Labour sacks shadow transport minister who backed strikes.

Depressingly the next general election doesn’t have to take place until 24th January 2025 either, so he’s got plenty of time yet because they will drag it out until the bitter end I’m sure - only about 900 days to go now. I’m thinking of making myself one of those calendars where you mark the days off to keep a bit of hope.

varian

You are so right Fleur .

Will somebody pl;ease tell Kier Starmer?

He knows. With two years to the election (that is as of today, tomorrow may be different) he needs to do things at the right time.

Grany

? BREAKING: Labour lead drops to 1pt (+/- since 21-22 Jul)

? Lab 35% (-4)
? Con 34% (+2)
? LD 13% (+1)
? Grn 7% (-1)
? SNP 5% (+1)
? Ref 3% (-1)

Seats (+/- since 2019):

? Con 275 (-90)
? Lab 269 (+67)
? SNP 54 (+6)
? LD 27 (+16)
? Grn 1 (-)

Via @YouGov, 27-28 July

So your glee includes selling off the NHS to leave poor (you know - the many not the few) with poorer health outcomes .

More children in poverty

People struggling with the cost of living crises

A country that has suffered year on year since 2010 with no end in sight, except the wealth gap ever wider

You let dogma override your empathy and common sense.

DaisyAnne

That's hardly "breaking news" when we have had nothing to listen to but the Conservative Leadership Election. Add to that the undisciplined side of the Labour Party has been throwing eggs at their own windows again and we find people are not surprisingly reacting to both.

What exactly did you expect? After all, it's what you work towards, isn't it Grany?

I despair regularly about the joy with which people who claim to want rid of the tories, gloat when ever any moderate m-/leader gets criticised

Any drop in support for the Labour Party cannot be joy for a
Labour Party supporter or Labour Party member.

Unsurprisingly Grany you omitted to include the text that accompanied the figures.

Latest YouGov Westminster voting intention figures

The latest YouGov/Times voting intention poll shows Conservatives with 34% of the vote (+2 from our previous survey on 21-22 July) to Labour's 35% (-4). This shrinking of the Labour lead from seven points to one is a sharp move, but the changes are either within the margin of error or close to it. It will be worth waiting to see whether further polls in the series replicate the extent of this narrowing of the gap before we can be certain of a Conservative recovery.

Quite important, wouldn’t you say?

You are so right Fleur .

Will somebody pl;ease tell Kier Starmer?

Seems like the best ever argument for intelligent electoral 'pacts' to ensure the most likely candidate will defeat Tories for each Constituency.

Grany

? BREAKING: Labour lead drops to 1pt (+/- since 21-22 Jul)

? Lab 35% (-4)
? Con 34% (+2)
? LD 13% (+1)
? Grn 7% (-1)
? SNP 5% (+1)
? Ref 3% (-1)

Seats (+/- since 2019):

? Con 275 (-90)
? Lab 269 (+67)
? SNP 54 (+6)
? LD 27 (+16)
? Grn 1 (-)

Via @YouGov, 27-28 July

Why are you so gleeful about this ?

That's hardly "breaking news" when we have had nothing to listen to but the Conservative Leadership Election. Add to that the undisciplined side of the Labour Party has been throwing eggs at their own windows again and we find people are not surprisingly reacting to both.

What exactly did you expect? After all, it's what you work towards, isn't it Grany?

? BREAKING: Labour lead drops to 1pt (+/- since 21-22 Jul)

? Lab 35% (-4)
? Con 34% (+2)
? LD 13% (+1)
? Grn 7% (-1)
? SNP 5% (+1)
? Ref 3% (-1)

Seats (+/- since 2019):

? Con 275 (-90)
? Lab 269 (+67)
? SNP 54 (+6)
? LD 27 (+16)
? Grn 1 (-)

Via @YouGov, 27-28 July

I didn't assume that, Maizie. I do know that not all Unions are affiliated to Labour.

Now you say one particular union does not fund the Labour Party.

It is by no means automatic for unions to fund the Labour Party. I'm sure that Grany or Glorianny could gleefully give you a list of those that don't,.

But I'm afraid that by assuming that all unions fund the LP you are just repeating a common myth.

This But the LP receives much of its funding from the Unions. (Glorianny*), and more extreme versions of it are what we are being told by supporters/members/supporters but opponents of any particular leader, Maizie. Now you say one particular union does not fund the Labour Party.

Like you, I have no problem with Labour MPs joining the picket lines. However, it matters not a jot. As long as Labour supporters/members/supporters but opponents of any particular leader keep up these number of angels on the head of a pin discussion* Labour will lose the interest and the votes of those for whom Labour politics are not the breath of life.

*Apparently the number of Angels that can dance on the head of a pin is infinite; as are these scraps. Or the number is none as is the importance of this infighting to those outside the magic circle of the "we have the answers and we are right" people.

DaisyAnne

So how would you feel if those funding the Conservatives spending time with their funders? The outcry when we have any hints that they do is quite justifiable.

So why is it any different for the Unions?

The RMT doesn't fund the Labour Party. Let's get the story right.

Not that I have any problem with Labour MPs joining the picket lines, whether the union funds them or not.

Jess Phillips tweeted yesterday that MPs hadn't been banned from the picket lines, just from giving unauthorised media interviews. I'm not altogether confident that this is what the situation has been from the start or if it is damage limitation.

So how would you feel if those funding the Conservatives spending time with their funders? The outcry when we have any hints that they do is quite justifiable.

So why is it any different for the Unions?

foxie48

It's OK for MPs to stand on picket lines as an individual supporting a particular union but not as an MP representing a political party and making commitments to that union on behalf of that party. I don't care which political party it is IMO if they want to be in government, that have to be seen as impartial and fair, working in the best interests of the country as a whole. There are 47.6m people reg to vote in the UK and there are 6.56m who are members of trade unions, the LP can't afford to tie itself too closely to the Unions if they want to govern.

But the LP receives much of its funding from the Unions. Just as the Conservatives get their funding from rich individuals and big business. They support the interests of their funders why is that different to the LP supporting the Unions.? At least the Unions represent more people.

It's OK for MPs to stand on picket lines as an individual supporting a particular union but not as an MP representing a political party and making commitments to that union on behalf of that party. I don't care which political party it is IMO if they want to be in government, that have to be seen as impartial and fair, working in the best interests of the country as a whole. There are 47.6m people reg to vote in the UK and there are 6.56m who are members of trade unions, the LP can't afford to tie itself too closely to the Unions if they want to govern.

Scargill’s last speech to the NUM featured thanks to Starmer. ‘To Keir Starmer and Jennifer Eady, junior barristers, who have not only worked unstintingly on our behalf but also have donated the whole of their fees to the campaign fund of the NUM. no thanks of mine is too great”

That’s your interpretation and view Ilovecheese. Lots will agree with you. Lots, including me, won’t. Keir Starmer’s pro Bono work was extensive.

Do you realise how much free legal work Keir did for the unions when he was a lawyer? And now they’re turning on him.

Although, thinking about it, I suppose they have realised how bad it looked and that is why Lisa Nandy was talking to the pickets. To show that Labour is on their side, really.

But with the picket line business, Keir Starmer's position just looks so wrong. Yes, he will try to prove that Sam Tarry was sacked for unscripted iterviews by not sacking Lisa Nandy. But from the outside there is Sam Tarry, calm, likeable, giving a clear message that he understands that people's wages need to keep up with inflation. And there is Keir Starmer looking as if he doesn't.
It may be a perfectly sensible, to him, position to take but it does not look right, he needs to show that he wants to win in order to improve people's lives, not just that he likes winning.

PS at this time the Labour Leader in Wales was Carwyn Jones. The UK Labour Leader was… oh I’ve forgotten.

Glorianny

That takes me to a Labour site that is under maintenance so not much help.

Shall I wave my magic wand?

Précis - this happened in 2018, Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board were in special measures. There were, and still are huge challenges there. The NHS was unable to provide safe care. The decision was made to allow one, very small service, the renal dialysis unit to be let to a private contractor to ensure a safe service could be provided. Welsh Government made it abundantly clear that this was not the model for future NHS service provision in Wales, hence the strategic position statement I posted, which still stands.