To wonder what could Starmer do, to turn things around?

True - other than the Conservatives got a bashing at the last election, we've listened and will change- but without giving us any proposals on what that change actually is.

Even more silence from Ed Davey and the LibDems who are the third largest party with 72 MPs yet I don't think I've heard a peep out of them.

Kemi has yet to say anything substantial.

@Papyrophile

"They should have increased the basic rate of income tax across the board."

Which like all tax rises would have just cut economic growth further.

Seeing as KS is disliked so much, how’s Kemi doing ? For a bit of balance 😂

@Katypp no one is saying everything Labour does is brilliant. Far from it. The press has been vicious about literally everything they’ve done. Take the deportation of foreign criminals. Have you seen a positive headline about it from the Daily Mail or
Telegraph ? I’m pretty certain Ian Hislop has written about it and he is no labour loyalist.

Thanks for the link @maxplanck but it's not a source that gets any traction in the SW. And as a PP points out, it's highly partial and out of date regarding transport disputes.

As any fair-minded person should concede, government is much harder than opposition.

Same and I agree on the press, and many do actually dislike Starmer they don’t need the media to help with that

I generally agree with this. I think Labour are making an absolute hash of things, but I don't think it comes from malice, just inexperience and naivety.
I do wish people would stop banging on about right-wing press, headlines against Labour etc though. Labour are getting a pasting because they are making a mess of things, the same as the Tories did when they made a mess of things. Is there any reason why Labour should get a free pass?
I do find it incredibly frustrating when posters will not deviate from Everything Labour Does Is Brilliant line without stopping to think how they would react if the Tories had eg removed WFP and if they would be fine with it if that were the case. I strongly suspect not.
I do think Starmer is the drip that never dropped, but the two I would remove would be Rachel Reeves (who lied about her past experience, but that's fine evidently because, Labour) and I think is every bit as dangerous as Liz Truss was the economy with a side helping of arrogance thrown in, and Bridget Phillipson, who seems incapable of answering any question without it turning it into a rant about the Tories. Not a good look for a minister.

I'll read the whole thing later, but it seems to have been written by a Labour PR person...

Take the first one - resolved long running labour disputes. Events have overtaken this claim and there are train strikes again, with doctors, nurses, teachers and public sector workers uniions all talking about or threatening new strikes. So I don't think that can be claimed as 'done' at all.

On the second, which focusses on minimum wage increase and the triple lock, the previous government also raised the minimum / living wage by way above inflation, and stuck to the triple lock. So, if doing the same as before equals doing something then great, but I think the expectation was they'd do something different. Meanwhile, the initial key pledge of growth is nowhere to be seen, and indeed hs gone backwards... As will most people disposable incomes when the effect of the government raising the energy price cap by £300 and higher than inlation council tax bills take effect...

They were forced in to a corner not to raise taxes I suspect because of the press and the undoubted attacks on their financial acumen. Maybe that says more about Starmer’s leadership skills, who knows ?

https://eastangliabylines.co.uk/politics/the-first-6-months-what-has-labour-actually-done/
This is interesting but how many will read it.

There's always the Starmeristas chat threads BIossomToes.

But broadly, I agree that there are now as many anti-government threads as there were before the election. Only the Government has changed. And yes, I also agree that expecting a complete turnaround in six months is extremely unrealistic. Not helped by the failures of Louise Haigh and Tulip Siddiq, or a fairly punitive budget. However, trying to tip toe around the promise not to increase any of the 'big' taxes was a hiding to hell. They should have increased the basic rate of income tax across the board.

I wish Starmer would be more honest about the absolute mess that is Brexit. Even now the full impact hasn’t been felt and that’s what’s holding growth back.

Whatever they do, they've got to get more money into the hands of 'normal' people. Voters will stand for less money for a short time, especially if they believe in the reasons why and can start to see the improvements. What they won't do is feel like they are being fleeced forever. People WANT to feel life life is getter better for them and their families. A future view that looks just as hard, or worse, is not going to win the next election.

Whoever is left in 5 years time (in any party), the tag line "things are going to be tough while we clean up the mess the last guys left" is not going to cut any sway with voters by then, I don't think. Life needs to feel more optimistic than that - or there really will be a polticial mess to follow.

But that was also the case for the previous government as well. There were far more 'anti' threads than those in favour. That's the nature of the game they are playing. I suspect what some on the left can't handle/accept/understand is that now Labour are in power they are accountable, and so of course they are going to attract criticism. Particularly as only a third of the electorate voted from them, as much if not more of that third was an anti Tory vote as much as it was pro Labour, and they have had, of their own making, 6 months of own-goals.

For there to be pro Labour threads you need an actual Labour supporter to champion what they have done, and that means done and not just talked about in endless re-sets of pledeges, missions, milestones and foundations. Now, that's difficult in 6 months...but that's not the public's fault. They are just contrasting what the now government said and did when it was in opposition to what it is saying and doing now.

Well off pensioners who have pensions way in excess of many working peoples salaries should pay NI. That's me by the way.

By then the media had turned I agree with you. Plus a lot of this is Labour stuffing up and alienating people.

Public sector not as yet but we’re not all that sector

Plus wrong footing decisions and Starmer’s general ability to get public onside

Agree. Even the Guardian btl now reads like the Daily Telegraph. Huge change.
There was a thread on Reddit the other day about the achievements of the government over the last 7 months and most were quite surprised by wha5 had been done. None of it is being covered in MSM. Most folk I know are sick of the constant bashing. Might not be massive supporters but the opinion is just let them get on with it.

I agree, I don't think he's PM material, but I do think there is no one to take his place currently.

For those calling for the resignation of Keir Starmer, who in the Labour Party would you want to replace him?

For all his inexperience and mistakes, I genuinely think he means well and is a long way better than any of the Labour alternatives.

Lastly with their current majority there is absolutely no way Labour would call an early election.

Mainstream media wasn’t nearly as critical of the last government before the election as it has been of this one since. What can you do about it? We have a free press.

And the other parties?

@BIossomtoes

"That would be extremely difficult, given that the vast majority of mainstream media is right leaning."

If that were the case then firstly why was the MSM so critical of the Conservative Party ahead of last year's election and secondly if you genuinely believe that the vast majority of the MSM is right leaning then what would you do about it?

Haha

There are no pro Labour threads. Or if there are I have yet to find them. Plenty of government bashing ones though.