General Election June 8th

[Eds]

Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May on Question Time Leaders Debate Special tonight, but Theresa May refuses to be on at the same time as Jeremy Corbyn.

Embarrassingly weak "leader."

Not really - why would you want to share a platform with someone stuck in the 1970's, sympathizes with groups such as the IRA, threatens the country's security etc and besides she rips him to shreds at every PMQT. She will gain nothing by being on with him

 

[blueparrot]

she rips him to shreds at every PMQT. She will gain nothing by being on with him

Contradiction ?

 

[Len Rum]

Meanwhile in other news Mavis has shown herself again to be the Don's poodle by issuing a limp wristed criticism- she was 'disappointed' - of the USA's withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement.

 

[jay_mcfc]

Not really - why would you want to share a platform with someone stuck in the 1970's, sympathizes with groups such as the IRA, threatens the country's security etc and besides she rips him to shreds at every PMQT. She will gain nothing by being on with him

Haha that has to be a parody?

 

[Chippy_boy]

Depress the pound further and make exports less competitive, you say? When I studied economics I'd always understood a depreciation in the value of a currency might well lead to reduced imports, increased exports, improved balance of payments, more people staying and holidaying in that country and more overseas visitors appearing, because it's all got relatively cheaper. A good example would be, if we'd bought Silva last May and not this, he would have cost just under £38M not just over £43M.

Of course you're right. I was having a brain fart. I meant imports more expensive, hence the comment about pushing up inflation.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Meanwhile in other news Mavis has shown herself again to be the Don's poodle by issuing a limp wristed criticism- she was 'disappointed' - of the USA's withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement.

She's feeble as fuck.

 

[vonkeynotvenky]

She's feeble as fuck.

I'd vote for baconface if he promised what the liberals are calling a hard Brexit.

 

[cibaman]

Brexit might very well not happen imo, were Corbyn to get in. He'd almost certainly need the support of the SDP and the LibDems in order to form a government, and what would there price be? Can you imagine either of those parties willingly pushing ahead with a hard Brexit agenda? No chance.

Labour are anyway committed to trying to get the Uk to remain part of the free market and customs union (a good thing, imo).

But I cannot see how that can be secured without our agreeing to free movement, supremacy of the ECJ and EU laws. This would provide sufficient fuel for those demanding a 2nd referendum and if there were to be one, my suspicion is the Brexit decision would be reversed.

Those demanding a 2nd referendum might not be demanding it if we remain in the single market and ECJ. The ones who would be demanding a 2nd referendum would be the ones who are currently insisting there shouldnt be a 2nd referendum.

It would be interesting to see what the 2nd referendum question(s) would be in those circumstances: 1) accept the soft brexit deal; 2) stay in the EU; 3) leave with no deal?

 

[cibaman]

But you can't have decent growth and cuts on the same scale that have taken place and are to come. Even the economically neo-liberal papers like The Economist and the FT are clear on this. Osborne had to backtrack halfway through the government's first term because his cuts were killing growth.

The right way to eliminate a deficit is via a judicious combination of increases in tax and cuts to spending. But you also have to invest initially to jump start the economy. You can't just cut, as Osborne found out. As growth increases, welfare spending should fall & the actual tax take should increase thereby reducing the deficit still further.

I'm politically neutral. I have no historical affiliation to any party. But Labour's approach here is unquestionably the right one in the circumstances in my opinion. The Conservative one will result in weak growth, further pressure on real wages, lack of productivity improvements and a tail-off in the consumer spending that has previously underpinned what growth we've had.

How can Labour's approach to corporate taxation possibly be right at the present time? We're about to leave the EU and single market so let's jack up corporation tax. What's that going to do to growth? Its insane.

 

[Chippy_boy]

How can Labour's approach to corporate taxation possibly be right at the present time? We're about to leave the EU and single market so let's jack up corporation tax. What's that going to do to growth? Its insane.

In a nutshell. As I say, whether raising CT is a good idea or not, what is beyond debate imo is that raising it now is a VERY bad idea indeed. The problem Labour have though is they cannot possibly make their numbers look even remotely plausible without their CT fantasy figure included. If people realise that's (a) bonkers and (b) unrealistic and not achievable then their entire strategy is in tatters.

This election seems to be about which party can manage to be the least shit. May with her disasterously inept campaign, or Labour with their disasterously inept policies. On balance, I'll take the shit campaign. That only lasts a few weeks, the shit policies we'd suffer from for years.