Labour leadership hustings - Webchat with Jeremy Corbyn and Liz Kendall, Tuesday 28 July 2015 at 12pm

[BojanaMumsnet]

Hello

Following on from Friday's webchat with Yvette Cooper, we’re pleased to announced the second of our Labour leadership hustings webchats with Jeremy Corbyn and Liz Kendall, tomorrow at 12 noon.

Jeremy Corbyn has been an MP for North Islington since 1983. In addition to his involvement with local organisations and community groups, he has a keen interest in international affairs and is the chair of the Stop the War coalition, which he helped establish in 2001. Jeremy’s candidacy for the Labour leadership has triggered a flurry of headlines and soundbites.

Liz Kendall was elected as Labour MP for Leicester West in 2010. She is the Shadow Minister for Care and Older People. Her focuses include improving public services and making society fairer, and she has previously been the Director of the Ambulance Service Network and of the Maternity Alliance charity. Liz has recently spoken out against sexism in politics, following a row about remarks made by a supporter of Andy Burnham’s candidacy.

Please join us for the webchat at 12pm tomorrow if you can, or post a question for Jeremy and Liz here in advance if you can’t.

Labour leadership voting is open until Thursday 10 September and the ballot results will be released on Saturday 12 September.

Thanks

MNHQ

Jeremy, you have voted against the party whip 500 times! What right would you have to expect any loyalty from Labour MPs, especially as most of them won't have voted for you as leader?

Hello Liz and Jeremy,
I joined the Labour Party last year after the Scottish referendum as I was so impressed by the party's response to it.

1. is it correct that Jeremy would consider working with the SNP in Westminster? Would Liz do the same? I would say this would feel a betrayal for a labour member who is facing the effects of the SNP on our NHS/children's education.
2. do you feel your age may work against you in a future GE, Jeremy? Do you feel that in your 70s you could keep the pace required for a PM?
3. why should women elect Jeremy when we have two female candidates?
4. would either candidate be willing to spend more time in Scotland than Ed did? To show the Scottish electorate that we are more than the branch office.
5. does Jeremy feel that he is really in touch with real people when he has been in politics for so long?

I shall be voting for Liz as I feel she is bringing a 21st century approach to politics and could actually win a GE across the electorate.

I'd like to ask both of you what you would say to my friend who has four children, has lost her job and has been hit by the benefits cap, leaving her unable to make ends meet.

Where do you both stand on environmental issues? If elected which road do you plan to take the Labour Party down, particularly with regard to fracking? What are your thoughts concerning Rudd's swift turnaround on sustainable energy sources (or Cameron's "green crap"!) like wind farms & solar?
Have recently rejoined Labour Party, after years of disillusionment, thanks to the alternative vision put forward by Jeremy.

Jeremy, what is your position on GM crops and GM food labelling? Will you fight to stop the spread of GM?

Also, I am a great fan of your brother Piers. Any chance of your brother getting a senior position as Climate Change Advisor? That would swing my vote in a general election.

Hello,

What are your views on home education?

(I have joined the LP as an affiliate in order to vote for you, but am an elective home educator - we HE not primarily as a comment on the education system but because we want to, because we can, because it is way more fun - and am nervous about about a more intrusive state, in this area in particular.)

Thanks

Jeremy - Do you support Home Rule for Scotland? Yes or no?

Hi @ Jeremy Corbyn, if you were elected leader would you let George Galloway back into Labour?

Jeremy, you revealed your 'women's manifesto' this morning and said you wanted to challenge everyday sexism. Do you support the Women's Equality Party and what do you think of its chances in 2020?

Do either of you agree that it is time to do away with a compulsory act of worship of a broadly Christian nature in state schools?

In a country where the majority are not practising Christians is it right that the only alternative parents have if they object to the indoctrination of their children is to withdraw them from assembly, resulting in segregation due to their beliefs (or lack of them)?

Why did you both agree to share a webchat when Yvette Cooper was given one of her own? It makes it seem as though you are both considered lesser candidates. MNHQ can answer on this if there is a practical reason why the candidates aren't all being given the same space.

Jeremy, when the leadership race started, you said you were standing to provoke debate. Are you happy or disappointed with the quality of the debate within the party? From here, it looks as though certain sections of Labour have tried to stifle the debate by insulting your supporters rather than engaging with the issues. I'm not a Labour party member but wish you luck

Liz, I'll ask you the same question I asked Yvette, how can the electorate trust you to vote on important issues when you abstained on the welfare vote? and to avoid the answer Yvette provided, yy, I know Labour tabled an amendment first, but you abstained on a vote which will impact on lots of people's lives. If your constituents had wanted voting behaviour that helped the Conservatives presumably they would have elected a Conservative

Jeremy - you might win the leadership election but you will not win a general election.

Surely it is better that the party wins rather than loses, even if you do not agree with its leader 100%.

With that in mind, why won't you step aside so the Labour party has a better chance of winning the next election?

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@APlaceOnTheCouch

Why did you both agree to share a webchat when Yvette Cooper was given one of her own? It makes it seem as though you are both considered lesser candidates. MNHQ can answer on this if there is a practical reason why the candidates aren't all being given the same space.

Hiya,
We tried very hard to get all the candidates on together which was our preferred option because we've found it's often more enlightening when they respond to eachother. In the end it was just impossible because of diary congestion so we ended up with just two together, but it's definitely not that we offered different options to different candidates - we just were constrained by diaries.

Hi Jeremy, I'd first like to say how great it was to hear you speaking at the Durham miners gala a couple of weeks ago, I'm from a mining family in Northumberland so have seen the brutality that a Tory government can inflict on families in society. The £12bn in cuts announced in the budget is going to hit areas like where I live very hard & I find it difficult to understand why Yvette Cooper, Andy Burnham & Liz Kendall did not oppose the bill. Why do you think that some people are more interested in the state of our economy than they are about issues like child poverty, the rising need for foodbanks & vulnerable people that are homeless?

Will either of you ban the extreme fossil fuel drilling techniques of hydraulic fracturing, underground coal gasification and coal bed methane?

Hello - v pleased to be answering questions from Mumsnetters. I'll do my best to answer as many as possible in the next hour...
Liz

Dear Jeremy

Thanks for your time.

Parents, especially mothers, are seeing a push to get children into school or nursery education earlier and earlier to increase employment tax revenues. I understand you support free childcare for early education. Do you support stay-at-home mothers and appreciate the value of nurturing the family unit, thereby benefiting society from developing children into balanced, well-rounded citizens?

Kind Regards, Mandy

what plans do you have for helping the 20 something people who have massive loan debts from university, can only find low pay jobs and have to spend such a high proportion of their income just to keep a roof over their heads - and much as I love my children I do not want them to stay at home!!! They go for many jobs - too well qualified, no experience, too many other applicants, jobs with a future are just not around. My advice to any youngster now is, forget university, get on the work ladder instead [unless you have parents who can pay all your expenses and then can give the old boy network a nod]

Test

Hi Jeremy. What are your views on home education?

Jeremy: How would you change/deal what is happening within the DWP - with regard to the disgraceful treatment of those applying for PIP/ESA and other disability-related benefits, the delays and the regular need to appeal (a high percentage of which are overturned, meaning they were unnecessarily refused)? Along with that, the treatment of those unfortunate enough to find themselves jobless and their treatment and sanctioning at the hands of the JCP?

Hello, I'm here at Mumsnet Towers looking forward to answering your questions. Just come from doing Woman's Hour earlier today. Lovely to be here in Kentish Town.

I think you'd be best off asking this question of George Osborne, seen as he borrowed more in five years than the Labour party did in 13.

blogs.spectator.co.uk/files/2013/11/Screen-Shot-2013-11-21-at-14.41.361.png

@BeanAboutTown

Ooh

Hello Jeremy. Do you think it's true that the average swing voter would be turned off Labour if you were leader?

Hello Liz. Apparently you support workers' representation on executive pay committees which I think is an interesting idea. Are you in favour of a more wholesale approach to workers' representation at the top level of businesses, on the German model (co-determination) - or is it only about pay?

Thanks for your question. It's obviously a serious issue. I think that many people have never been offered a proper political choice in the last two elections between an economic strategy of severe austerity or a lesser form of austerity. This election in the Labour Party has produced a fascinating debate about the kind of society we want to live in and I believe strongly in a cohesive and coherent society that ignores and neglects nobody but also insures that the job opportunities and life chances of everyone are improved. It certainly is not the case at the moment for many people struggling on low incomes yet working very hard.