128 Quotes by John McDonnell

The first three meets were kind of lonesome. Nobody wanted to stand up and be counted. They were all running and jumping in quicksand, like zombies out there. No fire whatsoever. There are signs now that if we stay healthy, we'll be a pretty good team.

If corporations and rich people who made fortunes out of us during the boom are not paying their fair share then reform the tax system and close down the tax havens.

To be effective in tackling poverty wages, a living wage has to be mandatory and basic trade union rights should be restored so workers can protect themselves from exploitative employers.

I call a spade a shovel, straightforward. If I disagree with someone, I tell them.

If people need homes then put councils and building workers to work to build them, buy up the empty ones and stop the repossessions.

We urgently need a major programme of investment in renewable energy generation to tackle climate change.

If we need more demand in the economy then protect people in work and raise the incomes of those on low incomes who need to spend, such as the low paid, pensioners and families with children.

The New Labour political elite has long conspired to secure a so-called 'smooth transition' for Blair's successor. This would amount to little more than the imposition of a leader on the party and our supporters without any real democratic participation.

Out of the suffering of the 1930s, Britain built a civilising society, based in large part on the important lesson that unemployment is rarely the fault of individual malingering but the structural consequence of governments allowing the free market to rule our lives.