Andy's first U turn

But surely someone in Government could see this issue arising with early release? Why are the questions only being asked now?
Starmer's Government got off to a slow start, which was surprising as they knew they were going to get voted in. Why is everything so reactive and slow? Labour need to get on the front foot and anticipate these problems. Surely the Prisons Minister was aware?

That we are not a dictatorship and that PMs are entitled to change their mind? Not when they've not thought through the logistics of a notion, before they publicly air it. It's a school boy error, not to mention hugely unfair on PC Harper's family, if that's the backtracking in question.

Another three years of Labour and that inherited line will fade. They’ll be accountable for policies.

He asked for a review of the policy which seemed to be at odds with both public opinion and what a decent society would want.
Despite those that may not wish to hear it, it is a legacy of 14 years of Tories and what they did to the criminal justice system and prison and probation pertaining to this thread.
AB led the devolution for NPS manchester and understands the issues.

All 43 chief Constable have written to him.
it is an emotive subject and I understand that other families whose loved ones have been killed by a driver are feeling the same.
However, in society there does need to be more deterrent for those who kill and injure police officers and other crown servants.
we police by consent.

Andy is saying - tell me how we change the law to make this happen.

whixh is what we need for a shit load of other laws and policies we have inherited

@Greenleavesandsunshine There may well be other cases that are equally as bad but the police look after their own. That’s why we are now hearing about it. They have a publicity machine but other people don’t. I dislike politics based on who shouts the loudest.

I put forward two points of view, it’s for you to agree or disagree with either point. Is it an insult to imply I think my point is correct? It’s not better it’s just different.

I agree to a large extent, it’s the knee jerk rather than the U turn that is a cause for concern. There’s a fine line between listening, reacting and being led. The thing that irritates me is treating some prisoners differently because the person they killed is well known, but that’s politics. Early days though.

Apparently, there is a lot of work going on with the PLP AB has appointed a large number of Parliamentary Private Secretaries to try to control the backbenchers and he has a better political touch than the managerial Starmer.

I agree that leaders don’t need to be liked and popular but I fear we might be in the minority these days and AB might be riding the wave of easy popularity.

Yes and this is from the people who insist they know more about politics than others from different political disciplines. What is so hard to fathom about the leader of the opposition and the press, plus voters putting the government under the spotlight?

@Fluffyholeysocks After the chancellor resigned from his previous role as Defence Secretary, not finding money for defence would be seen as a considerable failure. However Burnham will promise anything and in the meantime Ang adds costs to business with employment contract laws. We hear Labour want more employment but then prefer the union model which piles on costs.

All rather lengthy just to say you think you're better than everyone else. It doesn't work like that. You've said something and nothing.

And Labour supporters are critical of KB. There’s no it’s complex and hard understanding of changes in position. They try to capitalise on it.

There’s more scrutiny in power but they enjoyed criticising the last gov, so it’s now them in the spotlight.

I agree @MeetMeOnTheCorner there needs to be clarity of purpose and policy within Government. A strong leader who can take difficult decisions knowing his Cabinet and Party are behind him. We don't want decisions taken because the left wing back benchers need to be kept on side. I don't see a unified PLP - where are we on Defence? Is there more money or not? Yes, we know the 'difficult decisions need to be made' on Welfare message but what does that mean?

@Imdunfer @Greenleavesandsunshine is mostly correct. There should not be a dictator but there should be clarity of purpose and policy. Burnham should not keep bowing to public opinion and should not keep making contradictory announcements from his office.

It’s clear the sentencing policy when the two were sentenced is not the same as now. They were convicted of manslaughter as are many many others in prison. Either they include manslaughter for consideration for early release, or they don’t. Picking on two prisoners for “special” ie less favourable, consideration does not feel like a justice policy that is fair. I can see legal wrangling on the horizon. I don’t see how they can be recategorised either. They are serving the sentence they were given and presumably cannot be retried. Plus other deaths caused by manslaughter are less important are they? Even someone’s child?

Knee jerk policies are poor politics and Burnham needs to learn that leadership is not just about being liked and popular.

And that’s your issue, politics is gotcha and games. Your witty little comment and laughing emoji, really showed me, made me look stupid. Demonstrating a startling lack of insight about your position but Ha gotcha, you win, I lose. Politics is about winners and losers and that attitude is why, as a country, we all lose.

Politics should be complicated and hard, it’s about running a country, educating children, seeing to the needs of health, education and the economy. That’s hard.

You seem to want it to be all laid out, in simple terms with no complexity, and most of all you want your side to win and the other side to look small and stupid.

Of course Badenoch is critical of the government, that’s her job. The leader of the opposition should hold the government to account and scrutinise them. I WANT her to do a good job as that’s essential for democracy.

But they’re not. And Badenoch must be slipping because she isn’t either.

Labour would be critical anyway of the same if they were in opposition.

I don’t know about her, I did.

What we need is a dictator. Someone like Putin who says what he means and means what he says. We don’t need policy discussions and we absolutely don’t need PMs who considers public opinion. We need a strong leader who doesn’t bother allowing the public to understand the complexities of government.

Listen to yourself!

Alternatively, the public is just too stupid to be aware of complex legalities and political compromises. Once the public hear something you have to do it because fundamentally anything complicated just confuses them and makes them angry. Changing your mind is the worst thing a PM can do because the public can’t cope.

Rather naively I think most of the public can follow discussions and ideas, if we argue in good faith and try to avoid gotcha policies. Although, reading MN at the moment I think I may well be wrong.

He wasn’t. It was widely acknowledged that party management was shocking and he failed to roll the pitch for his policies. As a result they were presented to backbenchers as a fait accompli and - strangely - they rebelled. It seems Burnham’s style is more collaborative and he’s interested in exploring problems and not just demanding solutions. Yvette Cooper’s interview on Political Currency is very illuminating on the inner workings of the Starmer government.

The policy u-turns from Starmer were different political situations - winter fuel discount for example was a fully-costed proactive budget proposal, not an occurrence requiring a response in real time.

But why do you feel a PM shouldn't talk about complicated issues as things evolve - why do you feel the need to have one fixed answer and done?

The world IS complicated.

I haven't seen video of the statements, I just read that thinking was evolving - I expected that to happen because it's obvious this is a pretty uncommon situation.