Snap General Election called

[Banquo]

Big fan of these bits from the Queen’s speech:

Agriculture Bill
Replaces the EU Common Agricultural Policy with a post-Brexit system of subsidies that rewards farmers for promoting biodiversity and access to the countryside, rather than yield.

English devolution
White paper to hand powers to the regions, boosting the number of mayors and giving greater autonomy to combined authorities.

Social Care
Repeat of the Conservative manifesto promise to start looking for a cross-party solution to shield people from catastrophic care costs so that no one has to sell their home. In the interim £500 million a year will be put in to prop up the current system.

Health Service Safety Investigations Bill
This legislation would enshrine the existing Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch as a legally independent Health Service Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) with the ability to keep secret anything doctors and nurses tell it in order to create a “safe space” for them to speak honestly about mistakes.

Online Harms
A duty of care will be imposed on social media companies, overseen by an independent regulator, to prevent cyberbullying, child sex abuse and terrorist propaganda. Plans out for consultation.

Employment Bill
Obliges all firms to pass on the full value of tips, service charges and gratuities to staff without deduction. Extends redundancy protections to pregnant women and makes flexible working the “default” for all workers unless employers have good reason to refuse. Workers would have the right to request a more predictable contract. Parents of sick babies will be allowed extended leave and unpaid carers will be entitled to week’s leave. There will also be a new single workers rights enforcement body.

Renters’ Reform Bill
Makes “no fault” evictions illegal while setting up a new lifetime deposit scheme that could transfer between properties. There will also be a new register of rogue landlords. Landlords promised a streamlined court process to get their properties back.

Housing
Promise to consult on 30 per cent discount for local people and key workers buying a first home. New shared ownership and affordable house building programme also promised. Planning white paper to make building easier and £10 billion for schools and GPs around new developments.

Pension Schemes Bill
Prison sentences for employers who are reckless with employee pension schemes will be among powers given to the Pensions Regulator. Clear information in a “pensions dashboard” has also been promised to savers along with new rights to transfer money to another pension scheme.

Domestic Abuse Bill
Creates a statutory definition of domestic abuse, emphasising that it is not just physical but can also be emotional, coercive or economic abuse. Establishes a domestic abuse commissioner to represent victims and survivors, raise public awareness and hold public bodies to account. Creates a statutory presumption that victims of domestic abuse will be given special support in criminal courts, such as the ability to give evidence by video link
Domestic abusers will be banned from cross-examining their victims in court.

Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill
An introduction of no-fault divorce, removing the requirement that one spouse must make an allegation about the other’s conduct to end a marriage. It will also remove the possibility of one spouse contesting the decision to divorce. There will be a new option to make a joint application to divorce in cases where the decision to divorce is a mutual one.


Confirmation that the schools budget will increase by £4.3 billion in real terms by 2022-23. A cumulative cash boost of £14 billion over three years.

Reiteration of promises to raise the minimum wage to £10.50 an hour and increase the threshold for national insurance contributions.

Space, science and research
Doubling R&D spending and creating a national space council. Prioritising government investment in areas where the UK can gain a competitive advantage, such as clean energy, space, robotics and artificial intelligence.

Tory scum.

[Banquo]

Heh - media in action. The more likely the general populace has heard of a Labour person, the more likely the context has been "in association with the terrorist-lover, Marxist who hates our country, Jeremy Corbyn!"

Thornberry should not run, IMO. She's got good qualities, but she's an open goal to the Conservative/Cummings propaganda machine with her previous comments (and the quote about Leave voters being stupid which, while possibly not true, sounds enough like her that it'll stick). I'm still annoyed Rayner isn't running.

Puja

Thornberry is a smug horror show. Has Rayner said she isn't running? Only two have declared iirc SHS and Clive Lewis who is also creepy.

[Digby]

Kudos by the by to the Labour Party their proposed staffing restructuring at their HQ. Okay with a loss of MPs they're going to lose some funding, and I don't dispute letting some people go is needed because they're not funded by a magic money tree.

But for the Labour Party to let go the underlings whilst putting those leaders of the worst result in almost a 100 years onto permanent six figure contracts (low 6 figures I believe, but nonetheless) is at best a bad look. Four legs good, two legs better, and all that! Labour, for the few not the many!

[Digby]

Big fan of these bits from the Queen’s speech:

....

Tory scum.

Some decent outlines in there. Detail and delivery will prove telling

[Banquo]

Big fan of these bits from the Queen’s speech:

....

Tory scum.

Some decent outlines in there. Detail and delivery will prove telling

well yes.

[Digby]

Tory scum.

Some decent outlines in there. Detail and delivery will prove telling

well yes.

I'd also like to know where they're getting the money from. And I'd like to know what comes first, the spend even if that drives up borrowing, or the revenue

[Banquo]

Some decent outlines in there. Detail and delivery will prove telling

well yes.

I'd also like to know where they're getting the money from. And I'd like to know what comes first, the spend even if that drives up borrowing, or the revenue

well yes, Tory scum,

[Digby]

well yes.

I'd also like to know where they're getting the money from. And I'd like to know what comes first, the spend even if that drives up borrowing, or the revenue

well yes.

The glibness is fine here. It's rather more disturbing Sajid and Boris are just as glib with their answers on government financing. I might not always have liked Hammond, but he was someone you could trust

[Digby]

Tory scum,

Sodding edits. Though I wasn't commenting which should be the main driver, more I felt they should have been setting out in their manifesto what the main driver would be, and having failed for whatever reason to have done so should be telling us now how they intend to proceed.

[Banquo]

Tory scum,

Sodding edits. Though I wasn't commenting which should be the main driver, more I felt they should have been setting out in their manifesto what the main driver would be, and having failed for whatever reason to have done so should be telling us now how they intend to proceed.

I don't think that's what the Queens speech ever does, that's what the new budget will do.

[Mikey Brown]

Heh - media in action. The more likely the general populace has heard of a Labour person, the more likely the context has been "in association with the terrorist-lover, Marxist who hates our country, Jeremy Corbyn!"

Thornberry should not run, IMO. She's got good qualities, but she's an open goal to the Conservative/Cummings propaganda machine with her previous comments (and the quote about Leave voters being stupid which, while possibly not true, sounds enough like her that it'll stick). I'm still annoyed Rayner isn't running.

Puja

So I've just started seeing a flurry of comments about what a horrible racist Jess Philips is. Strange coincidence really. She's been a vocal critic of Corbyn, lives outside of London and is female, which seem to be the hot trends. So I guess she is due a character assassination of some sort.

I don't know much about her, so perhaps she is a closet Nazi, but she's seemed pretty compassionate and level-headed in the little I've heard from her.

Anyone got any real opinions about her?

[Banquo]

Heh - media in action. The more likely the general populace has heard of a Labour person, the more likely the context has been "in association with the terrorist-lover, Marxist who hates our country, Jeremy Corbyn!"

Thornberry should not run, IMO. She's got good qualities, but she's an open goal to the Conservative/Cummings propaganda machine with her previous comments (and the quote about Leave voters being stupid which, while possibly not true, sounds enough like her that it'll stick). I'm still annoyed Rayner isn't running.

Puja

So I've just started seeing a flurry of comments about what a horrible racist Jess Philips is. Strange coincidence really. She's been a vocal critic of Corbyn, lives outside of London and is female, which seem to be the hot trends. So I guess she is due a character assassination of some sort.

I don't know much about her, so perhaps she is a closet Nazi, but she's seemed pretty compassionate and level-headed in the little I've heard from her.

Anyone got any real opinions about her?

Honest and straightforward, even if not aligned with her politics. She'd be capable of giving Boris a shoeing at the dispatch box, whether she is a leader is tricky to call.

[Digby]

Tory scum,

Sodding edits. Though I wasn't commenting which should be the main driver, more I felt they should have been setting out in their manifesto what the main driver would be, and having failed for whatever reason to have done so should be telling us now how they intend to proceed.

I don't think that's what the Queens speech ever does, that's what the new budget will do.

That should set out what they are doing, it might not set out what they're aiming to do and what will inform that. Both main parties having found a magic money tree failed to set out what order they'd arrange around revenue and spending, or whether they'd just borrow and borrow again.

[belgarion]

The Queen's Speech/State Opening of Parliament is just for saying what the Government plans to introduce during this session of Parliament. What's the point of her giving all the details when these are all going to be given during the reading of the appropriate Bills and debates.

[Banquo]

Sodding edits. Though I wasn't commenting which should be the main driver, more I felt they should have been setting out in their manifesto what the main driver would be, and having failed for whatever reason to have done so should be telling us now how they intend to proceed.

I don't think that's what the Queens speech ever does, that's what the new budget will do.

That should set out what they are doing, it might not set out what they're aiming to do and what will inform that. Both main parties having found a magic money tree failed to set out what order they'd arrange around revenue and spending, or whether they'd just borrow and borrow again.

Are you expecting a personalised letter or something?

[Digby]

I don't think that's what the Queens speech ever does, that's what the new budget will do.

That should set out what they are doing, it might not set out what they're aiming to do and what will inform that. Both main parties having found a magic money tree failed to set out what order they'd arrange around revenue and spending, or whether they'd just borrow and borrow again.

Are you expecting a personalised letter or something?

I'm expecting the major parties to set out in advance what will inform their thinking, what actions they intend to take, how they'll pay for them, and how they will proceed if their bullshit assumptions turn out to be bullshit.

That's not just a fiscal thing, if for instance the Tories are to go ahead with a major revamp of the civil service that should have been in their manifesto, they haven't just had that idea since last Thursday, and yet I'm pretty sure the words 'civil service' weren't even in the manifesto.

So far in life I've been saddened by every government, they might even be doing things I like, I was a fan for instance of Labour handing the task of setting interest rates to the BoE, but I don't recall that in the manifesto, and yet by day 1 they'd suddenly had an epiphany or they'd just not bothered telling the voters what their intentions were. Obviously there will be events that direct actions beyond what's in a manifesto, I'm not expecting them to address hypotheticals or unknown unknowns, but to the extent they are planning and do know I'm expecting rather more information to be handed over, though I'm also expecting to continue being disappointed

[Mellsblue]

I don't think that's what the Queens speech ever does, that's what the new budget will do.

That should set out what they are doing, it might not set out what they're aiming to do and what will inform that. Both main parties having found a magic money tree failed to set out what order they'd arrange around revenue and spending, or whether they'd just borrow and borrow again.

Are you expecting a personalised letter or something?

They’ll have a chat over a sherry.

[Banquo]

That should set out what they are doing, it might not set out what they're aiming to do and what will inform that. Both main parties having found a magic money tree failed to set out what order they'd arrange around revenue and spending, or whether they'd just borrow and borrow again.

Are you expecting a personalised letter or something?

I'm expecting the major parties to set out in advance what will inform their thinking,

Where do you expect to see that in the case of the government?

[Digby]

Are you expecting a personalised letter or something?

I'm expecting the major parties to set out in advance what will inform their thinking,

Where do you expect to see that in the case of the government?

It's not really clear, the budget might be as close as we get as a regular opportunity in the political calendar we have.

[Banquo]

I'm expecting the major parties to set out in advance what will inform their thinking,

Where do you expect to see that in the case of the government?

It's not really clear, the budget might be as close as we get as a regular opportunity in the political calendar we have.

This kind of thing maybe?
https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk ... y/CBP-8575

[Digby]

Where do you expect to see that in the case of the government?

It's not really clear, the budget might be as close as we get as a regular opportunity in the political calendar we have.

This kind of thing maybe?
https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk ... y/CBP-8575

They could use such. I imagine they don't as it's more to be held accountable against, though for myself I'm willing to accept an explanation of "I changed my mind" providing there are reasons for such

[Banquo]

It's not really clear, the budget might be as close as we get as a regular opportunity in the political calendar we have.

This kind of thing maybe?
https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk ... y/CBP-8575

They could use such. I imagine they don't as it's more to be held accountable against, though for myself I'm willing to accept an explanation of "I changed my mind" providing there are reasons for such

That's a civil service (I think) publication....are you asking for something hitherto never produced before? I'm getting dreadfully confused about your segment of one.

[Digby]

This kind of thing maybe?
https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk ... y/CBP-8575

They could use such. I imagine they don't as it's more to be held accountable against, though for myself I'm willing to accept an explanation of "I changed my mind" providing there are reasons for such

That's a civil service (I think) publication....are you asking for something hitherto never produced before? I'm getting dreadfully confused about your segment of one.

Yes, I'm asking they actually say what they're going to do. The parties, all of them, prefer not to specify

[Banquo]

They could use such. I imagine they don't as it's more to be held accountable against, though for myself I'm willing to accept an explanation of "I changed my mind" providing there are reasons for such

That's a civil service (I think) publication....are you asking for something hitherto never produced before? I'm getting dreadfully confused about your segment of one.

Yes, I'm asking they actually say what they're going to do. The parties, all of them, prefer not to specify

Have you dropped them a note?

[Digby]

That's a civil service (I think) publication....are you asking for something hitherto never produced before? I'm getting dreadfully confused about your segment of one.

Yes, I'm asking they actually say what they're going to do. The parties, all of them, prefer not to specify

Have you dropped them a note?

They don't like me very much