Time for a new PM and Chancellor?

[Whenwillitgetwarm]

I wrote this on another thread but feel it should have its own thread.

Although I voted Labour (the current Tory’s are too insane), I think it may be time to swap out Starmer and Reeves. If this is done early, there’s enough parliament time left to bed a new PM and Chancellor in.

They both lack ideas, seem confused, no vision etc. They had 14 years to think up workable plans. Coming in and throwing their hands up saying there’s no money so they can’t do anything is very poor. They want to continue austerity on the sly. They indulge in stupid culture wars like VAT to rob Peter to pay Paul (and Paul won’t see a penny anyway). They have bad advisors and are arrogant. It looks like they are just excited to have the job titles and don’t know what to do.

Get a top two who will come up with a bold plan. We’re in the gutter so there’s opportunities to deliver quick wins. They don’t always need funding, simple policy changes can make big and quick differences. If they gave each department a target to deliver one quick legislative win by Christmas, we’d start 2025 differently.

Unfortunately we’re stuck with two people who can’t believe their luck, and who are afraid of the Daily Mail, Murdoch, some loud Redwall types and bots on X who wish our country economic harm. They are weak.

If Labour were a football team, there would be fans screaming for Starmer to be sacked now.

This is not about getting rid of Labour. I believe there is talent in the wider party, much more than in the Conservatives who hollowed out their party under Johnson. Nevertheless I just don’t think Starmer and Reeves should have their roles.

'Started planning.....'
'Started legislation....'
'Started grown up conversations.....'
Ended the strikes by rolling over and giving in.
Not much for a party who could have been 'planning' months ago when they knew they were the next government in waiting.
I'm still waiting for the big plan or even some vision of the plan.

You're starting to look a bit silly there @Harvestfestivalknickers (even apart from the silly idea that the grown up negotiations were actually rolling over and giving in!) because how could they do more than start things in this short time? They can plan all they like but they can't do anything til they get in!

This may well be their high point and it’s pretty low already.

I’ll give them a couple of years to do some good - I quite like Starmer though the freebies has mildly annoyed me. But not as much as others.

I am also not averse to U turns on govt decisions - I quite admire it. I want a government who can accept their decision was wrong and put it right. Johnson was prone to a u turn and the free school meals one I heartily approved of. If Labour care to rethink the cut off point for pensioners WFA, I’d be happy with that.

I’d like to see the effect the Budget has - before getting monumentally pissed off.

Yet they seem to be unraveling in these five bloody minutes.

Sue Gray has resigned as Chief of Staff.

Apologies for looking 'silly' but i remember the Blair Government having much more impact when he came to power. His Government had much more energy than this one. I want better.

Can we just bear in mind that while the BBC et al may spin it as Sue Gray resigns, in reality she has moved to a different job, still in the same government? That's not really how resignation works so perhaps it isn't the best word. Certainly gets a reaction from some people 😆

Ended the strikes by rolling over and giving in.

Well, they haven't done that, have they? They've reached a compromise. And yes, it's a big pay settlement because that's what you have to do when your predecessors insist on far below inflation pay rises at a time of astronomical inflation. The data shows that pay growth in the private sector since 2019 has been far greater in the provate sector: https://ifs.org.uk/publications/recent-trends-public-sector-pay

And yes, people will say that's because the private sector consists of 'proper' tax payers. But without a viable public sector, everything grinds to a halt. These pay rises needed to happen, and they don't restore pay to above 2010 levels.

What alternatives do people propose in terms of the strikes? Letting them continue was costing the economy a fortune.

So they haven't done anything yet apart from starting conversations and implementing legislation that hasn't attained royal assent.
Amid an unstable world marked by a major war in Europe and the Middle East, our deputy is partying in Ibiza. This reflects the state of the country and the questionable support they have from some of the electorate. If you believe that these actions are acceptable for a leader of a G8 nation, then my description is fitting.
To make matters worse, it has come to light that the Labour Party have been accepting bribes for months.
The way this government has introduced itself is wasteful and embarrassing.
I agree with John McDonell it's a catastrophe, political judgement is lacking.

Would you describe this as a honeymoon period for Labour?

No apology necessary, Blair had a better time when in. Starmer has really plummeted in a short time

Blair came to power nearly 30 years ago! Much has changed in this time but most importantly the economic landscape which hobbles the opportunities for change

£700 million wasted on the rail-strikes alone

Increasing NHS waiting times And too many junior doctors in Australia too

So? His Government had energy and vision, this one doesn't.
I'm no Tory, I thought Starmer at least was a safe pair of hands after the shambles of the last Tory Government. But he and his cabinet seem to be totally underwhelming, call me silly if you want but do you really think this Labour Government is off to a good start? Those saying give them time, are you proud of the start? Proud of the way they are communicating (or not) with the electorate?
Am I the only one who wants better?

I also noticed that Labour is investing in improving early diagnosis and outcomes for cancer. We might get back to building on the progress made on cancer outcomes during the Blair/Brown years.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-government-tech-deals-boost-the-business-of-cancer-detection

(I won't mention Truss' plans for cancer care as it is probably not allowed).

There were plenty of posts citing Blair, so many posts pre GE

Apparently an indication of how much better this lot would be. They’re not, and if they continue to slide it’ll get tough for them.

There was a huge outcry about the salary of Sue Gray being higher than the PM. I hear on the radio that Simon Case's salary was £200K. I noted no outcry about that.
So yes I do believe she has been hounded out, but as another poster said, she is not leaving the government, but is moving to a new role.

Oh and what number labour bashing thread are we up to now?

I feel like people have forgotten what actually happened when Blair got in. It was very similar - Bernie Eccleston and "Tony's Cronies"

Blair of course survived it and was prime minister for a very long time. I think Starmer will too.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony%27s_Cronies

www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/politics/2000/sep/20/labour.labour1997to99

‘Labour bashing’ poor old Labour. What gives with a public forum talking about a gov, it didn’t for the last lot.

I don’t know why given the polls show such approval

As I’ve said more than once, I don’t think they should be able to accept these sort of gifts. Doesn’t alter the situation that, as it stands, they are.

It is a daily occurrence on here as you well know.

They have been in power 3 months, I can't understand what people would have expected by now.

As others have said maybe there is an element of the population who need change every 15 minutes, but it is time for a period of calm.

I wanted this Labour Government to be a change for the good. I want pride in my Government. The country is crying out for good governance.
I get really fed up of the 'Tory bot' or 'whataboutery' or 'Labour bashing' comments designed to shut down debate. I just want competence, not varying degrees of perpetual disappointment in our political leaders.

Do you? Because what I remember is them sticking to Tory spending limits for the first part of their first term. The good stuff came much later.

Do tell about them accepting bribes. I haven’t heard that. Link please?
Unless you mean the properly declared gifts, which are properly declared specifically so they can’t be used as bribes. You can’t mean those though, because they haven’t ’come to light’. They’ve been available all along as a document of public record. Anyone can look at them.