LABOUR'S Shadow Chancellor branded the most dangerous man in Britain after vowing to take back control of swathes of industry.

John McDonnell’s astonishing plans for a Socialist revolution triggered fears of an unprecedented exodus by business chiefs.

4 John McDonnell making his speech at Labour conference today

Labour plans to fire dozens of senior businessmen from nationalised companies if the party wins power.

The Shadow Chancellor revealed the bosses of utility firms would be sacked and forced to reapply for their jobs - at a much lower salary.

The announcement came as Jeremy Corbyn’s right-hand man announced a string of plans for the British economy which would take the country back to the 1970s.

The Shadow Chancellor confirmed that Labour wants to forcibly take over the UK’s water companies and take them into the hands of the state. Experts claim that renationalising the water industry would cost £90billion.

During the hardline address to Labour's party conference in Liverpool, Mr McDonnell also:

Vowed to nationalise all 22 water firms and “re­advertise” the jobs of every director — handing control to councils and workers’ reps

Confirmed a Labour government would grab ten per cent of the share capital of every firm with more than 250 staff for a “social dividends” fund

Signalled the return of Labour’s totemic Clause IV — the commitment to nationalisation axed by Tony Blair

Said large companies should be forced to hand over 10 per cent of shares to their workers

Hinted he wants to bring back Labour's notorious "clause four" which demands full nationalisation of the economy

Suggested the party's anti-Semitism crisis was just an attempt to attack Jeremy Corbyn

Promised to deploy "the full weight of the Treasury" to force through his left-wing agenda

4 Mr McDonnell used his speech to stand up for Jeremy Corbyn

The Sun Says NOTHING is faster than light. Except, maybe, the rate at which jobs would be destroyed by Labour’s insane Marxist ­programme unleashed yesterday.



At the very moment, post-Brexit, when we will need to maximise investment and cut costs for job-creating businesses, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell would declare war on them.



His measures to interfere in, steal from or close private firms would be a bullet to the heart of the economy. What sane foreign business would come here or invest here? What sane firm, entrepreneur or individual talent would stay?



His pointless mass renationalisation programme would require debts dwarfing those we have spent nine years painfully reducing. The job-creating miracle since 2010 would be reversed.



McDonnell no longer even pretends to be moderate. His is a deranged experiment on the world’s fifth-biggest economy. A full-on hard-left revolution. Ask starving Venezuelans how they pan out.



But the reason it cuts through is a lack of Tory ideas. McDonnell’s medicine is poison. So what’s Chancellor Philip Hammond’s remedy for our problems?



Taxing your fizzy drink at McDonald’s.

Mr McDonnell said: “Water bills have risen 40 per cent in real terms since privatisation.

“Water companies receive more in tax credits than they pay in tax. Each day enough water to meet the needs of 20million people is lost due to leakages.

“With figures like that, we can’t afford not to take them back.”

In the small print published by Labour today, the party confirmed that all senior figures at the firms will be put out of a job.

They said: “All staff will transfer in the same roles, except for senior executives and directors, whose posts will be re-advertised on dramatically reduced salaries capped by our 20:1 pay ratio policy.”

In a chilling warning, Mr McDonnell said that under Labour, the full weight of the Treasury would be used to “take on any vested interests that try to thwart the will of the people”.

He told delegates: “We will reprogramme the Treasury, rewriting its rule books on how it makes decisions about what, when and where to invest.”

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell says Labour's second Brexit referendum wouldn't include an option to remain in the EU

Michael Roberts, the head of Water UK, said in response: “To replace managers who have decades of experience in running successful water companies, and put much needed investment at risk by handing the industry over to politicians, risks years of chaos in an essential public service.”

Mr McDonnell used his speech to officially unveil plans to force all large companies to transfer a tenth of their shares into a fund controlled by employees.

He said: "We will legislate for large companies to transfer shares into an 'Inclusive Ownership Fund'. The shares will be held and managed collectively by the workers.

"The shareholding will give workers the same rights as other shareholders to have a say over the direction of their company.

"And dividend payments will be made directly to the workers from the fund. Payments could be up to £500 a year."

Business groups have warned that the plan could devastate the economy by slashing the value of companies and discouraging them from investing in improved productivity.

4 Jeremy Corbyn is keen to take power in an early General Election Credit: PA:Press Association/PA Images

Adam Marshall of the British Chambers of Commerce said: "Let no one be fooled, Labour’s proposals are both a tax grab and an unprecedented overreach into the way many of our businesses are run and will raise serious concerns.

"At a time of peak Brexit uncertainty, when Labour should be setting out how it will support business confidence and investment, it is announcing policies that would deliver the exact opposite.

“The call for wholesale nationalisation could put investment in a deep freeze at precisely the time we want to be encouraging investment in the economy."

Economists likened the vow to the Socialist policies of late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.

And Matt Kilcoyne of the Adam Smith Institute blasted: "The Chavez-style commitment to readvertise jobs at utility firms taken back into state control will make the roles political and take people with years of experience and track records of success away from where they're most needed."

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CBI head Carolyn Fairbairn said: “Take steps like this and investment will flee our country and the outcome will be one that reduces pay in people’s pockets.”

Chancellor Philip Hammond said: “Labour’s plan to put politicians in charge of crucial industries means there would be nowhere to turn when things go wrong.

“They aren’t fit to govern and, just like last time, it’s working people who would pay the price.”

4 Small firms have appealed to Philip Hammond Credit: EPA

Gloomy Philip Hammond risks Brexiteer fury with MORE scare warnings that no deal would put UK economy at risk

Mr McDonnell opened his speech by suggesting that the anti-Semitism crisis which has gripped Labour in recent months is an attempt to smear Mr Corbyn.

He said: "They’ve attacked my friend and they’ve attacked him because he stands up for the ideals and beliefs that we all have.

"I just want to say Jeremy how proud I am of you for the courage and dignity you have shown."

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