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General election: John McDonnell makes speech on Labour's economic policy - live news
General election: McDonnell says it is 'common sense' to relax borrowing rules for £400bn investment - live news
(32 minutes later)
The chancellor and his Labour counterpart both deliver speeches this morning outlining competing economic visions
The shadow chancellor follows his Tory counterpart in delivering speech outlining economic vision
McDonnell says what he is proposing stands in the best traditions of socialism.
John McDonnell is now taking questions.
Lucy Powell, the Labour candidate (not an MP now, because parliament has been dissolved) who is chairing the event, urges activists to be “respectful” when journalists ask questions. (In the past journalists have been booed for asking critical questions at these events.)
Q: What is your response to Sajid Javid’s speech?
McDonnell says Javid seems to have become a climate change denier. He has not included this in his letter to the Bank of England.
Under Javid’s plans, the UK would not be able to meet its climate change targets, he says.
He says Labour’s plans do match the scale of the climate crisis. If Labour did not step up to the mark, future generations would not forgive it.
Q: Will these plans allow you to increase your target for building homes?
McDonnell says these borrowing plans will allow Labour to meet its housing targets. Details of those will be published in due course, he says.
Q: Does the next Labour deputy leader have to be a woman?
McDonnell says he is always in favour of a gender balance.
McDonnell says Labour will exclude investment from its borrowing targets.
McDonnell says the OBR forecasts there were expected to be published today (see 9.05am) would have shown an increase in borrowing.
McDonnell says Labour will build the tidal barrage proposed for the Mersey.
McDonnell says he will also base the Treasury department dealing with the national transformation fund in the north.
McDonnell says decisions about how this money is spent will be taken locally.
McDonnell now explains the components of what he says will be Labour’s national transformation fund.
McDonnell says decision making has to shift out of London.
McDonnell says Labour wants to achieve an “irreversible shift” in power.
This is a reference to an ambition first set out in Labour’s February 1974 manifesto, which promised to “bring about a fundamental and irreversible shift in the balance of power and wealth in favour of working people and their families.”
McDonnell says there is an alternative, contrary to what the Tories claimed in the 1980s. This election is about that alternative, he says.
It is a “once-in-a-generation chance to get back on track, remake this country and transform everyone’s lives for the better.”
McDonnell says the Tory attitude in the 1980s, towards Liverpool and other places, was summed up by the phrase “there is no alternative”.
McDonnell says the Tory attitude in the 1980s, towards Liverpool and other places, was summed up by the phrase “there is no alternative”.
John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, is speaking now.
McDonnell was brought up in Liverpool, and he recalls his father working as a docker in the city. Like so many other families, his family moved south after work on the docks dried up.
Corbyn is introducing John McDonnell. He says McDonnell is someone who has changed the economic debate in this county.
Here is Miatta Fahnbulleh, chief executive of the New Economics Foundation, making the same point in a tweet on the Sajid Javid speech.
Jeremy Corbyn is now speaking at the Labour event in Liverpool. The main announcements will come from John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, who is due to speak shortly, but Corbyn is starting with a general warm-up.
He criticises what Jacob Rees-Mogg said about the Grenfell Tower, and says a Labour government would act immediately to remove Grenfell-style cladding from tower blocks.
There are massive imbalances in the country, he says, between east and west, north and south.
He says Labour’s tax plans will affect the richest 5% of the population. But everyone else will benefit, he says.
These are from the FT’s economic editor, Chris Giles.
This is what Sajid Javid said about how much extra spending would be possible under his new fiscal rules. (See 10.50am.)
Q: Isn’t it irresponsible to be using the no-deal headroom when a no-deal Brexit is still a risk?
Javid does not accept that. He says he only used half the headroom there. He says his plans are affordable.
The difference between Labour and the Conservatives could not be bigger, he says.
And that’s it. The Q&A is over.
Q: Can you commit to the Northern Powerhouse Rail scheme in full?
Javid says this is just the kind of plan that he wants to see for the north.
He does not want to make an announcement about that today.
But he says it would be “comfortably” affordable under the plans he has announced.
Labour can “spray money around like confetti”, he says. But that does not mean anything if they are going to crash the economy.
Q: How much would you borrow for investment?
Javid says historically the country has invested 1.8% of GDP per year for infrastructure. He says taking that to 2.8%, which would be affordable, would give you an extra £20bn a year.
Q: Swing voters have suffered cuts for 10 years. Why shouldn’t they go with Labour?
Javid says increased infrastructure spending can only happen with a strong economy. If you “crater” the economy, that will not be possible. He says Labour’s investment numbers are meaningless. John McDonnell is talking about £150bn in investment. He might as well talk about £1tn. These numbers are meaningless.
Q: Do you still want to reform stamp duty?
Javid says he will not comment on particular taxes today.
Sajid Javid is now taking questions.
Q: Does this mean you won’t be able to afford tax cuts?
Javid says there will be scope for tax cuts.
Q: Are you not guilty of doing what you accuse Labour of : increasing borrowing irresponsibly?
No, says Javid. He says the difference between the two parties’ approaches is “the difference between night and day”.
Under the Tory plan, debt as a proportion of GDP would come down over the course of the parliament, he says.
He says Labour has just conjured up a new £150bn fund, on top of the £250bn one already planned.
He says he does not know if Labour will have fiscal rules. But if they do, they will not meet them.
He says Labour will have to raise taxes. There will be a “tax bombshell” under Labour, he says.
