Labour will 'learn from Robin Hood', Jeremy Corbyn…

Labour will 'learn from Robin Hood', Jeremy Corbyn says on a visit to Nottingham

The Labour leader has said his party will learn from Robin Hood, who was a "friend of the poor".

Jeremy Corbyn paid a visit to the Robin Hood Statue next to Nottingham Castle today, Wednesday, December 4.

Hundreds of party activists and bystanders watched on from Castle Road, with people leaning out of windows to hear him speak - although a broken PA system made this more difficult.

He was joined on the visit by local Labour candidates Nadia Whittome (Nottingham East) Alex Norris (Nottingham North), Cheryl Pidgeon (Rushcliffe) and Lillian Greenwood (Nottingham South).

Speaking to the crowd next to the statue - which comes under the Nottingham South constituency - he said: “Robin Hood had the right idea. He had the right idea. And from Nottingham we learn the lesson.

“He was a friend of the poor, and he wanted a better society. Labour is on the side of the many, and not the few.”

After the speech, Mr Corbyn was asked whether his party’s plans to dramatically increase the amount of state spending were realistic.

He replied: “Everything we’re proposing would only take us up to the public service levels of France and Germany when it’s all been achieved.

Jeremy Corbyn pictured as he delivers a speech during his visit to Nottingham City Centre (Joseph Raynor/ Nottingham Post)

“This will come from taxation from the biggest companies and the top five percent of the population, but they won’t see a huge rise, they’ll see enough to properly fund our health and education services.

“It seems to me we just cannot go on with this level of inequality in the country.

"I want to invest for the future, all across the East Midlands, which has the lowest level of Government expenditure, and the lowest levels of Government investment for the whole of the UK.”

During the speech, he said: “There are four million children in Britain living in poverty, 127,000 children with nowhere safe to live for sure this Christmas, food banks running out of food and making desperate appeals to get more in.

Jeremy Corbyn pictured as arrives at the Robin Hood Statue in Castle Road, Nottingham city centre (Joseph Raynor/ Nottingham Post)

“Many people trying to struggle on universal credit who can’t pay their bills, a million people on zero hour contracts who don’t know what their wage is going to be from one week to the other.

“They say there’s not a choice in politics? There is a very clear choice.”