General Election 2024

[Onelife]

I see Sir Hindsight is now denying Diane Abbott has been barred from standing as a Labour candidate. Maybe Suella Braverman won't be the nuttiest Home Secretary of the decade after all!

For goodness sake if they can't even get their story straight on a simple issue like this what chance do they have on the bigger picture?

I'm really getting frustrated waiting for some coherent policies. They may think they are going to win this election by default, but if they want my vote they really need to work harder. The Tories aren't much better yet but at least they've promised me a tax break, and I'm a bit old for national service. So they're one nil up at the moment.

It could be that he has looked into labours constitution rules and found a clause whereby Ms Abbott might be able to sue the party for discrimination?…she certainly knows a bit about that.

[Slapstick]

Forgive me if I'm wrong but was it not Diane Abbott who announced herself in a text to the BBC that she was barred from standing, there was no statement from Labour, so I can't see how they've backtracked.

That said, she's now made it easy for them to make that decision.

[Mervyn and Trish]

I didn't suggest they'd backtracked. I suggested they couldn't get the story straight. With Starmer saying one thing and her the opposite that seems fair to me. It's the kind of nonsense they criticise the Tories for and which we are surely hoping to get away from.

[Ray B]

Not wishing to get embroiled in a racial argument as it happened last year, but her remarks suggesting Jewish, Irish and Traveller people were not subject to racism "all their lives" has a bit of truth in it. A black person can never fade into the crowd. But there again you just can't say that openly.

[towny44]

There was some Labour guy on TV last night explaining how everything would be funded.

The extra teachers would be funded from the VAT that the private schools would pay - no mention of where the actual qualified teachers would miraculously come from.

The additional NHS appointments would come from the taxing of non doms (haven't the Conservatives already plugged that hole and spent that money?) - but again no indication as to where the staff will come from to carry out these appointments.

But don't worry this guy (cannot remember his name) is the one destined to manage the finances as Secretary to the Treasury!

Need to get some meat on the bones sooner rather than later.

That’s a very pessimistic attitude David…just think of all the Teachers and Nurses making their way over here on boats

That's very weird, I was about to post a similar comment, surely I'm not turning into OL

[oldbluefox]

Can we cope with two OLs?

[Slapstick]

I didn't suggest they'd backtracked. I suggested they couldn't get the story straight. With Starmer saying one thing and her the opposite that seems fair to me. It's the kind of nonsense they criticise the Tories for and which we are surely hoping to get away from.

There was no story to get straight, Starmer/Labour never said she was barred, she did.

[Onelife]

It appears that Starmer is having a purge on anyone who remains left of his party…give it a few years and we could see our first Labour/conservative coalition.

[Mervyn and Trish]

I didn't suggest they'd backtracked. I suggested they couldn't get the story straight. With Starmer saying one thing and her the opposite that seems fair to me. It's the kind of nonsense they criticise the Tories for and which we are surely hoping to get away from.

There was no story to get straight, Starmer/Labour never said she was barred, she did.

The whip has been reinstated. She is therefore in the Labour Party. She says she is barred. Her leader says she isn't. If you can't see that is a problem fine.

[Onelife]

And when she was in, she was in,
And when she was out, she was out
And when she was only half-way in
she was neither in or out.

Settled!

[Slapstick]

I didn't suggest they'd backtracked. I suggested they couldn't get the story straight. With Starmer saying one thing and her the opposite that seems fair to me. It's the kind of nonsense they criticise the Tories for and which we are surely hoping to get away from.

There was no story to get straight, Starmer/Labour never said she was barred, she did.

The whip has been reinstated. She is therefore in the Labour Party. She says she is barred. Her leader says she isn't. If you can't see that is a problem fine.

No, to be honest I don't see the problem, once she had the whip reinstated why then run to the BBC to announce an untruth, she is a clever knew exactly what she was doing.

If she's that bothered all she needs to do is hand back the whip and stand as an independent.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Is she lying or is Starmer? We don't know. Certainly first time I've heard her described as clever!

I think the difference is I'm a floating voter and haven't yet decided to vote for. I suspect you have.

[david63]

Is she lying or is Starmer? We don't know.

But what we do know is is that this is a distraction that Labour could do without, yet they appear to have created it themselves. The other parties must be rubbing their hands.

[david63]

So now we have it that none of the main parties are going to increase VAT, and we also have it that they are not going to increase Income Tax nor NI - so may I ask where is the money going to come from as there are not many taxes left, and the ones that are left are not going to raise significant taxes.

[Onelife]

They will be using the Robin Hood facial strategy, until such time that they can’t/won’t pay any more, then the Sherrif of London will do what they always do, which is steel from the poor and give to the rich.

[david63]

I was thinking that maybe that is why Labour want Dianne Abbott back so that she can use her "magic calculator" but obviously the reason she is trying to back out is that she has broken her magic calculator - all makes sense now!

[Stephen]

As I said earlier, they all make these promises then either back track or give a time frame of years for their promises to kick in once in power.

We have to vote for someone, but I wouldn’t trust any of them as far as I could throw them.

[Slapstick]

Is she lying or is Starmer? We don't know. Certainly first time I've heard her described as clever!

I think the difference is I'm a floating voter and haven't yet decided to vote for. I suspect you have.

I'm still floating myself to be honest.

The reason I labelled her as clever is because despite all the controversy that surrounds her she's kept her seat for over 35yrs so she's obviously doing something right.

[Mervyn and Trish]

She's a left winger in a constituency that would elect a donkey if it leaned that way! That's how.

I see Angela Rayner has now had her say. The good news is whatever happens she won't be Home Secretary!

[Slapstick]

She's a left winger in a constituency that would elect a donkey if it leaned that way! That's how.

I see Angela Rayner has now had her say. The good news is whatever happens she won't be Home Secretary!

I hadn't seen what Rayner had said, but that clearly suggests Abbott will be invited to stand for Labour, so I reckon she's boxed clever by putting public pressure on the leadership, now comes the interesting bit, if invited to stand by Labour does she accept or go Independent, either way I bet she keeps her seat because as you say she's so far left I'm surprised she doesn't keel over and her constituents love her. .

[david63]

I don't normally watch the televised debates but I might just watch the one on Friday with Penny Mordaunt and Angela Rayner - I have a feeling as to who will come off best.

[Mervyn and Trish]

I wonder if Penny will bring her sword? I do find Angela very unpleasant.

[Onelife]

At the very least I hope Penny uses this platform to bolster her chances of holding onto her constituency seat…good politicians are hard to come by.

[towny44]

I am surprised the Labour party have agreed to let Angela go head to head with Penny, hopefully Penny can redress some of the loss that Rishi lncurred. I did not watch it in full, but the snippets the BBC showed did not show Rishi in a good light.

[Onelife]

I am surprised the Labour party have agreed to let Angela go head to head with Penny, hopefully Penny can redress some of the loss that Rishi lncurred. I did not watch it in full, but the snippets the BBC showed did not show Rishi in a good light.

…in that case, the snippets that the BBC showed will have been well selected because I watched the whole debate and thought Kier came out a far better bullshitter than Rishi.