Keir Starmer

[Mr Kobayashi]

Isn't redirecting (party) funds without authorisation a criminal offence (fraud)?

 

[johnnytapia]

I want to know what differentiates Labour from the Tories, right now. What’s Labour offering on:
Public Pay
Rail dispute
NHS funding
Tax
Northern Ireland
Education
Transport
Electoral laws
House of Lords reform
Pensions
Care for the elderly
University tuition
Climate
Brexit
Immigration

What are they offering that is significantly different on the above and all points in between? Cos I ain’t hearing it.

If I take one example, education, what is Kier offering that I, as a dad and as a teacher can see is significantly different from the bollocks dished up by Truss, Sunsk etc?

 

[The Future’s Blue!]

I want to know what differentiates Labour from the Tories, right now. What’s Labour offering on:
Public Pay
Rail dispute
NHS funding
Tax
Northern Ireland
Education
Transport
Electoral laws
House of Lords reform
Pensions
Care for the elderly
University tuition
Climate
Brexit
Immigration

What are they offering that is significantly different on the above and all points in between? Cos I ain’t hearing it.

If I take one example, education, what is Kier offering that I, as a dad and as a teacher can see is significantly different from the bollocks dished up by Truss, Sunsk etc?

Not sure if anything has changed but their manifesto pledge was quite clear.

Labour Education Manifest

Labour’s schools policy will be built on the following four foundations:

1. Investment – we will make sure schools are properly resourced by reversing the Conservatives’ cuts and ensuring that all schools have the resources they need. We will introduce a fairer funding formula that leaves no school worse off while redressing the historical underfunding of certain schools. Labour will also invest in new school buildings, including the phased removal of asbestos from existing schools
2. Quality – we will drive up standards across the board, learning from examples of best practice, such as Labour’s London Challenge, to encourage co-operation and strong leadership across schools. We trust in teachers and support staff professionalism to refocus their workload on what happens in the classroom
3. Accountability – Labour will ensure that all schools are democratically accountable, including appropriate controls to see that they serve the public interest and their local communities. We will require joined-up admissions policies across local schools to enable councils to fulfil their responsibilities on child places, to simplify the admissions process for parents and to ensure that no child slips through the net
4. Inclusion – Every child is unique, and a Labour-led education system will enable each to find their learning path through a wide choice of courses and qualifications. We will invest in measures to close the attainment gap between children from different backgrounds

 

[bluenova]

Like you I’ve retained my membership and continued to campaign for Labour but days like today really test my resolve to remain.

I will take issue with your comment about Corbyn ordering funding away from candidates who were anti-Corbyn. It’s simply not true. The reverse happened, and Labour staffers at HQ set up a secret fund, without authority, to support anti-Corbyn candidates at the expense of putting resources into winnable seats. I’ll give you an example: I know for an absolute fact that people were directed by the Party machine to support Alison McGovern, a prominent member of Progress, in Wirral South which was far safer than Wirral West, held by Corbyn supporter Margaret Greenwood. Her seat was marginal and Alison’s wasn’t, but one supported Corbyn and the other didn’t and so the one that didn’t had money and people directed to her constituency. It was factional and it waswrong.

That's not what I said though. I said they're claiming they were asked to do the opposite but didn't. The Forde report says this was also wrong, but couldn't be verified as he was told the pressure to change was verbal - and given that Corbyn and others on his side wouldn't answer questions from Forde, he would have found that harder to dismiss. Whether it's true or not, we genuinely don't know. Forde clearly doesn't, despite all that time investigating, and the likes of Novara, Owen Jones etc., appeared happy with the job he'd done - so I don't think we can say something isn't true.

As for the Wirral seats, if you remember, there were local elections AFTER Theresa May had called the general election. These were a disaster for Labour, and supported the poor polling at the time. So when funding was allocated, they were expected to lose seats. Wirral West, which was a wafer thin would have been written off as unwinnable. Given the polling and the actual local election results, putting money into Wirral South would have been the right decision AT THE TIME.

I was also in a seat which was considered marginal, but ended up quite a safe win, but the MP was genuinely worried throughout the campaign, and Labour internal polling was backing up all the national pools, and telling him that it was neck and neck.

Ultimately, Theresa May turned out to be about the worst election campaigner possible, and Corbyn, on his beat behaviour played a blinder (I think most people thought he had horns and a trident and were surprised to find that he was actually pretty normal), and it turned out to be a lot closer than most polling, and the actual local elections predicted.

If they'd been more positive in 2017, they might have got closer to May, but then you could also argue that in 2019 they should have been more defensive.

 

[Gareth Barry Conlon]

Not sure if anything has changed but their manifesto pledge was quite clear.

What has changed and why Starmer is in a difficult place is the Tories/Brexit has totally fucked the economy. We already have the highest tax burden in living memory and are running on a massive deficit while infaltion is driving key workers in to poverty and the NHS is at breaking point.

I remember David Cameron banging on about fixing the roof when the weather was good. Well Johnson has dismantled the roof and burnt the wood.

So Starmers offering will be a bit lighter weight than the last manifesto. But there are good reasons for that.

 

[bluenova]

I want to know what differentiates Labour from the Tories, right now. What’s Labour offering on:
Public Pay
Rail dispute
NHS funding
Tax
Northern Ireland
Education
Transport
Electoral laws
House of Lords reform
Pensions
Care for the elderly
University tuition
Climate
Brexit
Immigration

What are they offering that is significantly different on the above and all points in between? Cos I ain’t hearing it.

If I take one example, education, what is Kier offering that I, as a dad and as a teacher can see is significantly different from the bollocks dished up by Truss, Sunsk etc?

There was an interesting interview with Rachel Reeves recently, where she was clear that they didn't want to make that case yet.

They were happy with the windfall tax being picked up by the Tories, but if you look at the detail of the Tory version, it's a very different beast. Labour don't want to put out a full list of commitments now, and see the Tories pick off the best ideas, and present right wing versions of them which would make it more difficult to differentiate.

She was certain that they had the ideas in place to fight an election, but when you're fighting a populist government which has a very loose relationship with ethics, they needed to be more clever with when they presented ideas.

Could be a load of bollocks, and she's bluffing, but it does make sense. It's also pretty much what every other opposition has done over the years.

 

[MillionMilesAway]

...

Could be a load of bollocks, and she's bluffing, but it does make sense. It's also pretty much what every other opposition has done over the years.

It's what I'd assumed was the case. The Conservatives have adopted various other policies put forward by Labour last time around, and I'm sure they would pick and re-tool what they could.

Currently, the govt don't seem to have much planned that is popular rather than punishment, and the election is not for 2 years, and maybe 2 1/2 years, I'd just let them stew and argue with themselves, and see what Zahawiism brings (if indeed it survives past early September).

 

[Mazzarelli's Swiss Cheese]

The very fact that people are unaware of starmers policy ideas is the more immediate problem than what they actually are. He can have the best manifesto in the world, but unless it is communicated and resonates it may as well not exist. He seems to have quietly abandoned the 10 pledges he used to grab the labour leadership and to be hoping he gets in at the next few by default just because he isn't Boris

 

[BlueHammer85]

brilliant from Starmer that

quoting all the Tory candidates arguments from the other night

 

[johnnytapia]

Not sure if anything has changed but their manifesto pledge was quite clear.

Labour Education Manifest

Labour’s schools policy will be built on the following four foundations:

1. Investment – we will make sure schools are properly resourced by reversing the Conservatives’ cuts and ensuring that all schools have the resources they need. We will introduce a fairer funding formula that leaves no school worse off while redressing the historical underfunding of certain schools. Labour will also invest in new school buildings, including the phased removal of asbestos from existing schools
2. Quality – we will drive up standards across the board, learning from examples of best practice, such as Labour’s London Challenge, to encourage co-operation and strong leadership across schools. We trust in teachers and support staff professionalism to refocus their workload on what happens in the classroom
3. Accountability – Labour will ensure that all schools are democratically accountable, including appropriate controls to see that they serve the public interest and their local communities. We will require joined-up admissions policies across local schools to enable councils to fulfil their responsibilities on child places, to simplify the admissions process for parents and to ensure that no child slips through the net
4. Inclusion – Every child is unique, and a Labour-led education system will enable each to find their learning path through a wide choice of courses and qualifications. We will invest in measures to close the attainment gap between children from different backgrounds

Not a criticism of you, but most of that is just generalised, twee bollocks. “Every child is unique.” And most, if not all of those “policies” could be lifted direct from Tory HQ.