A Red Dawn

Brigadier said:
"Fairer" all depends on what outcome you want.

Those who hold the cards, decide the rules.
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Since Labour are now in power i'd say they have a good hand to at least hold further debate on the matter of PR as the vote at Labour conference in 2022 was passed overwhelmingly and to loud cheers: the party should ditch the first past the post electoral system in favour of proportional representation (PR). When it comes to electoral reform, Labour is politely but completely divided. The members are hugely keen on the idea, with 140 local parties submitting the motion that was passed in autumn 2022, but Starmer is keen to keep the issue as far away from him as possible while he tackles the tangled mess left by the Tories.

Sandy Martin, a former Labour MP who now chairs the Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform, says thinking about a move to PR should be a priority for the party, despite the way it benefited (with only 34% of the vote) from the current system. “It would only take Reform and the Conservatives to unite and they might have a majority on the same scale we had this year,” he said. “But under PR, Labour would most likely be able to form a government quite comfortably with the Liberal Democrats or the Greens, and this would be preferable to a Conservative-Reform government.”

PR has been a popular cause among Labour members for some years, although party conference motions supporting its introduction had previously been blocked by unions. But several unions have since changed their minds, with the 2022 motion that was passed saying first past the post “has catastrophically failed to represent people’s wishes, needs and votes” and that “Labour must commit to fixing it”.

While the Conservatives also support retaining first past the post, the Liberal Democrats, Reform UK, Greens, Scottish National party and Plaid Cymru all back a shift to PR.

Maybe Labour could have a change of heart should events conspire against them in the next year or two...
 
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Hancock cowering in the corner, Hunt, Rees-mugg, Cameron and i think the sneezy green blob is Boris. All guilty of a dereliction of duty to the nation during 14 years of Tory mis-rule.

The Covid-inquiry report concludes: “The processes, planning and policy of the civil contingency structures within the UK government and devolved administrations and civil services failed their citizens. Ministers and officials were guilty of ‘groupthink’ that led to a false consensus that the UK was well prepared for a pandemic.”
 
It sums up 14 years of Tory failure in one caption: the Art of looking busy and doing nothing effectively. Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss! and Sunak all managed to go around in circles with a great deal of sound and fury but brought us all back to square one. One example is the meaningless Press Release, such as announcing head teachers would have the power to give 'same day detentions', which they already had anyway; or 'dawn raids' on schools which were gaming inspections, even though they weren't open so early.
It all began with Thatcher, really. The patron saint of Tory Capitalism who was responsible for handing over the state to a small number of outsourcing companies that overcharged the taxpayer, undermined councils and diverted a great deal of UK wealth offshore. Whitehall has gained power from local government and the executive has also gained at the expense of the legislature; a point highlighted in the confrontation with Boris Johnson demanding a hard Brexit while parliament tried to push through a softer version. We all know how that ended.
Anyone expecting Labour to find a quick fix for those lost years are in for a disappointment. The mad dash to slim down the civil service has left a dangerous shortfall in the numbers required to run an efficient government. Keir Starmer actually needs to look back at the Blair administration and rebuild the primeminister's office. Things like the Policy Unit, which was good a getting work done but was dismantled in the first year of Cameron's coalition. By the end of the Tories term there were 25 'special advisors' in Downing Street dealing with politics and media issues and no more than a dozen working on government policy. Liz Truss was the worst of all; not a single policy achievement in her entire time in government and in her disastrous term in office had a single policy advisor covering education, health and welfare.
The biggest indictment of all falls on Boris Johnson; a man who took the largest majority in parliament in over 30 years and helped reduce the Tories to a laughing stock. Well, it was all a great deal of fun, Boris, but it's time for the adults in the room to take over and show the world the UK is back in business.
 
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While the Tories do some soul-searching in the Autumn (i'm sure one will turn up some day) the odds on the next leader makes curious reading: On what planet does Robert Jenrick (7/2) think he can run a political party, let alone become PM? Or Tom Tugenhatntat (11/2), a man who only seems to turn up when these races are running. Kemi Badenoch (7/4), Priti Patel ((13/2) or Suella Braverman are clearly insane so stand a good chance, but the smart money is going on James Cleverly at the moment. Labour have up to Christmas to set up their stall and sell their policies to the nation while the Tories rummage through the garage sale that will become the Tory Conference.
 
Stop Press:

Suella Braverman will not run to be the next leader of the Conservative Party - saying she's been branded "mad, bad and dangerous". (or thick, sick n' delusional, as many have said.) The real reason is she was warned it would be difficult to store her supply of live mice due to Larry the Cat having a keen interest in catching them before she could eat 'em.
 
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J. 'unt esq. may be very 'umble about the mess he left for Rachel Reeves but can point out circumstances beyond his control, such as Covid payments to business' and £3 billion for Ukraine but as government debt is set to hit £2.7 trillion, which is almost double what it was in the 80s, far higher even than in the aftermath of the global financial crash in 2008. Reeves needs to get debt down to stick to her fiscal rules, so this £22 billion figure isn’t a great start.

To achieve many of the Labour government's aims Reeves needs to see growth at a level that will actually change the U.K.’s fortunes. But U.K. growth has been sluggish since the financial crisis — 1.3 percent in 2010, 2.1 percent in 2011 and 2.4 percent in 2012.

Politico lays out five reasons why the new government has its work cut out...
 
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