Webchat with John McDonnell MP, Shadow Chancellor, Tuesday 18 September at 11am

[JustineMumsnet]

We’re very pleased to announce a webchat with the Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, this Tuesday 18 September at 11am.

John has been Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington since 1997. Born in Liverpool, he studied at night school while working before going to university. He went on to work as a union official and in local government at the GLC and at Camden Council. He campaigned for Jeremy Corbyn to win the Labour leadership in 2015 and has been Shadow Chancellor since then.

He describes his vision for the UK economy as ‘socialism with an iPad’, centred around research, investment and ‘alternative forms of ownership and control’ such as nationalisation, co-operatives, and locally-owned enterprises. He has proved a controversial figure in some quarters, with particular attention paid to his 2003 remarks about the IRA, for which he apologised. He has described Labour’s anti-semitism row as a low point, and has been quoted as saying ‘we have got to sort this out’.

Please do join the chat on Tuesday at 11am, or if you can’t make it, leave a question here in advance.

We’re expecting this to be a busy webchat, so only existing Mumsnet users are able to post on this thread. Apologies to anyone new who can’t post - please stick around, we’ve got lots of other things coming up

As always, please remember our webchat guidelines - one question per user, follow-ups only if there’s time and most questions have been answered and please keep it civil. Also if one topic is overwhelmingly dominating a discussion with a guest, mods might request that people don't continue to post what's effectively the same question or point. Rest assured we will ALWAYS let the guest know that it's an area of concern to multiple users and will encourage them to engage with those questions.

Many thanks.

Hi John, do you agree that global warming is the greatest threat to humanity and that you can't have economic growth without environmental destruction? If so, should economic growth cease to be an objective of a Labour government?

Given that the leaders of all political parties are either men, or women without children (unless Ruth Davidson gives birth soon) what can be done to ensure women can be in politics AND be mothers - just as men can do.

All women shortlists help but, given that those now admit "women" who were born male, that is not helping much.

Hi John thanks for coming onto Mumsnet.
What is your opinion of the activism group 'Momentum' do you think they are helping the Labour party or causing damage?

Hi John. I have 3 children including an 18 and 16 year old who were too young to vote at the Referendum.
70 % of 18-24 year olds voted to remain in the EU and a recent Survation opinion poll said that 82% of this age group would vote to remain if there was another referendum.
Labour’s success in the 2017 General Election was partly due to a dramatic increase in the number of young people voting.
Young people already have to contend with paying back extortionate student loans and high rents. Social housing is not an option for most and many will never own their own home. Leaving the EU will make things harder still.
Young people are the ones who will bear the greatest burden from Brexit even though the vast majority of them don’t want it.
My son is starting university soon to study biomedical sciences and is particularly interested in pharmacology and has a keen interest in research. The EMA has already left the UK as a result of Brexit.
What would you say to young people like my son who feel that you have betrayed them by not opposing Brexit?

Hello John,

It appears to a number of people you are positioning yourself to take over as leader of The Labour Party

Of course I expect you to deny this though you are far more present and vocal in the media than Corbyn has been this past month (and I include tweets and statements put out by yourself/department)

Would you consider in the further should Corbyn step down putting yourself forward for leadership?

Hello John.
In the past you have expressed support for the IRA and entertained two of its leaders in London.
As they were responsible for the murder of hundreds of people do you really think you and your party leader are fit to run this country?.
Supporting murder gangs seems to me a very bad thing to have done, why did you think fit to do it?.

John, can I just remind you how the youth of today view your party?
https://www.facebook.com/NyeBevanNews/videos/1793191337561464/This young lady was 17 at the time. There's millions more out there like her.
Don't let the spin doctoring and fake news hacks grind you down.
Please keep doing what you're doing.

Hi John. My question is...

... Labour's 2015 manifesto devoted 4x as much money to (mostly middle class) students than it did to reversing welfare cuts for (mostly working class) women. Will the next manifesto devote any more cash to women, especially working class women?

No way! No way! We’re out. We’re getting out.”
Can you just repeat that please .

Hi John,
Thanks for coming to mumsnet.

I'm a victim of rape who has never seen her rapist spend a day in jail due to the roughly 6% conviction rates.

Recent statistics stated that just over half of all transwomen inmates are in for violent offences against women.

Do you think it's important that trans people who have committed crimes against women or children , such as rape or assault should be permitted to be housed in women's prisons? Do you think over all women inmates safety, and justice for victims of these crimes should come first, rather than the feelings of that one violent inmate?

Hi John, why are Labour paying for former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale's defence, when the comments for which she is being sued for defamation were published in her paid-for Daily Record column?

My question is:
Under previous leaders, Mr Corbyn and yourself were able to stay in the Labour party and have your views heard even if they were not compatible with the more left/centre thinking of the time.

Do you support MPs being deselected?

Do you understand that deselections, along with Momentum, might be worrisome for left/centre people like me?

Hello John, welcome to The Nest Of Vipers (we're lovely really).

Do you agree with Prof Steve Keen that another 'economic crisis' is inevitable unless policy is changed?

Hello John, thanks for coming to do the webchat

I doubt you'll get to my question, based on how quickly politicians have been able to get through previous webchats, but anyway...

Why is the Labour Party failing to provide an effective opposition to a governing party that is falling apart whilst trying to steer through the biggest change to the country in my life time (and I'm no spring chicken...)? Week after week I see Corbyn fail to land any punches at PMQs, whilst the Labour Party machinery seems more interested in disciplining back bench (and front bench) MPs who dare to have a different view than putting forward any credible alternative proposals or truly holding the Conservatives to account

John, as a long time Labour voter and recent supporter (but not member), what are you doing to encourage me to vote Labour again? I cannot vote Labour whilst they are supporting a government that is going to lead the country to social and economic collapse. Any kind of Brexit is neither in the country’s best interests, nor democratic, since the 2016 referendum was advisory, riddled with lies and subject to unlawful campaigning.

As shadow Chancellor, how do you persuade th 70% of Labour voters who support remaining in the EU to vote for you?

The economic cost of brexit makes no sense at all.
UK pays 0.5% GDP to EU. Leaving EU No Deal 8% cost Leaving with Deal 6% cost Leave but staying in CU&SM 2% cost

Lifelong Labour supporter until the referendum.

How do you justify sitting on the fence over Brexit in the hope of obtaining a future political advantage, when the shadow cabinet must be aware of the grave risks for the country?

Good morning

I am a labour supporter and I like Corbyn, I agree with him I think he is a decent man. However his public image is not good....unfortunately what the media portray of him isn't positive. In this modern world unfortunately a politician has to have the right image to win an election.....how do you as a party intend to make Corbyn appeal to the electorate and turn his image around?

Morning Mr McDonnell. Thanks for coming on.

Perhaps a very local question (Sorry, rest of the UK) but the Conservative Party withdrew government grants to Transport for London, leading to massive job cuts, a rise in crime on their network, and improvement projects being delayed or cancelled.

If you were to come back into power, would your government re-invest in Transport for London, and how might you fund this?

Hello John

What were the exact words that came out of your mouth when you saw the exit poll results last June?

Good morning John, Labour Party member here. One of my burning questions is how do you feel about giving stay at home parents either a tax break or the same as is given to fund childcare outside of the home? The current tax system is very unfair to one earner households and there are parents who would rather stay at home with their children but can't afford to do so. Nurseries /childminders say the funding is insufficient anyway but if the same amount was given to families it would be a tremendous help. Hoping and praying for a Labour win in the next GE. Good luck John!

Hi John, thank you for coming on the webchat. do you think social media is having more of an impact/influence on people's political views (especially younger people) than traditional media ?

Hi John! I've done my politics way, way outside of party politics for most of my life. I got involved in Labour in the last few years because the presence of people like you and Jeremy Corbyn and some of the MPs you've brought into prominence, make it look as though it might be real after all... nevertheless, it's a hard and time consuming slog being active in a CLP, and people who don't turn out to meetings/canvassing when asked to due to their life situations or non-familiarity with meetings etc quickly get sidelined as 'not serious' - how can we make career politicians more aware of the fact that they hardly hear from the people who are carers, who are in insecure housing, who have multiple care responsibilities, zero-hour, no-notice jobs etc etc ? How do we get across that the people politicians hear from least are in fact the majority, and their concerns are rarely registered in government and not much more often in TU resolutions etc

John, when you and JC say you want the best for the many and not the few, how do you square this with actively going along with Brexit despite every poll indicating we would be remaining IF there were a people's vote as Brexit will screw the economy in any form?

I resigned from the Party over the this charade. I am not the only one.

Person after person has come on here and said "if you properly stood up to the Conservatives over Brexit I would support you" and yet Labour's policy seems to be entirely one of encouraging a no deal catastrophe so that the Tories will take the blame. Don't you see how irresponsible and dangerous that is? Why won't Labour work cross-party (and indeed cross-faction within itself!) to find a way out of a situation that is putting the country as a whole at such risk?