Labour party

Labour's plans for wholesale renationalisation will cost at least £196billion, business leaders warn today. The party’s next election manifesto is expected to contain proposals to take Royal Mail, train operators and water and energy firms back into public ownership. The CBI employers’ group said this could increase public debt by 10.7 per cent, pushing it above £2trillion. The Labour party leader said vital services had been ‘carved up and fleeced by their private owners’. The party’s next election manifesto is expected to contain proposals to take Royal Mail, train operators and water and energy firms back into public ownership. The upfront cost would be the equivalent of taking every penny of income tax paid by British citizens for a whole year. ‘The price tag for Labour’s renationalisation plans is beyond eye-watering – close to £200billion,’ said Rain Newton-Smith, the CBI’s chief economist. ‘And … [Read more...] about Labour’s £196 billion bill to nationalise key firms as Jeremy Corbyn’s next election manifesto is expected to contain a pledge to take Royal Mail and train operators into public ownership

Not now, darling. There are really more important things than women. And the Labour party. There is Brexit, the Queen’s speech, voter suppression, almost every other issue – and the unfettered egos of Boris Johnson and the posh bouncer Dominic Cummings. And there is the Brexit party on the sidelines, with its Stepford Wives view of femininity. This is not the time to think about that “single issue” of female representation, because everything else is more urgent. Except, actually, there is no policy that doesn’t affect the majority of the population – women. And there is no future for Labour unless it attracts women voters. When John McDonnell spoke of shortening the working week, which is great, I wondered how this plays out in the double shift of paid work and domestic work that is most women’s lives. Jeremy Corbyn’s power is leaking away. No simple chant can bring it back – and if you want to call me a Tory for saying so, more … [Read more...] about Does Labour really want to elect a female leader?

Jeremy Corbyn is still prepared to vote for an election this year, despite growing concerns in his party about the practicalities of a pre-Christmas poll and speculation that it could end up being pushed into early 2020. His shadow cabinet discussed Labour’s readiness for a poll in late November or early December at a meeting on Tuesday. Corbyn has repeatedly said he will vote and whip for an election as soon as a no-deal Brexit is off the table. The earliest an election could be scheduled is 28 November if Johnson tabled a motion for one next week and enough opposition MPs supported it to give him a two-thirds majority. There are then only two subsequent Thursday dates – 5 December or 12 December – on which an election could be held given that a date any closer to Christmas would be logistically impractical, according to civil service advice. If Corbyn were to try to get an election by tabling a motion of no confidence in the prime minister, a two-week period would … [Read more...] about Labour MPs lukewarm over prospect of snap election this year

brexit countdown_bg Created with Sketch. Jeremy Corbyn and his allies have been accused of 'living on another planet' by furious Labour MPs amid a growing row over when a general election should take place.  Mr Corbyn remains adamant that a snap election should come before a second Brexit referendum but he is under increasing pressure to switch his stance.  Many MPs and senior figures believe a referendum must take place before an election to avoid the party suffering heavy losses over its neutral Brexit policy.  The issue came to a head at a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party earlier this week.  Ian Lavery and Andrew Gwynne, the two shadow cabinet ministers in charge of coordinating Labour's election campaign, reportedly told the PLP that the party had 'never been in better shape' for a snap poll.  But the claim was met with incredulity by many MPs who apparently told Mr Corbyn's allies that they could not support an early election before a … [Read more...] about Labour MPs accuse Jeremy Corbyn of ‘living on another planet’ and warn of election MELTDOWN as their leader plans to back poll if Brexit is delayed

Labour’s plans for a sweeping renationalisation of utilities would cost Britain almost £200bn, the Confederation of British Industry has said. Branding the plans as “eye-watering”, the nation’s foremost business lobby group, which represents some companies that would be put into state ownership under a Labour government, said the project would add to the UK’s debt levels and could come with costs to pensioners and savers. It said the plans to take control of the rail network, water and energy companies and the Royal Mail would cost £196bn if investors were paid a premium to sell their assets to the state. It did not say how much it would cost to pay for each industry because it agreed with its members not to publish specific details. Labour said the analysis was “incoherent scaremongering” and that the CBI had made a series of arbitrary, exaggerated and misguided assumptions. A Labour spokesperson said: “It is disappointing that … [Read more...] about Labour plans for utilities would cost the UK £200bn, says CBI