Jeremy Corbyn vows to tackle 'rigged system' in battle with 'Establishment'

Jeremy Corbyn has promised to put wealth "in the hands of the people of Britain" as he turned his fire on big business and the rich in his first major speech of the general election campaign.

The Labour leader cast the June 8 poll as a battle of "the Establishment versus the people", as he promised to overturn a "rigged system" which allowed the rich and powerful to extract wealth from the nation.

A "morally bankrupt" Conservative Party was intent on preserving the system while cutting public services and blaming migrants and the unemployed for the woes of the economy, he said.

And he told an audience of activists in central London: "It is the rigged economy the Tories are protecting that Labour is committed to challenging.

"We will not let the elite extract wealth from the pockets of ordinary working people any longer."

Controversial business figures like Mike Ashley of Sports Direct, Sir Philip Green, Southern Rail and tax-avoiding multinationals should be "worried" about the prospect of a Labour government, said Mr Corbyn.

"Those are the people who are monopolising the wealth that should be shared by each and every one of us in this country," he said.

"It is wealth that should belong to the majority and not a tiny minority."

He vowed: "We will no longer allow those at the top to leech off of those who bust their guts on zero hours contracts or those forced to make sacrifices to pay their mortgage or their rent.

"Instead of the country's wealth being hidden in tax havens, we will put it in the hands of the people of Britain, as they are the ones who earned it."