What is really going on in politics? Get our daily email briefing straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

John McDonnell says Labour would hire ­hundreds more tax ­inspectors to claw £36billion a year back from avoidance.

And he believes that ­figure could go even higher taking into account schemes used by firms such as Apple , Starbucks , Amazon and Google to beat tax rules.

These international ­businesses lawfully use ­complex structures to shift taxable income from the UK to other overseas operations.

Mr McDonnell said: “Revenue and Customs has suffered terrible, counterproductive cuts, with even more on the horizon.

(Image: Peter Dazeley)

“We need more, not less support for HMRC so that we can close the tax gap.”

HMRC is replacing 170 offices across the UK with 13 larger regional centres to save £83million.

The shake-up means that 5,000 staff unable to relocate are expected to be lost.

Warning that Brexit will pile the pressure on HMRC with new customs borders, Mr McDonnell said: “It’s not a time for more cuts.”