Labour will be a major reforming government

I only read the first few responses into this thread when I knew I’d have to respond in this way…. for me, it’s ALL about VOTING.

It’s very true the younger generation generally are apathetic towards govt and elections. They could care less.

But if there would be younger generational candidates to peak their interest with platforms that are relevant to them they turn out in record numbers.

I think they think no one is speaking to them - the old fuddy-duddies are preaching to the ancients.

Even though I’m “ancient” I care about reaching the masses for maximum impact - those would be (suburban) women and college age/younger voters.

Vote as if your life depends on it!
USA Gundy

I would add to that list, Primrose53, abolishing mortgage interest relief for owner occupiers, while retaining it for landlords, thus giving a huge boost to the buy-to-let sector. . I can only think that their motive was that there’d be so many new private rentals, it would absolve them from having to worry about provision of social housing.

And before anyone says, ‘Thatcher’s Right to Buy!’ Labour had 13 years in which to ditch that right, but they didn’t - presumably because they thought it’d lose them votes. A staunch Labour-voting friend of mine was only too happy to buy the house where she’d lived all her life, at a hefty discount.

It was all over the news at the time how disappointing the turnout was in the last election for young people!! How did you miss that?

Because it was in the media does not make it true. That data is not collected, and media coverage was of two polls. Ipsos, one of the polling bodies, made a point in their official data releases, of noting that this kind of polling was the hardest to analyse so their confidence in the results was not high.

What the evidence from statistical analysis of actual turnout shows is:

Turnout tends to be higher than average in constituencies with a larger proportion of older residents.

Grouping the UK’s constituencies into 10 deciles (65 constituencies in each), based on the proportion of the resident population of voting age people aged 65 or over shows:

in the decile with the oldest age profile on this basis (average proportion aged 65 and over: 33%) turnout was 71.4%, 4.1 percentage points higher than the national average. The youngest decile (average proportion aged 65 and over: 12%) had the lowest turnout: 64.5% (2.8 percentage points lower than the national average).

This association does not necessarily show that an older population is a causal factor in higher turnout. Indeed, within each of these deciles there is a wide range of individual constituency turnouts. [my bold]

Among the ‘oldest’ 65 constituencies, individual constituency turnouts ranged between 61% and 78%, and among the ‘youngest’ 65 constituencies turnouts ranged between 53% and 77%.

Source: House of Commons Library, UK Parliament

Any politician who believes women can have a penis will never get my vote

16 year olds wouldn’t need to put down there phones to vote….. if we modernised the system ! Or they could just acquire a postal vote …took me 35 seconds to fill it out and seal the envelope!

I hope Labour will support Fair Voting - without it democracy is at risk. There is only one other country in Europe which uses first past the post to elect its government - guess which one? Belarus.

Applegran

I hope Labour will support Fair Voting - without it democracy is at risk. There is only one other country in Europe which uses first past the post to elect its government - guess which one? Belarus.

We've passed PR resolutions many times in LParty local and national conferences Applegran I totally agree. Even if in the end it means a change in the parties we now know. Both on the left and the right.

There is a very big organisation called Best for Britain thats been operating for some time and PR is one of its campaign aims.

I’m so hoping that Labour will make that one if its early actions, but I suspect not. Even when a government has expressed enthusiasm whilst in opposition, the urge seems to fade away once they are in power.

In Scotland 16 year olds have been able to vote in local and Scottish parliamentary elections since 2014. Those who were able to vote at 16/17 were found to be more likely to vote than 18-24 year olds. They continued to be more likely to vote over time. Among those eligible to vote at 16, social class had less effect on likelihood of voting . Sadly, although this lasted for a few years, the social class differences seemed to reappear by late twenties. Opportunities at school for political discussion also increased likelihood of voting. I think, overall, lowering the age to 16 is a positive step. Decisions taken now will also affect them much more in the future than they will those of us over 60 for example.

Mollygo

I’m so hoping that Labour will make that one if its early actions, but I suspect not. Even when a government has expressed enthusiasm whilst in opposition, the urge seems to fade away once they are in power.

Given the conditions they will inherit, it won't be a priority. A changeover will take stable and reasonably benign times?

rainbow13

I wouldn't vote for him until he is able to say what a woman is, so it's a big no from me

Exactly my thoughts too. Such a silly man

Wyllow3, Given the conditions they will inherit . . .
That’s always the excuse, used by the winning party, after every change of government.
Can’t keep any promises because of . . .
Then, if they’ve got a majority at the next election, they won’t want to change the system that got them elected.
If it’s important, they would do it.

Yes, absolutely.

Wyllow3

Mollygo

I’m so hoping that Labour will make that one if its early actions, but I suspect not. Even when a government has expressed enthusiasm whilst in opposition, the urge seems to fade away once they are in power.

Given the conditions they will inherit, it won't be a priority. A changeover will take stable and reasonably benign times?

PR is not on the cards yet, the leadership haven’t expressed enthusiasm as you put it Mollygo, it’s been made clear that it won’t be an initial priority so no, it won’t be happening in the first term - unless there is a coalition, which may change things.
That would indeed be poetic justice, if Labour and the Lib Dem’s worked together to achieve PR, as the Tories would never be in power alone again. I’m not actually a fan of PR in the present form myself, but there would be many flags out.

Labour is the party that has built our public services and they are the right people to rebuild them now, it doesn't matter if you don't like starmer, the party will sort the country out. Even if initially they do it by using private services they'll insist on value for money and as the private contracts expire, I expect they'll be replaced by public ones. I don't care who they put in charge of Labour, they get my vote

Corbyn thought he had the young voters in the palm of his hand when they were cheering for him at Glasto because he was promising them everything from abolishing tuition fees (Which Labour introduced!!) to free this, free that and very nearly free spliffs! 🤣 However on the day they didn’t turn out for him.

Mollygo

Wyllow3, Given the conditions they will inherit . . .
That’s always the excuse, used by the winning party, after every change of government.
Can’t keep any promises because of . . .
Then, if they’ve got a majority at the next election, they won’t want to change the system that got them elected.
If it’s important, they would do it.

True enough!

Keeper1

Any politician who believes women can have a penis will never get my vote

Yeah, quite a worry I will say. I want him to have courage on this matter and come out and say there are a few different genders but only 2 sexes.

Oreo

Keeper1

Any politician who believes women can have a penis will never get my vote

Yeah, quite a worry I will say. I want him to have courage on this matter and come out and say there are a few different genders but only 2 sexes.

Aren’t you worried about a party that was happy to vote against children having free school meals? I think people are getting very confused about priorities these days.

In order to spend, Labour and the left will have to tax. They see a great pile of ‘dead’ cash in our houses. So they will come after that.

Asset taxes.
A ‘Mansion’ tax which is a misnomer as it will hit humble dwellings like our own.
A Council Tax revaluation.

You will be paying, perhaps, £5000 to £10,000 a year for your house. When you cannot pay -and who could- the tax will be left in abeyance until you die or go into care so your equity is slowly sucked away from you and your heirs.

Then there could be hundreds of pounds more per month due on your council tax.

Ouch!

Maybee70
There can be more than one issue to worry about y’know.

So whitewavemark2 if that is what you think, you should discard your rose tinted specs. From the last debacle that the labour party left the country in, and after the joint efforts of Blair and Brown, perhaps Starmer is going to pin his hopes on what is left of the gold reserves, decimated by Blair and Brown. Can you honestly believe a word that the opposition say? If so you really are gullible

usuallyright

So whitewavemark2 if that is what you think, you should discard your rose tinted specs. From the last debacle that the labour party left the country in, and after the joint efforts of Blair and Brown, perhaps Starmer is going to pin his hopes on what is left of the gold reserves, decimated by Blair and Brown. Can you honestly believe a word that the opposition say? If so you really are gullible

Still waiting for the evidence of the achievements of the Tory Government since 2010 usuallyright, now’s your chance.

I fear those proposals haven’t been ditched Lilyflower, just being kept under wraps for now.

Does anyone honestly think many 16/17 year olds will get off their lazy asses to vote? Most people under 25 do not vote - plus 16/17 year olds are still children, they cannot drive, drink, smoke, gamble so why on earth should they be allowed to vote? Few people of that age have any interest in politics, I will admit to being an exception but I come from a family that regularly discussed politics and was a mixture of Labour and Conservative. Starmer twists in the wind and will say anything he thinks might get him elected - he has zero principles. Frankly the current crop of politicians on all sides of the house are a serious disappointment, with a few honourable exceptions. We are in an era of political pygmies - and god help us all!