to believe Lady Starmer should pay for her own clothes and personal stylists?

[LargeDeviation]

https://news.sky.com/story/starmer-faces-investigation-over-possible-breach-of-parliamentary-rules-after-labour-donor-pays-for-wifes-clothes-13215216

And Keir Starmer should have paid himself for his 'several pairs of glasses' and £19K worth of work clothes? On top of that there was £20K for accommodation for Sir Keir and another 'similar sum' on 'private office' costs.

Purely by coincidence, it seems the donor was given a Downing Street security pass allowing easy access to the corridors of power without any role in government.

And yes, Carrie and Boris Johnson should have paid for their wallpaper and hampers too, that is just as sleazy.

To say that Angela Rayner refused to confirm that Labour had no plans to cancel the single person discount is not speculation, it's a fact.

Personally I’m wondering whether it is being avoided as it would be coming in as part of a wider package of measures on council tax, such as changes to the valuation basis.

The “policy” is speculation. You’re really splitting hairs now.

Yes, I agree, this is my feeling too. This said, it would still be possible for them to confirm that the single householder discount was not being scrapped whilst not confirming wider changes to the CT system. This all feels rather odd and I wish there was a little more clarity around their overall strategy, if not the finer details.

Angela Rayner refused to answer a direct question and to read some of the posts on here you would think people were mad to wonder why.

In the absence of a definitive answer it's hardly surprising people will speculate but according to Mumsnet those people are "too bloody thick" and spreading misinformation which is "not in the spirit".

Speculation is not yet a crime. For those who wish it was, North Korea welcomes dissidents, they're just not very keen on letting you leave again.

England only, as I said in 2nd paragraph of my post. Council tax policy and concessionary fares policy are both devolved.

Thanks. I thought so but wasn’t sure.

I agree with you, by the way, that any changes to these is unlikely because of the political and electoral damage it would self-inflict.

I can’t agree that buzz about this online is disinformation though. It’s no worse than most of what’s written about all parties’ policies, options and plans.

Only my opinion, but if Starmer axed the 25% CT discount and the free bus pass for pensioners in England it could do for him what the Poll Tax did for Thatcher.

I agree. I think it would damage him irretrievably. I’m very pissed off with him this week altogether, he’s really not helping himself. It’s like, having successfully carried the Ming vase for so long he’s decided to throw it up against the wall. I hope he gets a grip soon.

I can’t honestly see how axeing bus passes for OAPs would save any money anyway, or if it did it’d be a tiny amount, surely.

Between the possibility of axeing bus passes and the continuing contraction of route networks, frequency and hours of service, it doesn't seem to make much difference. Public transport is largely an irrelevance in most of rural England.

It certainly is where I live. My bus pass is just another form of photo id.

For me it matters because Kier Starmer the man has made so many attacks on others about this very issue. He has stated the rules are clear and simple and that breaches ‘definitely matter’. It’s very dishonest to now say he didn’t understand, and as he has vociferously pointed out in the past, it is actually a clear breach of the rules whether he is investigated or not. You can’t accuse others of ‘sleeze’, then knowingly do it yourself and then decide it doesn’t matter now it’s you. The Lammy comment about needing the donations to look good for the Country is so dreadful and ill timed as pensioners fear for their wellbeing.

Be fair.
Boris Johnson’s behaviour, which was far worse and actually illegal, really deserved to be attacked.

Really?

It's come to degrees of bad? I thought we were going to move away from it, not justify it because someone else did something that was worse.

How the standards have slipped.

You tried to equate their behaviour. One broke the law, the other didn’t. Simples.

Yes, with the birthday party.

The wallpaper saga is on the same level and the glasses and frocks one.

Even more than the posh frocks and suits, I can't get over that the UK Prime Minister cast around for some rich bloke to buy his spectacles for him. It makes him seem so feeble.

Starmer hasn't broken any rules and we know about the the clothes, frocks and glasses because they were declared. Not great optics. Johnson didn't declare the wallpaper and furniture, it was leaked, he lied, got the Tory Party fined and his ethics advisor resigned. Tried to change the law so Owen Patterson didn't get done for lobbying, broke covid rules. Covered for groper Chris Pincher. It was continuous.

I don't see the gain for Starmer in saying he's nothing like as bad as Boris Johnson. He's supposed to be entirely different from Boris Johnson.

And he’s only two-and-a-half months in!

Doubling down on the freebies whilst going on about pain for others isn't going to help much

Well the fault is politicians. Why bother when your vote probably doesn't count and most politicians are corrupt anyway.

Exactly. Either way you vote, the country is still sh*t (perhaps in different ways) because they're all wolves in sheep's clothing waiting to get their own slices of the national pie. Voting is really between a rock and a hard place. Makes very little - if any - difference.

I do quite honestly believe that we are better governed when we elect people from our own regions to represent our views in Parliament. The country is not shite. It is full of people who'd like to be a little more prosperous than their parents. Most of us work very hard for everything we have and get in life. I would really like to think that hard work and brains would be enough to lift the whole country. It probably sounds naive.