Plea to Labour – have a debate about how a change of policy could promote the national interest and make you less unpopular

When is a coup not a coup? When will a Labour MP who wants a change of PM get 80 supporters and start the contest? If they are waiting for Andy, they may have a long wait if the voters of Makerfield say No.

Labour need to change course to win back voters. They are  holding a shoot out between four or five wannabes who come to it without  guns only to find it is delayed. What they need is  a proper debate about what changes of policy and approach  could do better for the country and could win back some lost support.

They keep on about how they need to change more, without seeing that most of the changes they have made so far are changes for the worse. The public who voted for them or who did not vote against them did not want higher taxes. They did not  want dearer energy. They did not want higher unemployment. They did not want young people to be priced and taxed out of jobs. They did not want our overseas territories to be given away. They did not want more inflation. They did not want more factories and plants closed by net zero zealotry.

The government was elected on three  reassuring main wide ranging  promises that it would achieve faster growth, it would not put up taxes (except Vat on school fees), and would smash the gangs (end illegal migration). It has broken all three promises . Its specific offer of £300 off fuel bills has also been illusory, and the promised  1.5 m new homes will not materialise.  Trying to deliver these should be the changes Ministers want to achieve. Running off to nationalise more industries, to regulate and tax more drivers off the road, to make life more difficult for landlords to cut the supply of rented homes, to regulate and tax small businesses and farms to death, to abolish juries and create monster regional governments will just make things worse. Any further lurch to the left will see Labour scrapping for under 20% of the vote against the extreme Greens.

You can see the government has lost the plot as they think they need to engage more strongly against Reform and copy more of the Green agenda. These are the thoughts of a struggling minority party, not the thoughts of a government with a  majority. Their duty should be to govern better. That means reaching out to the voters they have lost, not intensifying their anger  by doubling down on more extreme left policies. The UK does need changes of policy, but back to the more moderate Manifesto, not forward to the Corbyn/Green agenda that will  destroy growth, deter investment and boost unemployment.