5 Times The Conservative Party 'Borrowed' Jeremy Corbyn's Policies

With the Conservative Party conference well underway in Birmingham, a raft of new policies have been announced by the Tories in recent days.

But some may feel much more familiar than others... 

Here are a few policies the Conservatives appear to have pinched from Jeremy Corbyn and his MPs in recent months. 

1. Protecting Waiters’ Tips

On Monday, Theresa May unveiled plans for new laws to ensure staff working in high street restaurant chains will be able to keep all of their tips, with companies banned from keeping cash back from employees. 

So far, so good. But the move sparked anger within the Labour ranks, with MPs pointing out that the opposition already announced the same policy in June. 

In fact, Jeremy Corbyn even tweeted a video outlining the proposal, using the hashtag #KeepTheTip. 

Accusing the Tories of “desperately” trying to keep up with Labour, shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey said: “It’s beginning to feel like Groundhog Day.” 

2. World Cup Bid  

On Saturday, Theresa May offered to back a potential bid from the UK and Ireland to host the World Cup in 2030 - a full two and a half months after the Labour Party voiced its support for the proposal. 

3. Property Levy For Foreign Buyers 

It was the PM’s big reveal to kick off Tory Party conference - a new property levy for foreign buyers that would fund a drive to tackle tough sleeping in the UK. 

But May and her Cabinet faced accusations from shadow chancellor John McDonnell that it looks *very* similar to Labour’s offshore company property levy. 

The levy, which was pledged in the party’s 2017 manifesto, would apply a 15% tax on the sale price of properties sold to companies based in tax havens. 

4. Audit industry review 

According to Labour, Greg Clark’s newly-announced review of the UK audit industry - which includes the ‘big four’ companies Deloitte, PwC, KPMG and EY - is simply a re-hashing of an announcement made by McDonnell in May. 

In a speech at the time, the shadow chancellor said the UK’s corporate regulatory system was “not fit for purpose”, vowing that a Labour government would overhaul it. 

“There will be no more Carillion scandals on Labour’s watch,” he said.  

5. Bottle Return Scheme 

In their 2017 election manifestos, both Labour and the Green Party made pledges on plastic bottle return schemes. 

Fast-forward 10 months to March this year and Michael Gove could be found unveiling a remarkably similar policy. 

“We can be in no doubt that plastic is wreaking havoc on our marine environment,” he said at the time, offering a small cash sum to consumers who return their bottles and cans. 

“It is absolutely vital we act now to tackle this threat and curb the millions of plastic bottles a day that go un-recycled.

“We have already banned harmful microbeads and cut plastic bag use, and now we want to take action on plastic bottles to help clean up our oceans.”