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Labour 'Needs To Rebuild Economic Credibility'

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell tells Sky News the party needs to be "honest and straightforward with people about our failures".


15:51, UK,Friday 11 March 2016
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Video: McDonnell: "We Must Be Honest"

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The shadow chancellor has told Sky News Labour needs to rebuild credibility on the economy and be honest about past failures.

John McDonnell admitted the party lost two general elections because the public did not trust them with the country's finances.

He has promised that a future Labour government would eliminate the deficit in a "fair and responsible" way over five years.

Mr McDonnell said: "Let's be absolutely honest, all the research that's been done over the last two elections, one of the key factors that has lost us the elections is we did not have that credibility.

"People did not trust us with the economy.
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Video: McDonnell On Labour Policies

"So what we've got to do is rebuild that credibility.

"We've got to be honest and straightforward with people about our failures in the past but also our future plans.

"What we’re saying today is 'here's one of our foundation stones about how we will ensure our economic policies are credible'."

Mr McDonnell also said the party had "turned a corner" and the atmosphere within the parliamentary party had improved in the wake of leader Jeremy Corbyn's plea for an end to the "public sniping" by his critics.
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The shadow chancellor was speaking on the day he unveiled a new "fiscal credibility rule" which will guide future policies on taxation and spending.

This would bar a future Labour government from borrowing to pay for day-to-day spending and would require it to ensure the national debt falls as a percentage of GDP over each Parliament.

It leaves open the option of borrowing to pay for investment in infrastructure such as roads, railways, broadband and flood defences.

This has led to claims from the Conservatives that a Labour government would plunge the country into billions of pounds more debt.
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Video: McDonnell Brandishes Mao's Red Book

Tory MP Chris Philp, a member of the Treasury Select Committee, said: "They have no credibility at all when it comes to being responsible custodians of our country's money."

He added: "The last time they were in office they left the country with the biggest peacetime deficit ever."