Labour needs SNP-style alternative to the Tories, says Corbyn adviser

Jeremy Corbyn’s adviser Richard Murphy
Lauren Hurley/PA
Joseph Watts24 August 2015
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Labour leadership contender Jeremy Corbyn’s top economic adviser today claimed that the party was failing to offer voters an SNP-style alternative to Tory plans.

Richard Murphy — who has been dubbed the “architect of Corbynomics” — said the SNP had destroyed Labour in Scotland at the general election because former party leader Ed Miliband was not Left-wing enough.

His claim came as Mr Corbyn today turned his fire on executive wages in the City and signalled his intention to target bankers’ bonuses.

Speaking on BBC Radio Mr Murphy said: “The SNP managed to sweep 56 out of 59 seats in Scotland because they were presented with a different narrative.”

He added: “My argument is that people have said ‘at least here is an alternative which does restore confidence in the political system because it’s saying something else is possible’ and that’s what I’m trying to deliver.”

The adviser said that Mr Miliband and Ed Balls failed to win the election in May because they offered only an “austerity lite” version of Tory plans.

He also accused the Bank of England of always broadly following the Treasury’s line despite its “independence”, which he called “a façade created to appease people, to put forward a presentation of something that doesn’t exist.”

In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Corbyn said he would explore how to tackle high salary levels and bonuses.

He added: “I am looking at the gap in every organisation between highest and lowest levels of pay.”

Asked whether the City of London should be nervous about his leadership he said bankers should acknowledge the UK’s “gross inequalities”.

The comments follow the publication of his other plans, including a rise in the top rate of tax, re-nationalising of the railways and power industries and reopening coal mines.

Fellow leadership contender Liz Kendall attacked Mr Corbyn telling BBC Radio London: “I don’t believe that re-nationalising swathes of the economy or saying that we get jobs of the future by reopening coal mines — I don’t think that’s right.

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