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John McDonnell vows 'no more Philip Greens' under Labour clampdown

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has said there would be "no more Philip Greens" under a Labour crackdown on "abuses of power".

In his speech to the party's annual conference in Liverpool, Mr McDonnell told delegates a Labour government would overhaul company law to avoid a repeat of the BHS collapse, which left a mammoth hole in the pension fund and saw 11,000 job losses.

::LIVE BLOG: Economy day at Labour conference

The frontbencher also pledged to end the "scourge of tax avoidance" with the creation of a beefed-up enforcement unit and committed to scrap controversial trade union legislation, which restricted striking rights.

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And he committed to enshrine in law a "real living wage", which was set to be more than £10 an hour.

Mr McDonnell was applauded by activists as he vowed to stop abuses of the kind Sir Philip, the former BHS boss, has been accused.

:: Labour to ban fracking if it wins election

He said: "We will shake up how our major corporations work and change how our economy is owned and managed.

"We will clampdown on the abuses of power at the very top.

"Under Labour, there'll be no more Philip Greens at all.

"We will legislate to rewrite company law to prevent them.

"We will introduce legislation to ban companies taking on excessive debt to pay out dividends to shareholders.

"We'll rewrite the the takeover code to make sure every takeover proposal has a clear plan in place to pay workers and pensioners. We will protect their pensions."

Mr McDonnell also said the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority would ensure there were "no more national scandals like Mike Ashley of Sports Direct".

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On tackling tax avoidance, he said: "In government we will end the social scourge of tax avoidance.

"We will create a new Tax Enforcement Unit at HMRC, doubling the number of staff investigating wealthy tax avoiders.

"We will ban tax-dodging companies from winning public sector contracts. And we will ensure that all British Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories introduce a full, public register of company owners and beneficiaries."

Revealing plans to improve on the current £7.20 National Living Wage rate, Mr McDonnell said: "When we win the next election we will write a real living wage into law.

"We'll charge a new living wage review body with the task of setting it at the level needed for a decent life.

"Independent forecasts suggest that this will be over £10 per hour.

"This will be a fundamental part of our new bargain in the workplace.

"Backed up by our commitment to investment, we will end the scourge of poverty pay.

"Decent pay is not just fundamentally right, it's good for business, it's good for employees, and it's good for Britain."

:: Nearly half Labour backers 'think party can't win'

In his keynote address, Mr McDonnell also promised Labour would be an "interventionist government" that would support British industry to protect key sectors of the economy, such as steel.

After a fractious leadership campaign, he made a point of praising the defeated challenger Owen Smith for his work in opposing government benefit cuts.