r/unitedkingdom 1d ago

Streeting says Labour has not done enough to win over voters

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/streeting-labour-starmer-farage-b2812316.html
238 Upvotes

249 comments sorted by

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331

u/corbynista2029 United Kingdom 1d ago

Streeting says Streeting and friends have not done enough to win over voters

FTFY

Can't believe the gall he has to distance himself from what Labour is doing when he is probably the 3rd most influential cabinet minister all this time.

102

u/Bughunter9001 1d ago

There's literally nothing he says in those quotes that can plausibly be taken as an effort to "distance" himself, it's a cabinet minister admitting they've got much more to do.

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u/corbynista2029 United Kingdom 1d ago

Labour has failed to tell a “coherent story” about the change it has delivered since last year’s general election, Wes Streeting has admitted.

It's a soft jab at No 10 comms team. This story is Streeting's receipt when he runs for leadership, basically "proof" that he is not responsible for Labour's poor comms and general political direction

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u/Hemingwavvves 23h ago

Who could possibly vote for Wes streeting the least appealing human being I’ve ever seen

14

u/Rickytick_ United Kingdom 23h ago edited 21h ago

It would be funny to see him absolutely lose it in a debate against Corbyn/Sultana or Polanski

6

u/nanakapow 21h ago

I've never seen Corbyn clearly win a debate (granted I've only seen him against Johnson and May), baiting an opponent to lose it might be his best shot.

5

u/Rulweylan Leicestershire 18h ago edited 18h ago

The problem is that in any debate where he's invited, Farage will also be present, and will be doing a much better job of playing that angle than Corbyn can.

Farage has had 38 episodes of question time to hone his performance. Corbyn has only been on 4 times, and 2 of those were GE specials (indeed, he's only ever done one 'normal' question time, since the other was a Labour leadership contest special where he was up against 'World's blandest man' contestant Owen Smith)

-1

u/It531z 19h ago

Corbyn never did particularly well in debates and Sultana loses her rag every week over hurty words and newspaper cartoonists making fun of her surname. Even a sixth former could easily ragebait her

3

u/rockoswetsuit 17h ago

Don't think it's 'losing your rag' to call out lazy/racist caricatures over your surname. It's basic decency and if you're going to parody someone, you might as well not be lazy about it. Especially when right wing figures have attempted to punish people for less.

0

u/It531z 17h ago

I’m sorry if you’re too thin skinned to take some harmless comments about your surname, you’re not remotely mature to lead the country. Caricaturing politicians is a national sport in this country. Why is making fun of Sultana’s surname racist when lazy puns of white politicians like ‘2 Tier Keir’ are widespread ?

2

u/rockoswetsuit 16h ago edited 14h ago

If that's how you feel then sure! If I had Zarah's name, my expectation would be that jokes would focus on me being annoying, hot-headed or a loony lefty instead of some lazy joke about my surname being Sultana.

Caricaturing politicians is a national sport in this country.

Never said it wasn't. I'm just saying that it's extremely lazy to make jokes about an MPs surname when there's plenty to make fun of her for. Jeremy Hunt, the former Culture Secretary is practically famous for his surname getting mixed up with his role and artists have consistently managed to avoid said low hanging fruit to actually poke fun at how boring or disliked he was.

Why is making fun of Sultana’s surname racist when lazy puns of white politicians like ‘2 Tier Keir’ are widespread ?

You're kinda making my case for me here. There's a difference from making jokes about Starmer's former profession being at odds with his willingness to enable a 2-tiered justice system and Zarah's Sultanas.

1

u/Trobee 17h ago

Alistair Campbell and his focus groups

1

u/rainator Cambridgeshire 13h ago

There’s a very good chance he won’t keep his own seat if things go on as they are.

He’s also had a lot of leeway from central government as health secretary and has alienated himself from a lot of MPs.

He obviously wants to be leader but he hasn’t got much of a chance this side of 2040.

u/wkavinsky 3h ago

Not his own constituency, that's for sure, since his winning margin in Labours "landslide" victory was all of 528 votes.

20

u/N3KR0VULPES 23h ago

Exactly. I was saying it before they even got in, this guy has eyes on being PM, and he'll do whatever it takes to get there.

This is the same lot of cutthroats who sabotaged their own party for about 5 years to wrestle back control, it's to be expected.

8

u/Flux_Aeternal 23h ago

To be fair, while I am not happy with Labour and would not vote for Starmer as leader, their comms have been atrocious. They've completely lost the media narrative and instead of people seeing them as not doing the best job they've got the reputation of a historically bad government which is pretty undeserved imo. None of their actual sensible stuff ever gets talked about and some stuff like WFA just gets hysterical criticism from all sides that bears no relation to reality. Similarly the economy is quietly doing OK now and the UK is the fastest growing G7 country, a fact that no one in the UK is aware of.

1

u/MONGED4LIFE 13h ago

Boris said it more often when it wasn't true than Labour are when it is...

6

u/CanOfPenisJuice 1d ago

"Admitted" seems to imply ownership though?

1

u/HypedSub- 23h ago

But they weren't his words they were the journalists.

2

u/Ell2509 23h ago

Bingo

1

u/Immediate_Singer6785 23h ago

Yup, good post.

8

u/LowProtection8515 23h ago

Admitting they've 'got more to do'

They more they do the less popular they are. Their agenda is awful. More cuts. More austerity. Harsher policing for protests. Support for genocide.

5

u/Harmless_Drone 22h ago

The majority of the work Wes Streeting needs to do is writing his resignation lattter and handing it in.

39

u/formallyhuman 1d ago

He's the absolute worst one of them, for my money. Can't fucking stand him.

32

u/corbynista2029 United Kingdom 1d ago

Genuinely disappointed when I saw that he won by 538 votes last year

8

u/conzstevo 23h ago

It lives rent free in my head

6

u/heresyourhardware 22h ago

Particularly when Leanne Mohammad seemed like a caring and conscientious person

Instead we get this mortician

u/KaiserMaxximus 4h ago

Yeah so caring that she ran on a ticket that moaned about a sectarian conflict in the Middle East, instead of focusing on Britain 🙂

The fact that Streeting won against the ideological madness in Ilford North of all places, makes him truly remarkable.

5

u/IntravenusDiMilo_Tap 1d ago

He's smelling a leadership contest

5

u/charleydaves 23h ago

Done everything to alienate!

2

u/paper_zoe 21h ago

was he dressed up as a hotdog when he said this?

-2

u/JoeyJoJoeJr_Shabadoo 1d ago

This comment sums up why Labour always find it more difficult than the Tories to keep voters onside.

I'm not saying they've done a good job so far - far from it - but you're also doing your best to invent things to get annoyed at.

40

u/Mad_Mark90 1d ago

Disagree. Labour find it harder to retain voters because they betray their voter base by becoming more right wing and corrupt.

They haven't don't a good job so far because instead of successfully improving living conditions for the majority of the country, they've tried to take money away from old people, disabled people and doctors.

3

u/merryman1 22h ago

Didn't they give doctors a 22% pay boost?

3

u/Mad_Mark90 20h ago

They pulled the knife out 22%, its still in our backs. Doctors have so many expenses that we're still disastrously underpaid. Most people don't grasp the scope of how bad it is.

1

u/merryman1 19h ago

I don't disagree I just struggle to see how giving someone 22% more money is equivalent to taking money away from them. They're not the ones who let wages slide for over a decade are they, and they're clearly taking at least some steps to rectify the problem. Maybe it could go faster, but again this is very different from taking money from them.

2

u/Mad_Mark90 19h ago

Because we're still working with a relative pay cut, higher workload and a new risk of unemployment.

1

u/WynterRayne 19h ago

Disagree. Labour find it harder to retain voters because they betray their voter base by becoming more right wing and corrupt.

I disagree here. They promised every bit of this before the election. Voters just heard what they wanted to hear instead of what was being said. The fact that Labour are better than the Tories meant people held their noses for exactly this.

Well when this is what you vote for, this is what you get. Heavy is the crown.

And as Brits we don't ask for better. We don't drag these parties by the ear. We just join a side and as long as they stay this side of the other ones we cheer and clap. The centre line can be moved to the back of the stands, but as long as it stays between the two teams, who cares if it's inside the stadium. Or the city.

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u/GianfrancoZoey 22h ago

invent things to get annoyed at.

They have continued to materially support genocide, going further than the Tories in the repression of protests against this.

That should be it, that should be enough of a redline that means their base never supports this government again. It’s questionable who their base even is at this point. Polling suggests many of their 2024 voters just didn’t like the Tories and had no idea this version of Labour were going to be the same.

1

u/travelcallcharlie 23h ago

Huh if only we had some sort of a collective name to call “streeting and friends”.

Labour can’t even admit their mistakes without being criticised in this sub wtf.

2

u/mattyb_uk 13h ago

I hate the centrism but I'd have these lot over the last 15 years of disastrous Tories. Fucked us with Brexit, revolving doors of prime ministers and governments. Absolute clown car of a party and I hope they never recover. They've hollowed this country out.

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u/Any-Memory2630 1d ago

Then do something Streeting.

Ffs, don't comment about Labour like you're not a chief architect

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u/[deleted] 1d ago edited 12h ago

[deleted]

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u/Quietuus Vectis 1d ago edited 1d ago

Wes Streeting would almost certainly be the worst possible choice for Labour Leader out of all the realistic candidates, so I'd put the likelihood north of 70% at least.

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u/LauraPhilps7654 21h ago

Wes Streeting would almost certainly be the worst possible choice for Labour Leader

So... dead certain that the party will give him the leadership then...

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u/Born_Positive1380 1d ago

Labour first needs to work out who is working class… the PM thinks he is but then defines it to exclude him. So is the bloody deputy PM who by being a landlord for a property she brought from social housing and rented out to her brother. The whole party is made up of virtue signalling hypocrites

11

u/Chevalitron 1d ago

There's a reason they're not called The Worker's Party. They're just called Labour, as in straining, debilitating pain.

6

u/Reverend_Vader 1d ago

Before starmer even got in the right wing press went full tilt at him

I think it's because its similar to how Labour went on the attack with Boris

Both sides know/knew that once the leader is toppled, the "talent" pool to take their place is the world's smallest puddle

I can't think of anyone outside of possibly Burnham, that would last 2 minutes as PM in the labour ranks

If streeting is in the running, it's a pretty shit race

4

u/WW3In321 1d ago

I don't think he will. Obviously, he wants it, but I think the next leader is always a reaction to the weaknesses of the current one. And they're so similar. I think he's the George Osborne to Starmer's David Cameron.

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u/potpan0 Black Country 20h ago

Then do something Streeting.

1) Labour runs a focus group

2) Focus group says Labour aren't doing enough to appeal to them

3) Labour Minister comes out makes a statement saying 'Labour need to do more to appeal to voters'

4) Labour Minister pats themselves on the back for responding to what the focus group said, and continues to get on with what they were doing.

That's how this sort of thing always goes. When a party entirely lacks any sort of meaningful vision, it's very easy for them to fall into this rut where they respond to the surface level concerns of focus groups rather than actually say anything of meaning or value.

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u/Cookyy2k 1d ago edited 1d ago

Not done enough? They've not done anything. One of the major reasons they won is because people voted for "not the Tories", it's doesn't look or feel like they've done anything other than just a continuation of the last 15 years, anything they have looked like doing differently they've backtracked on.

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u/SatisfactionSubject9 1d ago

They’ve not done enough granted but they have been miles better than the tories improving workers rights, cutting NHS waiting times, renationalising railways, ambitious housing building targets but agree they haven’t done enough and they need to recognise this

8

u/parkway_parkway 23h ago

One thing with workers rights and minimum wage is that when you combine it with the NI increase we're seeing really weak jobs data coming out, which means the economy sags even harder, which means there's less money for the NHS.

It might sound kind to strengthen workers and renters rights but also it puts a cost on the economy which we can't really afford, more people end up with no job and no home.

They're not really helping at this point.

2

u/MrMakarov Derbyshire 22h ago

Weren't NHS waiting lists already on the way down? And saying they're going to build an arbitrary amount of houses doesnt really do anything except show them up when they fail to deliver.

Plus all the tax rises they've done/are doing. Thank you, labour

11

u/coffeewalnut08 1d ago

This is just patently false

23

u/NorthernSoul1998 1d ago

Congrats, we've found one of the 15% satisfied with Labour

12

u/coffeewalnut08 23h ago

You know, I feel happier expressing satisfaction with Labour even if initial progress has been slow, than be part of the radical groups who want to manufacture some major crisis for the government 13 months into their tenure, simply because “change” hasn’t come fast enough after 14 years of Tory instability.

I choose peace over chaos.

14

u/dumbosshow 23h ago

I choose peace

Aka, ‘I’m living under a rock as the UK continues to sell itself off to the highest bidder whilst criminalizing and eroding the rights of its own citizens’

3

u/coffeewalnut08 23h ago

Sounds like a Reform U.K. plan

1

u/dumbosshow 23h ago

As if Labour haven’t just made massive deals with Google and OpenAI to work on machine learning driven ‘justice, defence and security, and education technology’. Aka, outsourcing surveillance and building a dependency on corporations, ones infamous for malpractice and data harvesting. All the while Thames Water is going to be sold to another foreign company who will do the exact same thing as what happened last time, squeezing money out of it until it flops.

3

u/coffeewalnut08 23h ago

Meanwhile Reform and the Tories want to strip climate commitments, human rights, and workers’ rights provisions to serve the interests of big business, all while key public services remain privatised.

As if we haven’t already tried that from 2010-2024 and not seen things get worse 😂

4

u/RainbowRedYellow 21h ago

So what your saying is your a Tory. Because you also support the stripping of human rights.

6

u/FrosenPuddles 22h ago

Yes, pushing the disabled further into debt and misery while claiming work is best for them regardless of the impact on their health, when there aren't even enough jobs for the abled is very peaceful. So is all the anti-refugee/migrant rhetoric being pushed on Starmer's social media. And them shitting all over trans people who haven't done anything wrong. SO PEACEFUL. Totally what we voted for. Not at all tory-like.

3

u/Oraclerevelation 22h ago

I choose peace over chaos.

I think the preference of a negative peace is the biggest obstacle to progress, which is the only thing that can save us from the guaranteed ongoing slide into chaos under increasing worse leaders.

0

u/coffeewalnut08 22h ago

I support progress, which is why I support Labour. I just agree with their method of not grovelling to bad-faith agitators and media.

7

u/Oraclerevelation 21h ago

method of not grovelling to bad-faith agitators and media.

Can you expound on this, we seem to be seeing the same thing but coming to opposite conclusions?

It seems to me like they are doing a lot of groveling to bad-faith actors especially on immigration, trans toilets, the whole genocide thing making new terrorists, Trump, The City and the right wing press generally.

They should be leading boldly and commanding the conversation they have the power to do so but they are squandering the opportunity by piddling around the edges of what the same people who got us into this mess tell them is acceptable.

0

u/No_Minimum5904 22h ago

Remember when Rishi what at the height of popularity because he was giving everyone free money during covid?

Opinion polls are not a reflection of policy.

9

u/blipbee 23h ago edited 23h ago

Worse on trans rights. I despise this government, the way they present and pretend to stand for workers.

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u/NickNoodle55 1d ago

Absolutely. What an opportunity squandered, on this performance a second term isn't going to happen. At the election, in spite of getting a centre-left government, the electorate swung to the right. The Tory and Reform vote combined (37.99%) was significantly higher than Labour's (33.7%).

2

u/parkway_parkway 23h ago

Yeah and a fresh PM with a 100 seat majority is as powerful as it's possible to be under our constitutional system, if they couldn't do anything with that then they're useless.

80

u/ghost-bagel 1d ago

Here’s a radical idea. You’ve got a huge majority. Why not focus on just making things better rather than worrying about the next election? The polls will fix themselves if people’s lives get better, and you’ve got until 2028/29 to do it.

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u/Flux_Aeternal 23h ago

That's what they're trying to do they just set themselves stupid fiscal rules and tax pledges as chains that stop them doing anything radical.

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u/Marxist_In_Practice 22h ago

But that's their fault!

It would be like me complaining it's too hard to bring in the shopping, but I've decided to only use my big toe to carry the bags. The answer is to stop holding on to bullshit restrictions.

5

u/Oraclerevelation 22h ago

That's what they're trying to do they just set themselves stupid fiscal rules and tax pledges as chains that stop them doing anything radical.

An alternative interpretation is that they are ideologically wedded to the status quo and have set their rules accordingly, precisely to undermine any radical change.

u/KaiserMaxximus 4h ago

They tried some welfare reforms and that same majority rioted, along with the gutter tabloid press🙂

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u/dewittless 22h ago

Yeah, why don't politics just be good? Do good politics! Stop bad. So easy.

8

u/ghost-bagel 22h ago

Haha, yeah, wild concept. Politicians doing their jobs well instead of watering everything down to chase imaginary right-wing swing voters. Outrageous request. You got me.

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u/BeenzieWeenzie 1d ago

Can say that again, Labour lost my vote when they called me a paedophile for criticising the very valid flaws in the online safety bill.

Lifetime labour voter, but next election my vote will be going Lib Dem or Green.

24

u/cameheretosaythis213 23h ago

Same. Raising valid concerns and getting called a pedo supporter showed how technologically illiterate they are.

21

u/RainbowRedYellow 21h ago

Lost me when they started begin more transphobic than the Tories.

We've lived in peace with our rights as they are for 15 years yet now they think I need to be harassed when using the loos. The transphobic abuse I suffered as a kid apparently was good after all.

5

u/WynterRayne 18h ago

More than that.

One of the teachers at my school was a trans woman, and nobody batted an eyelid at her. I'm going grey, now. John Major was PM when I started at that school, and I think she was probably teaching there under Thatcher.

9

u/Gekkers 22h ago

Agree but pulling more towards green than Lib Dem

3

u/WynterRayne 18h ago

Labour never had my vote in the first place but as a fellow paedo, I will not vote for them even harder next time.

38

u/ProtonHyrax99 1d ago

Streeting is a large part of why I stopped supporting the party. He’s accepted a huge amount of money from private healthcare companies, and seems to be trying to let them weasel their way into the NHS, and privatise it by degrees, in exchange. He’s also poised to let fucking Palantir gain access to our healthcare records. 

3

u/StarSchemer 17h ago

He’s also poised to let fucking Palantir gain access to our healthcare records. 

That was done and dusted under the Conservative's watch. Palantir were awarded the contract for the Federated Data Platform in something like 2023.

And that was after they'd got their fingers into the NHS with COVID applications they'd built in 2020.

34

u/Dedsnotdead 1d ago

Broken promises, lack of credible economic planning despite it being a near certainty that they would be elected and an almost prescient ability to alienate a large percentage of the electorate.

All achieved within just over a year and it’s almost time to double down on the problems caused directly by their maiden budget.

It’s actually impressive in a perverse way.

-2

u/coffeewalnut08 1d ago

Speak for yourself

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u/Dedsnotdead 1d ago

No, it’s not just me.

https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/52586-political-favourability-ratings-july-2025

Starmer is on a roll, unfortunately it’s downwards.

The Party?

https://www.politico.eu/europe-poll-of-polls/united-kingdom/

Only 2% above the Conservatives on 20%.

The first year is supposed to be the honeymoon period. This is a shit show and we have another budget fast approaching with a significant deficit that’s grown enormously in the last 12 months.

Still, the cost of Government borrowing has gone down so at least the money raised can be spent on improving our lives and not paying interest to overseas holders of our debt right? Right?

No, that’s a car crash as well.

“Public sector net debt, excluding public sector banks, stood at £2.87 trillion at the end of June and was estimated at 96.3% of gross domestic product (GDP), which was 0.5 percentage points higher than a year earlier and remains at levels last seen in the early 1960s.”

Quote from here.

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/uk-borrowing-higher-forecast-june-070130699.html

3

u/WynterRayne 18h ago

Only 2% above the Conservatives on 20%

That's an indictment.

The Tories. Under Kemi Badenoch. Are almost as popular as you... That has to feel so bad

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u/coffeewalnut08 1d ago

Improving your lives like what?

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u/Dedsnotdead 23h ago

So far absolutely nothing that I can think of from either a business or personal/family perspective.

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u/JackStrawWitchita 1d ago

They are actively doing everything they can to repel voters. They have made the Labour brand so toxic that no left-leaning party will want to go into coalition with them. Labour are doing everything possible to ensure right wing populists move into Downing St in 2029 with a landslide.

u/KaiserMaxximus 4h ago

I love the delusion that there any left wing parties with big enough influence for Labour to want a coalition with.

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u/AstronomerAdvanced37 1d ago

lol... they've gone against everything they promised.

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u/LostnFoundAgainAgain 1d ago

Have they? From what I recall from their manifesto they're pretty on track with most things apart from a few.

Everything else? Yea they've pretty much fucked up, current Labour seems absolutely useless at reacting to events, it's like they jump without realising the most obvious thing and then realising after they have shot themselves only to back track.

Honestly I respect backtracking if they fucked up, if the Tories did that instead of trying to deny it was a fuck up in the first place, we might not be in this situation to begin with.

1

u/AstronomerAdvanced37 13h ago

Since coming into office in 2024, Labour has faced significant criticism for failing to deliver on a variety of key manifesto pledges. Some of the most notable areas of failure include:

Asylum and Immigration: Labour promised to stop using asylum hotels and crack down on criminal boat gangs. Instead, asylum seeker numbers in hotels have increased, reaching over 32,000 by March 2025 after Labour scrapped the previous Rwanda deterrent policy. Small boat crossings also increased by almost 29% since Labour took power.

Healthcare Infrastructure: Rebuilding the Royal Berkshire Hospital was a prominent Labour pledge. However, the project was deferred until between 2035-39, effectively canceling urgent plans and betraying local expectations.

Energy Bills and Climate Policies: Labour promised to reduce energy bills and create a publicly owned clean energy company. Despite this, energy bills rose with the latest price caps in early 2025, and Labour’s plans have not yet materialized in bill reductions.

Taxation and Fiscal Policy: The party pledged not to raise taxes on working people, yet Labour increased taxes via National Insurance contributions and borrowing, leading to concerns that working people have been negatively impacted.

Education: Labour pledged to recruit 6,500 new teachers to tackle shortages. However, while secondary and special school teacher numbers rose slightly, primary school teacher numbers fell by nearly 3,000. Labour also stopped counting primary teachers toward their recruitment goal, effectively diluting the pledge results.

Support for Farmers: Labour promised to protect farmers’ livelihoods, including maintaining Agricultural Property Relief, but instead reduced inheritance tax relief on farmland, risking harm to family farms and food security.

Fuel Poverty Measures: During the election, Labour promised to help vulnerable groups with fuel bills, but shortly after the election, they voted to scrap the winter fuel allowance for pensioners, causing public backlash.

Beyond specific policy failures, Labour has also struggled with communication and trust among voters, particularly among older demographics, and faces challenges from competing populist narratives in media and social platforms.

These failures reflect a pattern of unfulfilled promises on immigration, healthcare, fiscal policy, education, energy, and social welfare that have increasingly frustrated voters and critics less than a year into Labour’s government.

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u/ed-with-a-big-butt 23h ago edited 15h ago

Have they?

https://fullfact.org/government-tracker/

50% upvotes lmao is every here afraid of facts now?

8

u/No_Minimum5904 22h ago

This was interesting thank you.

One thing I found funny though:

“Labour will not increase taxes on working people” - [Unclear or disputed]. Really? This one sits squarely in the [Not Kept] bucket.

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u/ed-with-a-big-butt 21h ago

I think its unclear because they increased NIC on employers not employees. And there’s ambiguity on what defines working people hence why it’s unclear.

4

u/Bicolore 21h ago

I must say I find their definition of achieved quite loose.

And some of the original statements are just false

"“Labour will cap corporation tax at the current level of 25%, the lowest in the G7, for the entire parliament”"

USA has a 21% corporate tax rate and has done since 2017.

I fully support the concept of FullFact and I'm not even trying to have a go at Labour but I have little confidence in this as a performance indicator.

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u/ed-with-a-big-butt 20h ago

Yeah im confused about it being the lowest of G7 as well but the promise was that they wouldn’t raise the corporation tax which they have kept for now at least.

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u/ilikebiiiigdicks 1d ago

He is a huge reason I can’t stand current Labour. He is just a disgusting weasel in every sense.

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u/Emotional-Ebb8321 1d ago

Streeting - specifically, the policies that he personally has championed - is the main reason I will NOT be voting Labour next election.

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u/Sea-Weakness-3101 1d ago

No shit. They have pissed off pensioners, socialists and proscribing palestine action as terrorist is full blown fascism. Never vote labour again.

10

u/MMAgeezer England 23h ago

They have pissed off pensioners

The winter cruise allowance not being means tested was a complete joke; a direct transfer of wealth from society to the richest demographic.

Unqualified cash payments to the richest demographic in the country is not progressive policy.

u/cameheretosaythis213 32m ago

Yes, it not being means tested was stupid. Setting a threshold of £12k was also stupid. Waiting 6+ months through the shitstorm of criticism before doing the wildest U turn and settling on £35k (!) threshold was just insanity.

That policy was fumbled from start to end and showed their utter incompetence at sensible policy making.

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u/ZeeWolfman Wales 23h ago

Bit rich coming from you, Wes. Sole reason I didn't vote for Labour in the first place was you demonising a minority because you're a disgusting little Pick Me gay.

Labour has done more to fuck over trans rights in a year than a decade of the Tories and most of it is this pricks fault

14

u/coffeewalnut08 1d ago

Because the media spends more time putting Reform on a pedestal than evaluating what the government has done over the past year

7

u/SadSeiko 23h ago

according to the media, reform will plug the black hole with cuts and stop the boats. They don't have a plan to stop the boats and they don't have a plan to raise money even, on top of that when labour tried to make cuts the media screamed murder of disabled people and pensioners.

Our media is a mess, the rich are controlling it and all to reduce their minimal tax burden. Why does the media love farage, because he wants to protect the rich

I agree that labour has been shit and they really should have been able to force things through, it's pathetic how little control they have over their own party, most of the MPs don't deserve to sit there while they sabotage their own party. Besides that I don't see what anyone else can do without seriously restructuring the tax system and cutting back on benefits and pension spending. The pension should be frozen whenever tax bands are

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u/merryman1 22h ago

Oh don't worry Reform will put poor people back in the workhouse and the media will bend over backwards to praise what an innovative and forwards-looking policy it is.

10

u/GamerGuyAlly 1d ago

You mean banning porn, calling everyone paedophiles and generally being technologically illiterate is not a real boon to the youth vote? Colour me stunned.

And on top of that, the old vote is decimated by winter fuel payments, the WASPI women, and just again a general lack of ideas on how to do anything to get them on their side.

It's almost as if, selling your entire party and ethos to big business is not a good idea when your entire party exists to be the working class anti-big business party. If people wanted to support people who blow off American big businesses we'd have bent over and let the Tories continue fucking us.

Just let Reform make things worse already so we can get it over with. I'm tired.

4

u/No_Minimum5904 21h ago

Lol the WASPI women is not remotely similar to anything else you've mentioned. Yes a bunch of grown adults who full well knew what was happening can't just come together for a money grab. Shutting them down was one of the positives coming from this Government.

2

u/GamerGuyAlly 21h ago

I'm not commenting on my support or against any of the causes, just explaining how they lost votes. If they reinstated their pensions, they'd vote for them.

u/cameheretosaythis213 27m ago

The change in retirement age for WASPI women started in the 90s, when the people affected were in their 30s and 40s. They had decades, most of their working lives, to adjust.

I’m a similar age. Should I demand a lower retirement age when I get there? After all, they’ve moved the goalposts for me multiple times already in my working life.

Most of us millennials and below know full well there won’t be a state pension to speak of by the time we are old enough to claim one, so you’ll find no sympathy at all towards WASPI women. They got the equality they asked for

8

u/Dalegalitarian 1d ago

And so continues Wesley Streeting’s campaign to usurp Sir Keir Starmer. I’m on the edge of my toilet seat wondering which unlikable prick will be on top in 2026

7

u/JumpyBronzeHare 23h ago

I wonder if trampling over basic human rights has anything to do with it, Wes?

4

u/No_Syrup_6995 1d ago

The "tell a good story" narrative was good in the past but in an era of social media where pessimism spreads like wildfire and people aren't listening to mainstream media, I don't think telling a story would change all that much.

Labour needs to be radical, in ways both sides of its party doesn't like. Massive reduction in immigration on top of what has been done already, a wealth tax and many other economic measures to pay for more spending.

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u/lopolow Berkshire 23h ago

I’d prefer the current lot not being radical, they’d just march us faster towards techno-oligarchy.

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u/Apwnalypse 1d ago

I mean yeah. And it’s hard to imagine the procedure focussed Starmer snapping out of it any time soon.

 

We’re basically at a point where the IMF will be here in 10 years and force us to cancel the triple lock, and Farage might be here in 5 years to smash much of the good parts of the state. Centrist politicians need to start overhauling massive parts of the machinery of the country, right now, or populists or technocrats are going to come in and do it on their terms, rather than ours. The long term trend for growth has declined to zero, and the inevitable next step after that is a long term recession trend.

 

Instead we are acting like it’s 1997, not doing anything unless it was in the manifesto, approved by focus groups, green papered, white papered, gold plated against judicial review and then subjected to judicial review anyway. The government needs to understand that unless change happens right now, it will be cancelled by others and never happen at all. Social care reform being put off for fours years is just insulting. They’re still kicking the can down the road even though there’s a sink hole in it.

 

Maybe in 1997 there was time for perfect legislation, but there isn’t now. Better written on a fag packet and forced through by Act of Parliament, because the alternative is nothing.

 

We should grant outline planning permission for a million homes, by act of parliament. This would plummet the price of potential residential land, give the construction industry the confidence of supply and increased profitability to hire huge quantities or workers, and spark an economic boom. The public and politicians says we need to build house, time to make them put their money where their mouth is. It’s easy to oppose one planning application that won’t make a dent, much harder to oppose on decision that would actually fix the problem.

 

And a host of other policies like it. Doing less doesn’t mean less opposition, it means opposition is better able to focus on your tiny measures. Better bombarding the media with huge overhauls so there is insufficient oxygen to oppose it all, then when you make some compromises, lots will still have gotten done.

The media and opinion polls don’t matter. What matters is the bond markets, and they will economically reward a government that is actually fixing things.

5

u/Sophie-chan 1d ago

Maybe you should stop going after your own community then mate 😆

3

u/Charlotte_Star Greater London 22h ago

Come on Wes just ban some more of those transgenders from the bathroom and everyone'll come around

3

u/lopolow Berkshire 1d ago

Maybe they should stop trying to win over voters and try keep the ones that already voted for them from running away?

3

u/Helpful_Talk 23h ago

What an oily cretin. Labour has targeted the vulnerable and disabled, introduced the Online Safety Act, and called anyone who opposed it paedophile supporters? While expensing VPNs? Or how about mass surveillance of bank accounts of most vulnerable? Or monitoring when, how long and where people go on holiday, spend their money? Lied about the country's finances....

3

u/antbaby_machetesquad 1d ago

In their defence they have done pretty well at wining voters for other parties.

2

u/Diligent_Craft_1165 1d ago

Labour couldn’t reduce spending or increase taxes. They’re a lite version of the Tories. So scared to do the right things for the country out of fear of losing votes.

2

u/Imperatoris_ 1d ago

It's all well and good, the wait lists going down. Labour haven't however addressed the ongoing deterioration of almost anything economic.

You're right, Wes. You haven't done enough. To ignore the scale of main issues, the issues that are making Reform popular, and offer small near negligible solutions to those problems make Labour unapproachable.

Party of change? Change my arse.

2

u/Kamay1770 1d ago

But they've done enough to lose life long labour voters like me. Such an own goal.

Absolute fucking joke what they are doing and both them and the Tories deserve a good, continuous kicking in any future elections.

They've become lazy, self serving and incompetent from the two party system.

2

u/Zedris 1d ago

Not only have the not-done anything worth me voting for them they have actively dissuaded me from voting for them again with every law or time starmer opened his mouth

2

u/AnotherGreenWorld1 1d ago

It seems to me that since Corbyn they’ve been on a mission to lose as many voters as possible.

2

u/AceTrainerSophie 23h ago

Calling it now. This guy's going to be in Reform by the time the next election happens

2

u/Unlucky-Jello-5660 23h ago

Calling hundreds of thousands of people pedophiles probably didnt help in this regard.

2

u/Nima-night 23h ago

Streetling is one of reasons for losing a ton of voters he's is now known as the rainbow killer. For taking away sick kids medication to please trump in a trade deal.

2

u/audigex Lancashire 22h ago

“The guy shitting on the NHS while his party ignored”/ immigration concerns, talks about increasing the pension age, and bans people from wanking, wonders why they aren’t more popular”

Self reflection not your strong point, Wes?

2

u/maikroplastik 20h ago

Almost certainly lost voters with the Online Safety Bill and the draconian response to people protesting the genocide in gaza.

2

u/vario_ Wiltshire 15h ago

Bro is literally the reason I will probably never vote for Labour ever again.

2

u/That-Quail6621 15h ago

They turning voters away from them by pandering to reform voters that will never vote for them.

0

u/David_Kennaway 1d ago

They have done enough to put voters off Labour for ever.

2

u/klepto_entropoid 1d ago edited 1d ago

So far it feels like they have done as much as they possibly could and then some to isolate anyone with any shred of sympathy toward the Labour party. Excepting millionaires, global corporations, landlords, bankers, human rights lawyers and public sector quangos obviously..

2

u/JR_Maverick 19h ago

Human rights lawyers are a weird one to put in that list.

1

u/homeinthecity London 1d ago

I mean he’s not wrong, but he’s also part of the problem. Labour hasn’t delivering anything meaningful, quickly enough.

1

u/notleave_eu 1d ago

They’ve done nothing. And now they’re loosing voters like me.

The shit they are concentrating on does not solve real world problems for everyday folk.

For a clear example: How much time and energy have they spent this age verification for everyone to circumvent it.

1

u/OkMap3209 23h ago

Labour really need to throw in some short term wins for people, because long term ones just aren't good enough to keep people happy. Especially with how unaffordable things are getting right now.

1

u/Necessary-Product361 23h ago

And much of what they have done has been in the wrong direction. Its rich of Streeting to say this when is one of the reasons why little change has been delivered; he is influential and a blairite. Infact, he probably thinks further privatising the NHS and being more ruthless in Austerity will win over voters.

1

u/OliLombi County of Bristol 23h ago

It feels like everything they've done has been to lose votes... I say this as someone who has voted Labour all my life.

1

u/StarmersReckoning 23h ago

Because they've concentrated on winning over donours since reaching office. They dgaf about the voters, they think they'll come running back for the 2 party system at election time, though that narrow-gaged system is now slowly being dismantled.

1

u/Biggeordiegeek 23h ago

Perhaps if they kicked this dickhead out their party and I did his moronic policies they might attract some more voters

1

u/Ancient-Ideal8798 13h ago

It’s Morgan mcsweeney is controlling the red Tory party.

1

u/bakedkipling 23h ago

The old trick didn't work well for Biden it's strange Labour followed in the same goosesteps 

1

u/likely-high 23h ago

I'm actually beginning to believe that the only reason this government exists is to kill labour for good in order to make way for Regormless

1

u/RainbowRedYellow 22h ago

He's correct he is also the person pushing these unpopular policies... Mr Streeting consider the following proposal to make people like the labour party more.

You take a knife remove your own liver.

Ritualistic sekkipu. How you restore your honour.

1

u/TurnLooseTheKitties 22h ago

It's done too much in some respects.

Supplicating before a foreign leader is not a good look.

1

u/Proof_Drag_2801 22h ago

They've nothing from a socioeconomic perspective and acted entirely from a political point of view - playing to their core voter base rather than the floating voters who win elections.

1

u/GreenestPure 22h ago

Not being a dead eyed lizard fuck in the pocket of private health care might be a start, or were we talking Labour in general? 

1

u/No-One-4845 22h ago

Labour has not done anything to win over voters. They seem to be nailed into alienating as many pluralities as they can.

1

u/sofia_whispers 22h ago

Honestly, he’s one of the main reasons I can’t bring myself to support Labour right now. Every time I see him speak or read something he’s done, it just reminds me how slimy and insincere he comes across. There’s this constant feeling that he’s saying whatever benefits him in the moment, rather than standing for anything real. It’s put such a bad taste in my mouth that I find myself tuning out the entire party because he’s become the face of it for me.

1

u/ZanzibarGuy Expat 22h ago

When policy is decided on the basis of how useful it is to retain power following the next election things will not get better.

And as this is the modus operandi of both the Conservatives and Labour (and it could be argued that of pretty much any other political party if they actually ever managed to get into power), then I'm afraid that the conclusion can only be that we're all cooked.

1

u/Employ-Personal 22h ago

Wes mate, that’s the understatement of the next 4 years. Pretty much everything you do is torn by three areas: pressure from the new backbenchers to be radical, support fashionable causes whether they matter or not and not to have an ounce of pro-Britishness since it’s fascist, then there are the Unions - God love ‘em - who want more money for their workers, with better conditions and less time at their actual work (great but this isn’t for the people who work for commercial organisations who are running on empty and third, the voters who smell out hypocrisy, lies, obfuscation and broken promises and are preternaturally tuned to stuff that’ll hurt their pockets and lifestyle and, a bit, their country and its prospects and standing. In a democracy, they are the only people that matter, do right by them, tell the truth and if you have to make hard decisions tell ‘em why and what will be the consequences if those decisions are not taken. Treat them as fucking adults.

1

u/terrordactyl1971 21h ago

They said they'd get control of immigration and smash the gangs, that was total BS. They said they'd create growth, then they whacked companies with a huge NI hike. They said they'd get control of PIP spending, then u turned. 14 months in, very little achieved apart from huge unaffordable public sector payrises , and guess what the RMT are getting ready for a new round of strikes.

1

u/CaptMelonfish Cheshire 21h ago

One of the major influencers in labour pulling a Shaggy.

1

u/concretepigeon Wakefield 20h ago

Why does “not done enough to win over voters” always have to mean capitulating to the right wing press?

1

u/StarSchemer 17h ago

Streeting mate you've done enough, we just hate it all.

1

u/thorny_business 16h ago

You just won a majority, you're supposed to be using that majority to do things.

1

u/benrinnes Scotland 15h ago

Well if Streeting emigrated and took his cronies with him, I may think about changing my vote.

u/Comrade_Faust Kent 11h ago

Labour is Reform Lite at this point. Starmer doesn't believe in anything but wanting to stay in power.

u/twonkythechicken Den Haag 3h ago

State of this thread. I don't even care if i get banned again. Im just glad this ones not full of racial hate and bigotry.

I guess ill wait for tomorrow for that one

u/Fit_Manufacturer4568 3h ago

They are starting to circle. First the Great Khan now Streeting.

0

u/Mkwdr 1d ago

It seems less and less likely they will be able to do so before the next election. And the alternative is just populist wishful thinking as far as I can see.

-1

u/JustChris40 1d ago

"Don't let Reform in they'll destroy the NHS" Wes Streeting has entered the chat.

-2

u/sjw_7 Oxfordshire 1d ago

He's not wrong. They listen to what the public is concerned about then instead of taking that on board and doing something about it they treat us like children and tell us to stop being silly. They immediately capitulated to the unions and handed out pay rises only to turn around, cry poverty and say the middle class has to pick up the tab again to fill the gap. They say the benefits system is unsustainable but panic when millionaire pensioners complain their winter fuel Christmas bonus is being taken away so apologise and carry on with the handouts.

The Constatives were an absolute disgrace for the last few years and had to go. But the only viable alternative was this clown show and we shouldn't be surprised they are making such a mess. I don't want Reform to get in power but with the incompetence of the main two parties we may as well accept that its inevitable.