Monday 18 November 2019 / 10:32 PM John McDonnell

One in three UK billionaires bankroll Johnson’s Tories as tax breaks for big corporations and the super-rich nudge £100bn

One in three of the UK’s billionaires have bankrolled Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party as tax breaks for the super-rich and big corporations are set to reach almost £100 billion, new research reveals.

Forty eight of the country’s 151 billionaires have donated more than £50 million to the Tory Party since 2005, with 10 billionaires giving money since Johnson declared he wanted to be Prime Minister.

While these super-rich individuals are gifting tens of millions of pounds, the Conservative government is on course to hand out almost £100 billion in tax breaks and corporate giveaways by 2023/24, a new report published today by the Labour Party shows.

 

The research comes as Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell will today (Tuesday) pledge that “Labour will rewrite the rules of our economy”, setting out how Labour will reform how large businesses and public utilities are governed and owned, and stop decisions being imposed on workers.

Labour’s report, ‘In the pockets of the few’, shows:

  • £86 billion handed out through successive cuts to corporation tax
  • £5.5 billion from steep cuts to capital gains tax
  • £5.6 billion in inheritance tax giveaways
  • £1.2 billion from cuts to income tax for the very wealthiest

 

In a speech in London, John McDonnell will say:

“If someone gave you £1 every 10 seconds, it would take you more than 300 years to become a billionaire.

“Someone on the national minimum wage would have to work 69,000 years to get paid £1 billion and a newly qualified nurse would have to wait 50,000 years.

“No one needs or deserves to have that much money, it is obscene.

“It is also obscene that these billionaires are buying access and tax breaks to Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party.

“We know whose side Boris Johnson is on – the billionaires, the bankers and big business.

“Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party are on the side of the people, offering real change for our country, putting wealth and power in the hands of the many, not the few.”

 

On rewriting the rules of the economy, he will say:

“The slogan ‘Taking back control’ was mobilised to great effect in the Brexit debate because people rightly felt that they have little or no control over much of their lives any more.

“For many this is no more so than at work.

“Decisions are made about the companies or services they work in over which they have no say and no influence.

“Labour will rewrite the rules of our economy.

“It’s all about treating people fairly and with the respect they deserve

“Labour’s reforms to how our large businesses and public utilities are governed and owned and how both workers and consumers are represented will genuinely enable them to take back control.”

Link to Instagram Link to Twitter Link to YouTube Link to Facebook Link to LinkedIn Link to Snapchat Close Fax Website Location Phone Email Calendar Building Search