Westminster Politics

Vote Labour!

They had to get another pledge dropped before the day ended!

Labour’s pledge to insulate 19m homes in a decade has been thrown into doubt after the party confirmed it would not spend £6bn a year allocated for the scheme if its fiscal rules did not allow, while the government claimed it would cost twice that.

Labour officials confirmed on Wednesday the party would not spend the full £6bn previously promised for home insulation until later in the parliament, and might not at all if it were to result in rising levels of government debt.

https://www.theguardian.com/politic...e-19m-homes-thrown-into-doubt-over-debt-fears
 
Why does the illegal trafficking have to stop first? Open legal routes and it puts it out of business just about. Problem solved. But we know why - it wouldn't satisfy those who want to blame immigrants.

Answered your own question Paul, first it's illegal activity; second it is not priority for a large section of the public and is taking the headlines away from other matters; thirdly the problems inherent in setting up coherent legal entry routes (even if the government has the will to do so) cannot be solved overnight, it needs a 'joined up' and 'thought out' policy on migration, covering; asylum seekers, economic migrants, returners, dependents, etc. and crucially that has the support of the majority of the UK public.

Wages were lower because of freedom of movement from Europeans? Another myth of Brexit. If that was the case why were/are the salaries in many EU countries higher than the UK - they must have moved to be poorer?

Not another myth (Brexit or not), in many areas outside of the main conurbations, wages did fall in retailing, parts of hospitality, and in certain areas of health and social care. Even in skilled areas relating to construction, hourly rates fell. It was because wages in the EU had begun to rise that many people decided to move back to their homeland, even before the Brexit vote, in particular Polish construction workers.

I know you believe Brexit will work and so does Starmer
No, I believe a way has to be found, and especially in the longer term, to make sure this country survives the aftermath of Brexit. That decision taken in 2016 cannot be reversed, because what we had and the position we had with the EU can never be replaced. Even if the majority in the UK wants to return to the EU, in say ten years, the currency questions, the rebates, the 'opt outs' etc. will not be replaced or indeed replicated. We are now a third country as far as the EU rhetoric is concerned. Also if a new Jacques Delor becomes EU President the march towards ever closer union will once again prove a stumbling block.
Starmer knows he has to make the 'best of a bad' job he knows that very well and will have to move carefully with the EU, as well as at home, to try to fix what can be fixed and to seek new arrangements going forward. The world has changed since 2016 and will change even more in the next two decades, old habits and instincts will linger but they have to be over come, starting from where we are, not where we would like to be. Even the Tories (most of them anyway) who are unlikely to have much of a say in matters for the foreseeable future have realised the sense of retaining the EU laws in many areas... that could be a place for Starmer to start?

British people were supposed to be doing after 'x' years of training.

No Paul, I was heavily involved in Education, Industrial Training and related Management issues before I retired in 2012. British companies regularly under invested in training, after the ITB's and TECS etc had run their course and government direct funding support virtually dried up. What money there was from the late 1990's was being gradually diverted to establishing a 14 -19 Vocational Pathway, this was suppose to bridge the latter part of secondary education 14-16 and the first part of tertiary education 16-19, and eventually for some leading to High Education Degree's. However this never happened, as it was envisage, since the 14-16 (secondary) was running on 'narrow gauge' and the 16-19 (tertiary) running on 'wide gauge' and nobody noticed until it was too late.
A lot of British industry felt let down and wanted the support of the ITB's to be returned and funded by the Government, but that didn't happen and a lot of British companies effectively 'took their ball home' and effective widespread industrial and some commercial training died out, well almost. From my view point, it was usually the foreign-owned companies, who were more committed to and undertook to provide training themselves or occasionally with private training outlets. Probably why they had a surplus of expertise?
 
Apathy is perfect for another five years of Tory rule. Can't wait guys, the plan is working perfectly.
The tories are around 20 points behind Labour. The plan isn’t working.

People see two very similar centre right parties. Labour are getting picked now because they haven’t been in power for over a decade but no one is expecting anything to get better. Plus it’s the job of politicians to push back against peoples apathy.
 
Answered your own question Paul, first it's illegal activity; second it is not priority for a large section of the public and is taking the headlines away from other matters; thirdly the problems inherent in setting up coherent legal entry routes (even if the government has the will to do so) cannot be solved overnight, it needs a 'joined up' and 'thought out' policy on migration, covering; asylum seekers, economic migrants, returners, dependents, etc. and crucially that has the support of the majority of the UK public.



Not another myth (Brexit or not), in many areas outside of the main conurbations, wages did fall in retailing, parts of hospitality, and in certain areas of health and social care. Even in skilled areas relating to construction, hourly rates fell. It was because wages in the EU had begun to rise that many people decided to move back to their homeland, even before the Brexit vote, in particular Polish construction workers.


No, I believe a way has to be found, and especially in the longer term, to make sure this country survives the aftermath of Brexit. That decision taken in 2016 cannot be reversed, because what we had and the position we had with the EU can never be replaced. Even if the majority in the UK wants to return to the EU, in say ten years, the currency questions, the rebates, the 'opt outs' etc. will not be replaced or indeed replicated. We are now a third country as far as the EU rhetoric is concerned. Also if a new Jacques Delor becomes EU President the march towards ever closer union will once again prove a stumbling block.
Starmer knows he has to make the 'best of a bad' job he knows that very well and will have to move carefully with the EU, as well as at home, to try to fix what can be fixed and to seek new arrangements going forward. The world has changed since 2016 and will change even more in the next two decades, old habits and instincts will linger but they have to be over come, starting from where we are, not where we would like to be. Even the Tories (most of them anyway) who are unlikely to have much of a say in matters for the foreseeable future have realised the sense of retaining the EU laws in many areas... that could be a place for Starmer to start?



No Paul, I was heavily involved in Education, Industrial Training and related Management issues before I retired in 2012. British companies regularly under invested in training, after the ITB's and TECS etc had run their course and government direct funding support virtually dried up. What money there was from the late 1990's was being gradually diverted to establishing a 14 -19 Vocational Pathway, this was suppose to bridge the latter part of secondary education 14-16 and the first part of tertiary education 16-19, and eventually for some leading to High Education Degree's. However this never happened, as it was envisage, since the 14-16 (secondary) was running on 'narrow gauge' and the 16-19 (tertiary) running on 'wide gauge' and nobody noticed until it was too late.
A lot of British industry felt let down and wanted the support of the ITB's to be returned and funded by the Government, but that didn't happen and a lot of British companies effectively 'took their ball home' and effective widespread industrial and some commercial training died out, well almost. From my view point, it was usually the foreign-owned companies, who were more committed to and undertook to provide training themselves or occasionally with private training outlets. Probably why they had a surplus of expertise?

If it's not a priority why does the British media and politicians mention it every single day. You, yourself said the boat people needed to be solved first. They do not want it solved. Distractions everywhere.

Where do you get the impression that wages in the EU are lower than the UK. The Uk were before the referendum( and still are) in the bottom half. Yes some Eastern European countries were below but they're catching up fast and will soon overtake the UK. One of the points of the EU is to strengthen the whole of Europe which is what has happened. Now the Uk will be left behind.

How does replacing European workers with agency workers from third world countries increase UK salaries? Those lower waged people did the jobs the British workers refused to do and still refuse to do. So what are the British being trained to do if their better paid jobs will be taken by the newly favoured better trained immigrants. Double stupidity.
The best policy was the one the UK had but were told by the Brexiters that it wasn't. Crazy.

But don't worry - the unemployment figures look really good. Mainly because the unemployed are now classed as economically inactive instead.

Strange that the health service, education service , training services , infrastructure, transport etc etc etc are far superior in France than the UK , from personal experience , and yet they're in the EU. And French people moan about it. They really don't realise how lucky they are.

Training and apprenticeships are great for the youngsters. My two teenage grandsons have had an excellent education , so far ahead of the education my daughters had in the UK, and being helped all the way into starting out in a professional life - it's a different world.

It's the Uk government that has been so bad for so long.
 
The tories are around 20 points behind Labour. The plan isn’t working.

People see two very similar centre right parties. Labour are getting picked now because they haven’t been in power for over a decade but no one is expecting anything to get better. Plus it’s the job of politicians to push back against peoples apathy.

I have no idea how people see labour as the same as the Tory's. Even if labour are centre right (we shall see on that when they get into power), the Tory's are very, very far right of that and incredibly corrupt and inept.
 
Speaking of our liz, I swear I walked past Therese Coffey the other day.

Felt harsh tbh, incaae it wasn't her. The British public doesn't deserve that.
 
Speaking of our liz, I swear I walked past Therese Coffey the other day.

Felt harsh tbh, incaae it wasn't her. The British public doesn't deserve that.

if there’s a second one, miss uk is going to be one hell of a close contest this year.
 
I have no idea how people see labour as the same as the Tory's.
Both parties are offering austerity, have conservatives social views and agree on foreign policy(Starmer backed the PM bypassing parliament to bomb Yemen and said on tv that Israel has the right to cut off water and food from Gaza)
the Tory's are very, very far right of that and incredibly corrupt and inept.
The party accepted an illegal donation of £600,000. Starmer has accepted more corporate freebies over the past two years than every other Labour leader since 1997put together. The shadow business secretary, his wife-come-senior-assistant, and a senior Starmer staffer accepted luxury Glastonbury tickets from Google, then announced they were scrapping plans to hike the digital service tax the next day. Shadow cabinet members, including Starmer, have corporate lobbyists placed in their staff teams.

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/la...obbying-donations-ditch-progressive-policies/
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Both parties are offering austerity, have conservatives social views and agree on foreign policy(Starmer backed the PM bypassing parliament to bomb Yemen and said on tv that Israel has the right to cut off water and food from Gaza)


.

You can disagree with policy decisions and I disagree with quite a few from Labour but in terms of gutter politics and nasty politicians, the Tories are in a league of their own.
 
You can disagree with policy decisions and I disagree with quite a few from Labour but in terms of gutter politics and nasty politicians, the Tories are in a league of their own.
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Also Starmer said on national television that Israel has the right to stop water and power from Gaza. That’s a war crime.


It’s sucks that Labour are now David Cameron Tory party but that is the reality we live.
 
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Also Starmer said on national television that Israel has the right to stop water and power from Gaza. That’s a war crime.


It’s sucks that Labour are now David Cameron Tory party but that is the reality we live.
I thought judges were supposed to be independent of politicians :confused:
 
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Also Starmer said on national television that Israel has the right to stop water and power from Gaza. That’s a war crime.


It’s sucks that Labour are now David Cameron Tory party but that is the reality we live.

I don’t agree with Labours policy on Gaza. But I’ll judge them when they are in power. How much money have the Tories given to their mates and decimated public services. If you are comparing one poster to all of the dog whistle and culture war stuff that the Tories have done then it doesn’t even compare.
 
https://labourlist.org/2023/10/labo...ummary-policy-manifesto-party-conference/?amp
Out of that giant morass of bullet points and ambiguities what would you say are the top 5 headline policies that will define a Starmer government?

I managed to divine nine or ten contenders that seem to contain at least some concrete proposals, some of which might even have their own subclauses:
  • £28bn Green Prosperity Plan (implementation towards the end of the next parliament and highly dependent upon state of economy).
  • Minimum wage to be remodelled as a "genuine living wage" and updated to reflect a yet to be defined standard under the remit of the Low Pay Commission
  • Repeal the 2016 Trade Union Act and other 2022 anti-strike legislation, although this seems to be up in the air
  • Introduce a points based immigration system.
  • Introduce the 'Take Back Control Act', similar to the Conservatives, allowing local authorities to take more control over areas like industrial strategy and transport (bit short on detail).
  • Reduce the voting age to 16 (not sure if this is set in stone)
  • Renationalise the railways as and when contracts expire.
  • Free breakfast clubs and the overseeing of toothbrushing.
  • 13k more community police officers (or PCSO's); halving knife crime in 10 years.
  • 8.5k more mental health staff
There's an enormous amount of guff in the link you provided. Lots of meaningless platitudes like "break down the barriers to opportunity" and "unlock the potential of" or amorphous and materially lacking indications of future endeavours: We learn that Labour will "develop plans which will see", "develop policies to ensure", "set out a clear roadmap for" "deliver a long term plan that" and "introduce standards that will." It all sounds very exciting and yet despite its verbosity is very slight on fundamental detail.

My main takeaway is that that page is going out of its way to sound like it's a lot more than it actually is.


Edit: I confess I did try to read it all but my eyes started to involuntarily glaze over on many more than one occasions.

One down.
 
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Well done Charlie Brooker. You won. We are now living in a big Black Mirror episode.
 


They're trying to chin him out of there

He won’t be leading them into an election, that much has been clear for ages. He’s devoid of charm, charisma and gravitas and on the contrary he’s actually a whiney little bitch that gets incredibly petulant under even the most minor questioning. He’s got virtually zero political capital left with any faction.

They will do the only thing they have left - elect an empty vessel of a populist charlatan. Honestly would not rule out a return for Johnson, Farage taking the mantle or someone as daft as Rees Mogg.
 
He won’t be leading them into an election, that much has been clear for ages. He’s devoid of charm, charisma and gravitas and on the contrary he’s actually a whiney little bitch that gets incredibly petulant under even the most minor questioning. He’s got virtually zero political capital left with any faction.

They will do the only thing they have left - elect an empty vessel of a populist charlatan. Honestly would not rule out a return for Johnson, Farage taking the mantle or someone as daft as Rees Mogg.

Well it's not possible for them to elect Johnson or Farage as neither are current MPs. Rees Mogg would be even worse than. Sunak as he has nothing but contempt for anyone other than extreme right wing people and his reputation is as bad as anyone in the Tory party.

The only person who could realistically lead the party into a GE campaign and get any kind of boost would be Maudant, but honestly, changing leader now would be political suicide. Everyone can see that it's just desperate to change leader a few months before an election and will be used as a stick to beat them with in the campaign. They may as well simply accept their fate now and get it over with. Prolonging this and talking of changing leader again could finish their chances of being the main opposition party, which may not be a bad thing!
 
"For the first time, global warming has exceeded 1.5C across an entire year, according to the EU's climate service."

Only 1 day after "Labour ditches environmental policy". Coincidentally also pretty much the only Labour policy anyone outside the Labour party could name. You couldn't make it up, and yet...compared to the government this party looks like geniuses!
 
"For the first time, global warming has exceeded 1.5C across an entire year, according to the EU's climate service."

Only 1 day after "Labour ditches environmental policy". Coincidentally also pretty much the only Labour policy anyone outside the Labour party could name. You couldn't make it up, and yet...compared to the government this party looks like geniuses!

Quite agree with you. I am very disappointed in Starmer U turn and it shows how weak he.
 
There's a chance that wellingborough won't be won by Labour - Even though the bookies have them as 7 to1 on to win, a lot of their core vote is upset with starmers pivot away from the left. . So any votes the tories lose to Reform (that ghoul Ben habib) will be cancelled out. Wonder if that will finally raise alarms with starmers people. The muslim vote is also finally starting to organise, with independent candidates starting campaigns in many so called Labour heartlands...
 
Good. Teaching labour a lesson will warm my heart whilst every national institution and freedom is further ground down under five more years of Tory government.
 
There's a chance that wellingborough won't be won by Labour - Even though the bookies have them as 7 to1 on to win, a lot of their core vote is upset with starmers pivot away from the left. . So any votes the tories lose to Reform (that ghoul Ben habib) will be cancelled out. Wonder if that will finally raise alarms with starmers people. The muslim vote is also finally starting to organise, with independent candidates starting campaigns in many so called Labour heartlands...
He will see the Reform vote and think “oh it appears I am in fact not far enough to the right”
 
Good. Teaching labour a lesson will warm my heart whilst every national institution and freedom is further ground down under five more years of Tory government.

Well, under Starmer's leadership you're effectively going to get another five years of it anyway.
 
He won’t be leading them into an election, that much has been clear for ages. He’s devoid of charm, charisma and gravitas and on the contrary he’s actually a whiney little bitch that gets incredibly petulant under even the most minor questioning. He’s got virtually zero political capital left with any faction.

They will do the only thing they have left - elect an empty vessel of a populist charlatan. Honestly would not rule out a return for Johnson, Farage taking the mantle or someone as daft as Rees Mogg.
Well it's not possible for them to elect Johnson or Farage as neither are current MPs. Rees Mogg would be even worse than. Sunak as he has nothing but contempt for anyone other than extreme right wing people and his reputation is as bad as anyone in the Tory party.

The only person who could realistically lead the party into a GE campaign and get any kind of boost would be Maudant, but honestly, changing leader now would be political suicide. Everyone can see that it's just desperate to change leader a few months before an election and will be used as a stick to beat them with in the campaign. They may as well simply accept their fate now and get it over with. Prolonging this and talking of changing leader again could finish their chances of being the main opposition party, which may not be a bad thing!
It will be Penny Maudant or whatever her name is.
I honestly don’t understand why Sunak doesn’t just say feck it and call one now.