[The Weeping Angel]

Cooper’s seemed busy enough to me too. How much is this “she hasn’t pushed the Home Office hard enough” stuff actually based on? Somebody moaning once? Twice?

I don't know. I don't know whether you've read the full piece, but this is interesting.

Taken together all of this represents a clear doubling down of the government’s existing strategy. Go harder on boats. Go back to welfare reform. Push again on growth. It’s a gamble. It is very unusual to make so many changes to a cabinet this early on and an open admission that they got it wrong the first time. The majority of departments are now led by a new minister. By contrast Tony Blair had more or less the same top team throughout his first term, except for Health and Defence. David Cameron had the same Chancellor, Home Secretary, and Foreign Secretary for his first four years, and made limited changes to other key jobs.

If going again with the same strategy and a new team doesn’t work it’s hard to see what the excuse is going to be for further failure. And it’s a political strategy that will continue to alienate the soft left of the party (let alone the actual left). As such it heightens the risk to Starmer if polling continues to be dire and elections next year are as catastrophic as they currently look like being. Rayner may have been the most likely alternative leader, but they had developed a good relationship. Now others may look to take opportunities.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I think that's overdone by Sam there. Nobody seriously thought there'd be no more welfare reform. Hopefully the budget means that they don't feel they need to cut as much from it as in the last botched nonsense. And what does "going harder on small boats" mean? Cooper seems to have gone pretty hard.

[The Weeping Angel]

Thanks, Sharon.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... SApp_Other

Speaking to the Guardian before the start of the annual TUC conference on Sunday, Graham said Labour had a short time to turn things around or see support from union members leach away to other parties.

“They have one year to get this right because Nigel Farage is on their tail.

“And don’t get me wrong, Farage is not the answer, but he is a good communicator. And whether we like it or not, when he is talking about net zero, and about what’s happened to communities and workers, people are hearing what Labour used to say.”

She said that, with high inflation already taking a toll on household budgets, mooted tax rises in Rachel Reeves’s autumn budget would be the final straw for many Labour voters.

Graham said Labour needed to avoid taxing workers to fill the gap in the public finances and start drawing up plans for a wealth tax.

“If this keeps happening, the feeling that workers always pay, but they’re leaving the super-rich totally untouched – I think they won’t recover from it,” she said.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The Super Rich haven’t been “untouched”, absolute bollocks. Capital Gains Tax, inheritance tax, Employers NI all went up. as well as smaller taxes like VAT on school fees, increased duty on private jets, second homes, non-doms, private equity, oil production.

She means her wealth tax hobbyhorse hasn’t happened.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I thought she was the “just the core job, no politicking” candidate? She’s gobshiting like McCluskey.

[The Weeping Angel]

I think that's overdone by Sam there. Nobody seriously thought there'd be no more welfare reform. Hopefully the budget means that they don't feel they need to cut as much from it as in the last botched nonsense. And what does "going harder on small boats" mean? Cooper seems to have gone pretty hard.

Also, why are not going to increase Growth?

[The Weeping Angel]

I thought she was the “just the core job, no politicking” candidate? She’s gobshiting like McCluskey.

Well, that went out of the window very quickly. What do you make of the changes to the employment bill at the end of the article?

[Tubby Isaacs]

Don’t know what changes there are yet. We had this “they’re watering it all down” stuff before. The leader seems committed to it.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Lead story on The Guardian, nothing to do with the new appointments but learned jurist, Greta Thunberg’s view about Starmer’s legal responsibility to stop genocide in Palestine.

I don’t recall anyone saying that John Major and Douglas Hurd be sent to The Hague for failing to stop genicide in Rwanda or Bosnia. I do though recall some of the same people supporting Serbia.

[Boiler]

I know a couple of people who served in the Balkans; they still have flashbacks.

[The Weeping Angel]

Don’t know what changes there are yet. We had this “they’re watering it all down” stuff before. The leader seems committed to it.

Stuff like this.

Graham said anger boiled over when the government amended the employment rights bill (ERB) to allow councils to fire and rehire workers.

Under the amendments, councils will gain the ability to sack and rehire workers on worse pay and conditions if they are in financial distress – an opt-out already secured by private sector organisations.

The ERB is expected to be agreed by MPs later this year and take effect from next spring, with elements such as the implementation of day-one rights to sick pay and unfair dismissal protections delayed until 2026.

Extra powers for unions to recruit new members and gain collective bargaining rights will be on the statute books from April 2026, allowing access for those at companies that have locked out unions for decades, including Amazon.

Employers organisations are upset by clauses in the legislation that reduce the thresholds for unions to gain recognition agreements.

Graham said Labour had watered down previous “no ifs, no buts” commitments and allowed employers to ultimately refuse access, forcing unions to embark on lengthy appeals.

“Most blue-chip companies allow access to trade unions and negotiate with them. It is the hostile employers that don’t. And if you look at the collective bargaining pieces in the ERB there isn’t much to grab hold of,” she said.

[Tubby Isaacs]

“Most blue-chip companies allow access to trade unions and negotiate with them. It is the hostile employers that don’t. And if you look at the collective bargaining pieces in the ERB there isn’t much to grab hold of,” she said.

Apart from presumably this bit.

Extra powers for unions to recruit new members and gain collective bargaining rights will be on the statute books from April 2026, allowing access for those at companies that have locked out unions for decades, including Amazon.

The Lords put some amendments in, and they're being voted on in 8 day. So I guess we'll know if Peter Kyle's been put there to water it all down. My guess is that he hasn't, seeing this reshuffle has clearly only happened now because of the Rayner situation. So the same people who got the bill to where it is now would have been in role on September 15th.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Also, why are not going to increase Growth?

Yeah, Government would like Growth, more as we have it!

They've not done too badly compared to the rest of the G7, and some of the pro-growth stuff on planning and trade hasn't kicked in yet. I think Reeves will announce more leading up to the budget, hence it happening so late. Hopefully more on planning, perhaps more stuff with the EU?

In other news, this hasn't had any attention but would be important. Government chasing Reform latest!

An agreement between the UK and Irish governments on dealing with the legacy of the Northern Ireland Troubles is "effectively there", the Tánaiste has said.
Speaking after the British-Irish Association (BIA) conference in Oxford, Simon Harris said the UK and Ireland were "on the verge" of developing a framework compliant with the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR).
It comes just days after the Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn, said the UK government is "close" to a new agreement on dealing with legacy cases.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Peter Kyle looks fairly busy without making a big change of direction on the Employment Rights Bill.

UK’s new business secretary Peter Kyle expected to visit Beijing in first week
Former science secretary promoted in reshuffle to continue UK efforts to revitalise trade relationship with China

Bloody Britain, sucking up to Trump again.

[Youngian]

Feel very sorry for Rayner but its a fact of life in this country that if you're in progressive politics you dot the (i)s and cross the (t)s. It doesn't matter that Tories like Boris Johnson are chiselling crooks because that's tomorrow's chip paper as far as the media are concerned. 'Look at the lefties, they're just the same,' is the objective and people don't read much past the headline.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Yeah, despite my first reaction, I recognize she had to go, and in fairness it was done quickly.

I do think she was hugely unlucky though. I'd be wondering what she paid the solicitor for. Having had to pay stamp duty myself a few years ago, I don't recall too much being made of the importance of getting expert tax advice. Maybe there was some sort of bland disclaimer about not providing tax advice, but is that enough? The British, so we're told, our world beaters at professional services. How about the solicitor learn a bit about tax and say "potential tax issues may include...."? Wouldn't that be better service, aside from anything else? It wasn't something that everybody would know (one personal finance journo very graciously said they didn't know) but equally it's not so obscure that it would be set as a tie-breaker at a tax law quiz night).

[Tubby Isaacs]

Yeah, despite my first reaction, I recognize she had to go, and in fairness it was done quickly.

I do think she was hugely unlucky though. If I were her, I'd be wondering what I'd paid the solicitor for. Having had to pay stamp duty myself a few years ago, I don't recall too much being made of the importance of getting expert tax advice. Maybe there was some sort of bland disclaimer about not providing tax advice, but is that enough? The British, so we're told, our world beaters at professional services. How about the solicitor learn a bit about tax and say "potential tax issues may include...."? Wouldn't that be better service, aside from anything else? It wasn't something that everybody would know (one personal finance journo very graciously said they didn't know) but equally it's not so obscure that it would be set as a tie-breaker at a tax law quiz night).

Perhaps the solicitor did flag up appropriately, in which case I take it back.

[The Weeping Angel]

Peter Kyle looks fairly busy without making a big change of direction on the Employment Rights Bill.

UK’s new business secretary Peter Kyle expected to visit Beijing in first week
Former science secretary promoted in reshuffle to continue UK efforts to revitalise trade relationship with China

Bloody Britain, sucking up to Trump again.

James Ball doesn't think so.