All posts tagged: Starmers

Starmer’s Ratings Plummet Ahead Of Relaunch

Starmer’s Ratings Plummet Ahead Of Relaunch

Published by Sam

Keir Starmer’s approval ratings have dropped by a staggering 51 points since he was elected in July, a new survey has found. The findings, in a poll by Opinium for the Observer, are a huge blow for the prime minister as he prepares for a major speech this week which is being seen as an attempt to “reset” his government and months of negative headlines. According to the poll, Starmer’s net approval ratings – the difference between those who think positively of the PM and those who think negatively of him – has fallen from +19% to -32% in the last four months. That includes a drop of eight points in just the last fortnight. It comes after the government has been severely criticised for a number of controversial decisions, including axing winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners and putting up employers’ National Insurance contributions. Thousands of farmers also marched on Whitehall two weeks ago to protest against the introduction of inheritance tax on agricultural properties. There’s been plenty of commotion behind the doors …

Labour civil war as Diane Abbott slams Keir Starmer’s ‘poor judgement’ on winter fuel cuts | Politics | News

Labour civil war as Diane Abbott slams Keir Starmer’s ‘poor judgement’ on winter fuel cuts | Politics | News

Published by Sam

Labour’s Diane Abbott has lashed out at party leader Sir Keir Starmer live on television as she berated his “poor judgement” in accepting freebies and cutting winter fuel payments. The Hackney North MP has a chequered past with the Prime Minister after she had the Labour whip withdrawn over an “offensive” suggestion that “Jews don’t suffer racism”. The whip was restored before the General Election, but only after months of uncertainty about her future. Appearing on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, stand-in host Victoria Derbyshire asked Ms Abbott how she thought Labour and the PM were doing so far. She went on to say: “Maybe if he’d done more doorknocking for the Labour Party, he didn’t understand that of all the people to take money off, not pensioners. “Pensioners don’t forgive and forget and they’re one of the blocks of voters who actually do vote – and he didn’t seem to get it that that would be a problem. “People are still coming up to my colleagues in other parts of the country in …

More people now prefer Sunak government to Starmer’s, poll finds

More people now prefer Sunak government to Starmer’s, poll finds

Published by Sam

More people now prefer Rishi Sunak’s government to Sir Keir Starmer’s administration, a poll has found. A survey by think tank More in Common shows the Labour Government is already less liked than the previous Tory one, despite taking power less than three months ago. The poll of 2,080 adults showed that 31 per cent preferred Mr Sunak’s government, while 29 per cent preferred the current one. It comes after a rocky start to Sir Keir’s time in Downing Street amid a series of rows over clothing donations by Lord Alli, a millionaire Labour peer, and cuts to winter fuel payments. The Prime Minister’s net approval rating with More in Common has now fallen to minus 27 per cent, down 38 points from when Labour took office. It is a stark contrast to the reception that Sir Tony Blair received at a similar point following his own landslide in 1997, when it was reported his net score was as high as 93 per cent. About one in five voters (22 per cent) now think Labour …

I get £2.60 ‘too much’ and fear Keir Starmer’s winter fuel cut will kill me | UK | News

I get £2.60 ‘too much’ and fear Keir Starmer’s winter fuel cut will kill me | UK | News

Published by Sam

A pensioner has said he’s been left £500 a month worse off because he gets just £2.60 more than the pension credit cap. Arthur Bowling, 65, from Waterloo, Merseyside, said the loss of his winter fuel payment has left him fearing for his life. Mr Bowling explained the small amount above the £218 per week limit meant he has to make a larger payment to cover his rent. He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “I’m not one of these supposedly ‘rich pensioners’. I live off my pension but my income exceeds the threshold for pension credit by £2.60 per week so now I’m £500 worse off in rent payments every month and now I’ll miss out on the fuel payment. “For the sake of a few quid I’m facing the prospect of dying this winter and I’m not the only one. This will put thousands of pensioners at risk. “I’m afraid for others and I’m afraid for myself. After spending so long in hospital I need the warmth and now I don’t know whether …

Volodymyr Zelenskyy Makes Historic Address To Starmer’s Cabinet

Volodymyr Zelenskyy Makes Historic Address To Starmer’s Cabinet

Published by Sam

Volodymyr Zelenskyy became the first foreign leader to address the UK cabinet in almost 30 years this morning. The last person to attend the meeting of top ministers was ex-US president Bill Clinton, back in 1997. Zelenskyy was already in the UK to attend the European Political Community (EPC) on Thursday, but is now become the first foreign leader to visit Downing Street since Keir Starmer’s election two weeks ago. Zelenskyy spoke to Starmer’s team about the ongoing war in Ukraine, and to try and drum up further military support from European allies. Starmer said that Ukraine will always “be at the heart of this government” on Thursday, adding that “it is only fitting that President Zelenskyy will make a historic address to my cabinet”. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy leaves after meeting with Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer at 10 Downing Street on July 19, 2024 Carl Court via Getty Images The prime minister was expected to tell Zelenskyy he will be looking to “place a greater stranglehold on Putin’s war machine”. Starmer will try …

‘You asked me questions I’ve never asked myself’: Keir Starmer’s most personal interview yet | Keir Starmer

‘You asked me questions I’ve never asked myself’: Keir Starmer’s most personal interview yet | Keir Starmer

Published by skeptic

What about a quick-fire round, I say to Keir Starmer, who is pushed for time on the campaign trail, a few snapshots to help glimpse the man likely to be PM? Starmer is nodding. He’s keen to be helpful, keen to be a sport, although a little unsure of this magazine profile business and the need to talk about feelings. We are in the green room, all mirrors and concrete, backstage at Labour’s Scottish launch in Inverclyde, and unless I’m mistaken he still has on a layer of foundation. Ready? He folds his arms across his chest. “Yes, by all means.” But then he can’t really say if he’s strictly an optimist or a pessimist and, no, doesn’t know if he’s an extrovert or an introvert, either. “I’ve never really thought about it. I don’t know what that tells you.” He doesn’t know what he dreamed last night – or ever: “I don’t dream.” Just hits the pillow at 11 and – “bang” – is out till around 5. He doesn’t have a favourite novel …

Starmer’s Home Office immigration plan does not answer call for safe routes | Immigration and asylum

Starmer’s Home Office immigration plan does not answer call for safe routes | Immigration and asylum

Published by skeptic

Keir Starmer’s border plans, announced after a giddy week of political triumphs, attempt to address some of the deep structural problems within the Home Office. Paid for with £75m from the existing budget for the Rwanda scheme, the plans echo recommendations handed to Priti Patel two years ago: employ a single border security head who is given direct access to the home secretary. The border security commander would oversee a new body, with more investigators, which draws together the work of disparate agencies involved in disrupting people-smuggling gangs. Starmer’s announcement will not satisfy all critics of Labour’s immigration policies. The party has not yet answered the demands of refugee charities by offering new safe and legal routes for asylum seekers, leaving many people fleeing war and persecution with no alternative but to take small boats to cross the Channel. The Tories will continue to insist that Starmer offers little in the way of an eye-catching “deterrent” which is supposed to put asylum seekers off taking to the sea in dangerous small boats. Those with knowledge …

Will Keir Starmers Choice To Accept Natalie Elphicke Backfire

Will Keir Starmers Choice To Accept Natalie Elphicke Backfire

Published by skeptic

Keir Starmer was feeling very pleased with himself after prime minister’s questions today. The Labour leader was cock-a-hoop at pulling off a show-stealing coup when Tory MP Natalie Elphicke dramatically crossed the floor just two minutes before the weekly Commons showpiece. Conservative MPs were left stunned by the moment of parliamentary theatre, exchanging quizzical looks and muttering darkly as it became clear what had happened. Elphicke, the MP for Dover, is the third Tory to defect to Labour in this parliament – and the second to do so inside a fortnight. A delighted Starmer said: “She’s got a strong track record on issues such as housing, she’s on the frontline when it comes to the crisis of small boats. “I think she speaks for very many Tory voters in saying that the Tory Party has changed, it’s left the centre ground. But equally the Labour Party has changed and we are very clearly the party of the national interest.” But it is Elphicke’s previous right-wing stance on issues as diverse as immigration and Marcus Rashford’s …

‘Labour will surpass your expectations’: the leftwing thinktank boss standing on Starmer’s agenda | Economics

‘Labour will surpass your expectations’: the leftwing thinktank boss standing on Starmer’s agenda | Economics

Published by skeptic

Miatta Fahnbulleh has been talking about economic transformation for as long as she can remember. After she and her family fled civil war in Liberia as a child, the main topics of conversation around the breakfast table in London were politics and economics. “When other people were talking about EastEnders, we were on about changing the economic settlement,” says the 44-year-old former chief executive of the New Economics Foundation (NEF), who is standing as Labour’s candidate in Peckham, south London, at the next election. “They are the two things that shape my views about economics: the poverty levels I saw in Liberia, and talking about how we change the economic settlement at breakfast or dinner. Then you see first-generation immigrants trying to make it in this country, and it just doesn’t work. That’s what drives me.” A rising intellectual star in Labour’s ranks, Fahnbulleh is working overtime in the run-up to the election as a senior economic adviser to Angela Rayner and Ed Miliband, as well as juggling campaigning in her own patch, charity work, …

There is a way for Starmer’s Labour to fix the big rift with Muslim voters – if it has the will | Miqdaad Versi

There is a way for Starmer’s Labour to fix the big rift with Muslim voters – if it has the will | Miqdaad Versi

Published by skeptic

The local and mayoral elections saw many traditional Labour-voting Muslim voters abandon the party they’ve loyally supported for decades. One incident from one interview, and one sentiment in particular that I heard in my local area, sits front and centre: “I was disgusted when Keir Starmer supported Israel’s collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza – how can I vote for someone who won’t even apologise for this?” said one man, referring to Starmer’s performance in an interview on LBC last October and corroborated by a senior colleague that same week. It’s true that Labour claimed its position had been misinterpreted, and its stance on Gaza did eventually move, albeit after Israel had killed well over 25,000 Palestinians, most of whom were women and children, and after the international court of justice considered there was a plausible risk of genocide. For example, David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, said that Israel should comply with the “profoundly serious” ICJ ruling in full, and the party called for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire”. Lisa Nandy, the shadow minister for …