Thread 37 Sunak : Rishi has a plan, right?

[DuncinToffee]

Or back to square one?

Previous thread

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4991119-sunak-created-by-ai?page=40&reply=132989726

But what a perfect, wonderful way to get the message across.

No, the way to get the message across is to shelve diplomatic ties with Russia.

Whats the point of these so called diplomatic ties?

Another way would be to start to re arm.

Putin is a maniac but the way the West is behaving you'd think it was 1991.

@jasflowers I agree with that, but Led By Donkeys are making the point the only way they can as an organisation, and doing it well. What the politicians do is up to them.

Rwanda's a safe place, says Honest Sunak;

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/17/rwanda-suspension-congolese-footballer-heritier-luvumbu-uk-asylum-seekers-policy

Hopefully another nail in the Rwanda plan's coffin.

Sunak is appealing to Reform voters to come back to ‘keep Kier Starmer out of Downing Street’.
He wrote: “At the next election, I will need the support of everyone who wants lower taxes and secure borders because the alternative, Keir Starmer, believes in neither of those things.” How is he allowed to write that sort of nonsense about borders? Where’s the evidence Labour don’t want ‘secure borders’? They want humane asylum policies, not open borders ffs.
The tax thing is nonsense too - he seems to have raised taxed quite a bit himself. Not that tax is bad, or that lower taxes would improve anything.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/feb/17/rishi-sunak-conservatives-reform-party-unity-byelection-defeats

Maybe it’s just my attention to detail but Rishi is looking greyer in every photo I see of him.

I know leaders tend to age quickly in the role but he’s barely past his anniversary and looks like his kids should buy him a box of just for men for Father’s Day.

Now, isn't that funny. Just this morning watching some footage I did think to myself, I didn't know Sunak had so much grey.

It is such bollocks. Labour literally have "secure borders" listed on their website as one of their aims.

In Toryspeak, 'doesn't want secure borders' means 'doesn't want to be cruel, ineffective and break international law'. It's a whole new language.

I am sure the election debates will be interesting - when / if they happen.

No more bollocks than any of their other soundbites.

They just throw shit and hope something sticks.

I keep laughing here when people state "Labour doesn't have a plan" "I won't vote for Labour if they don't have a plan"

It's like they've voted before of heard of a manifesto. Something every party writes before GE 🤦‍♀️

For people interested in the Government's fiscal rules and debt to GDP falling in 5 years, it's worth listening to this weeks More or Less.

(Also a discussion on International Students)

More or Less: Behind the Stats - Debt, students, shark and chips - BBC Sounds

It's amazing how the Government misinforms via stats

Yep. It is a favourite on MN. "Oh they haven't said what they're going to do or how it will be paid for". It is very irritating.

This it drives me mad, not like the bloody Tories have worried about how anything has been paid for in between spaffing millions & trashing the economy like they usually do every time they have been in power, some of the electorate have very very short memories which really worries me combined with a mainly hostile press.

I wonder if they asked 'how will it be paid for' before throwing their support behind Rwanda? Or the Bibi Stockholm? Or tax cuts?

📊 #IFSSatStat: Current spending plans imply real-terms cuts to the day-to-day budgets of ‘unprotected’ public service departments like local government, further education, HMRC, courts and prisons of more than 3% per year, posing major challenges for the affected services.

x.com/theifs/status/1758785363923939453?s=46&t=Uw4lJNwxFZFnX0Xs3doHYg

Cuts of 3% - this is before they announce any pre-election tax cuts. It will only get worse.

I am annoyed by this article -

Laura Kuenssberg: Tory by-election disaster shows power of ‘sofa vote’ - BBC News

"Behind the huge headlines of Labour's victories and the Conservatives' by-election thumpings, it's worth paying attention to voters' instinct - not to choose one party or another, but to stay at home.
The two contests this week in Kingswood and Wellingborough have one important thing in common. In both places, the rise in Labour's share of the vote was dwarfed by the fall in support for the Tories.
"

I looked at the last 20 byelections
The median turnout was 40%. There have been some high turnouts and low ones - but the turnout for the last 2 was around the median.

There seems to be an assumption that Labour voters were more likely to turn out than Conservative voters who were more likely to stay at home.

No one knows that unless they talk to the people who didn't vote - and see if they are typical or atypical of the people who did vote.

It is a massive assumption that all those who turned out to vote Labour are Labour voters (as in always vote Labour)

It also doesn't explain why Tory voters stayed at home (as in those who normally always vote Tory) and didn't turn out to get their MP in?

It also doesn't go anywhere close to explaining why reform vote was up (which the assumption would be those far right Tory's who don't like current party but align with Reform).

Why when turn out is low does it never boil down to the most obvious reason - people didn't have anyone they wanted to vote for.

Therefore Labour won because more people had a clear idea who they wanted and that was Labour. Therefore people want and wanted to vote Labour.

They paint it like there's a whole host of Tory supporters sitting at home having conversations like "Brian shall we pop out today and vote for Tory MP" "not today Joan - I fancy staying in and watching countdown"

As if none of it actually matters 🤦🏼‍♀️

From Times.

The former Post Office boss says he was told to delay compensation payouts to sub-postmasters so the Tories could "limp" into the next election with more money to spend.

Can't link due to pay wall.

Doesn't surprise me.

Nothing surprises me anymore

The BBC do have a habit of spinning bad Tory news to mitigate.

The News Quiz on R4 has definitely taken a more "balanced" approach ever since a Tory complained about their so called anti tory bias.

Get ready for a lot more of this.

I have archived it so we can read it. Link quite safe.

Well done Henry Staunton for speaking our. He was a scapegoat.
archive.ph/cAClr

So someone senior from Department of Business instructs PO to drag their heels over compensation? To boost the Government financial records before the election - save the headache for the next government.

This has gone on years, people have died waiting. Drag their heels any more and they'd be in reverse!

And yet we can throw money at policies like Rwanda.

It needs to be taken out of the Governments hands.
Frankly a lot of things need to be taken out of the governments hands now - God knows what's going to come out of the woodwork after they've gone.

That Kuenssberg article is entirely written from the perspective of the Conservative Party.

Every source cited is Conservative.

Was there no attempt to get any alternative perspectives from Labour or indeed anyone else. Did they not have any thoughts about sofa voting? I imagine they did!

Alternatively Kuenssberg doesn't have any contacts beyond those in the Conservatives.

Thanks @Roussette