What is the point of Labour ?

[Cheese]

 

[Cheese]

'Truss-ite deregulation' 

[Leith Green]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/03/britain-will-not-rejoin-eu-in-my-lifetime-says-starmer?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

 

[O'Kelly Isley III]

42 minutes ago, Cheese said:

'Truss-ite deregulation' 

...and going Greek with a six-day week on offer for millions of workers *

Spoiler

* including Friday evenings

 

[Cheese]

A hell of a lot of noticing going on by the nominally left liberal media, on the eve of the election here.

What could it mean ? Who knows.

[GordonS]

On 02/07/2024 at 19:28, MazzyStar said:

Not defending Labour here, but do you really think the SNP wouldn’t sell off Scotland to BlackRock ,or whoever was the highest bidder, if they had the chance?  

God almighty. The SNP have been in power in Scotland for 17 years, spending about £60 billion a year. How much of that has ended up in the pockets of hedge firms?

It was the SNP that abolished Labour's PFI and PPP and started building schools, hospitals and infrastructure from public money again. If the SNP were the type of party to "sell off Scotland to BlackRock ,or whoever" wouldn't they have done something in that direction by now?

You think you're being clever and cynical but you're just showing that you've never thought any of this through.

[MazzyStar]

Just now, GordonS said:

God almighty. The SNP have been in power in Scotland for 17 years, spending about £60 billion a year. How much of that has ended up in the pockets of hedge firms?

It was the SNP that abolished Labour's PFI and PPP and started building schools, hospitals and infrastructure from public money again. If the SNP were the type of party to "sell off Scotland to BlackRock ,or whoever" wouldn't they have done something in that direction by now?

You think you're being clever and cynical but you're just showing that you've never thought any of this through.

https://voltiq.com/news/blackrock-participates-in-scotwind-leasing-process

There you go. 

[Leith Green]

1 hour ago, MazzyStar said:

https://voltiq.com/news/blackrock-participates-in-scotwind-leasing-process

There you go. 

There were 74 bidders, and - while I may be wrong - I don't think that particular consortium was one of the 17 successful bids.

[GordonS]

3 hours ago, Leith Green said:

There were 74 bidders, and - while I may be wrong - I don't think that particular consortium was one of the 17 successful bids.

What is he even complaining about? That licences for private energy generation saw BlackRock advise one of the potential applicants?

Aye, we've sold the whole country to them there right enough...

[GordonS]

I get that The Sun will endorse a party that's obviously going to win a landslide. You don't have to boast about it though.

 

[KirkieRR]

6 hours ago, Leith Green said:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/03/britain-will-not-rejoin-eu-in-my-lifetime-says-starmer?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

 

I wish some Labourite had bothered to turn up on my doorstep so's I could tell him what I thought of his party's born-again Brexiteerism.

[Leith Green]

6 hours ago, KirkieRR said:

I wish some Labourite had bothered to turn up on my doorstep so's I could tell him what I thought of his party's born-again Brexiteerism.

Most of my friends are Labour voters - I have been getting it a bit tight about the SNP for some time now, while trying to explain to them that Labour are nowhere even close to the party that I used to vote for as a kid.

The dawning that Starmers Labour are not "just kidding us on about what they will do about Brexit" or that "they will be a bit more compassionate about immigrants" or "they will probably remove the 2 child cap"....................when they get into power has just recently dawned.

Wont help all those postal voters though.

I genuinely hate the Tories, but any party simply apeing their policies deserves our contempt.

My vote is almost meaningless today (Edinburgh South) but it will still go in the SNP box.

[Boo Khaki]

14 minutes ago, Leith Green said:

Most of my friends are Labour voters - I have been getting it a bit tight about the SNP for some time now, while trying to explain to them that Labour are nowhere even close to the party that I used to vote for as a kid.

The dawning that Starmers Labour are not "just kidding us on about what they will do about Brexit" or that "they will be a bit more compassionate about immigrants" or "they will probably remove the 2 child cap"....................when they get into power has just recently dawned.

Wont help all those postal voters though.

I genuinely hate the Tories, but any party simply apeing their policies deserves our contempt.

My vote is almost meaningless today (Edinburgh South) but it will still go in the SNP box.

Pretty much sums up exactly how I feel about Labour.

I was partly hoping I might get doorstepped by the local candidate, because I just wanted to ask them what on earth it is they think Labour offers me as an enticement to vote for them. They are pro-Brexit when I am still absolutely furious about my freedom of movement being revoked against my expressed wish and that of two thirds of my countrymen, they tell us the UK is a "voluntary" union but simultaneously insist there is no democratic way for Scotland to voluntarily leave of its own accord, they've gone to ridiculous lengths to purge the party of anything and anyone even perceived to be left-leaning, Starmer has had no compunction in punting candidates that could in any way inflame or antagonise Gammon England, even when it's apparent that the "problem" with said candidates is nothing more sinister than their ethnicity, or the fact they might be an outspoken gay man. They've eagerly leapt into the Centre Right space left vacant by the Tories since 2019, and as a result, I feel they do not represent me in any way and I simply do not trust them to work in my interests, even though they claim to be the party of ordinary working class people.

Put simply, the only reason I can see to even consider voting Labour would be to get rid of an even more undesirable Tory incumbent, and that is not necessary where I am, so there is absolutely no reason for me to vote for them.

Edited Thursday at 06:32 by Boo Khaki

[Iain]

The thing I'm struggling to get my head around is that, if you believe polling, there must be a fair chunk of pro-independence folks planning to vote for Labour in Scotland. I'm really having a hard time understanding their thought process.

[Lex]

1 minute ago, Iain said:

The thing I'm struggling to get my head around is that, if you believe polling, there must be a fair chunk of pro-independence folks planning to vote for Labour in Scotland. I'm really having a hard time understanding their thought process.

Because most independence supporters are realists who know independence is dead, and they're voting on other issues that matter to them more. 

[Iain]

Just now, Lex said:

Because most independence supporters are realists who know independence is dead, and they're voting on other issues that matter to them more. 

That's an interesting suggestion, but it doesn't ring true for me. Even if you felt that independence was unachievable I still think most people would have a problem voting for a party like Labour that holds them in utter disdain for their constitutional preference.

[Lex]

1 minute ago, Iain said:

That's an interesting suggestion, but it doesn't ring true for me. Even if you felt that independence was unachievable I still think most people would have a problem voting for a party like Labour that holds them in utter disdain for their constitutional preference.

 We have had ten years of post-referendum mania in Scottish politics where every vote in every election was either for independence or not and every election campaign was dominated by it.

With the supreme court decision in the last parliament, the Scottish electorate has moved on. As the results tomorrow will show. 

[Iain]

1 minute ago, Lex said:

 We have had ten years of post-referendum mania in Scottish politics where every vote in every election was either for independence or not and every election campaign was dominated by it.

With the supreme court decision in the last parliament, the Scottish electorate has moved on. As the results tomorrow will show. 

If so, can we expect Labour not to imply a victory for them in Scotland constitutes a repudiation of independence as a whole?

[Lex]

6 minutes ago, Iain said:

If so, can we expect Labour not to imply a victory for them in Scotland constitutes a repudiation of independence as a whole?

Won't matter either way. Westminster will never vote through another referendum and the Supreme Court has ruled that Holyrood can't legislate on non-devolved issues. Independence supporters aren't going away, but independence will no longer dominate the Scottish political discourse, as it has done for the last decade. 

[Granny Danger]

20 minutes ago, Iain said:

The thing I'm struggling to get my head around is that, if you believe polling, there must be a fair chunk of pro-independence folks planning to vote for Labour in Scotland. I'm really having a hard time understanding their thought process.

It will be interesting to see if the voting reflects the polling.  If it does your consternation is justified.