Ban sackings, scrap the City, create a three-day week: The world according to Jeremy Corbyn's new political adviser

Jeremy Corbyn's new policy adviser wants to nationalise all banks, scrap the City of London and establish a three-day week.

Andrew Fisher, one of the Labour leader’s first appointments, has also suggested banning companies from sacking people and putting all private land into public ownership.

In a book written last year, Mr Fisher asked why politicians were "obsessed with economic growth" and said the government should give grants to help workers take over control of companies.

The hard-Left policy ideas, which feature in the book The Failed Experiment, mark a radical departure from the economic platform adopted by Labour in recent years.

Both Mr Corbyn and John McDonnell, the new shadow chancellor, praised the “excellent” book when it was released and called for others to take up the ideas.

However the policies were condemned by one Labour MP, who said they would amount to a “death sentence” for the party if adopted.

It comes with many centrist Labour MPs deeply concerned by the direction Mr Corbyn is taking the party’s economic policy.

The appointment of Mr McDonnell, the socialist MP for Hayes and Harlington, as shadow chancellor infuriated moderate colleagues who wanted a more conciliatory figure in the role.

Mr Fisher’s book, The Failed Experiment: And How to Build an Economy That Works, gives an indication of the policy advice he could give Mr Corbyn now he is in the Labour leader’s inner circle.

After analysing the 2008 financial crisis, Mr Fisher outlines his proposals for changing Britain in a final chapter entitled “Building an Economy that Works”.

“The first thing to do therefore must be to nationalise the banks,” Mr Fisher writes at one point, suggesting the “entire high street banking sector” should be taken into public ownership.

At another point he calls land ownership “ridiculous”, saying: “The land was here before we were born and it will be here after we are long since departed. Does this mean all land should be publicly owned? Perhaps.”

Mr Fisher also floats the idea of reducing the number of days people work. “Why shouldn’t the four or even three day week become the norm?” he asks.

“Surely if mechanisation, robots and other technology is reducing or replacing the need for human input, then we should all share that benefit, and all reduce our hours.”

The policies are more radical that Mr Corbyn proposed during his campaign for the leadership, suggesting Mr Fisher could push the new Labour leader further to the Left.

Elsewhere, Mr Fisher proposes a shake-up of workers’ rights and an ambitious programme for overhauling Britain’s financial sector.

The City of London is the “home of the devilry of modern finance”, Mr Fisher says, adding that “it is time its powers were abolished”.

He suggests banning firms from sacking people – asking “if the company is profitable what need is there to lay off staff?” – and says workers should be given rights to take over ownership of companies if they can raise enough money.

Mr Fisher says the proposals are “not presented as a political programme, but a menu of policy options that politicians may consider” in his conclusion.

Mr McDonnell praised the book as an "excellent piece of work" at the time, saying: "This is the best thing I have read in years. It will be readily used by campaigners as a basic handbook to explain our recent history.

However on Labour MP, who asked not to be named, said of the policies: “That is not so much a suicide note but a death sentence for the Labour Party.

“It sounds like a first-year politics thesis. This is beyond the 1980s, it is turn-of-the century nonsense.”

Asked what Mr Corbyn thought of the idea, a spokesman declined to comment.

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO JEREMY CORBYN'S NEW POLITICAL ADVISER

All quotes taken from the final chapter The Failed Experiment: And How to Build an Economy That Works, written by Andrew Fisher and published in 2014

Put private land in public ownership

“The land was here before we were born and it will be here after we are long since departed. Does this mean all land should be publicly owned? Perhaps.

“The key question though is whether we should all have a democratic say over what use the land around us is put. In the UK today, over two-thirds of the land is owned by just 0.3 per cent of people. Ownership of the land is rather ridiculous.”

Nationalise the banks

“Banks may set up subsidiaries in tax havens to avoid paying their dues, but their head offices are always proudly located in the major cities of their major economies. In doing so, they effectively nationalise their risk and offshore their profits. The first thing to do therefore must be to nationalise the banks.”

… “One option would be to nationalise the entire high street banking sector (through swapping treasury bonds for shares), which seems far easier than the alternative of setting up a national bank chain that slowly did, as the private profiteers fear, undercut the private banks and put them out of business.”

Scrap the Channel Islands

“The UK must also take on its tax havens – the crown dependencies like Jersey and the Cayman Islands. They are arteries of the global tax avoidance system. These corrupt island nations could be stopped by the UK, their sponsor, at any point. But they play a pivotal role within the global financial system.”

Scrap the City of London

“The City is now a square mile of entrenched reaction, the home of the devilry of modern finance. Nearly one hundred years on, with the City of London even more powerful, it is time its powers were abolished, and the relatively few people who live there represented by one of the neighbouring local councils, who should take over the municipal functions, with the rest absorbed by the Mayor of London and the Greater London Assembly.”

Bring in three-day weeks

“With the technology available today, the fact that so many of us commute long distances with long journey times and still work five or six days per week is ludicrous.

Why shouldn’t the four or even three day week become the norm? Surely if mechanisation, robots and other technology is reducing or replacing the need for human input, then we should all share that benefit, and all reduce our hours.

Ban companies from sacking staff

“One solution to this would be a proposal put by a candidate in the 2012 French Presidential election that profitable companies should not be allowed to make compulsory redundancies. After all, if the company is profitable what need is there to lay off staff?”

Let renters buy property automatically from landlords

“The Thatcher government introduced the right to buy (giving council tenants the right to buy the council house in which they have lived at a heavy discount), but why not have that right extended to privately rented property too? Reflecting that many people now rent their housing not from the council but from private landlords.”

Let workers take ownership of companies

“Workers should be given the right to buy too. If workers can raise the necessary funds they should have the right to buy out owners (with government subsidies to encourage). Such buy-outs could be collectively administers on workers’ behalf through trade unions, e.g. trade union members in favour could pay an additional levy into a hypothecated buy-out fund to raise money to buy-out owners.”

Let customers buy out companies

“Another variation on this model, could involve workers teaming up with regular customers to collectively raise the funds and then to jointly run the company in the interests of the workers and customers.”