To wonder what could Starmer do, to turn things around?

[B0xes]

He was elected on fewer votes than Corbyn with very lukewarm support, the Tories lost that election, Labour did not sweep in on a tide of public approval, they just benefitted from peoples anger at the Conservatives. Since then, Starmers approval rating has tanked. He seems to have gone from one ill judged move to the next and seems totally tone deaf in speeches. Can he turn it around? What would he need to do?

It doesn’t. Rail’s already being renationalised by not re letting contracts when they expire. Water is just taken back without recompense, the over generosity of years of dividends to its shareholders is the reason it’s deep in debt now, they’ve had enough money.

The 9 million people that are economically inactive. You might be willing to write them off as unemployable but I'm not.

Starmer ruled it out July 2022 and seems to have stuck to that

Probably a mistake for Labour

Assuming that all of these young people are able to work and aren’t studying, that might tide us along for a while. But not in the long-term. There are more than 13.5 million baby boomers in the UK, who are either retired or approaching retirement age. There are also more than 4 million older retirees.

I couldn’t be more unimpressed with this government if I tried. The budget was an absolute shambles. They never seem willing to own up if they get things wrong. They just double down or blame it on the last government. Starmer was visiting Zelenskyy recently. Our country is on the brink of bankruptcy. We should be prioritising our own country first before writing out cheques left right and centre to other nations. And don’t get me started on all the net zero climate change stuff. Just more misery in store for us, less freedoms and greater hardship. I will just wait patiently and vote for the party that has the best chance of winning against them at the next election. They will still probably going on about the elusive £20m black hole then.

@BIossomtoes

"It doesn’t. Rail’s already being renationalised by not re letting contracts when they expire. Water is just taken back without recompense, the over generosity of years of dividends to its shareholders is the reason it’s deep in debt now, they’ve had enough money."

Absolutely no problem on rail re nationalisation by not re letting the contracts when they expire. It doesn't cost anything and is rather clever in that respect but it does raise the question of where the new state rail entity gets money from for investment other than borrowing it which impacts Government debt.

As for nationalising the water companies without any financial compensation that that would immediately destroy any foreign investor confidence in the UK, it would be strongly challenged in the courts and would have the effect of drastically reducing any other foreign investment in the UK. So it would cost more than it saves.

I think your point on water nationalisation is a very good example of how Labour completely fail to see the secondary economic impacts of their decisions.

And what about in 20 years’ time, when we have millions more retirees , and thanks to the current low birth rate, not nearly enough young workers to replace them?

@EasternStandard

"Starmer ruled it out July 2022 and seems to have stuck to that

Probably a mistake for Labour"

Definitely a mistake. Joining the single market doesn't cost anything but it does create economic growth.

20 years’ time is ages in tech and AI terms, you probably don’t want to flood the workforce with graduates and new workers by that point

@Viviennemary Does that include those pensioners raking in benefits that many didn’t pay for over their lifetimes ? Were you happy for the WFA to be means tested or changes to private education implemented ? I see a lot of people making comments like yours but when faced with cold hard reality they soon start moaning…

Tax profits rather than employment.
Ban foreign residents and companies (without a certain amount of employees in the UK) from buying property and land.
Get rid of the triple lock.

I was a brexiteer. I was wrong. We should rejoin the EU.

Introduce national rent control legislation. The current Bill doesn't go far enough.

Go back to basics with our railways to offer a simple pricing structure (like Switzerland) and make it cheap and easy for everyone to use.

It’s strange to look back as that statement was two months pre Truss

I assume he was concerned about votes but had he waited there would have been more certainty about lower competition just due to dissatisfaction at a high

He’s now beholden to his own statements

If’s he’s annoying the repugnant Musk to such an extent, then he must be doing something right 😁

Anyone actually found any good things that they’ve done because there are some.
People moan about doom and gloom but there’s positive stuff that the MSM deliberately fail to tell us. Funny that….

@Cattenberg

"And what about in 20 years’ time, when we have millions more retirees , and thanks to the current low birth rate, not nearly enough young workers to replace them?"

Well in 20 years time the retirement age will simply be higher and most likely will be financially worse off. But it will pass in one generation.

But if you import large numbers of workers today to pay for the current number of pensioners then in 40 years time you need to import even more workers to pay for the higher number of pensioners and so on in some kind of Ponzi scheme of an ever growing population that places an impossible strain on infrastructure, health care, education, the economy and the environment.

As for the replacement of workers, as I said there are 9 million economically inactive in the UK today.

He needs to instruct Reeves to tell the Bank of England to stop selling government bonds and lower interest rates. At the moment BoE policy is actively working against the economic growth policies that the government are trying to implement.

Reeves does have the legal power to stop the BoE from doing this, but for some reason she won't use it.

Also, a wealth tax of say, 2% on those with over £10M in assets should be created. Taxes (as far as I know) are the only mechanism we have to rebalance wealth inequality in the UK.

Outside of that, I agree with previous posters about re-nationalisation of power/railways/water etc, and undoing Brexit.

they need to come up with a workable plan for social care but instead of doing that, it has been kicked into the long grass again.

@ToBeOrNotToBee
"Get rid of the triple lock."

I don't disagree but you're not going to win many votes with that policy!

Beholden or standing by his guns ? Surely that’s a good thing rather than flip flopping like Johnson ? The guy cannot win, simple. Thatcher never U turned, decimated British industry, but she was a Tory and Teflon coated.

Slow down the investment in 'net zero' policies. The pain people are going through isn't worth it. It's increasing our utility bills - we pay some of the highest energy bills in Europe. Until we can see progress on infrastructure for and cost of electric cars, until we can afford heat pumps/green energy, until we can afford rail fares, we are feeling the financial strain but no discernable progress is being made.
He's also GOT to make progress on 'smashing the gangs' or 'stopping the boats'. You can't have new arrivals living in 4 star hotels while the homeless are living in tents. I don't know what the answer is but it is a stick Reform will keep beating them with until the numbers come down.
NHS - of all the Cabinet Ministers, I think Wes Streeting is the most able - he's been given a monumental task though and I don't think it's fixable. I hope he stays in post.
Recruit a statesman-like Foreign Secretary - with the incoming Trump administration, we need someone up to the job and can represent us on the global stage. Lammy isn't up to it.

Up to you to decide how you feel. But it’s one thing that would help his own party, which he’s closed off,

Speed up net zero investment - it's a growth area and it will significantly reduce future costs

Keep going and ignore the doomsayers

Improve education - give children critical thinking skills and empathy to stop them focussing on small boats

@LoveSkaMusic

"He needs to instruct Reeves to tell the Bank of England to stop selling government bonds and lower interest rates. At the moment BoE policy is actively working against the economic growth policies that the government are trying to implement."

So if the BoE stops selling bonds then where exactly is the Government going to get the money to fund its budget deficit?

Of course it could simply print money but that generally doesn't work out too well. Or it could cut spending so that it has a balanced budget but that's not going to be too popular with voters.

He could resign. No one in this country wants this government - those who did vote Labour didn't expect this shitshow.