Jeremy Corbyn: Tory economic plan is irresponsible

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has branded the government's plan to borrow billions to cut taxes "irresponsible".

Mr Corbyn was attacked when he was leader for his huge spending promises, which would also have been funded through borrowing.

The now independent MP told the BBC's Nick Robinson his borrowing plans would have been for investment not "to pay bankers' bonuses".

The chancellor has unveiled the biggest package of tax cuts in 50 years.

The measures, set out by Kwasi Kwarteng in a Commons statement dubbed a mini-budget, will be funded through a £72bn increase in government borrowing.

Among the plans were cuts to income tax and the stamp duty paid on home purchases, as well as a reversal of the rise in National Insurance payments introduced by Boris Johnson.

The cap on bankers' bonuses will be also be lifted and a planned rise in corporation tax scrapped.

In a wide-ranging interview with Nick Robinson for his Political Thinking podcast, Mr Corbyn said he "had more of a smile", when the chancellor set out his plans in the Commons.

"I was thinking [about] all the condemnation I received for putting forward a proposal for a national investment bank and regional investment banks and investment banks for Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland and was told this was grossly irresponsible," he said.

"[Then-shadow chancellor] John McDonnell at the same time had said we would not borrow to cover day-to-day spending, we would only borrow for investment."

In contrast, he said the government was now in the process of borrowing billions "to pay for for day-to-day expenditure because they've just cut their own income level".

The Islington North MP was leader of the Labour party from 2015 to April 2020 but was suspended from the party in October 2020 over his reaction to a highly critical report about anti-Semitism in the party under his leadership.

He was later readmitted as a member but still sits as an independent MP in the Commons as the Labour whip has not been restored.

Mr Corbyn said "the way to bring the party together and move forward is to reinstate the whip", adding that Labour should be focusing on issues like poverty and unemployment rather than the internal workings of the party.

He said he would be attending the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, which begins this weekend, but would not speak on the conference floor as he is not a delegate.

"They've never done it before, there's never been any demand to do it," he said.

"We don't as a country routinely go around singing the national anthem at every single event we go to. We don't sing in schools, we don't have the raising of the flag as they do in the USA and other places. We are not that sort of, what I would call, excessively nationalist."

Mr Corbyn was also asked about his selection as the left-wing candidate for the 2015 Labour leadership contest.

He recalled how several other potential candidates at a meeting of left-wing Labour members said they did not want to stand again.

He recalled: "Then it went quiet and I looked up and said 'what's going on?' and they said 'it's got to be you'."

"So I said 'OK'. At that point, I saw Diane Abbott's hand move faster than lightning to press the send button on her phone [declaring that I was the candidate]… She'd already prepared the tweet."

Jeremy Corbyn's interview with Nick Robinson will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 17:30 BST on Saturday and will also be available on BBC Sounds and the Political Thinking website.