To think Starmer has shot himself in the foot.

Because it was ideological. The previous Tory government wanted to get rid of the remnants of the post war settlement. One nation Conservatism went out of the window replaced by Thatcherite ideology. We could have been in the best economic situation ever in 2010 and they would have done the same. If the cuts then really were to raise money, we would have been better off voting in the London Zoo party which would have undoubtedly done a better job.

That’s going back a bit. If you are really pro Labour high borrowing costs won’t go down well but it doesn’t make them go away.

How come Cameron didn’t borrow to invest when rates were low ? Instead he plunged the country into austerity. If we’re blaming someone for the state of the country it’s him. Sadly some cannot brook any criticism of the Conservatives.

Foreign aid isn't altruistic, it's vital in terms of international relations. Removing even a tiny percentage of it not only causes death and disease globally but reduces our standing on the world stage. And we really don't need that right now, with Trump, Brexit and general global instability.

Every single election or referendum people vote for less immigration only to get more of it.

A massive betrayal has been carried out on the British people.

It beggars belief that people still have their fingers in their ears over immigration. The country has destroyed itself.

Even with this new policy immigration will still be about 500k net (and ever increasing boat migrants of undocumented or unvetted young men ). That's a big city every year.

I would say the very lefty open borders types aren’t that numerous but terminally online so vocally conspicuous. Left wing parties really haven’t won many elections in the last 50 years, if ever, hence the drubbing Corbyn got. Do people really think 900k extra people entering the country every year is sustainable ?

I used to be a member of the Labour Party and I've voted for them every single time for 30 odd years.

This year was the first time I voted for another party. Strategic vote.

Before this polling day, I decided to never vote again and was planning on spoiling my paper because, in my eyes, they're all the same hypocritical, out for themselves arses. I feel that there is no real democracy. It's the wealthy v ordinary person and probably always has been.

The only time I will ever vote now is to vote strategically against Reform. It is absolutely terrifying that the far right is getting so many votes.

The government needs to prioritise our Country’s interests at this time, we have children going without meals, pensioners not being able to keep warm in winter and disability payments that are going to be slashed so they wont be able to survive and crippling businesses etc. Our country is bucking under the strain of the Government taking off Peter to pay Paul, our taxes should be going into the U.K instead, our NHS, emergency services, Universities and unchecked people surging into our country getting all living expenses paid for before our country goes bankrupt. Any money left over obviously goes on foreign aid but if there isn’t anything left in the pot then we can’t provide for them.

Yes, I can see that it might win over traditional Tory voters who can't stomach the far right. I guess the question is, how many of those are there, and will they be enough?

The last government had open borders so that's not saying much.

Point taken.

As a lifelong Conservative voter, Starmer has actually won me over and I never thought in a million years I would ever vote Labour. But here we are!

i can’t stand Reform and would vote tactically to prevent them getting in at the next election, but would now vote voluntarily for Starmer if tactics not needed.

I suppose therein lies the rub for Labour; if they can win over centrist voters like me then they are probably alienating their traditional left wing voters.

My husband with multiple and severe disabilities but not 4 points in any one category of daily living PIP would say otherwise. There is more chance of our dog being able to hold down a job than him (and he has tried, many times, husband not dog) but luckily Starmer will soon cure his lifelong and degenerative disabilities!

Why is the chase always on to capture Reform voters? They make up less than 20% of the electorate at best. The winning strategy is to play to the centre and have policies which appeal a bit to the left and a bit to the right of this.

We have the 2 majority parties chasing a small demographic of voters. As soon as one of them realise they’ve forgotten 80% of the potential electorate which includes the middle class workers paying a large chunk of the tax, and start making bold policies that will capture even half of that number, Reform will implode and Farage will have to think up his next vehicle for self promotion. The other major party will be dead for at least a decade.

If the LibDems can get their shit together and get some press coverage they can really make a play that they are different and have policies which will propel us out of stagnation so people start actively feeling their lives are improving.

Labour are banking on their core voters having nowhere else to go, as did the Tory’s. As soon as there’s a sensible place to go, they will go. The sensible Labour and Conservatives should defect to LibDems or create a new party.

My previous comment was misleading. There's some idea of how many people will be pushed into poverty by the proposed cuts (although many disability organisations think that the numbers are underestimated). Currently the government predicts that 250k extra people will be in poverty, organisations like Disability Rights UK and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation estimate closer to 400k including 50k children. However when you take into account the reduction in the Access to Work scheme and the government's stated intention to further cut benefits, it's a true unknown as to who will be affected and how. The average loss of household income for disabled people is estimated to be around 4.5k a year - this doesn't take into account households with multiple disability or the cost to other services when demand increases.

What MPs don't know, as it won't be available until autumn, is how many people will be helped into work as a result of the cuts. However it looks likely to be a small number. One survey found a total of ten jobs in the UK where applicants could work part time from home for an accredited Disability Confident employer which sounds about accurate to me.

I truly wish Mr Starmer could spend a few days at work with me, trying to get people into work (not DWP). It would be such an eye opener for him.

Oh I think he is widely despised. It’s not loyalty to him. At the moment a week is a long time in politics, so who knows what will happen between now and the next election. A lot depends on his ability to deliver something substantial. Do I think he will? No! But you never know. If he got a real handle on immigration do that people can see and feel that burden lifting, if he makes people feel richer through an improved economy with more job opportunities, and if he improved the perilous state of the NHS then his electoral fortunes will change. But to do that he needs to put the British people first. He was stupid enough to admit on camera that he prefers the unelected networking forum of Davos to our ancient parliament in Westminster, which doesn’t bode well.

Except he spent the first ten months demonising and attacking those Reform voters with dog whistle far right stuff and you’re likely underestimating how much he is loathed by them.

According to Labour.( and we don’t know otherwise yet as the specifics haven’t been announced ) those people who will be affected will be those who can work and don’t have a 4 rating based on the new criteria.
They won’t be those who are severely disabled and unable to work.

No. Firstly, a lot of Reform voters are Old Labour and would love to be welcomed back into the fold. Old loyalties die hard. Secondly, immigration is genuinely a severe problem. It’s creating massive infrastructure and taxation problems that the government can’t manage. This is not a left/right issue. Denmark has an anti-immigration left wing government. All Sweden’s parties are left of centre by U.K. standards, with a high tax, high welfare, big state set up. They are currently repatriating large numbers of people and have negative inward migration figures. You can’t have a leftwing welfare state and porous borders for very long because it’s not economically viable. Labour have to choose.

Ditto

lol

Sorry, I meant people coming to the U.K illegally, I can’t edit my post and change it now.

Ok thanks for letting me know 🤣

I’m assuming MPs will get the relevant information first though.
No one else has seen it. It’s not published yet for anyone to number crunch the stats to put out anything factually based in the public domain

Care work is - despite what Mr Starmer or Ms Badenoch would have you believe - skilled work and about much more than "wiping backsides". Saying that denigrates those who work in care and those who receive it.