Davkaus Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 I'm back to voting Green, get to ****, Starmer. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted February 24, 2021 Share Posted February 24, 2021 (edited) Labour have been quite forceful in pushing their 'no new tax rises' line, which has been defended in part On Here and elsewhere as justifiable during an economic crisis. But lo and behold: The problem for Labour is that the 'no new tax rises' mantra is opening a huge amount of political space for the Conservatives to walk into and portray themselves as 'moderate'. Rises in corporation tax are *popular*. Most people think that companies don't pay enough tax. Meadway has the correct summary of the problem IMO: Labour are too focused on 1] pretending that they are in charge of the economy, and so are busy positioning themselves as responsible about macro economics, rather than promising to do popular things (nobody actually cares about or understands macro economics), and 2] are still fighting David Cameron and George Osbourne, rather than the government they are actually supposed to be opposing. Edited February 24, 2021 by HanoiVillan 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp65 Posted February 24, 2021 Share Posted February 24, 2021 I think its important that Keir Starmer endorses the tory moves on tax. Now is not the time for petty rivalry. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted February 24, 2021 Share Posted February 24, 2021 (edited) What they need is to have some kind of vision of the country that is wider and more inspiring than *me and my gang in charge of the Labour party*, because we're way past the date when that was sufficient. They need some kind of vision, and they needed not yesterday but several months ago. It should be a] not shit, and b] something that the Conservatives find too unpalatable to nick. The problem is that 'competence' is a bad frame. Whatever our many myriad mistakes, and our massive pile of corpses, we are going to vaccinate the population faster than nearly every other country. The great middle of the British public have more money in their bank accounts, and are super excited to be jetting off on their hols as soon as possible, and 'incompetence' is a frame that looks increasingly redundant. And come on, we can see how Labour manage their own party FFS, it's hardly a picture of competence is it. Edited February 24, 2021 by HanoiVillan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted February 24, 2021 Moderator Share Posted February 24, 2021 Did you miss the massive epoch defining press conference on Labour's new vision last week? Spoiler: Government bonds will change the world. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted February 24, 2021 Share Posted February 24, 2021 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a m ole Posted February 24, 2021 Share Posted February 24, 2021 (edited) Am I an idiot for thinking a winning message on this should be: “Raising Corp Tax doesn’t generate money if tax is avoided by biggest businesses, this targets smaller struggling businesses” “What the government should be doing is collecting the tax that companies like Amazon and Apple etc owe” Instead of sounding more right-wing that the Tories? Edited February 24, 2021 by a m ole 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp65 Posted February 24, 2021 Share Posted February 24, 2021 It shouldn’t be too difficult to work out who pays a windfall tax. It would be all the tory chums on speed dial that have florists shops and won billion pound PPE contracts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted February 24, 2021 Share Posted February 24, 2021 'It's unfair that small businesses and self-employed people have been given inadequate support by this government while they were closed for the health of all. Of course we would be prepared to look at a one-time windfall tax on those businesses such as supermarkets whose continued operation has been essential, but at an advantage due to the crisis. While we don't want to choke the recovery, we are clear above all that big business should pay their fair share, and that will be what we focus on as we evaluate what the Chancellor proposes next week. We also want to see the government use the proceeds of any tax rises to provide further support for small businesses, the self-employed and those on furlough. Nobody should have to lose their job or their business with the end of the tunnel in sight'. No need to over-complicate this. Labour aren't the government, it doesn't matter what they support or don't support, the budget is passing anyway. So be in favour of popular things. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted February 24, 2021 Moderator Share Posted February 24, 2021 Starmer appears to be a miracle worker, he's united every Labour Councillor in Liverpool 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted February 24, 2021 Moderator Share Posted February 24, 2021 The respective candidates statements Wendy Simon (The current acting Mayor) doesn't yet appear to have made a statement that I've seen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted February 24, 2021 Share Posted February 24, 2021 This can be an easy win for Labour... supporting the innocent leaseholders from financial ruin and bankruptcy and in some cases suicide. Could affect 10m+ people 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted February 24, 2021 Moderator Share Posted February 24, 2021 Personally, I'm ambivalent on the position of Mayor as I live in a borough that doesn't have a directly elected one. I also think that Liverpool's only directly elected Mayor so far was an arsehole (He won it every time) but that is Labour's fault for elevating him to that position and not getting rid of him quite some time ago (there have been plenty of issues around the man) But what I'm failing to understand here, is what is the replacement to a directly elected mayor that will be "genuinely democratic?" The problem with the Mayor in Liverpool is that he was a grade A bellend (and possibly a crook), he was a Grade A bellend before he was ever on the council. He was directly elected by the people of the city, they genuinely and democratically elected an arsehole, time after time and the Labour Party and the Unions did nothing but support him, not once did they try to get him deselected This man used local tax payers money to fund his own personal legal bill in an unfair dismissal case for a job he had in a school in neighbouring Sefton which he hadn't been to for four years, since he was elected as Mayor. That should have been it, someone should have had a word in his ear then and told him to resign But anyway, what is more genuinely democratic than a directly elected mayor? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted February 25, 2021 Author Share Posted February 25, 2021 Introduce LTNs for more neighbourhoods up north and make them chargeable for visitors as LTNS are so popular up there. That would make some money to help the economy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted February 25, 2021 Moderator Share Posted February 25, 2021 No-one said they were popular, we've just got used to them. The only people that love them are grumpy retired curtain twitching knobheads Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted February 25, 2021 Share Posted February 25, 2021 14 hours ago, bickster said: But anyway, what is more genuinely democratic than a directly elected mayor? I'm not tightly wedded to the argument, but I can see a case for saying that the committee system in councils is more democratic, as it doesn't centre power in the hands of a single individual? Is the election of a president in America or France *more democratic* than a general election in a Westminster system, or is it *as democratic, but in a different way*? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted February 25, 2021 Moderator Share Posted February 25, 2021 10 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said: I'm not tightly wedded to the argument, but I can see a case for saying that the committee system in councils is more democratic, as it doesn't centre power in the hands of a single individual? Is the election of a president in America or France *more democratic* than a general election in a Westminster system, or is it *as democratic, but in a different way*? I'd argue that the local electorate can't possibly know which internal faction each Councillor belongs to and therefore the likelihood of which person they are likely to vote in as Leader of the council should that position be vacated by the current incumbent. This is also somewhat true of Prime Minister but I wouldn't call that truly democratic nor would I describe it as genuinely more democratic than a directly elected Mayor. I also need to make it clear that I'm not advocating for either system, I'm just curious as to what could be considered "genuinely more democratic" than a directly elected Mayor. Taking the decision away from the electorate can't be considered "genuinely more democratic." It's a phrase I've seen thrown about a lot in the debate by those opposed to DEMs (Oh the irony) and I guess I'm just calling out the phrase as bollocks. What it actually seems to mean is.... we think our faction stands more chance of having the leader of the council/controlling the spending/power if we take the decision directly away from the people, which to my mind is the exact opposite of genuinely more democratic 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted February 25, 2021 Author Share Posted February 25, 2021 59 minutes ago, bickster said: No-one said they were popular, we've just got used to them. The only people that love them are grumpy retired curtain twitching knobheads Did you protest against it? Also has this happened ariund your area? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted February 25, 2021 Moderator Share Posted February 25, 2021 22 minutes ago, Demitri_C said: Did you protest against it? Also has this happened ariund your area? Did I protest? No, they've been here longer than me. This shows you how far behind the times in this respect London is (Its over 30 years) Has it happened where I live? No, I live in a village that is only serviced by one road. Naturally the village is one on its own and I can't see roads being built on the other three sides (Army Base / Championship Standard Golf Course / River Estuary and Sea) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted February 25, 2021 Author Share Posted February 25, 2021 4 hours ago, bickster said: Did I protest? No, they've been here longer than me. This shows you how far behind the times in this respect London is (Its over 30 years) Has it happened where I live? No, I live in a village that is only serviced by one road. Naturally the village is one on its own and I can't see roads being built on the other three sides (Army Base / Championship Standard Golf Course / River Estuary and Sea) Behind the times or we didnt have fools implement stupid things like this! Its a major health and safety risk as highlighted above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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