Millionaire popstar Lily Allen reacted to today’s unveiling of the Labour Party general election manifesto by ‘welling up’ in a bizarre video which sparked ridicule after she posted it on Twitter.
With tears streaming down her cheeks, the supposedly sobbing singer tweeted a clip of herself struggling to contain her emotions after watching Jeremy Corbyn set out his eye wateringly expensive plans for government.
It came despite many of the proposals unveiled by the hard Left leader being aimed at taking money from well-off people like herself, including large increases in tax.
Her voice cracking, she dabbed at her eyes with immaculately manicured hands and said: ‘Guys I’ve just watched the Labour manifesto. I think it’s the best manifesto I’ve ever seen.’
Ms Allen, whose fortune has been estimated at as much as £15million, filmed the post on TikTok – a viral video-editing platform – leading most viewers to conclude that the ‘tears’ may have been faked using a filter.
But it confused many of her 5.5million followers, who were left baffled whether or not she was being sarcastic or genuinely felt so strongly about Mr Corbyn’s blueprint for Britain.
In recent years, the Grammy-winner has turned to political activism and offered her backing to the left-wing Labour leader, who today published his strategy for overhauling public services by hitting the rich hard.
He was accused of taking a ‘sledgehammer to the UK economy’ after he unveiled a ‘colossal’ £83billion manifesto splurge funded by hikes to death duties, ‘supertaxes’ on higher earners and swingeing levies on big business.
He vowed to shake up the ‘political establishment’ by implementing Labour’s ‘radical and ambitious’ manifesto which represents another step towards the hard Left for the party.
Mr Corbyn’s proposed day-to-day spending bonanza would amount to an extra £83 billion being blown every year.
That is up significantly on the estimated £50 billion which Labour had floated in its 2017 manifesto.
Lily Allen reacted to today’s unveiling of the Labour Party manifesto by welling up in a bizarre video. With tears streaming down her cheeks, the sobbing singer tweeted a clip of herself hailing Jeremy Corbyn’s plan for government
Jeremy Corbyn today set out the Labour Party’s 2019 general election manifesto at an event in Birmingham
Twitter users mocked Ms Allen’s weepy video message on social media with a series of scathing memes
But the increase on revenue spending – effectively the cost of running the UK’s public services – was dwarfed by Mr Corbyn’s proposals for an escalation in capital outlay which appears to total more than £500 billion, the majority of which would be borrowed.
Labour’s tax plans in full: Massive hikes on the wealthy and big business
Inheritance tax: The manifesto does not spell out exactly what that means, but the threshold for couples paying 40 per cent death duties was raised from £660,000 to £1million in 2015. Prior to the coalition government it was £325,000.
It means those who own property – particularly in the South East – are almost certain to be caught by the duty.
Income Tax: Labour would lower the threshold for paying the 45p additional rate from £150,000 to £80,000. A new ‘Super-rich rate’ of 50p would be introduced for those earning more than £125,000. Amount raised: £5.4bn
Corporation Tax: Reverse cuts to corporation tax to make small profits rate 21 per cent and the main rate 26 per cent. The main rate is currently 19 per cent. Amount raised: £23.7bn
Taxing the wealthy: Labour said it would tax income from wealth more ‘equitably and efficiently’. It has pledged to tax capital gains at the same rates as income tax. Currently if you are a higher or additional rate taxpayer you pay 28 per cent on gains from the sale of residential property. Under Labour that would increase to at least 40 per cent. It would apply the same principle to taxing dividends. Amount raised: £14bn
Financial Transactions Tax: Extend stamp duty reserve duty on trades made in the City. Amount raised: £8.8bn
Mr Corbyn insisted that his day-to-day spending plans could be paid for by hiking taxes on the top five per cent of earners and on large companies.
However, the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank warned it was ‘not credible’ to claim the huge expansion of the state could be achieved purely on the backs of the rich.
Railing against billionaires and the Establishment, Mr Corbyn rolled out his plan to hike up taxes for the wealthy in Birmingham this morning.
Among the flagship Labour policies which reduced the pop star to sobs were a new ‘super-rich tax rate’ of 50p which would be introduced for those earning more than £125,000.
Dressed in an animal-print jumper with her hair in a bob, Allen shared her post-manifesto launch response and the clip quickly racked up tens of thousands of views.
Accompanying her video, Allen – who is worth an estimated £15million – referenced the party’s central campaign slogan, #RealChange.
Her followers were left wondering whether the video had been posted as a joke, or whether she genuinely felt so passionate about the policy document.
One tweeted: ‘Why the crying filter? And I mean, it has to be a filter because it’s constantly identical and the tears disappear.
‘It makes your very very important point seem like you’re taking the p***, which you clearly aren’t, I’m so confused!’
Allen – who lives in a plush London flat after selling her £4.2million Cotswolds mansion in 2016 – also has an army of fans on Instagram, where she recently shared a tweet by Mr Corbyn who was promoting his education pledges.
In recent years, the Grammy-winner has turned to political activism and offered her backing to the left-wing Labour leader, who today in Birmingham revealed his radical vision to overhaul British society (pictured)
Lily Allen: the £15million pop star
Most estimates put Lily Allen’s wealth in the region of £15million.
She also owns a £2million plush London flat in swanky Notting Hill which she bought in 2008 for £900,000.
In 2016, she sold her sprawling Cotswolds country mansion for a reported £4million.
After being hit with a large tax bill, Allen sold the Gloucestershire manor house and moved back to the capital, where she was pictured rolling up to her west London pad in a slick Mercedes Benz.
As well as raking in cash with her more than four million album sales, the pop star has also swelled her bank balance with her fashion and jewellery line.
Allen’s charge up the wealth ladder began in 2005 when Regal Recordings signed her up for £25,000.
Despite a successful television show entitled Lily and Friends and her phenomenal success as a recording artist, in 2009 Allen told the press that she was broke.
Her excessive spending left her reportedly unable to even use her credit cards and she had to sell her expensive BMW in order to stay afloat financially.
This was because the royalties from her second album had not been processed.
But by 2010, her finances were back on track and she had accumulated enough capital to open her own clothes store – Lucy in disguise – with her sister.
In the same year, the Sunday Times Rich List placed her as the ninth richest music star under 30, with an estimated £5m in her bank account.
But, according to The Richest, in the subsequent nine years she has swelled her net worth by £10million.
She followed this up by posting: ‘I’ll be protesting this evening in support of Jeremy Corbyn. Seems to be the only dignified person in in Westminster.’
At the 2017 election, her song Somewhere Only We Know was used as the backing track for a Labour campaign video.
In an interview last year, Allen said her activism was inspired after losing her baby to a miscarriage.
Speaking to the Observer’s New Review, she said: ‘That was the first time that something really, really traumatic happened to me,’ she said.
‘I’d had these amazing highs, and I had this horrible low, and I was left with a feeling of: I’m lucky to have Sam (Cooper, her former husband) and to have people around me to help me through.
‘And also that there were lots of people out there who go through shit all the time, these traumatic experiences are being lived by people up and down this country, and all over the world.
‘So if there’s anything I can do to help those people, use this platform to help them, then I’ll do it.’
She also suggested Britain was living under a ‘fascist regime’.
One of the causes Allen has pioneered is the Grenfell Tower tragedy, but sparked a backlash after suggesting that the death toll of the West London fire was higher than reported.
She said that ‘off-the-record’ figures given to police and fire crews put the number of victims at around 150, much higher than the official 71.
The 34-year-old’s support for Mr Corbyn first appeared to surface when the Labour leader was forced to face down a backbench revolt from MPs disgruntled with his leadership.
In 2016, she tweeted: ‘All you Blairite Labour careerist b******* leave Jeremy Corbyn alone. If anyone can lead our country out of this darkness it’s him not you.’
Labour’s free-spending general election policies
NATIONALISATION
Rail companies, Royal Mail and utilities including energy supply networks and water to be brought back into public ownership. The CBI estimates this would cost £196billion, although Labour disputes the figure. Labour also wants to effectively nationalise broadband, which experts have suggested could cost another £100billion.
WORKERS’ RIGHTS
Introduce an average 32-hour working week within 10 years with no loss to workers’ pay. The Tories claim this will ‘cripple’ the NHS because of the cost of employing extra staff. Voters are sceptical it can be delivered. It also plans the ‘rapid’ introduction of a living wage of at least £10 an hour for workers aged 16 or over, plus repeal of ‘anti-trade union’ legislation.
BUSINESS
Big businesses face an ‘excessive pay levy’ for executives and companies must hand 10 per cent of their shares to workers over 10 years. Labour will also impose a windfall tax on oil and gas companies to raise £11 billion.
TAX
Top 5 per cent of earners to pay more to fund public services. The Institute for Fiscal Studies says this would affect up to 1.9million people and could even cost the Treasury £1billion a year if high earners cut their pre-tax income. Reverse inheritance tax cuts introduced by George Osborne, introduce a tax on second homes and hike corporation tax to 26 per cent by 2022.
BREXIT
Broker a new deal with Brussels within three months to keep UK in customs union and with access to the single market, then hold a second referendum by next summer. A No Deal Brexit would not be allowed. Jeremy Corbyn has refused to say if he would back Leave or Remain in any new referendum.
IMMIGRATION
Labour’s annual conference backed a motion vowing to ‘maintain and extend’ freedom of movement of people. But the manifesto says that FoM would only automatically happen if the referendum backed Remain. If the UK voted leave again it would be ‘subject to negotiations’, but EU nationals would have the automatic right to continue living and working in the UK.
HEALTH
Inrease NHS budgets by 4.3 per cent a year. An extra £26billion to rebuild hospitals and improve patient care, and make NHS dental check-ups free, something the British Dental Association says will cost £450million a year. EU workers, ‘other migrants and refugees’ would also be able to access it for free.
EDUCATION
University tuition fees scrapped and every adult offered six years of free study with the return of maintenance grants at a net cost of £7.2billion. Private schools forced to charge VAT on their fees. But a conference motion demanding the party close all non-state schools was not included in the manifesto.
HOUSING
Major building programme to construct 150,000 council and social homes a year in England within half a decade using £75billion of borrowing over five years.
ENVIRONMENT
Billions of pounds to upgrade every home to be energy efficient, plus £3billion to invest in new electric car models and technology. Labour will seek to make the economy carbon neutral by an as-yet unknown date.
BENEFITS
Scrap the government’s flagship Universal Credit scheme and has promised a £3billion emergency bailout of the system in the short term. It would be replaced with ‘an alternative system that treats people with dignity and respect’ via a ‘guaranteed minimum standard of living. The so-called ‘bedroom tax’ would be axed and maternity and paternity rights would be extended, all at a cost of £8.4billion.
SOCIAL CARE
Free personal care to the over-65s to help with daily tasks such as getting in and out of bed, bathing and washing.
DEMOCRACY
Introduce votes for ‘all UK residents’ – including foreign nationals – and lower the voting age to 16. Plus a system of ‘automatic voter registration’. There would be an extra £5billion of funding for councils, on top of social care spending.
TV LICENCES
They would remain free for people aged 75 and over, at a cost of £750million.
