Anyone actually excited about a Keir / Labour govt?

[roarrfeckingroar]

I'm typically a Tory voter (one nation Conservative, just right of centre, nothing radical) and gender critical, so I'm wary of a Labour government. I worry they'll leave the country worse than it is now.

However, I absolutely agree we need a change. Things can't get much worse, can they? Idiots like Boris and Truss have made a mockery of what I understand of the Conservatives - namely economic competence - and I can't vote for them this time. I don't know who I will vote for.

Listening to LBC this evening, I hear a Labour MP talk about how Starmer is offering an "exciting programme" of change and I just don't buy it. Maybe he will he better, maybe he won't, but my real question is is anyone genuinely excited about Labour, or just looking forward to the back of the Tories?

The law on the subject is quite clear.

I don’t think people have any idea just how bad things can get. They have short memories of the overspending, spiralling economy and lack of competence.

Do you live abroad @BananaSplitsss ?

Excellent post

Not really, scans like the same old dreary bollocks that’s been pumped for god knows how long now: Oooh labour are going to be soooo awful, blub, you can’t trust them, etc🥱

It’s just not cutting now, when people look day to day about what is going on around them with the state and direction of the country. The quality of those in charge and the choices they’re making. Dismal.

Perhaps put it to the test and see, sooner the better imo, for the sake of a stable government that’s not tearing itself apart, as the Tories have been doing this last decade whilst the business of actually running the country gets forgotten about.

Jgw1 - You obviously agree with Starmer. How depressing and worrying.

If by that you mean that the law of the land should be obeyed, then yes I agree with Starmer, who unlike Sunak doesn't think that the law doesn't apply to him.

Calling non labour voters, who have thought through why they wont vote labour next time "thick " isnt the best way to persuade them to vote labour in.

And starmer may well be statesman like to you, but I've seen him in the flesh. Hes just a normal middle aged man. Who permanently looks like he trapped his finger in a drawer. He has no answers to fix anything. Hes planning to tax power companies iirc, and use that money. But that money wont stretch everywhere. Yet it's going to fix, the NHS, schools, green shite, wages, police, social services. You name it, this one time tax will fix it.
He thinks we are stupid. He thinks we dont remember previous labour governments. I bloody remember.

Apparently proposing a change in the law so the EqA defines biological sex is too much for Starmer

He (like the pp) can only quote the law as it is as a PM can’t change it

Well, recently KS said that he doesn't know what socialism is.

He's trying not to upset anyone.

These are tiny considerations compared with a government who has taken a bulldozer to all of our public services.

If this is all you can find to take issue with then...

He has no answers to fix anything. Hes planning to tax power companies iirc, and use that money. But that money wont stretch everywhere. Yet it's going to fix, the NHS, schools, green shite, wages, police, social services that the Conservative government have broken over the last 13 years.

It is going to be difficult to raise enough funds to repair the damage the Conservative party have inflicted on the UK. As for green shite, the Conservatives are going to allow energy companies to charge the consumer more money to encourage them to invest in green technology, just what we all need right now, even higher fuel bills !

Hopefully our civil service will protect us from the inevitable Labour Party overspending.

Yes please, the Tories have to go, they're rotten to the core at this point.

Whereas Sunak and his ministers are icons of pleasance.

No, you only have to look at Wales to see what would happen. They had the perfect opportunity to really show people that it would be better under Labour but they didn't. What a shitshow and as for handling finances better how many labour councils have declared bankruptcy last year...shambles!

Education is my main concern, then a definitive description of what a woman is, then financial stability (and growth!).
The bankruptcy of Labour’s Birmingham council concerns me though.

Hopefully our civil service will protect us from the inevitable Labour Party overspending

Overspending lol.

Oh my goodness! Have you seen the figures?

https://www.statista.com/statistics/282647/government-debt-uk/

That isn’t what Starmer said today.

I mentioned earlier in the thread that I visited Wales over the holidays, and I must say it was lovely to walk around towns with cars going much slower than in England, that is certainly a people centred policy that could be extended to the rest of the country.

I am not excited. And I have been a Tory all my voting life that is also voting for a 20 % increase in my 3 children’s already hefty school fees. But the Conservatives have pissed away a working 80 majority through arrogance and inability to have any kind of strategy. So they deserve to be kicked out as it might make them think about the future and what they need to do to be given the opportunity to govern again.

And yes I will be continuing to pay those school fees.

Does the bankruptcy of the conservative councils such as Nottingham and Thurrock also concern you?

as for handling finances better how many labour councils have declared bankruptcy last year.

About the same number as Tory ones. This government has been equal handed in its funding starvation.

In December, research by the Local Government Association revealed that almost 1 in 5 council leaders and chief executives think it is very or fairly likely that they will need to issue a Section 114 notice this year, or next year due to funding shortfalls. The LGA has estimated that local authorities in England face a funding gap of £4bn over the next two years.

Shaun Davies, the chair of the LGA and leader of Telford and Wrekin Council said “no council is immune to the risk of running into financial difficulty” and added that “if councils cannot thrive then our communities cannot thrive”. He has called on the government to act urgently “to address the acute financial challenge faced by councils”.

I’m a swing voter, have voted for all 3 main parties in the past.

I can’t get excited about Starmer simply because I think there's not a lot he or anyone else will be able to do with the country in the financial state it is right now, what with the after effects of Brexit and Covid (on top of decades of failure to invest in various sectors). Anyone expecting big things will be disappointed. It’s going to be damage limitation at best for the next 4 years.

I am excited about seeing the back of this lot of Tories however.

Most people who can afford school fees in 2023 in the first place can afford the potential VAT as well. Where I live, the only people who use private schools today are rich enough that they don't actually even notice the money is gone. There are not many who make sacrifices to pay any more. Things have changed massively in the last 15 years in that regard.

I live in London where majority of the roads are now 20mph anyway its a pain in the arse crawling along quite frankly. I dont find it lovely as a driver or a pedestrian. I think certain roads where there are schools should be slower.