Webchat with Labour leadership contender Jess Phillips MP on Monday January 20 at 1pm

[BojanaMumsnet]

Hello

We’re pleased to announce a webchat with Labour leadership contender Jess Phillips MP on Monday 20 January at 1pm.

Jess Phillips is Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley. Prior to being elected she worked for Women’s Aid, supporting victims of domestic violence. Her campaign says she is often described as the most “outspoken politician at Westminster”, having led campaigns against school cuts, immigration rights and better funding for women’s refuges.

In advance of her coming in, Jess has asked us to pass on the following: “if you share the aims and values of the Labour Party, you can have a vote on who should be Labour's next Leader if you join the Party by 5pm on Monday 20 January. You can join here and if you do it by 5pm on Monday you WILL have a vote in the contest. Find out more here.”

Please do join the chat on Monday at 1pm or if you can’t make it, leave a question here in advance.

We've invited and are hoping to have all of the contenders on over the next few weeks.

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 dominating a thread, mods might request that people don't continue to post what's effectively the same question or point. (And we’ll suspend the accounts of anyone who continues after we've posted to ask people to stop, so please take note.) 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,
MNHQ

[peachgreen]

Hi Jess.

How will you protect Northern Ireland in a post-Brexit UK?

@MNHQ thank you for avoiding this becoming a single-issue webchat. I'm looking forward to Jess' responses.

[GrimSisters]

Why can't I see any replies?

[EmpressLesbianInChair]

The chat’s happening today, GrimSisters. We’re posting questions in advance.

[Catmint]

Hi Jess,

In common with other posters, I'm a life-long labour voter who really struggled to put the cross in the box recently. I had 3 main policy concerns.

1. The issue that dare not speak its name, on this webchat at least. If we can't agree what reality is then we have a problem.

1. HS2 - just fucking scrap it. Why on earth does Labour support this dreadful thing? The amount of sharp practice, false 'community engagement' and disgusting profligacy with public money makes me more angry than I can articulate. The social, environmental and economic disaster caused by HS2 is of an immense order of magnitude, and there is no evidence of the asserted economic benefits. Stop supporting it and start listening.

1. Labour's stance on Brexit. Dire.

I'd like to see Labour become an evidence based party rather than dogma based.

[dianebrewster]

I've recently rejoined labour - I was a member all of my adult life until a few years ago.

The two key issues for me are women's issues and antisemitism. I see so much contempt for women and Jews among the far left in labour.

Should you become leader how will you deal with that ?

[JustineMumsnet]

@YourOpinionIsNoted

Hi Jess,

Do you think politicians hoping to be elected to the highest positions in the land (pm, leader of the opposition, home secretary, etc) should be able to handle any questions that the public might wish to put to them? Or do you think it is better that they are only asked questions that they have agreed to answer? Would you have preferred Mumsnet to have left this webchat uncensored or are you pleased they have censored it on your behalf?

Just to be clear we are not removing posts for any other reason than to make this chat functional for users and there has been no pre-agreed list of questions that are no-go areas. If one topic is dominating a thread, it means questions about other subjects are drowned out. But as we said in our OP "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".

[BuzzShitbagBobbly]

Hi Jess

Had it been a "New Labour" style Labour party at the last GE, I would have voted for your party for the first time ever, given the alternatives. Unfortunately it was very much, er, not.

Are you interested in winning over voters like me, and if so, how?

(I do also strongly support the topics raised by earlier PP but cannot name them or my unrelated q will be removed.)

[BuzzShitbagBobbly]

Just to be clear we are not removing posts for any other reason than to make this chat functional for users and there has be no pre-agreed list of questions that are no-go areas

But you aren't removing them the normal way, e.g. OP contents replaced with a "post removed due to duplicate topic" comment or whatever.

You are completely vanishing them so there is not even a ghost of them left. This means the strength of feeling is massively, massively and deliberately diluted.

[StealthPolarBear]

Thank you Justine.
We have a thread of about 200 individual posters now who would very much appreciate a respectful and polite discussion of gender issues and the impact on women's and children's rights. We do not feel the first few posts on these issues which happened to land on this thread do justice to the breadth of issues and the depth of feeling - including a real sense of being silenced on many platforms.
We have prepared a summary of the issues important to us as a group, some of which are direct questions, others just a note that the issue is relevant. Are you happy for me to share them here?

[Myspiritanimalisabird]

Hi Jess

Increasingly the strongly held beliefs of a subset of vocal activists are at odds with the general public, especially over the approach to social justice and dialogues around privilege etc. How would you balance a passionate desire for change and enthusiasm among many members of the party and on social media, against the risk that this US-imported approach alienates the electorate? Do you agree that too much of policies has devolved into calling the other side immoral?

Thanks

[Marialacarte]

Hi Jess,

What steps would you take to ensure successful businesses and a healthy economy?

(TBH it can sometimes seem that Labour sees all businesses as greedy villains.)

Should self-employed individuals, small businesses and/or small limited companies have to operate under many of the same rules, tax levels and reporting requirements and red tape as large corporations, or could these be more streamlined?

[MrsToddsShortcut]

Firstly, I second Stealth Polar Bear's question re pre-prepared information doc. It only needs to be posted once then it's done with.

Secondly, I just sat and cried reading HazeyJane's post about SEN. She has said everything I wanted to but was too exhausted, as a single mother of two ASD/ADHD and being autistic myself.

I am on the floor with exhaustion and am constantly fighting (or it feels like it) with professionals who are also on their knees trying to support (usually) over 100 kids per school with hardly any budget and little to no support outside the NHS and school.

My kids dad died two years ago and we have no services locally to provide counselling for them, because CRUSE won't go near SEN/DV survivors because "it's too conplex". So my already disadvantaged kids, who are living in poverty, can't even process their own Dad's death.

They are falling apart and so am I.

Jess - How will you help us? How will you help all of us struggling with SEN and disability?

Sorry, I can't do this any more. It's all just words.

[BigChocFrenzy]

Hi Jess

Do you have any policies to help tenants ?
Not any daft ideas about the right to buy their LL's property, but the kind of safeguards as on much of the continent

e.g. I emigrated to Germany and tenants here:

• have lifelong security of tenure provided they keep paying the rent
  A sitting tenant is regarded here as a positive asset when an LL sells
  The tenant before me lived here 40 years
  
  
• tenants can redecorate as they wish, put up cupboards, change flooring etc provided they return it to the original state if the landlord wants that, before they leave.
  
  
• there is a % limit how much rent can be increased within a 5-year period
  
  Landlords do absolutely fine here and these safeguards don't reduce the available places to rent.

[Angryresister]

Hi Jess. I spoiled my vote last time due to Labour Party policy on Brexit ( or the confusions about what it was) and the irrational beliefs and misogyny that were being proffered. Why is the party shooting itself and the next generation in the feet by rejecting free movement and internationalism and why did the party vote to trigger article 50 and no properly oppose?

[JessPhillipsMP]

test

[Angryresister]

Hi Jess while you are waiting you might care to read some of the threads on feminism chat

[eggsandham]

Hi Jess - thanks so much for coming on here. I think you're great and really loved what you said yesterday about the hustings and how you're going to say what you think from now on.

With that in mind can you tell us what you really think about Rebecca Long-Bailey's abortion comments? I know she's rowed back on her comments, but I'm terrified of having anyone leading the Labour Party who's even thinking about putting further restrictions on a woman's right to choose. Can you reassure me that if you do win (or even if you don't) you'll do everything you can to make sure these views don't become policy?

[Macbooksdontwork]

Hi Jess. I agree with what you said yesterday about how it will be embarrassing if the one man in this contest wins. Do you think there's any chance of Keir passing the mic?

[Datun]

Placemarking.

[TheCunkOfPhilomena]

Jess, what are your thoughts on loyalty within the party? You once said that the party didn't own you and it was only a f*cking rose.

I'm trying to work hard within my CLP to bring members together and learn the art of listening and disagreeing respectfully, I don't feel that's one of your strong points and would like a leader that can demonstrate they can unite all of us.

[twigglett99]

Lifelong Labour voter who felt unable to vote for the party under Corbyn. No time to go into all the issues here, so let's focus on anti semitism. What would you do to change things? Appreciate there is no easy or quick fix.

[BlooperReel]

Hi Jess,

I echo others questions on 'the subject which must not be named'.

I would also like to ask how you plan on handling Labours approach to middle/high earners if you are elected leader. Labour is often seen as a party that demonises high earners, and middle earners are often pinched hard with taxation, whilst being entitled to no state support. How would you address this imbalance?

[NewYearsHumberElla]

Hi Jess

An open question from me, so you don’t have to do the ‘40 second sound bite’ thing.

I spoiled my ballot for the first time ever at the last election. What would be the one thing you’d say to me, as a life long labour supporter and voter, and as a woman who feels unheard and unrecognised, to convince me to come back?

[NewNameGuy]

Hi Jess,

You have said that the only man on the labour leadership ticket should step aside.

In what way is this not patronising to the shortlisted women, assuming that they could not win the contest on merit?

I note that the "regressive" Tory party are 2:0 in terms of female leaders.

Thanks!

[WitchfinderGeneralHarrumph]

Placemarking to see if The Question is answered in a way that will make me return to Labour.