Jeremy Corbyn unveils eye-watering $158bn manifesto

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has presented the most expensive manifesto in British political history.

‘We welcome the hate’: Jeremy Corbyn at Labour’s election manifesto launch at Birmingham City University on Thursday: Picture: Getty Images

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has presented the most expensive manifesto in British political history, with plans to expand the state to its largest size since World War II.

The Labour leader announced plans in Birmingham on Thursday night for an £83bn ($158bn) spree, with huge increases to Whitehall budgets across the board and a 5 per cent pay rise for all 5.4 million public sector workers.

Labour’s “colossal” tax-and-spend plans for the December 12 election would be funded by increases to business levies that ­Institute for Fiscal Studies director Paul Johnson said would give Britain the “most punitive corporate tax system in the world”.

He said Labour’s claim that such spending could be funded purely by taxing businesses and the rich was “simply not credible”.

“It’s impossible to overstate just how extraordinary this manifesto is in terms of the sheer scale of money being spent and raised through the tax system,” he said. “Take it from me, these are vast numbers, enormous, colossal.”

Mr Corbyn would preside over a state larger than that of Germany by the end of his five-year term, the Resolution Foundation said, with total managed expenditure rising from 39.7 per cent of the economy to 45.1 per cent by 2024.

The party’s election manifesto includes a 50 per cent “supertax” for anyone with an income of £125,000 or more and a lowering of the threshold for the 45 per cent income tax rate from £150,000 to £80,000. It would reverse cuts to inheritance tax introduced by the Tories — a move that would hit middle-income families.

Corporation tax would be increased from 19 per cent to 26 per cent in 2022. Oil and gas would face an £11bn windfall tax.

A new “second-homes tax” would increase council tax on holiday homes by 200 per cent. Labour would spend £75bn building 150,000 council and social homes annually, within five years.

Mr Corbyn’s claim that only the best-paid 5 per cent of workers would face higher taxes were challenged as details of Labour’s plans emerged. They include plans to scrap tax reliefs available only to lower earners. A defiant Labour leader said that he embraced the opposition of the “political establishment” as evidence of the radicalism of his agenda.

“We welcome the hate,” Mr Corbyn said, quoting Franklin D Roosevelt, in a combative pitch aimed at shoring up Labour’s base.

“The most powerful people in Britain and their supporters are going to tell you that everything in this manifesto is impossible, because they don’t want real change. The system is working just fine for them. It’s rigged in their favour.”

Labour’s proposed taxes would help to fund £82.9bn in day-to-day spending, including increasing National Health Service budgets by £6.9bn a year, social care by £10.8bn, schools by £5.5bn and 30 hours of free childcare for children aged two, three and four years olds at a cost of £5.6bn.

The Times