The next Government

Brexit plans

Seem eminently sensible, and one to be put to the electorate.

Retain the existing withdrawal agreement, but at the same time renegotiate the future relationship document, which is straightforward.

My bet is on a Norway style agreement.

For those northern grans.

A group of northern Labour MPs including Yvette Cooper, Tracy Brabin, Gloria De Piero and Melanie Onn are set to unveil a manifesto for reviving the region's neglected towns at party conference on Monday.

Luciana Berger MP tells us why she has joined the LibDems-

"This is a moment of national crisis.

Leaving the Labour party after being a member for almost 20 years was one of the hardest decisions of my life. But Labour has changed beyond recognition. It is now institutionally antisemitic, overtaken by the far left and consumed by a Brexiteer leadership.

My values remain the same. I fundamentally believe in equality, opportunity for everyone, social justice and the unequivocal, unqualified condemnation of discrimination.

I am proud to be an internationalist. I know the UK can play a leading role in the world. We can best do this as members of the European Union. That is why I have fought tooth and nail to stop Brexit through a people’s vote.

The Liberal Democrats today best represent my values and are unequivocal in wanting to stop Brexit and are committed to securing Britain’s future as a tolerant, open and inclusive society.

At this moment of national emergency I am joining Jo Swinson and the Liberal Democrats, to offer a vital, positive alternative to Johnson and Corbyn. I want to help build a future that our country deserves."

Have you posted on the correct thread varian?

Berger left the Labour Partyin February, so it is old news really. I believe she joined the Lib Dem’s after change failed to take off about 2 weeks ago.

Luciana Berger left the Labour Party after twenty years because she has seen how "Labour has changed beyond recognition. It is now institutionally antisemitic, overtaken by the far left and consumed by a Brexiteer leadership."

She is certainly not alone in her opinion.

This is highly relevant to Labour Party members attending the party conference and seeing just how powerful factions are continuing to dominate the agenda.

It is also relevant to many who have voted Labour in the past but now have grave doubts about both the current state of the party and about Jeremy Corbyn, whose approval rating (-60%) is the lowest of any leader ever recorded. (Approval rating is the % of voters who think he is doing a good job minus the % who think he is doing a bad job).

Ah - I see.

Shame really, because I think that the Lib Dem’s have more in common with Labour than the Tories.

Never mind. Let’s see what the future brings and try not to create division, where none really exists.

It is bad enough as it is.

I agree WWmk2.

Whitewavemark2 (Sat 21-Sep-19 12:59:12)

Thanks Whitewave.

In the theme of the climate change protests.

Labour will plant a million trees on NHS hospital grounds.

What a clever idea.

One thing I wish a government of whatever colour would do, is to introduce compulsory registration of ALL landlords - and provide the funds/resources for councils to check and enforce decent standards.
Besides cracking down on poor/negligent LLs, it would I'm sure go a long way to stop non payment of tax on rental income, which I'm firmly convinced is still rife.
And I say this as a LL myself.

What next government?

witzend I think the term is

Watch this space?

Shame really, because I think that the Lib Dem’s have more in common with Labour than the Tories.

I'm not sure how they could have WW.

Socially conservative; fiscally conservative =Tories
Socially liberal; fiscally liberal (which is to the right of fiscally conservative) =Liberals

I feel the current LD party was very happy to fit in fiscally with the Tories when they were in the coalition but not so happy socially with them.

I think we would all like them to be but they have shown no signs of it. Social Liberalism that favours social welfare and liberal justice (sometimes called left liberalism) doesn't seem to exist in this country - I wish it did!

The LIbDems were hardly happy with any Tory policies from 2010-2015 but by entering the coalition we were able to ameliorate some, stop the worst and also enact good LibDem policies like taking the lowest paid out of income tax (which was a hard fought battle but the Tories now claim credit for.

As well as planting all those trees, the next government is going to put 100000 solar panels onto hospital roofs, gradually phase out ambulances to be replaced by low carbon ones.

I'm sure that the Labour Party will come up with some quite good vote-catching policies - but what about the most important issue we are facing as a nation - this brexit nonsense?

Are they going to stop it or not?

I have posted the intention with regard to an agreement above varian.

It is expected that the vote for Labour to argue to remain will pass, although as you would expect there will be a debate as some are arguing that Labour should shelve the decision until after the election as so many Labour supporters voted to leave. I can see the sense in that.

In fact personally I would prefer that in another referendum Labour stays neutral and allows a free vote amongst its MPs. They simply need to promise to uphold whatever the decision is.

People don’t need a government to tell them how to vote.

I think that the most important thing is to begin to try to heal the vast divisions that have been created, and I think that a neutral government that carries out the wishes of its voters will help a long way along that path.

varian perhaps the LDs need to clarify where they stand fiscally. I just cannot see any social policies coming from them. Socialism, by it very definition, is about control by the state, a little, more or a lot. The very heart of liberalism is anti state intervention. It is difficult to bring the two together.

In fact personally I would prefer that in another referendum Labour stays neutral and allows a free vote amongst its MPs. They simply need to promise to uphold whatever the decision is.

I agree.

Green New Deal came at the top of the list!

If you just take the time to read the LibDem policies, it will answer your questions GG

www.libdems.org.uk/manifesto

Whitewavemark2 Quote [In fact I personally would prefer that in another referendum Labour stays neutral and allows a free vote amongst its MPs. They simply need to promise to uphold whatever the decision is.] End Quote.

I totally agree with your above statement Whitewavemark2. The Labour Party policy should stay as should they win the forthcoming General Election, they would then "attempt" to renegotiate parts of the withdrawal agreement, but whatever the outcome of those negotiations that would be placed before the British electorate in a further referendum.

However, a no-deal scenario would not be on the table in the negotiations or on the ballot paper in second the referendum. Therefore it would be leave on the terms of the withdrawal agreement or remain on the terms Britain holds now.

As already stated in this thread the Labour cannot solely be a party to remain as their heartlands in the North were among the strongest leave voting constituencies in the country.

Therefore in the above those Labour heartlands voters would be able to have a labour government and leave the European Union should they still wish to do so.

There would be no requirement for the Labour government to recommend either way, but allow MPs individually to speak out as they felt was appropriate in regard to their constituency and/or country.

What's not to like.

Everything crossed grandad but I think the remainers are very strong.

I voted, and would vote remain again, but I truly see the need to try to heal the divisions. We can’t allow this continued downward spiral and the hate and violence that has gripped this country.

Interesting thought though … I've seen the result of surveys which show that even in Labour constituencies which were strongly pro-Leave, the majority of Labour voters still voted to remain. They're the seats where the Brexit Party is hoping to gain, so Labour needs to think how to retain them. It could very well turn out that Labour could still win, even with a mandate to remain, because the opposition Leave vote will be split. Labour runs the risk in those seats of losing their Remain supporters to "no vote" or possibly the LibDems. All polls show that nationally approximately 70% of Labour voters voted to remain.