Labour Dented Rapport With Business After a Nice Brexit Start
- Shadow chancellor’s PFI pledge is ‘wrong plan at wrong time’
- Business lobbies had welcomed Labour’s approach to Brexit
John McDonnell speaks on Sept. 25.
Photographer: Simon Dawson/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Labour’s relationship with business had been warming as the main opposition party adopted positions on Brexit that aligned with U.K. Plc. Then Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell opened his mouth in Brighton.
At the annual party conference in the English seaside town, McDonnell reiterated plans to nationalize railways, energy and water companies and Royal Mail Plc. And he threw in a new measure -- a plan to take back under government control hundreds of so-called private finance initiatives set up to fund infrastructure projects using private capital.