To think the Tories must actually want to loose the next election?

[malificent7]

School closures for repairs just before the term starts is bonkers. Are they now content with the amount of money they have plundered and now want Labour to inherit the mess or are they hoping that the dumb electorate will still vote for them or say " well the cost of living has hit everywhere...its nothing to do with Brexit?" Or " but boats."?
I don't get it.

I think you’re right. I hate to say it but I genuinely think she was robbed when Truss got in. If she’d made it to the final two it would have been hers.

And everyone knows it.

I reckon this pretty much sums up where we are now.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/sep/05/hapless-gillian-keegan-arse-sitters-education-secretary-tory

And Penny Mordaunt was making her "I could do a SO much better job than him" faces on the front bench.

Much as I loath her, she did a good job of showing JRM up for being a pompous ignorant cunt

They can @verdantverdurebut they would have to trigger an immediate GE on the appointment. And I think they might.🤔

There's no formal requirement for a new leader to call a general election if they don't want. As long as they have the confidence of the house.

I'm not at all a fan, but I enjoyed that

Al the essential qualities required to run a small country that is literally crumbling and filling up with shit.

And with 7000 schools yet to be properly surveyed by Actual Surveyors there are going to be more aren't there?

This might be the one that does for them.

in the part of the fateful ITV interview that Keegan actually knew would be aired, when she found herself trying to mitigate the situation by uttering the words: “A school can collapse for many reasons.” Guys, can you please get this into some sort of perspective – there are loads of things that could make a school cave in on your children’s heads. You’re being very small-minded obsessing about this one.

I'm not feeling exactly Chucklevision about crumbly concrete hanging over our children's heads but that did make me squeak.

I know there's no formal thing in law they have to follow. But surely they can't get away with changing leaders AGAIN without going to the polls straight after.

It would be best if they did TBH. Look at their record.
2015 Vote PM Cameron, get PM May.
2017 Vote PM May get PM Johnson.
2019 Vote PM Johnson get PM Truss.
Then PM Sunak.
Vote PM Sunak get ???

They're a chaotic shambles.

Another by election on the way as a result of Chris Pincher resigning.

I love a By-election.

Oh, has Pincher actually gone now?

Resigned this morning according to the BBC.

At the rate they are happening Tories might manage to lose that huge majority before they even call an election.

That thought had crossed my mind. It's certainly getting smaller.

Those of us who remember the 70s, remember Labours ever shrinking majority and the LibLab pact.

And the John Major government in the 1990s lost the overall majority and had to rely on the Ulster Unionists. They lost every single by election as I recall.

Admittedly they only had a 21 seat majority to begin with.

The current government's school rebuilding programme aims to build (or significantly refurbish) 500 schools in a decade - or 50 per year. The PM and several ministers have been rolled out and confirmed this figure in the media and have denied that Sunak cut this from 100/year when he was chancellor.

There are around 24,000 state funded schools in the UK. Simple arithmetic means that at 50/year it will take 480 YEARS until all existing schools are rebuilt/refurbished. Doubling or trebling the rate is also clearly not enough. Doing 200 schools per year would still take 120 YEARS. Do you think a brand new school would last 120 years before needing major work or replacement?

I suggest that 200/year is the absolute minimum that should be done, and 300/year is a much more realistic minimum - but would still take 80 years to complete. I wonder which political party will be the first to commit to 400 schools/year? Don't hold your breath.

Of the hundred that should have been done in the last 2 years according to their commitment, they’ve managed 4. I’m sure the children of 14023CE will be very pleased that the school rebuilding plan is finally finished.

The problem is that 400 was what was needed in 2010. So it will need to be more than that to catch up with how far behind they have got themselves over the last 13years by not doing that. Not unlike what happens when you give public sector workers real terms pay cuts for 13years. Eventually you run up a huge bill when you need to give them an above average pay rise to restore pay.

It's not just schools though is it ? It's all buildings that were put up by contractors working for government departments. We already know hospitals are affected. And court buildings. Wait until the council buildings and government office buildings are added to the list.

This could make the asbestos scares of the 80s and 90s look like a mere bagatelle.

The sums involved in fixing this were quite small. I am amazed at Sunak's cheapness. A serious lack of political nous.

The Labour attack ad where they draw attention to his cutting rates of duty on champagne but cutting this funding for essential repair is well done because it is true.

The failed Festival of Brexit cost about the same and if you add Keegan's office refurbishment costs, you got it well covered

.

Heathrow and Gatwick airports are affected, apparently.