Much has been written and spoken about Labour this week as they met for Conference. I will today give one of my rare critiques of the leading Opposition party’s policy approach.
It is difficult to square their analysis which wrongly claims public services have been starved of money in recent years, with their proposal that there should be an iron discipline against more spending, taxing and borrowing save for a very few limited changes paid for by VAT on school fees, and an extra tax on Non Doms. They ignore the £350 bn increase in annual cash spending this Parliament so far, an increase well above inflation. They ignore the collapse of public sector productivity.
Were they to win office they would soon be subject to many spending pressures from the public sector Unions and some of their own MPs to tear up the iron rules and go for a higher taxing, higher spending, higher borrowing model. They have no ideas for getting productivity back to even 2019 levels. Their attack on waste centres on getting back more of the wrong claims on covid relief monies, where the present government’s policy is to maximise the repayments. Labour would be using the same officials to pursue the same policy. Savings on private planes will be tiny in a ÂŁ1.1 trillion budget and many Ministers will doubtless still be flying around the world in expensive seats on commercial flights.
Their views on migration favour making faster decisions on applications,. The danger is they will allow or encourage flagging many more people through. The safest and quickest thing to do for the official is to say Yes. This avoids criticism from the applicant and legal challenge and means they could rush the weighing of the evidence or skimp the need for proper documentation seeing the Ministerial imperative to get a fast time for processing. Putting on more safe routes of entry and speeding consideration could be similar to offering an amnesty to all who are here in the queue, and is closer to having open borders. The wish to do a deal with the EU to try to get more co-operation from France would come at the cost of accepting more migrants from the EU. The EU are keen to spread the large numbers coming across their southern and eastern frontiers through as many states as possible.
The policy of wanting to force through more planning permissions to build homes and new towns whatever the local view of the desirability and feasibility of this policy is at least consistent with a migration policy likely to boost numbers of newcomers. The housing shortage is partly the result of up to 600,000 additional people coming to the UK and needing homes in a single year, when the homes build rate has neve been anywhere big enough to cope with such arrival numbers on top of domestic demand. The planning policy is not a good idea. Communities have been asked to take a lot of new homes in many parts of the country, and have seen homes built before the extra roads, hospitals, schools, utility provision has been completed. It is also very difficult to hit CO 2 targets for reduction if the country invites in many more people and needs to build many more homes for them, as this is bound to increase the CO 2 output substantially.
October 13, 2023
Good morning.
Basically what you are saying, Sir John is that Labour are just like this so called CONservative government but only on steroids.
We know, but don’t care. Sooner have real Socialists rather than two-faced ones.
October 13, 2023
Much truth in this but once Labour get in they will rig the voting systems with votes for children etc and may well be in power for many terms. After John Major trashed the economy with his ERM lunacy they had 4 terms before a Tory full Majority. Plus they will wreck the economy even more than Cameron, May, Boris & Sunak have done with similar but worse net zero socialism than even Osborne, Hammond, Sunak and Hunt have delivered.
JR says âIt is also very difficult to hit CO 2 targets for reduction if the country invites in many more people and needs to build many more homes for them, as this is bound to increase the CO 2 output substantially.â
But why on earth do we even have CO2 targets? We know CO2 is not a serious climate problem, that 40% of the trivial warming over the last 150 years is urban heat island effects & not CO2. Also that CO2 levels tend to follow temperature changes not the reverse and that a bit more plant, tree and crop food greens the planet nicely. The fake account on CO2 just exports jobs and CO2 anyway.
Also the CO2 reduction policies they push do not work and CO2 reductions in the UK are irrelevant given China, India, Africa, AmericaâŠ
To win the election ditch net zero, go for cheap reliable energy, stop the vast government waste, halve the size of government, slash taxes, have a bonfire of red tape, increase the incentives to work, build more houses or have fewer people, selective quality immigration only in needed areas only.
October 13, 2023
I see that neither of our two ÂŁ8 bn+ Aircraft Carriers are off to Israel. I assume they are not too sure either would be capable of making it or to survive floating very long even if they did? Do they even have any suitable aircraft on them yet. Defence procurement in the UK is yet another sick joke and has been for many years.
October 13, 2023
@Lifelogic They just about carry the air power to protect themselves, they are close range and of limited capability. They are not equiped to carry real and varied planes.
October 13, 2023
Amazing how little you get nowadays for ÂŁ8 billion. This especially when you are the government and spending other peopleâs money on something for others? They care not what they spend nor what value if any they get!
October 14, 2023
The uni party colluded and conspired to defeat the will of the people to leave the EU. The uni party are now deliberately not delivering Brexit and refuse to diverge from EU, refuse to scrap EU laws, deliberately tie UK to EU so it will not diverge from EU. Traitors who actively oppose democracy and have not right to govern.
Reform Party or any other party of choice is the only way forward. The civil,service will then need radical reform and oust most of the madeleines, like those who refuse to act on govt policy, refuse to come back from holiday rather than do their jobs ie Afghanistan debacle.
October 13, 2023
Why would the UK feel the need to station aircraft carriers near Israel? We really ought to stop the ‘send a gunboat up the river’ diplomacy. International pressure on Hamas and the other terrorist butchers might well have taken the steps to halt the basics reaching Gaza, rather like Israel has done. Finding ways to protect further atrocities on Israel might help de-escalate. We also need to calm the damage planned on Gaza which is likely to do little to the terrorists but have appalling effect on the ordinary people.
October 13, 2023
@ Lifelogic – the RAF station at Akrotiri, Cyprus would be sufficient surely for any air operations that might be in contemplation so aircraft carriers are redundant so far as carrying aircraft is concerned. As a bulk substitue for rubber dighies to carry “refugees” however….
October 13, 2023
The USA are sending their largest one I read.
October 13, 2023
Furthermore,Iran claims to have developed its own hypersonic missiles.
October 13, 2023
we are not even defending our own shores from regular invaders coming up the beaches, why on earth do we think our tiny military should be used abroad when we cannot even defend our own cities from similar violence?
October 13, 2023
+++
And yet they all seem very keen on war.
That surely is pretty good at pumping out CO2?
Maybe they want to grow poppies?
Wonder when theyâll start on oxygen reduction?
October 13, 2023
Does the MoD have a net zero sustainability department. Planning for rechargeable tanks, aircraft, ships, helicopters⊠and chargers on every battlefield? This government and the Committee for Climate Change are certainly daft enough after all the RAF do not want âuselessâ white male pilots – they want recruitment on diversity rather than ability.
Oh yes:- https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sustainable-development-mod
and https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/mod-diversity-dashboard-index
October 13, 2023
The worldwide GHG emissions from the ‘military-industrial complex’ are understood to be higher than from air travel and shipping combined. However, as things stand the military emissions are exempt from ‘net zero’ or related targets. Hypocritical or what?
I’ll spoil my ballot paper in 2024 for the first time ever. I first voted in a GE 50 years ago and I’m disillusioned by all main parties. The minor ones are no better. If one delves into their ‘small print’, one finds gaping inconsistencies.
Finding from 2020-23 that the UK merely seemed to implement orders from, ahem, unelected bureaucrats was the last straw. Surely there was little point leaving the EU if the executive still takes orders from unelected global bodies in Geneva, Basel & NYC? The people should control the government, not vice versa. It hasn’t been that way for decades.
October 13, 2023
Exactly, except the last bit. Better vote Reform than give Labour a huge majority. The best outcome would be a Reform/Con coalition, then no more Rishi and equally inexperienced, tax and spend all show and no substance ministers.
October 13, 2023
If Reform win a single seat they will be doing very well they will have zero power for sure. The more reform votes the larger the Labour majority will be. Such is the FPTP voting system.
October 13, 2023
Not necessarily. UKIP / Brexit Party took a lot of votes off Labour. It was interesting to see the recent amendment to the Reform Party Logo …… adding “the Brexit Party” at the bottom.
October 13, 2023
Your point is well made, however who could, with clear conscience, vote Labour? Starmer has been consistent with his volte-face moves, inconsistent or lack of policies and beliefs. He loves the WEF!
October 13, 2023
Labour voters switching to the Reform Party would tug the UK toward a better direction.
October 13, 2023
I always think that the idea that voting for another party is a wasted vote comes from the Labour and Conservative parties just to keep themselves in power. I for one will be voting Reform and I’ll be out on the streets delivering leaflets as it amazes me the number of people who have never heard of the party.
October 13, 2023
Well it comes from the FPTP voting system and the many, always have always will, vote X voters. That is where the maths then leads.
October 13, 2023
LL :
You are right, but I simply cannot vote for any party that supports mass immigration and Net Zero and this includes the Conservative Party unfortunately.
However small and insignificant a start has to be made, even if it means a spoiled ballot paper at the next GE. All ballot papers are counted, including spoiled ballot papers.
October 13, 2023
It doesn’t matter here in Maidenhead. To my disgust Theresa May intends to stand again, but whether it was her or somebody else the Tory majority is so large and solid that the Tory candidate would not need my vote, or the votes of any likeminded local people. So I could vote for UKIP/Brexit/Reform, or I could spoil my ballot paper, or I could just not bother, and it could not possibly make any difference. In 2019 I “wrote in” the Brexit Party, as it had decided not to put up a candidate leaving me with nobody to support.
October 22, 2023
I’m having to think again about this!
October 13, 2023
It’s way past time to make a stand. The Tory’s have betrayed their core vote and former Tory voters like me will never vote for them until I see actual actions NOT WORDS, that are conservative and not liberal consocialist. Time for the Tory’s to stand up for English indigenous taxpayers or go.
October 13, 2023
That is such a negative attitude. If voters refuse to repeat voting Tory, and are too fearful of voting declared Socialist, then the other parties may well get enough votes to triumph. Exercise your opinion, sadly no ballot paper will have an option for ‘ None of the above’.
October 13, 2023
I vote for what I wish to see. I never vote for what I do not want. Conservative promises and performance offer me nothing that I want for this country.
Reform, like the Conservative Party of yesteryear, offers me policies which I believe in.
Why ever should I vote for the useless Conservative Party which does not?
October 13, 2023
I will be voting Reform UK anyway Peter, I have met their proposed candidate for North Devon and he is a vastly superior human being to the Conservative automatic answering machine or their computer reply Bot!
October 13, 2023
Yes, those who would otherwise not bother to vote may as well vote Reform (they need a better name).
There are many who arer disillusioned with politics and politicians, tired of voting from Project Fear motivations (“we may be bad, but look how much worse they will be”).
So if you’re going to avoid the trap of voting against something you’re afraid of and instead sit at home, you may as well cast a vote for something you DO want.
The Welsh voters have been refusing for years to vote in their devolved elections, believing that the low turn out is a way to show their disdain for devolution – and as a result, they get 20mph speed limits and endless other wokery. All they need to do is to vote once – and vote in droves – for a party committed to abolishing their assembly and… just like that, it’s gone.
Getting enough people to do it simultaneously is the hard part. But that has to be the message from those parties.
October 13, 2023
Nothing much changed there then. Spend, tax and fritter it away whilst increasing the population by 1% annually and still having no growth
Max Headroom is only a whisker away from your governments policies except for the raid on private education which has been spent numerous times.
October 13, 2023
The VAT raid on private school fees will not even pay for those thrown back onto the state system as they can no longer afford the fees. Many good schools will suffer and close. The non Dom attack will raise a net negative too. Both policies will reduce growth and jobs and raise less than nothing.
October 13, 2023
Think that is the best summarisation of Labours offering, I have read!
Spot on, John.
Labour – a diaster waiting to happen….
October 13, 2023
The Tories, for 14 years, have been a tax, borrow, QE and waste net zero total disaster. They got almost everything wrong with Covid lockdowns lockdowns, net harm vaccines⊠(as did Labour).
Labour will be even worse for the UK. The country is crying out for small government real Conservative policies and sensible cheap on demand energy. But Sunak is a green crap, tax to death, globalist socialist too.
October 13, 2023
@Lifelogic +1 – it could be that what is classed as a Conservative is being hidden, relegated to the sidelines while the Socialist concept of tax and spend is of the utmost priority. They are draining the Countries wealth and denying its right to replace it. The Metro Socialist power within this Conservative Party
October 13, 2023
Or more years of music stopping to change Tory rulers again? The electorate may well decide enough is enough.
October 13, 2023
Military strategists have an expression.
Quantity has a Quality all of its own.
Mass migration creates a quality all of its own.
Bankers have an expression.
Risks are as real as events.
If mass migration was a banking portfolio the regulator would stop the bank from trading.
October 13, 2023
Yes, we see where property values are way blow average. The huge human imports donât need to attack you or even speak to you, they will bankrupt you and that is enough.
October 13, 2023
One of the reasons for the fall of the western Roman empire -and it was evident well before the fall-was the fact that its magnates,when faced with the choice of fielding their armies against intruders or fighting each other, frequently chose the latter.
The Eastern empire,on the other hand,had a much more coherent idea of state and devotion to state service.
October 13, 2023
And which Eastern empire is doing brilliantly right now Mitchel?
October 14, 2023
I have been saying for the past decade -at least -that the evolving alignment of Russia,China and Iran gives you a new Mongol empire-arguably the “greatest” empire in history.I note that the Vatican has been saying similar things recently-and reaching out (see the recent Papal visit to Mongolia which has virtually no catholics).Popes in the thirteenth century attempted to do the same although were told to pay tribute and submit to the ruler of all under heaven.
October 13, 2023
I wonder where they stand on rubber-stamping the Pandemic Treaty?
October 13, 2023
This is a truly appalling anti-democratic treaty. Especially after the gross incompetence and serial lies from the WHO. Any party that supports it is totally unfit for government.
October 13, 2023
We need to start talking to our MPs about it.
Not that they ever listen.
October 13, 2023
But Sunak was instrumental in drafting the new WHO treaty and if he doesn’t opt out of it by December our sovereignty on health plus billions in cash is given over to the corrupt WHO. He will look pretty silly opting out of something he helped create. Andrew Bridgen seems to be the only decent politician fighting this. Where is our debate?
October 13, 2023
++
Apparently, recently (and apologies if this is untrue) he decided to do away with the Winter Fuel Allowance and was told that what with a GE looming and the fact that pensioners get out and voteâŠthat wasnât such a good idea. U turn performed⊠all within 24 hours.
Hope the Treaty was better thought out?
I donât like or understand why lines about âhuman rights and dignityâ have been crossed out. Why would they do that?
October 13, 2023
Christine: WHO treaty / amendments etc., I had a read of the response from government which sits on the now closed petition to parliament number 635904 with reference made to a debate on Monday 17th April 2023. At the end of that UKG response is the Hansard link which may be of interest to read & see what was discussed during that 17/4 session.
The closed petition link is: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/635904
October 15, 2023
So the response from the minister:
“Sovereignty has been hard fought for in this country, and the Government will see that it is not something that we want to hand over lightly.”
I infer from this that they fully intend to hand over sovereignty for our health to the unelected corrupt WHO and put us on the hook for vast amounts of funding against the will of the British people. Why do we bother having these petitions?
October 13, 2023
I think they have no intention of opting out Everhopeful, we will just have to fight our own corner if/ when the time comes, as Iâm sure it will. They ( wef) have to kill off the Brits to make room for their slaves.
October 13, 2023
Iâm certain they have no intention of opting out.
This is the absolute summit of all the sneaky treaties they have signed over the years.
First they gave away our land and now they are signing us away.
October 13, 2023
Don’t worry this government and a future government have a plan for control
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-uk-digital-identity-and-attributes-trust-framework/the-uk-digital-identity-and-attributes-trust-framework
Digital Identification …..as I said yesterday I want more freedoms and less collective union
October 13, 2023
Starmer’s character could be destroyed in the blink of an eye. It requires nothing more than Tory BALLS.
Labour is an (words left out Ed)entity whose aim is simple, to destroy all that’s gone before and replace it with a world built along very, very different lines. That process started in 1997 and its effects can slowly be seen right before our very eyes. This is what people vote for so I as a democrat and indeed all of us must and will suffer the consequences of their voting choice
One can only hope that someone, anyone will expose Labour’s true purpose. I simply ignore the trash and crap pumped out by Starmer and Sunak
Do what Thatcher did, declare war on the Left and Labour
October 13, 2023
Indeed did anything at all positive come from the Blair Brown era? All surely negative and not a single positive. Then again what have we had from the Tories? Just a botched Brexit, vast tax increases, the insanity of net zero, gross Covid incompetence, QE inflation, bloated inept government and dire public servicesâŠ
October 13, 2023
đ€đ»đ€đ»đ€đ»đ€đ»đ€đ»my sentiments entirely DOM
October 13, 2023
Same old Labour. The faces change, but the policies donât, and as they have on every previous time they have been in power, they will leave the country poorer when they leave office.
October 13, 2023
Rather like these Cameron to Suank’s Tories then.
October 13, 2023
Maybe Labour will implode along the Israel/Palestine fault line we have seen before?
At one time the party was expelling so called anti-semites I believe?
Which side does our .PM in waiting supportâŠand reallyâŠwhy should it matter so much?
Except of course that our politicians have knowingly imported an ongoing war which seems to be ramping up in our streets.
October 13, 2023
“…why should it matter so much?”
Exactly! It doesn’t matter to the UK’s interests in any way at all. I have no idea why the UK is sending RN ships to the area. What are they going to do, except serve as targets.
Britain gave up the world policeman role decades ago…except our politicians have never accepted that.
As Helmut Schmidt said, Britain needs to rid itself of the delusion it won the Second World War.
October 13, 2023
+++
Agree 100%
October 13, 2023
I hadn’t heard of that here is the full quote “Asked whether Britain will ever join the single currency, Schmidt says: “I don’t know. I don’t know whether I would like Britain to join. The British are very stubborn. The Queen, the Commonwealth and the special relationship with the US is much more important than Europe. Britain still believes in the old values and it has every right to do so. Britain is less European-minded than Greece.
“Winston Churchill was a great European but he was quite clear that Britain was not joining because it had the empire. But it’s gone, even though you think it still exists.”
He adds: “Britain has a problem which that will make itself felt in the next 15-20 years. In the 19th century it was the most advanced engineering nation in the world. Now it has more or less given up on engineering and replaced it with finance. That means you can be hurt.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/22/helmut-schmidt-europe-crisis-interview
October 13, 2023
Kenneth Clarke QC MP denied that the âwould ever be a single currencyâ in writing to me. Hand amended. I have the letter.
This was a week after the decision had been made to go ahead at Volugmeni.
October 14, 2023
Was he part of that meeting in Volugmeni?
October 13, 2023
It all sounds remarkably similar to the policies the Not-a-Conservative-Party is already implementing.
Gosh, it’s almost like there’s another organisation/s calling the shots and the Westminster Uni-Party is just implementing what it’s told to do.
October 13, 2023
It sounds like Labour will be just as confused/incompetent/wasteful/bunch of supine puppets as the current Conservatives.
I simply can’t vote for either of them.
October 13, 2023
Among Keir Starmerâs stated intentions was that he would override local objections to housebuilding. Local people are the democracy of their community. Bulldozing and concreting them into situations against their will would be government by harsh force, not consent.
October 13, 2023
Indeed. Building new towns for the new coming immigrants as the indigenous population aren’t growing, just for the migrants. So the solution for English people is……. STOP ALL FORMS OF IMMIGRATION and remove illegals. We don’t want more people, we need to get increases in health provision to match those already here. The game is up. No votes for the legacy Westminster uni party.
October 13, 2023
Should Labour gain power it will only be down to the collective failure of this consocialist government since being handed an 80 seat majority by a captivated electorate. Never was there so much failed promise by relatively few to so many. On the plus side has been their support for Ukraine and now growing support for Israel. On the negative side they have presided over the creeping rot of our infrastructure, the failure to cleanly divorce from the EU, the most illogical disasterous energy policy immaginable, a systematic failure of law and order, criminality now being a logical career choice, immigration at unacceptable levels such that our infrastructure and cultural base will never catch up. All the above despite your continued warnings to them and our support of such warnings. Their last piece of arrogance was to trash democracy in the coupe against Liz Truss. She being the only speaker to gain positive conference support even though it was off piste. Now you begin to ask us to vote Consevative when you know that the only logical reason for doing so is the knowledge that Labour is far worse. If you are Conservative the only honest intellectual choice is to vote Reform, because that is what we need in every sense of the word.
October 13, 2023
So what have the conservatives done increasing migrants sending boat out to taxi them to the UK so labour will have to build them homes to live in conservatives are still doing what the EU wants we are still controlled by their courts failed chances on Brexit big time, and allowed low productivity in the public services
Thirteen years a vast majority and still failed the country with the infighting
People areworking just to get by,
while others are sucking the blood out the country living for free.
Thank you
October 13, 2023
Sir John
Yes the labour Party’s wish list and desire is desperate and demonstrates why the would not be a good choice for office. Then on the other hand we have your Conservative Party that has no idea what being a Conservative is, no idea of individual freedoms and responsibility, have no idea that it is a strong resilient economy that enables the Country to afford the wish lists. It is not the ever increasing tax and debt, the ban cancel and control that are die hard Socialist principles and doctrine that this so-called Conservative Government imposes by diktat that moves a Country forward.
To sum up we have a remain Socialist Parliament that is still fighting the people, still thinks Metro Islington is the benchmark for the UK, you could say our rulers have disenfranchised the electorate.
October 13, 2023
You never hear the likes of Beth Rigby who has been fawning over Labour in tweets for a fortnight ask them where is the money going to come from to pay for 300,000 extra homes per year to be built for just a start. If people are promising to spend a lot more money surely we have a right to ask them what debt are you getting us into in order to do that.
Private pfi?
Stealing our workplace pensions?
Tapping into private sector only pensions and isas? Whilst protecting public sector union payroll vote.
October 13, 2023
There is clearly a need for more house-building even if, as one hopes, one manages to stem the inward flow of migrants. The problem, especially for south-eastern England is finding the space to erect these properties as well as the additional service buildings like schools, shops, medical centres etc that come with it.
Meanwhile, there are towns around our coasts that are facing serious economic problems, I am thinking of our seaside resorts mainly. There seems to be little interest in developing these communities and young people who grew up there are leaving in droves. There is no local money to pay for extra housing and services but many of them have land nearby. The money for this development could come from two sources 1) central government (yes, I know ….) and 2) a ‘nimby’ charge levied on inland communities who decide that they don’t really want to have this kind of development on their turf.
Many of these seaside towns already have reasonably good rail services from/to e.g. London.
October 13, 2023
The words from Dad’s Army seem to be fitting at the moment no matter who gains power
“we are Doomed, we are all Doomed”
But few in politics can see it !
The Country is just about running despite the politicians, but for how much longer ?
October 13, 2023
A good summary, but to be fair, what have thirteen years of Conservatism brought us? How many power stations have been built in that time to meet projected needs? How many of the hundreds of thousands of illegals have been returned? How many new Council Housing estates (to provide affordable rents) have been built, or New Towns? Aircraft carriers with not enough planes or support ships, destroyers with too few missiles to fight a real engagement, insufficient stocks of ammunition to fight a land war. Where are the 21st-century armed forces to protect us? Why is the NHS collapsing under the weight of too many useless managers, non-jobs and outdated working practices? Have they properly increased the number of places for nurses, Doctors and Dentists since coming to power?
There remain a few decent Conservatives, like yourself and IDS, who have been warning and trying to get things moving, but you’re like Cassandra; no one in the party is listening.
Since the 1978 election, I’ve voted Conservative, but bad as Labour will be, the Conservative Party has lost my vote. The party of Churchill and Thatcher is now characterised as one of meaningless soundbites, broken promises and inaction. Time for a change.
October 13, 2023
Those stated policies from Labour are not really any different in practice to the actual policies being followed by the Conservative government – for example we already have effectively open borders. You could quibble about details – for example if Starmer sets up safe routes that will only stop the boats if they don’t reject anyone via those safe routes – but even so it’s hard to see how numbers for net migration could go much higher than they are already (approaching 1 million a year).
An interesting statistic: 48% of social housing in London is allocated to people who weren’t born in UK.
October 13, 2023
Roy, did your source for that 48% also say how many of them are working and how many on benefits? I always wonder why so many economically inactive people are put in London where there are vacancies and jobs and yet we have so many people not working at all there.
October 13, 2023
So with 52% of housing stock going to English people or second, third generation immigrants we’re in the majority. Just. Still English people are expected to wait and prioritise all things minority. This has been going on for 25 plus years and isn’t changing under the uni party. Time for a change, time for REFORM.
October 13, 2023
We were told London had to close schools because there weren’t enough children to keep them open. Other schools have been closed.
Hospitals are getting ginormous as local provisions have been closed down, no one in your governments has asked us if we wanted that. Now people are specialising in hospitals not near to where we live and we are asked to travel over an hour’s car journey, no public transport available to hospitals miles away.
There is a lot of spite in Labour MPs. All those planning applications Tories have stalled or stopped will be the first overturned and you’ll have wished you mitigated for them with improvements instead of just blocking.
October 13, 2023
Alison Pearson last week summed up the problem with our Parliament and the Media that leads them around by the nose. To paraphrase, the Westminster Bubble and its cohorts, like to label things and in their closed society, they call things that challenge their ideals ‘extreme right’, but as soon as you move away from metro-land this extreme right as they call it, is just normal clear thinking. Middle of the road thinking from those that get on and make things happen.
Our Parliament, the London Media and the Collective ‘Blob’ are the extreme Left of Socialist thinking. In typical Socialist thinking the believe that freedoms and democracy is when, the people do and say what they have told them to, with out challenge. The personal view of a Socialist is the only view that is correct is theirs.
Labour, Conservative, Lib/Dems they are the extreme left that is pulling this Country down aided and abetted by the collective ‘Blob’
October 13, 2023
+1
October 13, 2023
Sir John
As lucid and rational as your thoughts are today, the one thing you have misplaced the Government that you and your comrades have given us supported by the Conservative Party is itself is somewhere way of the to the extreme Left of Labour.
Labour as you say will tax and spend, what some refer to as Conservatives have a proven record(a 14year record) of just tax, tax and spend, spend and borrow to spend more. Not once has this crowd that have placed themselves to the left of Labour attempted to control spending, they just tax and borrow so they can throw more money away.
So which is the looney left party?
October 13, 2023
Somewhat O/T: Are the 100 licences given by PM Sunak at the end of July 2023 to North Sea oil and gas companies exploration and/or production licences?
October 13, 2023
My goodness me – Nelson’s blind eye to the telescope. Taxes – Tories produced the highest for 70 years – there isn’t room for any more.
Immigration – ‘Labour would wave them through’ – what happens now? How many are processed and evicted? Planning permissions – Every time we object to a planning application it gets referred to an Inspector from Bristol and is always overridden, especially where ‘Travellers’ are concerned, who seem to have much more money and influence than our council, even though we have more pitches in the local plan than used – they just want to go where they want and are supported by the Inspectors. We now have thousands of houses going up in a market town area of 20,000 people, with no improved infrastructure, no extra doctors (you can’t get an
appointment in less than 3 weeks and mostly not at all, or schools – kids are bussed up to an hour away. You admit this but nothing is done about it. I could go on, but already this piece is too long. Only a complete change will now do, it will be Reform for me and my friends and family – the usual musical chairs just will not do.
October 13, 2023
A persuasive analysis: thank you.
So things can only get worse. We knew that of course but such is the determination to dismiss the rotten Sunak government that it is a price (just a modest increment) well worth paying. The prospective bonus will be a new Opposition worthy of the name.
October 13, 2023
VAT on school fees wonât impact the rich but it will stop aspirational parents affording to send their kids to public schools. It will put additional pupils into the state system. I doubt on balance it will raise any additional money when you take this into account. I paid for all my children to go to public school but would have struggled to do this if an extra 20% had been added to the cost. Yet again we see the middle classes hit by money-grabbing politicians who are unable to see cause and effect.
October 13, 2023
Indeed. Labours plans to tax non dom’s. Duh, do they think they’ll raise the square root of nothing as they leave the Country and go to lower tax regimes elsewhere. Leaving more for the 46% to pick up. We don’t need any more car washers from Romania, goat herders from Afghanistan or fast food fryers and servers from the EU on minimum wages. For that matter anywhere else. Raise the minimum income thresholds on any incoming individual to be a significant contributor to the exchequer or they don’t come. End of. We can’t afford any more taxed/debts generosity by our village idiots in the bubble.
October 13, 2023
I thought, Sir John, that you were providing a critique of your own party, a party which has been taken over by the Left.
On the major issues of immigration and Net Zero there is no policy difference only a difference of reasons for the policy.
The Left want mass immigration to change the culture, destroy patriotism and altrusism, replace meritocracy with diversity, make the country look and feel like Africa and the ME and garner votes accordingly. The current Conservative Party simply want mass immigration to provide cheap labour, keep down wages, avoid the costs of training our own people and donât care about the social consequences.
Neither group cares about illegal migration or wants to solve it. The Left are happy to cause destabilisation of the country for their own ultimate ends and the Conservatives can keep using the excuse that they will âstop the boatsâ to garner votes at any GE.
The Left want Net Zero because they know it will destroy the economy and bring about the authoritarian rule they want under the pretence of âsaving the planetâ. The Conservatives want Net Zero because it will transfer wealth from the masses to the elites and so the green energy grifters/snake oil salesmen can continue feeding off the masses with huge subsidies for duff energy projects, such as offshore wind, that will never, ever provide the âcheap, abundant, always there at the flick of a switchâ energy promised on P19 of the Net Zero Strategy.
October 13, 2023
All renewables requires backup power when the wind don’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine. Art/PPE graduates please note.
We don’t want EU dependency (we were supposed to leave, remember) on connectors but our idiots forgot for 13 years to build any power stations, duh! Energy production is a national security issue as is having sufficient personnel/equipment in our armed forces. The uni party prefers diversity officers and woke/pc priorities. Let us pray………..for Reform!
October 13, 2023
+1
October 13, 2023
We are faced with the very real prospect of a Labour government because of the failings of your party. You were given an 80-plus seat majority to deliver Brexit and stop all the Commons childish infighting. What did you do? You went off on your own agenda with your net zero and woke nonsense. People had real concerns about their lives, yet time was wasted, and still is, on ridiculous debates defining what a woman is. Even a young child knows what a woman is and the fact that grown adults think this is a concern to voters shows the caliber of our politicians today. You, Sir John, are one of the few intelligent MPs left and what does Sunak do but leave you languishing on the back benches.
October 13, 2023
âMinisters will doubtless still be flying around the world in expensive seats on commercial flights.â
They will be sailing around the world on one of the three new royal yachts being built. We canât fly due to the so-called climate emergency.
October 13, 2023
It sounds from what you say, that we will carry on much as we have been doing for the past thirteen years.
October 13, 2023
âTheir views on migration favour making faster decisions on applicationsâ
What faster than the 45 minutes Sunak has proposed?
âThe danger is they will allow or encourage flagging many more people through.â
What, like all the Albanians we have accepted that not one other country does.
âThe wish to do a deal with the EU to try to get more co-operation from France would come at the cost of accepting more migrants from the EU.â
How many stupid deals have your leaders done?
âThe policy of wanting to force through more planning permissions to build homes and new towns whatever the local view of the desirability and feasibility of this policy is at least consistent with a migration policy likely to boost numbers of newcomers.â
My village of 600 homes has had over 3000 new homes thrust on it with no additional infrastructure whilst your party has been in power.
October 13, 2023
It’s ok, we need the 1.2 million legal visas plus all the illegals help the housing crisis, health/dentistry provision, school places and congestion everywhere. It aids our values and culture as we see in the recent conflicts by importing foreign cultures, behaviours and values. The benefit to the English people is………………………….NOTHING.
October 13, 2023
âIt is also very difficult to hit CO 2 targets for reduction if the country invites in many more people and needs to build many more homes for them, as this is bound to increase the CO 2 output substantially.â
There is no need (or point because we contribute just 1% of global emissions) to reduce CO2 emissions. In fact we need to increase atmospheric CO2 to green the planet further and grow more food.
There is no scientific evidence that increasing CO2 increases temperature, as shown by the work of Happer & Wijngaarden, work the IPCC has never refuted just ignored because its remit is only to look for anthropogenic causes of global warming, not THE cause of global warming. The Antarctic Vostok ice core data over 500,000 years, when both temperature and CO2 have been at historically very low levels, shows CO2 following temperature and in fact temperature falling when CO2 is high and vice versa. The Greenland ice core data also shows CO2 following temperature and that temperatures have been higher than today since the last ice age which ended just 11,000 years ago. There have been the Minoan, Roman and Medieval warm periods, with barley grown in Greenland, vines grown up by Hadrianâs wall with ultra low pre-industrial levels of CO2.
There is not even an increase in the occurrence and severity of extreme weather as can be seen by examining table 12.12 on p1873 of the IPCC WG1âs latest report.
CAGW, has been described by the 2022 Nobel Physics prize winner, Dr. John Clauser, as âa dangerous corruption of science that threatens the worldâs economy and the well-being of billions of peopleâ
There is no need to bankrupt the country pursuing this false doomsday narrative that we must âhit CO2 targets for reductionâ.
October 13, 2023
The promises Labour make are thin on the ground – nothing stated that would make me vote for them . At the same time we have an equally Conservative Government who have lost my support ; we live in a doom and gloom existence with little bright sparks around the place . Using non-elected bodies to decide on our economy is a huge mistake , it makes nonsense of democracy . Industry and commerce have suffered greatly and workers have no stimulation to get cracking . I accept that outside influences have not helped but many disciplines could have been imposed to reduce the cost of living . We need a Redwood outlook and political skill to create change to restore the nation’s confidence once more .
October 13, 2023
We should be worried at the level as described but the real problem is elsewhere.
Starmer is diverting attention from the hard Left and undoubted Marxists in the party. We are seeing some elements of Left policies at some public levels in Manchester and Liverpool for example – policies on public transport. These are thought to be popular.
Below this the subversive extreme activists are kept hidden.
October 13, 2023
PW – These individuals are in ALL parties and the government.
October 13, 2023
Labour doesn’t have “policies” except the policy of being in power.
They sell points of difference, not improvements. And of course, they also sell “more cake today”.
The problem for the Conservatives, as we can see from today’s polling on Guido, is that they have a leader who is seen as a usurper who also has no worthwhile policies. It is hardly a policy to “halve inflation” when all that means is fixing a problem of your own making (he was Chancellor) and also an area of administration which he claims to have handed over to the “independent” (haha) BoE – so how does Sunak halve inflation oif he has no control over it?
Does he think no-one spots the dichotomy of these two irreconcilable positions? You cannot say on the one hand “Not us, the BoE have responsibility for this area” and then say 5 minutes later “We will solve (half of) this problem”.
With Sunak as leader (and Hunt as Chancellor)… there is absolutely no hope whatsoever that the Conservative party wins a GE. As a lifelong Conservative voter, I will be voting Reform next time round, that should tell you how bad your position is.
Your next leader needs to remove the whip from circa 200 MPs just before the next election and have the associations choose their candidates. And be more careful – no repeat of the Wendy Morton fiasco where her own association didn’t want her again (post bondary changes) because they say she told them she was pro-Brexit, then voted remain on every single vote since she was elected.
October 13, 2023
Off topic, I have a very short letter in our local newspaper today:
“Erratum slip due on doleful Brexit tome”
“To improve my mind I borrowed a book explaining how Brexit has been a comprehensive disaster.
But I cannot recommend it, as it was written before relevant economic statistics were corrected.
Instead I would point to this article: “Data revisions undermine the Brexit pessimistsâ propaganda”.
Should I have inserted a helpful “erratum slip” into the book before returning it to the library?”
The “doleful Brexit tome” is the one slated here today:
https://thecritic.co.uk/what-went-wrong-with-peter-foster/
“What went wrong with Peter Foster?”
While the recommened article is this one:
https://www.briefingsforbritain.co.uk/data-revisions-undermine-the-brexit-pessimists-propaganda/
“Data revisions undermine the Brexit pessimistsâ propaganda”
October 13, 2023
From the MsM
âJeremy Hunt has warned of âdifficult decisionsâ in the Autumn Statement â
âMr Hunt also opened the door to a further increase in defence spending if conflict in the Middle East intensifies,â
The critical word being âIfâ
Does that mean otherwise we will back on the treadmill of further depreciation of our defence forces?
October 13, 2023
There’s a gradual move of companies away from the stock market of London to mainly New York. This is a direct consequence of the ESG and tax policies of your Government Sir John. 19% or preferably 15% of something is better than 0% of nothing. Please advise your Art/PPE colleagues and Messrs Hunt/Sunak accordingly. Please explain competition to them and global economies. In the news recently, other companies Astra Zeneca etc are moving their operations/factories to Ireland (12.5%) and elsewhere. High taxes/ESG costs have consequences to companies and share holders. It’s muted in financial circles that Mr Hunt is considering raising ISA allowances by ÂŁ5K in the Autumn statement to encourage the purchase of British only stocks. That’ll be interesting when many trusts etc are just listed on our exchanges with mostly foreign companies in their portfolios.
October 13, 2023
More military spending to be ready for us to give it in defence of the next land grab thousands of miles away?
October 13, 2023
Labours main approach has been to say as little as possible and let the conservatives mess up. Using don’t interrupt your enemy while he is making mistakes as their philosophy. Relying on being the only other choice voters have. Sadly it may work for them.
October 13, 2023
Most of us believe part of the purpose of democracy, which is reinforced with an accountable Parliament and Government is for them to make, amend and repeal the laws that keep the UK safe.
The UK has an on going situation in that our Parliament and Government award People Traffickers and the Criminals entering the UK. Some have sort to deflect attention from the lack of response from our Parliament and Government, by passing the blame to the unaccountable ECHR. However, we learn this week in the High Court Parliament and Government have seen to it that under âUK Lawâ no one criminally entering the UK can be returned to any Country they have no connection to.
That is enshrined in UK Law, so why all the dancing around? Why all the hype of being able to do something about this criminal activity? Why blame the ECHR, when the could amend or repeal UK Law?
October 13, 2023
This Conservative Government with the backing of our Remain Parliament, without thinking enshrined EU Law on to the UK Statute. So we have Laws Rules and Regulations imposed by unelected, unaccountable Bureaucrats onto supposedly a free sovereign democratic Country. That is not how a democracy should work, that type of attitude is a Marxist/Socialist dictatorship.
This has meant UK Law states âno one entering the UK can be returned to any Country they have no connection toâ
October 13, 2023
Their is always money available but so much is WASTED EVERYWHERE by ALL PARTIES with no accountability. “jobs for the boys” and “non jobs” and “assistants for assistants” and regulatory crap that ensure NOTHING can be achieved.
People spend more time trying to explain why something cannot be achieved rather than just getting on with the job.
Once again I see the inevitable mention of the CO2 BS.
October 13, 2023
There is little to disagree with in your analysis of Labour’s proclaimed conference policies. But even if they become published manifesto policies for the next election, there is nothing to stop a Labour government, once elected, from ignoring one or all of them and pushing an obscure, briefly referenced policy into the legislative foreground – in exactly the same way the Conservative governments of Johnson and Sunak reneged on the main promises of the 2019 Conservative manifesto, and instead betrayed the Union of the United Kingdom by agreeing to install a border between NI and the British mainland. They also cemented policies of Net Zero and (more clandestinely) increased immigration: policies that all impoverish and swindle those who elected the Conservative government in December 2019.
No, we shall not forget. We shall not forgive. To many of us, however well reasoned, such a critique of Labour (a party we’d never vote for anyway) just feels like whataboutery.
October 13, 2023
I see the Emir of Qatar is threatening to stop shipments of gas to the rest of the world if Gaza bombing doesnt stop. Remind me how much liquified gas do we import from there?
October 13, 2023
Iain
Yet another reason why we should extract our own power resources, from our own waters and ground sources.
Same could be said for food.
Rather than reducing productive land for more people and Houses, we should be putting it to use to feed ourselves, and drastically reduce the number of people who arrive or want to live here.
More people use more of our resources, Simples !
October 13, 2023
The forsight displayed by the Snake is amazing. Who’d have thought that having our own fracked gas and North Sea supplies would support our national security. Duh, net zero comes first. We must lead and save the world from the CO2 bogy gas, an essential plant food, without which we would all die.
October 13, 2023
I am presently away in Sri Lanka but due to the marvels of modern technology, here the internet (developed by a Briton – if the Left crazily support us paying compensation for slavery to people who have never themselves experienced slavery, I want royalties from the rest of the world for the advantages the Internet and the British Industrial Revolution has given them!).
Anyhow Sir John Redwood has presented a good case here why the Conservatives (even under present useless management) would be less bad than Labour. I would also ask who in their right mind would trust Sir Keir Starmer, a man obsessed with becoming Prime Minister? He has u-turned so often towards that goal, who knows what he really believes and what he would really do as Prime Minister? His words have become words without meaning.
However I dissent from Sir John and the whole present consensus on Planning. The Victorians and earlier generations believed people had a right to do as they wished on their own land. Basically I agree with them. Planning which came in in 1947 under Labour is predicated on the basis that people ought to interfere with the usage of other people’s land. That view has also led to massive (and unnecessary) problems – a huge and very expensive planning bureaucracy; bitter disputes between neighbours (and commercial interests); an awful conformity in buildings; and very long delays in getting anything done. So let’s be bold, assert individual rights and freedoms for landowners and abolish planning legislation except in respect of dangerous industrial activities.
October 13, 2023
Only when Donald J Trump is “officially” recognised as the President of the United States will anything happen. Until then we are all in for a very bumpy ride and fear and panic will be induced by the Globalist owned UK Establishment controlled government and Main Stream Media. The illegal immigrant crisis is part of the Globalist plan.
It is a big club and “We aint in it” and no one in a position of so called “power’ at present cares about the people despite what they say. YOU ARE IRRELEVANT.
However this will all change as Nothing can stop what is coming, NOTHING.
I look forward to the day of retribution with celebration.
October 13, 2023
Why am I still getting a telephone call every month asking if I want a ‘smart-meter’ ??? Will this Tory government please stop calling me !
October 13, 2023
You’re preaching to the choir.
No-one that has stopped voting Conservative is going to vote Labour. Stop criticising them and sort your own party out.
When are you going to defund the BBC or do your voters have to lead you on that one too ?
A dramatic change is about to happen in the world and in this country.
October 13, 2023
Youâve been in power for 13 years. The fall in productivity is YOUR fault. You have no ideas – and no determination – to improve it. None at all. It is pathetic for you to criticise Labour when you are in power and have been for 13 years.