Mailwatch(ed) Forum

Abernathy wrote: ↑Thu May 21, 2026 9:11 am Meanwhile... Wes Streeting is apparently proposing a wealth tax. Are we through the looking glass ?

Introducing a wealth tax is proof that you're a Red Tory Thatcherite whereas vowing to continue Shabana Mahmood’s immigration policies makes you a darling of the Left.

I have Jefferson Airplane playing in my head.*

* A popular beat group of the 1960s M'lud, they entered the Hit Parade with their song "White Rabbit" referencing Lewis Carroll's most famous work.

He’s proposing equalising Capital Gains and Income Tax, which he rather cleverly calls a”wealth tax which works”.

This is basically fine. The only trouble is when you overstate the extra revenues which he claims are £12bn a year. You have to at the very least have an inflation allowance, and then probably another allowance too. Everywhere charges lower rates on capital gains because they want investment.

So reduce the projected take a few billion and go for it.

Youngian wrote: ↑Thu May 21, 2026 9:31 am Streeting was talking about equalising income and capital gains tax rates this morning which is more tangible than 'we used to make stuff when I was a lad.'
Don't know what's fuelling the impressive growth rates Machester is enjoying under Andy's mayoralty but I bet its high end services and international investment in tech and finance. A model Lawson and Thatcher envisaged in the 80s.

This is more than likely. Plus the Blair thing of actually making inner cities into places people want to live. There’s often a reaction to this as gentrification, which is sometimes unfair. The only way to avoid that is for areas to stay run down with no jobs. But a line should be drawn in terms of existing social tenants.

Oboogie wrote: ↑Thu May 21, 2026 12:22 pm

Abernathy wrote: ↑Thu May 21, 2026 9:11 am Meanwhile... Wes Streeting is apparently proposing a wealth tax. Are we through the looking glass ?

Introducing a wealth tax is proof that you're a Red Tory Thatcherite whereas vowing to continue Shabana Mahmood’s immigration policies makes you a darling of the Left.

I have Jefferson Airplane playing in my head.*

* A popular beat group of the 1960s M'lud, they entered the Hit Parade with their song "White Rabbit" referencing Lewis Carroll's most famous work.

And if you go chasing rabbits
And you know you're going to fall
Tell 'em a hookah-smoking caterpillar
Has given you the call
He called Andy
When he was just small

It’s sad I’m liking Wes’s proposals more than Andy’s.

I’m thankful I won’t be voting in any ego contest if it’s just them two.

Wes seems to be carrying out the little known expedient of... lifting tax policies off the peg, from people who know what they're talking about. The one thing he's said recently that's annoyed me is that Britain is too highly taxed. We aren't, considering what all of demand. Yet his first proper policy here (as opposed to rejoining the EU, which is an aspiration at most) is actually raising more tax. I wonder if he meant that some taxes are too high and that we should restructure, but that overall they aren't too high? If so, I can go along with that.

Where he'll be unpopular with Labour members is that he's very pro-market. I don't know how pro-union, he is. I'd have said lots of the same stuff he has about Resident Doctors, I expect, but he's paid to show a bit more discretion. I don't get the feeling that he's much different to Starmer. I think pro-market, but pro-union too, is a reasonable combination, but I doubt it's particularly popular with the electorate either. Perhaps he and Stephen Bush can run together and get the endorsement of The Economist, and about 2% of the vote.

He's still a Young Man In A Hurry though, and I don't like that. He should have kept his head down for longer at Health. At the moment, he's looking a bit like John Redwood, leaving the Cabinet to do a leadership challenge, except Redwood's did materialize.

If Burnham does get in, I wonder how long quickly he'll want to step up. Starmer's got an oil shock and possibly a recession heading his way. Would be good for Starmer and Reeves to take the heat for that, And anyway, what's Andy's plan for it?

Find out now have them neck and neck apparently with Labour members dunno who that’s good for. Considering they are 4-5% out when polling Labour in elections in general it is probably more beneficial to Starmer.

Aren't Find Out Now notoriously inept? I'm sure it's them that Phil Moorhouse reckons are the least reliable pollsters.

I see Chris Mason is already sticking the boot into Andy Burnham even before he has even become an MP. On the evening news he was quizzing Burnham on comments he made about transgender rights years ago. How on earth is this a major issue in a by-election?

What were the comments…

satnav wrote: ↑Fri May 22, 2026 10:20 pm I see Chris Mason is already sticking the boot into Andy Burnham even before he has even become an MP. On the evening news he was quizzing Burnham on comments he made about transgender rights years ago. How on earth is this a major issue in a by-election?

The Mail used it as a front page story, and we know that's where Mason gets his talking points from.

Rosena Allin-Khan had an eminently sensible take on the Burnham circus on Kuenssberg this morning.

It was basically : Let’s just concentrate on getting Andy Burnham back into parliament, representing a seat where he grew up and lives,, then just assess things. If there’s going to be a leadership challenge and contest, then so be it. Then let’s go forward behind our leader, whoever it may be.

Hear, hear.

Agree with this, but I’m still not happy at Burnham & Streeting’s wreckless self-indulgence, and I fully intend voting for Starmer should he be fighting any future contest.

Abernathy wrote: ↑Sun May 31, 2026 5:33 pm Rosena Allin-Khan had an eminently sensible take on the Burnham circus on Kuenssberg this morning.

It was basically : Let’s just concentrate on getting Andy Burnham back into parliament, representing a seat where he grew up and lives,, then just assess things. If there’s going to be a leadership challenge and contest, then so be it. Then let’s go forward behind our leader, whoever it may be.

Hear, hear.

Agree with this, but I’m still not happy at Burnham & Streeting’s wreckless self-indulgence, and I fully intend voting for Starmer should he be fighting any future contest.

So would I, but I fear that he'd rather step down and let someone else pick up the pieces. We'll miss him when he's gone.

I'd (almost) rejoin Labour just to vote for Starmer.

Did we do this? Again, not impressive from Burnham.

Interview with Burnham in The Guardian.

Andy Burnham has signalled he would begin transforming England’s broken social care system this year if he became prime minister, accusing Westminster of “flinching away” from tackling difficult policy problems.

The Greater Manchester mayor said politicians must be willing to take on “the weight of the system” that stood in the way of radical change, as he began to set out his prospectus for government if he won the Makerfield byelection.

Burnham, who first tried to change the social care system when he was Labour’s health secretary in 2009, said there was an urgent need to fix the crisis. Then, he had planned a levy on estates to pay for universal social care, while in recent years he has talked about replacing inheritance tax with a progressive “care levy” to fund a national care service.

“It is urgent, the need to fix social care, and I personally would look at all of the kind of implications of that in relation to inheritance tax and care charges and everything. I wouldn’t flinch from it,” he said.

He suggested bringing forward the Casey review, which is tasked with drawing up proposals, including on funding, from 2028. He said he would like it published by the end of 2026, focusing on measures that could be implemented quickly.

And on Thursday night Burnham confirmed for the first time that he intends to run in a Labour leadership contest.

In an interview with the Guardian while campaigning in Makerfield, where he is fighting to hold Labour’s seat against the threat of Reform UK, Burnham also:

It's not a bad interview on the whole.

This was the lead story, with a positive gloss, which isn't something an interview with Starmer would get. I think Burnham has a lot of good qualities, and would support him taking over if Starmer is still stuck when we're closer to a general election. But I am rather fed up with the paper trying to force the Prime Minister out, like the Sunday Telegraph when John Major was PM. Burnham is leading by 10 percent in a constituency poll (these are notoriously hard to get right) but I think he'll win. He can put in some time backing Rachel Reeves and reassuring the markets.

Burnham was sympathetic to Theresa May standing on her "death taxes" platform in GE2019. If Corbyn's campaign team took her to bits on social care funding reform, Burnham will have a huge battle on his hands. He's right to fight it.