Page 13 | Is a more left Labour government what people want?

MandingoAteMyBaby · 12/05/2026 08:14

Hallowedturf · 12/05/2026 05:10

Cause and effect, I suggest.

Had this government not been so overtly pro-welfare and immigration, and high tax - Reform would never have secured the support they have.

People are sick of being taxed to death whilst being kicked and call racist.
The left brought this upon themselves.

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In what way is this government “pro-immigration” ?

Compared to the Conservatives they’ve massively reduced immigration and the asylum backlog.

Bushmillsbabe · 12/05/2026 08:14

BIossomtoes · 12/05/2026 06:23

The state has supported us in times of need for the last 80 years and provided high quality public services until Osborne embarked on his campaign of slash and burn in 2010.

Attlee’s government managed to create the welfare state, build thousands of council houses and give us the NHS when the country was economically on its knees and in hock to the US. The difference was society then had a common goal.

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Yes, but the welfare state used to look very different. It was a basic amount of money, not really enough to live on.

My mum grew up in the 50's and 60's with a single mum with 5 children afterher Dad died when she was young, living in a 2 bed council house - my mum and her sisters shared the larger bedroom with their mum, her 2 brothers shared the smaller bedroom. They thought they were very lucky, whereas now people would be saying they were overcrowded and asking for a 4 bed. The benefits payment was minimal, definitely not enough to live on, and my Grandma cleaned others houses, took in washing etc, grew veg in their garden to put food on the table. The benefits was seen as a top up, not a total anount to live on, and a short term backstop, not a long term solution. Once youngest was in school it stopped completely.

Now it's expected to cover tvs and mobile phones and cars and holidays. The expectations of today's welfare state are very different to when it first originated. In 2026 the income tax and NI revenue will be less than the benefits bill. Leaving the smaller forms of tax such as VAT etc to cover everything else from education to healththcare to policing to our armed forces. It's untenable, and I don't know what the solution is.

LizzieW1969 · 12/05/2026 10:30

Twiglets1 · 12/05/2026 06:48

So ridiculously biased.

You could say that about all the parties - only a small percentage voted for them (smaller than reform) - so the rest must "hate them".

It's a stupid argument though. You have no way of knowing who they hate and most of the country didn't even vote at the local elections.

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There was also a lot of tactical voting going on to keep Reform out. Not voting for a party doesn't necessarily mean you hate them.

Snakebite61 · 12/05/2026 15:36

punkhairbrush · 10/05/2026 17:17

I keep hearing statement after statement from Labour MPs and Rayner saying they essentially want a more left version of the Labour Party. From my understanding the majority of the public are fed up with work not paying and whether we like it or not, nothing being done about the welfare state and also illegal immigrants. Surely a more left approach isn’t going to solve either of these issues and will just cause Labour to be even less popular than they are now. Or have I got it all wrong?

Another clueless post. When are people going to wise up?

Hallowedturf · 12/05/2026 19:06

Snakebite61 · 12/05/2026 15:36

Another clueless post. When are people going to wise up?

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What’s clueless about it?

Do tell.

GlomOfNit · 12/05/2026 19:19

Lifelong Labour voter here. I don't envisage that changing UNLESS they veered very far to the left! I'm fine with the pragmatic, soft-left stance that this administration take on many things. I don't think Labour would be electable if they went too far to the left, but obviously they're losing support, not to mention some of the parliamentary party, if they stay put.

I mean, none of this shit is new, is it?? It's been the dance for the party since forever!

I think dancing to the tune that the parties at the extreme ends of the political spectrum are dictating is a mistake, long-term. The Greens and Your Party (if that's even still a thing) are trying to pull leftwing politics further left; parties like Reform and their clones are pulling the Tories further right. Both Labour and the Tories are scared of losing core voters to further left and right. But if those two parties move further to the extremes of the spectrum we are left with a massive gaping void in the middle. Most people DON'T want to vote for one extreme or the other! (or for the Lib Dems apart from tactically...)

I have to say that on a personal, emotional level, I'm really sad about this Labour administration. I thought Starmer was our chance at a pragmatic, sensible and above all intelligent leadership and politics that would change things for the better while not shafting the economy or treating it like a bad smell. He seems, still, like a good person but turns out he's not a great politician and it looks like he's got a fatal stubborn streak. It has to be vanity, clinging on like this. It's not good for either his party or the country.

FernandoSor · 12/05/2026 19:20

The view among some on the left of the party is that by abandoning their left wing principles and trying to become more appealing to centrists and right-leaning folk, the party is haemorrhaging support on the left (to the Greens in England and PC in Wales).

The issue is of course that the effort to appeal to the right is simply not working, and will never work. Labour could reduce net immigration to zero (they are well on the way) and people would simply not believe it.

And the policies aimed at the poorest, while laudable, are not great for garnering support. The poor, by and large, don’t vote and traditional Labour voters resent seeing what many of them see as the feckless poor getting support that they are not entitled to while they face increasing prices and static wages.

Dbank · 12/05/2026 19:26

>Is a more left Labour government what people want?

Clearly not, judging by Thursday's results.

Badbadbunny · 12/05/2026 19:41

It's not about far left/soft left etc., it's about basic competence and having a realistic plan for economic growth, which Starmer and some of his cabinet simply aren't capable of.

eeemes · 12/05/2026 20:23

Ozgirl76 · 11/05/2026 03:58

I know Labour purport to want economic growth, but they’re doing their best to prevent this in private business.

I run a small business in the midlands. We employ 8 people and turnover $2million. We would love to expand, we have ideas and a plan. But to do this would mean taking on new staff and we’re so wary of doing this with the new workers rights laws. We’ve taken a chance on staff before - ones with big gaps in work history because of disabilities, caring responsibilities, illness. Some of these have worked out and some haven’t. But we need the ability to move them on if they’re not right - we’re too small to keep on a person who can’t do the job.

And you might say “well just fairly dismiss them then” and that’s fine - we have done that before and been taken to tribunal, spent thousands of pounds to have the tribunal find in our favour. Great - but there are no costs orders so we’re out of pocket whether we win or lose.

The cost of hiring staff now also means we just take on more and more ourselves instead of hiring another staff member. We would also like to take on a new commercial unit but the costs of rates, bills etc are just too high so we’ll try to reconfigure the one we have.

Everything we do is about saving costs instead of spending money to expand.

There must be thousands of small businesses like ours who would take on new staff, expand and actually create economic growth but are making different decisions due to this government’s policies.

Rubbish! Unless you’re breaking equality rules, you can dismiss for no reason right up to 2 years of employment. How is that not enough time to decide if someone is any good at their job?

OonaStubbs · 12/05/2026 20:35

Labour will never be able to out-left the Greens because the Greens aren't interested in actually getting into power.

Thefastandthecurious5 · 12/05/2026 21:10

GlomOfNit · 12/05/2026 19:19

Lifelong Labour voter here. I don't envisage that changing UNLESS they veered very far to the left! I'm fine with the pragmatic, soft-left stance that this administration take on many things. I don't think Labour would be electable if they went too far to the left, but obviously they're losing support, not to mention some of the parliamentary party, if they stay put.

I mean, none of this shit is new, is it?? It's been the dance for the party since forever!

I think dancing to the tune that the parties at the extreme ends of the political spectrum are dictating is a mistake, long-term. The Greens and Your Party (if that's even still a thing) are trying to pull leftwing politics further left; parties like Reform and their clones are pulling the Tories further right. Both Labour and the Tories are scared of losing core voters to further left and right. But if those two parties move further to the extremes of the spectrum we are left with a massive gaping void in the middle. Most people DON'T want to vote for one extreme or the other! (or for the Lib Dems apart from tactically...)

I have to say that on a personal, emotional level, I'm really sad about this Labour administration. I thought Starmer was our chance at a pragmatic, sensible and above all intelligent leadership and politics that would change things for the better while not shafting the economy or treating it like a bad smell. He seems, still, like a good person but turns out he's not a great politician and it looks like he's got a fatal stubborn streak. It has to be vanity, clinging on like this. It's not good for either his party or the country.

I completely agree. I feel like I could’ve written your post (apart from the bit about being a lifelong Labour voter, as I’ve flipped between them and the Lib Dems, either voting LD as a protest vote or because of their opposition to Brexit).

As you’re a lifelong Labour voter, I’d be really keen to see how you manage your disappointment when they don’t meet your expectations? So far, I’ve responded to that by voting Lib Dem, but I think that’s unfair of me.

Badbadbunny · 13/05/2026 12:16

eeemes · 12/05/2026 20:23

Rubbish! Unless you’re breaking equality rules, you can dismiss for no reason right up to 2 years of employment. How is that not enough time to decide if someone is any good at their job?

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Nail on the head. Unfortunately there is too much of a risk of a discrimination claim if you take on (or don't take on) someone who has a protected characteristic. There've been quite a few cases where people have successfully claimed for an "ism" within the first 2 years of employment (or even at recruitment stage) and it frightens small employers and potential first time employers. Whether it's an irrational fright is a different matter, but as with lots of things it's "behaviour" that matters and it's a fact that lots of small businesses don't want to take the risk and hence stay small and don't grow.

CoffeeCantata · 13/05/2026 15:58

So hard to answer, OP, because it's a simple question about a very complex situation.

How many people know what 'left wing' means? Or right wing? Most people don't think broadly or coherently about politics - they just want simple answers.

I'm interested in politics, but have never found a single political party which chimes with my views. But I do know that, in the current crisis, governments are going to be desperately looking for more funds...and the one sure source of that is the hard-working, law-abiding, squeezed middle (not just mc people - wc too - all the people who work and pay their taxes). The super rich will just leave or get tax lawyers to find loopholes for them - and there are comparatively few of them anyway - they are not the answer to the funding issue.

That's what scares me. But I don't know how much more squeezing this sector can take before they start to protest.

I broadly support Keir Starmer but I wish to God he would speak directly to the electorate and say that he understands their concerns. And also explain that there IS no simple solution to the 'small boat' problem. If there was, it would have been implemented by now.