Kemi Badenoch

What has her race or her sex got to do with anything? Though of course, should she win she'll be the first black woman to lead a political party in the UK.

She can speak her own mind, and she does.

I suspect Starmer will be gone too.....an interesting time ahead.

Are you, have you ever been, or are you likely to ever vote Tory?

Then we disagree. She is certainly courting former Tory voters and members who have turned to Reform but given how fickle the Tories are, it's highly unlikely she'll be around in five years.

I thought she seemed absolutely appalling from the first time I heard anything she had to say. I'd imagine if others felt similarly that might be when it started to 'go wrong'.
I'd say it went wrong when she decided to go into politics and spout racism and sexism, obviously because she's being controlled by someone else. Why would a sane black woman say/do the things she does?

No. The conservatives are looking to win over Reform voters. Previous Tory voters didn’t vote Labour - Labour got less votes than in either the last two elections. They voted Reform. The new leader of the Conservative Party needs to win those voters back. If she does that she is likely to stay and, at the rate Labour are going, win the next election.

I don't see her moving to a party with so little power although she certainly aligns with their values. But you're right, neither will be around long enough to get near power.

I half expect neither to hang on until then. But consider where the voters are they are looking to move over to the Tories - Reform

She'll be gone by the next election.👌

Kemi gets through to the last two in the leadership competition.

Personally think Jenrick is slippery and shape-shifting to suit his personal ambition. At least you know what you are getting with Kemi.

I see Labour have just announced that NI is to go up.

Maybe it would be better if additional contributions were put into clearly defined pots named 'Health' 'Maternity' and so on.........otherwise NI is just general taxation by another name?

Cleverly out. Kemi into the last two with the highest number of MP votes.

but others maybe need to look towards a future in which pensions and health services will have to be paid into via some sort of additional contributions insurance scheme.

It could be called ‘National Insurance’

Yes, i agree......the most vulnerable need to have a safety net.....but others maybe need to look towards a future in which pensions and health services will have to be paid into via some sort of additional contributions insurance scheme.

Labour has already floated the idea that in future even receipt of the state pension may have to be means tested.

I agree Badenoch is ideological. And I also understand that small businesses have different challenges to larger ones. But sickness pay and maternity leave/statutory maternity pay (that is a benefit paid centrally) should not be conflated. The only people having babies are women, and this has to be accommodated in some way by our societal structures that doesn’t impose a personal financial penalty directly on women. At least it does if we want women participating in the economy.
I think Kemi makes the mistake of many ideological Tories which is being unable to imagine not having surplus income that allows you to never depend on wider society at any point in your life. Most people on normal incomes will need the support of wider society at some point, especially if serious illness strikes, or old age comes along.

When it comes down to it there could be said to be two basic ideological strands of thought; one that individuals and families/communities have to take responsibility for their own lives, and that the function of the state is to loosely regulate and moderate affairs; and the other is that the state is there to look after the individual and be a provider for all needs.

Conservatives tend to see business and enterprise as the generator of wealth, progress and opportunity whereas Labour has traditionally looked to the public sector to act as the provider for and the protector of people. But in taking on that role it seeks to enforce public sector values onto private businesses.

If you look at many/most Labour councillors in our towns and cities you'll find that most have come from the public sector - and so have little experience with business or commerce.

Lots of environmentalists don’t

Do we want women to carry on having babies or not?

Thinks what exactly? That it provides a large regulatory burden on business?

Thinks what? Explain.

I mean, that stuff about maternity pay was batshit. Who thinks that? Bonkers.

Yes, but Badenoch's point and persepective is quite ideological, as well as systemic, in that she believes people need to take more responsibility for their own well being - and that forcing small businesses to have to pay high rates of benefit is too restrictive and punitive.

If you look at it this way - Labour's newly announced policy that people must have every benefit from day one of their employment: sickness, maternity, and so on..it is easy to see how this could cause far too much pressure on many small businesses. Then we could be back to the days of employers being reluctant to employ women of childbearing age, let alone older people with established medical conditions or histories of depression and so on.

Public sector jobs tend to have high rates of absenteeism and sickness.....but private businesses could not cope with that in the same way.

But that is an additional cost that each woman has to pay that a man doesn’t need to. It would be a direct structural disadvantage to women in employment. We do need someone to have babies.

Alternative models could be insurance based - such as those that people currently take out/pay into for pensions or for health.

What model would it be? It’s either compulsory for employers to provide maternity leave, or it’s voluntary.

And if it’s voluntary, how many businesses will offer it? My guess would be only at very high paying professional roles. Where does that leave ordinary women’s ability to hold down a job through the years of child bearing? Effectively excluding many women from work or making their employment precarious is absolutely SHIT for the economy. The country can’t afford to waste women’s labour and women’s talent and potential. Maternity leave is the price we pay to enable this greater good for our country’s GDP as a whole.