Election 2019: McDonnell pledges Labour Budget on 5 February
A Labour government would hold its first Budget on 5 February, shadow chancellor John McDonnell has pledged today.
Speaking from Vauxhall, where Labour candidate Florence Eshalomi is expected to replace outgoing MP Kate Hoey, McDonnell said the party had already “won the argument” that austerity was wrong.
“We face an existential threat… we need to get to work quickly,” McDonnell said, telling supporters the country had been “held back for 10 years by Tory austerity”.
He said he had been meeting with shadow Cabinet colleagues “for months now”, drawing up detailed plans for their department budgets in order to hand these plans to civil servants on Friday.
“The next few years are vital if we are to tackle the climate and environmental emergency, and doing that will mean getting money moving out of the City and Whitehall into the places that need it,” McDonnell added.
He pledged to launch the party’s National Transformation Unit “immediately – before Christmas – so it can start work in the Treasury, before being moved out to its new office in the north of England early next year”.
“We’ve already started our meetings with the Treasury, they are working up plans and getting ready to implement all this,” he added. “Don’t be fooled by the doubters who say our plans are unachievable.”
Critically McDonnell said would be Labour’s first Budget – one which “ends austerity once and for all” and will “save the NHS, to rebuild the public services the Tories have brought to their knees”.
“My first act as chancellor will be write to the Office for Budget Responsibility asking them to begin their preparations for my first Budget which will be given on the 5 February,” he said. The date when almost ten years of cuts will come to an end.”
“And when it happens, it will be down to the millions who stood up against what they saw happening in society.”
Asked about the impact a Labour government would have on the economy, McDonnell said “a healthy majority” with “the stability of a Brexit, as decided by the British people themselves” would strengthen the country, compared to one run by a Boris Johnson-led government.
“It’s interesting, when people start talking about run on the pound and all the rest of it – I just ask them to explore the recent history of the pound under the Tory government.
“I suggest to commentators that actually the instability brought about by the incomptetent management of the economy, exaggerated claims about what is potentially available under deals under Brexit, the threat of a no deal, and the markets recognising that we have a Prime Minister whose word cannot be trusted.”
Main image: Getty