MORE than a dozen MPs have backed calls for the government to use taxation to curb billionaires’ stranglehold on democracy.

Labour’s Neil Duncan-Jordan tabled a motion after Oxfam research showed that the 12 richest billionaires now hold more wealth than the poorest half of humanity.

The motion calls on ministers to “uphold democratic rights and freedoms, including defending the right to protest as a vital counterbalance that helps level the playing field between ordinary people and the powerful.”

It notes the existence of record levels of billionaire wealth while 14.1 million people in Britain experienced food insecurity last year.

The motion has been backed by MPs from Labour, Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats, plus Your Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Civil society organisations have denounced government amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill that would give police powers to act against “cumulative protests.”

Mr Duncan-Jordan said: “Extreme wealth buys political influence and rigs the system for the powerful.”