To ask you what you would like to say to the Labour Party leadership?

[happyon]

This is a bit of a TAAT, but I didn't want to take the other excellent thread in only one direction, so here is a new one.

I'm a member of the Labour Party and I know there are other members here and plenty of voters. I also know that there's a world of rage out there about what this government is doing to this country and how ineffectually Labour seem to be responding.

I suspect that important Labour types will read this if get enough people involved. They need to listen to us or we will have to deal with another Tory government.

I'll begin by saying that I want Labour to:

Support a living wage for everyone, in all parts of the country. Immediately.

how do you force people to vote?

It's shameful that about half the population prob won't vote at the next election but they still have a right not to

Little Milly and Bad Boy Balls have got to go but who on earth would replace them?

I think we actually agree on what needs to change! But local candidates are still selected by the local party. If the central party stopped imposing candidates, there would be no need to go and do unpaid internships in London. You'd be chosen by people who'd been active with you locally. Local Labour groups are full of colour, ability and decency. But people don't see the local activists as the face of the party, they see a group who look largely indistinguishable from the Tories.

Housing, housing, housing.

And reverse the terrible stance on civil liberties that Labour adopted over the last decade.

Nancy66 -voting is compulsory in other countries. I could be wrong but I think Australia is one of them. people who don't vote are fined I believe. voting could be made a lot, lot easier and more convenient for people - have elections over 3 or 4 days rather than just one day. Loads more polling stations. free transport to and from the stations. I have bags of ideas. you cant have a situation where less than half the people vote but all the people moan about the outcome, its bonkers. we need to get back to the situation where people see and feel that their views and ideas make a difference. too much "why bother" going on at the moment and this apathy allows the idiots to prosper.

Stop selling our council housing stock.
Close tax loopholes.
Build affordable social housing .
Be firm on immigration.
Understand that the only way out of poverty is through work not by increasing benefits.

Oh how I agree with most of this thread.
I would vote Labour if they promised to stop privatising the NHS.
If they would put all schools back into local authority control, abolish all faith schools and then leave them alone for a while.
Reintroduce free university education.
I wouldn't object to paying more tax if it was spent efficiently. If the tax inspectors extracted tax from those who fiddle from the highest to the lowest, or if they could make the CSA for example, efficient.
Recognise that we are not on a level playing field with other EU countries when it comes to seeking jobs. For example, you cannot become a plumber in France unless they recognise your qualifications.
As for the leadership I despair. I know what I don't want and that is a bunch of privately educated people who have never had to contend with the grind of 9 to 5 and all that that entails. I also think that the government is too centred on London and other towns and that the countryside hardly gets a look in.
Apart from that I think I'm a satisfied citizen.

Affordable housing whether thats .ortgage or longer assured rent controlled tenancies.
Stop interfering in nhs and education. Every bloody general election they spend millions fiddling with both ,without actually giving any reforms time to work before the next government comes along and fucks it all up again
End the tax loopholes.

I despise the tories but can also not imagine voting for the current labour lot. They have no identity. Where are the parties with policies the majority of the electorate can relate too. This is why UKIP are gaining so much ground. To Joe Public they feel like someone who is listening to their concerns. However wrong they are. Trying to discredit them, calling them clowns and fruitcakes will backfire. You are insulting those people who would vote for them by association. All that will do is make them more determined to vote Ukip as a great big middle finger to both parties. The public love an underdog.

I dont recognise Labour anymore as the party I felt most in line with. They are tory-lite.

Please get rid of Ed Miliband and Harriet Harman.

Oh I actually like Ed!

Zero hours contracts. Risen from 150,000 in 2008 to nearly 600,000 in 2014. Keeps people below the breadline but off the unemployment stats.

And housing (again). I cannot overstress how important the issue of rental insecurity is.

yes Australia does have compulsory voting.

I can't think of a gentle, non-offensive way of saying this but there are too many lazy, thick fuckers in this country for compulsory voting to ever work.

The prospect of a fine won't shift them off the sofa either - they just won't pay it and, ultimately, any fines will be unenforceable.

Listen, again. Look at your roots, revisit them, move away from the Blair/ Thatcherite policies.

On any other day I'd probably be saying most of the stuff above. But today it's overshadowed by "stop talking crap about the new childcare tax break. The Tories have done enough actual stuff wrong without you having to make things up"

ConferencePair yes yes yes. totally.

Meddie agree re UKIP too.

Wow Nancy66 ".....I can't think of a gentle, non-offensive way of saying this but there are too many lazy, thick fuckers in this country for compulsory voting to ever work...." So you can only vote if you pass an intelligence test then? or if you work? that's an excellent way of keeping the poor and uneducated in their place. I am genuinely at this comment. just waiting for someone to say you can only vote if you pay tax or if you even above a certain amount. oh hang on a minute - that's been done already in the 1800's. We have to engage people to genuinely show and believe that every view matters.

If you're meant to be the party of the working people, then actually listen to them.

They're not from Primrose Hill.

If any of you had actually done the door steps last election you would understand that people are worried about immigration and the deficit and the welfare state etc

They're not stupid. They don't need you to tell them what they need!

Oh and Ed Balls? Get rid!

mummymeister. Yes, yes, that is EXACTLY what I said. Well done.

Not everyone wants all their tax money spent on themselves. There are plenty of people that WANT to support the less well off, those with disabilities, education and the NHS etc.

I would happily pay MORE tax.

Nancy66, suggest you just move over there and stand on that spot. that's right. the one that's slightly to the right of Attila the Hun. Blimey, now I have heard it all!

You don't have to be right wing to think there are loads of lazy, thick people out there. Or even to know that there are.

You are never going to win by pandering to the media view of what 'middle England' is. Make Labour exciting and worth voting for, not a washed out Lib party.

and yes make firm arrangements to stop the selling off of the NHS.

I will never forgive you for selling out the working classes and why didn't Tony Blair just join the conservative party
The Labour party will be remembered for a war that should've never happened
And I am a Labour supporter, more because there is nobody else to support rather than believing they can actually do a good job