Starmer's stubbornness

Keep up Germanshepherdsmum. There is much less dependency on Union donations in the Labour Party than there used to be, and consequently they have much less influence on party policy, hence they have not driven the manifesto, and a number of them haven’t endorsed it. The tail is not wagging the dog.
www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/labour-conservative-party-donations-2023-spending-analysis/

I second that question Mollygo.

Such amazing semantics - there will not be a 20% vat increase, merely the removal of a vat exemption. Ever thought of being a spin doctor mousemac?

Suella Braverman is a member of the government, Wyllow, so hardly the tail wagging the dog. Unite is not part of the Labour Party, but you know as well as I do that Labour is dependent on funding from the unions, each of which would be a tail wagging a Labour government dog. And it’s started already. A sign of things to come.

mousemac

1. There will be no 'impossible burden' placed on state schools, for the simple reason that under a Starmer government they will be properly funded.
Could you define properly funded please?

What ever happened to Tony Blair’s promise of ‘education, education, education’?

I understand the concerns of comfortably placed parents who see their budget under threat, but let's put this into context.

1. There will be no 'impossible burden' placed on state schools, for the simple reason that under a Starmer government they will be properly funded.

2. There will not be a 20% vat increase, merely the removal of a 20% vat exemption.

3. 'Over 103 thousand' well-fed children pales into insignificance when set against 4.3 million who live in poverty in the UK today. These are kids that do not even have breakfast and many don't even have a bed to sleep in.

Let's get this into proportion. No child deserves to be made to suffer from the inadequacy or sheer bad luck of their parents, just as none has a right to benefit from the good fortune of theirs. This is no different from the Indian caste system; it is not a thing we should be supporting.

Germanshepherdsmum

Unite are already telling him he’s got to borrow more money to get his growth plans going. The tail wags the dog.

And Suella Braverman wants the conservatives to work with Farage, but the tail isn't wagging the dog there either.

This idea about getting the private schools to pay more I notice is one of Ker Stammer’s sticking point.Yesterday there were chaps walking around my street trying to hand out labour leaflets.
When I brought up this subject even one of the chaps agreed with me! I cannot see it getting passed the government unless labour win by a vast amount of seats.
On the other hand the conservatives want to abolish the A level which most firms want before taking anyone on.

My oldest have put my granddaughter in a private school both were in military at the time when they came out they chose not to remove her my youngest granddaughter also in private school they are just two normal parents working so the girls get better jobs when older. The local school doesn’t have a good name dil sister as her child in it. My grandson in a regular school my youngest can’t afford to go private like his bro if he could he said he would as my grandson doesn’t have a regular classroom has his school is one of the damaged schools council don’t have money to fix it don’t know if him and his little friends are going to have to squeeze into another school so stammer wants to also squeeze in private school kids too. He won’t be getting my vote because he doesn’t know what a woman is.

I’d expect the unions to encourage Starmer to be more willing to borrow to increase growth. That’s what many Labour voters want
I keep coming back to the devastation of all public services caused by our govt in last 14 years. Even the tories are recognising. This now they see how angry voters are

Unite are already telling him he’s got to borrow more money to get his growth plans going. The tail wags the dog.

Germanshepherdsmum

Starmer knows better than to put country before party. He will face a challenge from the left wing and the unions are his party’s paymasters. Another instance of saying what people want to hear.

Goodness yes. It's terrifying that the common people on whose labour we depend to provide all our goods and services should have a say in how the country is run as well as big business and the finance industry.

😱

Are you talking to yourself?

Well said. Couldn't agree more.

I think we should all be ashamed to live in a country that has a two tier education system. Get rid of all private schools and make a decent system for all. The current system merely propagates entitlement and privilege. Time to end it!

Starmer knows better than to put country before party. He will face a challenge from the left wing and the unions are his party’s paymasters. Another instance of saying what people want to hear.

Well said marybee70.

To get an ECHP is like receiving gold I would think he would be able to help special need school’s because this government has sent this aid to the wall. I’m still struggling with a child in my nursery that’s desperate in need.

undines

Why do we keep hoping today's politicians will make sense, be honourable, reliable or efficient? I fear it is a thing of the past. What's more, they largely seem deaf to entreaty, or counter-argument. We can have Tweedle-Starmer or Tweedle-Sunak - no difference.

During the pandemic Starmer voted with the government when it was in the best interest of the country. He says he always put country before party and I believe him.

Why do we keep hoping today's politicians will make sense, be honourable, reliable or efficient? I fear it is a thing of the past. What's more, they largely seem deaf to entreaty, or counter-argument. We can have Tweedle-Starmer or Tweedle-Sunak - no difference.

*excempt not except

It's outrageous that private schools have been treated like charities this far They are lucrative businesses. There are already protections that except disabled people from Vat with regards to products and services related to that disability that can be used I'm no fan of the red Tory that Starmer has become but I will take him over Rishi and his many hopeless predecessors who have got us in to the state we are in !

I shall continue to read and smile at comments but will not contribute, not that many of you will be bothered sitting in your ivory towers!

I think you must have misread the many comments on here then, Susieq62. The majority on this thread have explained how they do not live a life ofprivilegedseclusionor separation from the real world of education.
maddyone wrote how she taught in the state system, GG13 told us how a few of her own children went to state schools (as did one of mine), GSM's son too I believe etc etc. No one is criticising state schools or not supporting them.

There was a comment from Michael Gove in this morning’s Times, to the effect that VAT relief on private schooling is akin to giving the wealthiest people in the UK a 20% discount on the fees. As much as l dislike Gove l find that hard to disagree with. There is talk that some private schools will be given state status if this goes ahead, although l don’t see how that would work. I think if it goes ahead the VAT levy should be ringfenced to be spent on improving state schools.

Freya5

Perhaps State schools should aim to bring their standards up to private schools, this will need more financial input, more schools, so smaller classes, more teachers, but hey it's easier to bring hundreds more children into state schools, more overcrowding than already is, for what, it seems is an ideological move, rather than a sensibly reasoned one.

This is part of the plan. Raising money from private education to fund state schools so that everyone has an equal chance. I think it’s a good idea. Why should children at independent schools have a better education than those at state schools?