘if the deficit has been closed by 2020 and the economy is growing, then Labour should not run a current budget deficit – but we should borrow to invest in our future prosperity’.
- He wants higher taxes on business. Already he has suggested two policies that would increase Corporation Tax by 4.5 per cent – harming growth and destroying jobs. He would also scrap £93 billion of what he describes as tax reliefs and subsidies for business.
- A Corbyn Government would print money for their spending splurge. So-called ‘People’s QE‘ would, in the words of Labour’s previous Shadow Chancellor, Chris Leslie, ‘hit those on the lowest incomes’. Yvette Cooper has warned that this would ‘push up inflation, destroy confidence in the currency, lose jobs and investment, and create a cost of living crisis too’ .