So the mantra that a politician will say anything to get a vote is upheld through the system not making manifesto pledges binding in any sense, which means midwit hacks like Will Hutton openly welcome Labour (ab)using its majority to roll out whatever agenda they want Johnson was no different from 2019 It’s a flaw of the system
However in the 10 weeks since the election, Keir Starmer and his government, which never really had popular support, appears to have walked into a festering pile of its own making
Firstly the pledges were not only to maintain winter fuel payments for pensioners, but also maintain the existing OFGEM cap So in less than two months, both pledges have been torn up as the OFGEM cap will be hiked by 10%despite wholesale crude being down 2% ytd and natural gas up only 2%
Ah, say Labour activists (and Starmer, Reeves and any front bench minister willing to take the flak) the Tories left a £22bn black hole which we need to fill
Except Reeves declared before the election that she was in discussion with the OBR who updated her with the state of the UK finances thus being able to full cost their pledges
Presumably this included the “£46bn black hole” Starmer accused Sunak in May this year when he accused the then PM of threatening to cancel winter fuel payments
But cry Labour activists, the Tories lied to the OBR forgetting of course that the OBR have a direct line to the civil service and heads of department responsible for budgets
As you say the internet meme machine went straight to work highlighting all of the above and drew questions such as, how many multiple billions are committed to listening to that rambling lunatic Ed Miliband pontificate about net zero ? Just how much did it cost to fund public sector pay hikes well in excess of inflation after Labour capitulated (and likely leads to higher inflation)? What is Starmer’s commitment to Ukraine especially as the US ate getting cold feet
God bless the internet and social media for making this information available which is why I suspect their next move will be to double down and censor the internet even more
And all Starmer had to do was stick to his manifesto
You've got a lot going on here John, thank you. One of the traditional roles of the whips is to advise government on manifesto items that have yet to be passed into law. In an age of spin, it is unclear how relevant this role will be.
The £22bn black hole is a successor to the £350 million Brexit bus promise. It's a number that can be justified, but is used so far out of its original context that it's only significance is as a meme.
It is powerful one. You don't have to keep saying the Tories were incompetent, lying and profligate. You just keep saying £22bn black hole.
The long-term positioning of the right is that the left has good ideas, but we'd be better implementing them. £22bn black hole is a canny strategy to cut the Tories legs out from under them.
So the mantra that a politician will say anything to get a vote is upheld through the system not making manifesto pledges binding in any sense, which means midwit hacks like Will Hutton openly welcome Labour (ab)using its majority to roll out whatever agenda they want Johnson was no different from 2019 It’s a flaw of the system
However in the 10 weeks since the election, Keir Starmer and his government, which never really had popular support, appears to have walked into a festering pile of its own making
Firstly the pledges were not only to maintain winter fuel payments for pensioners, but also maintain the existing OFGEM cap So in less than two months, both pledges have been torn up as the OFGEM cap will be hiked by 10%despite wholesale crude being down 2% ytd and natural gas up only 2%
Ah, say Labour activists (and Starmer, Reeves and any front bench minister willing to take the flak) the Tories left a £22bn black hole which we need to fill
Except Reeves declared before the election that she was in discussion with the OBR who updated her with the state of the UK finances thus being able to full cost their pledges
Presumably this included the “£46bn black hole” Starmer accused Sunak in May this year when he accused the then PM of threatening to cancel winter fuel payments
But cry Labour activists, the Tories lied to the OBR forgetting of course that the OBR have a direct line to the civil service and heads of department responsible for budgets
As you say the internet meme machine went straight to work highlighting all of the above and drew questions such as, how many multiple billions are committed to listening to that rambling lunatic Ed Miliband pontificate about net zero ? Just how much did it cost to fund public sector pay hikes well in excess of inflation after Labour capitulated (and likely leads to higher inflation)? What is Starmer’s commitment to Ukraine especially as the US ate getting cold feet
God bless the internet and social media for making this information available which is why I suspect their next move will be to double down and censor the internet even more
And all Starmer had to do was stick to his manifesto
You've got a lot going on here John, thank you. One of the traditional roles of the whips is to advise government on manifesto items that have yet to be passed into law. In an age of spin, it is unclear how relevant this role will be.
The £22bn black hole is a successor to the £350 million Brexit bus promise. It's a number that can be justified, but is used so far out of its original context that it's only significance is as a meme.
It is powerful one. You don't have to keep saying the Tories were incompetent, lying and profligate. You just keep saying £22bn black hole.
The long-term positioning of the right is that the left has good ideas, but we'd be better implementing them. £22bn black hole is a canny strategy to cut the Tories legs out from under them.