Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell names and shames 'tax avoiders' as he vows radical review in Labour conference speech

The shadow chancellor was greeted with thundering applause and a standing ovation after outlining his left-wing policies

John McDonnell today named and shamed alleged 'tax avoiding' firms as he vowed a radical crackdown on Britain's financial giants in his first major Labour conference speech.

The shadow chancellor was greeted with thundering applause and a standing ovation after outlining his left-wing policies at the party's get-together in Brighton.

"We will force people like Starbucks, Amazon, Vodafone and Google and all the others to pay their share of taxes," he declared to cheers.

There is no suggestion the firms acted illegally, but they were accused of using legitimate systems to lower their bills. Vodafone hit out after the speech saying there was no truth to the claims.

Mr McDonnell said Labour will make cuts - but to the 'corporate welfare system', 'subsidies' to big business and the housing benefit bill by building new homes and 'controlling exorbitant rents'.

He begged SNP voters should come back to Labour because it is the only true anti-austerity party, he claimed.

And there were nervous mutters as he reached out to Blairite MPs who had refused to share a Cabinet table with him.
"I admit I was disappointed after Jeremy’s election that some people refused to serve," he said. "In the spirit of solidarity on which our movement was founded, I say come back."

The Shadow Chancellor announced a major review of the roles of the Bank of England, HM Revenue and Customs and even the Treasury itself - adding: "I thought you'd like that one".

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn managed to take a cheeky photo as his Number Two's speech began with the word 'comrades' - and ended with the word 'solidarity'.

Mr McDonnell said Labour would "halt Conservative tax cuts to the wealthy paid for by cuts to families' income", citing the proposed reduction in inheritance tax funded by cuts in tax credits.

He promised Labour would deliver a "real living wage", higher than the £7.20 "national living wage" offered by George Osborne.
And he gave a "solemn promise" to provide "decent and secure homes" for children in homeless families.

Mr McDonnell said Labour would launch a wholesale review of its economic policies, guided by an economic advisory panel featuring a number of internationally renowned economists.



And he demanded that the Government give Labour access to the models used by the Office for Budget Responsibility and Bank of England to test its ideas.



Labour will review the nation's major economic institutions to ensure they are "fit for purpose" and ex-civil service head Lord Kerslake has been invited to review the operations of the Treasury.


Mr McDonnell declared: "Austerity is not an economic necessity - it is a political choice.

"Although they said they were one nation Tories they’ve demonstrated time and time again that they don’t represent one nation - they represent the 1%."

He added: "We’ll take no lessons from a chancellor who promised to wipe out the deficit in one parliament and only got through half."

The Shadow Chancellor dismissed as a "myth" George Osborne's claim to have presided over a successful recovery from recession and warned that "pre-crash warning signs" are coming back.

"The UK economy is in recovery despite the Chancellor's policies and not because of them," said Mr McDonnell.
And he raised the tragic case of mentally ill Michael O’Sullivan - whose family he had spoken to.

Michael killed himself after his disability benefits were removed and a coroner blamed that decision in the first official case of its kind.


The 60-year-old, who was on anti-depressants and having therapy sessions, met a benefits advisor for an hour and a half to beg for his payments to continue.

Yet officials did not even look at the views of Michael's GP, psychiatrist or psychologist before moving him onto jobseeker's allowance.

Mr McDonnell said he believed the case was not alone.
"We will end this brutal treatment of disabled people," he declared.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/shadow-chancellor-john-mcdonnell-names-6531714#ICID=sharebar_twitter


Osborne has borrowed more that every Labour Government put together has ever done, and more than doubled the National Debt.  Austerty doesn't work, it's choice, and the choice is Class Warfare.  Absolutely agree with Yanis

Yanis Varoufakis: George Osborne has launched 'class war' in Britain

Former Greek finance minister says George Osborne has used fiscal policy "as a narrative to conduct a class war"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11889958/Yanis-Varoufakis-Britain-has-had-no-austerity-only-class-war-question-time.html

It was labour who allowed the corporations to get away with it in the first place during their 13 years in charge!!!


Plus... you cannot carry on supporting the cause of high property price, mass immigration, while also moaning about the resulting symptoms of it...


Supply and demand is basic economics, and if they cannot grasp the basics of it, and cannot be honest about the cause of the problem, then they are totally without any credibility!

Was that a fart I heard?  Nah, just hot air.

No... it is the cloud of guff you lefties float around on...

sassy wrote:Was that a fart I heard?  Nah, just hot air.

Why bother posting that stuff if you're not prepared to discuss it?

Raggamuffin wrote:

sassy wrote:Was that a fart I heard?  Nah, just hot air.

Why bother posting that stuff if you're not prepared to discuss it?

Because Tommy doesn't discuss it, he just comes out with he normal load of lies and rubbish.  He's not worth talking to.

This chap was clearly so used to not working that he got stressed at the thought of it. 13 years on disability benefits for depression and anxiety FFS. Why did nobody help him get over his fears and phobias? Just letting him sit there on benefits wasn't going to help was it? They should have tried a different anti-depressant since the one he was on clearly wasn't working - not if he'd been like that for 13 years.

sassy wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:

Why bother posting that stuff if you're not prepared to discuss it?

Because Tommy doesn't discuss it, he just comes out with he normal load of lies and rubbish.  He's not worth talking to.

He was discussing it. He talked about too many people for too few houses - supply and demand. You can build new houses or you can stop so many people needing them by restricting immigration. Personally, I'd just tell landlords and home owners that they can only charge so much for their property, but hey ...

Mr O'Sullivan's friend of 20 years, Brendan Mulholland, said the happy 'gentleman' he knew went downhill after failing the Work Capability Assessment.

WTF? I thought he was supposed to be depressed.

"After (he failed the Work Capability Assessment) he seemed to slow up a lot but you would always see him walking passed with a smile on his face.

I thought he had agoraphobia.

I was discussing things... but lefties don't like to hear common sense.