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https://twitter.com/DeltapollUK/status/1637850893772107782?t=HPrh3ms8HyFaw0g1s7uYwQ&s=19
Polls are apparently bonkers currently.
A 13pt small boats bounce.
I'm also not going to pass by the observation that Starmer's Labour offers nothing that people want if the Tories appear the default right wing choice.
A 13pt small boats bounce.
They know what they’re doing. There is only one way they can possibly repeat the success of 2019 now… headlines about invasions, influxes and deportations… all the way up to the election.
Some superb Labour strategy and media management going on at the moment, ensuring that the only thing that differentiates them from the tories is the one policy which they know they'll always come second best. I'm beginning to think they don't want to be in government.
Mission Lead Government! Not quite as catch as Stop the Boats is it? 🙄
Little Englanders never felt so real.
Mission Lead Government! Not quite as catch as Stop the Boats is it? 🙄
Omg is that a Chat GPT created slogan ?
I’m beginning to think they don’t want to be in government.
Well, they are led by a man who’s essentially John Major without the charisma.
While I accept that they need to appeal to the racist anti-immigrant lock-em-up anti-cyclist white-haired overweight pension-drawing Brexit brigade, I don’t want anything to do with them.
While I accept that they need to appeal
Nah, he's not pretending to attract votes, he means it.
Starmer’s problem is that he’s spent two years selling himself as a responsible grownup who will take the job seriously and not do anything stupid. But now he’s up against someone who is rapidly looking like the PM he wants to be and he hasn’t got a clue what to do in response other than double down on mediocrity.
It’s going to be quite a spectacular fall from a nailed on landslide to hoping for a hung parliament. And still the centrist idiots will say they weren’t right wing enough.
The 'grown up' caricature sends me crackers.
Grown up right-wingers doing right wing shit but better. How's that a force for good? Lol.
Rachel Reeves is turning herself inside out with outdated growth goals from the 90s.
Polls are apparently bonkers currently.
A 13pt small boats bounce.
I'm not sure that I totally agree with that. Certainly Deltapoll appear to be all over the place. Traditionally Deltapoll methodology tends to favour the Tories more than most other pollsters typically putting the Labour lead at about 15-16%.
However a week ago Deltapoll for some reason gave Labour a huge 23%, so the now the much more modest 10% lead makes it appear that there has been a huge growth in Tory support.
Be that as it may other pollsters are much more stable. Yesterday Redfield & Wilton Strategies’ conducted a poll which gave Labour a very comfortable 21% over the Tories and is exactly the same lead Redfield & Wilton gave Labour a week ago, so no change. I reckon that 21% is probably the average Labour lead among all pollsters.
https://redfieldandwiltonstrategies.com/latest-gb-voting-intention-19-march-2023/
Nevertheless it is possible that the Tories standing in the polls is improving slightly, however I doubt that Stop The Boats has been a huge contributory factor in this.
What initially gave Labour a massive lead in the polls was Liz Truss's installment in Number 10. It was her's and Kwasi Kwarteng's economic policies what done it. Many dyed-in-the-wool Tory voters were horrified at what they saw as fiscal irresponsibility which was so disapproved by the markets.
And many swing voters were shocked by a Tory government so brazenly pro-rich during an unprecedented cost of living crises.
I am really quite surprised that Rishi Sunak hasn't done more to win much of that support back but perhaps we will see that starting to happen.
Despite the widely held view on here that the economy is in a mess it has been in a worse state in recent decades and many Tory voters will be aware that inflation is slowly falling and the UK looks set to avoid recession.
So if lack of faith in the Tories's ability to manage the economy was the cause of their catastrophic collapse in support then it is renewed faith, however misplaced it might be, in their economic competence.
Stop The Boats might appeal to many Tory voters but it isn't the deal clincher imo, the economy is.
I still think that the Tories will in all likelihood lose the next general badly but it would be a good idea, imo, if Labour looked like a government in waiting with ideas that inspired people.
Tory voters will be aware that inflation is slowly falling and the UK looks set to avoid recession
I don't think so. I think recession is just delayed. There's lots of recapitalisation going off in the States etc.
I'm think it's going to be later in the year.
Assets have gathered momentum from interest income of interest rate rises - so the wealthy still has cash swilling about.
I don't think voters and broadcasters understand the economy - it's complex and you need to get under data to know what's going off. In fact it's surprising how the economy is often read back to front.
I genuinely think it's the refreshed firm approach to boats. But we should wait for more polls over time I guess.
I don’t think folk understand the economy – it’s complex and you need to get under data to know what’s going off.
It is completely irrelevant whether they understand the economy. They are being told that inflation is falling and that the UK looks likely to avoid recession.
It is how voters perceive the situation that matters, not the reality. That is why the Tories and the LibDems won the argument of deficit reduction through austerity.
Before Liz Truss was PM the Labour lead over the Tories was about 5-8%, it shot up to as high as 30% after she became PM. It had nothing to do with immigration, small boats, or anything like that. And it had everything to do with the economy and the perceived Tory incompetence in managing it.
As an aside I love how the Tories have managed to normalise more than a doubling in energy.
It's okay - it's now only 2500 a year.
(For a typical house)
That's okay then.
I genuinely think it’s the refreshed firm approach to boats. But we should wait for more polls over time I guess.
Yeah I posted a poll up there ^^ showing no change in the Labour lead over the last week. And Redfield & Wilton used twice the sample size that Deltapoll used.
but it would be a good idea, imo, if Labour looked like a government in waiting with ideas that inspired people.
Well they’re gonna need more than vague missions and being grownups that’s for sure. Ironically the tories will benefit from Truss’s gargantuan incompetence as compared to her Sunak looks every bit of what Starmer claims/wants to be.
Dazh is spot on re: vague missions.
After literally years to develop its thinking on *how* it would implement the changes it’s clear there is very little substance behind it.
Take the example of the “zero carbon economy by 2030”.
The “mission” (is that a promise, an aspiration or a pledge?) relies on technologies that haven’t been invented yet, a concentrated investment likely to run into hundreds of £Bs in a 4 year period and literally no thinking on the inflationary effect that would have or how it would need to be controlled.
Then we have the “fastest growth” mission that means companies would need to grow faster than they have for many decades and literally no thinking on how that would happen.
Even with just 5 missions the top level thinking is vague and contradictory.
Labour might has well come up with a mission to give every household a pony - everyone in high rise flats would see through in exactly the same way.
Their biggest risk now is that Sunak increasingly looks to voters like a boring but safe pair of hands - happy to work in the background on the detail without making much of a fuss about it until it’s complete.
Those who worked with him at the Treasury when he was Chancellor recognised his ability to grasp the detail - it’s pretty clear that Rachel Reeves not only lacks that but can’t even think on the spot how to answer simple questions on whether alcohol tax is too high / too low.
Unless it changes sometime soon the offer to the electorate is Sunak and a team that can deliver change vs. a load of vague missions on the back of a much longer list of promises made by Keir Starmer nearly all of which he’s broken.
Very strange way to split the stats..
30pc tory
30pc Labour
30pc other
There's no way I'd vote tory, and I'm highly unlikely to vote Labour
So what am I? 😀
We're falling into this flip flop Labour /tory pattern yet again, I fear.
and literally no thinking on the inflationary effect that would have or how it would need to be controlled
The inflationary effect of investing in shifting to renewables? Is that what keeps you up at night? Really? Stick with Tories then, they’ll keep the oil and gas burning for you.
and literally no thinking on the inflationary effect that would have or how it would need to be controlled.
FGS! You need to be more worried about the environmental effect of climate change and the deflationary and geo-political effect of the instability it will cause. The crises we have dealt with recently or dealing with now are a tiny warmup to what will face us in 20-30 years. You won’t have much time to worry about inflation in a world on the brink of war and economic collapse.
I think you know. Someone who’s content to live indefinitely in a Tory run country.
You see, this is the kind of narrative that annoys me, 'I have to vote for labour' just becasue they are less worse than the conservatives, so I "don't wan't to waste my vote'?
This is the kind of self perpetuating nonsence that has kept this country flip flopping within a binary red/blue political system for so long, before I was born, even.
I won't be part of it.
You see, this is the kind of narrative that annoys me.
You asked this question:
So what am I?
If you don't like the answer given how about you answer the question yourself?
With a bit of thought most people can manage to answer that question themselves.
It was a rhetorical question.
I'll be voting Lib dem unless something better comes along.
It is completely irrelevant whether they understand the economy. They are being told that inflation is falling and that the UK looks likely to avoid recession
Fair point - other than when they are told something might happen and it then doesn't happen that way and another result occurs.
Like for instance inflation is reducing because the energy costs have stopped increasing (last year) but interest income is still driving inflation in other parts of CPI.
Wouldn't take much for that to become a different outcome.
The inflationary effect of investing in shifting to renewables? Is that what keeps you up at night? Really? Stick with Tories then, they’ll keep the oil and gas burning for you.
Yeah.
There can't possibly be an inflationary effect of that because there's an under supply of energy to even create a market.
We have inflation because there isn't enough spare energy to sell to give you a consumer choice. It's exactly the right thing to do.
It's totally sensible but Labour don't look poised to invest enough money because they're fiscally constrained idiots.
I think you know. Someone who’s content to live indefinitely in a Tory run country
But the outcome is almost the same - swap Tory for Neoliberal.
A Right-wing run country with a few tweaks run by the same monetarist choices, and barely any fiscal difference. That produces a similar economy with nothing big enough to make progress.
You see, this is the kind of narrative that annoys me, ‘I have to vote for labour’ just becasue they are less worse than the conservatives, so I “don’t wan’t to waste my vote’?
This is the kind of self perpetuating nonsence that has kept this country flip flopping within a binary red/blue political system for so long, before I was born, even.
QOTD
You see, this is the kind of narrative that annoys me, ‘I have to vote for labour’ just becasue they are less worse than the conservatives, so I “don’t wan’t to waste my vote’?
No. In a LibDem Tory marginal vote LibDem. Unless you're happy living under the Tories (or have blinded yourself with righteousness?) You may not like it, but this is the system we have for now and it won't change under the Tories.
Yeah vote for the prick that's marginally less of a prick than the incumbent prick.
What a wonderful world we live in.
Of course no party could possibly get elected other than the red or blue one. Never mind Scotland, nothing to see here...
Yeah vote for the prick that’s marginally less of a prick than the incumbent prick.
I'm fairly comfortable with voting Labour on the single premise that anything is massively better than the tories. What I can't abide though is being lectured by labour party members (as happened recently down the pub) calling me 'pro-tory' for questioning whether Starmer is going to change much. If my recent experience is anything to go by the Labour party is becoming quite Stalinist and is massive danger of believing it's own hype. All the signs are pointing towards a '92 scenario.
You may not like it, but this is the system we have for now and it won’t change under the Tories.
It also won't change under Labour.
It also won’t change under Labour.
PR for 2nd chamber? It's more likely to, but I doubt we disagree hugely on this one. It's just that with all the negativity on this thread, a Labour govt will at least try to do better things in difficult circumstances than the current malevolent shambles. By all means moan when this happens, but let's try to make it happen?
a Labour govt will at least try to do better things in difficult circumstances than the current malevolent shambles.
Not if you take Rachel Reeves at her word. In '97 Gordon Brown turned on the funding taps to rescue the NHS and education system and brought in generous benefits to lift people out of poverty. Does anyone seriously believe Reeves is going to do the same?
It's almost pointless arguing between the two in lots of ways.
The division is marginal. They're both Neoliberal.
If people don't really want change then fine, crack on and expect outcomes to be roughly the same with less personality involved. Grown-up Neoliberalism with less Truss/Johnson (less Centrist tantrums over currency vale) but a more battered state.
Well done.
If you're serious about change then I'd keep letting the Tories ruin the country until people demand it. Sorry but it's the only way.
Things have to be bad enough to reject the current options, and new ones have to emerge. (Don't know the exact game plan for that but the current system won't survive.)
One caveat I'm totally curious how the current Labour party would pan out though, even if I won't be voting for them.
My new Labour candidate is John Mann's wife. That lot have earned nothing from me.
Does anyone seriously believe Reeves is going to do the same?
No she's a monetarist she believes the BoE are doing the correct job. No way a left thinking person can support that logic.
It's totally back to front.
She talks a serious amount of rubbish but being ex BoE gives her credentials.
When you believe private growth funds the public sector you're facing totally the wrong direction.
And they're all too focused on GDP as success. The media and all of us are culpable here.
My new Labour candidate is John Mann’s wife.
Yeah I wouldn't be voting for her under any circumstances. Just goes to show again that today's labour party is nothing more than a club for deranged neoliberal careerists. At least my local candidate is a long time local activist who I can feel fairly safe voting for. Having followed him for a while though on social media it's very apparent that he has to be careful what he says in order not to piss off central office.
If you’re serious about change then I’d keep letting the Tories ruin the country until people demand it. Sorry but it’s the only way.
Things have to be bad enough to reject the current options, and new ones have to emerge. (Don’t know the exact game plan for that but the current system won’t survive.)
One caveat I’m totally curious how the current Labour party would pan out though, even if I won’t be voting for them.
You're voting Tory to speed the revolution? It's a crazy plan but it just might work 🙂 [it won't btw. Think Weimar]
There’s no way I’d vote tory, and I’m highly unlikely to vote Labour
So what am I? 😀
It was a rhetorical question.
I’ll be voting Lib dem unless something better comes along.
In what way are the LibDems different to the Tories and Labour?
PR for 2nd chamber? It’s more likely to
The Upper House doesn't get to choose who is the Prime Minister.
PR for the Upper House is pointless without PR for the Commons.
The Upper House doesn’t get to choose who is the Prime Minister.
PR for the Upper House is pointless without PR for the Commons.
I mainly agree, but PR for a 2nd chamber is better than no PR at all.
Sounds like a fob off to me. The House of Lords has no teeth so PR for it whilst keeping first past the post for the House of Commons would be no more than window dressing.
Edit:
better than no PR at all.
Makes it sound as if introducing PR would be a difficult task. It would be a piece of piss to introduce, the only thing it requires is the will to do it.
You’re voting Tory to speed the revolution? It’s a crazy plan but it just might work 🙂 [it won’t btw. Think Weimar]
I know - it's difficult (I'm not voting unless I find a reason to.)
I can't vote for what I don't believe in.
But - I also knew we needed another five years of Tory in 2019 for people to realise how bad they are. People were still too willing to give them a chance back then. Starmer shit the bed with the way he's carried himself.
I don't think any of it totally necessary to beat the Tories.
[it won’t btw. Think Weimar]
The only thing I would add to that (I'm not good on history) is don't denominate your debts in a foreign currency! And we dont these days.
Haven't been here for a long time, still going round in circles I see.
If you’re serious about change then I’d keep letting the Tories ruin the country until people demand it. Sorry but it’s the only way.
Ah, the puritanical left saying the mountain must come to Mohammed, we will not change, but YOU must change to our world views.
PR for the Upper House is pointless without PR for the Commons.
Spot on. PR must happen, the two main parties don't want to share power, and the parties within the two parties don't want it either.
Ah, the puritanical left saying the mountain must come to Mohammed, we will not change, but YOU must change to our world views.
Your unfeasible mountain moving scenario ignores one simple and indisputable truth - in all comparable western liberal democracies the ruling party always eventually loses power.
Voter dissatisfaction guarantees it.
The same can be said with one hundred percent certainty of the UK.
The government will always eventually change, no mountain moving is required.
Ah, the puritanical left saying the mountain must come to Mohammed, we will not change, but YOU must change to our world views
Well I'd sooner be in that position than a bendy flexible Centrist that piggy backs some of the most shockingly inept right-wing macro economic policy we have ever seen.
Enjoy neoliberalism, cost of living, inflation, collapsing banks, markets that don't function, wrecked state services, climate disaster, inequality etc.
On what planet is the system we've got now any sort of success story?
Never push back against the current system, always have the current system.
Well done!
Glad you took time to distill your logic.
Haven’t been here for a long time, still going round in circles I see.
Well check out any of the Tory threads for people going around in circles.
It's mind numbing that this thread gets the stick for repetitive behaviour, when there's at least 4 threads talking up how shit *surprisingly* the Tory party are.
In the meantime I will keep punting out the flaws of current economic policy whilst they keep doing it.
Labour leads by 16% in the Red Wall, down from 28% four weeks ago.
Not really got anything to add to…
They know what they’re doing. There is only one way they can possibly repeat the success of 2019 now… headlines about invasions, influxes and deportations… all the way up to the election.
“Labour will let asylum seekers nest in your hedge and harass your granddaughter on her way to school.”
They know what they’re doing. There is only one way they can possibly repeat the success of 2019 now… headlines about invasions, influxes and deportations… all the way up to the election.
If that is the plan they are going to have to work very hard if it has any chance of success. A 16 point Labour lead in the so-called red wall seats is not what the Tories need to win a general election.
The Tories won all 45 "red wall seats" in 2019 with the exception of Hartlepool which came later. A 16% Labour lead in a general election would mean that the Tories would lose every single red wall seat to Labour.
Although only if we are to indulge in the term red wall.....in reality the term red wall is nonsense because it suggests all 45 seats are the same and the voters in them behave the same - they don't.
This is what Channel 4 News found exactly one week ago:
https://www.channel4.com/news/exclusive-polling-conservatives-could-lose-all-45-red-wall-seats
That was one day before the budget and many more days after the Stop The Boats campaign had been launched, if things have changed significantly in that time it will most likely to be due to voters perception of the state of the economy rather than anything else.
If there is one way for the Tories to avert electoral disaster it is by winning the economic arguments, in the eyes of the electorate.
As one senior Tory MP told the Daily Telegraph:
But the MP said this would be a mistake. “That’s not the way to win an election.”
“There’s some people who are drinking the Kool-Aid about making the next election a culture war.
“Forget it. The next election will be about which party is seen to be more competent to handle the economy and the next five years. It’s not going to be decided on a culture war.”
I am torn between hoping that the Tories will focus on a "culture war" rather than real issues because I know it won't be sufficient for them to win the next general election, and knowing how poisonous bigotry can be.
If that is the plan they are going to have to work very hard if it has any chance of success.
They’ll have plenty of help in the media. Plenty. Hoping they’ll still fail to get over the line come the next election. But it’s a hope not a prediction.
If there is one way for the Tories to avert electoral disaster it is by winning the economic arguments, in the eyes of the electorate.
Sound economic arguments? Trumping “keeping them out” messaging? That’s the pattern of recent UK wide national votes, is it? Hopefully it will be next time, but votes can be swung and won on issues other than economic interests. We can’t deny/ignore that.
The Tories will always lead Labour on "immigration", if that is an issue for voters. The huge lead Labour has been enjoying has nothing to do with voters believing that a Labour government would be tougher on immigration than the Tories.
It is purely down to own thing - voter confidence in the Tories ability to manage the economy has collapsed. And it is quite unprecedented in modern times.
The Channel 4 link I posted above, and which dates to day before the budget, shows that Labour leads the Tories on the economy even more than the Tories lead Labour on immigration.
The Tories will always lead Labour on “immigration”, if that is an issue for voters.
Not disagreeing That’s why they’ll bang on about it right up to the election. Keep it on people’s minds, even though it’s not a real problem. It’s their path back in the polls… but hopefully not enough to win.
Sound economic arguments?
Which sound economic arguments are you talking about? I can't see anyone mentioning sound economic arguments, apart from you.
That’s why they’ll bang on about it right up to the election.
Well if they do they will be wasting their time, they have already "won" immigration, as the Channel 4 link shows, it is the economic argument which they are currently losing to Labour.
For that reason I have no doubt that Rishi Sunak and his advisors will focus on the economy. Labour better be ready - they have a long history of losing the economic arguments in the eyes of the electorate. Invariably due to Labour timidity on the subject.
Sadly boldness and a radical alternative to the Tory narrative on the economy isn't something I am hugely expecting from Keir Starmer.
Well if they do they will be wasting their time, they have already “won” immigration
They have to stress how important it is… there’s an invasion, an influx… we’re under attack… send them to Rwanda. Keep the issue live. No point being trusted on something that people are relaxed about.
https://twitter.com/RachelReevesMP/status/1638202011156881412?t=8uwx13hNx6h8WeKWkaOyuQ&s=19
Vapour.
She would support the BoE.
Move back from monetarism to fiscal control and I will believe you.
Big day for the Fed today. After last week's knock about and government bail / backed loans (they always have money for this stuff don't they) - all eyes are on the Fed for whether there will be a raise of .25 or 0.
It's an interesting one because if the aim of the Fed was to damage or slow the economy out of inflation then in theory there's a chance they do 0 in reaction to last week. Let's see if hawkish or doveish.
Obviously UK tends to follow.
They have to stress how important it is… there’s an invasion, an influx… we’re under attack… send them to Rwanda. Keep the issue live.
Agree. They will come up with a few more piece of BS to really fool them. Remember they totally fooled them into believing not only was Brexit a good idea but their whole vote was about getting Brexit done as though it was the most important thing in their lives. They don't seem to be mentioning it much now do they?
Tories main purpose is fooling the voters into thinking they are the best party for them even though for 90% of society that is not true. They are very good at it and have had a lot of practice which is why I think the election will be a lot closer than the polls would have you think.
Inflation jumps to 10.4% surprise - apparently.
Not a suprise. Increasing interest rates adds to the price level of money.
Idiotic.
If they pivoted on raising interest rates they might do something useful.
Good for Labour even though Reeves would let the BoE carry on exactly the same.
16.8% food price inflation is even less of a surprise to those of us counting the pennies pounds when doing the weekly shop. Not driven by base rate setting.
The latest Survation poll has been released this morning, it is not particularly good news for the Tories.
"Survation’s latest political polling conducted in the days after Jeremy Hunt’s Spring Budget statement shows Labour maintaining a strong lead at +15 points.
Conservatives seem to be slowly losing grip of their strongest policy area - the Economy."
https://www.survation.com/post-budget-polling-shows-conservatives-failing-to-turn-fortunes-around/
Well this is damning.....a report by a senior lawyer tasked by Labour to investigate racism within the party.
The top lawyer echoed his previous comments that the Labour party must take seriously concerns of black and asian members that their complaints are not being treated as seriously as those related to antisemitism. “It’s not enough to say, ‘I’ve been on a course’, and that means I’m untouchable.”
He also criticised Labour’s decision to not introduce an independent directorate that would oversee the party’s disciplinary process.
The lawyer questioned how members would be able to feel “confident” in the transparency or independence of the process.
I think this is probably a fair comment: “If you want to know how your party will treat you in government look at how it treats its members.”
If there’s anyone left who hasn’t seen through Sir Keir’s brazen hypocrisy; most recently on pensions, here’s the final proof.
Sir Keir has told us:
- people who can themselves afford to pay more than a £1 into their own pensions are “rich”
- contributions over this should not be allowed because they are “tax bungs to the rich”
As established above, Sir Keir:
- benefits from an MP pension scheme that gives him £87k of pension benefit whilst avoiding the cap that applies to everyone who has to save for their own pensions. He gets this every year.
- has pension pots that would be valued at £3.5m-£4.5m under the rules that apply to the public / anyone saving for their own pension.
Now it turns out he actually has a specially written Law for his own pension - the effect of which is to avoid the limits set for other public sector workers let alone private sector workers who already receive only a fraction of the benefit yet pay more for the privilege.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/2588/contents/made
Well, that’s a mess!
This is the kind of legislation they should have introduced for senior consultants and other key public sector staff to target keeping them at work… rather than rolling the pension change out to “everyone” for friends in finance to avoid tax.
Well, sounds like there's a plan to clean up that mess... Labour will include everyone in the lifetime limit if they get the chance to change the law... including those with previous exemptions, like Starmer. I have no idea what happens to senior consultants then... something will have to give... all that extra NHS staff Labour plan to train won't be ready for years... and won't be as experienced as these older consultants for decades.
Good law and order speech from Starmer I thought - bar the mandatory " bobbies on the beat" nonsense
tjagain
Full Member
Good law and order speech from Starmer I thought – bar the mandatory ” bobbies on the beat” nonsense
Yeah, I'm not sure how deliverable some of it will be but it's a necessary part of getting Labour ready for the election and hopefully(!) government.
I cannot bloody wait to see the Tories out of government. I know I'm not going to wake up to nirvana any time soon, even after they are out, but by God, it'll be a start.
Starmer June 2021:
"We are committed to updating the GRA to introduce self-declaration for trans people.”
Starmer today;
"I think that if we reflect on what’s happened in Scotland, the lesson I take from that is that if you’re going to make reforms, you have to carry the public with you."
So from firm commitment to "well I'm not too sure".
It really is becoming increasingly difficult to know exactly what Keir Starmer believes about anything.
One thing we can be sure if its Scottish government policy Starmer is against it. No matter what it is. can't be shown up by a more progressive government north of the border
It really is becoming increasingly difficult to know exactly what Keir Starmer believes about anything.
Yep, and that is exactly what some of the people interviewed in the red wall seats were saying on a news broadcast I was watching last week. He is walking a thin line.
That's exactly what politics is all about though isn't it? Walking the thin line between "making changes/moving forward" versus "a speed that the voting public will tolerate"?
Push too hard or too fast at your peril because you need the "man in the street" on your side.
See threads like "Paris Riots" for more details . . . . .
In the UK currently the thin line seems to be between "making changes/what we can get away with" versus "a speed that the voting public will tolerate"? - but that's another story.
It really is becoming increasingly difficult to know exactly what Keir Starmer believes about anything
He believes that power is obtained by bothering as few people as possible.
“If you want to know how your party will treat you in government look at how it treats its members.”
"The Labour party declined to comment".
Assuming that the Labour Party doesn't avoid commenting to the Guardian because it sees it as a hostile newspaper I think it is probably reasonable to believe that they don't want to be held accountable for their actions.
Bearing in mind that Starmer is known to have alienated a lot of Black and Asian members this latest stunt in Leicester is unlikely to help, I would have thought.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-starmer-black-asian-forde-report-b2231609.html
Aye that just seems wrong.
I do know "issues" have been raised in the area before but that many de-selected folk without making a public explanation? Seems off
There's a very fine line to be walked on the trans debate
It's something that has been very effectively weaponised by the right
Just ask the SNP
There’s a very fine line to be walked on the trans debate
There is a fine line to be trod, if you are scared of standing up for what is right and providing leadership on the issue.
Frankly SKS repeatedly shows himself to be a coward, the labour party line should be that "attacks on trans rights are a culture war issue to distract from the tory mismanagement of the economy which is damaging everyone" it should be repeated every time the tories launch some culture war bullshit ie stop the boats, or criticizing taking the knee. Just accepting the framing and promising to do the same but more effectively isn't offering anyone an alternative, or even any hope that their lives will improve.
The thing about the GRA in Scotland is that it took ages to do, involved a lot of compromise all round, ended up with overwhelming cross party support but still not good enough for English parties to accept.
I do not think it a perfect bill by any means but it did leave all sides of the debate equally satisfied / dissatisfied and thus seems a reasonable compromise
As in other discussions on the topic I personally had some doubts but the GRA answered my doubts and in the end I accepted it as the best compromise we could get.
for English parties to just dismiss it out of hand is pretty poor given the effort to make it work for everyone. I've not seen any reasoned critique from either tories or labour. Just " its wrong veto it"
There’s a very fine line to be walked on the trans debate
My issue isn't so much what Starmer's position is, it is the fact that he repeatedly makes clear and unambiguous pledges before embarking yet again on a U-turn.
It is not a good look for a leader of a party which consistently attacks the Tories for being dishonest and untrustworthy.
This is the best recent distillation of the inflation problem I've seen in simple terms.
It's US based but can be applied here more or less.
It's excellent.
I know there are economic monsters in this thread who might enjoy this.
(Watch the Jon Stewart piece too)
https://twitter.com/Keir_Starmer/status/1642427584653697025?t=-bsscVd8Jb5v-ot8DPKOsQ&s=19
Bone-headed spineless Tory blooded idiot.
How's he going to freeze council tax this year? And so what - it's hardly proper cash back in your pocket.
God I hate that man.
Keeping an eye on the economy currently, I still don't think that recession has gone away. Drop in house prices substantial.
Interest income to the top made it read better for a short burst.
Looking very closely at the BoE/Fed to pivot. They're intent on breaking something. No sign of that.
GBP slightly up against the dollar. And yet Andrew Neil in love with recent 2% uptick - yet it's 45% down over about 15 years (depending on precise time frame)
Currency markets are simply a farcical way of measuring the real economy.
God I hate that man.
We’d never have guessed.
Labour have no control over when an election is held. If there’s one this year they can introduce policies this year. The normal complaint is “if there is a quick election, we have no idea what Labour would do”, yet if they say what they would do if there is a quick election… the same people moan.
https://twitter.com/opiniumresearch/status/1642240479168266241?s=21
Starmer almost done with making himself unpopular in the process of getting the public to trust Labour again across all policy areas, rather than just the ones Labour tend to lead on by default. Job nearly done. I just wish Labour had the nouse to swap him out for someone fresh with better campaigning and communicating chops before a General Election. Won’t happen though.