New Labour government - legislative agenda

[Smokeandsteam]

The cut to the WFA becomes more perverse and pernicious by the day.

The Times reveals that Reeves has suddenly obtained an additional £10 Billion given changes by the BoE quantitative tightening programme.

Reeves apparently plans to ‘bank the savings’ to ‘underline her commitment to fiscal discipline’

Reeves’s £10bn windfall raises pressure to drop winter fuel cut

Reeves’s £10bn windfall raises pressure to drop winter fuel cut

A decision by the Bank of England will give the chancellor more financial headroom but she is likely to resist calls to ease fiscal discipline

www.thetimes.com

Lucy Powell on Question Time last night also claimed that Labour would be happy for every pensioner entitled to claim pension credit to claim it. When asked what this would mean in practice given that it would wipe out the ‘savings, accrued from cutting the WFA for everyone else there was no answer.

This isn’t a policy it’s a pointless punishment beating of the elderly performed for the market…it gives the distinct impression that Reeves doesn’t have a clue, because the market appears as nonplussed as everyone else.

 

[teuchter]

the market appears as nonplussed as everyone else

What observation prompts you to say this?

 

[Smokeandsteam]

What observation prompts you to say this?

The observation of the evidence. This covers some of it:

“Let’s be clear. Rachel Reeves was under zero pressure from the City to cut investment spending or means-test the £200 or £300 tax-free sum paid to elderly people each winter. There was not the slightest murmur from currency traders before the chancellor’s announcement that she had found a £22bn hole in the public finances. Nor was there ever likely to be.”

Labour’s decision to cut winter fuel payments is mean and politically inept | Larry Elliott

Means-testing will hit up to 2 million people. Rachel Reeves would be wise to admit she was wrong, says Guardian economics editor Larry Elliott

www.theguardian.com

 

[teuchter]

The observation of the evidence. This covers some of it:

“Let’s be clear. Rachel Reeves was under zero pressure from the City to cut investment spending or means-test the £200 or £300 tax-free sum paid to elderly people each winter. There was not the slightest murmur from currency traders before the chancellor’s announcement that she had found a £22bn hole in the public finances. Nor was there ever likely to be.”

Labour’s decision to cut winter fuel payments is mean and politically inept | Larry Elliott

Means-testing will hit up to 2 million people. Rachel Reeves would be wise to admit she was wrong, says Guardian economics editor Larry Elliott

www.theguardian.com

That's a Guardian opinion piece. I wondered what specifically was the indication that "the market" had acted in any particular way to the decision to cut the WFA. What it would have done, if the WFA had not been cut, can only be speculation, surely.

 

[Chz]

What aggravates me almost as much is the stupidity of it. We were promised grown-up politicians who could do the whole politicking thing well. Not as their first order of business publicly tell old people to freeze for a frankly pithy amount of money savings. I do expect a Starmer to introduce things like that, but I'd expected it to be buried in a mountain of other things 9 months into government. Not "Job One - Fuck Old People". Particularly when May had already been to that particular place with predictable results. I expect my politicians to be evil, but could they not at least be competent at it?

 

[gosub]

Market wise...UK been shadowing the US on rates for a while...US just cut 0.5% UK isn't...(yet)

 

[PR1Berske]

Market wise...UK been shadowing the US on rates for a while...US just cut 0.5% UK isn't...(yet)

They'll cut in November.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

That's a Guardian opinion piece. I wondered what specifically was the indication that "the market" had acted in any particular way to the decision to cut the WFA. What it would have done, if the WFA had not been cut, can only be speculation, surely.

'The markets' don't always want governments to cut spending. They quite like it when governments borrow and pay for stuff - that stuff gets bought in 'the markets' after all. As a simple example, energy companies don't want pensioners to be turning down their thermostats this winter.

Reeves' 'fiscal discipline' is wrongheaded and she will have to change tack at some point. It reminds me of Thatcher and monetarism, the mad arse-about-tit idea that governments can and should control money creation in order to regulate the economy that wrecked Britain in a couple of years.

This strikes me as a new era of neo-monetarism. We'll see how long it lasts before the latest splurge of Keynsian borrow-and-spend is needed to bail out 'the markets'.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

And that's where we appear to be at now. And why this government could potentially be worse than the recent iteration of the tories. It's Thatcher Mark II. They appear to be ideologically wedded to a specific version of small-government neoliberalism.

There is precedent for a nominally left Labour government imposing extreme right wing ideology and economic ideas. It happened in New Zealand in the 1980s.

 

[gosub]

They'll cut in November.

Maybe ...maybe not.

Inflation still a factor both sides Atlantic...rate cut is more about trying to step on the gas with economy slowing...but 'gas' thats a $ based commodity that impacts on inflation ...Riding this better IMO
Downturn IS global so going to be argument being curve as higher rates choke but reality feels to me , UK walking the walk US all talk

 

[Smokeandsteam]

Today, we learn that Labour believe that seeking venture capitalist investment (the strategy successive UK governments have pursued since Thatcher) is an ‘industrial strategy’. Reynolds talks like the owner of micro craft beer start up and not the Business Secretary of a Labour Government…

Subscribe to read

www.ft.com

 

[Tropi]

What about Starmer and Biden almost managing to start the nuclear holocaust just a few days ago? Are you ready for the Apocalypse? Have you got enough tinned food at home?

Biden, Starmer delay decision to approve long-range strikes inside Russia

US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer postponed a decision on allowing Ukraine to use long-range Western-supplied missiles to strike inside Russia following a meeting at the…

www.france24.com

 

[tommers]

Reeves could change fiscal rules to allow more capital spending, say sources

Chancellor tells conference she will ‘look at the value and benefits of investment and not just the costs’

www.theguardian.com

I've got to say that the "we're just going to take that stuff out of the numbers and get another £15 billion" does appeal to me. You can make numbers say anything, really.

Interesting that she's now talking about investment - still not clear whether that is from public or private finances I guess.

 

[two sheds]

It’s not as bad when we do it, insist Labour

Whether it’s getting freebies from rich donors or implementing austerity-led economic policies, the new labour government has today insisted it’s “okay when we do it”.

newsthump.com

Whether it’s getting freebies from rich donors or implementing austerity-led economic policies, the new labour government has today insisted it’s “okay when we do it”.

With members of Keir Starmer’s fledgling government facing increasing scrutiny over their decisions to accept lucrative and valuable gifts from wealthy donors, the government has been forced to go on the defensive.

Downing Street spokesperson Simon Wiliams told us, “When the Tories followed the path of austerity, it was because they were ideologically driven to punish the most vulnerable in society for the benefit of the wealthy. But when we do it, it’s because we face difficult choices forced upon us by the previous government.

“When the Tories take freebies from wealthy donors, it’s because they have cultivated a culture of cronyism and entitlement where money can buy you any sort of access you need. But when we do it it’s because our supporters just want to help us make this country the best it possibly can be.

“I don’t see why this is so hard for everyone to understand?”

 

[teqniq]

Reporters Are Asking the Wrong Questions About Labour’s Freebie Fiasco | Novara Media

Journalists shouldn’t be asking government ministers why they accepted luxury gifts. They should be asking why they were given them in the first place, writes Adam Ramsay.

novaramedia.com

An interesting snippet:

 

[Tropi]

Reporters Are Asking the Wrong Questions About Labour’s Freebie Fiasco | Novara Media

Journalists shouldn’t be asking government ministers why they accepted luxury gifts. They should be asking why they were given them in the first place, writes Adam Ramsay.

novaramedia.com

An interesting snippet:

View attachment 443969

I would not expect anything else from this 'Labour'. Big corporations run the show. Move on, nothing to see here but more of the same.

 

[Smokeandsteam]

Fabulous news. Starmer and Reeves will ignore it but to be overturned by your own conference within a few months of taking office is another sign of just how bad and unpopular this government is:

 

[Tropi]

The talk of some Labour whatever on the Today Program: "we will go after benefit scroungers and make work pay".

Déjà vu. I have heard it all before. Over and over.

 

[Smokeandsteam]

They say a picture, or in this case a twitter clip, is worth a thousand words….

 

[brogdale]

Fabulous news. Starmer and Reeves will ignore it but to be overturned by your own conference within a few months of taking office is another sign of just how bad and unpopular this government is:

Yeah, but all those besuited right wing droids attending conference will be able to go home and say "look, we stood up for the poor pensioners" knowing full well that the Starmer regime will pay no attention whatsoever to their vote.

 

[Tropi]

They say a picture, or in this case a twitter clip, is worth a thousand words….

The problem now is that the working class don't see themselves like working class any more. They think they are 'entrepreneurs', 'influencers', 'self-made professionals' and the like. Have an Instagram account and think you are free? No, you are not.

 

[Tropi]

AND, WHY WON'T JIM DICKSON LEAVE?! We need a local by-election now!

 

[steeplejack]

"Jerusalem" being sung piously. If the background was blue instead of red then the Labour conference would be Tory in symbol as well as in content.

 

[GarveyLives]

The cut to the WFA becomes more perverse and pernicious by the day.

The talk of some Labour whatever on the Today Program: "we will go after benefit scroungers and make work pay".

Meanwhile, keep an eye on this ...

"Keir Starmer’s promised tax crackdown on non-doms could yield no extra funds for the Treasury, leaving a £1bn hole in the government’s planned spending for schools and hospitals. ..."

Labour crackdown on non-doms may raise no money, officials fear