A Labour government would impose an excessive pay levy on big business, John McDonnell said yesterday as he promised to “rewrite the rules” of the economy.

In a trenchant attack on “corporate greed and short-termism” the shadow chancellor said that Labour would end the “unfettered pursuit of profit” and make companies act in the interests of their employees and customers. He also vowed to break-up the “cartel” of the big four accountancy firms by forcing them to separate their auditing functions from other commercial work.

“We aim to take on the excesses of the shareholder model and lay some of the foundations of a stakeholder economy,” he said. “Today’s business model is increasingly proving to be incompatible with not just the fair and respectful treatment