Tag: labour

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Researchers reveal Labour will spend even less than the Tories on the NHS

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From the Observer, today, based on analysis by leading experts at the Nuffield Trust: Labour and the Conservatives would both leave the NHS with lower spending increases than during the years of Tory austerity, according to an independent analysis of their manifestos by a leading health thinktank. The assessment by the respected Nuffield Trust of the costed NHS policies of both parties, announced in their manifestos last week, says the level of funding increases would leave them struggling to pay existing staff costs, let alone the bill for massive planned increases in doctors, nurses and other staff in the long-term workforce plan agreed last … Continue reading Researchers reveal Labour will spend even less than the Tories on the NHS

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An enlarged and compliant group of Labour MPs is the last thing Scotland’s public services need in the face of damning assessments of their manifesto

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“The Labour Party has not set out an overall spending plan for health and social care in England. This makes it impossible to judge the plausibility of the party’s plans” (Institute for Fiscal Studies, June 13, 2024) – so why waste a vote in Scotland on Labour? By stewartb – a long read In the next UK parliament when all roads are STILL leading back to Westminster what can we expect from a Labour government of benefit to health and social care in Scotland? With Labour’s manifesto now published, It’s worth taking a look at reactions to its policy pledges. … Continue reading An enlarged and compliant group of Labour MPs is the last thing Scotland’s public services need in the face of damning assessments of their manifesto

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Will these Labour candidates in Ayrshire admit that they plan to support £18 billion in cuts to vital public services and to make child poverty even worse?

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Both of the above have been happy recently to accuse the SNP of a failure to eradicate child poverty in Ayrshire, regardless of the unique Child Payment in Scotland and the significantly lower rate of child poverty in Scotland than in England or Wales. In February 2024, The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) reported: The Autumn Statement forecasts were predicated on a fresh round of spending cuts. Public sector investment is planned to be frozen in cash terms, whereas maintaining investment (net of depreciation) at its current share of national income in 2028–29 would require an additional £20 billion of spending. … Continue reading Will these Labour candidates in Ayrshire admit that they plan to support £18 billion in cuts to vital public services and to make child poverty even worse?

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Edinburgh’s loss making trams project was forced on the SNP minority government by the Tories, Labour and Lib Dems and now they want to shift the blame

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In the Scotsman, last week: The Edinburgh Trams have made a net loss of more than £44 million since opening ten years ago, figures have revealed, mainly due to borrowing costs associated with building the original line. Coming in at over £400m over budget and three years late, the capital’s trams have not run a profit since 2017. Sue Webber, Conservative MSP for the Lothian region, said: “These eye-watering losses only add insult to injury for those living and working in the capital. They already had to endure the construction bill for the trams spiralling out of control and reaching over £1 billion. There … Continue reading Edinburgh’s loss making trams project was forced on the SNP minority government by the Tories, Labour and Lib Dems and now they want to shift the blame

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Sir Keir Starmer, The Man Without Qualities

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By Professor John Robertson “For when we lie nowadays it is not so much out of weakness as out of a conviction that a man cannot prevail in life unless he is able to lie.” When you hear Sir Keir Starmer speak, the title of Robert Musol’s pre-war novel, the Man Without Qualities, forced on many 1960’s students, can pop into your head. He doesn’t excite. He doesn’t even interest but too often, he disappoints and it’s chilling. When he was asked after his big speech: Two weeks ago, some of Labour’s traditional voters abandoned the party because of issues … Continue reading Sir Keir Starmer, The Man Without Qualities

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‘It is very easy for Tories to cross over to Labour these days, THEY ARE THE SAME B****Y PARTY!’

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By stewartb ‘It is very easy for Tories to cross over to Labour these days, THEY ARE THE SAME BLOODY PARTY, ..’ How far will Labour-supporting newspapers in Scotland like the Daily Record be prepared to go on behalf of the ‘precious Union’ to protect/shield the party that many left leaning, progressive folk in England are now calling LINO – ‘Labour in Name Only’? This from today (8 May) : ‘Labour’s draft New Deal for Workers now “unrecognisable” See https://www.unitetheunion.org/news-events/news/2024/may/labour-s-draft-new-deal-for-workers-now-unrecognisable ‘Responding to the recent New Deal documents sent to the trade unions by the Labour Party, the leader of Unite Sharon … Continue reading ‘It is very easy for Tories to cross over to Labour these days, THEY ARE THE SAME B****Y PARTY!’

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Does new Labour MP know about Scottish Labour’s support for human rights

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By NMRN Tory MP Natalie Elphicke has crossed over, as in defected, to the Labour party…… If you do not know who she is then she was the former wife of Tory MP Charlie Elphicke, who was jailed for sexual assault in 2020, so she then stood in the same seat as her husband once had when he stood down as the MP for that area after he was charged with three counts of sexual assault against two women …..and she was then elected in 2019 as the new Tory MP for Dover…..blue rosette obviously won that election…. She spoke out in support … Continue reading Does new Labour MP know about Scottish Labour’s support for human rights

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The Labour Party – breaking promises since 1910

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By JB January 1910 Labour Party General Election Manifesto: A general election has been forced upon the country by the action of the House of Lords rejecting the Budget. The great question you are to decide is whether the Peers or the people are to rule this country. Each Session since the last general election important Bills, upon which the House of Commons had spent much time, have been mutiliated or destroyed by the House of Lords, an irresponsible body which represents nothing but its own class interests. Not content with this, they now claim the right to decide what … Continue reading The Labour Party – breaking promises since 1910

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Shouting theatre in a crowded fire – Scotland’s firefighters betrayed by their own union

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In the Guardian today, the above and this below: Wrack, the general secretary of the 34,000-strong Fire Brigades Union, said: “The debate on workers’ rights is a key issue for all unions as we approach a general election. As a policy, it is very popular with our members but it is popular with the voters as well. “We know Labour will come under pressure from business interests but there should be no backtracking and no weakening. Labour needs to deliver this as one of its top priorities. If there is a rolling back there will be significant anger.” Meanwhile in … Continue reading Shouting theatre in a crowded fire – Scotland’s firefighters betrayed by their own union

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Hello! A Royals-obsessed magazine journalist would walk more than 500 miles for a Scottish seat nobody else wants’ – Labour colonialism at its more pure

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By Professor John Robertson From the Dundee Courier, yesterday: Labour candidate in Angus is councillor for city over 500 miles away. A councillor from Canterbury in England has been selected as Labour’s candidate for Angus and Perthshire Glens, it can be revealed. Elizabeth Carr-Ellis is a Labour councillor for St Stephen’s in Canterbury – over 500 miles from Angus in the South East of England. But the party has given her its backing to standing for election in the newly formed Westminster constituency. Ms Carr-Ellis describes herself as a “Geordie journalist” who has lived around the UK and abroad. It is … Continue reading Hello! A Royals-obsessed magazine journalist would walk more than 500 miles for a Scottish seat nobody else wants’ – Labour colonialism at its more pure