What immediate changes will the new Labour government make?

Not a leaver but those of you who were should thank GB for not taking the UK into the single currency . Austerity was the conservatives response to the banking crisis

Vintagewhine

Not a leaver but those of you who were should thank GB for not taking the UK into the single currency . Austerity was the conservatives response to the banking crisis

I tend to think of it more that the banking crisis was the tory's excuse for austerity. A perfect excuse for cutting state spending, which has been their mission since the Thatcher era.

Was it actually necessary? The UK was actually showing healthy signs of recovery before the tories took over...

My son and I were chatting last night about the future for kids under a Labour Government.

Off to primary school where they get told they can be any of about 62 genders and can be addressed as they/them. Poor little things! They will also be in larger classes as Labour adds VAT to private school fees.

This will affect them even more in High School where they are preparing for exams with hundreds of kids who Labour have allowed in because their parents came over in boats. Labour will be welcoming them all in without a doubt

Then some will be off to Uni and paying huge tuition fees which Labour brought in.

A sad state of affairs.

Thank you for comments Maisie.

It seems to me that the closer Labour gets to being (hopefully) the next government, the more the Tories are getting their knickers in a huge knot. So much rubbish written about Labour. So many poor memories about the succession of appalling Tory PMs. I’m sure there are some people who would vote for a donkey if it was wearing a blue rosette!

They don’t read Led by Donkeys, that’s for sure.

MaizieD

Vintagewhine

Not a leaver but those of you who were should thank GB for not taking the UK into the single currency . Austerity was the conservatives response to the banking crisis

I tend to think of it more that the banking crisis was the tory's excuse for austerity. A perfect excuse for cutting state spending, which has been their mission since the Thatcher era.

Was it actually necessary? The UK was actually showing healthy signs of recovery before the tories took over...

I agree MaisieD. Their motivation was continuing the NeoLiberal ideology embraced by Thatcher.

I do hope a Labour Government will be different but hearing Rachel Reeves saying that there is no money, I am not hopeful. I do hope I’m wrong and that they will be able to fund the improvements the country is crying out for, for example by taxing wealth in our grossly unequal country.

" Then some will be off to Uni and paying huge tuition fees which Labour brought in "

Top rate under labour was £3000 pa

If the Conservatives are/were so much against them, how come they are now £9,250 and they've done nothing?

Yes. Despite both Conservatives and Lib Dems pledging to abolish tuition fees, the Coalition instead swiftly decided to triple them when they got into government.

MaizieD Excellent post at 12.46. Thank you.

Education has been a disaster under the Tories, larger classes, less provision for SEN, crumbling buildings and slashed budgets . As for all the nonsense grammar rote learning the poor kids have to parrot thanks to Gove - fronted adverbials or whatever and much less music, drama or sport. It’s strange how some people think this is a noble state of affairs. At least Labour care about state schools and not just see them as a holding pen for the plebs. No wonder teachers are leaving in droves.

Thatcher wanted to scrap the NHS - didn't believe in it. Luckily her ministers didn't agree and advised her that she should not touch it.

Farzanah

MaizieD

Vintagewhine

Not a leaver but those of you who were should thank GB for not taking the UK into the single currency . Austerity was the conservatives response to the banking crisis

I tend to think of it more that the banking crisis was the tory's excuse for austerity. A perfect excuse for cutting state spending, which has been their mission since the Thatcher era.

Was it actually necessary? The UK was actually showing healthy signs of recovery before the tories took over...

I agree MaisieD. Their motivation was continuing the NeoLiberal ideology embraced by Thatcher.

I do hope a Labour Government will be different but hearing Rachel Reeves saying that there is no money, I am not hopeful. I do hope I’m wrong and that they will be able to fund the improvements the country is crying out for, for example by taxing wealth in our grossly unequal country.

I am more hopeful than perhaps maizie is.

I’m not saying that Reeves will suddenly become an exponent of MMT, neither would I expect her to support such a stance, but I think her emphasis on growth and government intervention is more optimistic than some people think.

With every bit of luck, we haven’t long to find out, I’m not expecting overnight change, but evidence of investment for growth by the government will suit me for a start,

I don't trust Starmer, he's 'flip flopped' around too much and his reasons for supporting Corbyn are ludicrous. My PhD student GD, previously Labour, says she doesn't like/trust him and will not vote for him. Much of Labour's policies seem to be the politics of envy (private schools, trail hunting etc) with unintended consequences. Wealthy people are often able to be mobile so if highly taxed can easily move elsewhere. It looks likely the Cass report will be ignored. There's little about farming and making the country more food self-sufficient. Re-wilding is all very well but we can't eat trees. I wonder about his plans for the House of Lords. It serves a very useful purpose if those elevated to it have something positive to offer - business, medical, scientific, education, financial, agriculture etc etc experience rather than the PM's mates or a reward to those who have given money to a political party. I'll stop there . . . . will doubtless get shot down for putting my head above the parapet.

14 years of Tory gvt and cuts have ruined this country. Public services all affected. Don't start me off on the utilities. It was already bad before the pandemic. Where has the money saved from 10 years of austerity gone? Under the Tories, council funding has been cut by 40% since 2010. No wonder many councils are broke.

Why does nobody ask from where Starmer is going to get the 6,500 teachers and the extra thousands of doctors and nurses? A local school had one applicant for a reception teacher, and another private school had no applicants for a year 3 teacher. Are there thousands of people just waiting for a labour government to apply for these jobs? And where are the training places?
I think all the parties are the same, empty promises in their manifestos that cannot be fulfilled but this can always be blamed on the previous government’s failures.
My daughter and her husband felt obliged to withdraw their 2 children from a state primary school as they felt they were not in a safe environment and were also not advancing academically. They go without holidays, clothes, trips out and neither of them smoke or drink in order to pay the quite modest fees. But the children are happy, safe and now at a higher standard of learning. They count their blessings every day that they found that school and happily make sacrifices to just afford the costs. Of course every child deserves an outstanding education but that doesn’t mean penalising the many parents who scrimp and save to get that for their child. And who really believes the VAT on fees will be spent on improving state schools?

They are going to scrap the triple lock and they are going to hike the hell out of every tax there is. So would any party. It's always the Pensioners and the working people that lose out when Labour are in power. I've seen it many times. The rich don't care and the benefit people get loads of help. In order to do that they hit everyone else.

Well said Grandmama and grandmac.

They are going to scrap the triple lock

No, they are not.

labour.org.uk/updates/stories/labour-party-pensions-policy-we-will-keep-the-pension-triple-lock-and-give-pensioners-security-in-retirement/#:~:text=Labour%20will%20protect%20the%20triple,security%20they%20deserve%20in%20retirement.

They say they won’t scrap the triple lock but I don’t trust them one inch.

I have no faith in Labour and I believe that fairly soon the criticism aimed at the Tories will turn instead on Labour.

You sound like a Daily Mail headline, Maggs!

I am still to be convinced that Labour is much different to Tory Party, but what is clear is that it will be very detrimental to a large proportion of our population to continue as we have for the last few years under austerity.

Our public services have been decimated, along with
our health service which is on its knees, climate change is virtually ignored, schools are struggling financially, and on and on, but why?
The flawed ideology that the country is better off with an unfettered free market economy with little government control.

Well we know how that has turned out. It doesn’t serve the common good either to have a tax system which which benefits the few, rather than the many.

I don’t believe that we should be haggling about which Party will tax more, but who will tax more fairly and invest in the services which most of us need and use.

This is a quote from Michael Foot
'We are here to provide for all those who are weaker and hungrier, more battered and crippled than ourselves. That is our only certain good and great purpose on earth, and if you ask me about those insoluble economic problems that may arise if the top is deprived of their initiative, I would answer "To hell with them!' The top is greedy and mean and will always find a way to take care of themselves. They always do"'
That is from a time when there was idealism and honesty in politics. I passionately agree with this, although I know many of you will not. I wish I had any hope that the incoming Labour government will take anything like that attitude - I am sure they will not.

Undines 👍
It’s the only way for a healthy (in all respects) society to function.

I voted for Michael Foot, a loveky man and honest politician. I was shocked to find the majority didn’t share my enthusiasm. I voted Yvette Cooper and Andy Burnham, not Corbyn who got the loudest support at the hustings. I didn’t trust or like him and was certain Labour wouldn’t win an election with him as leader.
I voted Starmer and my current wish is for a Labour government. It might not be as pure as some would prefer but it has to
Be an improvement on this lot