1. At Johnson’s first PMQ’s he referred to Labour’s plans Inclusive Ownership Fund as the LP ‘taxing’ large companies £300bn. Rubbish of course. A) It’s not a tax and B) companies being required to redistribute their wealth more equally does not reduce that wealth over all.

Here is an extract from a piece in the FT that throws some light on things. A real vote of confidence from eminent academics and economists.

Response to the FT’s series THE CORBYN REVOLUTION SERIES – from economists and academics such as David Blanchflower, Thomas Piketty and Mariana Mazzucato (plus 82 signatories). Commenting on FT’s  series of articles exploring the Labour party’s economic agenda.

“The series fails to appreciate the severity of the UK’s current economic condition, and reproduces a number of misconceptions. There is growing political consensus that the UK’s economic model is failing. The economy has been performing badly for more than a decade………… Ownership of capital helps determine in whose interests the economy operates. It is a category error to suggest a mechanism such as an Inclusive Ownership Fund would “cost” companies or that the state will “seize” shares. The proposal neither reduces the book value of corporate entities, nor requires them to pay cash out. By requiring companies to issue new shares and give them to a mutual fund — mirroring the accepted practice of issuing shares for executive compensation — it ensures instead that workers share in the wealth they create.

The UK’s economic model has failed before. In both the 1940s and 1980s, major policy changes were made in response. At first seen as overly radical, they were later accepted across the political spectrum. Since 2008 the UK economy has again been failing, with today’s political crisis one of the consequences. This is precisely the time when bold ideas are needed from all political parties”.

▪︎David Blanchflower – Professor of Economics, Dartmouth University; former Monetary Policy Committee member
▪︎Victoria Chick -Emeritus Professor of Economics, University College London
▪︎Stephany Griffith-Jones – Financial Markets Director, Initiative for Policy Dialogue, Columbia University; Emeritus Professorial Fellow, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex
▪︎Susan Himmelweit – Professor Emeritus of Economics, Open University
▪︎Sir Richard Jolly – Professor, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex; former Deputy Director of Unicef
▪︎Mariana Mazzucato – Professor in the Economics of Innovation & Public Value; Director, UCL Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose
▪︎ Thomas Piketty – Professor, Paris School of Economics and EHESS
▪︎ Dani Rodrik – Professor of Economics, Harvard University

On behalf of 82 signatories.