Is a more left Labour government what people want?

[punkhairbrush]

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?

Well media bias for one. Misinformation being spread and and it being normalised. Fear and hate being used to scare people.

I'm not Starmers biggest fan btw. But I also can see he's getting a unfair ride.

If you think Reform have any interest in running the country for the working people, then I can't help you.

Less emigration?

I don’t think it’s the media causing it.

@Alexandra2001 In 2010, EU membership and migration didn't figure in the top 10 of peoples concerns.

This is what we're told, but it isn't true. Remember Gordon Brown? He was promising british jobs for british workers because of the outcry about immigration numbers and getting lambasted as a result. Remember bigotgate? Gordon Brown again, ambushed by a lady whose grandson was struggling to find decent paid work because of the number of eastern european tradespeople who came over and worked for less.

Immigration absolutely was a factor in 2010. It is the reason GB lost the election, and by 2015 the topic was so big it gave David Cameron his majority because he offered a referendum on leaving Europe.

I think that is a big part of it, along with social media and people being radicalised by right wing propaganda.

Anyone looking at a vote that’s split five ways across radically different parties and saying ‘the country clearly want…’ is a pompous disingenuous twat.

Or do something to make sure those ' lazy brits' have no choice but to work in those jobs. In the beloved of the Left Norway they make people do work experience after a certain amount of time on benefits. Everyone is expected to contribute. If people don't want immigrants then they need to be doing the jobs, which means disincentivising benefits and making people work. We have an ageing population and can't afford so many working age adults to not be in work. The burden is too high on the rest of us. The 2 child cap I bet won't lift a single child out of poverty. It was performative pandering to Labour backbenchers.

I suspect that Labour's current unpopularity has little to do with people wishing they were "more left." The people who seem most vitriolic towards them (supported by the media) are those who have shifted right.

Interested in this, why is the left not for working class?

Yes of course in some areas, immigration levels were crazily high but not in the 2 areas i lived in, the South and South West at the time, levels were manageable.

e- border checks started to be re introduced in the early 2000s, but it also cuts both ways, we don't know who left either.... but anecdotally, i do not see EU workers in our local hospitals or in social care anymore... i believe this is reflected nationally.

I live in Cornwall, which voted Brexit, yet has tiny levels of any sort of foreign immigration.

But why are you focusing in on events 20 plus years ago?

We had 14 years of Right Wing Govt, plenty of time to fix the issues you raise but were they? nope, just made far far worse.

Every metric from life expectancy to waiting lists to road mtce to school building programs were wrecked between 2010 and 2024.

It beggars belief that Reform, basically the right wing of the Tory party, is seen as the answer by many but it shouldn't be forgotten that they attract just 25% of the electorate.

Social media pushes the media, more so since partygate. Labour are more likely to use the media as an excuse.

It’s not an excuse is it? The same media who crucified Rayner and Starmer have ignored much worse offences from Tice and Farage.

I don’t think politics is about left vs right anymore, at least not in the traditional sense. Political parties don’t really sit in those camps- some of Reform’s policies could be considered left wing, and some of Labour’s could be considered right wing.

I think this is about the general mood of the country. People are struggling and it doesn’t feel fair. The “hard work pays off” message is simply untrue when it comes to work. There is so much that indicates it’s one rule for the ruling classes and another rule for the rest of us. As an example of this, the water companies are failing but their bosses are reaping bonuses.

Before the internet and social media the masses were unaware of those kinds of things, but now we all can see. People are trying to revolt but in an uncoordinated way.

I've just read the list of what's in the kings speech.
God help us.

They need to grow the economy. Not going harder and faster towards a cliff edge.

@Desperatelyseekinglazysusansuch a good idea. With sky high mental health issues, volunteering and doing can really help people here too.

@MsGreyingwhere did you find this. Seriously, how can they not see and hear what everyone else is? Ruined my Monday!

What kind of thing?

How much did your chosen party (I'm guessing Green based on your stance on Gaza) attract of the electorate?

I think a lot of the people who voted Green were trying to send a message to Labour that they want a more left wing Labour. All eyes seem to be on Reform, but the vast majority of people didn’t vote for them. Labour have to stop trying to out Reform, Reform. It can’t be done, nor should it. They won’t capture those votes anyway. Bonkers to me that they aren’t seeing that. Labour need to remember who they are and what they used to stand for.

The media is always hardest on whichever party is currently in power.

Maybe a lot of people did vote Green who want a more left wing Labour.

But equally, a lot of people want a more right wing Labour.

People who want a more right wing Labour may move to a more right wing party or not bother voting at all because no party seems to represent them anymore.

I've seen a lot of people on MN saying they feel politically homeless, including me. If people who used to vote Labour stop voting that will benefit right wing parties like the Conservatives or Reform.

Such as? And if you’re right why didn’t the Tories rectify it during their 14 years in power?

But surely if you want more right wing policies, without the outright racism of Reform, you are served by the Tories?

Lots of politically homeless Labour voters are left wing and have no choice but the Greens, a party beset with problems. Ultimately centrists are the people not being well served, and the Labour Party were, could and should be a left of centre party. At the moment they have moved into right of centre politics so no wonder many of their voters have abandoned them. And their position is madness given they will never be right wing enough to capture the votes they are chasing.

Labour have lost sight of the fact that the working class always used to believe that you took responsibility for yourself, you didn't get something for nothing because there was a thing called pride and you paid your dues. That's what it was like when I was growing up in the Red Wall in the 70s and 80s.

Labour have presided over a benefits culture, redistribution to that benefits bottom from the middle instead of real wealth at the top*, and now champion a vast number of luxury beliefs centred on diversity that leave most people cold.

*real wealth to me is someone with assets of £10m+, not someone who is earning £100k+ a year.

Blair got it catastrophically wrong with allowing the A8 countries immediate rights to work and claim benefits back in 2004 rather than applying the 7 year brake like the other developed nations of the EU did and we have been on a downward spiral ever since. How can you have the levels of inward migration we've 'enjoyed' for more than 2 decades now with a non contributory welfare system? Our politicians have sold this country very cheaply, without asking us our opinion first.

@Alexandra2001 ”4 million people, primarily from Africa and SE Asia came to the UK in 3 years under Bojo and Sunak..... they will never return, yet you think Labour were/are the problem.
Funny how more right leaning posters don't mention this huge and permanent change in the UKs culture and population.”

You are not wrong, but also Blair could have throttled EU immigration. Both have had the effect of holding down wages, from carers, to bricklayers, to IT roles.
Labour need to drop immigration to near zero (100k? 50k?) and publish exact figures of how the 100k managed to qualify for immigration, and how they help the country.
Facts hopefully will speak louder than sound bites.
How have 204k got in last year? Where is the reasoning so people can see who is coming in?
The small boats illegal immigrants should also be interned, regardless of the cost, regardless of the outcry.
I have zero faith in Reform, Restore (fuck off!) or the next rendition of the Tories.
But they will govern if Labour don’t sort out immigration. They have the time to do it.