The magic money tree is “doing really well”, Corbyn tells Budget rally

Jeremy Corbyn and Tom Watson stepped up Labour’s war on tax avoiders last night at a special rally to highlight the Tories’ Budget failures.

The Labour leader and his deputy appeared together at an event in West Bromwich where Corbyn mocked escalating Tory borrowing and declared the magic money tree is “doing really well”.

Corbyn, Watson and shadow chancellor John McDonnell later posed with a banner condemning tax avoidance following a Budget in which Philip Hammond shored up his position but the Tories avoided taking meaningful action on avoidance.

Britain’s economy is “on its knees,” Corbyn said as he vowed to make “the very richest in our society to pay a bit more”.

“The magic money tree is doing really well!” he added

“It’s in the Cayman Islands, it’s in the British Virgin Islands, it’s in the Isle of Man, it’s in the Channel Islands, and it’s absolutely fine”.

Corbyn, whose quotes were reported by the Daily Mirror, spoke out following devastating criticism from two independent think tanks over the Budget.

More follows later…