Agencies/London

Britain’s opposition Labour Party will partly back the government’s goal of achieving a budget surplus within five years but will oppose cuts that hurt investment, the poor or average earners, the party’s finance spokesman said yesterday.
Jeremy Corbyn, a veteran of the Labour Party’s left, won the party’s leadership this month on an anti-austerity platform, and had said Britain did not need to follow Conservative finance minister George Osborne’s timetable for deficit reduction.
But Corbyn’s long-time ally and finance spokesman John McDonnell said he would back the government’s ‘charter’ setting out medium-term budget goals.
“We will support the charter. We will support the charter on the basis we are going to want to balance the book, we do want to live within our means and we will tackle the deficit,” McDonnell told The Guardian daily newspaper before the party’s annual conference.
The charter sets out the goal of eliminating a budget deficit of just under 5 percent of national spending by the 2019/20 tax year, and running budget surpluses thereafter.
Labour suffered an unexpectedly big defeat in May’s national election, in part because many voters still blamed the party for borrowing too much when it was last in power in 2010.
However, McDonnell said investment spending should not be counted towards the government’s balanced budget target, and opposed how the government intended to cut spending.
“Our basic line is we are not allowing either middle or low earners or those on benefit to have to pay for the crisis. It is as simple as that,” McDonnell said.
More public investment would help the economy grow faster and provide an alternative way to reduce borrowing as a share of national income, he added.
Corbyn received little support from Labour members of parliament or large individual donors during his leadership campaign, in contrast to a warm reception from trade unions and most ordinary party members.
Corbyn’s critics say he will drive away the centre-ground voters generally regarded as decisive for winning a parliament majority under Britain’s electoral system, and some donors have said they will no longer fund the party.
 Labour’s shadow foreign secretary has warned the government not to deny full intelligence briefings to Jeremy Corbyn.
In an interview with the Evening Standard, Hilary Benn said David Cameron must show “respect” to the new Labour leader, despite hints from Tories that the Left-winger is not fully trusted because of his links with Hamas, IRA supporters and other  controversial groups.
“Well, that’s nonsense,” said Benn. “He is the Leader of the Opposition and he should be respected and treated as such. He should be treated in the same way that all leaders of the opposition have been treated.”
There have been reports that Corbyn may only be granted partial access to vital intelligence even though ministers are considering asking  parliament to approve bombing raids on Syria.
Cameron recently branded the Labour leader a threat to security, tweeting after his election: “The Labour Party is now a threat to our national security, our economic security and your family’s security.”
Crispin Blunt, the Conservative chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select  Committee, has said the government is not under any obligation to share intelligence information with Corbyn.
The shadow foreign secretary says it is a “hugely important opportunity” for Corbyn to tell the British public who he is.
“People see someone who is honest, who says what he believes and is principled and doesn’t compromise,” he said. But he also makes clear that  being principled is not enough: “The challenge for Labour is to win people’s trust and confidence once again after our second bad election defeat.”
Benn (who calls himself “a Benn but not a Bennite”) is the most senior moderate in Corbyn’s shadow cabinet, and the survival of their relationship will be critical.
One of the first tests will be a vote next week on scrapping the Trident nuclear deterrent. Corbyn has long campaigned against nuclear arms. Benn backs a replacement for Trident. “Look, I was elected in May on our manifesto which committed us to maintain our nuclear deterrent,” said Benn. But he offers a way to avoid confrontation, saying a “proper debate” is needed “over the next year or two rather than over the next four days”.
Another potential flashpoint is a trade union resolution calling on Labour to join the campaign to quit the EU if workers’ rights are watered down in David Cameron’s pre-referendum talks. Again, Benn aims to play peacemaker.
“I’m absolutely with the unions in saying Cameron has no right to mess with worker rights,” he said. “But the answer is not to leave the EU.
“It would be like saying, ‘We lost a vote in the Commons so we will walk away from parliament.’  No, the answer is to get a Labour government elected.”
On the possibility that Cameron will call a vote on bombing fanatics in Syria, he said: “We are both aware this is an issue we are going to have to address.”
“If the government has a proposition to bring forward, we will consider it.” On voting against his leader, a former chairman of Stop the War? Benn said that was a “hypothetical question”.
That’s hardly a dismissal of the idea. “Nobody can forecast how they will vote until we see the proposition.”