Labour had a day to forget yesterday: the party’s leaked manifesto was plastered all over the newspapers, its leader was a no show at Labour’s poster launch and Corbyn’s car collided with a BBC cameraman. On the plus side, the party has succeeded in snatching the headlines away from the Tories. But is this wall-to-wall coverage a good thing? Here’s what the newspaper editorials are making of Labour’s manifesto:
Labour’s plan for government is a ‘misguided bid to turn the clock back’, according to the FT. In its damning editorial, the paper says that its clear the opposition wants to ditch the ‘market economy’ which has ‘delivered prosperity for Britain’ for a generation. This ‘throwback to the 1970s’ would come at a ‘great cost’ and Corbyn is ‘profoundly misguided’ if he thinks this manifesto is the right plan for Britain’s future. His policies to renationalise the railways and the Royal Mail, for instance, show that ‘dogma has triumphed over common sense’. It’s true that commuters are fed-up says the paper, but ‘a return to a nationalised British Rail feels more like a return to the steam age’. And buying back Royal Mail would also offer little benefit to a business which has ‘thrived since privatisation’. While on the ‘most critical issue of all, Brexit, Labour has next to nothing to say’, says the FT. This manifesto, concludes the paper, lands ‘well short of providing a realistic shot at power’.
The Sun agrees, calling the Labour manifesto a ‘blueprint for the destruction of the economy’ – and that’s looking on the good side, says the paper. If ever there was any doubt, this leaked document is the proof that ‘Corbyn and his Marxist mob wish to deliver their 1970s glory days’. Any voter who thinks this is a good plan for the modern world is ‘insane’, says the paper which says the most ‘gigantic lie’ of all is that the plan is ‘fully costed’’. ‘On June 8’, says the Sun, ‘voters will deliver a withering verdict on all this’.
The Guardian calls Labour’s manifesto a ‘bold step’. While the Tories appear to be borrowing from the plans offered up by Ed Miliband, Corbyn and his team should be praised for going one step further, says the paper. The most ‘eye catching’ policies offered are also the ones that ‘poll well’, according to the paper, which suggests renationalising the railways will be a hit with voters even if it does prove ‘expensive’. This doesn’t mean everything in the leaked draft is a good idea though: ‘taking the National Grid into state hands…would bog down any government,’ the Guardian says. While the cost of ditching tuition fees would be better spent reversing benefit cuts, according to the paper.
Given that the election will come down to which leader can best be trusted with implementing Brexit, yesterday was something of a disaster for Labour, says the Daily Telegraph. ‘That air of shambles’ which prevailed throughout the day is a clear demonstration that this is a party that ‘cannot be allowed anywhere near the levers of power’. Take the party’s plan to buy back the railways – this is a policy which is simply ’delusional’ says the Telegraph. The same is true of plans to give the government a hand in running energy distribution. Don’t be fooled, says the paper: these policies might appeal if ‘the state could be relied upon to run anything efficiently’. ‘But it can’t,’ concludes the Telegraph.
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