Labour isn't working - Thread 8

[TheNuthatch]

A chat thread for those who don't like this Labour government.

The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.

Previous thread
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/chat/5404009-labour-isnt-working-thread-7?utmcampaign=thread&utmmedium=share

I'm not sure if that's true, although I've only the photos on the telegraph to go on. The focus of the camera on the subjects at the front who seem to just be men waving flags and yelling, but there are women in the background, not being loudmouths.

I don’t know. I can’t find any stats on that.

Given the scale of Reforms lead in the pills + number of bi-elections they are winning, do we think Labour will try to pass a bill for proportional representation in am attempt to hold on to power?

Were they? Do we know for definite?

I'm watching a video now and plenty of women there

Doubtful. They’ll no doubt press on with their votes for children policy 🙄. But I can’t see them upending the whole electoral system.

For one thing it would take years - a decade or more - of planning and consultation.

Yes there are.

I don't know enough about that tbh but the thought just popped into my head 😆

No. I'm not sure if that would help them. The current system would at least place them as opposition. With things as they are, people will vote for them because they aren't reform. Under pr, they may as well vote for the Greens, LibDems or Your Party.

This.
And very good natured and positve.
People who assume TR is racist based purely on hearsay should delve into the facts of his case. He is not racist.

I was thinking about this the other day. But I'm not sure if it would have the desired effect. It would probably given Reform the largest share of parliament. Then you have to wonder about alliances. Surely Tories + Reform, then Labour + LD + SNP. Which probably takes us to around 50/50? Would much get through voting?

I'd forgotten about Your Party. Have they actually managed to get registered yet?

The 'problem' with PR is that you very rarely get an outright winner - so it's always a coalition government. That works pretty well in some other countries and actually most of Europe has PR, so make of that what you will. Given the poor governance that this country has had for at least the last 20 years I'm starting to come around to the idea of PR. It's certainly a fairer system that represents many more members of the electorate. The current system means that a sizeable chunk of voters are disgruntled from the outset of every new government.

I don't think so. I can't tell if they are so incompetent that they can't pull a party together or if they are cunningly keeping their powder dry till the Autumn budget at which point they can step onto the political stage in fully fledged outrage.

FPTP encourages people to vote in a way they don't actually want to in order to have most weight to their vote (i.e. a LD supporter voting Labour to oust / keep out the Tory). This skews figures so we don't really know how popular each party was post-election, as quite a few votes would've been for the party most likely to oust X.

With PR you can vote naturally, as every vote holds weight. I think that's way preferable to FPTP. I think the lack of weight to a vote is what pissed voters off and leads to low turnouts.

As for Your Party, @Upstartled, I'm voting incompetent!

Sultana gave a speech recently and asked for patience. They now have 750K people signed up for more info.
They're having a conference soon I believe, so maybe we'll get more details and a name. I think they'll do well.

I think they'll take the more left-leaning voters from Labour, if they can get up and running (I know it took KJK a while to get PoW registered as a political party, so maybe they're having similar issues). Though they've said they don't want anyone who knows you can't change sex (they didn't use those words) joining / voting for them. So that surely limits their appeal, if voters take them at their word!

The problem with most forms of PR I've seen suggested (including the version we voted on in 2011) is that it breaks the link between MP and constituents.

A good MP really gets to understand their constituency, and tries to represent their interests, which should mean that no area - or their specific concerns - are forgotten just because they're far from Westminster and not considered important.

MPs are already too tempted to think of themselves as the elite, and focus on power plays in Westminster, forgetting that they are meant to be representing us. Think how much worse that would be if they weren't tied to a constituency and could just airily imagine themselves the rulers of the UK.

If the further to the left (YP / Greens) together or not get about 15% of the vote it’ll be an another issue for Labour / Starmer. They could get young people not going for Reform too.

My turn to be contrarian.

I'm not surprised at all to see people protesting on the streets. This depth of feeling didn't occur overnight. We have thousands of undocumented men arriving on our shores weekly. They are usually housed in deprived areas who are least able to accommodate them. Of course people are pissed off. I'm not ok with that, and I wouldn't want to live near one of the migrant hotels with 2 dds either. It's a shame that is was led by Tommy R, but I understand why people marched.

I hate the thought of coalition governments, so I'm in favour of keeping FPTP. I look at governments in Europe and think - no thanks.

Yes I agree. I think they'll do well. Polanski seems quite keen, so one to watch.

This is the article I was reading if you're interested. Two of my family have signed up and donated, so they're doing something right.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/sep/07/labour-is-dead-zarah-sultana-your-party-launch

Your Party are very much not my thing! I'm sure they'll do relatively well though, at Labour's expense.

Ditto. You only need to look at France and Germany to see how easily votes can be manipulated to the whim of the parties who think themselves fit to govern at the complete disregard to what the voters want.
I live not far from one of these hotels and honestly, I don't feel safe sometimes and I'm a fat old woman!
I just wish these men would be called what they are... economic migrants. If they were genuine asylum seekers, they would be able to enter the country by legal asylum routes,or would stay in the first safe country they came to. The fact they don't speaks volumes in my opinion.

Agree with all this and don’t think it’s a contrary view. I too have two daughters.

Exactly 😉