The continuation of the first 100 days.

Thanks for re-starting though the other post did descend into let's just slag off the Labour government as if the past fourteen years had never happened.

I am glad Parliamentary coverage is back as this is the best was to watch our democracy in action rather than watching the edited bits or reading the media.

Thanks WWM2 👍🏻

I love the story of the ENT surgeon who decorated a post office van with photos of himself in scrubs. I might have thought was a stab at providing more reliable and cheaper transport to hospital than calling for an ambulance. 😂
And of course most people in Westminster look like children, am in my late sixties and most people look like children, but of course as much older politicians who should have known better over the past 14 years have proved, being immature can occur at any age.

GrannyGravy13

Thanks WWM2 👍🏻

😊

Tuesday -

after the reporting of the biggest landlord in parliament, and the appalling conditions under which his renters live

Keir Starmer has criticised a Labour MP who has been accused of renting out flats with black mould and ant infestations, calling the conditions “unacceptable”.

Asked about the allegations on Monday, Starmer said: “It’s not good enough. It’s unacceptable for any landlord, and I’ll be really clear about that. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a Labour MP or anybody else, it’s unacceptable. What’s happened in this case is this MP has now recognised that, is taking the necessary measures to put it right. The sooner that’s done, the better, but I’m not going to pretend to you or anybody else that this is in any way acceptable.”
Asked why Athwal had not been punished and whether he could be if the situation did not improve immediately, Starmer said: “It has to be put right. He’s taking action to put it right, we need to do that as quickly as possible.”
Athwal owns 15 flats, making him the largest landlord in the House of Commons. The BBC revealed last week that several tenants said they had to clean their bathroom ceilings every week to remove mould. One said: “The whole ceiling would be black if we didn’t clean it every few weeks.”
A reporter for the broadcaster said they had seen evidence of ant infestations in multiple properties. Communal areas were dirty, lights did not work, fire alarms were hanging loose from the ceiling and a washing machine had been dumped next to a set of stairs, the BBC reported.

The MP admitted his properties did not have the correct licences required under a scheme he had brought forward as leader of Redbridge council. He later sacked his lettings agent and issued another statement saying: “I am shocked and sickened by the series of problems that have come to light and I am unreservedly sorry to all my tenants for the bad experience they have endured.”
Tom Darling, the director of the Renters’ Reform Coalition, said: “Loose fire alarms, ants, black mould, and threats of eviction for tenants that dared to complain – the appalling conditions experienced by Jas Athwal’s tenants are all too common for renters across the country. It is absolutely unacceptable for anyone to provide this standard of housing, let alone a sitting MP. We must see urgent and wide-reaching reforms to get a grip on the renting crisis and tackle negligent landlords.”

In my opinion it is for Rayner to keep track and report progress back to parliament.

Wednesday

At her first Treasury questions, Reeves confirmed pensioners receiving housing benefit would automatically get any pension credit they are due. She has already extended the household support fund for the poorest households.
She repeatedly told MPs that increases to the basic state pension meant that people would be substantially better off than a year ago, adding that the government was committed to further increases in the coming years.
“The basic state pension is worth £900 more than it was a year ago and will go up again in April next year because of the triple lock, which we have committed to for the duration of this parliament,” she said.

Lucy Powell, Leader of the Commons has confirmed there will be a binding Parliamentary vote on axi g the WFA.

From the Guardian:

The Labour government has confirmed that there will be a binding vote on whether to axe the winter fuel allowance for all but the poorest pensioners, as the former shadow chancellor Ed Balls said he had grave doubts about the decision.

The confirmation of the vote comes amid growing unease within the party about backing the plans. It will take place next Tuesday after the Conservatives submitted a motion to annul the government’s change to regulations – a change that ordinarily would not be subject to a vote. Labour had said previously there would be no vote on the measure.

Balls said on Thursday he thought the government needed “an escape route” from the policy and described it as “a mess”.

“They need to find a creative way to do what they said they were going to do, close the in-year black hole, and find an alternative way to do it which could either be modifying what they’re doing on the winter allowance or finding some other way to close the black hole,” he said on the Political Currency podcast.

In a sign of unrest in the parliamentary party, a number of Labour MPs have signed an early day motion asking for the change to be reconsidered and given more time to be communicated.

The article is longer. The whole thing is here
www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/sep/05/mps-vote-winter-fuel-allowance-cuts-labour-backbench-unease?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Thursday

The Constitution

The government is proposing to banish all remaining hereditary peers from the House of Lords in the biggest shake-up of parliament in a quarter century.
The UK’s 92 remaining hereditary peers – who have inherited their titles from their parents – will lose their right to sit and vote in the upper chamber under proposals put forward by ministers on Thursday.
The move would complete reforms first made by Tony Blair’s government, which revoked the 700-year-old right of all hereditary peers to sit in the Lords in 1999. Just 92 of them, elected from the whole group, were allowed to remain until an agreement could be reached to phase them out altogether.
All 92 hereditary peers who now hold seats in the Lords are white men, and their average age is just under 70. They have continued to top up their numbers by holding byelections when one of them retires or dies.

The government’s bill will mean that there will no longer be any hereditary peers in the upper chamber. The earl marshal and the lord great chamberlain, who had been expected to keep their seats because of their ceremonial functions, will also be removed.

Environment - Water

Water bosses in England and Wales could be jailed for up to two years if they cover up sewage dumping, under legislation proposed by the Labour government.
At the moment, CEOs of water companies face fines for failing to comply with investigations by the Environment Agency (EA) and the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI), but there have been just three such fines since privatisation three decades ago.
Civil servants at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) told journalists on Wednesday that they planned to tighten compliance rules to force companies to hand over sewage data quickly, and that the maximum sentence for covering up this information or failing to release it would be two years.
Ministers also plan to pass legislation that would force water companies to pay the EA and DWI’s enforcement costs if they are under investigation. The EA has found it hard to inspect polluters owing to funding cuts, so ministers hope this would provide the money to increase the number of prosecutions. Defra has been looking for savings after the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, asked it for £1bn in spending reductions.

Good on the water front 👍🏻

Grenfell

Companies condemned in the Grenfell Tower inquiry will no longer be considered for public contracts, Keir Starmer has said as the prime minister apologised for decades of state failures uncovered by the inquiry.

About £250m in public deals have been made in the past five years with corporations involved in the high-rise’s refurbishment, according to searches of public contracts by the outsourcing data firm Tussell for the Guardian.
They include companies currently or formerly owned by Saint-Gobain, which made the combustible Celotex insulation used on the tower, and Rydon, the main contractor for the works.
“I can tell the house today that this government will write to all companies found by the inquiry to be part of these horrific failings as the first step to stopping them being awarded government contracts,” Starmer told MPs on Wednesday, saying the report would be fully debated soon.
While stressing that he would support any legal moves against those found responsible, Starmer said it was vital to “not do or say anything that could compromise any future prosecution, because the greatest injustice of all would be for the victims and all those affected not to get the justice that they deserve”.

Good about the water and the hereditary peers.
Very dissapointed that the slum landlord is not losing the whip, unlike the decent MPs who wanted to lift children out of poverty.

Ilovecheese

Good about the water and the hereditary peers.
Very dissapointed that the slum landlord is not losing the whip, unlike the decent MPs who wanted to lift children out of poverty.

I agree with you there.

Another important one from Monday - renationalisation of the railways is starting. Hooray!
www.gov.uk/government/news/transport-secretary-fires-the-starting-gun-on-rail-reform-as-public-ownership-bill-reaches-final-stages-in-commons

Ilovecheese

Good about the water and the hereditary peers.
Very dissapointed that the slum landlord is not losing the whip, unlike the decent MPs who wanted to lift children out of poverty.

👍🏻

The abrupt axeing of the WFA has turned out to be a reputational mistake. IMO it would be better to postpone it or at least stagger the introduction rather than have a vote.
👍👍 on the H of L and water.

Thank you for starting up this thread again WWM2.
I know that by reading this I will learn a great deal about our new Labour government.
I’m aware it must take up a great deal of your time and it is appreciated.

Thursday,
Shame and disgust at members of all parties leaving before the Prime Minister read out his Grenfell statement,
These politicians showed no empathy or humanity to the relatives, survivors or friends of the Grenfell atrocity who were in the gallery.
Shame on those politicians!

blue14

Thank you for starting up this thread again WWM2.
I know that by reading this I will learn a great deal about our new Labour government.
I’m aware it must take up a great deal of your time and it is appreciated.

😊

Will be following the progress of the landlord and his actions closely.
Although I was surprised Starmer kept an MP who has been causing people harm /allowing harm to be caused, in order to increase his own personal wealth, its will be easier to monitor whether or not he does improve the homes he is renting out.

Tenants were afraid to speak to reporters and asked for their names to be witheld. They were reluctant to go to the council about the conditions in their flats. They were also told that if they applied for benefit they would be evicted. Dont we have legislation to deal with "revenge" evictions?

Whitewavemark2

Wednesday

At her first Treasury questions, Reeves confirmed pensioners receiving housing benefit would automatically get any pension credit they are due. She has already extended the household support fund for the poorest households.
She repeatedly told MPs that increases to the basic state pension meant that people would be substantially better off than a year ago, adding that the government was committed to further increases in the coming years.
“The basic state pension is worth £900 more than it was a year ago and will go up again in April next year because of the triple lock, which we have committed to for the duration of this parliament,” she said.

That claim needs to be taken with a big pinch of salt.

It may be true for some but not for the many state pensioners.

Thank you so much for starting this up again, WWM2. Really appreciated.

I'm hoping for the WFA to be revised (not dropped).

Good on several points as noted above.

WFA

“The Labour government has confirmed that there will be a binding vote on whether to axe the winter fuel allowance for all but the poorest pensioners, as the former shadow chancellor Ed Balls said he had grave doubts about the decision.
The confirmation of the vote comes amid growing unease within the party about backing the plans. It will take place next Tuesday after the Conservatives submitted a motion to annul the government’s change to regulations – a change that ordinarily would not be subject to a vote. Labour had said previously there would be no vote on the measure.

In a sign of unrest in the parliamentary party, a number of Labour MPs have signed an early day motion asking for the change to be reconsidered and given more time to be communicated.
The motion was submitted by the new Labour MP for Poole, Neil Duncan-Jordan, who previously worked for the biggest pensioner pressure group, the National Pensioners Convention. The Guardian understands that MPs have attended briefings given by Duncan-Jordan on the implications of the change.

After the Commons leader, Lucy Powell, confirmed on Thursday that a vote would be held, the Labour MP Rachael Maskell urged a rethink of the proposed cuts.”

IMO I think that Reeves has been badly advised by the treasury over this issue. The optics and eventually the actuality of the potential consequences (none of us need telling what happens to the elderly if they don’t heat their home) are almost certainly going to grow teeth and come back to bite Reeves. But I think she has not shown political savvy over this, and unless she finds a way out this will not end well.

There is no doubt thst as a universal benefit, it was money badly spent, and many pensioners simply don’t need it. But the state pension in the U.K. is far from generous when compared to our European neighbours, and the fact that this cut will mean an unacceptable level of hardship for many elderly should shame us.