Jeremy Corbyn hosts economy event in Sherfield
Corbyn, McCluskey and McDonnell were all at Imperial
Last Saturday, members of the Labour party gathered in the Sherfield great hall to discuss the future of the British economy.
The great hall, where exams have been happening all week, was transformed into a Labour love-in, while party activists, journalists and MPs wondered around the Sherfield building discussing economic policy. The event was a private one, with Imperial renting out the space to the party for a fee.
The focus of the day was firmly on the economy; speakers discussed Labour’s ‘new economics’ with a focus on wealth and its distribution. Jeremy Corbyn told activists that wealth creation itself was not a bad thing as “we all want greater prosperity” but that there must be a greater focus on how that wealth is created and shared.
John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, promised that Labour would build 100,000 new council houses a year if his party got into power.
There was a general consensus that Labour needed a better reputation in economics if it wanted to get into power again. McDonnell said the party had to prove “it was a responsible custodian of public money.”
Many of the party’s big names were not present, however. Veterans like Gordon Brown, Yvette Cooper, Liz Kendall, and Vince Cable were down the road in Bloomsbury at the Fabian Society’s summer conference, also discussing the party’s future.
In a speech at the end of the day, Jeremy Corbyn concluded: “Today we’ve discussed the state of the economy. And the sad truth is… the economy is in a bad state.”
He also said he would want a future Labour government to “be judged on an index of equality and inequality”.
