Thread 13 Starmer - facts are for lefties

[DuncinToffee]

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www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5214955-thread-12-starmer-from-prescott-to-rayner-working-class-grit?page=40&reply=140341929

I see Andrew is back in the news, a Chinese spy friend this time

Ridiculous. All our endless security posturing and it’s undone by an unelected and effectively unchecked member of the Royal family. Unsavoury wastrel.

I am impressed Yvette Cooper managed not to roll her eyes too much here

https://bsky.app/profile/sturdyalex.bsky.social/post/3ldduns4dqs2c

Part of the reason why many people have a problem with Kuenssberg. There is a clear line between interrogating a policy and actively playing defence for the Tories - a defence which she often ascribes to "viewers".

Well, it is then perfectly fair for viewers to say: Hang on! No, I don't think that!

One answer would be to make it easier to become a magistrate so that more people step up and society is represented more fairly.
Currently it's done by volunteers who simply get their allowances paid. They might get a loss-of-pay allowance if their employer doesn't pay them anyway.
This surely means the kind of people who are likely to be magistrates are people who are retired or in salaried jobs - by definition older and probably unaware of their privilege.
Is there some way we could make this role more accessible to younger people from a broader spectrum of society?

I really can't find fault with Farages suggestion that the Chinese National be named in parliament, if the government won't do it. Even though the man is a loathsome toad and has no noble reasons for it, it does (ironically) highlight how privilege and corruption exist in every corner of the UK.

As for Prince Andrew... if you are in an integrity contest with Farage and you come out worse, you really need to look at your life choices.

Well, we could do but i'm not suggesting, as well you know, that we reduce oversight, rather that your pov that the jury system gives oversight, is possibly incorrect.

Juries are made up up on non experts, easily swayed by the Police.

But yes, its possible that changing the courts system, a bit like pretty much everything we do or try to do, would just be a huge fuck up...... in which case, we carry-on with 4 or 5 year waits for justice, which will then be rarely served.

The more you look at it, the more its obvious that the UK has been run into the ground.

“Each jury is a little parliament” wrote the distinguished jurist, Lord Devlin: “The jury sense is the parliamentary sense. I cannot see one dying and the other surviving.”

I really do find LK so biased towards the Tories. BBC need to stop her from saying "viewers want this , "viewers want to hear that, " etc etc all the . It is far from true .
On LK this morning Suzanna Reid was having a pop at the loss of the WFA again saying people who voted Labour would be devastated by withdrawing it.
Err no, as an older person who waited 6 extra years for my SP I still see why it had to be done.

I am just surprised why so many other people cannot see why it had to be done.
This by no means suggests that I am unaware of genuine need amongst older people, especially older women on their own , but WFA was given to so many people who could not possibly say they needed it.

Andy Burnham was great today though.

My reform voting dp also think it is a good idea to withdraw wfa from all pensioners aside from those who need it the most.

imho WFA has and will be proven to be a huge own goal, its characterised Labour in a way that their opponents could only have have dreamed of.

Councils are now making good the shortfall, so where is the saving? - which was meagre in anycase - meanwhile, its caused huge political damage.

Should of withdrawn it for higher rate tax payers until a more equitable solution could be found.

Every single post my Lab MP puts up on FB, attracts comment on this subject & will be dragged up all the way to the next GE.

British Dental Assoc saying they've heard zilch from Streeting, following a meeting in early July... what a surprise.

Being in power is hard. It's why the Tories gave up.

Yes sure but why make it harder for yourself?

Should have been better targeted and announced in the budget, rather than looking like it was singling out pensioners in July.

Now Starmer saying it was a mistake....

@Alexandra2001 Where did you see that Sir Keir was saying it is a mistake please? I must have missed that!
I still think it was given away too readily to everyone, It , along with the old rule on Farmer's inheritance tax being set so low, was never meant to be a permanent situation.
People forget that.

I don't get my state pension yet so I've never had WFA but I'm one of those who wouldn't need it.
I do think though this could have been handled better. More notice for example and more help for people claiming pension credit.
Claims for pension credit tripled after Reeves' announcement in July. This is a gateway to other benefits so successful claimants would be a lot better off. That's a good thing.
But it's not an easy process. Plus how on earth did the Government think it would process a potential 800,000 claims in 4 months?

You could look at it another way, many pensioners automatically getting WFA never thought to claim PC because they didn't feel the need, but now money's not just automatically deposited in their accounts once a year they are motivated to actually apply for a benefit (that they were always entitled to) that will help them all year round.
As I've previously said, all Labour needs to do to get the press off their backs is raise the PC threshold to include those pensioners (single and couples) on just state pension.

Yy InMySpareTime seems a simple enough solution surely as those just in receipt of state pension would be the ones who still need the WFA.

True, but then awarding PC and the resulting gateway benefits to people on SP only would cost a lot more than taking the WFA away from better off pensioners, I expect.

They should have just let it be.

Bear in mind the amount unclaimed in benefits was £16 billion a few years back.

Ignore the big blue circle. Everybody does.

Farmer's inheritance tax being set so low, was never meant to be a permanent situation
People forget that

That is a good example of why the comms aren't working well. Labour should be reminding people of that fact (which I didn't know until you mentioned it @elodie ) every single time the issue is raised.

Running Labour comms is like pushing a stone uphill. Sisyphus springs to mind.

Badenoch is celebrating that the Conservatives delivered CPTPP

Actual impact of CPTPP on UK GDP: 0.08%

Impact of Brexit on UK GDP: -4%

www.thelondoneconomic.com/business-economics/marks-and-spencer-open-warehouse-to-store-brexit-paperwork-387243/

"Shortly after the UK’s split with the EU, Marks and Spencer revealed that Brexit was costing the company over £16 million in tariffs, administration and supply chain expenses."

But people knew what they were voting for etc etc.

The need to fill the black hole in the current financial year's budget could have been met by ending the temporary fuel duty cut. Given it would have increased fuel prices at the pumps by about 4%, most people could save that by careful driving and for some people, walking short distances.

The reform of the WFA could have been planned better and then been part of the budget.

If I understand M+S's customer base, I'd guess a lot less than 52% of them voted Leave.

The time for M&S to moan about paperwork for outsourced goods was when they first started to remove their manufacturing from the UK.