Keir Starmer's time is up

[taperoo2k]

Can't find the link now, but I'm sure I read somewhere yesterday that applications for pension credits have doubled since the winter fuel announcement.

It would be ironic if the new policy ended up costing more, on a net basis, than if they'd left it alone.

I think if the people who are eligible for pension credits but don't currently claim do claim it, do claim it?
The "savings" from cutting WFA will be wiped out. But maybe that's the point. Get rid of WFA, get people
shifted onto Pension credits and then ignore those who fall through the cracks.

Though that would require genius level thinking and balls of steel to pull off. Neither of which I think
the Labour cabinet has.

 

[kabbes]

The argument is that elected councils should have tax-raising powers so that they can be held accountable to the voters for their performance.

An argument that seems more theoretical than realistic. Councils are answerable through the ballot box regardless of local tax-raising. And they would still be responding for spending their budget.

If all local council funding came from central government, that would mean a centralisation of power and accountability.

In theory, maybe. But it could be mitigated by legally protecting the allocation of budget from central to local government.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

An argument that seems more theoretical than realistic. Councils are answerable through the ballot box regardless of local tax-raising. And they would still be responding for spending their budget.

In theory, maybe. But it could be mitigated by legally protecting the allocation of budget from central to local government.

Ah yes. A constitution. We don't really have one of those. Hence Thatcher could rate-cap, scrap the GLC, etc.

 

[Dystopiary]

Watch the cult onetruepath Labourites try and dress that up as something progressive. We are also waiting for Liz Kendall's plans.

So far, she's said she wants the DWP to move from “a department for welfare” to becoming “a genuine department for work”.
Presumably this stuff's only bad when Tories do it; Labour need to do it because of the Tories.

 

[Pickman's model]

So far, she's said she wants the DWP to move from “a department for welfare” to becoming “a genuine department for work”.
Presumably this stuff's only bad when Tories do it; Labour need to do it because of the Tories.

To be fair Labour are the party of work

 

[Dystopiary]

To be fair Labour are the party of work

Yeah, the party of work and the party of business.

 

[_Russ_]

What with the Gen Z Narrative that the old people robbed them of their freedom just to save their wrinkly arses during Covid, coupled with enough wrinklies dying off in ensuing winters it could be a net vote winning strategy come next election

 

[LakieLady]

they will fuck off a lot of people with that. a great number of them pensioners. perhaps shammer is relying on putting a lot of auld people into the grave before the next election.

Including me! I would be around £580 a year worse off, based on this year's council tax bill. Next year's bill is bound to be a fair bit higher.

With the loss of the WFA, nearly £900 a year worse off.

 

[emanymton]

The issue of council tax adjustments is clearly more complicated than just considerations about individuals. If 50% is appropriate for single occupancy, does that mean that empty properties should have 0%? Few would think that is appropriate, because we don’t like the idea of empty houses. But if you want to boil it down to simplistic statements about cost per person, it would make sense. What about when children grow up and stay living with their parents — do we increase council tax to allow for that? Isn’t that just the poll tax? That was unpopular too. Then, there is generally a fixed number of properties in an area. If they all turned from dual to single occupancy, would we be okay with the local council only having half their previous income?

I think the problem here really lies with the regressive nature of the council tax in the first place. Like I said before, I wouldn’t start from here.

It absolutely should not be 50pct. If we just look at council tax in isolation 75pct seems about right to me. 1 person living along is obviously going to use less resource than 2 but more than half so splitting the difference at 75pct seems fair enough.

Anyway as far as I'm aware this isn't even something they have suggested they just said it had not be rulled out.

 

[Smokeandsteam]

Some of us owe Starmer an apology. I for one have been predicting that Starmer and his government would be a disaster and deeply unpopular within months of taking office.

I was wrong. He’s achieved mass unpopularity within weeks.

The only questions now are:

When does he beat the Tory record?
How long before the PLP realise Starmer and Reeves are an unmitigated disaster, have no plan and that defeating austerity through austerity has been tried before and merely leads to deeper austerity?

 

[teqniq]

What the fuck is going on here?

Keir Starmer's Promised 'Covid Corruption Buster' is Being Set Up to Fail, Former Anti-Fraud Chief Warns

Ex-Serious Fraud Office chief Sir David Green KC says he is "depressed" about the apparent downgrading of the role

bylinetimes.com

to elaborate on my consternation, this was published a couple of days ago:

Corruption review finds 'red flags' in more than 130 Covid contracts

An anti-corruption charity finds significant concerns in £15.3bn worth of contracts awarded during the pandemic.

www.bbc.com

So the probable scale of the corruption is very high indeed so how does Labour expect the appointed corruption buster to succeed with not enough staff and what appears to be a part-time role? I am surmising here that they don't expect them to succeed and that this is deliberate.

 

[Smokeandsteam]

Leaving aside the failure to declare the ‘gifts’ why did Starmer and his wife accept money for a “personal shopper, clothes and alterations” from a Billionaire in the first place?

Keir Starmer alleged to have broken rules over party donor’s gifts to wife

The prime minister made a late declaration of a personal shopper and clothes for his wife paid for by Lord Alli

www.theguardian.com

 

[PR1Berske]

McSweeney later told a friend that he saw this as Corbyn’s “Icarus moment”, in which he imagined the Labour leader standing backstage at Glastonbury with a choice: take that election result and turn to the country to cement the deal; or walk into the warm embrace of festivalgoers, who (McSweeney believed) were unrepresentative of the wider electorate. To him, Corbyn had just flown too close to the sun

‘Corbyn had flown too close to the sun’: how Labour insiders battled the left and plotted the party’s path back to power

Exclusive extract from new book says Corbyn’s appearance at Glastonbury was a key moment in the party’s long way back to power. And as one anti-Corbyn group tried to build a moderate coalition, it also needed a credible leader …

www.theguardian.com

 

[SpookyFrank]

So the probable scale of the corruption is very high indeed so how does Labour expect the appointed corruption buster to succeed with not enough staff and what appears to be a part-time role? I am surmising here that they don't expect them to succeed and that this is deliberate.

If I was Wes Streeting I'd probably not want too many people talking about corruption in healthcare. The man's so bent he can probably see up his own arsehole.

 

[stethoscope]

‘Corbyn had flown too close to the sun’: how Labour insiders battled the left and plotted the party’s path back to power

Exclusive extract from new book says Corbyn’s appearance at Glastonbury was a key moment in the party’s long way back to power. And as one anti-Corbyn group tried to build a moderate coalition, it also needed a credible leader …

www.theguardian.com

Its actually the sentence just before the one you've quoted which I think is more telling...

Sitting on that park bench, McSweeney was among those who took the 2017 result very seriously and believed that Corbyn, whose politics he despised, could win the next election. Counterintuitively, he found the Glastonbury scene reassuring.

 

[DotCommunist]

it didn't need the leak or the subsequent ford report to know there was a lot of shithousing by the dickhead right. Still nice to hear the shit confirmed once again. Time was nobody centre or centre left wanted to hear it, now its time to revisit the crime scene to flog another 'aren't you glad we all stopped corbyn so we could do more austerity?' book by some cash in cunt

 

[stethoscope]

I know some here aren't keen on Bastani, but I thought this was a good piece... Labour Together is far more dangerous than Momentum

 

[teqniq]

I know some here aren't keen on Bastani, but I thought this was a good piece... Labour Together is far more dangerous than Momentum

Yeah. 'Labour Together' really awful people.

 

[teqniq]

Lammy defends Starmer saying there is no budget for clothes. Just what the fuck?

Leaving aside the failure to declare the ‘gifts’ why did Starmer and his wife accept money for a “personal shopper, clothes and alterations” from a Billionaire in the first place?

Keir Starmer alleged to have broken rules over party donor’s gifts to wife

The prime minister made a late declaration of a personal shopper and clothes for his wife paid for by Lord Alli

www.theguardian.com

 

[Pickman's model]

Lammy defends Starmer saying there is no budget for clothes. Just what the fuck?

Victoria starmer can buy her own clothes out of her own wages from working in the nhs. Or sks can buy her some out of his earnings.

 

[teqniq]

Victoria starmer can buy her own clothes out of her own wages from working in the nhs. Or sks can buy her some out of his earnings.

Yes. Evidently this seems to have not occurred to him or he's blatantly taking the piss.

 

[two sheds]

I bet Corbyn accepted tens of thousands for his clothes budget

 

[stethoscope]

I bet Corbyn accepted tens of thousands for his clothes budget

Worse! Spent on compost. Bags of it. Peat-free stuff.

The monster!!1!

 

[Elpenor]

The clothes budget has also been spent on the Ukraine war

 

[Smokeandsteam]

I mean, she’s right isn’t she. Had this been a Tory PM then Labour would have been frothing with pompous outrage. When it’s their own millionaire PM though….

 

[The39thStep]

Good grief . Learning from Meloni

Keir Starmer in Italy to discuss migration with PM Georgia Meloni

Meloni has overseen a 64% drop in migrant crossings from north Africa, but not without controversy.

www.bbc.com

 

[Elpenor]

Yes. Evidently this seems to have not occurred to him or he's blatantly taking the piss.

Politicians like to think they perform public service and this topic often features in their valedictory speeches

Actual public servants, the ones who do the work as opposed to those who go to meetings about other people doing the work, would likely lose their job for this sort of thing.

 

[DotCommunist]

He was at doncaster racecourse yesterday where the crowd booed and shouted wanker. The people have spoken.

 

[Smokeandsteam]

They say the first 100 days of a government sets the tone for its entire period of office. Starmer only took 70!

Next step is to beat Truss and Sunak’s record of being below 30 and going lower. You can do it Sir Keir!!

 

[HeAthen]

Looks like the Sue Gray appointment may not be going too well.

Keir Starmer defends Sue Gray after reports of No 10 rifts

The prime minister's chief of staff has been the subject of numerous media reports since Labour entered government.

www.bbc.co.uk