Will Theresa May keep her promises on her "Shared Society"

KJ and Fee celebrate Theresa May's Tory u-turn, for the moment...

SOURCE The shared society: Prime Minister's speech at the Charity Commission annual meeting

For we know what happens when mainstream, centre-ground politics fails. People embrace the fringe – the politics of division and despair. They turn to those who offer easy answers – who claim to understand people’s problems and always know what – and who – to blame. We see those fringe voices gaining prominence in some countries across Europe today – voices from the hard-left and the far-right stepping forward and sensing that this is their time. But they stand on the shoulders of mainstream politicians who have allowed unfairness and division to grow by ignoring the legitimate concerns of ordinary people for too long. Politicians who embraced the twin pillars of liberalism and globalisation as the great forces for good that they are, but failed to understand that for too many people – particularly those on modest to low incomes living in rich countries like our own – those forces are something to be concerned, not thrilled, about. Politicians who supported and promoted an economic system that works well for a privileged few, but failed to ensure that the prosperity generated by free markets and free trade is shared by everyone, in every corner and community of their land.

SOURCE Prime Minister unveils plans to transform mental health support

The plans aim to make mental health an everyday concern for every bit of the system, helping ensure that no one affected by mental ill-health goes unattended. It includes... new ways to right the injustices people with mental health problems face. Despite known links between debt and mental health, currently hundreds of mental health patients are charged up to £300 by their GP for a form to prove they have mental health issues.

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Bank of England director explains why broke Britain is broken. Is anybody listening?

In his first tweet after being sacked as Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne chirped "Others will judge - I hope I've left the economy in a better state than I found it".

It so happens two weeks earlier the excellent Andy Haldane, executive director at the Bank of England, made his judgement. The date is important, as Osborne was still sitting confidently on his stool in the Treasury, so Haldane wasn't simply knifing a political corpse. Haldane was speaking truth to power, as so many others who should be doing so had long since ceased.

Haldane's speech in June 2016, titled "Whose Recovery?", should be essential reading in particular for the revolting Labour MPs. The speech offers them an insight into why the ordinary Labour Party membership backed Jeremy Corbyn. And why the Labour Party actually is a party of protest, both in Government and in Opposition. 

 

The Golden Rule states "Whoever has the Gold makes the Rules". Whether in Government or in Opposition, the Labour Party should represent those without the Gold, and should act as a counterbalance to those who make the Rules even when it is in Government. Because when the Labour Party was not a party of protest, it became the de facto Tory Party (a.k.a. "New Labour"). In truth, had Tory leaders during the Blair years been brighter they could have more quickly undermined Blair by supporting, not opposing, his policies.

Britain needs strong parties of all complexions, from left to right. Regime change in the Tory Party is done with ruthless corporate efficiency, while in the Labour Party it is done with all the blood and broken noses of a pub brawl. Both methods are fine, so long as both emerge representing their members.

Haldane, a product of state school and redbrick university, whether he is in an oak panelled room or in a whitewashed community centre listens to what he hears and  he sees what he looks at. Listening and seeing are talents sadly missing in the revolting Labour MPs. 

In his speech Haldane says:
"I began by speaking about the UK’s economic recovery.  I never got as far as the improvement in the jobs market or surging confidence.  I was stopped in my tracks by a forest of furrowed brows and a phalanx of probing questions, not all of them gentle.  “What exactly do you mean by recovery?” one asked.  “My charity is dealing with 50% more homeless people than three years ago.”   Every other charity in the room had similar stories to tell.  Whether it was food banks, mental health problems or drug addiction, all of the numbers were up.  The language of “recovery” simply did not fit their facts."

We leave it to Haldane to explain whether Osborne left the economy better than he found it, and why ordinary Labour Party members support Jeremy Corbyn:

1) Haldane points out that the UK economy as a whole can improve by making the rich slightly richer and the poor much poorer:

2) Regional income inequality has widened.
Haldane says:
"Another notable pattern in regional income gains and losses is that the largest gains have come in regions where income was already high – London (incomes more than 30% above the UK average) and the
South-East (14% higher). Contrarily, some of the larger losses have been in regions where income was already-low – Northern Ireland (18% lower than the UK average) and Yorkshire and Humberside (14% lower). Put differently, since the crisis the regional distribution of incomes has widened."

3) In recent years the rich have been given more and the poor have been made poorer. Haldane says: 
"in a subjective well-being sense, there may have been no recovery in the UK over the past few years". 

He states:
"aggregate GDP figures may over-state somewhat the impact of the recovery on societal well-being: gains by the already-rich boost well-being by less than equivalent losses by the already-poor. To demonstrate that, Chart 12 plots an illustrative measure of “social welfare”. "

3) The recovery from the 2008 recession has been the slowest in decades:

4) By 2015 GDP per person was only 1% above pre-crash levels.

5) The GDP figure includes all UK income, including that which is sent overseas. Office for National Statistics figures show over half of UK quoted shares are owned by the 'rest of the World'. Illustrating how boosting company profits by holding down wages isn't good for Britons.

% of UK stock market owned by "rest of the World"

Haldane states that in terms of GDP per head that is actually kept in the UK there has been no recovery:

6) The "jobs recovery" has not been a "wages recovery". Noting that more people are in poorer paying jobs, Haldane states: 
"Although the recovery of the past few years has been jobs-rich, it has been notably pay-poor."
Haldane goes on to say:
"This is the longest period of flat or falling wages since at least the middle of the 19th Century". 

7) Bank of England and Office for National Statistics figures for 2015 show that in fact only London and the South East have passed their pre-crash peak. Haldane says:
"For example, in Northern Ireland GDP per head remains 11% below its peak, in Yorkshire and Humberside 6% below and here in Wales 2% below."

8) When it comes to Wealth, Haldane says:

"If we turn from income to wealth, the picture is much the same...This has risen across all regions. But the pattern is again uneven, with the largest gains in London (47%) and the South-East (25%), whereas in Wales the gains are smaller (8%) and in the North East there has been a small fall in wealth. 

"..these gains have come principally from rises in property and pension wealth. In other words, the gains have been skewed towards those in society who own their own home or who have sizable pension pots."

Andy Haldane says in this speech:
"The rising economic tide has not lifted all boats. Indeed, a sizable fraction of households have seen no recovery in their disposable incomes, a rise in job insecurity and at best modest rises in their wealth. For them, the “recovery puzzle” may not be so puzzling. These data also suggest that distributional factors may be important when understanding “whose recovery”. "
 
"This has been an uneven economic recovery, looking across regions, income and age cohorts. Large parts of the UK – many regions, those on lower incomes, the young, renters - have not experienced any meaningful recovery in their incomes or in their wealth."

The revolting Labour MPs desperately hope to cling to their well compensated jobs. The poor things have invested years sucking up to one set of leaders, only to find them chucked out and replaced by Jeremy Corbyn of all people! Probably Corbyn has so little support among the MPs because nobody had bothered licking their spittle onto him.

Labour MPs need to emulate Andy Haldane. Instead of cloaking themselves in self-importance, convinced that only they can "save the Party", they need to go out and see what they look at, and listen to what they hear.  


Labour MPs must stop peeping out of the windows of their Westminster Chambers, demonising their own party members. 

Instead of plotting engrossed in their Westminster mutual admiration society, they need to understand the reasons why Labour Party Members around Britain overwhelmingly supported Jeremy Corbyn.

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Tory Brexit MPs accuse Cameron of being an "outright liar"

SOURCE INDEPENDENT: EU Referendum - Conservative rifts deepen as MPs call for David Cameron to quit

Bill Cash, a veteran Eurosceptic who chairs the European Scrutiny Committee, branded the PM's EU Remain campaign “monumentally misleading propaganda". His comments follow a weekend of Tory attacks on Mr Cameron, which were led by Nadine Dorries, who said she believed he will be “toast” within days of a Brexit vote and branded him an "outright liar". Prominent backbencher Andrew Bridgen also said that more than 50 MPs were ready to move against the Tory leader if Britons vote for Brexit on June 23. In another attack, employment minister Priti Patel said Mr Cameron was “too rich” to care about immigration. Meanwhile, Michael Gove and Mr Johnson launched an unprecedented attack on the Prime Minister's authority as they accused him of a having a “corrosive” impact on public trust in politicians because he had not lived up to promises to cut immigration.

SOURCE DAILY MAIL: David Cameron could be ousted as Prime Minister whether he wins or loses EU vote as MPs pledge to a force a coup if he fails to stop Tory civil war

Senior backbench Tory MPs this morning pledged to force a vote of no confidence if he fails to stop the blue-on-blue infighting that has rocked the Conservatives in the first week of the EU referendum campaign. The challenge to the Prime Minister's leadership came as Iain Duncan Smith, his Work and Pensions Secretary, launched an astonishing attack on his approach to the referendum this morning, accusing him of having a 'low opinion' of British people and leading a 'pessimistic' campaign. Just 50 Tory MPs are needed to trigger a vote of no confidence in the leader - meaning just over a third of the 139 pro-Brexit Tory names would be needed to trigger a coup and paving the way for Boris Johnson to become Prime Minister. A senior Tory MP told the Sunday Times: 'Cameron's position will be untenable even if he wins the referendum if he carries on like this. There will be no problem getting 50 names.'

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How do Tories catch tax dodgers? By cutting HMRC’s budget by £400m between now and 2020

SOURCE MIRROR: David Cameron blasted over £400m cut to tax collectors in furious Prime Minister's Questions clash

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Even David Cameron’s mother Mary has signed a petition against the cuts

SOURCE BBC NEWS: David Cameron's mother signs anti-cuts petition

Mary Cameron, 81, has put her name to a campaign against plans by Conservative-run Oxfordshire County Council to close a number of the centres. Retired magistrate, Mrs Cameron, told the newspaper: "My name is on the petition but I don't want to discuss this any further." She reportedly signed the petition while visiting her son in Oxfordshire. Campaigners are trying to stop the closure of nearly all of Oxfordshire's 44 children's centres - the county council wants to keep eight hubs, to save £8m pounds. The petition describes the proposals as a "false economy", and says the early intervention services provide numerous economic and other long-term benefits. Campaign organiser Jill Huish said she was "not surprised" to have the Prime Minister's mother's endorsement. "It shows how deep austerity is cutting our most vulnerable when even David Cameron's mum has had enough," she said. The prime minister previously wrote to the local authority in his capacity as MP for Witney expressing "disappointment" at planned cuts to museums, libraries and day centres for the elderly. But council leader Ian Hudspeth hit back, saying the cuts were the result of reductions in funding from central government. Members of Unite employed in early intervention by Oxfordshire County Council will walk out on strike on February 16 after voting overwhelmingly for industrial action.

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Leaked letter: Cameron wrote to his Oxfordshire council, questioning cuts to frontline services. Why didn't he just write to Osborne?!

KJ and Fee suspect he did...

SOURCE TELEGRAPH: David Cameron complains to his local council about cuts to services

David Cameron has become embroiled in a bizarre row with his local council after he complained about cuts to frontline services that it blames on the government slashing its budget. The Prime Minister wrote to Oxfordshire County Council leader Ian Hudspeth to say he is "disappointed" at proposed "cuts to frontline services, from elderly day centres, to libraries, to museums". Mr Cameron, who is the MP for Oxfordshire's Witney constituency, warned in a letter leaked to the local newspaper that the council should "move cautiously in setting out its budget plans" and that the government had not yet announced how much the council would receive in central government grants next year. He also advised that the council should sell off excess council property to help fund vital services. But Mr Hudspeth replied to remind the PM that he "worked hard to assist you in achieving a Conservative majority" and suggested that the cuts were needed as a result of government funding being slashed. Mr Cameron said that while there had been a "slight fall" in government grants much of the apparent cut-back was due to a re-allocation of school funding from local education authorities to academies. He said the council's spending power had actually increased by 1.3 per cent. Mr Hudspeth hit back by saying he would not describe the government's grant dropping from £194million in 2009/10 to just £122million this year as a "slight fall". The council leader said that the local authority had also reduced its staffing levels by 3,000 people since 2010. He added that Mr Cameron's suggestion to sell off land would be "neither legal, nor sustainable in the long-term since they are one-off receipts".

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Wind farm subsidies will end a year early. Another promise abandoned thanks to pressure from the oil lobby?

KJ and Chris can see the spirit of Magna Carta in Cameron's "greenest government ever"...

SOURCE BBC NEWS: Earlier end to subsidies for new UK onshore wind farms

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Since 1966 the governing party has never got more than a third of the total electorate's votes

ELECTION RESULTS SINCE 1946

ELECTORAL REFORM SOCIETY: If You Felt Like Your Vote Didn't Count for Much on 7 May, You're Not on Your Own

50% of all votes in the election (15million) went to losing candidates, while 74% of votes (22million) were 'wasted' - i.e. they didn't contribute to electing the winning MP. At the same time, 331 of our 650 MPs were elected on under 50% of the vote, and 191 with less than 30% of the electorate. An estimated 2.8million people voted 'tactically' this election for candidates they didn't fully support - nearly a tenth of all voters. Much of this 'lesser evil' approach comes from the fact that in some constituencies there are only one or two candidates who realistically stand a chance of winning. Many of these are 'safe seats'. The ERS was able to call the winner correctly in 363 of 368 seats - a month before polling day - due to the prevalence of these under First Past the Post. Now, we're no Mystic Megs - we just know the system is bust. The problem goes deeper than these statistics, though. First Past the Post is artificially exaggerating divides in the UK - giving the SNP nearly all Scottish seats on half of Scottish votes, while virtually excluding Labour from the South of England. Equally, Labour are over-represented in Wales, while the Conservatives are under-represented in the North of England and Scotland. It's a mess. The situation is just as bad in Northern Ireland. Cross-community parties there got a tenth of the vote on 7 May - but no seats. Yet the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) received nearly half the seats on just a quarter of the vote.

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The way out of a recession is to borrow and invest. It’s text book

Fee, KJ and Chris get confused by Tory and Labour economic policy...

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Now it’s Rifkind and Straw: How many of our “cash for access” legislators are selling out the national interest?

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Labour’s Jack Straw and the Tories’ Sir Malcolm Rifkind were secretly filmed discussing how they could use their contacts to benefit a private Chinese company and both boasted about charging at least £5,000-a-day. In the conversation with the undercover reporters Sir Malcolm was filmed discussing that his usual fee was 'somewhere in the region of £5,000 to £8,000' for half a day's work. Straw told undercover reporters he would expect £5,000 per day. MPs earn £67,060-a-year, but Sir Malcolm claimed this was not enough for someone of his professional background. Challenged about why he does not do voluntary work to provide experience of the world outside politics, Sir Malcolm told BBC Two's Daily Politics: 'I have two objectives, I have to have that broader hinterland as you so nicely describe it, but I do also want to have the standard of living that my professional background would normally entitle me to have.' Defending his position, Sir Malcolm said there were 'about 200' MPs who had business interests and insisted many members of the public did not want 'full-time politicians'. He said that 'many ex-ministers, former chancellors, home secretaries, prime ministers, as well as other people, have served on advisory boards' and insisted it was 'entirely proper'. Jack Straw, the Blackburn MP, told how he had used his influence to change EU rules on behalf of a private company he already works for and declares an interest in. He also claimed to have used 'charm and menace' to persuade the Ukrainian prime minister to change laws on behalf of the commodity firm, which pays him £60,000 a year. Mr Straw, 68, said he would not take on the role while he remained an MP, but could be more helpful if he were to become a peer in the House of Lords after the election.

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Cameron admits his promise to freeze the education budget is, in fact, a cut

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