Also, what is a 'career woman', please?
A drop in the ocean in the great schemes of things....but replicated by how many more
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What has Labour done in the first 100 days?
(432 Posts)A round-up - curtesy of the Guardian.
Economy
One of Rachel Reeves’s first actions as chancellor was to stand in front of the Commons and accuse the previous government of leaving a £22bn hole in this year’s public accounts. Every year, government spending diverges slightly from what was budgeted, but this was an unusually large amount, driven both by the higher-than-expected costs of housing asylum seekers and public sector pay deals.
Reeves’s solution to this was to put an immediate halt to various projects, including the road tunnel under Stonehenge and the A27 Arundel bypass. Boris Johnson’s promise to build 40 new hospitals has also been placed under review, with the prime minister, Keir Starmer, accusing his predecessor of making the promise without allocating the money.
Energy
When Michael Gove was asked at Tory conference to name the most effective Labour cabinet ministers so far, one of those he listed was Ed Miliband. The energy secretary has returned to a post he last held 14 years ago with a flurry of activity.
On 8 July, the first Monday after winning the election, Miliband announced he was removing the previous government’s de facto ban on onshore wind power. A day later, Reeves, unveiled the national wealth fund, a £7.3bn scheme designed to invest in green infrastructure such as clean steel and carbon capture.
Later that month, Miliband brought forward a bill to set up Great British Energy, a nationally owned energy production company that the government has put at the heart of its net zero strategy. The bill gives the company power to produce and distribute clean energy and spend money on energy efficiency schemes.
Keir Starmer announced in his Labour conference speech that GBE would be based in Aberdeen.
Transport
The first bill to pass the Commons under the Labour government was the rail nationalisation bill. The bill automatically brings rail networks back under public control once their existing franchise contract is over, or earlier if they breach their contracts.
The transport secretary, Louise Haigh, has also passed a bill to set up a new company called Great British Railways to manage both the track and the trains service. Some have questioned, however, why the rolling stock is not also being brought under national control.
Last month, Haigh reversed another piece of privatisation in the transport sector, allowing local authorities across England to run their own bus services once more. The transport secretary has also said she wants to make it simpler and easier for local leaders to conduct the franchising process.
Education
Labour has promised that it will introduce free breakfast clubs in every primary school in England, but it is starting slowly. Reeves announced at the Labour conference that 750 English schools would be invited to be part of a pilot programme.
Housing
Labour has promised to liberalise the planning regime and began soon after taking over government, not only overturning the restrictions on onshore wind power but also reimposing population-based housing targets on local authorities.
The Conservatives had given local planners a series of loopholes to avoid meeting those targets, in a move that housebuilders said had hampered new development, pushing housing approvals to a 10-year low.
Other reforms are planned, including making it easier for public bodies to issue compulsory purchasing orders and making it easier to build on green belt land.
Meanwhile, Matthew Pennycook, the housing minister, has introduced a package of renters’ reforms, which passed their second reading in parliament this week, despite the objections of the Conservatives. That package picks up on some of the ambitions originally championed by Gove when he was housing secretary, including bringing an immediate end to no-fault evictions and forcing landlords to make timely repairs to properties.
Campaigners, however, are unhappy that the Labour government has so far not enacted another package of protections for leaseholders, whom they worry are slipping down the government’s agenda. The government has promised to bring in a bill to restrict leasehold and boost the rights of tenants, but has so far not even enacted the measures passed through parliament under the last government.
Employment
Starmer promised that his government would bring forward a package of workers’ rights in his first 100 days, a deadline which was just about met when Angela Rayner, his deputy, published the employment rights bill on Thursday.
Her reforms include giving workers protection from unfair dismissal and paternity leave rights from the first day of their employment, rather than having to wait two years. The bill also bans employers from forcing workers to sign zero-hours contracts and stops them firing staff only to hire them back on lower pay, unless the company is threatened with bankruptcy.
While the bill was published in the first 100 days it will take another two years for it to come into force. Officials and ministers will spend that time consulting businesses and trade unions about the exact measures involved and how to police them.
Some of the pre-election promises have not made it into the bill. There will be no statutory right for workers to switch off outside their working hours, and the government will now consult on having a single status of worker. Unions have long campaigned for a single worker status to replace the distinction between those who are employed and self-employed, in part to tackle exploitation in the gig economy.
Immigration
As promised, Labour has ended the previous government’s Rwanda scheme, which had not sent a single asylum seeker to Rwanda but was already costing the government money. Scrapping it saved more than £2bn over two years.
In its place, Starmer and his home secretary, Yvette Cooper, have introduced a border security command to focus on people-smuggling gangs. However, the prime minister is still trying to sign returns agreements with European countries, agreements that might mean Britain having to accept migrants in return.
Since the election, nearly 12,000 people have crossed the Channel in small boats, slightly fewer than in the same period last year.
Justice
A week after the election, the justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, announced an early release scheme that would see some offenders who had committed less serious crimes leave prison after serving 40% of their sentence. Mahmood blamed the prisons crisis she inherited from the previous government, which had left jails in England and Wales almost entirely full.
The early release scheme was controversial, but its purpose was underlined later in the summer as riots engulfed parts of the country. Speaking to journalists from the Downing Street garden after the riots had subsided, the prime minister described the decisions he had had to make while they were unfolding.
“I shouldn’t be sitting in the Cobra room with a list of prison places across the country on a day-by-day basis, trying to work out how we deal with disorder,” he said. “But that’s the position I was put in.”
Health
If Starmer is to show progress in one public service by the time he goes into the next election, it will have to be the NHS. His health secretary, Wes Streeting, commissioned Ara Darzi, a former Labour minister, to outline the scale of the challenge. Lord Darzi’s report, which was published last month, found that long delays for hospital, GP and mental health services were leading to thousands of unnecessary deaths.
Darzi suggested a range of changes, including focusing more on prevention and making companies pay “health levies” for things such as alcohol and tobacco.
A woman who has a career I imagine.
Back to the OP now? What do people think of RR?
Oreo
A woman who has a career I imagine.
Ah. And what about someone with a job? Or a man with a career? Are they castigated for doing so whilst simultaneously being a father?
Oreo
KS is overdoing the ‘the economy is safe with us’ routine if you ask me ( I know nobody did)😁 and RR is doing what he wants for now maybe?
AR is right to pursue a major social housing programme.
I think Angela Rayner has to ensure that some of the disastrous and frankly dangerous housing built over recent years is put right and some of the wrongs rectified.
It's not just social housing, people have put all their savings, their income into buying a leasehold flat and now find they cannot live in them because of the dangers of the cladding or other problems.
One poor woman said she had to leave her leasehold flat because it is not safe and she is living in one room - but still has to pay £3,000 pa service charge.
Oreo
Back to the OP now? What do people think of RR?
If she says things often enough, people might believe her?
Allira
Oreo
KS is overdoing the ‘the economy is safe with us’ routine if you ask me ( I know nobody did)😁 and RR is doing what he wants for now maybe?
AR is right to pursue a major social housing programme.I think Angela Rayner has to ensure that some of the disastrous and frankly dangerous housing built over recent years is put right and some of the wrongs rectified.
It's not just social housing, people have put all their savings, their income into buying a leasehold flat and now find they cannot live in them because of the dangers of the cladding or other problems.
One poor woman said she had to leave her leasehold flat because it is not safe and she is living in one room - but still has to pay £3,000 pa service charge.
There are some awful cases with buying leasehold flats, tbh it’s put me off ever wanting to buy one.
Then there’s all the social houses with mould and damp that councils never seem to fix, AR could start getting tough on that.
Very little, Oreo (re what we think of RR), but can’t make out whether she leads KS or he leads her. I thought we were told that we wouldn’t be seeing austerity back again and that there wouldn’t be tax increases for ordinary working people. From what we read now the sleight of hand being used to justify doing just this is inexcusable. On integrity alone there seems little to choose between KS and Rishi Sunak.
Come on, OP and other Labour supporters, bring us some rosier-coloured spectacles
I agree with you winterwhite as so far I thought we’d be getting something quite different, as was displayed all the time from Labour before the election.
Even the rhetoric up to now was doom laden, tho they seem to have realised this now.
I’m all out of rosy specs but someone will be along with a pair soon I bet.
Two thirds of voters didn't vote Labour and they only got their landslide because of the country's stupid voting system. I was one of the 40% who chose a minor party, yet we have no chance of influencing anything. My hope is both Labour and the Tories get badly beaten next time.
Do what you like, but don’t expect others to subsidise one lifestyle choice over another.
Doodledog’s comment about the difficulty discussing politics on gransnet resonates with me.
A very unpleasant thread, seems my decision to stay home with
my babies / toddlers was a lifestyle choice and I was subsidised
by the career women
Anniebach
A very unpleasant thread, seems my decision to stay home with
my babies / toddlers was a lifestyle choice and I was subsidised
by the career women
Mine too evidently.
Anniebach
A very unpleasant thread, seems my decision to stay home with
my babies / toddlers was a lifestyle choice and I was subsidised
by the career women
Does anyone read what I actually say?
I am not criticising anyone. I am saying that when people are moaning about pensioners not getting £200 a year towards fuel bills, why are we still paying the pension contributions of those who can afford not to work?
All I've had in response is insults and being told I'm 'unpleasant' - nobody has told me why it is is a good idea to have people not producing or contributing anything (*and I am talking about mothers of school age children, not babies and toddlers*) for decades and still being able to claim a full pension, when many women who have worked and paid in cannot?
I'd be interested to hear a proper explanation that doesn't involve accusations, bing told that my opinion is unpleasant, or defensive anecdotes about individual families that may or may not be impartial. Just one would do.
No parent should be made to feel guilty about staying home to nurture their child/ren it is just as important as having a high flying career
We chose to start a business, we chose to have children and juggle both.
I respect their freedom to choose.
Oreo
growstuff
Oreo
If it’s needs must for Mums to work with a baby or a toddler then that’s it obvs but for many it’s choice.There are two issues here, what’s best for the Mother and what’s best for the baby.
If we’re talking best for the baby it’s having their Mum close to them.It's best according to you. It's your opinion, but not one that evidence is very clear about.
Go and canvass a few babies then.
Of course it’s best for the baby to be close to Mum and not handed to strangers all day, ditto for toddlers.Different by the age of three when they are pushing the boundaries and enjoy a lot of time with their playmates.
I’m really wondering if all the defensive comments on here are brought about by guilty feelings at having left their tiny tots in nurseries all week long.
If you wanted a baby and can afford to be at home with him/her until the age of at least three then why not do it? If you have to work then I already said it’s a different case.
A single Mum has to, but where there are two parents it’s not hard to decide to either split your time with the baby or one of you, the Mum is best ( from the baby point of view) stays with him/her full time.
Sorry to derail the thread again, but I'm not going to let comments like this (Of course it’s best for the baby to be close to Mum and not handed to strangers all day, ditto for toddlers) just pass.
Why is it better for babies and very young children to be close to "Mum"? Where's your proof? (Incidentally, why use 'Mum' when there's a perfectly good word 'mother' - is it baby speak?)
What about 'Dad'? Where is your proof that it's better for babies? I expect most of us accept it because it's so entrenched, but where is the empirical proof? What about societies in the past who believed that too much emotion resulted in weakness? What about children who are orphaned from an early age? Are they doomed to grow up with mental health problems?
As I wrote before, even children in full-time nurseries see their parents for hours every week. Their parents won't devote all their time to them anyway. There will be other siblings and housework to do.
In short, you have absolutely no proof that your opinion is correct, but you persist in making statements as though they are true. There's no "of course" about it!
GrannyGravy13
No parent should be made to feel guilty about staying home to nurture their child/ren it is just as important as having a high flying career
We chose to start a business, we chose to have children and juggle both.
I respect their freedom to choose.
Parenting is bloody hard, however it's organised.
No parent should be made to feel guilty about the way they organise their lives, but that's exactly what the people who talk about "dumping" babies in nurseries do.
Agreed Growstuff. My children and grandchildren have all been in nursery / childminders from an early age while both parents worked. They are well-adjusted, productive citizens.
The method of child-rearing is irrelevant, it is the quality that counts.
Making unevidenced, ill-informed judgements about other people's parenting is insulting.
growstuff
GrannyGravy13
No parent should be made to feel guilty about staying home to nurture their child/ren it is just as important as having a high flying career
We chose to start a business, we chose to have children and juggle both.
I respect their freedom to choose.Parenting is bloody hard, however it's organised.
No parent should be made to feel guilty about the way they organise their lives, but that's exactly what the people who talk about "dumping" babies in nurseries do.
I agree the term dumping is offensive when applied to parents using childcare.
GrannyGravy13
No parent should be made to feel guilty about staying home to nurture their child/ren it is just as important as having a high flying career
We chose to start a business, we chose to have children and juggle both.
I respect their freedom to choose.
Why should anyone feel guilty? Again, people are reading on things that aren't there.
It is those talking about 'dumping babies on strangers' and suggesting that workers 'think about whether to have children' who are being unpleasant and trying to instil guilt.
I also respect people's freedom to choose, whether to have a high flying career (whatever that is) or just a job. I don't, however, respect their freedom to expect to be paid for their choice for decades.
That’s where we will have to disagree Doodledog to be paid for their choices for decades
If a parent can afford to stay home due to their partner earning enough to keep the family, why on earth should the stay at home parent need to pay for the privilege.
They pay tax on virtually every purchase, along with council tax, road tax, income tax/NI when they were working it all adds up.
I didn't say they should pay for the privilege. FFS! does nobody read the posts?
why are we still paying the pension contributions of those who can afford not to work?
You're not. No-one is, as has been explained.
does nobody read the posts?
Doodledog
I didn't say they should pay for the privilege. FFS! does nobody read the posts?
Yes I do read.
You have been consistent that stay at home parents should not have NI contributions paid for them whilst they stay at home and look after their children.
GrannyGravy13
Doodledog
I didn't say they should pay for the privilege. FFS! does nobody read the posts?
Yes I do read.
You have been consistent that stay at home parents should not have NI contributions paid for them whilst they stay at home and look after their children.
And they don't.
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