Is a more left Labour government what people want?

I don't agree. Pensioners pay all the same taxes as everyone else, apart from National Insurance. I think they should also pay NI, but that's a different conversation.

Economic growth is what's needed. Minimise immigration - if there's a shortage of workers, wages will rise. I'm surprised that the Labour Party, with its union background, doesn't want this.

@Twiglets1genuine question. I’m confused how people who don’t speak any English are in the U.K. and in receipt of benefits? I have friends from EU who speak fluent English, full time jobs have really struggled to get settled status. And why is this an option. If you’re in receipt of UC it should be mandatory to go to the lessons?

Looks like you have some points. I have some questions.

How does this 35% look in practice? How many are carers, how many are disabled, how many work part time and don't earn enough to pay income tax, how many are looking for work? What would the impact on the economy be if they all started to work, for example in terms of paying for care because unpaid carers weren't available, funding the NHS so that people weren't too sick to work, paying UC top ups where applicable and so on?

Exactly what proportion of the 35% you cite are foreign workers and how are you defining foreign workers?

Could you provide some evidence and context for your second paragraph? What steps should the government take to ensure that disabled people are in work, and would you change the status of PIP as an in-work benefit? Are you working on the basis that only "low paid workers from elsewhere" (where?) are paid top-ups - is this included in your calculations?

Are you looking at factors other than immigration that might have affected GDP since 2008? Do you accept that GDP has in fact increased since 2008, albeit more slowly than pre GFC?

Do you have a source for your figures on translation and interpretation services? Would you agree that it was a false economy for the coalition government to cut spending on ESOL classes by 60% and a mistake by subsequent governments not to fully reinstate that funding? Are you arguing that people who don't speak English shouldn't have access to these services or that they shouldn't be in the UK?

Approximately 35% of working age adults in the UK paid no income tax in 2024. Of that 35% a sizeable number will also be foreign workers.

A country that pays a significant number of its own population disability and welfare benefits and allows them to stay at home and brings in low paid workers from elsewhere to do the lower end work and then tops them up in in work benefits too is a country that is circling the drain economically.

Britain's set up is not sustainable even in the short term. GDP has not moved since 2008 and this is despite adding huge numbers of immigrants who we have been consistently told have been a net gain financially.

As a slight aside, translation costs for the NHS over the last 5 years have cost the taxpayer £797,897. In 2020/21, they were £60,828. In 2024/5 they had ballooned to £261,822. How many of the people requiring translation are contributing to the British economy?

We've lost our way very badly. There is nothing moral, or upstanding, or progressive, or #bekind about being so profligate with hard earned taxpayer money when there are other things that money could and should be spent on. We are paying a heavy price for the virtue signalling of liberal idiots.

This is why so many people are flocking to Reform. I can't stand Farage, he is a charlatan. And so is Zack Polanski. But there has to be a sensible middle ground between the two. If labour don't get their arses in gear and start occupying it, I really fear for the future.

I don't agree. Pensioners pay all the same taxes as everyone else, apart from National Insurance. I think they should also pay NI, but that's a different conversation.

Economic growth is what's needed. Minimise immigration - if there's a shortage of workers, wages will rise. I'm surprised that the Labour Party, with its union background, doesn't want this.

If Labour want to become more popular they would need Shabana Mahmood as PM.

I am not expecting it to save him. He will go, but possibly not for a few months yet. Who knows, though.

Similar to the protest vote in the 2024 GE, where the majority did not vote pro-Labour.

They simply had fatigue of the Tories.

Oh how many weep now - Sunak & Hunt or Starmer & Reeves.

In any event, Starmer’s reset no.84 speech will not save him - but I think you know that….

Because your wish list is mostly spending, and higher taxation levels which are suppressing growth. (see Laffer curve)

UK isn't attractive anymore, with high employment costs, high energy and a corporation tax rate that 17% higher than the European average.

Borrowing isn't a solution, as we're already paying over £350 Million a day in interest payments.

The truth is un-electable, we need to drastically cut public spending, and I don't think that's on Angela's agenda...

Because people need someone to blame for what is wrong in their lives. They need someone to blame for the state our public services are in and the housing shortage. Farage has encouraged people, for many years, to lay the blame at the feet of immigrants. People have bought into this.

On the other hand, Reform got 27% of the vote in England. Reform didn't win in Scotland and Wales. So the majority of people aren't voting Reform, which is encouraging. Although you will find it disappointing.

I think concerns about immigration is the scape goat for a more general sense of there being scarcity. Address the scarcity people won’t be so worried about immigration.

But on a pure facts basis we need urgently working adults to come to this country and pay tax or we need British people to have more babies. Probably both.
Otherwise the baby boomer pensions will be unaffordable. The state pension is a pyramid scheme, the younger generations have to pay tax to fund the older ones. So if we see a big reduction in people of younger generations then we’re in trouble.

Well, its what I want. A Labour government that just tries to be Tories Lite is not what I want. I want a government that spends money on health, policing, education, social care, and prisons, and taxes people and corporations fairly. I really can't see what the problem is with this.

But surely if you want more right wing policies, without the outright racism of Reform, you are served by the Tories?

Lots of politically homeless Labour voters are left wing and have no choice but the Greens, a party beset with problems. Ultimately centrists are the people not being well served, and the Labour Party were, could and should be a left of centre party. At the moment they have moved into right of centre politics so no wonder many of their voters have abandoned them. And their position is madness given they will never be right wing enough to capture the votes they are chasing.

It’s not immigrants per se, but it is immigration. Significant numbers coming to live here with infrastructure not keeping pace to accommodate, plus a non contributory welfare system that means immigrants can claim all the in work benefits as soon as they start work.

Wales and Scotland have nationalist parties they can vote for. And they did.

If Labour want to become more popular they would need Shabana Mahmood as PM.

Because people need someone to blame for what is wrong in their lives. They need someone to blame for the state our public services are in and the housing shortage. Farage has encouraged people, for many years, to lay the blame at the feet of immigrants. People have bought into this.

On the other hand, Reform got 27% of the vote in England. Reform didn't win in Scotland and Wales. So the majority of people aren't voting Reform, which is encouraging. Although you will find it disappointing.

I refer to last week’s results.

Remember, many of the anti-Farage posters, previously suggested that the older demographic (or gammons as some were called) were dying off etc.

So, how do you explain his popularity now?

Proliferation of quangos, spads and onerous recording and reporting requirements.

Tories started off with the intention of rectifying some of the bloat through civil service reform but the coalition, Brexit and later Covid slowed all of that down. And the Tories were pretty much carrying on from New Labour as Cameron moved them more to the centre.