Jeremy Corbyn and Richard Burgon have both taken to Twitter, as X as it now known. We have no idea why either. Just another billionaire’s play thing?
Either way the two left-wing campaigners both spoke out today about billionaires and poverty in the UK.
The number of UK billionaires has increased by a fifth since the onset of the Covid pandemic, The Guardian reported in December 2022.
At the time Jo Wittams, co-executive director of the Equality Trust: “This sudden explosion in extreme wealth was in large part due to measures aimed at lessening the impact of Covid-19 on the economy, as central banks pumped trillions of dollars into financial markets, leading to a stock market boom which effectively lined the pockets of shareholders,”
Corbyn and Burgon
First Richard Burgon tweeted: “Just a reminder that UK billionaires’ wealth is up £438 BILLION in the past decade. A very modest proposal would be a 10% Wealth Tax just on this *increased* wealth.
“That would raise £43bn which could create a huge social emergency fund to help get people through this crisis.”
Then ten minutes later former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn then X’ed: “It is a national disgrace that in the sixth largest economy in the world, 4.2 million children are living in poverty. If we do not stand up to the rich and powerful, nothing will change. Another future is possible — we just need the courage and conviction to fight for it.”
‘He is right about this,’ one person wrote in response to Corbyn.
Related: Corbyn was right trends again for two reasons, here’s why?
