[Oboogie]

labour costs are less of a factor, a robot's weekly wage is the same in Sunderland as it is in Shanghai, zero. And that's where manufacturing nostalgists are in cuckoo land.

True but the costs of the electricity that powers the robot and the land that factory is built on are higher in Sunderland than they are in Shanghai.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Indeed. Which you might be able to get away with if you've got a very high end product, but you're not bringing back anything like the amount of manufacturing that people are being led to expect by Burnham. A good job is a good job, whether it's in a university or a factory.

Does John Healey, or Wes Streeting, or John McDonnell or anyone else really believe this stuff? Well done for pushing Starmer out, chaps. Not to say Starmer was going to be there forever, but someone else could have perhaps made a pitch over time.