Thread 1 Starmer: A New Hope

[DuncinToffee]

Please tread lightly on our dreams.

Previous thread
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5112428-thread-55-sunak-gives-up

John Swinney is First Minister because he has been voted in as such in Holyrood - the Scottish Parliament - nothing to do with the Westminster elections . What's more, the First Minister actually has to be voted in by the MSPs.

Labour aren't even the 2nd largest party in Holyrood. That would be the Conservatives!

The next Holyrood elections are in 2026.

Different parliament

We've just had the Westminster elections, where the SNP lost big. The Westminster leader is Stephen Flynn

The Scottish assembly elections are in 2026.

Being pedantic, it's not the Scottish assembly. It's the Scottish Parliament.

I've never had a for my questions before, you're all usually mega helpful! 😟

Thanks for enlightening me.

It’s all got a bit unusually tetchy round here today. I wouldn’t worry.

To be fair if you aren’t from Scotland it is quite complex. So we each have an MSP who sits on the Scottish Parliament and an MP who represents us in Westminster. At the moment I have an SNP MSP and a labour MP.

Did I hear radio say that the king will make his speech on 20th?

Yes, I think newbies are finding their way around today.

The Scottish Government is from the party with the most seats in Hollyrood. At the moment the SNP though they’re shy of a majority. They were in a power sharing agreement (Bute House agreement) with the Greens to get legislation through but it fell apart leading to the resignation of Humza.

I hope it will be Emily Thornberry

That would be great. She’d be very, very good.

Hoyle is well past his sell by date. Thornberry would be ok, but think it might be a Tory as pp said.

Maybe we're all a bit drained after the drama of the last few days/weeks?

I think so. I don’t know about anyone else but I’m still tired from last week’s sleep deficit.

Tugendhat? If it's a Tory MP. Deputy Speaker has to be Labour.

@tobee I use a program called procreate on my iPad 👍🏻

@BIossomtoes I'm working on it! I used to run a small business doing handcrafted items (mostly knit and crochet) and had to give it up due to family caring responsibilities, I don't have those anymore as my grandad passed away (age 93, safe in his bed) but unfortunately, brexit, the gift that kept on giving, meant it has became nigh on impossible to just pick up where I left off, most of my sales were to the EU and that just became a total shitshow to send anything too.

I am planning on doing something though, it's just a case of finding the right platform (I was on Etsy before and that's awful now). If you send me a PM on here though, I'm sure we can figure something out 👍🏻.

👏👏👏

Is there room for a tiny newbie to squeeze in? This seems like my kind of place.

I've been away with a big group of diverse people from all parts of the country and society, and everyone (bar one!) seemed hopeful about Starmer.

Always room for one more!

I have - on rare (and probably going to be rarer now) occasions made some serious posts on FWR or highlighted some stories which bring something to the table.

And there is no discussion in the world that can be allowed to declare itself so important as to be above scrutiny or ridicule. None whatsoever. In fact, I would argue the moment a discussion asserts that, it has not only lost the argument, but also a place in reality.

Starmers is particularly low. But I imagine with wanting to VAT indie schools he probably had to make some point about state educated people!

@itsgettingweird yes that the majority of the country attended state school and therefore would rather be led by people who actually give a toss about normal communities!

Now please stop with this "indie" nonsense. They are private schools for an over privileged minority. They are detrimental to an equal society. And if we can't get rid of them, then let's at least tax em!! 👏👏👏🌹🌹🌹

I am gearing up to write to them to say, ok, build houses, BUT

make the size of the development to a decent scale, by law,

make a law which absolutely dictates that trees and hedges must be included, on the estate, not just in the gardens, at a certain number or percentage per number of houses,

make a law that earth is to be covered to a minimum, little, not loads, of gravel, tarmac, block paving etc., just a few slabs to drive the car up to the garage,

make a law which says every dwelling has to have some decorative brickwork on it, so it isn't as plain as plain, and the decoration will last for the life of the dwelling and not rot away, need painting etc.,

make a law which says that all exterior lights on a dwelling must not exceed 2 per dwelling and must be on a time control of 10 minutes, and

consider that not every block of flats has to be 27 storeys high, 5 or 6 could be useful.

No, I do not trust developers, local people, county councils or district council planning committees to do any of these things unless forced to by building regulations.

Sorry @TokyoSushi - that was meant to be a ()

Technically, the Scottish Government doesn't have to be the largest party: it's whoever can command a majority to get the First Minister elected. If Labour and the LibDems between them could command a majority, they would form a coalition to form a government. This is what happened in the 1st two Holyrood elections and what may well happen again in 2026. (Viz: France at the moment: the RN is the largest party but the other parties will work together to ensure that they don't get to choose the PM or form the government)

The hybrid d'Hondt PR voting system used in Holyrood was designed to ensure that no one party would have a majority (some cynically thought it was designed to ensure that the SNP would never be in power ). Unexpectedly, the SNP won enough seats for a minority government in 2007 and then "broke" the d'Hondt system in 2011 (ie they got more seats than they should've done according to PR) to gain an overall majority before it reverted to working correctly in 2016 (hence the agreements with the Greens).

Being objective, it's not good for a uni-cameral chamber designed for coalitions to have a majority government, as the oversight system (of standing committees) doesn't work properly.

https://www.standard.co.uk/business/business-news/business-chiefs-welcome-clarity-of-landslide-labour-election-victory-b1168918.html

Yes- and make it so wildlife can get through the gardens! No hermetically sealed grounds please

100% agree with everything you’ve said. When you look at the post war developments, maisonettes with front and rear gardens, decent front and rear gardens. Shops, doctors, schools, workshops all amenities and employment opportunities. Really well thought out communities were built. Thats what it needs. Not fenced in, tarmac, flash flood creating town houses and tall flats with not enough parking yet you have to drive to everything