Jeremy Corbyn took on the big banks again this week. Morgan Stanley cautioned investors this week that political uncertainty in Britain was a bigger threat than Brexit given the risk of Corbyn winning power and then dismantling what was once seen as one of the world’s most stable free-market economies. "Bankers like Morgan Stanley should not run our country but they think they do," the Labour leader said. One senior executive at a top US investment bank said that at a meeting in New York recently concerns over Corbyn trumped concerns about Brexit. "Their top concern was not what’s happening in Germany and Spain or North Korea and Trump: their main concern was what’s happening in the UK and what Corbyn might mean for the country," the executive.
Now, Corbyn has some rather unusual ideas and it is alleged that he wants to return Britain to the striking years of the 1970s. But if Corbyn becomes prime minister it is because he has been elected by the British people and therefore he has a mandate to rule. Perhaps the time has come to tell big business that it does not have the right to dictate government policy. Twenty per cent of Britain's GDP comes from the Square Mile, the City of London. That is fine if you want a country whose economy is based around financial services and how much people spend in shops. If Britain wants to become the big trading nation again then it needs to start making things. Like Britain did in the 1970s before the economy became so linked to banks and financial services. Banks are important but they should not rule.