To think Starmer is utterly reprehensible

[Thegreyhound]

I know everyone will disagree, that’s ok- But I just have to say that Starmer today seems to have sunk lower than I ever believed he would with his incendiary ‘island of strangers’ and ‘incalculable damage’ rhetoric.
I find it particularly shocking because he has calculated this and decided it’s worth it to throw immigrants under the bus and essentially give all the ground in the debate to Farage, Tommy Robinson and Enoch Powell types.
Policy can be altered without making statements that are designed to impact race relations and make life even more difficult for people who are just trying to get along and make a living here.
Starmer is vile. This country does indeed feel like an island of strangers these days but the strangers are not the immigrants :(

Whatever the official processes are, it sounds like the school has found a means of keeping him in school without another exclusion. They have also been willing to put work into an EHCP application (some schools drag their feet in this). It sounds like the current timetable is working well - allowing him to access education and then have a rest before he gets overwrought. In your shoes I’d be delighted. He’s only little still. Arguably many children his age would benefit from half days. Work with the school. Wait for the EHCP process to be completed and see where it takes you. Added maturity and some strategies may make fulltime mainstream school possible, or a specialist setting might be the recommended outcome.

Do you mean send all immigrants back for petty crime? Like phone snatching, minor drug dealing? Catch them on CCTV camera and send them back? Raid all the money laundering front shops? I guess they would have to change the laws first and get the courts to process quickly. Something Starmer as a lawyer probably could do.

Apologies - phone glitch changed the page!

@ButterCrackers but the eternal solution cannot be continual importing of labour. Surely you can see that?

We can’t run a country on relying on immigration forever. We have to eventually be relatively self sufficient and it is for the government to plan out how to do it. We need a cultural shift in how people see low skilled jobs. I think when Tony Blair made it so every child was expected to go to university he created a 2 tier society where ordinary working class jobs were seen as beneath people. That never used to be the case.

and if I have to pay higher taxes then I guess I’ll have to. But let’s face it we are spending billions on immigration as it is. If we weren’t doing that then that money could be recovered into subsidising care homes and childcare and council services

There is over 100 billion lost every year in the economy to the black market.

I can tell you the Chinese and Vietnamese are likely to but they have Mother’s who work. So don’t fit that criteria.

A man working 16 hours and week whilst the women doesn’t work, these people do not have the types of kids to get good qualifications and head off to top universities. So what Dad works a crummy 16 hours? I’m a single parent not on benefits and my son is at a top university. Interesting you put such a lot on a man tootling about in a private hire for 16 hours a week to max out benefits as the corner stone of a child’s future success. It’s simply not true and misogynistic.

Yes, things could be even worse than they are now!!!

So-called "progressives" are so convinced of the rightness of their opinions (& that is all they are "opinions"), that any opposition can only be put down to the other person being: (a) stupid, (b) malevolent, or (c) both (a) and (b).

This frequently gives rise to a very unpleasant and shrill level of arrogance on their part.

Probably the best example is Gordon Brown's comment about a woman who had put her seriously held concerns to him on the campaign trail, that she was a bigot. I seriously believe that cost him the election.

I’m not certain on that first line. The flip on a dime because Starmer has said something on immigration might work for those who will always vote Labour but it also says to Reform they have a point. Why not?

If Labour convince people immigration isn’t helping why not net migration at zero and more hardline measures

No other European country is going left.

Yet. Have you not noticed what’s just happened in Canada and Australia?

It has to be admitted that the progressive left has only delivered "good times" for a select few.

Allow people to work while awaiting a decision then. Provide decent housing and childcare for all citizens, whatever their origin. Reinstate ESOL on a large scale instead of having it as a hard to access luxury.

Whether people believe it or not, migrants, once they obtain the right to remain and are evicted from home office accommodation, are expected to apply for UC and, like everyone else, unless they're sick/disabled or carers have to spend 35 hours a week looking for full time employment. They're also expected to find accommodation in the private sector. All this whether they speak English or not. Surely it would make more sense to enable people by giving them the support they need to integrate into society? It's a very tough life when you don't speak enough English to navigate everything expected of you. I'd hate it.

“No other European country is going left.
Yet. Have you not noticed what’s just happened in Canada and Australia?”

@blossomtoes and those are countries that control immigration with strict rules. You can go left if everyone plays ball and does their bit for the system. For everyone has learnt to game the system to survive you cannot, it collapses.
Also the educated elite always skews left.

Not so. We had much greater societal equity and equality in the UK between the end of WW2 and the start of the 80s because of reasonably moderate policies and government. Something happened in 1979 to upturn that, what could it have been? 🤔 Was it the election of a progressive left government I wonder?

Misogynistic - please do yourself a favour and think before you write rubbish. I’m a stay at home mother and there’s nothing wrong with that when there’s an income. Those kids will get on and do well.

Of course. Reform voters would likely be happy with Aus style policies. They could just run on saying we’d do similar.

They’re not citizens though.

“If Labour convince people immigration isn’t helping why not net migration at zero and more hardline measures”

Because no rationale person believes that as we do have some shortages in skilled areas and immigration that contributes to society, long term, is good. Plus half the NHS staff is immigrant background, so people do actually know deep down we need immigration. What is not good, is immigration that does not contribute and is a net drain.
That story actually makes sense. Select your immigrants carefully. Young, healthy, educated, shares our values, supports are democracy, wants to come here to contribute.

Moreover, the report is going to be published clarifying which immigrant groups are net contributors. And then there is the grooming gang scandal. So they have to make these things make sense as well, in an anticipatory fashion. It is not all about stealing votes from Reform.

Those moves left had nothing to do with immigration. Until just before their elections both countries were predicted to have right wing governments. Remember what happened in January? That’s what’s changing the political weather.

Don’t people realise that ‘points based systems’ are there to increase immigration?

What about Spain? Progressive government and welcoming of immigration.

They are in the sense that they live in the UK. But that wasn't my point. My point was that everyone in the UK should expect the provision of decent housing and public services.

I think for Labour voters it’ll be support no matter what. Not everyone is though and Reform are capitalising on this shift to immigration. All the main parties are trying to get support on this but Labour in particular has worked against people.

Two minutes ago Labour were all its ’dog whistle’ ‘far right’ culture wars to talk about immigration. I can’t bear the hypocrisy. I hope the polls show similar.

Points based systems are there to increase the right kind of immigration, the economic growth contributing kind.

@EasternStandard - I am not really a Labour voter. More centrist Lib Dem. Last time I voted Labour was Blair. But I sure as hell would vote Labour to keep Farage out.
At some point, people realise that protest votes are pointless.