Jeremy Corbyn is preparing for his first response to a Budget since becoming Labour leader. The last time he spoke in a debate following an economic statement from the Chancellor was in 2012, when he complained about the ‘granny tax’, the benefit cap, proposals for regional pay, transport spending and Heathrow and housing. The MP for Islington North concluded:
‘I want a Budget that helps the poorest in this country, that creates jobs, that encourages local authorities to build council housing, and that shows that there is a sense of the reality experienced by those living in inner urban areas. If we do not provide jobs for young people, we will reap the whirlwind.’
It will be interesting to see how he adapts his message for tomorrow’s set of announcements, given this speech was responding to the ‘Omnishambles’ Budget that did George Osborne so much damage.
But the Labour leader isn’t the only one getting ready. As well as the Shadow Treasury team, there is now a shadow shadow Treasury team made up of moderates, who have been giving speeches and writing articles in the run-up to the economic statement, and who are preparing to launch their own campaign of scrutiny in Labour’s name tomorrow. Led by the chair of the party’s backbench Treasury committee Chris Leslie, this bunch of backbenchers get as much attention for their interventions as John McDonnell (and they don’t even need a Little Red Book), and are so respected that the Shadow Chancellor seems quite happy to appropriate their language in his own interventions.
The most active members of the shadow shadow team are Leslie, Chuka Umunna, Rachel Reeves, Shabana Mahmood, and Alison McGovern, all of whom have frontbench experience. They do not have formal meetings to plan their interventions, but are close politically and socially anyway, and perform well in broadcasts, which helps their cause. Tomorrow they will be out and about with lines, articles responding to the announcements, and media appearances too.
None of them are openly agitating against the party leadership. Indeed, the leadership doesn’t see them as an out-and-out threat, as McDonnell tried in vain to entice Reeves to join his economic review, and has used their arguments himself. But they are not working on behalf of those currently running the party – their focus is on trying to help Labour itself.
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