Corbyn's calls would crash the economy

Jeremy Corbyn’s calls for hundreds of billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money to be spent on his pet projects, as well as extra red tape, attacks on the media, and dismissing future trade deals, shows he is still stuck in the past doesn’t understand how the modern economy works. Matthew Kilcoyne, Deputy Director of the Adam Smith Institute, said:

“With a Christmas election looming, today Corbyn delivered his wishlist of unaffordable, uncosted, unworkable policies. He's written a list and obviously not checked it twice, but he's already decided who he thinks is naughty not nice — run a business he doesn't understand and you'll be nationalised, earn a wage he dislikes and he'll tax you the hilt, if you've got a pension or investments in British companies he'll be picking your pocket.

“Corbyn talked about healing the divides in the country, but his rhetoric and plans for the economy suggest nothing but more discord, division, and debt. Undermining patents will undermine care for patients. Drugs are very expensive, time-consuming things to create but the capitalist system has produced more techniques and more medicine than ever before in history — with more people living longer and better lives as a result. Less profit from discovering new medicines now will lead to fewer new medicines in future.

“After promises worth over £500bn in just the one sentence, pension raids, and regulation that will crash the economy, it's clear now that the Tories will never outspend or regulate more than communist Corbyn. At their conference next week the Conservatives have a chance to make the case for sound money, for boosting economic growth through tax cuts, and setting the individual free to live their lives as they wish and not at the beck and call of Corbyn.”

Morgan Schondelmeier on the debt Labour plans on passing to the next generation via Corbyn’s commitments:

“Corbyn's Labour would have you believe that they can provide a world of services and improvements - but we should ask: with what money? His sums don't add up. Either he's lying about the rate at which he will raise your taxes, or he is planning on relying entirely on borrowing from future generations. It's ironic that Corbyn fancies himself the champion of the youth when his policies will see them saddled with unimaginable debt.”

Adam Smith Institute commentary was picked up by The Sun, Daily Mail, on the BBC and on TalkRadio.

For further information, to arrange further comment or an interview, please contact Matt Kilcoyne via email matt@adamsmith.org or ring 07904099599.

When Labour went Caracas

Following a Labour conference filled with bans, spending pledges, and a total economic revolution, the press picked up on some healthy Adam Smith Institute scepticism.

The Sun picked up on our analysis that Labour was now committed to spending more of our taxpayer cash than the Tories in every area (and send borrowing soaring again as they’ll struggle to raise the cash to meet their obligations).

The Telegraph picked up our reminder that Labour’s plans for an enforced four-day working week would mean people put back on the dole after a decade long period of growth in employment, and near record low unemployment.

And the Daily Mail quoted Matthew Kilcoyne warning that Labour’s experiments with our economy would end exactly the same way they do wherever in the world they’re tried: in disaster.

Let people decide how much they work

Labour Party Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell’s idea to force a 4-day work week have now been debunked by a Labour-commissioned report.

Matthew Lesh, Head of Research at the Adam Smith Institute, says the people should be free to decide how much they work:

“It is damning that even the report commissioned by the Labour Party rejected the idea of a 4-day work week as unrealistic and undesirable.

“John McDonnell’s bizarre idea to force people to work less will mean lower wages and fewer opportunities for millions. If we force people to work less they will inevitably earn less. The British economy will also be a much less friendly place to invest and start businesses if staff cannot work a full week. We should celebrate people who work hard to provide for their families, not take away this freedom. Low income Brits in particular want to work more, not less.

“Just forcing people to work less will not magically improve productivity. We need to embrace technological advancements to allow us to work even less in the future. In historic terms we are already working less than ever before, about 30 fewer hours compared to before the Industrial Revolution.”