JEREMY Corbyn has said he does not consider himself wealthy despite earning five times the average worker’s wage.
The Labour leader made the comment as he launched his new arts policy in Edinburgh today.
Mr Corbyn’s salary as MP for Islington is just under £75,000 this year, but he is also entitled to an additional £63,000 as leader of the opposition, giving a total of £138,000.
Read more: Labour government will reverse Tory arts cuts, says Jeremy Corbyn
The average gross salary across the UK last year was £27,500.
After serving 33 years in parliament, Mr Corbyn, 67, is also in line for a generous final salary pension worth around £50,000 a year, and already receives a state pension of £6000 a year.
In addition to his income from parliament, he also owns a £600,000 house in London
Mr Corbyn had been speaking about his enthusiasm for the arts, and love of “pretty heavy classical music”, naming the Austrian romantic composer Gustav Mahler as a favourite.
Read more: Labour government will reverse Tory arts cuts, says Jeremy Corbyn
He said: “I hate the elitism [that says] only the wealthy can go to ballet, only the wealthy can go to opera, only the wealthy can go to Glyndebourne, only the wealthy can enjoy what’s termed high-brow music.
“I don’t consider myself high-brow or wealthy, but I still enjoy some aspects of classical music.
“I want everybody to have that attitude and that same experience.”
Former Labour MP Tom Harris said: "It is patronising for someone earning almost £140,000 a year to suggest they are not wealthy.
"He should try telling that to someone on benefits living in Glasgow.
"It not only shows out of touch he is, but also reflects a condescending Islington attitude that wealth is something to be ashamed of rather than aspired to."
An SNP spokesperson said: "People listening to Jeremy Corbyn will be very surprised to hear him declaring that his six-figure salary does not make him wealthy, another example of how out of touch Labour is with Scottish voters."
Speaking in a personal capacity at the event, Bill Sweeney, Professor of Music at Glasgow University, said the country’s music schools were becoming middle class “enclaves” because state pupils were not getting the depth of tuition to attain the highest standards.
He said state music services in Scotland had become “atomised by the various shenanigans around local government and under-funding” and were in “great danger”.
Read more: Labour government will reverse Tory arts cuts, says Jeremy Corbyn
He said: “It breaks my hearts when I see at entrance auditions many wonderful, bright young people come for audition who are not going to make it because they come from an area where the local council is not able to provide enough depth and quality in order to stretch them to their utmost. You find it is a postcode lottery.
“The populations of the university departments of music and the conservatoires are changing back again to become enclaves of the middle and upper classes.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel