To think Starmer has shot himself in the foot.

Their jobs first and not crashing out after one term probably

I used to live and work in 2 countries, both islands, that got immigration right.

They needed highly skilled people, and very low skilled people, and didn’t need people in the middle. If your company tried to get a work permit for a job that could be done by a local, it got rejected and they got a warning that their future requests would be denied.

In addition, there were very tight controls. You received no benefits, and you had to have private medical insurance. If you broke the law you had your work permit cancelled. Before you got your work permit you had to have a medical and if you had something they didn’t like (Hep C, aids ) it was denied. If you were a very low level worker, and you got pregnant, you work permit was denied.

Everyone got along mostly and we all celebrated and included everyone in each others festivals.

The both had loads of police who would be on the beat and they’d stop you, ask for your ID, and check it on some database. It was illegal not to carry your ID. They then took illegals away and then deported them without all the handwringing we have here.

Its simple, other do it and don’t have boat loads rocking up seeking asylum as they know they won’t get to stay and they’d get zero assistance.

Their paymasters! The public sector unions. Nothing else matters to them as they can't bite the hand that feeds them.

What do the LP actually believe in?

The issue for him is he spent the first ten months calling the same people far right and dog whistle etc and now wants them back.

Plus people who do rely on state support probably voted for Labour last time and didn’t expect it to be cut.

Odd take. But we agree, she was alienating the disabled long before the shit hit the fan.

Meanwhile, ten years, three general elections, six prime ministers, a pandemic and Brexit later …

I agree. The "red wall" changed to Boris first, resulting in his landslide win, and now shifted to Reform. Labour hasn't "attracted" those areas for a while now yet they clearly want something different.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/rachel-reeves-says-labour-does-not-want-to-represent-people-out-of-work-10114614.html

"We are not the party of people on benefits. We don’t want to be seen, and we're not, the party to represent those who are out of work," Reeves, 2015

Yeah my mistake, I thought I'd read somewhere that they plans would only focus on those receiving universal credit, and that they'd need to be eligible for PIP to claim

I think you need to take a look at the language used by Rachel Reeves over the last ten years and the policies in the pipeline laid by Kendall.

I think you need to look at how the Nazis treated disabled and otherwise "othered" people before they really got going.

Pragmatic politicians listen to the mood of the public, and act accordingly. If politicians don't listen to the public and don't change and act based on that, we'd be angry. He is simply doing his job. Adjusting to the mood of the public. Which is what we should expect from a leader and Prime Minister. Ignoring the public is political death.

I’m guessing a fair few who will be hit by this voted Labour at the last GE.

The issue is does Starmer care if those votes are lost and who would they vote for instead

Just ask the 40 Labour backbenchers who can't stomach the government reforms.

Yes, Labour are the real champions of those with disabilities 😁

@TheQuickRobin

i actually wasn’t assuming anything about your opinions specifically and it’s really interesting that you think that I was 😁. What I was saying in a long winded way was that in my view KS’s speech needed to go a bit beyond the technocratic and bland “immigration is a bit too high, the system is a bit broken, the numbers need to come down and we need to look at a few things here”, which is what I felt you might be saying that he should have said and anything beyond that would definitely alienate his own side without picking up any other votes. I honestly don’t think that is true at all - i think it’s hard to look as if you are fixing a problem if you are not articulating what the issues might be and why it matters, so I do think he needed to go a bit further, though “island of strangers” is not to my taste. I think that there is a lot of anger in the country, even within KS’s coalition of Labour voters, which is very broad but quite shallow (blue Labour, red wall etc). I think that there are a lot of voters who voted for KS due to frustrations with the incompetence and cravenness of the tories without any love or understanding of his particular values or vision. I don’t think they will necessarily turn out again for bland, better than the alternative, technocracy if what brought them out last time was a protest against the tories. He needs to demonstrate competence, but also understanding and connection to have a chance with the floating voters, especially whilst making it more expensive to employ people for small businesses and removing certain benefits.

Disgusting. I genuinely don't know how you can live with yourself.

Better hope you never become disabled because you'd be fucked for the policies those evil fuckers are bringing in.

Trouble is we probably have another 4 years until the next election, heaven help us..

It’s a reasonable point that you can vote him out if you don’t like it! The UK hasn’t suddenly become a dictatorship

If you're referring to the changes proposed in the recent Green Paper, loads of people will lose their PIP if it goes ahead.

According to the response to a recent FOI request, 87% of people getting the standard rate of the daily living component didn't get 4 or more points in any one descriptor. They will lose the daily living component of their PIP if the Green Paper changes go ahead.

Like most of the government, he is way out of his depth and his perception of the nation's mood is nil.

He has forgotten he is a elected PM and not a dictator...

I am just about in agreement with @matresense and would be in the Yvette Cooper camp on migration. The UK has lost its way in terms of what it does for all its people and the quality of life they lead.

The system in this white paper looks very much like Switzerland. They are extremely picky and they are very successful in managing migration. I spend a lot of time there professionally and I think the UK has a lot to learn from them.

Yes he has, that's his shtick. But he's not wrong when he claims that high immigration is having a negative impact on housing and health care. Labour's policies (which they failed to mention pre GE) have really pissed off an awful lot of voters.

I was reading that article when you posted. There’s very little in it to disagree with.