To like Keir Starmer?

[Emmanuelll]

Unlike Tony Blair, he comes from a working class background - his siblings would still call themselves working class.

As a very bright lawyer, he could have sought a path which made him rich quickly but instead chose human rights which isn’t an easy route to take and he’s defended ‘the little guy’ against corporations. He’s also anti-death penalty.

Ok, he’s a Sir, and I’ve heard people (perhaps not unreasonably) question why the leader of the Labour Party would have a title like that. But he earned it through work for the criminal justice system.

On the face of it, it seems as though he deserves a chance.

I would much rather have him as PM than a former Bullingdon club member who used to burn money in front of homeless people for the fun of it.

It is a big problem if you live in the south east. Up to June this year over 13000 people have come into the country via small boat crossings.

So Brexit did FA to stop that then?

I like the fact he's kept his children out of the public eye, and that he's said he's finishing early on a Friday to spend time with his family. I mean he has a cat so he can't be all bad. I don't like his politics though.

But then I thought Rishi was a decent family man too.

Well the Conservatives should have put a stop to it like they said they would but they didn't. Now Labour are in and have promised to "secure our borders" so it will be interesting to see if they do. But if they don't you can guarantee that Farage will take advantage of that to gain more support.

I clearly knew what was being implied. I was the one who said it was possibly close to libellous. You were the one who said it was just a comment on his position.
I have no idea what your point is though.

So you do think it’s a big part of immigration. They don’t all stay there. And they’d have been able to move a damn sight quicker from wherever they were if the previous government has actually assessed some instead of deliberately keeping them in hotels to simultaneously funnel public money to their mates and create a crisis to exploit.

Hard-working, public spirted man who’s trying to make this country a better place. If only there were more like him.

Labour are just as hellbent on forcing kids into mainstream and reserving state specialist schools for only those with the ''most complex'' needs.

And no, Labour specifically said they would not exempt special schools from the VAT rises as other schools could somehow magically claim to be specialist schools.

They've claimed that children with EHCPS will be exempt, whilst ignoring that private special schools with ehcp and non ehcp students mean that some kids with EHCPs will still very much be affected.

Oh and Labour are coming for PIP too.

I hate it so far.

Exactly what we were saying today!

I went to a private school on a scholarship but my dad left school at 14 and was a jobbing builder and my mum was an immigrant nurse. These days i would get a contextual offer for uni based on my home postcode. I was the first on both sides of my family to go to university. Members of my extended famoly were union reps. He is about as working class as i am. Not much. Its just a story for the gullible.

I've always liked him so no.

But we are where we are today because of both Labour and the Conservative's failures to tackle immigration. You can't shut people down by saying they "don't want foreigners here" or they're racist or bigots or they were stupid to vote Brexit.

This issue and people's concerns has to be debated. I didn't vote Reform but I can understand why many people did. They don't feel listened to.

I never found Boris Johnson charismatic (but I've got good taste in men.)

@2dogsandabudgie if ever there was a party offering pie crust promises and saying things people want to hear, Reform is it.

As long as nobody starts rating Farage as attractive. I might have to quit MN for good in that case. I think somebody on another thread already said his voice was sexy and it took me days to get over that. Like when a terrible song is stuck in your head!

Whilst giving children with SEN inappropriate placements in mainstream has always been a problem, even under the last Labour government, I would expect any reforms that this Labour Party makes to be far more progressive than anything we’ve had in the last 14 years.

Let’s think about this PIP thing - the only reason so many people are claiming can only be because those extra people are entitled to it. Because most people have to go to tribunal to get PIP - it very rarely gets awarded from the face to face interview. The Tories reformed disability benefits so that they are impossible to get. It follows that these extra claims must come as a direct result of the Tories decimation of the NHS.

I would hope that Labour will address this in a progressive way. I don’t think we will be hearing about how it’s common for three generations of people to have never worked (like we did under Cameron’s administration - a claim that they had to eventually admit they had no evidence of).

I confidently predict Labour will not introduce the cruelties the Tories were proposing in the PIP consultation. Largely because they're unworkable and simply populist red meat.

I don’t think we will be hearing about how it’s common for three generations of people to have never worked

Now you've done it, OP. The benefit bashers and their tall tales will be along soon!

You're more optimistic than I.

When I was doorstepped by Labour in the election run up, the first thing they said to me when I brought up SEN was that ''there is no money for anybody''.

I don't trust Labour with SEN. They've been incredibly quiet about it.
They might not be any worse than the Tories - but there is precious little evidence that they'll do any better.

Well I'll be honest - I didn't find Labour to be great with SEN before but I've lived through several governments and I know what is better.

My experience with SEN services when my now 22 year old daughter was 4 and I was getting her statement (as it was then called) done, was that you still had to fight for every little thing but the money was there. I remember my LA finance clerk telling me that she couldn't understand why the council was quibbling over paying for resources my daughter needed because in her words 'we're well within budget'.

There is a bigger picture here. I was a child when Thatcher was in power. I remember how obvious it was, which children were coming to school hungry and with tatty clothes and inadequate coats because their parents couldn't afford to buy them enough uniform. I remember how hard it was for lone parents, even though I was fortunate and had everything I wanted and two working parents.

Conservative governments all act the same. If you're poor or disabled, it's your own fault and they are not going to spend money helping anyone who needs it. With Labour governments you see investment in local services and you see attempts from them to encourage social mobility instead of 'keeping people in their place where they belong'.

Speaking of money, how do you suppose that Labour will provide the much needed funds for SEN provision without the requisite rises in taxation?

So many public services are struggling and the money has to come from somewhere - if its not rises in tax, its cutting funding for some other services.

And I would have had more truck with Labour had they spent more focus on teaching assistant numbers, rather than the 6500 teachers.

If teachers knew more classroom assistants were coming, perhaps more would actually stay!

Just my opinion, but they're going about this all wrong.

@SpudleyLass for one thing, I should imagine (hope) that the new government will redirect revenue to where it is needed in public services instead of spending it on vanity projects and self-serving schemes.

That would help, for a start.

If they’re smart, which I think they are, they’ll borrow to invest.

Borrowing to invest in development and infrastructure has never been frowned upon by the financial markets because it always yields returns.

Liz Truss screwed up the country’s finances and caused panic by borrowing to fund tax cuts. Which was incredibly stupid.

That sounds implausible.

See National Wealth Fund for investment launched today. A good idea and one with some intelligent input. I think Labour have a few of these policies to do very fast.

Investment is essential - public and private.