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As usual Starmer is sitting on the fence, whether through choice, inability to take a side side or trying to steer a course through a diplomatic minefield.
He must have more splinters in his arse than a porcupine from all his fence sitting
https://twitter.com/Keir_Starmer/status/1936781452919672848?t=Os0aV4AOvUJ1KKKgp3muLg&s=19
Lmfao the amount of people parroting this soundbite. "In his own mind."
Sorry was this a thing when you came to power?
So much false equivalence going off here.
Also this is not an update. It's shit a soundbite.
The man is awful, truly our ****ing worst nightmare.
A.I Starmer - checks to see which side is winning the war and joins them. This is going to be a very painful and long four years.
(The only country to ever detonate an atomic bomb and hydrogen bomb on an enemy dictating who is too dangerous to have them. With Starmer's blessing. NB I'd prefer a world without nukes but apparently some of us are stable enough to have them and exceptionalism kicks in.)
In 10 years we will all be reflecting on how this was a mess. Rinse and repeat.
In 10 years we will all be reflecting on how this was a mess. Rinse and repeat.
I'm hoping we are all still around to do some reflecting in 10 years time. I'm not that confident after today's developments
Should Israel also be bombed by the US then, oh I see a problem there.
I'd like to see the USA stop giving Israel weapons in all forms, whether that's nicely packaged and delivered at an airport or dropped from a plane. One thing we all know is bombing the hell out of a country rarely ends well for anyone although there is a bit of me that would be quite happy to see Israel get a taste of it's own medicine. Wanging on about suffering a blitz like the UK did is absolute bolloxs, as is the PMs son having to move his wedding twice, not quite up there with Israel's genocidal affects on the Palestinians.
I've noticed that Starmer and his ministers have been saying that they will be acting in our national interests a lot in the last few weeks. Presumably this translates as "not upsetting Donald Trump"?
I suppose blathering on about Israel's right to self defence was wearing a bit thin even for these spineless nobodies as the IDF mows down starving civilians in food queues.
I hope all the Brexiteers are taking note of how little influence the UK wields. But, of course, they aren't.
I hope all the Brexiteers are taking note of how little influence the UK wields. But, of course, they aren't.
I know some are desperate to shoehorn brexit as the fault for everything, but Starmers actions on this are nothing to do with brexit, it is fully on him and the party he has created, no excuses. He is a coward who would do the same in or out of the EU, just as the German chancellor Mertz and French President Macron are also doing within the EU.
Maybe it is time for you to take a bit more notice, and actually think about the problems that can be made better within the EU and those that are actually about our own government. I support re-joining, but I am realistic about the benefits and compromises it will bring, and most of the problems need to be fixed domestically, if they are then re-joining the EU will benefit the whole country, just re-joining with our current political climate will at best be be indifferent to most people, and growth without redistribution will just exasperate many of the problems people are already suffering.
I know some are desperate to shoehorn brexit as the fault for everything
Which is not what I did. Either in my actual words or the intent behind them. Re-read my post. All I was saying is that the tub-thumpers* need to take note of Britain's irrelevance on the world stage. Thinking we're a major player is the root cause of a lot of our issues. Inside or outside of the EU.
*for which 'Brexiteer' is a commonly accepted synonym.
Maybe it is time for you to take a bit more notice, and actually think
I would say it is time for you to take a bit more notice (in this case of what is there in black and white) and actually think. Your reflexive need to invent an issue where there is none and then argue against it is revealing in itself.
Maybe it is time for you to take a bit more notice, and actually think about the problems that can be made better within the EU and those that are actually about our own government.
The whole Brexit problem was due to failures by UK governments of all flavours. We kept using the excuse that the EU rules prevented us doing x or y, the right wing press then extended that to made up shit about a, b and c as well, and voters believed the EU were the cause of their problems.
We can't blame the EU now, so we are blaming migrants, and benefit claimants. We still aren't blaming the politicians we have elected who have no vision, no plan and no aspirations other than to be reelected.
Maybe the EU softened *some* edges but it really isn't the main issue for things that have been in decline for many people.
We have a morally questionable interest rate policy - that serves no good for public purpose. A shortage of housing stock; a ruinous water utility service; a malfunctioning energy market. Not to mention an ever growing stack of private debt (that happens when you shrink public spending.)
None of that has anything to do with being in or out of the EU. But is much harder to pin down and doesn't have Led By Donkeys' middle class support.
I really hope Starmer, Reeves and Kendall get a good kicking over the disability cuts.
Set of awful miscalculating right-wing loons.
Starmer will get his 5% of GDP though - trotting around the world like some retired Colonel collecting importance medals.
Starmer will get his 5% of GDP though - trotting around the world like some retired Colonel collecting importance medals.
He probably will. Now remind me... what was the hit to UK GDP from Brexit? Ah yes, 4-5%. Something in the region of £85bn to £120bn per year.
I really hope Starmer, Reeves and Kendall get a good kicking over the disability cuts.
Me too. I mean, all that pain and suffering inflicted to save (IIRC) around £5bn a year in 3+ years time. When there's around £100bn a year being ignored.
Set of awful miscalculating right-wing loons.
Totally - it just seems we have differing reasons for thinking it.
Just heard the UK Defence Secretary on R4.
If anyone wants to know what UK foreign policy is, you'd be better off calling the Pentagon. The only problem is that, having elected a total reactionary narcissist as president, they can't tell you either.
The danger of miscalculation is now hugely increased.
what was the hit to UK GDP from Brexit? Ah yes, 4-5%
FFS give it a rest. Brexit was nearly 10 years ago now. We've been out of the EU for 5 years and won't be going back any time soon. Move on.
If we ignore the economic stagnation of our own making... there's also that it's a significant event when it comes to our current influence on world events. Why would you avoid mentioning it? We've been too dependent on the USA for so long now. What's the path out of that other than stronger cooperation with our neighbours...? There's lots of work to do there in repairing ties, sharing data, joint planning etc... all made harder by the thing that can not be mentioned. In the meantime we scrabble around trying to avoid the wrath of a USA president when it comes to trade and defence... yeah, that makes the PM look like a weak coward being blown about on the wind of a major power... but let's not pretend that is not OUR collective weakness, and that we chose to be weaker. But yeah, "shut up about it" and all will sort itself out.
Move on.
No.
Unless it is moving on back into closer cooperation with our closest allies - politically, culturally and geographically.
Why would you avoid mentioning it?
Very interested in the answer to this one, though.
what was the hit to UK GDP from Brexit? Ah yes, 4-5%
FFS give it a rest. Brexit was nearly 10 years ago now. We've been out of the EU for 5 years and won't be going back any time soon. Move on.
Nah, I’m perfectly happy calling out the utter stupidity of leaving the largest trading block and isolating ourselves for absolutely zero benefit at every opportunity,
It looks like spending on stopping the boats and sending people back and who cannot stay here is going to be now be linked into and be part of the Defence (Budget) of our nation now.
I suppose it will help the figures look good and it will look like the Defence Budget has been increased.........?
It looks like spending on stopping the boats and sending people back and who cannot stay here is going to be now be linked into and be part of the Defence (Budget) of our nation now.
I suppose it will help the figures look good and it will look like the Defence Budget has been increased.........?
Simply because spending on defence has got political inertia currently.
So why not hide it in there ...
These ****ers are holding the country back with their misrepresentation of government finances.
So many things falling apart because of Labour are trying to battle the effects of austerity with more austery.
I can't believe how thick they've been on these issues. Most of us knew these policies for trying to save a few bn would come back to bite them on the arse with obvious clarity. (Even with first principles the government doesn't save. It draws on new money every day. )
Imagine the sensible pair of hands being this clueless in running a government? They literally mess up by framing Tory economics as a guide - which everyone knows have been a total disaster for the UK. Yet some Centrists jumped in there to defend Reeves' totally hopeless reasoning. Now look at the state of the thinking. An almost collapsing Labour party within its first year.
Message for Reeves - the government doesn't provision itself by restrictions on where it gets its money from - and well done on pretending to claw money from the vulnerable, which is a real world loss in every respect and funds nothing.
You should know this - Chancellor.
Starmer has backed down, in the main, over the PIP rebellion.👍
About ruddy time and handled appallingly.
Existing claimant's wont be subject to the proposed changes. New claimants will... but at least those new proposals will be written in **conjunction** with disability charities.
My friend with MS is in tears of relief after I called her a few minutes ago.
All this worry for her and others was totally avoidable.
Glad to say my labour MP was amongst the first to record her intent to vote against the government. 👍
Just heard Chris Mason on R4.
What a sneering, obviously biased, Tory shill little turd he is.
Existing claimant's wont be subject to the proposed changes. New claimants will... but at least those new proposals will be written in **conjunction** with disability charities.
Like much of Starmers leadership, it is still sneaking up to the barely acceptable level from the wrong side of the line, the side of performative cruelty. This is meant to be the labour party, it shouldn't be doing the bare minimum that it can get away with, that's what we expect from the tories.
This shouldn't have even been a point of debate in the first place - chasing nonsense economics by slaying the vulnerable. Pretty disgraceful. I wonder without the pressure of being extremely unpopular where we would be now?
What a waste of time and anxiety for everyone involved.
Still - it's a water-down so not sure it's totally gone away.
This shouldn't have even been a point of debate in the first place - chasing nonsense economics by slaying the vulnerable. Pretty disgraceful. I wonder without the pressure of being extremely unpopular where we would be now?
What a waste of time and anxiety for everyone involved.
Still - it's a water-down so not sure it's totally gone away.
I listened to Rachel Reeves last night,"...broken Tory system...fault of the Conservatives...Tory...Tory..."
We get it. The Conservative government caused lots of problems, but what are you doing to put the system right?
No sense, unfair policies and then blame someone else seems to be the order of the day
I listened to Rachel Reeves last night,"...broken Tory system...fault of the Conservatives...Tory...Tory..."
It's 12 months and they are still opposition mode, and FFS if they can see the problems with tory ideology then ****ing do something else instead of trying to be a tory tribute act.
they are still opposition mode
I think that sums it up very nicely.
"Yeah okay, you've won the general election, now get on with it"
what was the hit to UK GDP from Brexit? Ah yes, 4-5%
FFS give it a rest. Brexit was nearly 10 years ago now. We've been out of the EU for 5 years and won't be going back any time soon. Move on.
Nope - its needs to be called out at every opportunity seeing as the vast majority want a return and rejoin in some form is the best thing we could do for the economy.
Sure you brexiteers want us to shut up about it because you know how unpopular it is and you want us to forget
It remains the number one political issue as so much has been made worse by it - from economics to small boats and illegal migration - brexit is at the core
Nope - its needs to be called out at every opportunity seeing as the vast majority want a return and rejoin in some form is the best thing we could do for the economy.
Completely agree. Although if I had my way I'd be passing the Brexit benefits directly onto those who voted for it instead of lumping cuts on permanently disabled people.
I think Kemi missed a trick here. If the Conservatives had stated their intent to vote for the Bill and negate the Labour rebellion, I think in the longer term that would have done far more damage to Starmer and the reputation of the Labour party in general.
Incidentally there was a by election in my council ward (Fountainbridge and Craiglockhart, in Edinburgh) yesterday. Previously our 3 councillors were Labour, SNP and Tory, but the Labour councillor died earlier this year.
Labour narrowly won the first preference vote with 20.8%, but after the STV calculations were done it was the LibDem candidate (who had 20.4% of first preference votes) who was elected. The STV results put the main party candidates in the following order:
- LibDem (2nd in first preference votes)
- Labour (1st in first preference votes)
- Green (3rd in first preference votes)
- Tory (5th in first preference votes)
- SNP (4th in first preference votes)
- Reform (6th in first preference votes)
Turnout was 33.1%
The reform candidate won 7.9% of first preference votes, I don't know what that means when it comes to signs of their appeal in Scotland but I'm sure some of you will be happy to debate the matter. 🙂
I think it stands for itself. Despite what the english based folk on here state Reforms appeal is very limited here and also it shows that under PR systems people vote differently to under FPTP.
Scotland and England continue to diverge poilitically
Fountainbridge and Craiglockhart, in Edinburgh, not exactly typical Reform voting area though is, west of Edinburgh, within a stones throw of the castle. The fact that Reform got 8% of the vote in an area like that is not great.
if I had my way I'd be passing the Brexit benefits directly onto those who voted for it instead of lumping cuts on permanently disabled people.
If the cuts were done properly that's what would have happened, there's a fairly large overlap between Brexit voters and people on benefits due to lifestyle. The same people that blame everyone else for the miserable state of their own lives without realising what parasites they are on the rest of society
“Parasites”, huh?! Not really a great starting place for a debate. And nor is your generalisation about “Brexit voters”. A bit of a conversational dead end.
Fountainbridge and Craiglockhart, in Edinburgh, not exactly typical Reform voting area though is, west of Edinburgh, within a stones throw of the castle. The fact that Reform got 8% of the vote in an area like that is not great.
Even in the most fertile of areas ( the recent byelection) they could not win. It simply shows how little traction Reform have in Scotland. 6th place is a very poor showing
https://www.thenational.scot/news/25268503.reform-pick-first-scotland-seats-yougov-westminster-poll/
However, Reform UK would also make gains in Scotland, with the poll showing Nigel Farage's party picking up seats for the first time.
As reported in The Times, Reform UK would pick up three seats in the south of Scotland:
Ayr, Carrick & Cumnock (Reform 28.3%, Labour 22.2%, SNP 20.8%)
Dumfries & Galloway (Reform 27.8%, SNP 22.2%, Tory 20.2%)
Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweedale (Reform 26.8%, Tory 24.2%, SNP 18.1%)
YouGov's seat projection also reveals that Reform UK would finish in the top three of every single constituency in Scotland except from one – Edinburgh North and Leith.
Reform UK are now also making inroads into London
"The poll shows Labour losing voters to parties on the right and the left, with Reform perhaps the biggest winner"
Shame that actual results show a very differnt picture
Also Reform are on these polls expected to win a huge majority in Westminster but only win 5% of the seats in Scotland -
Reforms suport in Scotland is fraction of what it is in England
Reform / ukip have only ever won one seat in Scotland - in european elections.
It's obviously difficult to compare council and Westminster results, especially in Scotland because of STV and when the council vote is at a by election, but my ward is in the Edinburgh South West constituency and last year Reform polled 4.6% there, and got 7.9% of first preference votes yesterday. Compared to the general election both Labour and the SNP lost a lot of vote share yesterday and the Greens and LibDems were probably the biggest benefactors of that (though the Tories picked up a couple of points and Reform, picked up a bit more from a lower starting point).
Looking at the maps for the ward and the constituency I'd say that they're both fairly equally split between more and less well-to-do areas, but that is of course hard to be sure about.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh_South_West_(UK_Parliament_constituency)#/map/0
Shame that actual results show a very differnt picture
Well it wouldn't be a shame imo but what "results" are you talking about? There has been no general election in Scotland since last year and no constituency by-elections that I am aware of 🤔
Edit : Sorry as I wrote that ^^ I had at the back of my mind that there had been a recent by-election in Scotland.
This one obviously
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj42gver2glo
Yes thats the one where an area tailor made for reform and they didn't win. 1/4 of the vote
I'll say it again. the only election at any level reform / Ukip have won is the last seat in an european election
I'll also say again that the polls for the next GE show reform with a majority but only 5% of scottish seats
Yes thats the one where an area tailor made for reform and they didn't win. 1/4 of the vote
Although Labour got 31% and the SNP got 29%, so Labour won with only 5% more than reform, and nationalist parties did have 55% of the vote combined.
nationalist parties got 55%? Are you adding SNP and Reform together for that? Bit odd considering they are opposite sides of the political spectrum or are you adding SNP, Green and Alba together?
Which one of reform and the SNP are you claiming is not a nationalist party?
Which one of reform and the SNP are you claiming is not a nationalist party?
Oh dear - are you really that ignorant or simply trolling?
Yes thats the one where an area tailor made for reform and they didn't win.
Wow. You have gone from claiming that there is no area of Scotland where Reform UK has any significant support to now claiming that Hamilton, was, wait for it......."tailor made for Reform"
That's quite a leap !
Massively increasing their support in a by-election suggests that there is growing support for Reform in Scotland.
Where are these "actual results" which you claim "show a very different picture"?
However, Reform UK would also make gains in Scotland, with the poll showing Nigel Farage's party picking up seats for the first time.
Lots of ignorant ****s up in Ayrshire and down here in Dumfries & Galloway it’s turned into a ****ing retirement zone for folk buying houses, out of the 26 houses in my mothers street here in kirkcudbright, 18 are mother ****ing holiday houses or air b&b .
Yes thats the one where an area tailor made for reform and they didn't win.
Wow. You have gone from claiming that there is no area of Scotland where Reform UK has any significant support to now claiming that Hamilton, was, wait for it......."tailor made for Reform"
That's quite a leap !
Massively increasing their support in a by-election suggests that there is growing support for Reform in Scotland.
Where are these "actual results" which you claim "show a very different picture"?
I know you have this weird fetish for Farage but really - the real results of a variety of elections that show that reforms support in Scotland is a tiny fraction of that in England
And yes - that bye election would have been fertile ground as it encompasses the sectarian unionist strongholds - but they still only got 1/4 of the vote. compare that to england where they are winning seats.
What % of the vote did reform get in the GE in Scotland and how many seats have they won?
Ernie - I don't comment on Welsh or local london elections because I do not follow the politics. Please - your ignorance of the politics of scotland shines brightly
https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/polls_scot.html
Clearly support for Reform is lower in Scotland than it is in the UK as a whole, but given their current level of support here I feel that dismissing them as a threat in Scotland could well be complacency.
For a long time UKIP/Reform bubbled along in England with an appreciable voteshare that was too evenly distributed to convert into Westminster seats but that is rapidly changing. Other factors are at play here in Scotland but it isn't impossible that we'll see an uptick in their support and a point where the electoral calculus starts working in their favour. Last year fatigue really seemed to be hitting SNP support and if something like that happened again there's a risk that people who previously voted SNP primarily in protest at the Westminster establishment (not that I'm suggesting that's the main source of SNP support but I suspect it's a part of it) could start switching to Reform based on its (highly debatable) anti-establishment reputation.
I love this :
Those on the right of the party were warned their actions could bring about a leadership challenge that would be won by Angela Rayner. The same threat was made to those on the left, but with Wes Streeting as the looming spectre.
Although I find it astonishing that any Labour MP could find Angela Rayner too left-wing for their liking, wtf are they doing in the Labour Party if that's how they feel?
I consider Angela Rayner to be a female and somewhat more shrewd version of John Prescott. Like him she appears to have abandoned her humble origins and left-wing instincts for the accolade of being deputy leader of the Labour Party.
John Prescott always looked uncomfortable and had a guilty look about him as he parroted the line laid down by Tony Blair. On the other hand Angela Rayner appears to parrot the line laid down by Sir Keir Starmer more convincingly.
Personally I don't trust Rayner but I won't deny that she is an asset to the Labour Party and I do have some respect for her, many on the left don't. I have heard her being heckled at Tolpuddle for being a sellout. But at least she was there, Starmer wouldn't dare to even show his face there.
Too scared to listen, more like.
On one hand he's got the likes of McSweeney telling him he must not annoy the Brexity bigots.
On the other, more traditional left wingers telling him he can't abandon the Labour tradition.
Bless him. He just wants all the difficulties to go away. Unfortunately he also wanted to be PM. What a bind, eh?
I just wish he'd nail his colours to the mast.
All he's doing at the moment is being beige. Beige is OK for a bit if the place you moved into is lurid pink or orange, like the shitshow the Tories left behind.
But at some point, the realisation dawns. Beige is neutral, Beige is temporarily marketable, but in the end...
No one like ****ing Beige.
There is no beige for me.
He's using a right-wing template for almost everything he does. With a dose of pot-hole filling when he believes something may or may not lose him votes.
As for many a commentary that he's the ultimate pragmatist - I call total bullshit - a pragmatist would not have run the first year of government like this. A pragmatist would not let the water companies run riot or invented the concept of black-holes as a logic for understanding regular deficits.
No, it's just sheer bloody right-wing incompetence. The epilogue of failed Neoliberal tactics to try and survive the total collapse of popularity rather than the change they lied about.
He's a simple prat - that can't see the wood for the trees. To make your electorate went to vote for you then you have to change lives and livelihoods not use snake like tactics to get around the fact.
He's a simple prat - that can't see the wood for the trees. To make your electorate went to vote for you then you have to change lives and livelihoods not use snake like tactics to get around the fact.
In a political and being prime minister sense, unfortunately, I think this is close to the mark.
He's a former QC, so he's not stupid in general. But his political instincts are very poor.
He has a ****ing enormous parliamentary majority and 4 more years to really make a difference. He was elected with a blank canvas, pretty much - off the back of not being the Tories. This was a golden opportunity to turn back some of the decline that feeds a cancer like Reform.
He's already bottled it from what I can tell.
Absolutely awful times really.
He had nothing to lose by doing all the stuff or at least intending to do the stuff we all talked about.
I mean if the argument was against national debt expansion to not do things - then the papers like the Telegraph are still using the attack line despite very light increases in spending. Take them on; it's rubbish journalism with which 15mins of research would put a nail in their hegemony. (National debt (savings) expansion serves the wealthy too. It's a preposterous argument.)
Starmer doesn't want to take them on though - his targets are the weakest. Which in itself is ideology.
It's much easier to learn how things function and then have a robust public serving ideology to steer the ship. Anything else will simply drift towards looking after the rich.
For instance, we've had years of this wretched economic system (which has only been successful for share holders "but at what cost" from Margin Call the film) - and the push back is apparently about more pragmatism. Ahem, pragmatism will absolutely not reverse the worst excesses of an ideology with terrible outcomes. Pragmatism is letting Neolibralism in through the back and front door and pretending you're fixing stuff because you are limited in what you can do. The idea that we can only operate in a political system because of how it is rather than what it could be is recipe for failure and simply not credible.
Centrists are looking increasingly alienated from reality these days. As they let the door in to the very things they criticise the right for. It's barmy!
Lazy, baseless political thinking designed to simply react to an out of control bus heading towards a cliff - that is losing everyone.
The man's a catastro-**** of a feedback loop.
I wouldn't even let him near my spreadsheets.
I've just had to turn BBC News off. That smug shit Chris Mason practically creaming his y-fronts at internal Labour division.
It's all very well reporting this stuff, but he always downplayed any Tory issues and put focus back on Labour whenever he could when the Tories were in power.
He's the most obvious BBC Tory shill since...
Oh, actually not that long ago, Laura "I accidentally emailed the questions over" Kuenssberg.
🤬
I've just had to turn BBC News off. That smug shit Chris Mason practically creaming his y-fronts at internal Labour division.
He’s an odious little Tory lickspittle, it’s not news him and his ilk report on, it’s propaganda
Well done Labour in moving the debate back towards *saving* money and bullshit unsustainable 'debt' instead of looking at real outcomes.
We will simply encourage more right-wing spite tactics, hate and economic mismanagement of the economy. When they say 'reform' they mean cuts - simple as.
Removing any money from benefits is ultimately removal of money from the economy - which contributes to decline of growth etc. irrespective of any moral argument.
The argument is now the electorate debating amongst themselves over who is more deserving. Pathetic.
Nick Ferrari's audience is having a field day - without any accurate understanding of how all money is ultimately paid and why.
Also - when you do remove money from people - what do you think they're going to do? They will still fall to the state for help in some form or another.
This ****ing government has done nothing to advance the standard of living of the vulnerable nor offer the incentives we need for a progressive welcoming society. Last month - immigrants - this month the disabled etc.
We're heading for an almight fall here and Labour will go with it.
(Absolutely nothing being done from Labour on anything that actually matters.)
Starmer has backed down, in the main, over the PIP rebellion.
More changes today. The whole section on changing qualifications for new claimants of PIP has been dumped from the bill (for now).
Just as well that Sir Keir Starmer didn't take up Nigel Farage's challenge to use the 'small boats' as a political football
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2vv4ndl4zo
Besides, it's not Sir Keir's fault anyway, apparently it's all down to the wonderful weather that we have been having this year.
Ministers have previously pointed to clear weather and the willingness of people smugglers to put more people onto boats as factors driving the spike in migration crossings.
Mind you not everyone agrees
But Dr Madeleine Sumption, head of Oxford University's Migration Observatory, said there was "no evidence to suggest that the weather is a major factor explaining long-term increases in small boat arrivals.
Er… of course weather is key to crossings.
No point “smashing gangs” without introducing legitimate ways to claim asylum here, from abroad or by coming here to apply.
Er… of course weather is key to crossings.
Safety first eh? Maybe Sir Keir Starmer should have said "I'm angry too and we are going to smash the people smuggling gangs, just as long as we don't get channel crossing weather", that should have covered it.
I don't know what Dr Madeleine Sumption of Oxford University is on about, or how she got an MBE for services to social science.
Have a break.
That was rude, sorry. Your tone is hard work sometimes.
Spikes in crossings are related to the weather. Long term patterns will not be.
What a shambolic day for Labour - up there with some of the worst Tory efforts.
https://twitter.com/BritainElects/status/1940114829064208426?t=MQ9GCcxtWOm09gR2p4VjPw&s=19
On Friday(Saturday I suppose) it will have been a year. What a fantastic week to celebrate.
This is all being driven by the need to keep to fiscal rules. Baseless fiscal rules.
Starmer has backed down, in the main, over the PIP rebellion.
More changes today. The whole section on changing qualifications for new claimants of PIP has been dumped from the bill (for now).
Yeah, things have been moving rapidly or not fast enough I suppose, depending upon perspective!lol
This needs to be the end of any bunker mentality at no.10 and I think Reeves really had to go at this point.
There's still time to turn things around before the GE and seeing how many Labour back benchers stood on principle is embarrassing politically but actually gives me hope too.
We shall see. Frankly the thought of a Reform win in the next GE is terrifying and it's looking entirely possible.
(Can't sort out the funky quotes in afraid, I'm sure you all get the gist though.)
John McDonnell says what you would probably expect:
There's still time to turn things around before the GE and seeing how many Labour back benchers stood on principle is embarrassing politically but actually gives me hope too.
Yes was good to see. I was always hopeful that a good number would come out at some point as there can't be many actual Labour MPs who are happy with the shit Starmer has been doing.
Not doing well in polls and pretty much being a tory party should be enough to get rid of him and Reeves and give someone a good chance over next 4 years. Who that is though is another question.
My labour MP voted against the bill
Starmer will not go. Not a chance. Reeves and Cooper may well tho
It's hard to disagree with McDonnell's assessment above.
I am not a huge John McDonnell fan but I think he hits the nail on the head with this comment :
It is the absolute hollowing out of democracy in the Labour party, which enables a centralisation of power under a self-serving bureaucracy that is effectively out of control, operating with impunity.
Poor decisions are made on strategy and policy from top to bottom because democracy has been stripped out of the party.
Out of touch with Labour voters, out of touch with Labour members, and now out of touch with Labour MPs.
It is extraordinary that a Prime Minister with such a huge majority should be growing ever weaker.
I think we can safely say that Sir Keir Starmer won't be leading Labour into the next general election the question is who will be?
The centrists control of the Labour Party is now so extensive and total that I can't see it making much difference. I guess whoever replaces Starmer might have a bit more charisma, they couldn't possibly have any less, but other than that I can't imagine what might change.
I think we can safely say that Sir Keir Starmer won't be leading Labour into the next general election the question is who will be?
Really? do you think he will resign? There is no easy mechanism to remove him. I think its as near to certain as anything is in politics that Starmer will lead into the next election
He has lost control of the Parliamentary Labour Party over major issues, he is no longer effectively leading and is now reacting to events which are out of his control, despite his massive majority.
His authority has been fatally undermined, and you believe that he will stagger on for another 4 years to lead Labour into a historic defeat?
You seem to think that Starmer might sack his Chancellor, when was the last time a Prime Minister sacked their Chancellor and didn't resign themselves a short while later?
A lucrative post prime ministerial career beckons for Sir Keir Starmer, former prime ministers are always rewarded after their stint ends in failure, it's about contacts. Do you honestly think that Starmer will want to hang around any longer than he has to?
Why might that be........ because of deeply held "convictions"? 🤣
The "U-turns" are exactly what is required for him to be able to stay on 'till the next election. The press might get all excited about "losing control", but the reality is as long as Labour MPs and the members they speak with can effectively modify government policy ("democracy" if you like), he'll be allowed to stay on.
Out of touch with Labour voters, out of touch with Labour members, and now out of touch with Labour MPs.
I thought Starmer and the Labour party now represented the country as a whole not just the left wing of Labour? I'd imagine no matter who follows Starmer will have another crack at reforming the welfare state.
