Labour isn't Working - Thread 39

[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/5560242-labour-isnt-working-thread-38?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

We went to Spain in 1978 on honeymoon. I vaguely recall a restriction. But I also took my shiny new Barclaycard just in case.

What a disaster for the local community. All going well with Plaid then? 🙄

Definitely. Its the only explanation.
Healey must have been laughing his arse off at all of us showering him with praise for having principles. What fools we were to believe him. He's another slimy toad, and now he's the effing chancellor.

No need. Labour adore giving away sovereign territory. It makes them feel all warm and fuzzy.

Watching the senedd weekly question session they're very irritated that their plans aren't nodded through. It's amusing.

@Worrall20 Also, this goes to show how much of a deliberate and planned coup Burnham's assent was. Lou Haigh said it was 12 months in the making.
CF Burnham couldn't be arsed to give up his crown to stand for MP in 2024, but a sniff of power...

Anyone who thinks Burnham is a man of the people is deluded. I'm just sorry that the rest of the country will have to learn what Burnham is really like the hard way.

Another Burnham-meet-reality moment. Well done Ben Houchen. 👏

Andy Burnham is set to allow mayors to hand workers and local firms “tax rebates” in an about-turn on a key pillar of his flagship devolution policy.

The move marks a climbdown by the prime minister, who last month announced that mayors would be able to keep a proportion of income tax generated in their areas, as well as business tax, in order to invest in growth projects, such as housing schemes, roads and railways.
Burnham previously said the new policy was not designed for tax rebates which could create “mini-chancellors” in the regions. However, Houchen claimed senior civil servants had accepted it would be possible to provide the region’s businesses and their employees with tax rebates.

https://www.thetimes.com/article/d1b5ffa6-0dcf-49cc-b1d2-35211bf37f4d?shareToken=77da37fb62cf7c246504a341834030fd

The only transgender clinic in Wales has cancelled all of its operations over concerns that too many people were being referred for treatment.

www.thetimes.com/article/07b74089-64ba-476b-aedb-83de80afd6c6?shareToken=52022c1604dfec74484352aca474aea0

Couldn’t agree more. Can not believe the amount of people taken in by Burnham with his shiny eyes😂😂

Many thanks. And for the article link.

Looks like Plaid and Labour are a bit less comradely than some on MN would have us believe.

I looked up the list of councillors and it does seem a tricky situation for arranging a coalition. And that there was one Reform councillor but now there’s a vacancy. It seems to be a rum old place, Denbighshire.

On Healey, I still cling - just - to the belief that he meant what he said when he resigned. I would be so appalled to think it was game playing that I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt for now.

If stinky details of the Burnham coup emerge I can see that crashing his popularity double-quick. It’s already heading for a sharp decline IMO because the autumn will mean he’ll have to face and talk about hard reality. But it will nose-dive even faster if the king of pork scratchings, bus fares, guitar chords and folksy northern blather is shown to be a particularly horrible plotter and backstabber.

So... isn't this now just another slice of redistribution?

God knows strawbs. 🤷‍♂️ Its batshit to me. I don't think our Andy knows what he's doing. He obviously this would give Labour more influence but its backfired.

But I like how Ben Houchen has exposed Burnham's back of a fag packet approach to the economy

So seven individuals in England are going to have enormous financial clout. Have they learnt nothing from London.

And if London did the same and kept their slice of the pie to themselves? Its mental, but welcome to Burnham Land.

Nigel Casey British ambassador to Moscow
Britain should neither confirm nor deny what help it giving to Ukraine as per normal. It should keep low and not escalate at this time .

Wow wouldnt you know it ! He must be utterly furious with these blithering idiots before the russian response I thought why are we making a song and dance about this ?

Terrible idea to give mayors more power our council is bad enough money is lost goes missing it's hard to hold them to account there is constant talk of back handles to developers.

Go Kemi!

https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16090859/Andy-Burnham-warned-honeymoons-huge-week-Parliament.html

Yes please.

Why can’t we in London keep our tax, maybe it will help to clean the rubbish at the very least?

It almost feels like he hasn’t thought this stuff through….

That's actually what happens in Switzerland: different cantons have completely different tax regimes - income tax, business rates etc - and keep most of the tax take to spend on that canton. The central government does take some of the tax to redistribute between cantons, but only to ensure a basic level. It's very much expected that cantons which are richer (eg. Zurich, the financial centre) will get more tax reciepts and so will have better public services.

It means that the cantons actually take the economic impact of their tax regime seriously, and compete to bring in businesses - unlike the UK's tax devolution, which is only ever used to take more, with no consequences as to the impact.

That's what successful fiscal devolution looks like - not Burnham's make-believe, which is just a sleight-of-hand, to try to camouflage yet more redistribution.

Unfortunately, in order for it to work, I think you do need to already have success in different regions, like Switzerland has. The UK is too lopsided.

GRDP per person in London is £69k compared to £32-£35k for most of the rest of the UK (just £28.5k in the NE). Scotland's GRDP per person is £37k onshore only, or £40.3k including offshore oil and gas, and Wales is £29k.

We already have absolutely massive regional redistribution.

This story was on the BBC news website too

We’re levelling down, the Swiss aren’t.

Bad news seems to dominate all forms of media these days. Maybe it's always been like this, but the advent of the internet now allows faster transmission. What I can't shake off is the feeling there's an element of truth in this, even if I did come across it on SM.

@DancingFerret for me that’s quite an old theory, but I’ve never seen it specifically linked to working class people?

My ignorance reached its peak today. I’ve seen that Priti Patel has left the shadow cabinet. I didn’t know she was in the shadow cabinet 😳 I genuinely thought she’d stepped back. Clearly I’m not paying attention.

Hope everyone is having a nice bank holiday. I just hopped on to check news and say hello. It’s good to ignore the news!