I am a Labour voter, a Labour supporter and I do not regret my vote.

[CurlewKate]

However, I think that Starmer has been incredibly stupid and/or very badly advised over this expenses issue. He has done nothing wrong, but his behaviour is not what he led us to believe he would do, and I am incredibly exasperated and disappointed.

In my opinion, he should admit that he made a massive misjudgement, and agree to take no more freebies from now on.

Apart from anything else anything which allows people to say "They are all as bad as each other" (they aren't) is a distraction from the real issues the country faces. He should be laser focussed on repairing the damage caused by 14 years of Tory misrule. Not scrambling around dealing with peripheral stuff.
Starmer-say sorry. Don't do it again. And get back to work.

What @DuncinToffee said.

Concerns over the quality and organisation of the UK’s investment summit have left some senior business figures wavering over whether to fly to the event on Monday. International and domestic executives have been frustrated by a lack of information from the UK government about its flagship gathering in London with some even questioning whether the event will be worthwhile.

FT.

Link, please.

It doesn’t look disastrous, as according to the FT

Starmer will also take part in a discussion with former Google chair Eric Schmidt and GSK chief Emma Walmsley, while former England football manager Gareth Southgate is set to speak on a panel titled: “The UK’s creative assets: soft power as a hard investment opportunity”.

The agenda also includes a talk between BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, Brookfield CEO Bruce Flatt and Carol Young, chief executive of the UK’s Universities Superannuation Scheme, one of the largest investors in Britain, with the theme: “The value of stability: the UK’s comparative advantage”.

Ignacio Galán, executive chair of Spanish energy giant Iberdrola, praised the UK’s “clear policy direction, stable regulatory frameworks and overall attractiveness”, as he said his group on its own would spend up to £24bn in the UK between 2024 and 2028.

But they’ve known about Labour’s employment plans for a long time and didn’t back out of the investment or cancel their presence at Labour’s showpiece event until Rayner and Haigh attacked them in an official press release.

I don’t defend P&O’s actions as an employer by the way, but there are better and worse ways for a government to deal with business and investors.

It’s the longer term that will matter. If money drains away and hiring slows down we’ll know what the downside of the government’s policy is. It already looks to have been watered down from the pre-election promises so the government may be able to find sufficient gesture changes to keep its supporters onside but not scare off business.

Paywalled.

Does your username come from the fact that maybe you have been living under one for many years?

https://www.ft.com/content/334d8b0e-0166-41d9-815f-8c1417dc949b

From that FT article

Ignacio Galán, executive chair of Spanish energy giant Iberdrola, praised the UK’s “clear policy direction, stable regulatory frameworks and overall attractiveness”, as he said his group on its own would spend up to £24bn in the UK between 2024 and 2028.

Utterly pointless holding this before the budget explains what we are up against.

Any meeting before the budget details are announced can only be waffle and platitudes.

After their little hissy fit, DP World will now attend the government's investment summit on Monday,

So what you wrote before about them pulling out because of the government’s employment plans was rubbish then.

Starmer and Reynolds have clearly done some grovelling. Worthwhile, I think.

No it wasn't rubbish hth

Has the policy changed then?

Which policy?

The employment policy you said had made DP World pull out, rather than Rayner and Haigh’s intemperate and ham-fisted attack on them in a press release.

As far as I know the Labour Employment Rights Bill has not changed, no

I seems that DP World made the u-turn, changed their mind.

Yes, after Starmer publicly distanced himself and the government from Rayner and Haigh’s press release and no doubt made obsequious noises to DP World.

Yes, Rayner and Haigh were clearly told to get in line.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce81p528ejmo

The prime minister is understood not to have been directly involved in talks with DP World, nor has he personally spoken to Haigh about her remarks.

“Not directly involved”, eh? Well, what a reassuring message from government that is.

I wonder who he sent out to bend the knee.

And funnily enough in 2022 Grant Schapps urged Britons to boycott P&O Ferries"

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-19/u-k-s-shapps-urges-p-o-boycott-says-it-must-u-turn-on-firings

Bend the knee?

But I thought that labour were in the pockets of the unions

Rayner is a union patsy, a diversity hire (unqualified), and a self confessed gob.

I must confess to looking forward to (hopefully) Kemi taking her out like a loose tooth.