Conservative response to John McDonnell’s conference speech

Responding, Rishi Sunak MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said:

“John McDonnell offers nothing but failed ideas which would wreck our economy, harm businesses and drive out investment.

“Far from delivering for the many, McDonnell’s damaging plans would leave families with less money in their pockets and fewer jobs. Labour would turn back the clock, with working people paying the price. 

“Only Boris Johnson and the Conservatives will ensure our economy remains strong, so we have more money to spend on the things that matter, like the NHS frontline services and properly funded schools.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

• Labour’s 2017 manifesto has been costed at £1,000 billion, meaning £11 billion more would be spent on debt interest every year – paid for by hardworking taxpayers. Labour’s plan to spend £1,000 billion – equivalent to £3,500 per household each year – would just lead to more debt, higher taxes and fewer jobs, hitting ordinary working people just like last time. The additional interest on the debt alone would be enough to pay for 400,000 nurses (The Sun, 25 October 2018, link).

• The British Chamber of Commerce warned that Labour’s plans for our economy would ‘send an icy chill up the spines of businessowners and investors’. Adam Marshall warned that Labour’s plans would ‘send an icy chill up the spines of businessowners and investors. Nationalisation of swathes of the economy would come at a huge cost. It would take a chunk out of peoples’ pensions, put investment in the deep freeze, and tarnish the UK’s reputation as an open, global nation at the worst possible time’ (The Times, 23 September 2019, link).

• The CBI said Labour’s plans to renationalise vast swathes of the economy is ‘toxic’ and would have ‘serious knock-on effects’. The CBI policy chief warned: ‘Loose talk of renationalisation will be toxic to investors already reeling from existing uncertainty. Sending the right signals matters for the UK economy. Without private sector investment and innovation, efforts to tackle climate change or upgrade infrastructure will falter, with serious knock-on effects’ (The Sun, 22 September 2019, link).

• Labour’s plans would hit working families with lower wages and higher prices. Carl Emmerson: ‘What Labour actually want you to hear is that the spending increases they promise…would be funded by tax increases solely affecting the rich and companies. This would not happen…in the longer term, much of the cost [of tax rises] is likely to be passed to workers through lower wages or consumers through higher prices’ (IFS, 26 May 2017).

• Labour have proposed a punitive new tax every two months since Corbyn took office – clobbering hardworking people with endless tax hikes that would leave them with less money in their pockets. These tax hikes include forcing more families into paying punishing death duties, raising taxes for 12.4 million workers by an average of £2,500, putting up the cost of a family holiday and introducing a garden tax (The Daily Express, 13 September 2019, link).