General British politics discussion thread

Suspension for more than 10 days triggers a by-election so that could be fun.

It looks like Streeting has belatedly decided to throw down the gauntlet. Starmer's reasoning is probably that the left won't put up anyone themselves, as they're 'waiting for Andy'. Starmer reckons he will then beat Streeting, who's too right-wing for either the PP or the membership. In the meantime Burnham persuades some sod to resign his/her seat, stands in the byelection and quite possibly loses to Reform or the Greens while at the same time losing Lab the Manchester mayorship in a byelection. Where do the left go then? Better to propose Millband or Rayner now and leave Burnham where he is.

All that said, I've not convinced any of them can turn it around.

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I know, but if he is 🤷‍♂️

Starmer is giving back just as good .. probably better with some nice irrefutable lines

Starmer's "Labour" Party was voted into power on the back of 12 years of Tory misrule and people were obviously desirous of a change in direction from what they had gotten off of them. Austerity, food banks, Brexit, housing crisis, NHS decline, cost of living had all taken a toll. What they got, however, was a milquetoast, nebulous, faux alternative that hasn't really changed anything at all for most people.

In fairness to Starmer, though, he promised nothing and has delivered nothing.

He is yet another terrible, terrible, leader in a string of terrible UK leaders from Cameron onwards that currently leads a party which doesn't stand for anthing. One could include Blair and Brown on that list with their own awful decision making, but at least there were periods of positivity when they held the reins of power to offset the likes of the Iraq war and the 2008 crash that marred their time at the helm.

Nevertheless, Starmer has stumbled from one bad decision to the next in a truly spectacular fashion over nearly two years and I don't blame Joe and Josephine Soap from getting fed up with him at all, and Starmer's latest mess is handing a massive amount of votes to the most far right party that has existed on British shores in living memory and making a shambolic and corrupt outfit like Reform look like a serious alternative for a lot of people.

That is not the change that people had in mind when they voted Labour, whether they were old lefties, Blairite types, soft neo-liberals or ex-Tories lending their vote.

I would also be happy to see him go, and I wasn't ever impressed with him in the first place. My particular expectations were very low with Starmer and his iteration of Labour, but even they haven't been met.

The big question, though, the big gigantic, see-it-from-space, question is who replaces him?

…and that is exactly what Labour doesn't need.

How do you think the traditional Labour supporters who support Palestine Action acted last Thursday?

I would argue that traditional Labour supporters dont care all that much about Palestine Action. Sure the metropolitan elites might, but if you are talking about traditional Labour supporters in Northern cities and working class areas, I douby anyone cared all that much.

People vastly overestimate the impact the conflict of Israel/Gaza has on domestic politics.

People who moved to vote Reform in this election are largely (not exclusively) motivated by racism and/or ignorance.

This nugget again.

Do you realise that those people you are calling ignorant or racist were primarily Labour voters for years? Were they ignorant and racist then, or only now?

This brings me back to the discussion we had on when Harris lost the US election in 2024, where some were saying that she was still right in her views/opinions, and the electorate was wrong and ignorant. This is the exact attitude that makes people hate folks who look down on them, and push them further away, where election loss after loss won't wake people up from their high horse.

What the UK actually needs is a type of Thatcher figure, who will do what's necessary to get the UK back to growth and cut the red tape to actually build ****, while cutting stupid spending. 1 in 4 working-age people is on some sort of benefit and not in work/education/training. It's just not sustainable.

The trouble is that is unpopular, but its nessesary.

Otherwise, the UK is going to spiral from short-term crisis to short-term crisis until there is a blown mega crisis like Greece.

It got attacked again last night

The UKs structural decline can be pinned on Thatcher selling off the family silver; so a neo Thatcher would be kinda screwed with nothing left to flog.