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JOHN MCDONNELL has vowed that Labour will end “rip-off Britain” after research finds families are £6,000 worse off because of the Tories.
In a major election speech in Birmingham today, the shadow chancellor intends to highlight the current scale of inequality in Britain and will vow to put money “in your pocket” with a Labour government.
His intervention will come alongside analysis by Labour which suggests that the Tories have cost the average household £5,949 every year since 2010 with stagnating wages and rising household bills.
The data shows this to include £1,924 extra on rent, £1,916 extra on childcare for each child and £1,740 on two rail season tickets.
Labour says that its policies on the nationalisation of rail, energy and other utilities, as well as a £10-an-hour living wage and free children’s care will make families nearly £7,000 better off every year.
Mr McDonnell will say: “As chancellor I want to ensure government has sound finances, but I want more than that. I want every family — every household — in Britain to have sound finances.
“That means putting a stop to rip-off Britain and making real change so that people are not powerless in the face of profiteering monopolies, bad bosses at work and cast aside by a government that just stands by.
“Judge me on the public finances, but judge me too on the money in your pocket.
“You deserve better and you will be better off under Labour. Where the Tories have failed, a Labour government will be on your side.”
Mr McDonnell will also highlight a claim from housing charity Shelter, which says that 135,000 children are currently homeless. And he will cite analysis from the Equality Trust which says that the six richest people in Britain have as much wealth as the poorest 13 million people.
He will say: “It’s three weeks to Christmas. With children going hungry and homeless are we really living up to the values of Christianity or any other of our religions or beliefs for that matter?”
The Tories had not responded to Labour’s statistics as the Star went to press.
