John McDonnell has U-turned on Jeremy Corbyn’s promise to wipe student debt as he said the pledge is just an “ambition”.

The shadow chancellor insisted Mr Corbyn did not promise to pay off student debt despite the Labour leader saying during the election campaign that he would “deal with” the issue.

Meanwhile, Mr McDonnell said he stood by his claim that the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy had been murdered by political decisions.

Labour pledged in its 2017 manifesto to scrap tuition fees for university students but Mr Corbyn went further in the run up to polling day by saying he would also tackle spiralling student debt.