Post-election British Politics Megathread

[Tamas]

"New law to target radicalisation"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-32714802

I guess if you compare this to the UK letting Egyptian futigive priests in who then proceed to incite violence against their saviours, then its a good thing.

However, consider my eyebrow raised if the first thing a new government rid of  its liberal coalition partner does is increase government mandates to meddle with its citizens because "OMG TERROR".

[MadImmortalMan]

Yeah. A new thing. Aggressive militant moderation.

[Brazen]

Network Rail workers vote to strike over pay
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-32705376

Union bosses turned down the offer of a one-off £500 payment to staff and three years of rises in line with inflation. Very few people in the private sector have had cost of living wage increases over the last five years.

[MadImmortalMan]

Well there hasn't been much inflation in the last five years. No matter the efforts of the Fed, BoE, BoJ, and ECB.


Except in real estate.

[Martinus]

So apparently Chuka Umunna is resigning. Too bad, he is all Milliband wasn't (including super hot).

[Tamas]

Queen's Speech Day!

A ban on income tax, VAT and national insurance increases for five years

A freeze on working age benefits, tax credits and child benefit for two years from 2016/17

Cutting the total amount one household can claim in benefits from £26,000 to £23,000

Yay for less welfare spending I guess

More devolution for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and "English votes for English laws" at Westminster

Seems like a good idea to me, depending on details

But Mr Cameron will be able to press ahead with plans previously blocked by the Liberal Democrats after winning an overall majority on 7 May.

These include an Investigatory Powers Bill to give intelligence agencies new tools to target internet data, dubbed a "snooper's charter" by critics.

Also I am seeing no mention of increasing supply on the housing front, just what you could classify as further subsidised raise to demand via the right to buy thingie

[Monoriu]

Network Rail workers vote to strike over pay
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-32705376

Union bosses turned down the offer of a one-off £500 payment to staff and three years of rises in line with inflation. Very few people in the private sector have had cost of living wage increases over the last five years.

I was in Victoria train station a few days ago and I saw huge signs that the strike has been called off.

[citizen k]

So, is Corbyn Labour's Bernie Sanders or Trump?

Where is Labour's 'Jeremy Corbyn mania' coming from?
By Mobeen Azhar The Report, BBC Radio 4

Despair at Labour's general election defeat has given way to a mood of celebration on the British left, as their candidate emerges as the unlikely frontrunner in the party's leadership contest. But where is the support for Jeremy Corbyn, a previously obscure backbencher, coming from?

"All over the country we are getting these huge gatherings of people. The young, the old, black and white and many people that haven't been involved in politics before."

Jeremy Corbyn addresses a standing room only crowd in Euston, North London.

On this Monday evening so many people have turned up, some supporters are left standing in the street scouting for spare tickets.

It feels more like the build-up to an album launch than a political meeting.

For those unable to pack into the hall Corbyn ends up speaking from the roof of a waiting fire engine.

'Life on hold'

When he eventually makes it indoors he's mobbed by photographers, rapturous applause and the sounds of John Legend's contemporary protest song, Glory, thundering over the PA.

This is slicker, more vibrant and just plain bigger than anything left-leaning party politics has seen in Britain for a generation. Even Corbyn looks a bit surprised. As if this campaign has gone further than anyone could have predicted.

So what exactly is going on?

Are Corbyn's supporters simply a collective of the usual leftist campaigners congregating under a contemporary banner or is there more to this left revival?

Lyndsey is a 30-year-old musician who believes her experience and support for Corbyn is representative of a shift in the landscape of British politics.

"I have put my life on hold, my music and my job to put time into this because it's something I believe in," she says.

"I really care about this so much because I think it's an opportunity to really change things."

More democratic

Lyndsey is in no way connected to the official Corbyn campaign but has made a series of online clips to address issues such as the housing crisis.

"It's about provoking discussion. I paid my £3 online and I'm trying to get as many people as possible to do the same."

Lyndsey had previously voted Green but just two weeks ago she became a "registered supporter" of the Labour Party. This "supporter" status gives Lyndsey a vote in the leadership election.

This new voting system was introduced to coincide with the current leadership election in an effort to encourage a more open and democratic contest.

Some longstanding Labour Party members have warned the move has unwittingly encouraged "entryism", the notion that members of far-left parties are joining Labour to mount a kind of coup. The party leadership fought a long, and ultimately successful, battle against Trotskyite entryists in the 1980s.

But the numbers don't add up.

The far left, although organised, just don't have the membership needed.

The Labour Party has grown rapidly in size since May's general election, with the total number of people signing up to vote in the leadership contest reaching 610,753.

The number of full party members has gone up from just over 200,000 in May to 299,755, with a further 121,295 people paying £3 to become registered supporters and 189,703 joining up through their trade union.

"Supporter" status provides the same voting rights as fully paid-up Labour members.

Even if there is evidence of small-scale entryism, this in itself could not determine a victory for Corbyn.

A recent YouGov poll suggests Corbyn has extended his lead in the leadership race.

Much of the Labour establishment has been caught completely off-guard by the strength of Corbyn's support.

Former Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett branded herself a "moron" for nominating Corbyn to stand.

"We were being urged as MPs to have a field of candidates. At no point did I intend to vote for Jeremy myself, nor advise anyone else to do it."


'Centre ground'

In 2010, backbencher Dianne Abbott stood in the leadership contest as a clear left candidate.

She failed to make any significant impact and many Labour MPs believed Corbyn would play a similar "symbolic" role in the current contest. So how exactly can the surge in Corbyn support be explained?

There is evidence to suggest the political landscape in Britain is shifting and Corbyn's recent success could be accredited to his core message connecting with an electorate to whom the "centre ground" no longer appeals.

Prof Paul Whitely, from the University of Essex, has been researching the demographic makeup of party membership since 1992 and most recently he has investigated norms in political opinion.

"We've been conducting surveys since 2013. The assumption in Westminster is parties need to be close together in the 'centre ground', but that is not what drives elections.

"Voters are not asking themselves, 'Where is Jeremy Corbyn on the left-right dimension?' They're asking themselves: 'Is this guy saying something which is new which might help me and deal with the problems that Britain faces?'

"The thing about Jeremy Corbyn, whether you agree or disagree with him, is that he has a new narrative and I think that's what's exciting people."


'Not tribal'

For voters like Lyndsey this is exactly what the Corbyn campaign has done.

"I have never wanted to vote Labour before and I will not stick with the party if Corbyn is not the leader. I am not tribal. What we have is a chance to really change things and I want to be part of that change."

The support for Corbyn could signal a shift not only for the Labour Party but for the way in which party politics works in Britain.

Prof Whitely explains: "The world has changed, there's no question about it. We have to learn from countries in continental Europe who have multi-party systems.

"The success of UKIP and the SNP show there is discontentment with the status quo and an appetite for new ideas. A lot of people inside the Westminster bubble are yet to catch up with this."

The Labour Party risks "annihilation" if Jeremy Corbyn wins the party's leadership contest, former prime minister Tony Blair has warned.

In an impassioned letter printed in the Guardian, Mr Blair said the party was walking "over the cliff's edge".

His comments come as Yvette Cooper is set to criticise Mr Corbyn, saying his policies are not "credible".

The Electoral Reform Society has said Labour should delay sending out ballots while checks are made on new members.

Labour said 610,000 were signed up to vote in the contest. It had 200,000 members before the general election.

The society is not involved in running the contest, but its deputy chief executive Darren Hughes said it was obvious there were some people who did not genuinely support Labour who had signed up to vote and should not be allowed to take part.

Voting for the contest starts on Friday and the result will be declared on 12 September.


Writing in the Guardian, Mr Blair said: "It doesn't matter whether you're on the left, right or centre of the party, whether you used to support me or hate me. But please understand the danger we are in.

"The party is walking eyes shut, arms outstretched over the cliff's edge to the jagged rocks below.

"This is not a moment to refrain from disturbing the serenity of the walk on the basis it causes 'disunity'.

"It is a moment for a rugby tackle if that were possible."

Last month Mr Blair, who won three elections and served as prime minister between 1997 and 2007, warned against the party moving further to the left and electing Mr Corbyn the party's new leader.

But in a further intensification of his warnings, he said: "If Jeremy Corbyn becomes leader it won't be a defeat like 1983 or 2015 at the next election. It will mean rout, possibly annihilation."

'Wrong answers'

In her first explicit criticism of Mr Corbyn, fellow candidate Ms Cooper is to accuse him of "bad economics", saying he offers "old solutions to old problems".

Speaking in Manchester later, she will say: "I feel really strongly - not just as a leadership candidate but as a Labour Party member that desperately wants an effective Labour government - that his are the wrong answers for the future.

"And they aren't credible. That they won't change the world. They will keep us out of power and stop us changing the world."

While accepting that the comments could cost her votes, Ms Cooper is to also say there is a battle taking place for the soul of the party as she attacks her rival's policies on renationalisation, quitting Nato and quantitative easing.

Labour leadership contest
    Who are the candidates? Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper, Jeremy Corbyn, Liz Kendall
    Dates: Ballot papers will be sent out on Friday; voting can take place by post or online. They must be returned by 10 September. The result is announced on 12 September
    Who can vote? All party members, registered supporters and affiliated supporters - including those joining via a union
    What is the voting system? The Alternative Vote system is being used so voters are asked to rank candidates in order of preference
    How does it work? If no candidate gets 50% of all votes cast, the candidate in fourth place is eliminated. Their second preference votes are then redistributed among the remaining three. If there is still no winner, the third place candidate is eliminated with their second preferences (or third in the case of votes transferred from the fourth place candidates) redistributed. It is then a head-to-head between the last two candidates


Numerous MPs have called for the leadership contest to be postponed over fears it has been infiltrated by supporters of other parties but Labour have rejected the claims.

The campaign teams of the other leadership candidates have now written a joint letter to the Labour party to complain about the lack of data they are receiving on people who have recently joined.

Candidates Andy Burnham, Liz Kendall and Ms Cooper have been told they will not be receiving lists of those who have recently signed up as members for another 10 days - although their details are being passed to the Electoral Reform Society.

In their letter they say this means there will not be a "level playing field" for all the candidates.

Campaign sources say they are concerned unions, which have declared their support for Mr Corbyn, will pass on the details of their affiliated supporters to his campaign, giving him an unfair advantage.
Growing support

Mr Corbyn, a backbencher who was seen as a rank outsider at the start of the campaign, has been packing out meeting halls across the UK, with many of his supporters joining the Labour Party to vote for him.

On Tuesday the YouGov poll for The Times of 1,400 eligible voters put Mr Corbyn on 53%, 32 points ahead of Andy Burnham.

Mr Corbyn urged caution in response to the polls, saying while his campaign was "going very well", ballot papers had not yet been sent out.

Labour MP John Mann said the leadership race should be made into a "head-to-head" contest.

He told BBC Newsnight that MPs should select just one of the other contenders to go up against Mr Corbyn, engage in a televised debate and scrutinise what he was really proposing.

[Razgovory]

So Tamas, are you going to stay in the UK or just work there?

[MadImmortalMan]

You have to pay money to get to vote? That's not very leftist.

[Admiral Yi]

So, is Corbyn Labour's Bernie Sanders or Trump?

From what I've read he appears to be their Henry Wallace.

[Tamas]

Hungarian girl who has been in the country for 3 years is the top student of this london state high school and the very first to get into Oxford University from there:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yJX-FEBEW4

It appears that there has been a dramatic increase in the performance of UK students in the last 20 years, meaning they don't suck that much, and it also appears this is entirely due to the immigrant kids enchancing the statistics.

[Agelastus]

Hungarian girl who has been in the country for 3 years is the top student of this london state high school and the very first to get into Oxford University from there:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yJX-FEBEW4

It appears that there has been a dramatic increase in the performance of UK students in the last 20 years, meaning they don't suck that much, and it also appears this is entirely due to the immigrant kids enchancing the statistics.

And not due to the dumbing down of the exams that occurred during much of the same period?

[Tamas]

Hungarian girl who has been in the country for 3 years is the top student of this london state high school and the very first to get into Oxford University from there:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yJX-FEBEW4

It appears that there has been a dramatic increase in the performance of UK students in the last 20 years, meaning they don't suck that much, and it also appears this is entirely due to the immigrant kids enchancing the statistics.

And not due to the dumbing down of the exams that occurred during much of the same period?

Well that would certainly explain East Euro students pwning the natives, as I have read several accounts of elementary/high school students from Hungary switching to British high schools and finding the complexity of the subjects much dumbed down.

[Martinus]

I would vote for Jeremy Corbyn.