MOSCOW (Sputnik) — It comes as far-leftist Jeremy Corbyn, who strongly opposes austerity, was elected as a new Labour leader last month. He appointed McDonnell as the shadow chancellor on September 13.
"We will underline our position as an anti-austerity party by voting against the charter on Wednesday," McDonnell said at the meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party as quoted by the BBC.
He added that "Labour will set out our plan for tackling the deficit not through punishing the most vulnerable and decimating our public services but by ending the unfair tax cuts to the wealthy, tackling tax evasion and investing for growth."
After his appointment, McDonnell accused UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne for conducting austerity policies with "immoral" consequences stressing that the Labour party would not settle the budget deficit in the country "on the backs of the poor."
The Conservatives, who introduced a five-year austerity program in 2010 while in coalition with the Liberal Democrats, said they would first reduce the national deficit by cutting welfare spending, departmental spending, as well as cracking down on tax avoidance. The Tory government has faced opposition over the austerity measures since its victory in the May 7 general election
