How long do you give Andy Burnham as PM?

[AndyBurnham2L]

Build ‘em up.
Knock ‘em down.

Short honeymoon and then the grumbling will start. It will all be over for him by Christmas.

So, who’s next?

There was a net loss on that manoeuvre, I am afraid.

Ok, well on a brighter note, the good people of Makerfield, with their electric cars, heat pumps and air con will be pleased with the VAT cut on electricity.

The first fruits for them.

That’s so bad. All those school closures for what? A spiteful policy that brought in a loss.

The architects of which are no more, thankfully.

True and tf for that. It’s really bad their legacy remains and the schools will just stay closed.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/59776b58-0d17-456d-9414-d45cc922468d

I'm not saying we should punish the children. Quite the opposite. I know full well what that sort of childhood is like. But we can target the money at free school meals, school uniforms, shoes, sports kit given directly to the dcs. Loans of laptops and other necessities to the dcs.

Children on FSM should be provided with school transport for 6th form. They should be given an additional grant if they go into higher education and need to live away from home.

In short the children (not the parents) should be provided with what is needed to create a more level playing field and the encouragement they need.

I'll agree with that, but I've worked in people's homes and I've seen some things that I wish I'd not seen.

I've seen a lot of families where children don't even have a bed, they sleep on the sofa because it's over crowded. The child doesn't get a proper childhood with no structured bed times. Their diet is often rubbish. These children don't stand a chance in modern schools. They still love their parents and I'm not one for casting judgement and some might argue that they should be taken into care but the care system isn't that great either.

I'm not one for throwing money at lazy people, everyone should strive to contribute to society and work hard to make the company they work for do well as well as playing a role in making their country better. But children have zero control and should be shielded at all costs.

The vast majority of people strive to do there best and the majority of children go to school and achieve great results and rewarding lives. But we see the kids with balaclavas riding models and E bikes doing nothing other than causing trouble. They grow up costing the tax payer because of drugs, Ill health, prison, probation, half way homes .... welfare....it's becoming a huge issue

He won’t last until the next general election. His ideas sound mediocre at best and what we need is radical change. His cabinet choices are questionable. The first big test will be the budget in Autumn and the media and his own party members will destroy him within a few months following it.

I do think his idea about a broad church will get him into trouble quickly. If he wants the fiscally conservative in his cabinet then they are going to stifle his instincts to give back more. He won’t raise taxes on anyone at all, which is ridiculous under the circumstances. Even regionism seems a bit problematic. Many in the local population will have nothing in common with business interests. You can’t be everyone’s friend and expect success. He was concerned about the pushback on extra tax on the richest-well what did he expect? The wailing was inevitable.

People are looking at exit strategies for manual labour type work... 65 was just about doable... 70, 75 nope.

When retirement ages go up and up, a job where you get to sit on your arse (preferably at home) is soooo much more appealing.

Agree. A lot of older people will be on PIP instead of pension

That’s precisely why the million jobless young people need to be trained to replace them. I did specify young people in the post you quoted.

Training is absolutely key here, definitely.

People often talk about getting more young people into trades - but has anyone tried to get their teenager into a trade recently? I have - and it's virtually impossible unless you know trades people who are willing to take on apprenticeships. Up here in Scotland - not sure what it's like elsewhere - they have made it very difficult for single tradespeople to take on apprenticeships as the amount of paperwork and costs involved puts so many of them off doing it. What is needed is for the large house builders and other larger developers to be required to train up tradespeople as a condition of planning permission, and for it to be far easier for the smaller ones to train up young people.

Spot on.

The Government needs to look at all aspects though. What is stopping people wanting to be trained as tradespeople? The million young people don't want training for a job that will wreck their body, only to be discarded when they can't do it any more.

What jobs are there for builders over 60 with knackered backs and knees? (Not a lot, my next door neighbour was a builder and now on benefits, for the first time in his life, as he can no longer do manual work at 62 and is unable to find unskilled desk work)
Get the full life pathway, and maybe people are more likely to consider starting out.

The jobs for the knackered over 60s would be passing their skills on to trainees. The thing stopping young people training is lack of opportunity, there aren’t enough apprenticeships. Not all trades are body wreckers anyway - plumbers, plasterers, electricians are all needed.

See my last post. What's stopping them is the training places - there are so few available, and in the vast majority of cases it's because the young person has a family member or close friend already working as a trades person who will take them on as an apprentice. We have been through this very recently with DS2 - the local college will take them but they need to find their own apprenticeship and the college doesn't help with that. Trying to find an apprenticeship is impossible - so round in circles you go.

Excellent post, @SirChenjins.

I think he will last until after the next election in 2029, at which point he will lose and resign. With the next Government being a Conservative/ Reform coalition, with the Conservatives being the larger party and Kemi Badinoch as the next PM.

I see Andy Burnham as very much like Boris Johnson in style (although clearly not in politics!). A populist charismatic leader which is appealing in the short run but ultimately people want results (mostly in an unrealistic time frame) that their economic well being and lives are getting better.

As much as I disagree with Burnham's politics and the manner in which he came to become PM, he is in a completely different league to Liz "the lettuce" Truss, so I see no reason why he would be replaced before the next election.

Actually, that's not true in every area. I'm a property developer working with excellent local trades. They have great difficulty finding local young people who are interested in apprenticeships and quite a few that are taken on drop out when they see what's involved and look at what their friends are earning in other jobs, particularly things like content creation.

Apprenticeship places are limited to the employers willingness or position to take on an apprentice. College is day release and the majority of learning is recorded at work so unless the learner has a placement then the college can't do anything.

Unfortunately you can't do any apprenticeship without a workplace.

A lot of young people don't seem to come with the right work ethos and often withdraw before the end wasting everyone's time and huge amounts of money is wasted. People need to understand that construction is hard work and it involves early starts and commitment. No standing around waiting to be told to do something, no phones, being prepared to practice in your own time and asking the right questions but learning once you've been told. Unfortunately I'd say about a quarter of apprentices don't make it until the end.

i like the bus idea but is that country wide or just london the £2 ?

No, it is only £1.75 in London already. The rest isn't until 2027.

Arriva buses in Shropshire are all old 64 plates. Yet Burnham is basically going to make bus fares cheaper and slash the bus companies budget further.
You can already see he has zero common sense and won't make tough decisions.