Top McDonnell adviser admits Labour are planning for run on the pound

Here’s why

A key adviser to John McDonnell has admitted Labour are planning for a run on the pound and capital flight.

In an interview, Richard Barbrook admits “We need to think about the obvious problems which might face a radical Labour government, such as capital flight or a run on the pound… Labour needs to plan for potential crises precisely because we know there are lots of risks ahead.”

This shatters John McDonnell’s claims that “there’s never going to be a run on the pound” and “of course” there wouldn’t be capital flight under Labour, after he backtracked from infamously telling Momentum’s conference in Brighton last year that Labour were carrying out “war game-type scenario planning” for a run on the pound and capital flight.

Richard Barbrook is described as a “games strategist” for the Shadow Chancellor and was behind the “war game-type scenario planning” that McDonnell discussed at Momentum’s conference. He has been tipped for promotion to the Labour leader’s office. 

Responding, Liz Truss MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said: “Labour crashed our economy the last time and admit they would risk doing it all over again.

John McDonnell must come clean on Labour’s secret preparations for an economic crash and the price working people would pay with higher taxes and fewer jobs. 

“The Conservatives will continue to take the balanced approach our economy needs to ensure our future security and prosperity.”