Current Affairs The Labour Party

[davids]

Still banging on about Iraq? Surprised you didn’t follow that up with the previous gold reserves as most Tory bores seem to do.

13 years ago mate. I mean you can keep being selective about how far you want to go back I suppose, but it doesn’t give you much credibility.

So Blair's New Labour didn't take the Brits into Iraq on a lie about weapons of mass destruction ? And the Blair government didnt bring in the ATOS medical examinations for those on sickness benefits that led to people with terminal cancer having to go for job interviews? Me a Tory?
I've never voted for that shower in my life. Tiocfaidh ár lá

 

[Armchair Blue]

So Blair's New Labour didn't take the Brits into Iraq on a lie about weapons of mass destruction ? And the Blair government didnt bring in the ATOS medical examinations for those on sickness benefits that led to people with terminal cancer having to go for job interviews? Me a Tory?
I've never voted for that shower in my life. Tiocfaidh ár lá

Don't forget zero hour contracts

 

[davids]

Don't forget zero hour contracts

Labour councils are very fond of them.

 

[JimmyJeffers]

I mean. What does any of this even mean.

Distinctively British lol

Could just as easy come from a Tory PM

 

[TrachyBlue]

What would you define as "proper Labour?"

A party with socialist values.

 

[Thomasc]

So Blair's New Labour didn't take the Brits into Iraq on a lie about weapons of mass destruction ? And the Blair government didnt bring in the ATOS medical examinations for those on sickness benefits that led to people with terminal cancer having to go for job interviews? Me a Tory?
I've never voted for that shower in my life. Tiocfaidh ár lá

Yes they did go into a war in Iraq which was voted on in the HOC and given approval by members of parliament from all sides of the house including the current PM.

I mean we can keep banging on again about what happened 12-15 years ago or we can focus on more recent events.

You seem to want to wallow in the past, I’m preferring to measure the current government against their many, many lies and failures.

 

[grandjoeblue]

A party with socialist values.

Exactly. A labour government is only worth having if it improves the quality of life for the working class. If it's more of the same with a different spin on it there is no point of them being in power.

I still think a centralist Labour party is better than a Tory government but that's not exactly a high standard.

 

[Amw79]

Exactly. A labour government is only worth having if it improves the quality of life for the working class. If it's more of the same with a different spin on it there is no point of them being in power.

I still think a centralist Labour party is better than a Tory government but that's not exactly a high standard.

This is the key bit I think. Left and / or centre-left voters can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good here.

We need to move the conversation back from the drift to the right that the last 12 years has seen.

The longer left wing voters argue internally about the perfect set of principles and policies an ideal Labour Party should have, the further to the right the country goes.

 

[DanEFC92]

 

[Charro]

Seems to be two sides of the Labour Party unwilling to compromise which leaves a massive chasm in the middle of good, progressive policies that go untouched.

The left don’t want to move forward and modernise, the right of the party panders to the right wing press, petrified to touch any left wing policies in fear of what daily Mail readers will think.

New Labour worked because you still had people like Gordon Brown pushing Labour to the left.

We don’t have that now. Until both sides are willing to compromise, the Labour Party will just be stuck in a cycle of unpopular leaders failing to connect with the electorate.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I mean. What does any of this even mean.

Distinctively British lol

Could just as easy come from a Tory PM

It is largely meaningless, but that's kind of the nature of political slogans I suppose. A few things I'd personally like to see (in no particular order):

• Actual work done on levelling up, which in reality would involve greater connectivity with regional hubs and more work done to improve training locally (the Tories have done naff all on this so it should be a no brainer)
• Continue backing industries where Britain is really good. The levelling up agenda is often portrayed as zero sum, like places can't do well if London or Oxford or Edinburgh do well. We have exceptional universities and life science organisations, for instance, and things like getting us back in Horizon and improving the flow of innovations into the NHS should be a no brainer. We should also look at ensuring SMEs have better access to leading technology as at the moment it's too often concentrated in big firms.
• Rebuild relations with Europe. Brexit has happened, but it's a car crash right now and we have trashed our reputation for reliability and decency. Get as good a trade deal as possible and work together with Europe on things like Horizon, Erasmus, data portability, and so on.
• Sort out the migration policy again so that it's liberalised. There is a huge talent shortage across the economy so please be honest about the benefits migration brings and step off this reductionist race to the bottom the Tories have embarked upon
• Allow pension funds to invest in unlisted firms, such as startups. Britain risks being left behind due to the lack of capital for growth businesses. You only have to look at the FTSE100 to see how stale the economy is becoming.
• The retirement age raised to keep it in step with the rising life expectancy in the economy. With our demographic situation this is urgently required if we don't want huge quantities of our tax expenditure to go on pensions rather than the NHS, education, and so on.
• Significantly alter planning regulations to liberalise the housing market. This is undoubtedly difficult due to NIMBYism, just as raising the retirement age tends to get stuck due to selfishness and a lack of understanding of just how the state pension works. This is needed though, both to give people more of a chance of getting on the ladder but also increasing labour mobility, which would greatly help the levelling up agenda.

I've no idea if any of the above is "Tory" or "Labour" but it would all be useful, and more so than nationalising railways or whatnot.

 

[mightymoyes]

 

[mightymoyes]

What's the point of the labour party anymore.

Same point as its always had, to try keep the working class in line

 

[Charro]

Would love to know what distinctly British economics are.

More twaddle for the daily Mail readers.

 

[davids]

Yes they did go into a war in Iraq which was voted on in the HOC and given approval by members of parliament from all sides of the house including the current PM.

I mean we can keep banging on again about what happened 12-15 years ago or we can focus on more recent events.

You seem to want to wallow in the past, I’m preferring to measure the current government against their many, many lies and failures.

No doubt they'd be better,but not by a lot. Just face it Starmer is more Lib Dem than Labour.