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.

@VanillaSugary

What's your favourite biscuit?

My Mum worked behind the biscuit counter in BHS and we lived off broken biscuits, in particular rich tea.

@WineCheeseSleep

What are your thoughts on the Universal Basic Income? I think it's such an interesting idea, especially with the increase in automation meaning there will increasingly fewer full time jobs.

This is a really interesting idea and Guy Standing, one of my advisers, is currently drafting a detailed report for consultation on how we go forward to develop the policy. Ed Miliband has taken a particular interest and is arguing for us to include in our next manifesto a pilot for UBI. I'm quite keen on this and we've opened up the debate on Universal Basic Services as well.

@AnythingButMagnolia

Morning John.

Can we repair relations with Russia. If so, how?

Of course but, we have to be honest with Putin and his allies that we cannot tolerate any criminal activity on our shores and we need to be clear with him that effective sanctions will be applied . The traditional chucking out of diplomats has taken place but I believe we can be more effective by the use of orders to tackle the Russian money that is flowing through the city of London, often in money laundering exercises.

We are continuing with all-women shortlists for selections - as the first party to do so - because this has been very successful

@gendercritter Please can you confirm how the Labour party defines women?

I am not alone in being absolutely appalled that men have been counted as women recently for the sake of your all-women shortlists. I feel so betrayed I can't vote Labour until this is rectified. There are many thousands of other women who feel similarly.

I would like to use my question allocation to second a request for a non-circular clarification on what a woman is.

It is absolutely key to all the mealy-mouthed statements about consulting all parties (and I note you prioritised the fact you met with trans groups ahead of women in your response to a woman asking a question about women on a predominantly women-populated site. The simple fact is you cannot take away from one group just to give to another.)

We published a neurodiversity manifesto at last years Labour Party conference. It was drafted by a group that I convened. We will be holding a meeting at this years conference to report back on progress in the development of the detail of these policies and to plan where we go from here. There has been some tremendous work done by the various groups and individuals involved. I will try harder to try and get wider publicity for this because it does such credit to the hard-work of the people participating.
Thank you for the reply, specifically on the point of a NT shadow minister, the NT manifesto doesn't mention I don't think, is there plans for that within the Labour Party as this was something you said was going to happen?

@missymayhemsmum

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?

Yes, I believe it is the greatest threat. As Shadow Chancellor I have appointed Clive Lewis MP to lead in driving environmental principles into the heart of Treasury thinking when we go into government. This will open up the debate about the nature of growth in our economy in the future, how we define it and how we assess it.

Whatever the allegations
These are not allegations. Vote leave was found to have broken the law.
The referendum was advisory. This is a constitutional fact.

Wait - we have to uphold an illegal vote because otherwise the far right will tantrum?

It’s disingenous at best to pretend the referendum has to be upheld .
Politicians jobs are to vote in the interests of their constituents even if that is unpopular.

How magnificent would it be to see Labour, with its support amongst the young, campaigning and educating to defend our membership of the EU and the massive benefits that that brings.

Hello John,
How do you feel about the words 'sex' and 'gender' being increasingly used interchangeably? Do you recognise that this undermines the sex based rights and protections of women? Do you believe sex is simply 'assigned' at birth or observed as a result of actual biology?
As an ex-social worker I am worried that changes to the GRA will bring about a bonfire of the existing sex-based safeguards for women and children.

We agree that women in developing countries need same sex facilities to reduce the risk of harm from men, and we campaign for them, so why are we even suggesting rolling back on this in the UK? What mitigates the threat here?
Thanks.

I would also like to use my question allocation to second a request for a non-circular clarification on what a woman is.

I do not want to get banned or deleted for asking this question. I have never seen a reply to it and I want to emphasis how important this issue is to thousands of women who are organising themselves at a grassroots level as no one is taking any notice of us.

Thanks for inviting me to participate in this discussion. I have found it really interesting and constructive. Much better than the House of Commons chamber. (In the words of Gloria Gaynor- I survived! (I hope))

Congratulations on your typing speed. Fastest response times on a Web Chat by far

John

We recognise that the GRA is under consultation but male rapists in women’s prisons is a Tory policy and connected to their interpretation of the Equality Act so a different issue. If Labour doesn’t stand up then it is colluding with state sanctioned removal of female (sex based) human rights.

When is Labour going to do some Opposition?

Dear John,

Would a dynamic, mature, stable, democracy be able to change its mind about an important decicion that had been voted upon?

Good grief. I can't believe the continual fudging of the Brexit questions. Ironically, at this point, if they announced a plan to rescind A50, they'd probably win an election.

But never mind. I guess the poor and disenfranchised and the disabled and people reliant on NHS medication and research in Europe aren't as important as maintaining a stiff upper lip in the face of mounting evidence of impending disaster.

What a load of fudge.

Didn't ask a question as others had already asked my main questions - mainly Brexit and Self ID.

No answers to anything.

I'm a classic floating voter.

I'm totally unconvinced.

Whatever the allegations, the reality is that those of us who campaign for remain lost. Much as I don't like the result, I do feel that we have to respect it.

Your first duty as an MP is to oppose any actions that would harm the country.

UKIP and the Leave cheerleaders showed that a well-organised campaign can win over the hearts and minds of sufficient numbers of the population, even when the blatant lies and mis-information were there for all to see.

To my mind, Labour has yet to understand that a large number of voters are now more influenced by 'branding' than by long debates about policy. I agree with most of Labour's policies (but far from all of them) but if you ask the average person on the street to name just 3 Labour policies, they would be hard pushed to do so. Ask them to name 3 Brexit policies and they'll immediately say '£350m NHS' / fewer foreigners / sovereignty / cheaper food and houses etc. May uses the same tactic in parliament; every time she is put on the spot, her get-out statement is 'we are doing what we can - but you can be assured that things would be much worse under Corbyn'

My point is not that Labour (or anyone else) should lie, but that Labour MUST get smarter about the way that they communicate their ideas. In a world where people have short attention spans, there must be soundbites and to some extent personalities that people can relate to.

With that in mind, if polls suggested that Labour under 'Team Corbyn' cannot win a General Election (because the 'brand' is tainted) would you support a new leader or new team in order to win the election?

No answers to anything

But he was damn sure to make sure we knew what a solid working class wonderful woman his mum was (several mentions) and how she worked at BHS (several mentions) behind the "biscuit counter" (what?)

It's almost like he was briefed to make sure he got certain talking points across: working class, loves his mum, good solid shopfloor job just like normal people...

Really looked fwd to this webchat....... now very disillusioned, answered little!

Unless they have a re-think, Labour will lose the next GE because few Brexitiers will vote for them and as they support brexit, no remainers will either.

Disappointed John took the time to answer what his favourite biscuit was and not answer something more serious and pressing. Like womens rights and disability rights.
Slow clap to the person who asked the biscuit question.

Thank you for coming on here and for responding to my question about why women, despite being in the majority, are being disenfranchised from the Labour Party by their current policies

Women's rights are not considered less important. I believe that all views must be taken into account and I am convinced that we can build consensus around this. That is my hope.

There's an incongruence between Labour Party behaviour and your words -the organisation is centring men's rights over women's, including your Women and Equalities MP plus your Women's Officer who said "the rights of females and trans-identified people were mutually exclusive".

Would you sort out this disenfranchisement which is driving many many women away from Labour - lifelong voters who can no longer stomach the rollback of women's rights being endorsed by your leadership team.

Well, I suppose at least he made it on here, and to the end of the webchat - unlike the NSPCC and Stella Creasey.

I'll certainly be watching Labour closely on Brexit and self ID - at the moment, I'm not finding they represent my views on either.