POLITICS CORNER

[Big Kev]

I had missed completely that David had lost his seat.... I didn't even know he was standing!

Things will all change again in a year's time when PBC is no more...

David still has LCC and Barlick Town Council.

[Stanley]

I hope so Kev. Life without DBW at the head is too stressful....

[Tripps]

There has been some talk in the media that Andy Burnham is risking all to be an MP again. Some have said that if he loses the byelection he will be neither an MP nor Mayor of Manchester.

However I find that

A strategic authority mayor does not have to resign to stand for election as an MP, only if they are elected. If the mayor fails to be elected to the House of Commons, they will continue to be the mayor.

So not so brave after all. He has nothing to lose. The MP who gallantly gave up hs seat though is a different matter. It will be P45 time for him.

[Stanley]

That's interesting David, thanks for that!

[Stanley]

See THIS report on youth unemployment.
The government spends 25 times as much on benefits for young people than it does on supporting them into work, the author of a major review into youth inactivity has said. Former minister Alan Milburn told the BBC that this was "shameful" and with nearly a million young people not in work, training or education (Neets), a complete "system reset" was needed. In an exclusive interview with Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Milburn said it was absolutely essential Labour reformed the welfare system, even though the government had shelved some planned benefit reforms in the face of opposition from their own MPs. The first part of his government-commissioned report into the issue will be published this week. Milburn's calculations are based on the amount spent on 16 to 24-year-olds taking part in core employment programmes funded by the Department for Work and Pensions and Jobcentre Plus. Spending on Welfare is based on the amount spent on key benefits like Universal Credit, Job Seekers' Allowance, Personal Independence Payment (Pip) and Disability Living Allowance. The full methodology will be published in the report later this week. The former Labour health secretary under Tony Blair was asked by the government to investigate why so many young people were in the position of not working, studying or taking part in training programmes - the highest level for more than 10 years. There were 957,000 young people who were Neet in the UK from October to December 2025 - equivalent to 12.8% of people in that age category, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics, released in February. More than half of those were deemed to be economically inactive as they were not looking for work. When Milburn's initial report is published this week he said it will conclude that the problem was a result of a widespread failure on behalf the state.
I'm glad attention is being drawn to this.... It is a catastrophe in the making and will not be helped by changes in the jobs market caused by quantum computing and AI.

[Stanley]

Does THIS qualify as politics?
29 minutes ago
Walking down the streets of Burton-upon-Trent 30 years ago, Al Wall could smell different aspects of the beer brewing process through the day - but those moments are now few and far between. He is the head brewer at the oldest and largest independent brewery remaining in the town that once produced a quarter of British beer, with more than 30 breweries at its peak. These days the brewing scene in Burton is a shadow of its former self, and the town is not alone. Across the UK 320 businesses shut last year, Companies House data shows. Yet only 170 opened, resulting in a net loss of 150. In addition, the beer industry estimates that around two pubs closed a day in the first quarter of 2026. The net loss has continued this year. As of April, the number of UK beer brewing companies fell to 2,320. It peaked at 2,594 in 2022. Tim Webb, from the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), explained the domination of big brands is one of the main issues. "The big problem that breweries have got, and it is getting worse, is access to market," he said. "The problem, which is really happening everywhere across Europe, is large brewery companies owning the draught lines in pubs." Smaller breweries are also blocked from supermarket sales due to price undercutting.

[Stanley]

THIS is heading the political news today.....
Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell has admitted embezzling more than £400,000 from the party. Murrell, the estranged husband of the former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, pleaded guilty at the High Court in Edinburgh and has been remanded in custody. The 61-year-old used party funds to illicitly purchase luxury goods, jewellery, cosmetics, two cars and a motorhome. He admitted to embezzling a total of £400,310.65 between 12 August 2010 and 19 October 2022.
Nicola Sturgeon has been officially cleared by the police but this is not preventing questions being asked about what she knew by her political opponents....

[Stanley]

See THIS for more criticism of Starmer.....
Sir Tony Blair has accused Sir Keir Starmer's government of having no "coherent plan" for the country and introducing policies that have held back business. In a highly critical essay, the former Labour PM singled out measures including new workers' rights laws, the phasing out of the British oil and gas industry and the above-inflation uplift to the minimum wage. However, he warned that whether there was a change of leader was "irrelevant if it doesn't start with a policy debate". Downing Street declined to comment on the essay, but said Sir Keir was "fully focussed on delivering change for working people". A spokeswoman pointed to measures aimed at easing the cost of living, with the economy growing before the Iran conflict broke out, as well as falling NHS waiting lists, migration and serious violent crime. She added: "But there's obviously much more to do, and we are getting on with that job." The essay of more than 5,600 words is Sir Tony's first in-depth critique of Sir Keir's government. It comes as the prime minister is under severe pressure, following a disastrous set of election results earlier this month and five ministerial resignations, with a leadership challenge widely expected.

[Stanley]

See THIS response to Tony Blair's critical essay.....
Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting have accused former Labour Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair of underestimating the impact of inequality in his critique of the government. Sir Tony used a 5,600-word essay to argue the Labour government had "no coherent plan" for the country and had introduced policies that had held back business. He urged Labour not to move to the left and to embrace the "radical centre" instead. But Burnham and Streeting - both considered potential Labour leadership challengers to Sir Keir Starmer - suggested Sir Tony had overlooked how inequality is shaping modern politics. Burnham, who is widely expected to challenge Sir Keir if he wins a by-election next month, told the Observer, external that Sir Tony "doesn't mention inequality once" in his essay. "If you don't get how that's driving politics now, if you are not rooting your analysis in the fact that people are unable to live and that things that were taken for granted are no longer affordable, then you are not understanding what's going on," said the mayor of Greater Manchester. Burnham is seeking to become an MP again on 18 June in the Makerfield by-election, on the outskirts of Wigan, in what is expected to be a closely-fought contest with Reform UK's Robert Kenyon. Streeting, a former health secretary, has also said he will stand if there is a leadership contest - but Prime Minister Sir Keir has said he will not walk away from the top job. Writing in The Guardian, Streeting said the "striking weakness" in Sir Tony's intervention was that the "defining issue of our age is barely confronted at all". He said: "Inequality - the economic, social and democratic fracture running through modern Britain - is treated as peripheral rather than fundamental. "But inequality, rather than being incidental to the crises reshaping western democracies, is actually their cause." Streeting said "resentment grows" when people believe the rules "no longer reward effort fairly" and the centre-left "cannot answer populism merely with managerial competence or technological optimism". He added the question is whether the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution "will be governed in the interests of the many or captured by the privileged few".
I have to agree with both of them. It was Starmer's adoption of Blairite Centrist policies that led to where we are now.

[Tripps]

Simon Webb yesterday proposed this solution to the cross channel small boats problem. I never saw any such solution before. He is as usual quite convincing.
Simon Webb 270526

I now read that the Government has used the exact measure, and the ringleaders of a recent crossing are now in prison. All done over a bank holiday weekend. I imagine all the travellers could have been dealt with under the same rules, but a thousand court cases and places in prison would have been impractical.

BBC report.

Wll we hear more of this matter? It is policy to "smash the gangs". This measure would quckly do the job.

PS Here's the view of a barrister. I think he confirms my long held view that the Government do not actually want to 'stop the boats'. The 'public interest' is a matter of opinion.
Black belt barrister

[Stanley]

You make a good case David and I agree that it looks suspiciously like you are correct. I have never bought the official line on immigration and this is another nail in the coffin.... But I don't profess to have a solution and am too old to spend time and energy worrying about the problem. I'm afraid this applies to many of the situations we face at present..... My immediate concerns are much closer to home....

HERE'S what caught my eye this morning.....
Sir Keir Starmer has insisted he made the right policy choices given the backdrop he inherited, after former Labour Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair accused his government of having "no coherent plan". In a highly critical essay, external, Sir Tony said measures including increasing employers' National Insurance, new workers' rights laws and phasing out of the British oil and gas industry had held back business. But Sir Keir said his government had been "vindicated", pointing to recent economic growth figures and falling NHS waiting lists. Sir Tony's intervention comes as the PM faces a potential leadership challenge following a disastrous set of election results and ministerial resignations. Sir Tony, who came to power in 1997 and won two further general elections, argued a change of leader was "irrelevant if it doesn't start with a policy debate". In his essay of more than 5,600 words - his first in-depth critique of Sir Keir's government - Sir Tony argued the "principal problem" was not "Keir's personality" or "a failure to communicate 'our achievements'". He wrote: "It is because we don't have a worked-out coherent plan for the country in a fast-changing world and are in the wrong political position from which we can devise one and win a second term." In response, Sir Keir told broadcasters he agreed with his predecessor "that we should be having a discussion about policy and ideas". However, he added: "I don't agree that the policy choices of this government weren't the right policy choices given what we inherited, a very different situation in 2024 to 1997.
I'm not sure but I think this is an argument about how far to the Right these two want to take the Party......