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Keir Starmer


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On another note.

 

Emly Oldknow, her of the infamous court case, is stepping down from her very lucrative, and very well connected role at UNISON, to work for a Tory 'thinktank' for a lot more filthy lucre.

 

Her only qualification?

 

Her contact book within the Labour Party.

 

She will also be recieving a substantial payout from the party soon for the aformentioned court case.

 

Her and Jonathan must be so happy.

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1 hour ago, Section_31 said:

 

Agree with that but it comes from the global 'system' doesn't it? Look at every radical party that's tried to get into power in Europe, Greece and Spain etc, the minute they make fiscal decisions that go against the accepted way of doing things they're pummelled from all sides, the IMF, EU and all the other cunts. 

 

Moody's call you junk and whatnot. 


It does, but as one of the biggest economies in the world we're in a better position as a country than most to challenge it, or at least finesse it in our favour a bit more. The problem is the Labour party is now fully embedded in that system at the leadership level, Reeves is symbolic of that, groomed within an establishment echo chamber in the BOE, she represents everything that's wrong with that system.

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I think his stance is spot on, logical and if he sees it through will help put in place proper long terms fixes that actually hold up.

 

They sent this email out today - it is long, but it fills me with hope.

 

I am sure plenty on here have seen it as they will have received it too but here it is for those who haven't...

 

 

When I stood on the steps of Downing Street two months ago, I promised this government would serve people like you.

Apprentices. Teachers. Nurses. Small business owners. Firefighters. Those serving our communities and our country every day. I promised that we would get a grip on the problems that we face and that we would be judged by our actions, not by our words.

I said before the election and I'll say it again really clearly today:

Growth, and frankly by that I do mean wealth creation, is the number one priority of this Labour government. That’s why, in our first few weeks, we’ve set up a National Wealth Fund – because we want every person and every community to benefit.

It’s why we’ve unlocked planning decisions - because we are going to build 1.5 million new homes. It’s why we’ve set up Great British Energy, to create good jobs and cut people’s bills. And it’s why we’ve ended the national strikes that have crippled our country for years.

Because I defy anyone to tell me that you can grow the economy when people can’t get to work because the transport system is broken or can’t return to work because they’re stuck on an NHS waiting list.

We’ve done more in seven weeks than the last government did in seven years. And these are just the first steps towards the change that people voted for. The change I’m determined to deliver.

But before the election I also gave a warning. I said change would not happen overnight.

When there is a deep rot, deep in the heart of a structure, you can’t just cover it up. You can’t tinker or rely on quick fixes. You have to overhaul the entire thing. Tackle it at root. Even if it’s harder work and takes more time.

Because otherwise, what happens? The rot returns in all the same places and it spreads worse than before. You know that and I know that.

That’s why this project has always been about fixing the foundations of our country.

But I have to be honest with you. Things are worse than we ever imagined.

In the first few weeks, we discovered a £22 billion black hole in the public finances.

And before anyone says that this is just performative or playing politics, let’s remember that the OBR did not know about it. They wrote a letter setting that out.

And they didn’t know because the last government hid it. Even just last Wednesday, we found out that – thanks to the last government’s recklessness - we borrowed almost £5 billion more than the OBR expected in the last three months alone.

That’s not performative, that’s fact. But as well as the things we’ve discovered, we’ve also seen shocking scenes across the nation.

A mindless minority of thugs who thought they could get away with causing chaos, smashing up communities and terrifying minorities. Vandalising and destroying people’s property. Even trying to set fire to a building with human beings inside it.

And as if that wasn’t despicable enough. People displaying swastika tattoos. Shouting racist slurs on our streets. Nazi salutes at the cenotaph, the very place we honour those who gave their lives for this country.

Desecrating their memory under the pretence, and it is a pretence, of ‘legitimate protest’.

Now they’re learning that crime has consequences. I will not tolerate a breakdown in law and order under any circumstances.

And I will not listen to those who exploit grieving families, and disrespect communities. But these riots didn’t happen in a vacuum. They exposed the state of our country and revealed a deeply unhealthy society.

The cracks in our foundation laid bare, weakened by a decade of division and decline. Infected by a spiral of populism which fed off a cycle of failure of the last government.

Every time they faced a difficult problem, they failed to be honest. They offered the snake oil of populism, which led to more failure. Round and round and round, stuck in the rut of the politics of performance.

And I saw the beginning of that downward spiral firsthand in 2011 when riots ripped through London and across the country. I was then Director of Public Prosecutions and when I think back to that time, I see just how far we have fallen.

Because responding to those riots was hard, but dealing with the riots this summer was much harder. In 2011, I didn’t doubt the courts could do what they needed to do. This time, to be honest with you, I genuinely didn’t know.

Every day, literally every day, we had to check the precise number of prison places we had and where those places were to make sure we could arrest, charge and prosecute people quickly.

Not having enough prison places is about as fundamental a failure as you can get.

And those people throwing rocks, torching cars, making threats. They didn’t just know the system was broken, they were betting on it, gaming it. They thought – ‘oh, they’ll never arrest me. And if they do, I won’t be prosecuted. And if I am, I won’t get much of a sentence.'

They saw the cracks in our society after 14 years of failure - and they exploited it.

That’s what we have inherited. Not just an economic black hole. A societal black hole.

And that is why we have to take action and do things differently. Part of that is being honest with people about the choices we face and how tough this will be.

Frankly, things will get worse before they get better.

I didn’t want to release prisoners early. I was Chief Prosecutor for five years. It goes against the grain of everything I’ve ever done. But to be blunt, if we hadn’t taken that difficult decision immediately, we wouldn’t have been able to respond to the riots as we did.

And if we don’t take tough action across the board, we won’t be able to fix the foundations of the country as we need.

I didn’t want to means test the Winter Fuel Payment but it was a choice we had to take. A choice to protect the most vulnerable pensioners while doing what is necessary to repair the public finances.

Because pensioners also rely on a functioning NHS, good public transport and strong national infrastructure. They want their children to be able to buy homes. They want their grandchildren to get a good education.

So we have made that difficult decision, to mend the public finances so everyone benefits in the long term, including pensioners.

That is a difficult trade off and there will be more to come. I won’t shy away from making unpopular decisions now if it’s the right thing for the country in the long term. That’s what a government of service means.

This shouldn’t be a country where people fear walking down their street, their TVs showing cars and buildings being set on fire. This shouldn’t be a country where the Prime Minister can’t guarantee prison places.

But it also shouldn’t be a country where people are paying thousands more on their mortgages or waiting months for hospital appointments they desperately need. Where our waters are filled with sewage. Where parents worry that their kids won’t get the opportunities they did. Where nothing seems to work anymore.

So, when I talk about the inheritance the last government left us, the £22 billion black hole in our finances, this isn’t about lines on a graph. This is about people’s lives. Your lives.

And the Tories are still not being honest. They know their recklessness cost them the election but they won’t accept the cost that they’ve inflicted on the country.

And they won’t apologise for what they’ve cost you. They’re just still thinking about themselves.

This government won’t always be perfect, but I promise you this:

You will be at the heart of it, in the forefront of our minds, at the centre of everything we do. This is a government for you, back in your service.

It’s not just that the last government relied on easy gimmicks and bad ideas. Those things happened precisely because the government itself lost its focus on the hopes and ambitions of working people.

During those recent riots, I made huge asks of the police and of the criminal justice system. People already stretched to the limit. They knew I was making big asks of them and I’m not going to apologise for it.

But let me tell you this - they delivered. They deserve our gratitude. And that’s why I went to Southport, to Lambeth and to Belfast to thank them personally. To shake the hands of the first responders who rose up to the ask I was making of them.

They deserve a government that trusts them, supports them and works with them.

That is the sort of government we will be. One that works with people, not does things to them. One that believes in hard graft, not gimmicks.

Honest about the challenges we face and working tirelessly to fix them. That is how we will always work.

Next week, parliament returns.The business of politics will resume but it won’t be business as usual. Because we can’t go on like this anymore. Things will have to be done differently.

We will do the hard work to root out 14 years of rot, reverse a decade of decline and fix the foundations.

Between now and Christmas, we will carry on as we started. Action not words. We will introduce legislation and take decisions to protect taxpayers’ money. Take on the blockers by accelerating planning to build homes and boost growth.

We’ll move forward this autumn to harness the full potential of AI for growth and the public good. We’ll bring rail services into public ownership, putting passengers first.

The biggest levelling up of workers’ rights in a generation to give people security, dignity and respect at work.

And Great British Energy will be owned by the taxpayer, making money for the taxpayer, producing clean energy and creating good jobs.

That is our focus for the rest of the year. But I’ll also be honest with you.

There’s a budget coming in October and it’s going to be painful. We have no other choice given the situation we’re in.

So those with the broadest shoulders should bear the heavier burden. That’s why we’re cracking down on non-doms.

Those who made the mess should have do their bit to clean it up. That’s why we’re strengthening the powers of the water regulator and backing tough fines on water companies that have let sewage flood our rivers, lakes and seas.

But just as when I responded to the riots, I’ll have to turn to the country and make big asks of you as well.

To accept short term pain for long term good. The difficult trade-off for the genuine solution. And I know that after all you’ve been through, that is a really big ask and really difficult to hear.

That is not the position we should be in. It’s not the position I want to be in. But we have to end the politics of the easy answer that solves nothing.

But I also know that we can get through this together. Because the riots didn’t just betray the sickness, they also revealed the cure. Found not in the cynical conflict of populism but in the coming together of a country.

The people who got together the morning after, all around the country with their brooms, their shovels, their trowels and cleared up their community. They reminded us who we really are. I felt real pride in those people who cleaned up the streets, rebuilt the walls and repaired the damage.

And I couldn’t help thinking about the obvious parallels.

Because imagine the pride we will feel as a nation, when, after the hard work of clearing up the mess is done, we have a country that we have built together.

Built to last, that belongs to every single one of us and that all of us have a stake in.

Our hard work rewarded a dozen times over because we’ll have an economy that works for everyone, an NHS not just back on its feet, but fit for the future and streets that everyone feels safe in.

No longer dependent on foreign dictators because we’re producing our own clean energy right here and giving every child wherever they come from, whatever their background, the chance to go as far as their talents will take them.

I won’t lose sight of that prize. I won’t lose sight of what we were elected to do. And most importantly, I won’t lose sight of the people we were elected to do it for.

You. This is our country. Let’s fix it, together.

Thank you,

Keir Starmer
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

 

 

 

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Good sentiments and a lot of praiseworthy ambitions there, but the eye test fails when it comes to the ' broadest shoulders ' aim, with Reeves constantly reassuring the ultra rich that we don't want to take any more of their money, or chase the money they are hiding from the taxman.

 

I am a bit baffled at this stance, as it would bring in lots of money quickly, be very popular with the population in general and, let's be honest, the type of people who say they would leave the country if they had to pay a reasonable tax increase are in the main the people who are already using every means of avoiding tax via offshore and loopholes anyway.

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That letter is absolute fucking bollocks when Reeves is about to cut spending everywhere.

And no mention at all of any kind of reform to the tax system to clamp down on evasion & avoidance.

 

I believe he's telling the truth in the last government's incompetence.

But I don't believe for one minute that the people most able to shoulder the burden actually fucking will.

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1 hour ago, Gooch said:

This will all play nicely into Reforms hands as well, they will be laughing their tits off at it all.

 

Entirely self-inflicted. Everyone was told there'd be an energy price rise in September/October and yet the party decided it'd be a good idea to scrap the winter fuel allowance for pensioners straight away. And then to top it off with the "things are going to get worse" speech, well, whoever is running party strategy isn't very good at it. They're all for making the tough decisions, but seems to shit themselves with easy ones at the minute 

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2 minutes ago, Scooby Dudek said:

Not scared to make unpopular choices, apart from when it means going against the media owners and ultra rich. Well unpopular to the media owners and ultra rich, can't upset them obviously. 

 

We'll have to wait obviously, but what would be a nice 'compromise'

 

Cuts to some service and rises in Capital Gains/transaction tariffs/lowering the higher tax threshold to fund others?

 

Going after offshoring potentially.

 

People are still not talking about the elephant in the room and that is Truss' interest rate hikes which are costing us a fucking fortune as we service the debt from covid and emergency fuel payments, and loads of other Tory largess.

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1 hour ago, Scooby Dudek said:

I think a nice compromise would be a wealth tax, a levy on energy company excess profits. It's a way of bringing in a lot of money quickly. 

 

That's a one off though, unless the plan is to keep hitting them year on year?

 

What about longer term, to really firm up the foundations of the economy?

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29 minutes ago, Bruce Spanner said:

 

That's a one off though, unless the plan is to keep hitting them year on year?

 

What about longer term, to really firm up the foundations of the economy?

I have no issues with doing yearly, however you could review depending on annual growth. 

Longer term I would definitely increase the top rate of income tax for very high earners. 

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8 minutes ago, Scooby Dudek said:

I have no issues with doing yearly, however you could review depending on annual growth. 

Longer term I would definitely increase the top rate of income tax for very high earners. 


As with that I think there needs to be a radical reappraisal of capital gains tax, for a start.

 

You can’t have a large amount of economic activity that is no more than squirrelling away and neither adding, nor investing in a functioning economy. 

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1 hour ago, Bruce Spanner said:


As with that I think there needs to be a radical reappraisal of capital gains tax, for a start.

 

You can’t have a large amount of economic activity that is no more than squirrelling away and neither adding, nor investing in a functioning economy. 

No disagreement here. Capital gains should equal income tax. Plus I think we should massively increase tax at top end. 

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Bring services back under national control.

There's never been a better time to do it.

Thames water want to put the prices up by £230 a year. This is the language the public understands, tell them you are taking control because these utter cunts are using their money to fund their own wealth.

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