It’s the establishment versus the people, says the Labour leader, kicking off party’s election campaign

Britain’s Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn has pledged to run a campaign for “working people” in an election that pitted “the establishment” against the “people”. His impassioned speech, the first formal one of the electoral campaign, highlighted the huge ideological divide at the heart of the surprise snap election due to take place on June 8.

During the speech, Mr. Corbyn repeatedly took aim at what he described as the “establishment” — the elite, the City, tax dodgers and much of the media, who believed that electoral success was only possible if their rules were played by. “I don’t play by their rules and if a Labour government is elected on June 8 we won’t play by their rules” either, he said to loud cheers from the audience gathered in Westminster on Thursday afternoon.

Mr. Corbyn said his party would stand up for the majority of people in the country. “The British people know they are held back... by a system rigged for the wealth extractors,” he said. He pointed to a number of the party’s specific policies on raising the minimum wage, free school meals for children, pumping more cash into the education and health systems, and ensuring that corporations paid their full share of tax.

Core issues

He highlighted inequality, homelessness and the stresses on the NHS as some of the issues that the party would be focussing on. “We have a government that is far too ready to negotiate with very big companies about the level of tax they will pay... We want the full tax return of medium and large corporations to be published so everyone can see what is going on.”

While recent polls have given the Conservatives a clear lead, Mr. Corbyn was defiant about the Labour’s ability to woo voters up and down the country. “Anyone who stands up to create a fairer, more decent society gets vilified... we are bigger than we’ve ever been, we’re stronger than we’ve ever been, we’re more determined than we’d ever been,” he said, pointing out that 2,500 people had joined the party in the last 24 hours.

“Much of the media and the establishment are saying this election is a forgone conclusion... they think there are rules of politics... They are yesterday’s rules set by failed corporate elites that we should be consigning to the past.” Mr. Corbyn, however, largely avoided any mention of Brexit.

Clear lead

According to the latest poll by YouGov, conducted after the announcement of the election, 48% would vote in favour of the Conservatives, against 24% for the Labour and 12% for the Liberal Democrats. The same poll found that 54% favoured Prime Minister Theresa May, and 15% Mr. Corbyn. A number of Labour MPs have announced plans to step down, including Alan Johnson, a former Home Secretary, and Tom Blenkinsop, the MP for the northeast constituency of Middlesborough South, who cited “significant and irreconcilable differences with the Labour leadership.”

Aside from ideological differences, some within his party have been critical of Mr. Corbyn’s failure to position himself clearly against leaving the single market, leaving the Liberal Democrats as the main party campaigning against a “Hard Brexit”. One former Labour MP, Bob Marshall-Anderews, announced plans to defect to the Liberal Democrats.