Oops! Sir Keir drops a massive 45 points in the opinion polls.

Coalitions only work when a country is facing a common enemy, usually in war.
Lib/Lab/Green? The very worst of all combinations.

Cossy

ronib

Casdon I think coalition is preferable but…..

I’d love to have had a three way coalition
Lab/Lib/Green

Nooooooooo!

^ We all know that means nothing in the UK democracy though Mollygo, don’t we?
You can’t blame Labour for being in power when that’s how our democracy works. Governments virtually never govern with a majority of of over 50% do they?^

Absolutely!
I don’t blame Labour for being in power, any more than I blamed Conservatives for being in power.
Labour got into power because we weren’t happy with Conservatives.
Conservatives got back into power because we weren’t happy with Labour.
Now Labour are back in power because we weren’t happy with the Conservatives.

The main difference now is that Governments aren’t happy because we know so much more quickly about what they get wrong. We know about behaviour that is excused by it’s in the rules that will give them extra benefits
and maybe even allow the donors extra benefits.
Add to that the implementation of actions a government condemned when it was proposed by the government they replaced, with the evidence still clearly there on the internet or saved on people’s devices.

And while I dislike percentages being used to prove things like pay rises, a vast majority 1 in 5 or 20% is funny.

RosiesMaw2

This should sort it

That kitten needs worming!

A coalition can prevent a party doing fully what they want to achieve but looking back at the governments we have had maybe that would be a good thing.

ronib

Casdon I think coalition is preferable but…..

but… there would never be a Tory government again either?

I don’t know about PR, I’m very much on the fence.

ronib

Casdon I think coalition is preferable but…..

I’d love to have had a three way coalition
Lab/Lib/Green

Casdon I think coalition is preferable but…..

I agree ronib, that is right and proper. I think I’ll go and scream like Violet Elizabeth Bott in a corner if anybody trots out the percentage vote again though - if they think it’s unfair they should be lobbying for an alternative voting system, which probably won’t ever see any party in government without a coalition again. As they say, you pays your money and you takes your choice.

Casdon it’s true we can’t blame Labour for being in power but we can and will blame them for any misbuse of that power.

Mollygo

LucyLocket55
He was voted in by a massive majority …. be careful what you wish for

1 in 5 of those who voted, voted Labour i.e. 20%

^Turnout at the 2024 general election was 59.7%, which was the lowest at a general election since 2001.
Turnout was 7.6 percentage points lower than in 2019.This represented the largest drop in turnout between elections since between 1997 and 2001.^

^Seventeen of the 20 constituencies with the lowest turnout were seats held by Labour^

We all know that means nothing in the UK democracy though Mollygo, don’t we? You can’t blame Labour for being in power when that’s how our democracy works. Governments virtually never govern with a majority of of over 50% do they?
commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-7529/

I don't think he takes much notice. Look how populism ruined this country.
Just because someone isn't liked doesn't mean a thing- it is what they do that counts and he's a way to go yet.

LucyLocket55
He was voted in by a massive majority …. be careful what you wish for

1 in 5 of those who voted, voted Labour i.e. 20%

^Turnout at the 2024 general election was 59.7%, which was the lowest at a general election since 2001.
Turnout was 7.6 percentage points lower than in 2019.This represented the largest drop in turnout between elections since between 1997 and 2001.^

Seventeen of the 20 constituencies with the lowest turnout were seats held by Labour

Yawn!

Yes, I think the Labour Party have made mistakes in the short time they’ve been in power.

I support the removal of WFA for some pensioners, just not the way it’s been implemented.

I’m disappointed about the acceptance of freebies, but (sadly) it’s in the rules.

I’m still waiting, patiently, it’s too early to make huge judgments.

Oreo

Thanks Casdon for the individual figures.I think this shows /highlights how much the UK spent on keeping jobs and households afloat during the Covid years, one of the really good things that the Tories did in my view. What now has to be done is for KS to stop the doom and gloom mongering attitude and for RR to open the national purse not close it, we need to spend, build and take people along with this by showing hope for a better future, as Labour did in the 1950’s.

The majority of EU countries did very similar to support their people in Covid though Oreo, so that’s not a defining difference. I don’t disagree that the doom and gloom needs to stop though, I think we need some positive plans to turn the corner on the economy and give some direction to the task ahead. I really hope there are measures to support the most vulnerable in society in the budget.

LucyLocket55

He was voted in by a massive majority …. be careful what you wish for

1 in 5 voted Labour

Cabowich

Casdon - it depends on how the stats are manipulated; on who reports these things; when they are reported, etc.

It all differs, day by day. One minute Germany is in the worst economic hole ever, the next it is the UK, then France, then Spain, you name it - a country will appear as on the brink of collapse. Just depending on how, when and who does the reporting.

The measurement the EU zone does is consistent though.

Thanks Casdon for the individual figures.I think this shows /highlights how much the UK spent on keeping jobs and households afloat during the Covid years, one of the really good things that the Tories did in my view. What now has to be done is for KS to stop the doom and gloom mongering attitude and for RR to open the national purse not close it, we need to spend, build and take people along with this by showing hope for a better future, as Labour did in the 1950’s.

Namsnanny

He had a law passed especially to cope with his large unusual pension.

No one else has that privilege.

Hes quite a hypocrite

Casdon - it depends on how the stats are manipulated; on who reports these things; when they are reported, etc.

It all differs, day by day. One minute Germany is in the worst economic hole ever, the next it is the UK, then France, then Spain, you name it - a country will appear as on the brink of collapse. Just depending on how, when and who does the reporting.

Some really sour comments on here this morning aren’t there.
The only gullible, if there are any, are those who think that a new government will be better than the previous one.

We vote them in, as someone put it, on a wave of euphoria.

The difference is how long it takes for the rot to set in. This time, not long at all.

I agree with you on this MaizieD and I just can’t understand the present government’s mindset on reducing spending.

LucyLocket55

He was voted in by a massive majority …. be careful what you wish for

Do you mean the 34% only of the overall vote . Starmers popularity has been falling ever since. Well deserved.

Oreo

Stats hey? How about a breakdown of individual countries and not mixing them all together in a eurozone?
It’s like saying the average price of a detached house in England is, say, £800,000 when that’s true but doesn’t take into account the fact that different regions have different prices.
If it’s true that the 9 billion payout is adding to the ‘black hole’ of 22 or rather is part of it then that makes a big difference.

Here’s the breakdown.
ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Government_finance_statistics#:~:text=General%20government%20gross%20debt,-In%20the%20EU&text=At%20the%20end%20of%202023%2C%20the%20lowest%20ratios%20of%20government,and%20Lithuania%20(38.3%20%25).

MaizieD

Casdon

Why, what purpose would that serve? It’s a fact that we are deeper in debt than we have been since the early 1960s, what we need now is a robust plan to improve our position, not endless post-mortems.

The government isn't after reducing the 'debt'. It would be impossible to do that because they cannot unilaterally 'repay' everyone who has savings and investments with them. i.e government bond holders, premium bond holders and people with NSI savings accounts. The govt. can only 'repay' these people if they actually ask for their money to be returned to them. Which very few are going to do because their money is safer 'invested' in govt. bonds & savings vehicles than anywhere else as the govt will never default. It will always pay the agreed interest or the principle if repayment is requested. British governments have had 'debt' for centuries. It hasn't been a problem so long as the debt can be serviced. Which it can be as tge govt creates the money with which to service it.

What the govt. wants to do is to, quite unnecessarily, to reduce the 'deficit', which is the difference between incoming revenue and govt. spending. Unfortunately, taking money out of the economy by cutting spending will make our current situation much worse.

I don't write these posts for fun.

This is what the 'national debt' is and it is not a problem.