News from the opposition

Corbyn dreadful? You'll be saying he was threatening next.

You're a libdem anyway - Liblab pact, libdem Tory coalition - did you agree with both of those as well, varian?

I have watched the video whitewave and I agree with Corbyn on the right wing press . However I have not been impressed with his stance on brexit, especially when he enforced a three line whip for the Article 50 vote.

I don't think I am prejudiced- but I suppose we would all say that. I am a LibDem but have never been a big fan of Vince Cable.

I did vote Labour when we lived in a mining constituency in County Durham, but that was a long time ago.

I agree with the principle of parties working together dj as hapens all the time in democratic countries which use PR for elections. Our politics is far too confrontational.

How many countries is that, varian?

A very large number of countries dj - here's the list if you want to count them-

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List of countries with coalition governments

No, varian, that's not the link.
Anyway, coalition governments does not mean the same as countries using PR.

We had a coalition government in 2010 to 2015, without PR.

Coalition governments are far more likely under PR and you also find parties more equal in size . FPTP results in over-representation of parties who do not command a majority of support amongst voters.

I didn't like the Article 50 vote either Varian but I do understand why the LP had to back it. Corbyn appears to me to put a great deal of faith in democracy. People (including me) will argue about the outcome of the referendum but without any of the totally reasonable caveats there was a small advisory majority. Because of this I have a feeling, certainly directly after the vote, that the government and the opposition had to attempt to leave and find out what that was.

However, there was only a vote between "remain" and "leave". Whatever anybody said during the election that was all we voted on. That means that we can have any type of leave and Corbyn has always said they would protect jobs. His plan seems to be on the back of the research they have been doing on how best to look after the workers.

Sorry, I should have said that having tried, if what the government comes up with is not tenable I still think that, democratically, parliament could vote against it.

Corbyn up talking

There won’t be much money after Brexit if we don’t stay in the single market.

Outlining labour’s approach after Brexit.

Areas that voted brexit are areas where there is lowest investment and poorest folk
Rebalance of investment across the regions
Working people in U.K. should be priority not the wealthy
Remain part of various agencies
Complexity of trading issues means that common sense leads us to the conclusion that trade should be tariff free.
Remain in customs union and save the GFA, but will not accept the U.K. being the passive recipient of EU rules, Labour want an active participation in future trade deals.
Bespoke relationship should be sought

Disarray is the new strong and stable

Environment and customer rights and employee rights are top priority.

We will never hive off the NHS.
We will never import crap meat

National investment bank based throughout all the regions decades long of renewal of infrastructure

Cheap agency labour at the expense of workers in U.K. to be stopped.

Recognised that immigration is in part because of skills shortages
Labour will upskill the workforce

Talking about global issues and Labour’s approach

Isn't it weird that the Leader of the Opposition is speaking with such authority while the PM chooses to appear on This Morning and the One Show and answer questions about shoes!

He's not sounding so authoritative now he's answering questions from the floor. In my opinion.

A very wide reaching speech. It is always good to listen to the person first hand rather than getting the information through biased sources

Blimey primrose are you speaking with authority or bias?

Lots of questions on the single market as I would expect

Royal Mail is a natural monopoly because you only have one letterbox?

You decide.

But no questions about shoes- I suppose the PM is "authoritative" about them but nothing much else. Corbyn seems to be doing pretty well considering he is answering off the cuff.