Labour isn't working - Thread 32

[Nuthatch26]

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/5525370-labour-isnt-working-thread-31?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

Nero keeps coming to mind - Nero fiddled
while Rome burned.

Starmer talks stability while Labour burns.

It will not end well!

Let’s hope!!!! 😂😂😂

So, Streeting now or maybe Burnham later?

I was listening to Times radio earlier in the car and some talking head said that Streeting is the only one who is a) free to run now, b) has the support and c) now is carpe diem time so he needs to just do it, and I think that's right. Starmer showed himself this morning to be utterly deluded if he thinks he can just bumble on and everyone will be fine with it. He's yesterday's man.

Well yeah, this is the risk, isn't it? You just know that every other party, but particularly Reform and the Greens, are going to throw the kitchen sink at any by-election that Burnham stands in; and after last week it's by no means certain that any Labour candidate, even Burnham, would win. If Burnham wanted to be leader of the Labour Party he needed to be ready to go right now, not in several months' time and only a 'maybe' then.

Checking after a long absence, thx for the thread!

Just looking forward to the (self/styled) 👑 of the Nooorth losing a parliamentary by-election (to Reform or even Greens) and his vacated Mayoral role going to Reform. 🍿🍿🍿

Thanks, @Nuthatch26. Great cartoon.

Quentin Letts's take on Comrade Starmer's speech this morning; listening to it was like swimming through treacle. I had to switch it off.

I wonder how much they paid that audience to clap like demented seals?

https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15807647/QUENTIN-LETTS-Sir-Keir-got-flier-gravy-came-boil-left-usual-congealed-mess-formulaic-fudge.html

Oh but Angela Rayner might be able to sort out her tax issues by then.

Well she still be supporting him if there were no obstacles between her and the top job?

Battle lines are being drawn.

Asked about the possibility of allowing Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham to become an MP, Powell tells broadcasters he is "an asset to the party" but there is "no opportunity" to see him return to Westminster.
Her comments come after Angela Rayner told a conference in Bournemouth it was wrong to block Burnham from standing in the Gorton and Denton by-election earlier this year.

Wasn’t Powell the only vote for him last time?

Bizarre

100%.

If the electorate sniff they’re being mugged off - they will do a number on Burnham.

Good point.

I’m bamboozled by Rayner and her tax. What could possibly be the hold up? I’ve never thought she acted other than in good faith and I very much doubt that HMRC would have grounds to think otherwise.

I was sure she’d got later tax advice from a specialist so I had a look, and that’s right: she has said herself that she did get that advice after she was challenged and that she accepted she owed the tax. So if she’s admitted the tax liability, why is there a delay?

If she can’t pay that’s one thing, I suppose, but you’d hope that she and HMRC could arrange a repayment schedule easily and quickly.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/sep/03/angela-rayner-admits-underpaying-stamp-duty-on-800000-seaside-flat

Sorry, but the professional advice argument she tried to use is a canard.

The tax payer is responsible. If the tax/trusts adviser provided duff info, that’s between Rayner and them.

I think it stinks - best case, HMRC are going back xx years for DD purposes, or its all settled and she has agreed a payment plan, as you say.
Worse case, she has other shit buried, which is being worked through - that would also explain the delay/silence.

Either way, she’s a wrong ‘un in my book.

This.
Is very obvious if you own a property that you pay more stamp duty on the second. Happened to me with just a regular bog-standard conveyancer knowing that!

To me she's a wrong 'un as she tried to throw her small, local, conveyancing firm under the bus for giving duff advice. They were forced to go public to say they'd told her to get specialist advice. Not cool.

I think it was slightly complicated by the fact the first property was in trust for her son. However...HMRC's Stamp Duty webpage clearly states that if you're the trustee of a property held in trust for a child, you're the owner for SDLT purposes. It's clear as day. I'm not sure why she didn't read that and know, tbh.

I think the question is - if Starmer survives this, what is the next (unforced) fuck up that will finish him?

Because you can be almost certain of one thing - that there is a banana skin just around the next corner. A banana skin that he or one of his team dropped earlier.

30-year yields are trading close to 12-month highs.

Market no likey Starmer’s speech.
Market no likey Starmer’s prospects…

Khan piling in.

Khan: Burnham should return to Parliament as soon as possible
Sir Sadiq Khan has said Andy Burnham should be allowed to return to Parliament “as soon as possible”.
The Mayor of London said Mr Burnham, who is not an MP, was an “excellent politician” who wanted to make a return to Westminster.
He said: “I’m not somebody calling for a change in leadership, but I am calling for a change in the pace of delivery.”

Hmm. They all seem to have forgotten that it's actually up to the voting public whether AB returns to parliament, or not.
I'd be furious if he was parachuted into my constituency just for this purpose.

Only Labour could produce a PM this bad, then decide that even though there are 400 of them to choose from, the only person talented enough to replace Bollard is a failed minister who is no longer an MP. Idiots.

The Burnham effect.

The next tranche of Mandelson files will be dropping soon.

Gorton and Denton by-election was run on a very compressed timetable, and the basic timings were:
22 Jan - Andrew Gwynne announces his resignation
28 Jan - Manchester City Council calls the by-election
26 Feb - Polling day

If there's a vacancy in Bootle tomorrow, Burnham still isn't getting back to Parliament until the second half of June at the earliest. September might be more likely.

And he would still have to get his new constituency to elect him. Not guaranteed.

But let's say he gets back in late June or early July. Then you have to have the whole rigmarole of a leadership contest, unless everyone else agrees to let him have it uncontested. The NEC could compress the timetable so the contest runs through the summer and the new leader is announced at conference in September.

It's just going to keep this zombie premiership going for months, unless either Starmer gets sick of it and resigns of his own accord (not likely), or the PLP discovers how to stage a coup (for context, they got 80% of MPs to vote no confidence in Corbyn and he just refused to go).

This is how he staggers on, partly because Labour has this antiquated rulebook in place of the 1922 Committee, but mostly because all the other contenders are just as useless.

How did Corbyn just refuse? I never got that