Star comment: Corbyn’s wish list is unrealistic
The leak of the draft Labour election manifesto tells us all we need to know about the direction of the party under Jeremy Corbyn.
If there were any lingering doubts about the Labour leader’s plans to send the country to the far left, we can safely say they have now been put to rest.
Under normal circumstances this newspaper would be loath to comment on the contents of any leaked document. But it is noticeable that none of Labour’s leading figures have questioned the details contained in its 43 pages. In fact, cynics may suggest that the ‘leak’ was a deliberate ploy to test the waters before the actual manifesto sees the light of day next week.
Labour’s General Election coordinator Andrew Gwynne said the party’s plans were ‘genuinely transformational’. But the big question is, what do Labour want to transform Britain into?
The document contains plans for bringing the railways back into public ownership, reversing the privatisation of the Royal Mail and creating publicly-owned energy companies.
Trade unions will be given new collective bargaining powers, NHS funding will be increased by more than £6 billion, tuition fees will be abolished and rent will be capped in line with inflation.
Visiting the Black Country yesterday, Chuka Umunna, whose politics are far removed from those of Mr Corbyn, said some of the ideas in the manifesto would appeal to a broad range of voters.
While he is correct, there are those who will be keen to examine the small print once the actual manifesto is released.
Such a radical push for social reform costs money. Mr Corbyn wants to pay for his new vision of Britain by ramping up taxes for businesses and high earners, along with large scale borrowing.
At a time when we should be supporting businesses and attracting more bluechip firms to the country, Labour wants to scare them off. This is Comrade Corbyn putting his radical left-wing alternative before the people.
His manifesto, which is fully costed we are told, can be more accurately read as an unrealistic wish list beamed down from a left wing utopia.
Even Diane Abbott with her magic abacus would struggle to balance the books on this one.
And despite protestations to the contrary, the manifesto is a throwback to the shambolic blueprint for Britain proposed by Michael Foot in 1983.
On June 8 we will find out whether or not the British public buys it.
