Labour assembles team of world famous economists to oppose austerity

John McDonnell, who was one of new Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s first appointments, will set out today in a speech to the Labour party conference in Brighton how some of the country’s financial institutions are not “fit for purpose”.

The Conservatives have accused Mr McDonnell of planning “damaging tax rises on jobs, investment and earnings”, after he said his plans would ensure the economy “serves everybody, not just the rich few”.

Nobel prizewinner Joseph Stiglitz, a leading critic of inequality, and Thomas Piketty, the best-selling author of Capital in the 21st Century, are among those who will help shape policy.

He will argue that Labour can tackle the deficit, build a stable economy and help entrepreneurs while “offering the electorate a real economic alternative”.

Labour’s new shadow chancellor John McDonnell has said the party will support Chancellor George Osborne’s new fiscal charter created to guarantee “budget responsibility”.

Also on the panel are University of Sussex professor Mariana Mazzucato, Anastasia Nesvetailova of City University London, former Bank of England economist Danny Blanchflower, Ann Pettifor of Policy Research in Macroeconomics and the University of Oxford’s Simon Wren-Lewis.

Economist Richard Murphy, an early inspiration for so-called Corbynomics and “People’s Quantitative Easing”, told Sky News that much of the economic strategy of the new Labour leadership was dependent on there being another economic crisis.

Appearing on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, Mr Corbyn joined his shadow Chancellor in criticising a 32-month sentence handed down to 18-year-old Ed Woollard for throwing a fire extinguisher off the roof of Conservative Party headquarters – despite Marr saying it “could have killed someone”. The poorest families are being hit by £1,300 a year, each.

“Inheritance tax has been reduced so the richest 60,000 families have suddenly had a huge tax break”.

“Where is the narrative of this Government in trying to protect corporation tax levels all across Europe?” “I believe in doing things by persuasive, democratic means, that’s what we have a parliamentary system for, that’s what we have a democratic political structure for”. Do we then chase down tax havens and tax evasion?

“I would want to keep the top rate at 50 per cent, 50p, I have no plans to raise it beyond that and neither has John”.