To feel slightly sad for Labour and Keir?

[Wellwhatnowbellaboo]

Aibu to feel sad for Labour's results so far ? I've not historically been a Labour voter but I think Keir has done a good job on some things but on others he was never going to be popular...and no one would be ! I like that he's the first leader recently to appear to have a moral backbone and consistency (if he truly wasn't informed about Mandelson I might add).
How do you feel about the state of play particularly if you've been lifelong labour and did you swing to a different vote this time round ?

Much of that outcry came from pensioners who are a few quid over Pension Credit levels. Unless people have substantial extra pensions, or savings, they might as well just spend up before retirement. I actually think the cut off once they did means test should have been lower.

I agree. I don't like all the building on green belt though.

Council tax is through the roof and eye watering where I am.

People have had it, the amount spent on care homes is madness these places make huge huge profits …a different way needs to be found.

The SEND costs are astronomical that needs a revamp. It’s a money pit!

Exactly. He has no excuse that he didn't know that PM was dodgy, EVERYONE knew. When Mandelson was appointed you could practically hear a collective nationwide 'WTF?'. I said at the time 'Well that's going to end up biting him on the arse'.

I'm traditionally a labour/lib dem swing voter. I agree that Kier Starmer appears to be one of a few small number for politicians who value some element of morality and fairness.

Unfortunately, it turns out he's surprisingly bad at the actual nuts and bolts of running a government!

I mainly agree with you other than I'm not sure we can actually fix it because the structural issues run too deep and too internationally - for example "tax big corporates" would require an international agreement on corporate taxation which will never happen because every country is making cut price deals to get jobs into their country.

Honestly I think we are going the way of having to take on more caring/ financial support responsibilities within family and immediate support structures (so it's a good job we haven't spent the last 5 decades dismantling those..... oh wait....). I just don't see a future whereby the state (i.e. the taxpayer) can continue to support all this third party social care. However, nor can families afford to have family members not working to do this care so its catch 22.

Then there's AI.... because while I'm not anti-immigration (although I think there are huge flaws in the existing system) I don't necessarily agree that we are going to need a lot more workers- in fact quite the opposite.

@ilovebrie8 but people don’t want to or can’t afford to fund their own care

If only the laughing emoji still existed.

There will be good Labour councillors who have worked to improve their local area who have lost their seats, and I feel sorry for them. Just as I will for any Lib Dems or Greens who have lost seats and done good work in their area.

If only we had a PR system such as in the Irish Republic, where you have several representatives and can choose a personal vote for someone who may be the only one from that party whose work you respect.

One of the upsetting things about this Labour government is how they try to spin things. With the proposed SEND reforms they didn't just come right out and say "we need to save money, these are the cuts we're proposing", they tried to make it look like they were doing us a favour.

There were weeks and weeks of little articles in the media about how much SEND taxis cost then the proposals came out saying "we just really - morally - think every child should go to their nearest school." Absolutely no understanding of the way that communities form/exist and that for so many children, the cheapest nearest mainstream school isn't suitable and there are so few special schools.

Then they had the audacity to say that they were actually giving children with SEND "more rights", while proposing sweeping away so many of the tribunal powers and heavily restricting other rights.

It is all a lie. At least if they came out and just said it was all to save money, then people could respect they were telling the truth and make their choices / respond to the consultation accordingly. It was really eye opening watching all the conservative and Lib Dem MPs stand up in House of Commons on April 13th to defend disabled children's rights . Difficult to watch as a die-hard lefty but then the Labour Party aren't really left wing anymore, and I don't think we can say that the Conservatives are the "nasty party". Labour are certainly the lying, gaslighting party.

Labour used to be the party of the working class but now it’s the party for the non- working. Ordinary working people are taxed to the hilt to fund more PIP etc and an increasingly desperate NHS.
They dismiss legitimate concerns about migrants coming in on boats. Let’s be honest a huge number of people voting for Reform are voting because of immigration. Until Labour are even willing to discuss it they haven’t got a chance in hell if staying in power. They have also lost the Muslim vote to independents or the Greens.

You know what, we need to be more bloody honest about where we are and stop looking for scapegoats. When we're honest, we can fix it.

My worry is it will be late or the damage is to deep.

Let me think if I feel sorry for Labour… no

Unfortunately they are the Govt of the day, they inherited the Tory legacy and found they had to deal with a global situation and eg Mandelson but that's politics. The Opposition may well be thinking they are going to inherit this. They should be working together to limit the damage and decide that it's country first not Party.

No way, not with that sacking anyone else record.

I mainly agree with you other than I'm not sure we can actually fix it because the structural issues run too deep and too internationally - for example "tax big corporates" would require an international agreement on corporate taxation which will never happen because every country is making cut price deals to get jobs into their country.

Yep, I think a big problem is how we have ignored our young people and much of the West are facing similar demographic problems so more young skilled people will go abroad exacerbating our problems.

What is the element of morality and fairness that Starmer values?! He barely seems to have any political beliefs let alone principles.

I care about global issues because they do impact us. Couldn’t vote labour due to Starmers weak stance on Gaza, Trump and the escalating situation in the Middle East.

Don't weep for the man whose pension needs it's own act if parliament.

And just remember they are blind to basic biology.

I agree. I feel sorry for Kier because he was stabbed in the back by his backbenchers from day 1. Who needs enemies with friends like these?

If he had been able to implement some changes without having the choice of back down or be voted down we may not be in this mess.

So the government was in chaos from day 1.

Unfortunately most of the backbenchers are inexperienced with government and probably still hark back to student politics with lots of ideals and no hard practicality.

So thanks to them we now have a surge in Reform. Cheers.

Moral stance? Backbone?

Where?

He knew.

Council elections are protest time, to give parties a kick. Labour have failed in so many ways, these results were inevitable.

He was the one who stuffed the parliamentary Labour Party full of economically illiterate people who have never run anything. Most are political activists of charity workers. Hardly the enterprising types with successful track records in business and the private sector. What would the understand about the economy or growth.

Starmer himself understands 0 about the economy and is basically an ex ambulance chasing human rights lawyer who failed upwards. He appointed a fraud as his chancellor who lied about her credentials.

And this is the result l.

I like that he's the first leader recently to appear to have a moral backbone and consistency

Have you been living under a rock OP?