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What is left about Labour now?

(397 Posts)
Glorianny Sun 27-Aug-23 11:30:22

The Labour conference this year will host events sponsored by weapons manufacturers, a spyware firm linked to the CIA, fossil fuel companies and private health care providers. How can this party deliver the change it promises? It is essentially the Tory party of the past re-imagined and named Labour.

Grany Sun 27-Aug-23 11:41:17

Yes it’s shocking. No wonder people not keen on Starmer his personal polling low.
No taxing the richest
No nationalising of utilities

No wonder there is a Stop Starmer
And
Unseat Starmer

And he’s not even in government

Grany Sun 27-Aug-23 12:09:26

Labour are no opposition now as they are now conservatives

Ilovecheese Sun 27-Aug-23 12:37:08

They know that this is the only way they will be allowed to win an election and winning is all that matters to them.

What will happen when they do win will be a continuation of the way the country is governed under the Conservatives.

Starmer wants more economic growth, in other words trickle down economics, which just means people with a lot of money get more, nothing actually dribbles downward, nothing is redistributed.

West Streeting wants more private firms involved in the NHS, all that does is give more money to private firms, it doesn't help the NHS.

Rachel Reeves wants to reintroduce PFIs which were a false economy the first time round.

But those policies mean that they stand the best chance of not annoying the media, and winning.

Katie59 Sun 27-Aug-23 12:37:43

Yes exactly as Blair was and he won 3 elections, however conservative Starmers policies are the are better than present

Labour lefties have a deathwish

Ilovecheese Sun 27-Aug-23 12:47:26

But Blair had ideas and enthusiasm and did actually want to improve the NHS and the lives of ordinary citizens.

Glorianny Sun 27-Aug-23 13:06:03

And Blair always accepted that the party was a broad church with some people whose views he completely disagreed with. He didn't throw them out like Starmer has. He was committed to improving the lives of the poorest children, providing good education and improving the NHS.
And when he was elected he didn't seem to have very dodgy connections with the US and Israel. Although he later developed one with the U.S

Glorianny Sun 27-Aug-23 13:09:19

Katie59

Yes exactly as Blair was and he won 3 elections, however conservative Starmers policies are the are better than present

Labour lefties have a deathwish

But a huge proportion of the public believe in public ownership
yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2022/10/19/most-britons-believe-trains-water-and-energy-shoul

Grany Sun 27-Aug-23 17:31:49

Mayor Jamie Driscoll

@MayorJD
Hospitality while doing your job is fine. But why did Sir Keir Starmer need £698 tickets to Coldplay. Or Jeremy Hunt £600 tickets to Chelsea Flower Show. Or Jonathan Reynolds £3k tickets to Glastonbury....from Google. Why is this considered ok?
Read my column 👉https://bit.ly/3L0lGt7

Grany Sun 27-Aug-23 17:32:46

Link

jamiedriscoll.co.uk/news/does-groupthink-explain-why-so-many-mps-accept-hospitality/

Katie59 Sun 27-Aug-23 18:41:08

Glorianny

Katie59

Yes exactly as Blair was and he won 3 elections, however conservative Starmers policies are the are better than present

Labour lefties have a deathwish

But a huge proportion of the public believe in public ownership
yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2022/10/19/most-britons-believe-trains-water-and-energy-shoul

Wanting public ownership and finding the £billions to do it are entirely different things, we have gone a long way down the private finance road changing course now will be very expensive.

Personally I think we should but be under no illusions how much it will cost.

Grany Sun 27-Aug-23 19:19:34

With wealth tax of 1-2% on assets of 10 million

Politics is about choices - we should be on the side of those in need, not those in greed

Glorianny Sun 27-Aug-23 20:00:41

Katie59

Glorianny

Katie59

Yes exactly as Blair was and he won 3 elections, however conservative Starmers policies are the are better than present

Labour lefties have a deathwish

But a huge proportion of the public believe in public ownership
yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2022/10/19/most-britons-believe-trains-water-and-energy-shoul

Wanting public ownership and finding the £billions to do it are entirely different things, we have gone a long way down the private finance road changing course now will be very expensive.

Personally I think we should but be under no illusions how much it will cost.

That's true but money has been found for all sorts of things by this government.
Of course Starmer palling up to energy companies and them having a presence at conference should be worrying as well,not only for the impact it might have on public ownership, but also on the green agenda.

DiamondLily Mon 28-Aug-23 07:39:28

A party can be as hard left wing (or hard right wing), as it likes. But, generally, those aren't the parties that win elections.

Blair understood that, and so does Starmer.

Msny voters prefer centre ground.

Katie59 Mon 28-Aug-23 07:57:01

Grany

With wealth tax of 1-2% on assets of 10 million

Politics is about choices - we should be on the side of those in need, not those in greed

Most assets are invested to produce income so raising income and capital taxes would produce exactly the same result.
Wealth is very difficult to define, for example nobody knows how much a house or any other asset is worth until it’s sold, then next year it could be worth more or less.

Grany Mon 28-Aug-23 07:58:00

@SaulStaniforth

Protect the natural enviroment....

...by going ahead with all new oil and gas licenses the Tories grant because investors need certainty

twitter.com/SaulStaniforth/status/1695143661497893259?s=20

Iam64 Mon 28-Aug-23 08:35:48

Thanks DiamondLily

Freya5 Mon 28-Aug-23 08:51:28

Grany

With wealth tax of 1-2% on assets of 10 million

Politics is about choices - we should be on the side of those in need, not those in greed

You do realise the wealthiest pay the most tax in this country. , contributing 60% of income tax.
You want to tax them again.

MayBee70 Mon 28-Aug-23 08:55:26

Glorianny

Katie59

Glorianny

Katie59

Yes exactly as Blair was and he won 3 elections, however conservative Starmers policies are the are better than present

Labour lefties have a deathwish

But a huge proportion of the public believe in public ownership
yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2022/10/19/most-britons-believe-trains-water-and-energy-shoul

Wanting public ownership and finding the £billions to do it are entirely different things, we have gone a long way down the private finance road changing course now will be very expensive.

Personally I think we should but be under no illusions how much it will cost.

That's true but money has been found for all sorts of things by this government.
Of course Starmer palling up to energy companies and them having a presence at conference should be worrying as well,not only for the impact it might have on public ownership, but also on the green agenda.

A policy of keeping your friends close and your enemies even closer perhaps?

MaizieD Mon 28-Aug-23 09:00:25

Freya5

Grany

With wealth tax of 1-2% on assets of 10 million

Politics is about choices - we should be on the side of those in need, not those in greed

You do realise the wealthiest pay the most tax in this country. , contributing 60% of income tax.
You want to tax them again.

As 'the wealthiest' own considerably more than 60% of the wealth in the UK they are clearly under taxed.

Why should you so vehemently defend the wealthy, * Freya*.? Are you one of them?

Katie59 Mon 28-Aug-23 09:39:03

The problem with wealth is that it is portable, there are many low tax countries that will welcome you, a wealth tax that hits the ultra rich will see them leave in large numbers.

A wealth tax of 1% has been suggested, on £10m assets would mean a tax of £100,000, the cost of living in Switzerland is high but with that much extra UK tax many will leave

Grany Mon 28-Aug-23 09:42:19

We are the country that taxes the richest the least there are more more billionaires in this country than ever before and far too many food banks.

There should be fair taxation with the richest paying their fair share.

Grany Mon 28-Aug-23 10:00:07

The talk of centre politics what’s that. In 2017 2019 manifesto people wanted those policies of public ownership and taxing the richest. The paid staffers sabotaged the election wanting to loose including Starmer . Giving the tories more years to ruin this country. The votes of 2017 and 2019 were more than 2005 Blair, Brown and Miliband years. But first past the post voting system meant Boris

So talk of people just wanting centre A socialist Corbyn government for the many a real democracy nearly won if not for his paid staff etc. The socialists will come back for a more fairer society they and many are disillusioned with Starmer and the establishment.

Stop Starmer
Starmer Out
Unseat Starmer

Ilovecheese Mon 28-Aug-23 10:12:33

Keir Starmer isn't hiding anything though. He has made it perfectly plain that he will continue with Conservative policies and follow conservative idealogy.

I think those of us on the left who want a more equal society just have to accept that for the present, while the current leadership is in place, there is no real left wing presence in the Labour party.
A few MPs, if they keep under Starmer's radar, may escape the chop. But his choosing Rachel Reeves as his chancellor should have indicated which direction he wanted to follow. I know he misled the party in order to get himself elected as leader but I don't think he is misleading the country about his intentions now,
So we have a choice now, after all, he has told us "you know where the door is" do we walk away or stay and hope for change?

MaizieD Mon 28-Aug-23 10:13:07

Katie59

The problem with wealth is that it is portable, there are many low tax countries that will welcome you, a wealth tax that hits the ultra rich will see them leave in large numbers.

A wealth tax of 1% has been suggested, on £10m assets would mean a tax of £100,000, the cost of living in Switzerland is high but with that much extra UK tax many will leave

Is that a threat or a promise, Katy59? grin