Mailwatch(ed) Forum

Youngian wrote: ↑Thu Sep 03, 2026 3:15 pm 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.

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.

Talking of universities, Burnham might be able to do some good here and admit some more foreign students. I think Starmer can do sums on student income as well as the next man, but it's easy to get where you worry too much about immigration numbers. Burnham can surely have more confidence now that they will come down considerably, and can maybe do the right thing.