Politician’s pathetic non-answering of questions

[PlumPuddingandGravy]

I’ve got no time for Rupert Lowe and his his politics. I won’t be voting for him or anyone like him. So this isn’t in support of him or his party.

The other day in the House of Commons he asked a question about women and girls in his constituency not feeling safe in public due to gangs of men from cultures where women are treated like “dirt”, and he asked whether a breakdown of criminality by ethnicity / national origin was to be produced so the scale of the problem could be understood.

Whether you agree with the premise of his question, or think it’s racist, the request in an of itself isn’t wholly unreasonable - we need to understand a problem fully if it’s to be tackled.

Bridget Phillipson didn’t address it at all. Instead she attacked Rupert Lowe’s personal conduct towards women, and indicated she wouldn’t be lectured by him.

Just pathetic side stepping of the issue that was raised. In microcosm it was why so many people have no time for politicians. If he’s wrong (and he may well be) tell him why, tell him why the stats aren’t needed, explain why the premise of his question is wrong, and fair enough tell him why you think he’s demonising minority groups for a wider issue. But don’t just ignore the actual question.

AIBU?

I didn’t see or hear the exchange, but yes, I agree with you. There’s too much deflection by hurling personal abuse, accusing people of being x, y, z etc, rather than simply answering the bloody question.
Debate has ceased to exist, and in that vacuum, danger lies.

Yes I agree. Every time David Baddiel talks about antisemitism, the amount of times people drag up something that he did 30 years ago, and has apologised for profusely rather than engage with the subject in hand, is sickening.

They don't want to deal with awkward questions that challenge their world view so resort to cheap ad hominin attacks to deflect.

I started listening to radio 4s today programme in the mid 90s and was shocked how often
A) politicians of all stripes didn't answer even the most basic straightforward questions
B) how often they came on with an agenda to talk about something even they were there to talk about something completely different
And c) how often they blamed the previous administration. Labour were doing it in the 2000s despite being in power for years, the tories in 2015

It seems this is required behaviour for politicians now.

Keir Starmer gives a masterclass in this every single PMQ.

Thanks all.

It’s really depressing.

The people of Great Yarmouth don’t seem to be able to get concerns addressed or hold the government to account because of who their MP is.

It’s really dismal.

Yep probably why he whipped against the privileges committee, he’d actually have to answer questions.

The Cabinet and Keir Starmer have set a new low in evading answers by defaulting to “I won’t be lectured” “Tory Chaos” or “Free school meals”. This is insulting and demonstrates a complete lack of accountability, which is getting worse by the day.

It’s important to remember these are the people chosen by our democratically elected MPs to run the country. We may not agree with them, but that’s democracy.

I didn’t vote for Labour but had some hopes after reading their manifesto and thought Starmer was a credible leader. I liked their focus on growth, immigration restrictions and greater accountability.

However, within weeks it became clear Starmer was a stalking horse to overcome the embarrassment of Corbyn. Any growth policies were then stifled by a stream of idealistically motivated policies and the manifesto was ignored.

I expect Starmer to be gone shortly after the May elections and the government will lurch to the left. This will go down badly with the electorate and the markets, followed by a general election and another chance to define our democracy.