The first 100 days.

Transport

Labour has summoned the bosses of some of the worst-performing train operators, including Avanti West Coast and TransPennine, for meetings next week as it seeks to rapidly reform the railways and reset industrial relations.
The transport secretary, Louise Haigh, will bring in Network Rail route directors to attend all talks with the train companies, signalling the move towards an integrated railway.

Broadcasting

Labour will support the BBC licence fee, Keir Starmer has pledged, in stark contrast to the years of Conservative opposition to the funding model.

For years, the BBC has lived with uncertainty and barely veiled threats about its future from successive Conservative prime ministers dog-whistling to their base,” said Steven Barnett, professor of communications at the University of Westminster. “For Sir Keir to give such an early and unequivocal statement of support for both the BBC as an institution as well its public funding is a huge step forward.”
While Barnett said the public must “wait and see whether this support extends to the level of funding required to keep the BBC as a valued, trusted and universal British institution”, he said the prime minister’s statement of was a “breath of fresh air compared to the last 14 years of deep funding cuts accompanied by barely concealed hostility”.

Just an aside.

The King at St James was joined by The Prime Minister and Idris Elba in a meeting about the Princes Trust and the support of young people.

The King held a meeting with Keir, Idris, members of the cabinet and young people. The Prime Minister promised that the government would put the young’s needs to the forefront of government.

The King said that he would be monitoring the situation.

Whitewavemark2

Just an aside.

The King at St James was joined by The Prime Minister and Idris Elba in a meeting about the Princes Trust and the support of young people.

The King held a meeting with Keir, Idris, members of the cabinet and young people. The Prime Minister promised that the government would put the young’s needs to the forefront of government.

The King said that he would be monitoring the situation.

DH turned to me and said it was one of the most amazing things he had ever seen politically. And the fact that Keir made such an effort to be there after flying back from America shows something about the man. I had one of my ‘ proud to be British’ moments!

Yes MayBee it’s nice to feel ‘proud to be British’ isn’t it.

Everything I’ve read, heard and seen about Keir Starmer shows him to be a really decent, public spirited man - even his political opponents say that of him

We have definitely - at long last- come up with a decent hardworking man of integrity.

We deserve it after all those years of failure.

What is so good is that instead of worrying about what the wretched government or politicians would do next totrash our reputation, we can afford to relax knowing that they will never behave as the previous government did.

🙂🙂🙂🙂

🤞

WW hear, hear!

According to YouGov his approval rating has gone up by 8 points since the election. I doubt if any of that is down to Gransnetters though, having read some shocking threads in the last week.

I doubt if any of that is down to Gransnetters though, having read some shocking threads in the last week

Absolutely Casdon. Reading some of the threads on GN, you’d think KS had bren the PM for 14 years and presided over the decimation of our public services🤷‍♀️

Typo ‘been’ not ‘bren’🙈

* LizzieDrip*

Absolutely Casdon. Reading some of the threads on GN, you’d think KS had bren the PM for 14 years and presided over the decimation of our public services🤷‍♀️

Evidence for that.
Or is it just your opinion, to which you are entitled?

At last the grown-ups are in the room.

Here’s one factual example.
news.sky.com/story/labour-can-blame-the-conservatives-for-prisons-crisis-for-now-but-tough-choices-are-coming-13177169

Casdon

According to YouGov his approval rating has gone up by 8 points since the election. I doubt if any of that is down to Gransnetters though, having read some shocking threads in the last week.

Yes, I’m keeping well away from some threads.

I have been on GN more or less since it’s inception, and I don’t think I’ve ever read such a mixture of playground rhetoric mixed with racism and hatred.

I’m not sure why it is happening, and am hoping that it will calm down.

Hopefully the integrity and soundness of the prime minister will begin to rub off on those so filled with division and hatred.

Interesting piece from the New Statesman explaining the background of the new MPs who have been appointed straight into government posts, and at the end a quick discussion about polling accuracy and impact.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiMejflhpfE

The new government is announcing future changes that most of us agree with so we are happy about that, it’s the honeymoon period where everything is going to be rosy, the budget will bring us back to reality.
The changes we want have got to be paid for, some of us aren’t going to like that.

We all know there will be a lot of criticism to come and some of it may be justified. There will be mistakes and misjudgements and maybe even poor decision making when reacting to unseen events occuring.

The difference is for me that this government wants to work hard and to serve the people (even and maybe especially those who didn't vote for them) and that has been evident from the beginning. Let's hope the honeymoon lasts as long as it can.

Energy

“rooftop revolution” today that will see millions more homes fitted with solar panels in order to bring down domestic energy bills and tackle the climate crisis.
The energy secretary, Ed Miliband, also took the hugely controversial decision this weekend to approve three massive solar farms in the east of England that had been blocked by Tory ministers.
The three sites alone – Gate Burton in Lincolnshire, Sunnica’s energy farm on the Suffolk-Cambridgeshire border and Mallard Pass on the border between Lincolnshire and Rutland – will deliver about two-thirds of the solar energy installed on rooftops and on the ground in the whole of last year.

Miliband’s rapid moves on solar power were welcomed by UK energy experts, who said they would speedily rectify a huge imbalance in the use of renewable energy in Britain.

WW and keepingquiet wholeheartedly agree with your posts.

Europe

Keir Starmer has promised a new era of closer relations with Europe to ensure future generations can look back “on what our continent achieved together” before a key meeting of European leaders this week.
Starmer said Europe as a whole faced security crises and linked problems over migration, and that Britain should be at the heart of the continent’s efforts to confront them.

The UK government will use the summit to discuss closer collaboration to tackle illegal immigration and greater security cooperation with European counterparts to keep Britain safe.”

The first step is likely to see the UK and EU move towards a new security pact to deal better with issues such as Ukraine.
There is also speculation that there could be agreements on a new youth mobility scheme and possibly, further down the line, mutual recognition of some professional qualifications.

Starmer said in Washington last week that he had discussed a “formal mechanism” for UK-EU security cooperation during bilateral meetings at the Nato summit, and that a plan to repair post-Brexit damage had been well received by allies.
President Joe Biden told Starmer: “I kind of see you guys as the knot tying the transatlantic alliance together, the closer you are with Europe.”

I should jolly well hope and expect they want to support everyone and not just their own voters. What sort of government would only support their Labour voters? I hope the UK never sinks that low for the sake of the members of my family still remaining there.

Exactly *nanna8. What sort of government would favour those who voted for them over those who didn’t?

You might want to read the two articles below:

www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jan/19/tory-seats-gain-more-4bn-levelling-up-fund-finds-analysis

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49883367