How on earth can we have a democracy if you get slated when you abstain or don't vote against something just because the opposition went the other way.
That's because they made a fatal error in not correcting or challenging the fallacy that they caused the economic crisis. Still plenty of people think that is the case. They've had a half-hearted go since the election but it's too late, they surrendered the narrative.
Dan Jarvis's reasoning - verbatim - I trust he wont mind me posting for the record. Labour should not, and will not support measures which will increase child poverty. The Welfare Reform and Work Bill will increase child poverty and therefore I was not able to support it. That is why I voted for the Labour party's amendment which opposed this Bill, stating reasons including the adverse impact on child poverty. That was a vote against the Bill. However, the Bill also includes measures to support more apprentices and measures to support troubled families. Although these measures do not go far enough, Labour supported them in principle. That is why, when Labour lost the vote on our amendment, I abstained on the final vote on the Second Reading of the Bill in order to allow these measures to proceed to the Committee Stage (which comes next.) I did so after discussing the matter with Andy Burnham (who I am supporting to be Labour’s next leader) who has said that if at Committee Stage, major changes are not made to the measures which will impact on child poverty, he will, as Labour’s leader, oppose the Bill when it returns to the House of Commons for the final and critical vote at the Third Reading. Best wishes, Dan
I've mentioned this before on here but I'll say it again as it's relevant in the thread. About 3 years ago I petitioned Dan Jarvis to support public sector workers while on strike as I was at the time. He refused to back the public sector saying that my job (teaching) was a vocation and I should simply be proud to be a teacher. That was in spite of (at the time) a freeze on wages ( a pay cut with inflation) and a change to pensions which I had naively paid into for over 25 years expecting certain benefits when I retire. It's irrelevant if you dislike teachers or other public sector workers. The point is that he is a LABOUR politician. What the hell does the party stand for if not to defend people from attacks on their standards of living? The man is a career politician. He never says anything on his own on any issue that could be vaguely be regarded as controversial. He does not, in my mind, represent the people of a poor town in Northern England.
If you paid into the teachers' pension scheme for 25 years then the rights you acquired during that time are almost certainly protected. Only subsequent benefits, including those accruing to new entrants will be affected. It'd be great if the previous entitlements could be further maintained, but that was widely deemed unaffordable following a review headed, let's not forget by Labour's John Hutton. And while we're about it, it was Gordon Brown's tax treatment of pension fund didvidends that rendered most private company pension schemes unviable - thereby causing envious eyes to be cast on public sector schemes. I believe these would have been scrutinised in any event, but I also believe Brown's measures accelerated that process. As for strikes, how effective have they been as a negotiating tool in the Thatcher era and beyond? The Labour administration of 1997-2010 reversed few, if any of Thatcher's reforms, and there seems little public appetite to return to the days of capitulation to the big unions. True, the public sector pay freeze has become more of an ice age, and is set to continue. And it does represent a pay cut when normal inflation is factored in. But teachers are surely not the hardest-pressed in the public sector in terms of their reward structure? Your assertion that Dan is a career politician is undeserved. The man's record of service to his country is there for all to see. This contrasts with those who have done politics and little else in their lives. I think it's to Dan's credit that he has come on to this bear garden and given some insight into his position. As can be seen from his comments, the issue of the Welfare Reform and Work Bill is far from straightforward, and different aspects impact in different ways.
Red, blue, yellow whatever colour. Allpoliticiansareliarsdotcom Mr Jarvis cane to Barnsley (where?) to further his own career...end of Hth
Of course he did. But is what you're saying that if you are Labour and live in a safe conservative area, or in an area with an incumbent sitting Labour MP you shouldn't get into politics? Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
I wonder if he's regretting not standing for leader now? The candidates are so uninspiring that loony lefty Jeremy Corbyn is ahead.
She was on Andrew Marr the other week and didn't seem to have an idea in her head Mr Reev. After listening to him this morning, I'd like to see Mr Blair back in charge. He does at least have some clue how to win an election. There - that will get all the dinosaurs on here fired up again!
I believe he's on record as saying that if elected, he'd stand down before the next election. Good innit? Just long enough to shaft the incoming leader.
I'm still reeling from the General election disaster. Have we really learned so little from what happened to so called Red Ed? As a former member of the Communist Party, Socialist Labour and Labour Party I am in utter despair at the debacle presently unfolding which looks like costing us a decade of Tory rule - they must be pis*ing themselves laughing. If you want a Labour Government you need a centre left leader not Jeremy Corbyn, the modern day Michael Foot. That, I am afraid, is just how it is and we do not best serve those most in need by clinging to ideological wreckage and glorious defeat. Jarvis, for me, was our one hope, a man of substance with popular appeal, notwithstanding some of the insular views expressed on here. You can bet the Tories didn't want him leading the Labour Party. I do, and sooner rather than later.
Labour Party died with the death of John Smith, if he had lived Labour and Britain would be a very different party and place
This is very, very true. I hope that the unions don't shaft working people again. Policies without power is utterly useless.