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Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will urge voters in the U.K. election to take down bankers and billionaires who “profit from a rigged system.”
Corbyn will launch an all-out assault on the wealthiest people in Britain on Thursday, when he unveils an election manifesto promising radical change across the economy.
Speaking in Birmingham, central England, Corbyn will say the fury of the “rich and powerful” at Labour’s policies is the best demonstration they are on the side of ordinary voters.
“If the bankers, billionaires and the establishment thought we represented politics as usual, that we could be bought off, that nothing was really going to change, they wouldn’t attack us so ferociously,” he will say.
Corbyn’s populist pitch for the Dec. 12 election is aimed at voters frustrated and exhausted by a decade of post-financial crisis austerity. At every turn, he’s trying to define himself against his privately educated opponent Boris Johnson whose main pitch is to deliver Brexit.
That even extends to Corbyn breaking with protocol Tuesday by criticizing Prince Andrew, following revelations over his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. On Wednesday, the prince stepped down from public duties, saying the controversy had disrupted his work and that of the royal family.
Branding his plans a “manifesto for hope” that are fully costed, Corbyn will promise tax increases that target only the top 5% of taxpayers, while protecting everyone else.
But he will also promise to “go after the tax dodgers, the bad bosses and the big polluters,” with a 10-pound ($13) minimum wage, more power for renters, stronger unions, and a levy on the biggest polluters that will be used to tackle climate change. He’s also promised to take utilities into public ownership, including BT Group Plc’s Openreach unit.
“You really can have this plan for real change because you don’t need money to buy it. You just need a vote -- and your vote can be more powerful than all their wealth,” he will say.
Corbyn’s rivals in the Conservative Party attacked his efforts to avoid the issue of Brexit. In a debate with Johnson on Tuesday, Corbyn repeatedly refused to say how he would campaign in a second referendum.
“He refuses to mention Brexit because he can’t even tell the public if he’d back leave or remain in his second referendum,” said Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jessica Shankleman in London at jshankleman@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Robert Jameson
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