Jeremy Corbyn strikes back after Labor Party attacks | Political news

The former Labor leader defended his manifestos as proposals that would “redistribute wealth and power” after Sir Keir ridiculed them for attacking the Tories.

Jeremy Corbyn has hit back at Labour’s attacks on his manifestos, saying they are “wholly expensive proposals that would redistribute wealth and power”.

The former Labor leader told Sky News he is “proud” of the proposals he made in 2017 and 2019 and will continue to fight for the policy if re-elected as an independent MP.

This came after Sir Keir Starmer compared Rishi Sunak tax cuts manifesto to the proposals presented by his predecessor in 2019, claiming that there is no money for the prime minister’s promises.

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“It’s a Jeremy Corbyn-style manifesto, loading everything into wheelbarrows, providing no funding and hoping no one will notice,” Sir Keir said.

This is despite Sir Keir serving in Corbyn’s shadow cabinet during the 2017 and 2019 elections and supporting both manifestos.

In response, Corbyn said: “If our 2017 and 2019 manifestos were implemented, energy companies would not be making record profits and millions of people would be suffering in poverty.

“A billionaire wouldn’t buy Royal Mail. There would be no raw sewage in our rivers and seas. 250,000 people would not be homeless.

“We would not waste public money on private health care contracts. And we would be much further along in the green investments needed to tackle the climate crisis.”

He added: “These were thoroughly expensive proposals that would redistribute wealth and power, and I was proud to stand alongside the millions of voters and activists calling for this transformative change.”

Corbyn went on to say that “the crises we face today are even more urgent and severe” than when he was Labor leader, “and require a fundamental shake-up of our economic and political system.”

He said that if re-elected as an MP, he would “continue to advocate for the real change that is needed to tackle the crises we all face.”

Corbyn is running as an MP in the London constituency of Islington North, which he has represented for 40 years.

He tries to be independent after he was banned from standing for the Labor Party.

Corbyn lost the Labor whip in 2020 in response to the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s report on anti-Semitism in the party.

Corbyn has previously said that Sir Keir should not “display” the party’s 2019 manifesto because he served in his shadow cabinet from 2016 to 2020 and promoted the policy at the last general election.

Sir Keir himself said during his bid for Labor leadership that “factionalism must go”, as he promised it would not. waste the last four years” under Corbyn.

Defending his change of tone, Sir Keir pointed to the historic defeat dealt to Labor when the nation last went to the polls.

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He said: “If you lose so badly, you don’t look at the electorate and say, ‘What have you been doing?’, you look at your party and say, ‘You have to change.'”

However, Corbyn’s allies are outraged by Sir Keir’s remarks, which echo a similar attack launched by shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves in The Sun at the weekend.

Campaign group Momentum said Sir Keir knows the 2019 manifesto was fully paid for but “instead inexplicably insists on attacking his own site and spreading disinformation during the election”.

They said: “What Keir may not like about 2019 Labor policies like public ownership and property taxes is that they offered real change, not just the illusion of it.”

Meanwhile, Andrew Fisher, a former Labor adviser who helped write the last two manifestos, said today’s Tory offer included welfare cuts and tax cuts for property owners.

“Sir Keir Starmer’s description of this as a ‘Corbyn-style manifesto’ is an insult to Labor members and supporters,” he said.

The full list of candidates in Islington North is:
Vikas Aggarwal, Lib Dems;
Karen Anne Harries, Conservative;
Paul Dominic Josling, Independent;
Jeremy Corbyn, Independent;
Sheridan Kates, Greens;
Praful Nargund, Work;
Martyn Nelson, Reform.