To think no one can SERIOUSLY want Starmer to go now, it’s media created instability designed to damage the UK.

I agree, and if you really think about it the numbers are terrible. Public sector spending is around 45% of GDP. Public sector spending grew by 5% in 2025, so on the basis that 5% of 45% is 2.25%, public spending is responsible for 2.25% of GDP growth in 2025. Yet GDP growth in total for 2025 was only 1.4%.

So Government policy has reduced the private sector by 0.85%. And the problem is that the 0.85% shrinkage in 2025 is gone, and will negatively compound going forwards, reducing the size of the economy and income. Whereas the increase in public spending will compound upwards going forwards, increasing cost. Falling income and higher costs tend to lead to a crisis at some point. A shrinking private sector and growing public sector never ends well...

Olly Robbins was right to say Starmer had a dangerous misunderstanding of the process. KS got it wrong and sacked someone he shouldn’t.

I'm still catching up admittedly, but I'm finding it interesting how many times Olly Robbins says 'Number 10' and 'the PM's office', not 'Keir Starmer'.

'Number 10' is a big machine, comprising politicians and paid staff. The staff don't tell Keir Starmer everything they know as it comes in, as we have seen with the senior civil servants.

The Telegraph, Independent and Mail want Starmer out for their own (varied) purposes.

So reform.

I'm not a Tory voter. My interest is getting rid of Starmer and then Labour.

I agree, and most of it entirely preventable and of their own maknig,

but the same applies to the tories. There was no stability under them either.

We certainly have no stability under Labour - they've lurched from one crisis to the next since they came to power.

Starmer can’t avoid scrutiny just due to this. He needs to be accountable.

That's your prerogative. We can agree to disagree. :-)

Ultimately, I'm a swing voter between labour/lib dem. But what we need to remember is that it's not fucking normal to be trying to change PM every two years. It's that bloody instability for the last ten years that has led to the UK declining.

@Codyrhodesisaheel I'm afraid I don't see many positives and when out canvassing for the upcoming local elections, very few people have anything positive to say about the current government.

Five days ago, the BBC reported; "UK economy grew faster than expected in February ahead of Iran war" "The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the economy grew by a faster-than-expected 0.5%, while it revised its estimate for January up to 0.1% after previously saying the start of the year had seen no growth."

Let's not cherry pick data to suit the narrative.

In March, the OBR - the government's official forecaster - cut its prediction for how much the UK's economy would grow across 2026 from 1.4% to to 1.1%. This forecast was also made before the start of the war began.

In April, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said it expected the conflict to hit the UK the hardest of the world's advanced economies. It cut its estimate for UK growth in 2026 from 1.3% to to 0.8%.

Pretty dismal I would say.

Absolutely, this is worrying. But could much of that be because of AI taking over jobs?

Just look at retail. When I was a teenager, we all had Saturday jobs on the high street; either those shops don't exist anymore, or it's been replaced by self-service checkouts. The grad jobs I worked in, such as reception/admin staff, have gone because AI can do it all. It's seriously scary, but that would have also happened under any other party.

I agree, certainly the first 18 months, labour has hammered small businesses like mine and my husband. We are both working at capacity, so we are personally seeing significant financial benefits, but the way that the rules are set up, it's almost impossible to hire anyone to help because we would need to be earning 3-4 times MORE to justify one wage.

But also, i want to point out that it was labour who has really helped make a change to late invoice payments for freelancers like myself. Not like Rishi Sunak who excluded 3m people like myself from any covid financial support. Funnily enough, i'm still remembering that one...

Ultimately, I want to look at the positives. I'm trying really hard to look beyond so called 'fake news' and see whats actually happening, because I can't cope with this never ending cycle of negativity when there ARE some positive things happening. Thank god for the good news sub on Reddit!

His own cabinet are starting to distance from him now, Ed this morning and now Yvette. Shame, I think he had further to sink Labour.

Unemployment was 4.4% when Labour came to power - an increase to 5.2% is shocking and at 4.9%, it remains significantly above the level in mid-2024. Far worse is that youth unemployment is now at 16.1% - potentially damaging the prospects of a generation.

Yep. I wonder if it’s dawning on KS yet given OR’s committee response how much he’s fucked up.

He used him as a scapegoat to a full house, he should step down.

I’d agree that a bite of cake doesn’t even come close to the Peter Mandelson affair. Looks practically quaint.

To be fair, he has increased unemployment, and youth unemployment in particular.

Main headline on the BBC as we speak - "Unemployment fell to 4.9% in the three months to February, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, despite predictions it would remain unchanged at 5.2%"

"Meanwhile, wages rose at an annual pace of 3.6% between December and February, the weakest rate since late 2020. Despite the slowdown, pay is still rising faster than inflation."

Also from the FE published today - "UK unemployment rate for people aged 16 years and over is estimated at 4.9%, a drop from 5.2% in March 2026"

He has also reduced economic growth, and increased the national debt, interest bill and taxes all at the same time.

Five days ago, the BBC reported; "UK economy grew faster than expected in February ahead of Iran war" "The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the economy grew by a faster-than-expected 0.5%, while it revised its estimate for January up to 0.1% after previously saying the start of the year had seen no growth."

He has made people worse off in real terms since coming into power.

Anecdotally, as a freelance copywriter, I'm working at full capacity for the first time since May 2024. I've been able to raise my rates and still attract new clients.

He set out to increase the number of homes built in the UK by 1.5 million, but is currently 2 million homes behind.

I don't know about these numbers, but I personally think more should be done to repurpose empty buildings than build new ones. There was a FOI by my local paper recently, they asked the local council and discovered there were 49k empty homes in our town. With that number of empty properties, surely it makes sense to solve that issue first?

So, measured against what he set out to achieve he's not done a great job.

According to pledge process (https://pledgeprogress.co.uk/) 16% of pledges have been kept, 41.7% in progress, 0.5% compromised and 0.5% broken.

This isn't serious surely?

Particularly this line - "Mainstream media is left wing biased so they’ve given him nothing like what they do more right wing parties"

It has not been a requirement for candidates to make their address public since, I think, 2010. I agree though, that even the abbreviated electoral role would have his address. Even without that however, it'd be pretty easy to find out, especially in the case of a high profile person, by just following them!

Conspiracy theories abound about Starmer's links to Mandelson and Doyle and the arsonists that targeted his house. In the case of Mandelson and Doyle it seems to me that it's no more complicated than simple payback. They helped him get elected, in return they got / were promised, a nice cushy overseas posting, all expenses paid, that would let them further their personal networking and income generating opportunities. Good old fashioned cronyism. No more complicated than that.

As for the Romanian arsonists - it seems more likely that someone with a grudge bunged them some money to torch Starmer's house than there being any direct link between their alleged primary income source and Starmer. I am not sure why there's such a cover-up/media blackout in the UK on the subject though...that's a bit odd, unless they are simply treating it as a security matter?

To be fair, he has increased unemployment, and youth unemployment in particular. He has also reduced economic growth, and increased the national debt, interest bill and taxes all at the same time. He has increased doctors pay while not resolving their actual dispute, indeed he has annoyed them more than they were before. He's also increased train drivers pay while reducing the punctuality of trains. He has made people worse off in real terms since coming into power. He set out to increase the number of homes built in the UK by 1.5 million, but is currently 2 million homes behind. So, measured against what he set out to achieve he's not done a great job. Now, from memory many of the targets were to be achieved by the end of this parliament - but it seems unlikely that many of the meaningful ones will will be achieved.

As someone who no longer lives in the UK, I can also safely say that he has significantly worsened the rest of the world's perception of UK Government, bar his masterful inaction in participation over the illegal war in Iran. A charitable person would attribute the outcome of his approach as planned, a less charitable (but widely held, here in Europe at least) take is that at last, for him, doing nothing has turned out to be the best cause of action

The most disappointing thing of all though, is that he set his stall out on being better than the alternatives when it came to sleaze, and yet he and his government have portrayed the very worst of cronyism, self interest and protectionism in record time of taking office.

I still have questions about how a young Ukrainian male model knew the whereabouts of Keir’s address.

It’s on every candidate’s election material. Probably on the electoral register too.

I wonder about this too. I still have questions about how a young Ukrainian male model knew the whereabouts of Keir’s address. I don’t recall the media asking that question but I may have missed it.

I also noted that when connections with Epstein were raised, Mandelson was quick to state that he hadn’t abused any girls. I don’t recall the MSM asking whether he had abused any little boys. Why, when it seems the obvious question? I feel a huge amount is hidden that needs to come out now. Unless I missed all that too.

Agree with this entirely.

Agree that the press are creating problems . What I like about Starmer is he is being firm on not joining Israel’s war. Remember Reform are all for it .