Labour isn't working - Thread 22

[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
www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5448743-labour-isnt-working-thread-21?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

Agree, also statistically welfare crowd notoriously poor at turning out to vote.

Well reform are very strong in Easington currently polling around 49% . This is the place where 'Billy Elliot' was set, so it is not surprising that benefits play a part. However, many will be those who deserve 'support' and loathe the thought of cheats prospering. The fact that Labour in the home of Billy Elliot are Polling around 30% tells you everything .

Agreed, they were highly motivated to punish Labour and also keep out Reform.

Being pissed off at the current party is a good motivator to vote and many voting Reform are, so they’ll turn up.

Everybody, ganged up on reform and their was a 'Nationalist' vote to get behind which all the left learning voters did. Also it was a By-Election to the Welsh Senedd, so not 100% accurate how a General Election might go.

CS, I don't know if you realise, but your Instagram name pops up on that link.

I just wonder who the 16% who intend to vote Green. That’s a lot of people away with the fairies.

I respect people who are worried about the environment and want to prioritise it, but the current Green party is all fantasy economics and no understanding of the facts.

Thanks - I’ve reported it to get it removed - what an idiot! Fricassed brain cells today.

https://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/newsroom/post-budget-research

Absolutely shocking reading. Just one thing to point out, though there is loads of dire information there ....

While it is possible to claim PIP while in work, fewer than one in six claimants are employed.

Which is not surprising at all. Where I live there are loads of people claiming to have anxiety/depression/fibro/sore back etc etc but they are constantly out and about having a lovely time, eating out, going on day trips, going abroad, having the life of reilly.

I’ve a few near me living the life of reilly…does it pay to work these days? Not really …it’s all so wrong now.

Breakfast clubs?(sounds so much better than "upf,slightly toasted "

Worth a read - this properly crunches the numbers.

https://benefitsinthefuture.com/lies-damned-lies-and-the-telegraph/

Potential trigger warning...

I've been told to apply for PIP at least three times and prior to that I don't know was it called something else? I've been told to apply at ages between 22 and 47. So actually the three times are the only times I remember, to be honest. There may have been more. I had a lot of very emphatic conversations with my doctor where I explained that keeping me well and functioning was the priority so I could keep working.

I could make sense of the last time it was suggested, because I'd had a nervous breakdown. But it didn't really occur to me that I wouldn't recover - so I didn't apply for it. (or you think if you don't recover, you'll end your life, which is also something I've considered many times,Hope it's alright to say that here and it doesn't trigger anybody)

I think people must be lying if they're getting it for depression and anxiety. If they can't function, which I totally understand then how are they going on holiday?

I don't generally go on holiday now, because I can't manage the anxiety of it.

I don't really like to attract the attention of the authorities in any way, but frankly at this point I'm quite curious to see what would happen if I did apply for it.

It’s the same posters as before. The arrogance knows no bounds. Out of the retired public sector bubble. Most hate Labour. My absolute favourite is people pretending to know what’s going on in schools when they once went there or something. Schools are different beasts nowadays. I can’t engage with anyone that tries to tell me the Ofsted reforms need time. Suicides are happening. There is a mental health crisis in teaching. It’s huge. The new Ofsted reforms and the workload that goes with them are 10x worse. The profession have rung the alarm bells. Trial inspections have been going on for a while. The profession are screaming at them that it’s wrong and they are gaslit and ignored. Alongside the funding, the more teachers, the VAT will make it all better.

I dislike this government for what they’ve done to education. Not as much as I dislike people sat on their sofa with the arrogance to tell me that the current government are not harming my profession and the children I teach. Who do they think they are?

I think people must be lying if they're getting it for depression and anxiety. If they can't function, which I totally understand then how are they going on holiday?

My friend gets it for anxiety. Tbf she has had severe anxiety for years, but previously got a different benefit, not sure of the details there. She did actually plan to go on holiday in Europe but they cancelled after booking as she was overwhelmed with anxiety at the prospect.
I don't recall her claim process being that onerous, but it's maybe different in Scotland - Adult Disability rather than PIP.

@Legolavawell said. Some pro Labour rebuttals are too much.

Because they're angrier they're more likely to turn out. The left leaning are more apathetic, especially younger voters.

@EmeraldRoulette you're what my surgeon would call a fighter. I was on two sticks crabbing my way into his office. I refused every wheelchair offered by concerned hospital staff. DH said I was being stubborn.

My DH made some comment about me being too weak for post surgery physio. Surgeon said no she's a fighter, she'll get there.

You'll get there too, 🥊🥊

Absolutely understand where you're coming from: if you decide to apply, call your local Citizens Advice,they can help with the form. They'll be good as unfortunately they get lots of practice x

Nigel Farage has told donors he expects a deal or merger between his Reform UK party and the Conservatives ahead of the next general election, suggesting he does not believe he can sweep to power alone.

One donor said that Farage had told them he expected to do a deal with the Tories, whether it is a merger or an agreement on co-operation between the two parties, to ease Reform’s route to election victory.

@ColdOut2025
I really don't want it or need it. I'm just so curious at this point. Perhaps I'll look at the form at the weekend. Until recently, I really thought people were being harsh about benefits claimants in all kinds of ways. Now I'm really quite confused.

@justasking111 no I'm not a fighter at all. I'm more like Bernard Black if you ever watched that show "I come from a long line of quitters! It's amazing I'm here at all!" 😂(Black Books)

I don't come from a long line of quitters, but I am a quitter in many many ways. there's a joke in my family that I'm the lazy one, but maybe I have got something of a work ethic.

Thanks so much for the support, sorry, I feel like I over shared there 😳

( if you know me from other parts of the board, it won't be new news of course)

@SJParker that is new news though! I know it's a long path to the next election, but somehow I think it will be earlier than 2029. And I would like to see Reform being tempered by the Tories.

I don't think Nigel Farage wants to be Prime Minister. And I wonder if, when it gets to the ballot box, a lot of people would be uncomfortable with that. I still think there is a lot the Tories could do to regain ground, but I think that joining with Reform is one of those things.

I suppose if they formed some sort of coalition, there would be a battle over the branding, and just generally who takes credit for which ideas.

The full article quoted from is here if anyone is interested.

www.ft.com/content/ecf577aa-7049-4f72-bdd0-ec566accae33

This part caught my eye:

Anthony Wells, head of politics and elections at pollster YouGov, said that while Reform are “miles ahead in the polls”, tactical voting among more liberal and left-leaning voters could keep Farage out of power.

At the same time, significant numbers of Tory voters were not inclined to back Farage even if the choice was Reform or Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour, YouGov polling has found.

“There are some Tories that really don’t like Reform so there will be some leakage from right to left,” Wells said.

If you’re looking for a Labour win then there’s likely other threads for that.

I think we just have to wait for the next election and as much as that sticks in the craw, this is a good thing.

While Labour are presenting as something very different to what they campaigned as, they were voted in democratically. We gave them a five year mandate and five years it is. I feel duped. I thought they were one thing and they are another. I think between free glasses and suits and deputy PM’s dodging second home stamp duty (I do believe that was a mistake and not deliberate) and chancellor’s dodging landlord’s license fees (incompetence and sackable) etc etc and ludicrous drama round the Budget and then the kipper round the face of welfare spending increasing as well as tax when neither were necessary etc etc (you get my drift) - they were elected legally and so we lump it til the next GE. And we use our vote and we lump whatever happens next. I’m afraid I hope not Reform. They’d be less experienced even than Labour.

we’re so lucky to have this democracy and peaceful exchanges of power and not very extreme swings - we have to suck it up when we don’t like it. So do the left. They are soooo much whinier about it but they do. And let’s face it, for longer. Because their ideals are lovely but life isn’t geared not have some capitalism do well and fund everything. We just need ethical capitalism.

Til then, we have 3.5 years appreciating our democracy through gritted teeth.