The Chancellor has sat on his hands as productivity and real wages have fallen – McDonnell

John
McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor,
responding to the CBI’s pre-Budget demands, said:

“Labour
welcomes the CBI’s demands on the Chancellor to bring forward vital government
investment in infrastructure and research, backed up by a real industrial
strategy targeting high-potential sectors. The Chancellor has sat on his hands
for the last 15 months and failed to act as productivity and real wages have
fallen. There is now a consensus on the action needed to turn our economy round
after seven years of Tory failure.

“Only
Labour has committed to investing three per cent of our GDP in research and
development by 2030, and a plan to deliver infrastructure across the whole
country, to secure decent, well-paid jobs in an economy that works for the
many, not the few.”