General Election - 4th July 2024

Hadn't there been a couple of defections to the SDP and reading about it he beat Paul Boateng to be the Labour candidate in 1983. Paul was elected as an MP in 1987 so he got into Parliament at the next election.

I'm not against an upper age limit for MP's but some get elected at a later age. I'd say you cannot stand in an election aged over 75 that way you could still have people sitting until they are nearly 80. The oldest first time elected MP in 2019 was 68 years old and the current oldest sitting MP is 84 years old.

A lot of older peers retire from the House of Lords and I'd be careful at putting an upper age limit on them as there is a lot of knowledge and experience there with some active members into their 90's. But being a constituency MP is a lot harder work than being a member of the House of Lords.

I'm going down this weekend. Going to try to get down once a week and ramp it up as we get closer to the election

Should anyone be interested in emails from the Jeremy Corbyn campaign >> www.votecorbyn.com/

It'll be interesting to see what Labour's plans to reform the House of Frauds look like - close the shambles down and pack them off to Leeds or similar would be my solution, with a simple advisory vote. Country urgently needs a counterbalance to all-things Westminster.

We need a revising chamber, and while on paper the House of Lords is undemocratic, it's been more representative of how people vote than the House of Commons in recent years. It's also been far more sensible and compassionate too.

I'd like to see a revised House of Lords at some point, but making the House of Commons more democratic is far more urgent and will bring more benefit. IMO those who bang on too much about abolishing the Lords are too often looking for an easy solution to a complex problem, and giving cover to those who enjoy the lack of democracy in our primary chamber and, as a consequence, government.

In the short-term we can ditch the remaining hereditary peers, and maybe some other minor tweaks, but anything too involved will take too long and be too much of a distraction to the work that needs doing with marginal benefits.

2 words why you shouldn't have too young mps and that is William Wragg.

Another Tory MP has crossed the floor.

But isn’t it the principle that you’re casting your vote for an individual candidate not whatever party, if any, they have next to their name?


I said before I had my reservations about Starmer… well, scratch that. I’ve always voted Labour, I thought I always would. But not anymore.

He just keeps showing time and again that he’s every bit as untrustworthy as  Johnson, and Streeting shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near what’s left of the NHS.

I was resisting getting into the nitty-gritty because I could talk at length and I'm not sure people want this to turn into a campaigning thread. However, I do have views ....

I'm a pragmatist, and while I could give a long shopping list of things I'd like to see, some of those are unachievable, at least in the short-term. Voting at an election is like using public transport. There's unlikely to be a choice that will take you to exactly where you want to go, exactly when you want to be there, so you select the option that takes you in the general direction.

We've had years of mis-management, so the first thing on my shopping would be to stop doing so many expensive and stupid things that only exist to create a dog-whistle headline in a right-wing paper and won't achieve what they claim it will achieve. The Rwanda policy is a case in point. Very, very expensive and entirely ineffective - even if you don't mind the cruelty of it all. 

The economy needs to work for people, not the other way around. We're all skint right now, and while governments can and should borrow at reasonable rates to invest, we need an economy that works for normal people and allows small and medium-sized businesses to thrive, which is good for jobs and good for the tax base. Trickle down economics is a sham. The current administration have prioritised the wealth of their chums and very big businesses, which means lots of our money goes into off-shore accounts or super-yachts in Monaco instead of being spent in local high streets or even on trips to the theatre. 

I'd change how business rates work, so that out of town and internet shopping warehouses to reduce the fair advantage they have over high street and local independent shops. And work with other countries to limit the unethical 'tax efficient' accounting that be contrived by the big chains and multi-nationals.

I'd revise the current windfall tax on oil and gas companies so the loophole that means they pay less if they invest in planning killing new oil and gas is ended, but allow it for investment in renewables and the shift to a lower carbon business model.

I'd rebalance VAT. I'm realistic enough to know the government of the day needs to maintain the tax income from VAT - at least in the short term, but I'd like to see a full rethink of what is considered to be a luxury good. In particular, basic items that we want people to buy to keep themselves healthy, and not being a burden on the NHS, like toothpaste, should not have VAT. There's been talk of ditching VAT on installing insulation within existing homes. I'm not sure where we are with that, but I'd extend the VAT reduction/elimination to the installation of domestic solar panels and heat pumps etc.

I'd change planning rules to require all new builds to be very energy efficient from the start, and a presumption that they will have solar panels and heat pumps, and remove the ban on on-shore wind. It can still be subject to strict planning requirements, but realistically strict ones. And build more social housing. I'm not for banning second homes, but local authorities need more powers to protect local residents from being priced out by holiday lets and in London there are too many new properties being built for foreign investors which are left empty.

Our unreliable railways are bad for business, as well as individuals and the planet. The current government prioritised tax breaks for air travel, because in their mind the only businesses that count are ones that use planes for business trips. I'd undo that. I'd not ban private jets, but I'd add a levy that might dissuade a few and generate a bit of income that can be invested in public transport. I know it's partly due to international law, but it's time aviation fuel was taxed, at least at the same rate as diesel for trains. Again, use income generated to invest in our railways and buses. 

The NHS is a big one. Everyone knows we need to invest in more nurses and doctors, but we also need better HR and IT. Clinical staff who take on management roles are not properly supported, and it causes the kind of misery that cannot be fixed by pay rises alone. But all public sector workers deserve fair pay, not least because they are the ones who are shopping in the local high streets and contributing towards the local economy if they can afford a night out.

Being more specific, the effective ban on any cannabis related medicine needs to end. It's ridiculous that parents of children with severe epilepsy are having to pay thousands of pounds for private prescriptions. My friend's mum's friend has MS and her grandson has to go to the local drug dealers to get cannabis to relieve her symptoms. Who does that help?

Water companies? I wouldn't renationalise them at this point in time. That would be expensive, means the state absorbs the risk and take too long for action. I like the LibDem proposal to turn them into Public Benefit Companies, which I think will turn things around more quickly. That needs to be done alongside giving the regulator (Environment Agency) more resources. OFWAT is not fit for purpose and needs replaced. I wouldn't rule out renationalisation in the future, but I'm more interested in what will be effective. Also we still have nationalised water in Scotland and we have polluted water ways. SEPA (Scotland's Environment Agency) is also under-resourced, and it's too tempting for the government of the day to turn a blind eye or make excuses for mistakes made by nationalised companies.

That would be the dignified response

But she will stand.