Labour leader blasts UK government for 'lost decade'

Corbyn also laid out plans for a National Education Service inspired by the country's National Health Service

LONDON: Britain's opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn on Thursday blasted the ruling Conservatives for a "lost decade", promising that a Labour Party government would offer free further education to boost the economy.

"Britain has been living through a lost decade. A decade of lost growth. A decade of stagnant living standards," Corbyn said during a speech at the British Chamber of Commerce in central London.

"Britain can't afford another lost decade," he added.

The Labour leader described his party as a "government in waiting" following strong gains in a general election last month in which Prime Minister Theresa May lost her parliamentary majority.

Corbyn, who has promised to scrap tuition fees for university students, also laid out plans for a National Education Service inspired by the country's National Health Service (NHS).



"Our National Education Service will be the key institution of fairness and prosperity in the 21st century, just as the NHS transformed people's prospects in the 20th century," he said.

"It is by investing in our education system that we can end the spread of low-paid, low-skilled, insecure work by providing the skilled workforce that businessese need," Corbyn argued.

The party's plan to provide free life-long education would be funded by "a bit more tax" on businesses and more government funding, including scrapping the long-standing public sector pay cap.



In a robust exchange in the House of Commons on Wednesday, May insisted the country should "live within our means" after Corbyn called on the government to raise public sector pay.

Justine Greening, the education minister, described Labour's education policies as "shambolic and reckless".

"Corbyn's plans for huge tax hikes and reckless borrowing would put us back to square one and leave working families worse off," she said in a statement.