Two Years of Keir Starmer. What do we think?

Yes. I left Labour when JC was elected leader, and voted LibDem last time. For the first time in 10 years I think Labour is electable.

PS should have said I’m in Wales, and continued to support Labour in Welsh elections. Labour is doing very well here, latest Welsh opinion survey attached.
c.newsnow.co.uk/A/1112869803?-850:14274

I didn't vote Labour but thought he might make a good leader when he took over. He hasn't impressed me in the last couple of years, though.

I thought he would be a good opposition leader after Corbyn but have found him uninspiring!

I like him and all the party squabbling seems to have stopped so they make a more effective opposition. I think he has the intelligence, fitness and integrity to be a PM on a world stage and would be able to negotiate EU trade agreements better. It's a shambles for businesses in the UK atm, it needs sorting ASAP

Shame we have that short fat plonker as a PM instead

I have found him very impressive because he is so calm, well prepared and knowledgeable. He is doing the right thing now, biding his time, and allowing Johnson, and the Tories with him, to use that rope and do the job for him. He will work for clever and positive alliances, get rid of the extreme left and fight to rebuild the Trust in the UK in Europe and the World.

And fight to redress the damage of extreme Brexit- and possibly rejoin the Single Market and Customs Union and rebuild reciprocal arrangements with the EU.

I’ve rejoined the Labour Party and will be campaigning for him at the next election. People in my family that are more involved with the party have always been impressed with him. He’s done nothing over the past two years to make me think he won’t make a good PM. He’s shown throughout the pandemic that he puts the country first and that’s what we need.

"And fight to redress the damage of extreme Brexit- and possibly rejoin the Single Market and Customs Union and rebuild reciprocal arrangements with the EU."

Yes, I think he should do that but in his Guardian interview he seemed to rule this out, saying that we should make brexit work

kittylester

I thought he would be a good opposition leader after Corbyn but have found him uninspiring!

A bit like Blancmange.

Might be a good idea to list the policies that are beginning to be formulated. This won’t if course be a fully comprehensive list, but might help.

1. Climate Change.
Climate and economic justice will be prioritised. £28bn pa to help develop green infrastructure/businesses and jobs.

2.Economy

Scrap unfair business rates, and replace them with a system to come down harder on on-line giants.
There should be greater transparency on the way tax payers money is spent.

3. Housing

Labour will cap the amount of housing property overseas investors can purchase, giving priority to local needs.
Local authorities will be given greater powers to purchase land for local housing.

Education

Charitable status will be removed from private schools. They will then pay tax at normal business rate, and that money will be paid into the state education budget.

Health

Double the funding for dementia research, build a dementia care service

Crime

A state-run pro bono service to compel firms to offer a certain amount of free legal advice to those who need it and are not eligible for legal aid.
Speed up rape and sexual assault cases, toughen up on street harassment and misogyny.
Restore neighbourhood policing through new police hubs and fight of anti-social behaviour.

Foreign

£35m fund to help British veterans and Afghan interpreters – to provide mental health support services and support.

Controls on the use of British troops and police to train their counterparts abroad to ensure the UK is not offering support to countries abusing human rights.

I didn’t know about the dementia policy. I’ve spoken to several people over the years that bemoan the fact that they get little support when looking after someone with dementia.

After over 50 years membership of Labour Party I voted LibDem when Corbyn was leader, but voted Labour in Welsh elections , joined Labour again when Corbyn stood down .
I support Starmer .

I would vote for those policies

I liked JC. He embodied my political belief system.

However, KS is a solid bloke. Not corrupt. Which frankly, at the moment, makes him a prince among men. I wasn't convinced I could vote Labour under KS, but I'm starting to think I can.

Other than his decisions about the anti-semitism fake news about Labour, he seems OK. I'm not making light of them, KS handled it and treated some very, very badly. But compared to the current Tory shower...

MerylStreep

kittylester

I thought he would be a good opposition leader after Corbyn but have found him uninspiring!

A bit like Blancmange.

Could not resist the insult, could you. But as said before, after what we have had with Trump and then Johnson- give me good quality blancmange anyday.

Ilovecheese- making Brexit work could very much mean what I said- not to reverse Brexit per say, but come to some form of Norway agreement, with strong reciprocal agreements based on Single Market and Customs Unions access. It will of course have to mean Freedom of Movement- which is totally fine by me and many others. Others who have seen the effect on care homes, hospitals, industry and mainly agriculture, of losing all the European workers.

He is bit bland, but .... maybe that is what we need. Someone solid, thoughtful, apparently honest, able to grasp how the other half live, has integrity, statespersonlike etc.

Instead of someone who is a liar and a cheat and a deep embarrassment to all.

"GagaJo" how do you know he's not corrupt. In my opinion all Politicians are liars and only tell the truth when caught out. They all give out false promises in their manifestos and never carry them out once elected. They always manage to make excuses usually blaming the previous Party for the reasons why they don't follow through with their promises. I am very loath to vote for any of them. I just wait until the country votes and put up with it because its always what used to be the "working" people that get shafted either way.

I was a solid member and worked for the Labour Party until Tony Blair came along -then I left. From then I've had no thing to inspire me to rejoin but my application for re-membership is now in.

The policies listed by Whitewavemark2 are ones that I could support as well. How hard did you have to look to find them Whitewavemark2 ?
I would like to be able to support Labour with more enthusiasm than I currently feel.

Yes, time for me to rejoin too. I am a member of the Lib Dems- but I'd be happy to be a member of both.

Done!

These are his words about the EU in the Guardian article

“Look, we’ve left the EU. There’s no case for rejoining, so we have to make it work. We are out and we’re staying out.” So that rules out a return to the single market or customs union under a Labour government? “Yes, it does. We’ve got to make Brexit work from the outside and not reopen old wounds.”

I suppose this could be to try to win back the "red wall" seats, as I believe they were mainly leave voting.
he could change his mind if he got into power.

Ilovecheese

The policies listed by Whitewavemark2 are ones that I could support as well. How hard did you have to look to find them Whitewavemark2 ?
I would like to be able to support Labour with more enthusiasm than I currently feel.

They are dead easy to find, it is just that the media doesn’t report it.

There are loads of stuff but it never makes the DM or Sun etc.

The telegraph did actually print Starmers article about labours attitude to Ukraine and Russia which I thought excellent.

I’d vote for those policies as long as they don’t come with the ‘can’t do them because of the previous government’ clause.
There has been enough time for policies to be made knowing what state the country is in instead of making excuses.
I haven’t voted Labour since Tony Blair. Vanilla might be a good thing.