Jeremy Corbyn pledges to tear up Thatcher's economic legacy and replace it with 'new common sense' model

Jeremy Corbyn will use his flagship conference speech to promise a “new common sense” model for British life that will overturn 30 years of liberal free market economics.

The leader will set out policies to pull up the foundations of the existing model, in place since Margaret Thatcher reshaped Britain in the 1980s and adhered to by Labour until Mr Corbyn came to office.

In particular, he will point to the Grenfell Tower disaster as a “tragic monument” to a model of government that has become “brutal and less caring” over the last three decades.

In its place, he will propose a new system with an empowered state, nationalised utilities, billions in extra funding for health and education services, curbs on corporate excess and tax rises for the wealthiest.

Mr Corbyn will then claim Labour is “ready for government” today and will demand Theresa May and her Cabinet “pull yourself together or make way” for his party, following a week of Conservative cabinet splits over Brexit and setbacks in Brussels.

His speech follows what has been a successful conference albeit with some problems, including divisions among party members over Brexit, signs antisemitism is still an issue in a part of the party and an admission that Labour has planned for a run on the pound if it enters government.

But it also clearly marks a new phase in Mr Corbyn’s leadership – one in which his power within Labour is largely unchallenged, his followers’ influence is being cemented and his confidence to set out a radical agenda growing.

From the stage, Mr Corbyn will tell delegates: “Against all predictions, in June we won the largest increase in the Labour vote since 1945 and achieved Labour’s best vote for a generation.

“It’s a result which has put the Tories on notice and Labour on the threshold of power.

“Yes, we didn’t do quite well enough and we remain in opposition for now. But we have become a government-in-waiting. And our message to the country could not be clearer.”

He will add: “We are ready for government.”

Aides revealed how since the election the Shadow Cabinet has been developing the policies that saw Labour surge in the polls and strip the Conservatives of their majority, and been meeting with ex-civil servants to ensure the party can “operate the machinery of government” from day one.

Policies set out so far include plans to nationalise railways, water and energy companies and Royal Mail, to scrap private finance initiatives, to pump £500m into the NHS this year alone to deal with a winter crisis and a further £500m for childcare.

In particular Mr Corbyn will highlight a £2.5bn-a-year plan to roll out free courses for over 18s, including vocational and technical training as well as university degrees.

His spokesman said: “We will talk about a new common sense. There is a new common sense emerging out of what people want, how they want the economy and the government to be run.

“The basic proposals we made in the election campaign and we are talking about now, are popular. They reflect public opinion. That’s where the centre of gravity actually is.

“Whereas the former model has clearly run out of steam, it isn’t delivering, it doesn’t work, the basic elements we are talking about are the building blocks of a new direction, our new common sense about how to run the country.”
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/jeremy-corbyn-pledges-tear-thatcher-210115288.html

Oh God, I remember the '70s. Never, ever again.

UK's Corbyn says Labour is now the 'political mainstream',

LONDON (AP) — Britain's left-wing opposition leader said Wednesday that the political center ground has shifted and his socialist ideas are "now the political mainstream." Wrapping up the Labour Party's annual conference, Jeremy Corbyn said the party espoused "a new common sense about the direction our country should take," and had become Britain's government-in-waiting as the Conservatives were consumed by infighting.

Labour stunned pundits and pollsters in June's snap election by reducing Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservatives to a minority administration. The party ran on policies widely derided as expensive and old-fashioned, such as nationalizing railways and public utilities and scrapping university fees.

But they struck a chord with many voters weary after seven years of spending cuts by the Conservative government. Although Labour lost the election, it gained several dozen parliamentary seats, and its membership has grown to almost 600,000 since Corbyn was elected leader in 2015.

Many Labour lawmakers still worry that Corbyn's socialism is a turn-off to centrist voters. But, to a boisterous reception from delegates, the leader argued that "we are now the political mainstream."

"Today's center ground is certainly not where it was 20 or 30 years ago," Corbyn said. "A new consensus is emerging from the great economic crash and the years of austerity, when people started to find political voice for their hopes for something different and better."

Labour has lost three successive elections since 2010, but its four-day conference in the seaside city of Brighton was the most optimistic in years. Corbyn made eye-catching promises including a pay raise for public servants and constraints on private landlords and developers that he said had contributed to "social cleansing" in London.

Corbyn cited June's fire at public housing block Grenfell Tower, which killed some 80 people, as "a damning indictment of a whole outlook ... which has contempt for working-class communities." And he derided May's attempts at global influence, especially her visit to President Donald Trump in Washington soon after his inauguration.

"We must be a candid friend to the United States, now more than ever," Corbyn said, calling Trump's bellicose speech to the United Nations General Assembly last week "deeply disturbing." "If the special relationship means anything, it must mean that we can say to Washington, that is the wrong way," he said.

Despite the party's optimistic mood, Labour remains divided over one of the biggest issues facing Britain: Brexit. Some members and lawmakers want to push to keep Britain inside the bloc's single market after Brexit, but Corbyn and his allies are cool to that idea.

Corbyn said Labour would respect voters' decision to leave the EU, guarantee the rights of 3 million EU citizens living in Britain and "build a new and progressive relationship with Europe" — though the nature of that relationship remains undefined.

Trade unions welcomed Corbyn's speech, but business groups expressed concern. Adam Marshall, director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said the speech "will have done little to reassure companies already worried about widespread state intervention, nationalization and the radical increases in taxes and costs they could face under a future Labour government."

Must be great to have a magic money tree.

Stasi's 'secret file on Corbyn': Fears Labour leader could be vulnerable to Russian blackmail after he travelled through communist Germany in the 1970s with his then-lover Diane Abbott
Labour leader visited communist Germany in 70s with then-lover Diane Abbott
During the trip the Stasi is thought to have compiled a dossier on the pair
The documents would have been passed to Russia's notorious KGB agency at the time meaning they will still be in the hands of officials in Moscow


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4937434/Stasi-s-secret-file-Jeremy-Corbyn.html#ixzz4uEmVvSqZ
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Oh, what a surprise! Whoever could have foreseen it?