Shadow foreign secretary says it’s only right that richest take on biggest share of tax burden

Emily Thornberry will campaign to tax the wealthiest people in society more if she is elected leader of the Labour party.

The former barrister said it was only right the richest should take on the biggest share of the tax burden, claiming that under the Conservatives the wealthiest people and businesses have been paying less.

“The people who own the most are actually paying less in terms of the percentage. Tax rates have gone down. I’d put them back up to make them the average of the rich countries around the world,” she told ITV’s Good Morning Britain programme.

“Of course a rich person pays more tax than a poor person because they have more money. If you earn £300,000 you should be paying more tax than someone paying £30,000,” she said, after being asked about her own personal wealth.

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The shadow foreign secretary, who represents Islington South, is trailing in last place in the leadership contest to replace Jeremy Corbyn, where she is up against Keir Starmer, Lisa Nandy, Jess Phillips and Rebecca Long-Bailey.

She said having a woman at the top of the party would be an advantage because the prime minister had a “woman problem”. “It is an advantage to be a woman leader at this time because I think Boris Johnson has a woman problem, most definitely. He certainly has a problem with me. I think the Labour party should think about that.”

She pointed out that Labour had more female than male MPs in parliament, and said she was the candidate who would “frighten the life out of” Johnson at future prime minister’s questions.

“It’s a positive thing being a woman in the contest at the moment. Once a week he’s going to have to meet somebody across the dispatch box. If he meets someone who is experienced, knows what they’re doing, is articulate, has taken it once before, frighten the life out of him – then I think it’s probably an advantage to have me and I’m a woman too.”

She would not disclose whom she would back as Labour leader if she was knocked out of the race, saying only: “I would go for the best candidate.”

Thornberry has so far failed to secure the backing of any unions or affiliate organisations to get through to the next round of the election process. However, she can get her name on the ballot paper if she wins the backing of 5% of constituency Labour parties. For this she will need the support of 33 of them.

During her interview, she also discussed her difficult upbringing as the daughter of a single mother in Guildford, Surrey. She said her family was given help to find a council house after being targeted by bailiffs, from whom they used to hide. Eventually they were caught and had to leave the property.

She said they had to put down the family’s pet cats because they did not have enough money to care for them. “When we moved from the house to the council house the cats were put down. I was seven years old.” She said her mother had told her it was “too much” to keep looking after them.

Being on free school meals was also a humiliating experience, Thornberry said. “The kids on free school dinners would queue up for food separately, so that was humiliating. I remember that even as a young child.

“I have chips on both shoulders,” she said.