Webchat with Labour leadership contender Sir Keir Starmer MP on Monday February 3 at 1.30pm

[AnnaCMumsnet]

Hello

We’re pleased to announce a webchat with Labour leadership contender Sir Keir Starmer MP on Monday 3 February at 1.30pm.

Keir Starmer is Labour MP for Holborn and St Pancras (and is thus, importantly, the MP for MNHQ) having been first elected in 2015. He served as Director of Public Prosecutions from 2008-13, focusing on increasing prosecutions for violence against women and girls (see our previous webchat with him for our We Believe You campaign back in 2012), and seeking justice for Stephen Lawrence and his family. He was also involved in controversial cases (including the prosecution of the former LibDem MP Chris Huhne and his ex-wife Vicky Pryce over their creative approach to speeding offences). Before that he was a barrister specialising in human rights law, working with the defendants in the ‘McLibel’ case and working on environmental protections, workers’ rights and challenging the death penalty.

Keir is named after the first Labour leader, Keir Hardie, and is regarded as the frontrunner in Labour’s leadership contest. He is currently Shadow Brexit Secretary.

Please do join the chat on Monday at 1.30pm 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 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. (We may 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

Hi Keir,

As a parent of a child with SEND, what are Labour going to do to ensure that SEND kids get the support they need in our education system? Specifically, what will Labour do to address the SEND education funding gap and stop discriminatory practices like off-rolling? Thanks!

Keir do you think people who want to stop freedom of movement are bigots?

Dear Keir

Please can you clarify your position on EU Freedom of Movement?

Thanks

I have a second question, different subject though.

Children's mental health and support for children with SEND and their families... I read this last night and my anxiety for my son's mental welfare has hit the ceiling again...
twitter.com/madheadteacher/status/1223018484873027585?s=20

What are your plans to support our children, in opposition or on government?

Hi Keir,

I'm a blue collar working class voter.

I and many within my social/friendship/family/work circle have been of the opinion for some time now that Labour is the party of the middle-class graduate & that yous took our votes (the working class) for granted under Tony Blair & since.

Not only taking us for granted, but also apparently keen to 'keep us in our place' & crush aspiration - keep us in check & subservient, like good pets.

As someone from a working-class background who has forged a hugely successful career & life, you are an aspirational figure to people like my teenage sons - yet your party does not speak for or to them & they said they'd have voted Conservative in Dec if they'd been able (they both voted Tory in the mock election at school).

Will you work towards shifting the focus of the Labour Party away from the identity politics, politics of envy & graduate/university obsession that has consumed it this decade?

If so, how?

Hello there Keir, thanks for taking the time to do this. As a Brit who took advantage of FOM over 15 years ago, as of yesterday I no longer have the right to vote anywhere. As I'm sure you know, Britain is in the distinct minority in Europe in disenfranchising expats. Would you support the introduction of voting rights for long-term expats, or even a special MP for citizens abroad like some countries have?

Hi Keir,

Just wanted to know your views on improving public transport. My local A&E is due to close, to get to the next nearest hospital on public transport will take me 2 and a half hours. Seeing the amount of money that is being spent on HS2 and rural public transport is not currently fit for purpose, how would Labour tackle our failing public transport system?

Hi.

If you do win, beating three female candidates, will the Labour Party finally acknowledge the misogyny at its heart?

Hi Keir, another disenfranchised female ex-Labour voter here. I'm hoping you win the leadership contest as you seem to have the best chance of turning Labour's fortunes around.

I work in climate change and (unsurprisingly) think it's the biggest issue facing our country and planet. However, I still don't think it's high enough a priority for any political party. Rather like the campaign to remain in the EU, there's a lot of dry facts and a fair bit of self-flagellation/pointing out the risks, which isn't much of a vote-winner.

My question is: how would you set out a positive vision for a low-carbon and adaptable country, in a way that appeals to the widest part of the electorate as possible?

Thanks.

Hello, I'm a Tory voter and would like to ask which, if any, of Labour's current major policies you would change in order to attract people back to the Labour Party, including floating voters?

Thank you.

Hi Keir

My question is about railways. Many in the north feel that investment is made from a London-centric perspective, with little or no attempt to gauge what people outside the SE actually want. I'd like to know what your plans would be to improve rail transport in the north of the UK and in particular where you stand on HS2/HS3.

Thank you!

Hi Keir, being involved in law do you agree poor people need far more access to legal help? By way of pro bono work, solicitors doing some free hours in court receptions etc. (walk up desk)
Sometimes a life changing moment could come down to being able to collect the right 'form' in a court and staff are not even allowed to assist with that.

Legal aid needs re in stating and without access to legal help the poor will as ever be even more disadvantaged and open to abuse by those who can pay the extortionate fees charged.

Hi Keir

How does the Labour Party plan to deal with overpopulation?

Thank you.

Hi Keir

How will you reassure a Labour activist (and others like me) who actually welcomed the party's move to the left (though not necessarily Momentum and their trashing of women's rights)? I cannot vote for RLB because of her stance on issues that are important to me - so what to do?

Hi Keir,
I could ask loads of questions but as I’m only allowed one, it’s this.

Anything and everything that the Opposition says is pretty pointless as you have no power; getting into government is the only way to gain the power change people’s lives for the better - how do you intend to square the circle of appealing to both the harder left of Labour Party membership and the middle ground of the electorate in general to be able to get into (and stay in) government?

Hi Keir.
I am very worried that we might have a Windrush type scandal for EU citizens in a few years. What will the Labour Party under your leadership do to make sure that doesn't happen?
Also how will you campaign to ensure we stay closely aligned to the EU
Is there anything a strong opposition could do to make abuse against EU citizens a hate crime?

What can you learn from Alan Duncan (who was the Labour Leader who never was but should have been)? Serious question, no jokes about masks please.

How are you going to address the shocking lack of funding and support for special educational needs children and young people?

Families are fighting for support which LAs just cant provide, not because they don't want to but that they just cant afford. Mainstream schools are not inclusive and parents turn to specialist schools who are already over their numbers.

How will you make schools step up rather than off rolling?

If in power, would you agree to a Scottish referendum?

hi Keir

What is your opinion on protecting freedom of speech ( i don't mean extremists advocating murder and violence) both in universities and groups hiring large public spaces having things cancelled because the speaker doesn't fit in with either political correctness ( though I don't like the term) or current trends on any of various issues
Whether this is Germaine Greer being no platformed or Franklin Graham being not allowed to preach ( I don't agree with him but I do think he should be allowed to preach in Glasgow ) surely it is not the job of either government or councils etc to pre-police what people may or may not say in the course of a lecture or a debate or a sermon.
People need to hear alternative views; neither Germaine or Franklin's views are very rare they are views held in Germaine's case by millions of feminists and in Franklins case by millions of religious people ( not all religious people I know) whether Christians, Jews, Muslims Hindus etc
I would like to see a commit to free speech including hearing views that you don't like on politics religion feminisn climate change racism and that the agenda can not be set by a few very vocal lobby groups with disproportionate influence whether that is intellectual or financial

Thanks

Hi Keir- I'm one of your constituents. You have been almost completely publicly silent about the disgusting antisemitism at the top of your Party. You continued to serve on the front bench while all decent, principled MPs resigned and left the Labour Party. I'm 100% Remain and centrist (New Labour probably best political fit) and when the exit poll came out, I cried with relief. In common with 93% of the Jewish community, I was terrified of the Party you campaigned for. What will you do to fix this? Will you expel the antisemitic NEC members (Willsman etc)? Will you suspend the whip from the antisemitic MPs (Webbe, Begum etc)? Is there a place in your Party for those who won't sign the Board of Deputies pledges? Burgon? Butler? How much antisemitism will you tolerate?

It seems we are fast entering a “post truth” political landscape on both sides of the Atlantic, with politicians increasingly playing fast and loose with the facts like never before - for example, at the last election Facebook removing a swathe of official Conservative ads making factually bogus claims. How will you counter this?

Hi Keir
Like a lot of people I know I am politically homeless. I'm a remainer and sick of being told 52% is an overwhelming majority. That I have to put up and shut up. Come forward and heal wounds while my country is reshaped into something I don't recognise or want to be part of.

What will you do to make sure the rush to complete Brexit doesn't forget those of us who wanted to remain?

I currently feel not just politically homeless. But as though everything I value, everything i aspire to, everything i want for my children has no place in post Brexit Britain. It's horrible.

If this is how Brexiteers felt I can understand why we are such a divided nation.

Hi Keir, thank you for coming on to MN. I'm a sad - make that despairing - labour voter and I support your leadership bid. But I can't help wondering where you find the courage and optimism to want to lead the party when the polls tell us we have no hope of victory for years to come?

OK. I'll try again.

You are a lawyer; you have a reputation for involvement in legal cases that matter to women (I'm thinking of your support for Helen Steel in the "McLibel" case, for example).

Do you agree, in the light of two to three women a week dying at the hands of men in the UK, that male violence against women is a problem? Do you agree that collecting accurate information about this is important? Would you mind explaining how (in opposition or in government) the Labour Party will ensure that this violence is
reported, analysed and fought?