Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Jeremy Corbyn Takes on the Asset Strippers

Jeremy Corbyn has said wealthy elites are trying to "hijack" Brexit as he formally launched Labour's campaign.

Speaking in Manchester, the Labour leader promised a reckoning for "tax cheats, rip-off bosses and greedy bankers" if Labour wins the election.

The Labour leader earlier told activists that the question of whether the UK would leave the EU had been "settled" and the task now was to act in the national interest and not show "who can be toughest with Brussels".

Mr Corbyn told activists that his mission was to transform Britain, saying "we have four weeks to take our wealth back and four weeks to show what kind of country we are"Repeating his argument that the economy was "rigged" against ordinary people, he said a Labour government would take action against asset strippers, tax evaders and those who "ripped off workers and consumers".
"We have four weeks to ruin their party," he said.

Speaking afterwards to the BBC's political editor Laura Kuenssberg, he said that he was angry at levels of poverty and inequality in the country, which he believed were shared by the public.

"They are very angry. They see the growth of the super-rich and very wealthy corporations and they see their communities left behind. Their anger is palpable and I think we have to address that."

"I don't know any more than you what is going to happen in the future but I do know that we are not approaching this from megaphone diplomacy. We are not approaching this from threats... our view is you have to talk to them, negotiate with them and recognise there is quite a lot of common interest."

If elected, he said his negotiating priorities would be guaranteeing tariff-free access to EU markets, ensuring the rights of EU nationals living in the UK and maintaining employment rights such as the working time directive.

"People know there's been a referendum and a decision was made a year ago," he said. "We have set out very clear terms for negotiations... we are negotiating a trade agreement with Europe and protection of the things we have gained from the EU."

Facing the challenge to win on 8 June, Mr Corbyn told supporters he was determined to show "things don't have to remain the way they are".

He promised decent homes for all, extra funding for schools and vowed to "draw a line" under privatisation in the health service, social care, energy market and the rail network.

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