THE LEADER OF the UK Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn has called for a national wage cap, particularly focusing on the wages of footballers and CEOs.

Giving a speech today, Corbyn said the salaries earned by footballers were “simply ridiculous”. The MP, who earns £138,000 a year, said that his proposal for a national maximum wage would be “somewhat higher” than his salary.

Corbyn used the speech to outline his vision for a maximum ratio of 20:1 between executives and the lowest-paid employees.

“What we are also looking at is the inequality of the grotesque levels of difference between the average wages paid in our society and the sort of telephone number salaries paid at the top end of it and we have growing levels of inequality on that.

I think, certainly, the salaries that are paid to some footballers are utterly ridiculous. I think some of the salaries paid to very high-earning top executives of companies are utterly ridiculous.

He said that the manager of the team he supports, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, would support the idea “as an accountant at heart”.

The idea was called “idiotic and unworkable” by former Labour economic adviser Danny Blanchflower.

The speech also saw Corbyn clarify his party’s stance on immigration. He said that the party did not unequivocally back free movement of people in a post-Brexit UK.

“Labour is not wedded to freedom of movement for EU citizens as a point of principle, but I don’t want that to be misinterpreted, nor do we rule it out.

“Labour supports fair rules and the reasonable management of migration as part of the post-Brexit relationship with the EU, while putting jobs and living standards first in the negotiations.

“At the same time, taking action against undercutting of pay and conditions, closing down cheap labour loopholes, banning exclusive advertising of jobs abroad and strengthening workplace protections would have the effect of reducing numbers of EU migrant workers in the most deregulated sectors, regardless of the final Brexit deal.”

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