Labour 3 Months In - My Perspective!

I?wanted to give the new Labour Government at least three months, irrespective of my inherent dislike of the Party and particularly, their Leader.??They have now been in charge for that period, so here’s my take on their early days in power.??

?My initial point is regarding the difference between being in opposition, versus being “in power!”; put simply, it is cost.??In opposition, promises have no attached cost, but as Labour has very quickly learned, in government, every word has a??very real cost!??This is a basic, but critical difference which may well haunt the new government as they try to deal with some huge national crises.?

Our PM has demonstrated strength in his early days, in that he dealt with some exceptionally disturbing scenes of thuggery across our towns and cities, quickly and effectively.??In reality, these outbreaks were orchestrated following instances of disinformation released by a very naive public on social media.??This largely false tittle-tattle was quickly seized upon by far-right thugs, who played it back to some gullible, but understandably fairly disenfranchised members of our society.??Hey presto, we have full-scale rioting on our streets, and disgustingly, an appalling tragedy in Southport seems to have been all but forgotten in a matter of hours.??I can’t and won’t criticise Mr Starmer for his decision to dispense swift and meaningful justice in such crazy circumstances; this action was both needed and justified.

There is, of course, some potentially severe fallout that may arise from Starmer’s handling of these troubling times.??How will the public react when we inevitably return to a situation where every prosecution takes an absolute age???Even more of a challenge will come as his Party tries to convince the public that our prison estate isn’t fit for purpose.??Particularly, when Labour pursue a plan to release thousands of offenders early from their sentences, as opposed to finding a solution to this ongoing problem.??I guess this will be one for “the Tories have left the country in a financial mess” pile.??Not that I disbelieve that line, but if I knew that, so did the Labour party, or they should have.

The almost instantaneous attack on Pensioners, under the guise of clawing back some money for the public purse, was ill-judged.??So much so, that I believe that the Chancellor may be forced to do an impression of her boss, in reversing that decision.??It was always something to be considered, but I believe it to be unlikely that the working population will be happy to see their elderly relatives suffer in the numbers being quoted.??Ms Reeves has shown herself to be “cold” and pursued this option without properly considering her options, this is a worrying trait, particularly given her lack of experience in the post.?

Meanwhile, in the limited time the PM has had beyond the rioting, he has laid down some very clear intentions, including:

• Plans to reinstate the prosecution, some say persecution, of British Army veterans for their role in the deaths of paramilitaries during Op BANNER.
• An intention to orchestrate early release from prison for thousands of convicted criminals, based on having completed 40% of a sentence below 5 years. There are caveats as to who and what crimes will allow such release, but that is cold comfort to those against whom these crimes were committed.
• An attempt to deny service veterans a direct representative in Government by removing the post of Minister for Veterans Affairs.??Although he rolled-back following some timely advice, he ensured the role was demoted from Cabinet, was a brand new MP and sat within the MOD.??The new title, Minister for Veterans & People, being specifically created so as to ensure the incumbent, Al Carns MP, has a role that effectively has a foot in both camps, serving and retired.??Forgive me for being cynical, but what better way to silence veterans than by loading their Minister with tasks involving serving personnel.??Inevitably, the serving community will attract the priority, whilst veterans have seen their Cabinet level “voice” silenced.??Typical political bullying from somebody who has no affinity with Defence whatsoever.
• Demonstrating how we will stop the strikes.??For those who may have missed the initial cunning plan for this, due to coverage of rioting on our streets, he simply folded on delivering unaffordable settlements.??Probably quite predictable, in this instance.
• The knife amnesty, to ban zombie knives, which most of us had believed to be in place for years, starts this week.??Incredibly, it appears that the PM is keen to offer our knife carrying youth an opportunity to be remunerated for handing back their blades.??A new concept no doubt, but I have a feeling it may not catch on.

There are a few things that Mr Starmer has indicated, but luckily for him, the riots have enabled him to delay any formal announcements to the nation.??I believe these will include:

• His boast that he and his party would “stop the boats”.??Although the Home Secretary has been talking tough on the subject, we are still being inundated by illegal immigration.??Meanwhile, his Deputy PM is telling a very different story when discussing the plans for new homes!??I totally understand and respect the need to avoid feeding this narrative with negativity, or giving credence to haters, but this problem is a tinderbox, where haters will only be too happy to apply a match.??
• The previous Government, despite their proven incompetence, had a plan to build between 14-17 new hospitals across the country.??The New Hospital Programme (NHP) will be axed, supposedly to build new homes; this is not a bad idea in itself, except surely developing new infrastructure where the existing is already unable to cope, is a more sensible spend.??Unless, of course, we are preparing for a significant uplift to our population.
• Lifting the two child cap on Child Allowance.??How this will play out is anybody’s guess, but I am anticipating a change of heart on this pledge.??I think Mr Starmer, in cahoots with his Chancellor, wants to milk his good intention for as long as possible, before letting Ms Reeves announce it is impossible due to the level of Tory debt they inherited.
• Building on “Grey Belt” land.??In order to overcome previous Tory concerns on building on Green belt land, the PM has unveiled his master plan; change the colour descriptor from green to grey.??I’m just amazed that nobody else thought of this, maybe it’s because absolutely none of the concerns around building on green belt have been considered before the switch to grey!??The positive side of this is Starmer has confirmed that he is a YIMBY (Yes in my back yard).??Let’s look out for the building sites around his family home.
• Backstabbing those people who were desperately looking to him, to seek completion of the Leveson Report, Part 2.??The report, which has been on hold since 2018, has had innocent people, like Kate & Gerry McCann, begging for completion.??As a reminder, the Leveson Inquiry was a judicial public inquiry into the culture, practices, and ethics of the British press, following the News International phone hacking scandal, chaired by Lord Justice Leveson.??Starmer had previously strongly indicated that this would be a manifesto issue should Labour win power.??He now states it’s “not in our manifesto”.??Well, his nickname is Mr Flip Flop!

The Chancellor deserves a mention beyond her bare-faced attack on our Pensioners, for which I have nicknamed her “Cold Finger”.??Does anybody in the country believe that:

• ?She was genuinely shocked that Labour inherited, in her words “the worst set of financial circumstances since the second world war”.??If so, was she really the right choice for the role?
• Ms Reeves was unaware of the ￡22b “Black Hole”.??If she was, I will stand up and say she is NOT the right person to hold the office.??The information, on the fiscal status of the country, is available to HM Opposition, if not, why not; it’s nonsense.
• She believes the statement made by her own Government that the 11 year, ￡8.3b pot-hole road initiative is having to be “assessed”, as opposed to just being dropped.??This just doesn’t make sense, particularly as the pot-hole funding requirement to undertake repair of our roads stood at >￡14b in 2023.??Maybe it’s just numbers she doesn’t like, or understand.

There is a lot more that makes me very nervous.??Not least that the PM rode in on a “Change” ticket.??I have openly stated previously, that there was never any tangible change on offer, and that the best we could hope for was more of the same old, same old.??I stand by that statement, but stress that we have yet to see the “Liebour” Party in full-swing.??Starmer’s idea of change has still to be implemented, but I have no doubt that it will not correlate with the change the British public want, nor need.??There is a lot of pain to come.??I fear that the Labour plan to stop the boats, will play right into the hands of the far-right, whilst the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) may well be the final nail in our Defence coffin.??I hope and prey that I am wrong on many of these issues, particularly the last two, but I will be watching very closely.??I strongly suggest that others do the same.??Our beloved UK is in a very precarious position under the current PM, so we need to be vigilant and prepared to stand up should Labour show the intent to damage our democracy.??Politicians work for us and where the situation arises to remove a Government, our democracy allows for us to demand change and do so in an honourable, non-violent, and law abiding way, as long as enough people care!??My question is, do they?