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LAB supporters are deluding themselves if they think an anti-CON rainbow coalition would automatically back Corbyn for PM

LAB supporters are deluding themselves if they think an anti-CON rainbow coalition would automatically back Corbyn for PM

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Corbyn’s poor leader ratings highlight the weakness Ever since general election seat projections like the one from Sky above have appeared LAB supporters and Corbyn enthusiasts have been saying that last Thursday the party won LE2018 and if it had been had a general election then Corbyn would be the one being called to the Palace. This is based on the unfounded and somewhat arrogant assumption by LAB that all the SNP, LD, PC and GRN MPs would simply line…

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How Labour need to stop worrying and learn to love the bomb

How Labour need to stop worrying and learn to love the bomb

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Picture credit: The MOD twitter feed Despite its relative lack of salience as a motivating issue for voters there is an interesting discussion to be had on how a Corbynite Labour party can use defence policy to attack the Conservatives in an area of perceived strength. The last few decades of British defence policy have been characterised by constant out-of-area and expeditionary deployments that have been hindered by massive personnel reductions and scandalously poor procurement and program management. At some…

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Why Labour has its concerns about the Tory turmoil

Why Labour has its concerns about the Tory turmoil

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Donald Brind says a big REMAIN victory remains the objective They do things different in Battersea. The local Labour party invited along the Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn for a fundraising fish and chip supper to launch the formal start of the London election campaign. Then they promptly turned the lights out. The environmentally savvy Battersea Labourites were taking part in Earth Hour a an international initiative that encourages “individuals, communities households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights for…

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Flooding the Lords with 100s of new peers so several million people can be made poorer doesn’t sound like smart politics

Flooding the Lords with 100s of new peers so several million people can be made poorer doesn’t sound like smart politics

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The great Lords-Commons standoff Today, of course, the House of Lords gets to decide whether George Osborne’s controversial tax credits curtailment plan will go forward. Because of the way this is being pursued through Parliament, as a statutory instrument, this is a rare occasion when the Upper House can, if it wants to, block a major part of government policy. If this had been part of a finance bill then the House of Lords would have had no power to…

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North American pointers for John McDonnell’s growth strategy

North American pointers for John McDonnell’s growth strategy

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Don Brind on Friday The biopic of Steve Jobs had its premiere of at the London Film Festival last weekend. Just days before, the company he founded was in the dock in a New York court – and lost. The jury found that Apple had infringed patents held by the University of Wisconsin by using technology developed by University researchers in their I phones and IPods. The university is claiming $400 million in damages which would be a record patent…

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Osborne’s tax credits dilemma might be solved by the Lords – peers could kill the move

Osborne’s tax credits dilemma might be solved by the Lords – peers could kill the move

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Huffpost’s Paul Waugh has what appears like a scoop with a report that the House of Lords, where the Tories don’t have a majority, could kill the legislative move to change the tax credits system. This is because the means chosen by Osborne’s team to make this law is via a statutory instrument not new legislation. This has to be approved by both houses of parliament. Waugh writes: “..A rarely-used ‘fatal motion’ is set to be tabled in the House…

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The pressure mounts on Osborne’s tax credit plan

The pressure mounts on Osborne’s tax credit plan

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Me for @TheTimes: Cameron must choose. His one nation mission or cuts in tax credits http://t.co/cPIc5UzO7M pic.twitter.com/mLxSYFsSPf — Tim Montgomerie ?? (@montie) October 18, 2015 Remember that George has turned before The headline on Tim Montgomerie’s piece for tomorrow’s Times and his Tweet say it all. The pressure is building for a U-turn. Let’s recall what happened in the aftermath of Osborne’s 2012 “Omnishambles budget”. A whole series of measure from the so-called granny to the pasty tax all got…

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Methinks that Osborne might have to U-turn on tax credits

Methinks that Osborne might have to U-turn on tax credits

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The exchange from last night’s Question Time The above clip from last night’s Question Time has been doing the rounds throughout the day and highlights the challenge facing minsters, particularly Osborne, over his budget tax credits move which is due to come into place in the next couple of months. With Boris and the Sun already pressing hard for change this is an issue that has the potential to hurt the blue team just when everything seemed to be going…

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