[Politics] Are Labour going to turn this country around?

SouthSaxon said:

NHS England was unpopular from the beginning and was part of a set of disastrous reforms by Andrew Lansley, who was health minister before Jeremy *unt.

This was when the privatisation by stealth kicked in as it was an attempt to introduce free market principles. Naturally, it fell on its arse.

NHS health reforms could change - Andrew Lansley

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley says he is ready to accept "substantial and significant" alterations to plans for changes in the NHS in England.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Hugo Rune said:

I agree with this.

But it’s critical to do it in the right way and not have your MPs weaponising it like the last government did. There needs to be compassion and understanding when tackling this issue.

My big caveat is that the Government should be focusing on tax dodging by the super rich as this is where they’ll find more money and fairness and I hope the work done on the benefit system does not in anyway shadow what they are doing there.

Difficult and unpopular decisions are needed such as increasing inheritance tax on farmers (plugging a tax loophole that had seen investment funds buy thousands of acres of farmland to avoid tax payments) and removing the winter fuel allowance that has seen millions of wealthy pensioners lose the £300 or so they did not need. However, those decisions need more planning, more spin and more thought as in each of the cases above, there were perceived victims. For example, Farmers are not making enough money for what they do, we all know that. They needed to be given something such as revenue from a supermarket profit tax or protected minimum prices for their produce in return for increasing their tax burden. There was a lot more the government could have done with the removal of the winter fuel payment such as increasing the level payment or the level at which payment it received. I hope they iron out these sorts of mistakes going forward and make sure their policies are a little fairer.

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drew said:

To be fair, I thought that Blair first brought in private companies into the NHS! Not sure bringing full control under the dept of health is a good idea! Ok whilst labour are at the helm but not sure if the tories get back in! If there was duplication between NHS England and Dept of Health, reduce the D of H!

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Mo Gosfield said:

Until the two big beasts of VAT and fuel duty are addressed we won't move forward. Governments are now so reliant on these two vast streams of revenue that they are reluctant to even discuss them. They are crippling us as a nation.

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Mellor 3 Ward 4 said:

It's amazing how quiet the unions have been over this.

There will be a LOT of people losing their jobs.

Same in the Civil Service (in fact a lot more)

I thought the tories lost the election.

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drew said:

To be fair, I thought that Blair first brought in private companies into the NHS! Not sure bringing full control under the dept of health is a good idea! Ok whilst labour are at the helm but not sure if the tories get back in! If there was duplication between NHS England and Dept of Health, reduce the D of H!

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cjd said:

Remarkable....an ultra left-wing forum and still an incredible 87 % of posters bothering to vote on this forum, still think the Labour Government can't solve the problems.

This is a strong left -wing forum........what's up folks ?

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cjd said:

Remarkable....an ultra left-wing forum and still an incredible 87 % of posters bothering to vote on this forum, still think the Labour Government can't solve the problems.

This is a strong left -wing forum........what's up folks ?

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cjd said:

Remarkable....an ultra left-wing forum and still an incredible 87 % of posters bothering to vote on this forum, still think the Labour Government can't solve the problems.

This is a strong left -wing forum........what's up folks ?

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lawros left foot said:

6 things Labour have done this week
1. Crackdown on mass scam texts

Labour is banning SIM farms, the devices criminals use to send scam texts to thousands of people at once.

2. Cutting driving test backlog

New measures will free up at least 10,000 extra tests a month. They include:

• Crackdown on test-buying bots
• Doubling the number of permanent trainers
• Asking DVSA staff in other roles to conduct tests

3. Free breakfast clubs roll out

The trial began in 750 schools, covering 180,000 children. It’ll allow parents to save up to £450 per year on childcare.

4. Water (Special Measures) Act

Allows courts to jail water bosses if they don’t co-operate with investigations.

Blocks exec bonuses when companies fail to meet standards.

Requires water companies to publish how much sewage they dump into rivers/seas within an hour of doing it.

5. 300m clean energy funding fast-tracked

It’ll be used to invest in supply chains for domestic offshore wind.

Separately, a major carbon capture project in North Wales and NW England will create 2,000 jobs.

6. Harsher fines for platforms hosting knife-crime content

Labour will fine tech companies up to £60,000 if they don’t remove knife-related posts within 48 hours of a police warning.

That’s on top of an existing £10,000 fine for individual executives.

I know they don’t get everything right, not by a long chalk, but, at least they are trying to do some good.

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cjd said:

Remarkable....an ultra left-wing forum and still an incredible 87 % of posters bothering to vote on this forum, still think the Labour Government can't solve the problems.

This is a strong left -wing forum........what's up folks ?

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Harry Wilson's tackle said:

A forum of realists.

Well, not including you, obviously, with your cheeky grin, and peculiar obsessions

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