Labour pledges to give workers a seat at the table

Speaking at the Labour Party Conference on September 24, McDonnell said: “Large corporations play a huge role in our lives, yet the decisions about running them are in the hands of a tiny few. Employees who create the wealth have no say in the key decisions that affect their future.”

He said a Labour government would legislate for large companies to transfer shares into an “inclusive ownership fund” where shares will be held and managed collectively by the workers. This would also call for dividend payments to be made directly to the workers from the fund - which could be up to £500 a year.

McDonnell added that Labour will legislate to implement an industrial democracy - part of this would call for a third of the seats on company boards to be allocated to workers.

He explained that a proportion of revenues generated by the inclusive ownership funds will be transferred back to public services as a social dividend and would, over time, "mobilise billions that could be spent supporting our public services and social security system”.