That Starmer fella...

For anyone keeping notes.

The five missions:
1) Kickstart economic growth
to secure the highest sustained growth in the G7 – with good jobs and productivity growth in every part of the country making everyone, not just a few, better off.
2) Make Britain a clean energy superpower
to cut bills, create jobs and deliver security with cheaper, zero-carbon electricity by 2030, accelerating to net zero.
3) Take back our streets
by halving serious violent crime and raising confidence in the police and criminal justice system to its highest levels.
4) Break down barriers to opportunity
by reforming our childcare and education systems, to make sure there is no class ceiling on the ambitions of young people in Britain.
5) Build an NHS fit for the future
that is there when people need it; with fewer lives lost to the biggest killers; in a fairer Britain, where everyone lives well for longer.

Labour's first steps

• Deliver economic stability with tough spending rules, so we can grow our economy and keep taxes, inflation and mortgages as low as possible.
  
• Cut NHS waiting times with 40,000 more appointments each week, during evenings and weekends, paid for by cracking down on tax avoidance and non-dom loopholes.
  
• Launch a new Border Security Command with hundreds of new specialist investigators and use counter-terror powers to smash criminal boat gangs.
  
• Set up Great British Energy, a publicly-owned clean power company, to cut bills for good and boost energy security, paid for by a windfall tax on oil and gas giants.
  
• Crack down on antisocial behaviour, with more neighbourhood police paid for by ending wasteful contracts, tough new penalties for offenders, and a new network of youth hubs.
  
• Recruit 6,500 new teachers in key subjects to set children up for life, work and the future, paid for by ending tax breaks for private schools.
  
  

Labours six milestones

• raising living standards in every part of the UK, as part of the government's aim to deliver the highest sustained economic growth in the G7 group of rich nations
  
• building 1.5 million homes in England and fast-tracking planning decisions on at least 150 major infrastructure projects
  -ending hospital backlogs to meet the NHS target that 92% of patients in England wait no longer than 18 weeks for planned treatment
  
• a named police officer for every neighbourhood in England and Wales, with the recruitment of 13,000 additional officers, Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) and special constables
  
• increasing the proportion of children in England who are "ready to learn" when they start school at the age of five, to 75%
  
• putting the country on track for at least 95% clean power by 2030
  

Perhaps they should inscribe them on a giant stone tablet.

Torsten Bell, the genius SPAD behind the Ed stone, is an MP now.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/dec/03/south-western-railway-to-become-first-train-operator-nationalised-under-labour

And the settling of the Train Drivers/Aslef dispute which means there are currently no threatenend rail strikes.

Or a millstone

They've settled ongoing disputes with the train unions, the nurses and the doctors. I don't see how you can paint that in anything other than a positive way.

Lets not forget that the Tories had basically given up. Truss crashed the economy, which made government borrowing significantly more expensive, so taxes had to be raised to the highest level since the post-second world war period, and loads of important decisions were just booted down the road. I cannot think of a previous British government who inherited such a shit show. To think anyone could even begin to address the issues faced within a hundred days is deluded.

Doesn’t make him less of a cunt though……

If they’ve inherited such a mess (which I can agree with) - why are their milestones so patchy?

Cutting NHS waiting times and building houses are both positives (and the last one ambitious) but these have been the go-to pledges for about 20 years. There’s so many missing pieces in their ‘plan’. No reform on welfare, social care etc.

You get another say in 2028, so let him do his thing and just chill out a bit.

They've settled ongoing disputes with the train unions, the nurses and the doctors. I don't see how you can paint that in anything other than a positive way.

That's £10bn of the black hole

So Labour has given us 3 restarts in 6 months, the Tories gave us 3 PMs in less time.

If agreeing pay rises is all we expect of government trying to improve the country I give up.

Where's the big changes to make things better? I've not seen any detailed proposals or draft legislation just shitty pledges and some serious PR fuckups.

I've not seen any detailed proposals or draft legislation

Because you weren't looking?
https://www.parallelparliament.co.uk/bills/government

It was more than just agreeing an irrationally delayed pay rise:
https://markwalkerg.podbean.com/e/33-exclusive-discover-how-the-train-drivers-pay-dispute-in-england-was-really-resolved/

As already has been pointed out, you haven't been looking. The Employment Rights Act alone will have a direct impact on millions of people in the country, giving them stronger protections against rogue employers.

The election was held in July, Parliament reconvened for a couple of weeks, which was filled with administrative stuff, then went into summer recess, came back for two weeks, then went into another recess for party conference season. Basically, it's been functioning for two months of the five months since the election.

Here's what's already on its way through parliament:

1. Renters Rights Bill ends no fault evictions and grants right for two month notice periods for tenants
   
2. Rail Nationalisation Bill will start to bring the railways back into public ownership - that just passed the Lords
   
3. Football Regulation Bill creates the Football Regulator and forces clubs to consult with fans over ticket prices
   
4. Pension funds rejig will mean more investment in infrastructure - boring but important
   
5. Planning reforms means more new homes, renewables, power grid upgrades - this is enormous
   
6. That budget, let's not forget, redressed the balance of tax burden from working people - where it's sat for the last fourteen years - to redress back to unearned wealth. Non Dom. Private Equity Carry. Farm exceptions. CGT increase. Enough? No. But a fuck of a lot more than we've got for the last decade and a half.
   

Yes, they've actually done quite a few good things.
The messaging and politics has been rubbish.
The press coverage has been bitter and outright aggressive.

The press coverage has been bitter and outright aggressive.

this is the problem, they could fix the climate crisis, bring about world peace & end hunger yet our press wouldn't give it a mention, instead focusing on some trivial not really a problem "problem" that gains clicks.

The messaging and politics has been rubbish

Seconding that the messaging has been surprisingly bad.

You note this, but it needs to be emphasised that a lot of these aren't actually done, there's no guarantee they will be done, and we have no idea what the final bill/laws will be. I hope they get done (along with many of their other promises).

He did manage to shit on the civil service yesterday, so there's something concrete.

In any case, when is it fair to start assessing Starmer's government? We've all got a lot riding on him not fucking this up.

I wonder if his seemingly completely needless attack on the Civil Service was meant solely for Elon Musk? It emerged at the same time as the rumours that he's about to give Reform UK £80m, and he's been attacking Starmer a fair bit.

Obviously it's appalling if we're attack public servants to please a right-wing billionaire toddler but at least that's a strategy, I'm not sure why else he'd be trying to reduce the morale of the very people responsible for delivering his policies.

It sounds from the civil service like Labour haven't really got the hang of being in government yet.

Ange..

*“There’s a kind of balance to be had, because sometimes you get: ‘Well, you never see her,’ or: ‘She’s only doing that for a photo opportunity.’ So you try and strike the right balance between letting people know what you’re doing and where you are.
And then there’s others that will then criticise and say: ‘Well, you’re just trying to project an image of what you’re doing.’ So it’s trying to strike the balance between the seriousness of: ‘Here’s me, this is what I’m doing.’ ”

Fat Dave..

None of us wants Syria to become like Libya next door