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[Politics] The Labour Government







fly high

Well-known member
Aug 25, 2011
1,606
in a house
2 years at college learning plumbing, for the final 3rd year to become 'qualified' you have to take on a apprenticeship. Apprenticeships min wages are £6.40ph at aged 18. Min wage ph at 18 for those not in an apprenticeship is £8.60.
Why would any kid in their right mind want to leave college and potentially earn the wage of an under 18 by going into an apprenticeship? Literally 2 years wasted because they'll earn more money working anywhere else at the age of 18, than getting an apprenticeship to finish their qualifications.
Last year when my nephew was 16 he didn't want to go on to full time college, couldn't wait to leave school. Applied for a job as an apprentice electrician & luckily got it. Don't know how much he's paid but does one day a week at college & learning on the job the other four days. He's absolutely loving it.
 










Pavilionaire

Well-known member
Jul 7, 2003
31,114
It’s not hard, is it? But OK, I was being rhetorical, and as you hadn’t realised that, let me spell it out for you, and for the other hard-of-thinking types: It’s very easy to resolve a pay dispute when coming into government. You accede to the wishes of the strikers. This is then declared a 'victory' and/or a good solution all round.

Trouble is, there'll be another pay round next year, by which time the government will have become strangely less euphoric and less generous than they’d felt on taking over. Not only that but others will have taken note of these new pushovers in charge, and will feel emboldened to ask for more. As indeed (before you make the point) many deserve to. I won’t argue against the healthcare providers.

It’s the transport unions who really piss me off because they have repeatedly materially diminished the quality of my life over several years despite being paid substantially more than their equivalents across Europe. Quote me on this next year if you want. The government caving in to the train drivers et al, will come back to bite them on the arse. More importantly, it's the general public (including those healthcare workers trying to get to work) who will, as usual, suffer the consequences most.
You seem to be presenting your opinion as fact.

What some people perceive as weak other people perceive as fair. It may be that the unions "try it on next year". Or, it may be that these settlements make up in part for years of Tory neglect and a diminishment of income in real terms, so they'll be satisfied. I think the unions have been largely reasonable, even going back to the previous Labour government, so I see no evidence that there is a likelihood they will try it on. We will see.

I have no problem with unions asking for pay rises that keep up with inflation. That seems more than reasonable. The problem is there has been negligible growth in the UK economy for years, and the elephant in the room is that this is mainly due to Brexit, a subject all major parties refuse to talk about.

The forthcoming Budget will be crucial, but Labour will need to get far more creative to get the systemic shift they need to get growth going. For one thing, they could simplify the reporting and collection of tax, so the tax take is faster and more transparent. The tax gap is £40 billion a year, or 5% of total tax.
 




Bozza

You can change this
Helpful Moderator
Jul 4, 2003
56,754
Back in Sussex
Thankfully Martin Lewis isn't giving up
And @Bozza wonders why we can't get a serious discussion going on WFA. I think the AWOLs have the right idea :rolleyes:
No, I don't. It's very obvious to me why that doesn't happen.

And if I'd spent the last 5, 10, 14 years championing a party and, when they finally got their turn in the hot seat, one of the first things they did was put in a policy that is "dangerous" - Martin Lewis, OBE, "cruel" - Unite Union, I'd probably be largely keeping my head down too, only raising it to sling mud back on the clothes, specs and tickets brouhaha.

Speaking of Martin Lewis, thank god he hasn't given this one up - he covered ir on 5Live again this afternoon. As he said, even if the current Pension Credit drive is very successful and, in fairness it seems to be, it will still leave well over 700,000 people who the government know are so poor they should qualify for help this winter, and they are still proposing absolutely nothing to help them at all.

Which party is the nasty party, again? It's utterly shameful.
 




Zeberdi

“Vorsprung durch Technik”
NSC Patron
Oct 20, 2022
6,269
Could I ask a couple of question" on your first point please? I note that it is been carefully crafted to state "......suspended export licences for use in military operations in Gaza."

1) If we are going to continue to allow arms to be sent to Israel how are we going to police their use? How will we know that the arms sold to Israel won't be used in Gaza?

2) Does the pseudo embargo on use of UK arms sales in Gaza not apply to other areas eg West Bank, Lebanon etc or is ok for Israel to just continue to use our arms to slaughter innocents (as long as it's not in Gaza)?
I’m not sure why you are asking me?🤷‍♂️

I am not a spokesman for the Government nor am I involved in the implementation of any of their policies. I am certainly not involved with how they will be policed in Israel for heaven’s sake. I voted for Labour like millions of others (and stuffed envelopes etc) but that doesn’t qualify me to be an expect on exporting weapons nor does it mean that I support every policy that the Government are implementing - including the WFA btw.

I haven’t “carefully crafted anything“ - the information about the Government’s approach/policies on Gaza are posted for everyone to read - including suspending export licences for arms to Israel:

  • government announces immediate suspension of around 30 licences for items used in the current conflict in Gaza which go to the IDF, from a total of approximately 350 licences to Israel
Can I suggest you do your own research and back ground reading please.



I already responded to the point I wanted to in that posting old videos of the PM when he was the Shadow Leader as recent ones is not conducive to honest or factual debate imo - I have no more to say here on that.

Happy to discuss your concerns further on the ME Conflict thread..
 
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armchairclubber

Well-known member
Aug 8, 2010
1,614
Bexhill
I’m not sure why you are asking me?🤷‍♂️

I am not a spokesman for the Government nor am I involved in the implementation of any of their policies. I am certainly not involved with how they will be policed in Israel for heaven’s sake. I voted for Labour like millions of others (and stuffed envelopes etc) but that doesn’t qualify me to be an expect on exporting weapons nor does it mean that I support every policy that the Government are implementing - including the WFA btw.

I haven’t “carefully crafted anything“ - the information about the Government’s approach/policies on Gaza are posted for everyone to read - including suspending export licences for arms to Israel:

  • government announces immediate suspension of around 30 licences for items used in the current conflict in Gaza which go to the IDF, from a total of approximately 350 licences to Israel
Can I suggest you do your own research and back ground reading please.



I already responded to the point I wanted to in that posting old videos of the PM when he was the Shadow Leader as recent ones is not conducive to honest or factual debate imo - I have no more to say here on that.

Happy to discuss your concerns further on the ME Conflict thread..

Then perhaps you would like to start calling your Government out where it fails to meet reasonable expectations rather than trying to cover for them 😉
 


Zeberdi

“Vorsprung durch Technik”
NSC Patron
Oct 20, 2022
6,269


























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