MPs, including East Thanet’s Polly Billington, have voted to cut the winter fuel payment for those who are not claiming pension credit or other means-tested benefits.
The controversial policy was supported by 348 MPs with an opposition motion to block the cut receiving 228 votes. Fifty-two MPs did not vote, although reasons why are not given, and one Labour MP- Jon Trickett – voted against the government.
Prior to the vote the payment to help with fuel bills was available to anyone over the age of 66 regardless of income levels, meaning wealthy households were also entitled to the sum. The payment is £200, rising to £300 for those over 80.
The cut will save the government about £1.5bn a year as it attempts to fill a claimed “black hole” in finances of £22bn.
The number of winter payment recipients will drop from 10.8 million to 1.5 million.
Thanet, with approximately 33,686 over 65s, has one of the highest proportions of elderly people in Kent.
East Thanet MP Polly Billington says it was a “difficult” decision but other measures are expected to be put in place.
She said: “I have listened carefully to the concerns constituents have raised about the Chancellor’s decision to target the winter fuel payment at the most vulnerable, and I share their worry about the strain it may have on some pensioners this winter. That’s why I am glad that we are also committed to expanding the rollout of home insulation, extending the Household Support Fund, and protecting the pensions triple lock, which saw the new state pension rise by over £900 this year.
“After years of chaos, I and my Labour colleagues were elected to be honest with the public about the damage done to the public finances by the last government, and to take the difficult decisions needed to put our country back on a stable footing.
“These decisions are not easy, but it is only by taking them now that we can begin the process of change Labour was elected to deliver, so we can restore financial stability, get growth and investment back into coastal communities like ours in Thanet, and fix our broken public services like the NHS.”
Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale, who serves Sandwich, Herne Bay and West Thanet, voted to block the cut to the payments. He said: “I supported the maintenance of the winter fuel payment in the voting lobby today.
“This vicious Government measure is a policy made in Downing Street. It has nothing to do with the state of the nation’s finances or the ‘black hole’ created in large part by inflationary pay increases for public sector workers and train drivers but was raised in the Commons by the current Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, as long ago as 2014!
“(It is) part of Starmer’s hidden agenda that did not feature in Labour’s election manifesto.”
Critics say thousands of pensioners who just miss out on Pension Credit will be badly affected by the allowance cut.
Age UK says: “We strongly oppose the means-testing of the Winter Fuel Payment because it means as many as 2 million pensioners who badly need the money to stay warm this winter will not receive it and will be in serious trouble as a result.
“Means-testing the Winter Fuel Payment, with no notice and no compensatory measures to protect poor and vulnerable pensioners, is the wrong policy choice, and one that will potentially jeopardise the health as well as the finances of millions of older people this winter – the last thing either they or the NHS needs.”
The criticism of the Winter Fuel Payment has been that it is poorly targeted. Different options for reforming the Winter Fuel Payment have included means-testing the payment, linking the payment to existing means-tested benefits such as Pension Credit, introducing some mechanism for withdrawing it from higher income pensioners, or making it taxable.
The government says pensioner households on the lowest incomes still retain support. Alongside the Winter Fuel Payment announcement, the government said it would work with older people’s charities and local authorities to identify households eligible for Pension Credit but not claiming it.
The DWP has announced a ‘Pension Credit awareness drive’ to encourage eligible households not receiving the benefit to apply for it by 21 December. This would allow more eligible households to receive backdated payments and qualify for the Winter Fuel Payment this year.
The House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee has said it is “unconvinced” by the government’s reasons for the urgency attached to laying the regulations. It says it seems the policy is being introduced at a pace that prevents appropriate scrutiny.
Wow. What a role reversal. We’ve had a change of government but the nasty party is still in power. Polly has just wasted an opportunity to stick two fingers up at our obnoxious prime minister
Utterly beyond belief.
An act of collective suicide by the Labour Party. It makes Blair’s failure to abolish tuition fees pale into insignificance.
Billington is everything I knew she’d be. Who voted for her? Not I.
Someone will correct me if I’m wrong but, as I remember it, Blair’s government didn’t “fail to abolish” university tuition fees, but actually introduced them.
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You are quite correct , but the blind political allegiances/ beliefs of too many in society means they are so fixated on blaming the “other party” that even the tiniest bit of research or knowledge is beyond them.
The Labour government can easily raise sufficient funds to protect Winter Fuel Payments. By minor changes to income tax rates for the well off. But they just won,t do it. Instead, they witter on about how badly-run the economy was under Tory austerity. We know all about that. We lived it!! But Labour was elected to change things. Not to just continue the austerity.
They can, but they want to reward the rich for voting for them. Expect lots of tax breaks for the rich in the next several years & more Tory style cuts to the poorest/most vulnerable in society to fund them-the elderly, the disabled, low income households, single parents(no doubt Starmer will steal the Tory Family Values spiel soon) etc.
Keefogs, what do you call well off? Does that figure vary geographically around the country? Is there any limit on the amount you feel the “well off” should be taxed? Do you accept that there’s a point where people will either just up and leave or decide it’s not worth earning more? Do you not understand that this endless fixation of wealth distribution via tax just encourages the recipients to try less ( as applied to benefits in general not wfa in particular). Do you ever consider the amounts we pay in hidden taxes such as those on gas,water,electric in the overall taxation we all pay?
You can’t possibly tax a nation to prosperity.
At the very least, a “taper” should have been introduced. The current policy introduces a “cliff edge”. Pensioners a few £ over the limit will lose the whole of the Winter Fuel Allowance.
There’s no doubt the policy needed refining – it’s absurd that millionaires get the Allowance – but this policy, as it stands, will bring real hardship to some.
To some!That is a massive understatement.
The cost of administering a scheme to taper payments would be such that it’d a waste of time to do so. The only effective way of administering a sort of taper would be to make the benefit taxable, but that wouldn’t save any appreciable amounts of money.
However the move is purely politics, an indication of how much we’ll all ( well workers mainly) be affected in the october budget.
Your right Phyllis, I am in the £300 WFA bracket being over 80, this is politics, and not well thought out! First they came for my TV license, what next my bus pass? Its shooting themselves in the foot, and this Labour government should be ashamed of itself!
I see Billington has started the way she means to carry on ,the people who voted her in will regret it ,this is just the start,glad l didn’t vote for her ,local person for local people what a joke .
How can any MP on £91 K a year can vote to lower the income of pensioners eludes me, but I am pleased to see Gale voted against it, ‘cos for sure he and his Lady dont need it.
Glad I didn’t vote for Polly (I wonder which way Helen Whitehead would’ve voted if she’d got in?).
well at least we know where we stand with this polly character then , where was she shipped in from by the way ?
Surely going by Stamers working out ,people on £25k a year and over,shouldn’t need child benefit,and should go without as pensioners are going to have to do,maybe child benefit should be means tested as well,oh I don’t personally believe it should be.Silly me I thought Labour were for the less well off.Will Polly get her heating allowance for her 2 nd home ,you bet she will ,two fingers up to all,I’m alright Jack comes to mind
I suppose it is also despicable to pay next year’s triple lock pension,
Please spare me the pathos.You want a government that makes hard choices, but when they make them you bolt at the first difficulty.
By all means raise some additional tax from the wealthy, but we are all in together and that means most of us.
The last mob mucked things up so badly, that we all have to put up with less than happy decisions.The only ones who should not be affected are the poorest whether retired or not.
I really find the position of Roger gake to be hypocritical. Are we really to put up with endless strikes in transport, health,local government etc, just because Roger and his gang refuse to pay the pay increases recommended by the pay review bodies.
This online journal ought to take a wider view of things.Do we really want to go back to the lies,incompetence,and stupidity of last 14 years?
We would not be in this position if we had stopped the madness after their first effort.
… and that was a Party Political Broadcast on behalf of the Labour Party.
Goodnight folks, and don’t forget to switch off your TV.
The New Conservative Party surely? Starmer is making the Tories look liberal & making them even more redundant than their 14 years of arrogance, corruption & incompetence already had.
Peter, both political parties refuse to grasp reality! The population has grown to include a large percentage of pensioners, many of whom have chronic ill health. The nettle to be grasped is for a National Care Service, to pay for mostly the elderly, but others too with chronic disabilities. A National Care Service to care for people in their own homes, instead of letting them languish in hospital, would free up the NHS for people waiting for treatment in hospital! Both parties are trying to square an impossible circle, they are trying to cope with more demand, with the same income which was insufficient anyway!
Much of the issue with public sector pay is that all the headlines and rhetoric conveniently ignores the overall renumeration package of many in the public sector. When you add in the huge pension contributions they receive ( nhs 24%, dwp 27% two examples in my social circle) what those involved actually cost is way more than most realise. So pay rises are effectively an extra 25% over and above the headline.
Would it not be easier and more transparent to make salaries the full package amount and let the employees choose how much they contribute?
It’s even more absurd that these contributions are so generous over a career that senior nhs staff choose to retire early than fall foul of the lifetime pension rules.
As for the winter fuel allowance it’s purely an indication of the extra taxes the majority of the population will have forced on them at the next election, when the message will be “if pensioners have to take a cut so do you”. All this was known by labour during the campaign they chose to say nothing , knowing full well that to be honest would have reduced their vote count considerably.
Hard decision-let old people freeze to death in their homes & block NHS beds for 5-6 months because they can’t switch their heating on, while giving a 20% pay rise to NHS consultants on six figures a year that don’t need it & should only be given it when the country is back on its feet, as they promise it will be at some point in the next decade.
Though I don’t think Labour will get a second term based on what has happened the last two months & Starmer’s bizarre behaviour. I am afraid the only chance of a government that cares about the poorest/most vulnerable in society & actually improving their lives is the Lib Dems & let’s hope their momentum continues-if only 2010 with Tory Spiv Clegg hadn’t happened. The race for new Tory leader is clearly an irrelevance now-Labour are the new Tory Party & have made the Conservative Party as redundant as UKIP. No wonder Starmer still keeps calling slimy Sunak PM at PMQ’s, it must be just like looking in the mirror.
Within 3 weeks of winning here Billington was accepting freebies from Warner Nusic to go to a Pet Shop Boys concert & if Starmer’s grubby record below is anything to go by we will likely see more of that, wonder if she will be lobbying for them to get even more tax breaks in return? Starmer’s register of interest for the last year plus is quite appalling-a never ending slew offreebies from Football clubs of free tickets-usually in the directors box & yes, as expected he didn’t pay for his tickets at the Taylor Swift concert he was so keen to be seen at & appear cool with his wife either. So the rich take their freebies/inducements from megacorps, while cutting money for OAP’s to stop them freezing & some Labour members even making jokes about it online-portraying all pensioners as rich, cruise ship sailing toffs. We can see the Tory mentality.
They are clearly on the gravy train & every left wing outlet like the Guardian, Independent, James O’Brien etc who rightly crucify the Tories, UKIP etc for their conduct & would be screaming blue murder if they had done this, are backing Starmer to the hilt have shown their true colours. It is no less of a self-interested cult than the Telegraph & the tabloids were/are for the Tories & UKIP.
Also don’t forget Labour left the coffers empty for the Tories in 2010-we can hardly scoff at them blaming Labour for austerity & then absolve Labour of doing the same thing, there are choices-Labour despite their claims to make the rich pay more, are in fact making the poorest pay for the benefit of the rich instead-they are Tories.
So, it is blatantly obvious Polly Billington do NOT support the pensioners in the constituency she has been elected for. Voter’s, please take next when the next elections, be it council, or general.
She, like most Labour candidates only won because even Thanet was sick of the Tories bs-Roger Gale only just won, rather than the landslides he has been accustomed to for decades. Though now I wonder if we would have been better just letting the Tories carry on with their revolting display.
Labour were hardly popular-it was disgust for the Conservatives & everything dictator Starmer has done since winning has only made their ratings even lower. Expect more cuts to the poorest & vulnerale in society-aside from voting for this Billington-despite her long standing virtue signalling for the worst off in society & going into print here on July 16th saying how much harm the two child benefit cap has caused & how much she wanted to improve lives, then voted against scrapping it just six days later, as Ian Driver has pointed out, she is a total hypocrite.
As he also points out they will not tax the rich more as Starmer promised when looking for votes & one of the additional reasons many of us voted for them, because they are totally beholden to their cash now, in bed with the rich tax dodgers who have switched from supporting the Tories & clearly from the register of interests they sure do like their freebies from these entities.
Ian Driver’s got a grudge against Labour anyway.
So do you disagree with these cuts?
That is always the Labour refrain, while of course ignoring the fact Driver has always gone after everybody-Tories, Lib Dems, UKIP, Reform, Labour & others. He has never shown any favouritism to any party or person in power. If he has a grudge he has a grudge against all politicians & parties, not just Labour.
As I pointed out over the Steve Albion debacle with the TDC leaders behaviour & the recent scrapping of the appallingly written dispersal orders that Labour carried on using when it won last year, until it finally got challenged & his similar response-it is totally irrelevant if there are grudges or personal reasons for these challenges.
Everybody is entitled to make complaints-we did elect these people nationally & locally & in spite of their self-entitled anger/outrage at being held to account & trying to belittle those that bring these thing to public attention/put the blame elsewhere, they have to be held to account as elected officials.
So there’s a black hole in the country’s finances. Then why is the Government still sending foreign aid abroad (China, India and others). The poorest/worst off in our society need the most help, sadly, it includes pensioners.
just you wait, it’ll be your bus passes next folks.
Just as we had Kier wittering on about the burden smokers place on the nhs and the taxpayer, absurd when you do a bit of a web search and find that , smokers cost 2.6bn in smoking related medical treatment but contribute over 8 billion in tonacco taxes, so they not only cover the cost of their care but also pay an extra 5 billion into the kitty, so are no burden on the taxpayer at all.
Just another convoluted message to justify a piece of preprepared policy. There’ll be plenty more to come.
It’s not at least to India and China.You want to stop the boats keep them in their country of origin if at all possible, that’s what foreign aid is about
Don’t get me started on the uninvited channel guests that we/us taxpayers have to pay for. They’re not even refugees for goodness sake, economic scroungers more like.
“Kentish Man”, how do you know that the migrants are”not even refugees” but “economic scroungers”?
Don’t you ever have an original opinion of your own? All you do is agree, disagree or ask questions.
MM Rees – if you had travelled to some of these countries, worked and lived amongst them, you would have valid opinions. I have and in majority of countries I worked in, these people are not fleeing war etc, they are after a better life financially etc. The majority pass via safe countries but do not seek asylum as our benefits are better!
Indeed. I’ve only been most parts of Europe (include the iffy bits), America, Scotland and Wales, but they’re all very different from Kent.
I’ll echo FedupB , i’ve worked in many less than desirable around the world, the UK is seen as the land of milk and honey, not least because to many the idea of a free health service is beyond comprehension, being able to rob someone and not face being beaten to a pulp by the victims family is also seen as a bonus in some far flung parts.
These countries have the internet and their citizens see an opportunity for a life of unbelievable wealth compared to their homeland. So the young males flock here.
I worked in Libya in 2004, under Ghaddafi if you left education and ran a business for 3 years that made a profit , the state gave you 20,000 dollars to start a family , my taxi driver took the money and wangled his way into the UK on a student visa, last i heard he was a barber in manchester. His main motivation was to meet lots of foreign girls who were genereous with their carnal favours.
You really do have very little idea of some of lifes realities. West africa, sudan, oman, tunisia, brazil ,peru, china, philipinnes, brunei, indonesia and many more , all full of people who’d come here in a heartbeat if they could, just for a netter life and chance to send money home.
A local person for local people she campaigned on.Well I sent her an email about the industrials levels of litter in the area and could she put pressure on TDC to get their act together.Well 2 months have passed and no reply and she a pollution activist.Now shes crushing OAPs.How stupid I was to vote for this Hackney no show.
I sent her an email about disabled persons because they wasn’t even mentioned of supporting them still waiting lol
Her voting against scrapping the two child benefit cap, despite on this very website virtue signalling how bad the cap was & the damage it had caused less than a week earlier & voting for this shows just how much she really cares about the poor/vulnerable.
Polly Billington virtue signalling waffle-Isle Of Thanet News on July 16th 2024
The limit on child benefit only going to two children has caused real harm to many families and contributed to deeper poverty which we will have to address. Our initial commitments to free breakfast clubs in every primary school, improved rights for renters, warm homes, better employment rights and a back to work plan will all help. But as ever these are the first steps on our mission and I want to see the very poorest in Thanet benefit from a Labour government that is led and run by ministers who have often experienced the hardships we are committed to erase.
The reality in the vote to scrap two child benefit cap on July 22nd 2024
So, for your convenience, here is a list of every Labour MP that voted against the motion to scrap the two child Benefit Cap. Polly Billington (Labour – East Thanet) Starmer then suspends the only seven Labour MP’s with any guts/decency who voted to scrap it, Starmer having now scrapped their promise & decided to keep it in place.
Well, thank you for addressing that harm to families & children by voting to retain it Polly, guess even abstaining from doing harm to your constituents & others across the nation isn’t in your nature. And your mission/commitment to ensuring warm homes by voting to take away pensioners lifeline to help them keep warm in winter. Were there any truths in your election literature promises, or Starmer/Labour’s election manifesto, or should we just rip it up as a bunch of lies for votes & use it as bog roll?
If what immigrants to Britain want is “a better life and a chance to send money home” -who can blame them? They will soon be disillusioned when they come here,as we are not the prosperous country with plenty of jobs that we used to be.
You need to be comparing whats is available here compared with the opportunities in their homeland, not with what the UK was.
I also worked in St.Kitts and Nevis there all the local “gangsta’s” wanted was a gun, at the time the murder rate was 38 per 100,000 of population, local police wouldn’t get involved, what was then Scotland Yard had sent a specialist team put to try and get a grip on things. The same ne’er do wells would have leapt at the chance to be running loose in london.
The UK should be brave and offer an amnesty to all those here illegally, ( they aren’t leaving anyway) there’d total outrage at the numbers who appeared from the shadows, way more here than any official will ever admit to and the main reason no amnesty would ever be considered.
It’s one of the reasons the nation’s infrastructure and services are creaking at the seams, they’re trying to serve a population that’s significantly larger than budgeted for.
I agree but this country will look after them first with cash a home and then unlimited UC and for us we get sod all ,
Polly, you said ” the new state pension rise by over £900 this year “. In all fairness this has nothing to do with the Labour party. If you really want to make a difference, why don’t you lobby parliament for pensioners to get the equivalent of the minimum wage ?
I, like me any others, don’t expect you to reply, just line your own pocket.
Just like the ridiculous claim by Starmer than 80,000 lives will be saved by his nanny state smoking plans-very few if any lives will be saved by banning people from smoking in beer gardens etc. Those smoking will still be smoking & people passing by are in reality far more likely to get cancers from breathing in petrol fumes from vehicles & aircraft all day long.
He is in reality claiming credit for the Tories policy of increasing the smoking age by a year every year, which couldn’t pass under the Tories due to Sunak calling the election & so Labour will claim the credit for it.
But as Polly’s friends the Pet Shop Boys, that she got freebies to from Warner Music would say it’s a sin & ask yourself now can you forgive her? I think not & hopefully her & Labour (Tories) will be falling down domino dancing & go west at the next elections.
We could call the police to report the madman running around ruling the country, but he appears to have turned it into a police state. To quote Neil Tennant-we wonder just how how long he will be getting away with it? While we sit disappointed, once more & disillusioned, encore, while the grubby MP’s make their opportunities to make lots of money off being poverty pimps-just like the Tories before them.
Polly can put the kettle on and sod off.
Billington,you have shown yourself to be a lapdog of Fuhrer Stalin,Starmer.”The biggest burden should be placed upon those with the broadest shoulders”.So,you think pensioners have the broadest shoulders.You are a disgrace,you champagne socialist No doubt,you will still be picking up your MP expenses” ,like sll the others with their snouts in the trough.HYPOCRITE!
Ms. Billington will be deeply involved in energy and net zero matters, have a read about UK100 and the interests it has and the funding it has received along with the matters it lobbies on.
During the election campaign labour said they were relaxed about wealth creation, it remains to be seen how many people actually benefit from that attitude.
I object Doris, Starmer is behaving for more like the East German Stasi under Erich Mielke from 1957-1989 than Hitler or Stalin. She already took freebie Pet Shop Boys tickets from Warner Music weeks after winning her seat, wonder when Warner will be asking her to lobby for them to get even more tax breaks, at the expense of the poor she has long claimed to care so much about?
Despite now voting for old people to freeze to death, or end up in hospital for months costing who knows how much & just six days after waxing lyrical here about the evils of the two child benefit cap & the damage it has wrought to the poorest in society, then voting to keep it in place.
I doubt if any labour MP wanted to do this, and I bet it leaves ashes in their mouths, but being popular is not the same as doing the right thing.
What’s the alternative print more money, have more strikes, devalue the currency,tax only the rich?
Sure go ahead, and when it all goes wrong you will all be there saying that labour was profligate.
I am not batting for labour in fact I support no party, but I know what I don’t want and that is the last mob or tricksters like Farage in charge.Remember how we got here.
Checksfield as usual has his usual snide remark because he has nothing of note to say, no solution, because he supported the last 14 years of government by nob ends.
They clearly did want it-if they all just abstained then the motion would have been defeated & Starmer couldn’t remove the whip, in fact if they all voted against it Starmer couldn’t do anything to them, as he would be unable to govern. They voted for it-aside from the one who voted against it & the 50 odd who abstained.
We have to face facts, Labour is Tory, we thought it was Tory-Lite & would be better than the last 14 years. He has purged socialism from the party, just like Blair did when he got elected. They care only about the rich.
During those 14 years – depending on election and circumstances (general, KCC, TDC) I voted Tory, UKIP, Labour and Green – and Monster Raving Loony before that. We’re not all like you, voting for the same party all your life like a robotic sheep.
And for at least ten of those ‘fourteen years’, you have to blame the Labour Party for being unelectable.
I think Parachute Polly may well have landed in the wrong constituency.
She knows damn well how poor many of us are in this constituency but she only cares about her personal rise to become a junior minister.
It is so predictable and frankly cynical, safe as the Labour Government is for the next 4 years and lickspittles to the treasury, the establishment, sickeningly wealthy elites and some of you may not agree, but happy to support Netanyahu in his genocide of the Palestinians. The offence to ordinary people is easy for them what becomes acceptable in Gaza breaks down any nations regard for humanity and international law.
I am not surprised by this latest sharp elbowed version of the Labour Party but they clearly aren’t listening to their constituents and this tough decision reflects their distinct lack of intelligence and ability to communicate.
Whatever next?
Good luck finding a political party, capable of being elected, that will stand up to Israel.
Even more good luck finding someone to stand up to Palestinian terrorism and grooming, as in Rotherham.
I just cannot believe what crude judgements our politicians still make. In an age of digital technology and given the amount of information the government holds on us can they not adjust things more finely? A taper is a good idea. Some of those who received the winter fuel payments in previous years will not miss it but lots already living on incomes hit hard by recent inflation will be scared to turn their heating on now.
Trying to live your life in a cold house is miserable and soul destroying.
It was never enough during my teaching career for a pupil to say when caught doing wrong ‘she made me do it!’ . This government made a choice. Instead of making the really difficult decisions to find the money elsewhere: wealth tax, power company profits, they decided to take the money from the most vulnerable ( as well as the slightly less vulnerable and the not at all vulnerable) elderly.
Maybe we need to do something locally. Warm spaces are welcome but the elderly go back to cold homes. This is such a mean, uncaring decision. I know Thanet as a place where people are generous and caring when they recognise real need.
Politically I think this is a stupid decision. All the little adjustments to try to ameliorate this situation will not radically alter it. It needed protective measures put in place first eg: raise the pension credit limit, Solidarity is a wonderful thing but following your leader blindly is not. Every single Labour politician should have simply said ‘no.’ Did they really come into politics to make the vulnerable elderly even worse off ?
I supported Polly Billington. I have expressed my views to her.
Polly likely never has & never will have to live in a cold house. We know the Tories could give two hoots about the most vulnerable in society, our Tory MP’s have continually voted to cut money to them & make their lives as unbearable as possible.
You would hope Labour would be better-but of course most of them are Tory at heart, Blair disciples who sip champagne & accept freebies they don’t need from huge conglomerates-like Polly recently did, according to her declarations on the register of interests. That should tell you all you need to know about what she represents & who she cares about-the rich.
Stop sending money abroad and supplying gimmigrants with hotels etc etc…. look after our own first!! I’m a pensioner but luckily I am better off than others, that’s why I can’t claim pension credit, but I won’t be putting my heating on much this winter. Shame on you Starmer. Glad I didn’t vote for you and your cronies.
Blood on her hands & the New Tories of Starmer-we voted Labour only because we thought they would at least be better than the rabble we had for 14 years, not as bad or worse. Little Napoleon is on a power trip since getting elected-trying to ban smoking in public as one example, which should hardly be a priority & his sheep just go along with all of his nonsense.
Ar least have the decency to abstain-especially when you represent one of the most deprived areas of the country. Whatever did happen to the socialist party? Seems to be occupied with rich Tories now. Unless there is a Liberal candidate (loathe even to vote for them after 2010) I will not vote for anybody, Labour can go whistle now-including at the local council elections.
Perhaps Polly Billington can explain how the NHS Labour profess to care so much about will be better off being bed blocked for months by millions of people with Bronchitis, Pneumonia etc that don’t die due to this ‘tough decision’ & how much that will cost the taxpayer? Of course they could have gone after the rich, cut their own waste & not just given rich NHS consultants on 150k plus a year a 20% pay rise.
But again we are back to the Tories all in it together bs, of course it is only the poorest & most vulnerable who will suffer. The Champagne socialist Starmer is only interested in the wealthy, as Mick Lynch & Sharon Graham made clear yesterday. Then again, what should we expect from an MP who accepts 500 quid of Warner Music freebie tickets to see the Pet Shop Boys at the Royal Opera House for her & her partner, when she can easily afford them? Perhaps they could send some 500 quid for the elderly losing this not to get Hypothermia? Of course not-they are only interested in the rich as well.
The people’s flag is palest pink,
It’s not as red as most folk think.
We must not let the people know
What socialists thought long ago.
Don’t let the scarlet banner float;
We want the middle classes’ vote.
Let our old fashioned comrades sneer,
We’ll stay in power for many a year.
For workers we no longer fight –
Rebranded now, we’re Tory-lite.
Keir Hardie, well, he’s real old hat –
Keir Starmer now is where it’s at.
Concern for you has mostly gone,
Unless you live in Islington.
We care not for the working class,
So stick the red flag up your arse.
I don’t think I’ve ever agreed with you before Suspended GB News Anchor! I’m not sure what people really expected from Labour. The party’s name is historic, not indicative of their platform. They’re Social Democrats and just slightly less smoochy with big money than the Conservatives, but, well … after a few drinks … (I mean ‘months in office’).
Actually I recall you agreeing with me many times, usually when I was lambasting the Tories for their similar behaviour & I have agreed with your views more often than not.
I didn’t expect much from them-it was clear Starmer’s young commie days were far behind him & he loves money & power. But I expected better than more of the Tories, otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered voting for them. No doubt Tony Benn-like many other deceased former Labour MP’s, will be turning in their graves at this decision.
This isn’t standing up for the poorest & most vulnerable in society, neither was the reverse ferret on pledging to scrap the child benefit cap. As Carol Vorderman is pointing out they had plenty of alternatives to doing this, but chose to punish the worst off instead.
Sadly she is one of the very few leftie campaigners/outlests not endorsing this, or the child benefit cap they also reverse ferreted on-Polly in just six days, after telling us on this very website how appalling it is & how they were going to get rid of it, then she voted to maintain it, then two days later picked up her Warner Music freebie ticket gift to see the Pet Shop Boys with her partner, more to come perhaps & wonder what they will be asking her to lobby Starmer for down the line in return?
Rather reeks of the Trump Cult mentality & shows how much the Guardian, Independent etc really care about the worst off in society.
No integrity or financial understanding from Polly then. More pensioners forced to claim pension credits will wipe out the money saved by this cynical scheme. Not raising the personal tax allowance will take more of the pension money in tax. And what about the £500 billion plus losses from the lockdown/covid fiasco backed by Starmer and co. and the billions unaccounted for and washed away to Ukraine. And respect for Jon Trickett, the one Labour MP who voted against the motion and showed himself to be different from the cowardly puppets. They will be remembered and he will as he says, be able to sleep at night. Meanwhile, prisoners released from jail yesterday (domestic abusers amongst them) were popping champagne corks and thanking Starmer and some had to be housed at tax payers’ expense due to the hurriedness of the scheme. It’s a clown world.
Thank you Rishi for giving us money to pay our heating bills after Russia went to war and thank you for paying people’s wages during Covid , and thank you to junior doctors for choosing to strike when people most needed you and thank you train drivers who chose to strike for political reasons not money.
And thank you to Keir for not putting in his manifesto all the dirty tricks that would’ve stopped people voting for him.
He should have just reprinted the Tory manifesto & added in a bit about killing OAP’s & sending those that survive to bed block the NHS he pretends to love so much at great cost. Guess it is punishment for most 70 plus voting Tory & punishing them all regardless of if they voted for him-20%, Lib Dems-11%, Greens-3% etc.
Wishing did not give us money to pay our bills.
He borrowed money, to be paid back by us over decades, to enrich the power supply companies even more.
Poor Polly! Her first opportunity to do the right thing – and she doesn’t! She must be feeling awful. I know I am.
Actually her third at least-on July 16th on this website she went into print about how terrible the two child benefit cap has been for the poorest in society & reaffirmed Labour’s pledge to scrap it. Then six days later on July 22nd she voted to keep it in place, as per the new Labour policy after winning the election.
Then on July 24th she accepted £500 Pet Shop Boys tickets for her & her partner-as declared in the parliamentary register of interests. Why would any wealthy person who has long claimed to champion the poor do this-having already voted once to keep poor families & children in poverty & now to freeze old people to death or the A&E?
She doesn’t feel awful-if she was scared of tinpot dictator Starmer & the whip then she could have chosen to abstain on both votes. Like most of the Labour MP’s she instead voted for them-a clear endorsement she supports these policies & a clear signal that all her waffle about caring about the poor is nothing but virtue signalling for her own benefit.
Betcha wish you’d voted Tory now, eh Christine?
Feeling awful!You are joking, aren’t you!Self preservation,looking after no.1.Just like Rosie Duffield.Spineless cowards!
She’s fine: Her accountant told her not to worry about it!
Don’t be fooled by Gale’s apparent coversion to be the champion of the poor.
He consistently voted for the Tories welfare cuts in Parliament.
Polly will always vote in line with the party whip. Like the local Labour Councillors.
Is anyone actually surprised?
We expect it from the Tories, we don’t expect it from what is supposed to be a socialist party-set up because the other parties only cared about the rich & the royals.
If you stand on a platform of we will put the most burden of the widest shoulders-the rich & then get in & do the exact opposite right off the bat, then how can anybody believe or trust you going forward?
How can Polly Billington come on this website on July 16th, crying about how bad the two child benefit cap has been & is for the worst off & how Labour will get rid of it as promised & then just six days later she goes to parliament & votes to keep it in place? She also in that stream of lies/gaslighting said Labour would keep their pledge of keeping people’s homes warm & this week she decided to vote against that as well.
So clearly, like Starmer & all the other MP’s that voted for these proposals-including Rayner-who has made so much of her poor, deprived upbringing & fights/discrimination as a single mother(called the two child cap obscene & inhumane) & then promptly voted both times with her leader she has no moral fibre, is purely a virtue signaler to benefit herself-she now has the 91k a year, plus all the benefits like the taxpayer paying her heating bills & freebies from giant corporations (no doubt dishing gifts out to MP’s & looking for more tax breaks via lobbying down the line in return) to go to concerts free of charge & suddenly all of her & Labour’s promises evaporated into thin air.
Not even the decency/moral character to phone in as sick like so many do at voting time, or just remain seated, or walk out the other way when the voting time came-she happily got up & walked to vote twice to punish the poorest in the country-including her constituents in this run-down, poor area & if anybody pays any attention to her claims of being a champion of the poor she has been making for ages in future then more fool them. At least the Tories had the decency not to do this, is it punishment from Starmer because so many pensioners vote Tory?
Gale also consistently voted for increasing the state pension age. Talk about pulling up the draw bridge.
Probably feels everybody should work forever, like him.
Love how you’re all super mad, but conveniently forget the pension increase of £440+ announced yesterday morning. Not to mention forgetting the most needy will still receive it. Boomers are BARE entitled.
You mean the rise already arranged by the Tories, that Stamer is claiming credit for?
Reading all these comments one could believe that most of those commenting here are in fact Corbynites, you know, supporting the poor, putting more taxes on the wealthy, increasing the tax allowance, being morally correct, etc etc, and yet I feel most would would actually denounce him as a communist, Marxist, whatever. Easy to be critical isn’t it, but what do you believe is the right thing to do and which party is the best choice to achieve that? And if none, what is the next move?
Corbyn is no use either. But if you honestly believe Starmer has done the right thing so far-punishing the poor, while rewarding the rich & there were no alternatives to this then you are drinking the Kool-Aid.
As a pensioner I have or will receive a 22 percent pay rise in the last 3 years witch will more than compensate for the loss of this years winter fuel payment.after 14 years of Tory incompetence I thank god that we finally have a government who will tackle the gigantic mess the torys left this country in .
Good for you, but most pensioners aren’t in your position of comfort. Starmer has made it clear he has no intention of sorting anything out, he is just feeding his ego & pandering to the rich, at the expense of the poorest & most vulnerable in society, like the Tories did.
If you can afford your heating then you should pay for it! If you cant, then you will receive Govt. assistance, as usual too many people who have 1k+ pensions coming in every month and still expect the rest of us current Tax Payers to support their heating.
Wake up all of you, the country is in a complete mess and finally someone with some cajones who realise (unlike most of you here) that we have to start somewhere cutting costs, none of you want to pay more taxes, but you also want more police, a better NHS, Road Sweepers etc. the list goes on. You get what you pay for!
Your ignorance astounds me, a governments first job is to look after it’s own people is it not? Why are we sending aid overseas to people who have contributed nothing to this country? Why not trim from that budget £14bn by the way!Why not trim mad Millibands £11.7bn on net zero to help other countries achive their climate targets? But no this tyranical government take it from the pensioners. I now hope that Child Benefit will be means tested because why should well off parents get te benefit!
Exactly, Starmer is rewarding the rich at the expense of the poor-just like the Tories. How much has this incredibly vague GB Energy thing cost so far? £8.5 billion apparently. Is anybody honestly pretending that they couldn’t take 1.4 billion out of that obscene amount of what appears to be a white elephant & it would be missed? Not buying it.
How much is this measure going to cost the taxpayer & collapse the NHS when old people pile up in hospital for months on end bed blocking, because they caught Pneumonia, Bronchitis etc due to this decision? If there was 100% uptake for the pension credit Starmer pretends he wants then the government have already admitted it would cost more to do that than just pay this-so it doesn’t add up, zero logic at all.
Starmer probably does want to collapse the NHS, so he can privatise it like the US, so only the rich who can afford healthcare treatment get help & everybody can just die at home, or get picked up from the gutter, treated & then get a 50k bill they cannot pay through the post, so he can lock them up/put them in stocks so the rich can throw wet sponges & tomatoes at them-at a cost of 10 quid a head entrance of course. He would then be able to stop worrying about the plebs he professes to care so much about if most were dead. Then again with doctors still refusing to see people & if they do wiating lists of 8 million odd & only rich being able to get treatment fast that is pretty much where things are at anyway.
How strange they choose to cut money to pensioners struggling to make ends meet already though, rather than going after the wealthy(the ones who back them now of course) or say NHS consultants on 150k plus per annum, who they have just given a 20% pay rise to.
Or indeed why MP’s home & second home fuel bills are paid for by the taxpayers & why they are happy to let that continue & Labour MP’s have no desire to pay back the 425k they have taken in the last five years for this? That is just Labour MP’s mind you, not counting the Tories or any other party.
But yeah, like Dave’s short-lived Big Society flop we are ‘all in it together’ aren’t we? Starmer’s pre-election claims that he would give the most pain for his difficult decisions to those with the broadest shoulders (the obscenly wealthy)suddenly vanished when he got into power.
Poor self proclaimed champion of the poor & downtrodden Polly on July 16th was here telling us how appalling the two child benefit cap has been & how Labour would keep their pledge to get rid of it, six days later she went & voted to keep it in place after Starmer changed his mind.
Both times she & every other MP not in the cabinet could have stopped that & this debacle by just abstaining from voting, they didn’t even have to vote against it. I bet you they won’t be voting against more tax breaks from the rich-funded by cuts to the poor, just like the Tories-Starmer has enjoyed his obscene slew of free footie tickets & his free Taylor swift PR stunt & Polly enjoyed her free tickets from Warner Music to the Pet Shop Boys concert. As I said this is the Tory Party-they have made the Conservatives totally redundant now.
Ignorance can be cured. Stupid is forever!
Worth remembering the taxpayer pays for MP’s fuel bills on their first & second homes no less. Let’s see how anybody defends this.
Rachel Reeves claimed £4,400 of taxpayer cash towards her energy bills before axing winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners. In the past five years alone, she has claimed £3,700, Telegraph analysis reveals.
The Chancellor and other Labour MPs spent more than £400,000 of taxpayer money heating their own homes over the past five years, with some claiming thousands a year more than a typical household spends.
It comes as Sir Keir Starmer and Ms Reeves fought off a backbench rebellion over the decision to restrict the tax-free payment of up to £300 to only those retirees entitled to claim pension credit. Since 2019, 162 Labour MPs have claimed £425,000 on expenses for home energy use, according to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA).
However, this was £83,000 more than the average amount a similar number of households would have spent in that period, Telegraph analysis shows. MPs, who now earn a basic salary of £91,346, can claim accommodation costs on expenses provided they are for a rental property and not one they own, subject to an overall budget cap of £29,290 in London and £19,940 elsewhere.
This includes home energy bills, but there is no specific cap for how much MPs can claim, an IPSA spokesman said. MPs typically claim expenses on energy bills for their second home – which could either be in London or their constituency.
“Why did you abstain?”Rosie Duffield”I didn’t want to lose the Labour whip”She doesn’t mind taking all the benefits of being an MP(including a fuel allowance),but sod her constituents,so long as she she is looking after no.1.Spineless coward.
No, the spineless cowards are every Labour MP who voted for it-even worse the likes of Billington who has spent years/decades claiming to be a champion of the poorest & vulnerable in society & less than a week before voting to keep the two child cap was here telling us how immoral it was, how Labour would keep their commitment to get rid of it & also saying how they would keep homes warm as per their promise-before promptly voting for pensioners to go cold, while having her home heated on the taxpayer dime of course-like every other MP. If they all abstained & only the cabinet voted then the government would lose.
I think everyone knew Labour would be a bit flakey in government but didn’t quite realise just how quickly they would push the self destruct button.
I would like to know what the local Labour Councillors think of this decision. Cllrs Whitehead, Everitt, Bright etc are regulars on here but strangely quiet on this issue.
It is like a cult-they won’t come out against Starmer. The left-wing media have done exactly the same, they are still constantly going after the Tories, Reform etc, even though they aren’t in power.
While simultaneously fully backing Starmer & Labour for what they are doing, which if those other parties were doing it they would rightly be going after them full pelt. Props to Carol Vorderman-she is one of the few high profile lefties that went after the Tories, that is now going after Labour for doing this.
I still expect this little wimp, bully of a man to reverse-ferret at some point soon & make some compromise. They are like the Tories with their constant U-Turns just looking for the right time to pretend ‘they fought hard but have shown mercy’ to save face & try to get people back on side.
But I don’t think this government will get another term with the way they have behaved thus far-not with Starmer in charge anyway, my prediction is he will be gone in 2-3 years after an internal revolt, or a Thatcher poll tax decision & mass protests sees his position as being untenable. Hoping the Liberals pick up popularity even further & win the next election. Labour can go to hell based on what I have seen so far-wish I hadn’t voted for them now & just voted Liberal instead.
Fascism and Socialism are different sides of the same coin. They’re both authoritarian and they say they look after “societies needs” above individual needs and liberties. But who decides societies’ needs? What if we don’t agree with what these needs are? Or what needs are more important?
Socialism’s big selling point is saying that “we’re all equal”, but in reality Socialism can only exist if there’s an elite class that decides “what’s best for all of us.” All of us meaning, not the elite. This is the great lie of Socialism. This is why we have well-off Labour MP’s with second homes getting subsidies and benefits, while the poor non-elites who have been made reliant on these winter fuel payments have been hung out to dry.
There are three kinds of Socialists:
(1) The ones who haven’t thought it through
(2) The naive
(3) The ones in charge
I’m sure just before the next election Labour will miraculously find funds to give to whatever sub-groups that will secure their vote. I’m also sure if the Tories were in the same position, they’d do the same. We need a change.
Yeah, you’re right. We should just let the elite tell is what to do. After all they are really rich so they must know better.
Heard that Labour plan to means test child allowance next.Not changing the 2 child limit.
All their fully funded fully costed promises were done using monopoly money.
They were done before it was discovered that the previous government had left a £22billion black hole in the finances.
Fiction.
Apparently free bus passes for pensioners are next up. Not only do you have to freeze to death in your house or end up in hospital, but you can’t even leave it to go do the food shopping so you can eat any longer.
Wouldn’t put it past them to remove the state pension & make the elderly go back to work in their seventies, eighties & nineties-even if they can’t move they could just be plonked in the street in an armchair & made to shine shoes for the City Spivs, for minimum wage all day long.
Now they’re planning on scrapping the bus pass for some.
No, they’re not.
In a response to a question at PMQs, he said Starmer said: “As he knows very well, I am not going to preempt the Budget.”
Well Andrew, you can defend this shower as much as you like. As nearly all of the leftie media are doing-despite them still going after the Tories who are no longer in power, Reform etc & backing Starmer to the hilt-when you know full well they would be crucifying the Tories if they had done this.
Starmer set his stall out-like Billington with a stream of lies about the broadest shoulders will carry the heaviest burden & protecting/elevating the lives of the poorest & most vulnerable in society & as soon as he gets elected he is goes after the poorest in society, to fund tax breaks for the wealthiest & will kick the poorest as hard as he can at the budget. We voted Labour & got the Tories again.
The Tories killed countless people with their austerity measures to fund the richest & now Starmer will do the same. He has condemned thousands if not tens of thousands to death & millions more will be bed blocking the NHS for months on end, with all the respiratory illnesses he will cause them.
Strange how Starmer can’t afford 1.4 billion to stop pensioners dying/going to hospital, yet pretends he wants them to claim pension credit-which Labour admit would actually cost more than that! Also he can afford-
8.6 billion for the white elephant GB Energy gimmick
11.6 billion for overseas ‘climate crisis’
A 20% pay rise for NHS Consultants already on six figure salaries
Hundreds of thousands of taxpayers money to pay for MP’s home energy bills
45 million increase of taxpayer money for the sponging Royals to wave at ‘peasants’
3 billion minimum to Zelenskyy this year & every year for as long as he likes
Yeah-hard decision indeed.
I consider myself to be centre-right. And somewhat to the left of Rachel Reeves!
You may want to invest in a compass.
My MP has written a her opinion on this.
Her last paragraph starts “As your MP will always listen to you and your concerns.” I guess the missing “I” is a typo.
She wants to listen to me and my concerns that much that she has asked for comments not be allowed. Quite disappointing.
Agreed, The editor should not have allowed PB to dictate ‘no comments allowed’.
I’m not hugely pleased about it but did want people to see what she had to say about the winter fuel allowance vote so needed to decide whether to do that with the no comment request or not have it at all. This particular issue is very important to many people so I decided I did want it.
I’m glad you pointed out that it was her choice and her reason why.
I believe that the content would have been awkward questions rather than abuse.
That is what she will claim is abuse. Police State Starmer will likely try to pass laws that ban any criticism of him or any of his MP’s soon. The man is a dictator & non of his little cult members-MP’s, the Labour councilors here who have of course been silent, the leftie media who pretend to love the poor, but really like Polly just virtue signal about it over lattes & caviar in London could care less-as shown by their full support/justification for it.
Not at all, we all knew PB would do two things-either hide away & ignore it, or put out a bland, generic statement like this patting herself & Labour on the back, trying to justify the unjustifiable-while ignoring her own comments here in mid July & the commitments her & Labour made that she discussed on this very website in that article, that they & she then went back on-the first less than a week after that article & block any responses from the electorate she claims to want to represent & listen to.
Any responses to her office will be read by her staff & most likely filed away in a cabinet, or the office bins. After all they are all from poor people. It isn’t like she has upset any rich people that could care less about losing a few hundred quid payment-who are the only people they care about.
What a COWARD she is.
Self serving/guff/back-patting response from her as expected-the never ending 22 billion black hole, which they can produce no evidence for that figure & that Starmer admitted they did no assessment for the number of lives this would cost, speaks volumes about how carefully they considered it & how much agonising went into it. As does the reports from those there that some Labour MP’s actually cheered & fist pumped as they went to vote to condemn pensioners to death. By the way in 2017 Labour did do an assessment into it when the Tories were planning heating cuts & it was four thousand deaths.
1. You may have had loads of conversations with your posh friends over lattes in Islington, or at your Warner Music freebie PSB concert Polly, but they weren’t with us plebs in Thanet. On the contrary you were here in mid July after winning thanks to our votes to replace the Tories with something better, promising how you would keep your pledges to scrap what you said was an appalling two child benefit cap that had damaged society, that you would keep people warm in their homes & level up. You then promptly voted just six days later to keep the cap in place & then voted to condemn pensioners to death with nearly all of your ‘socialist’ Labour MP’s last week.
2. Experts have come out & said there is no possible way Labour couldn’t know about the deficit.
3. The national debt is 2.25 trillion-there is no emergency, that is just lies
/gaslighting from Starmer & all of you. 1.4 billion is a drop in the ocean & there are any other number of ways that could have been mitigated-most notably doing what you, Starmer & all the other MP’s preached you would do when you were looking for our votes, namely ensure those with the broadest shoulders carried the bulk of the burden. Instead you have gone after the poorest in society & will do so again going forward-now you want to scrap the 25% relief for single people, again this will hugely impact the elderly.
It was not a remotely tough choice-you are giving 45 million extra to the Royal Family, 3.6 billion to Zelenskyy, a staggering 11.6 billion overseas for ‘climate crisis’ etc-that you have easily reduced to 10.2 billion, though why a penny of it is being spent on such nonsense shows your incompetence, you could even pay your own home energy bills-rather then fleecing the taxpayer for it. It is quite clear you are choosing to punish the poorest & reward the richest-the total opposite of what you campaigned on & what the Labour Party is supposed to stand for.
4. As you well know most people will not qualify for Pension Credit-many missing out by a quid or two & most will just give due to how complicated the application process is-like the old lady this week who said it took her six days. You also know that if every pensioner eligible took up Pension Credit then it would cost in excess of the 1.4 billion you pretend you can’t afford-doesn’t add up at all. Just more gaslighting.
5. More gaslighting-you told us on July 16th that the two child cap would be gone under Labour, then voted to keep it six days later. You said the same about keeping homes warm & then voted to scrap the fuel allowance. Nobody now believes a word you, Starmer or any Labour MP says-other than the very brave few we can count on less than two hands that now find themselves suspended for doing the right thing by their constituents & the country. The decisions you make are clearly only for the benefit of yourselves & your rich friends.
Claiming credit for the pension increase is again nonsense. That was already happening anyway & now Labour are going to take credit for it. More money coming next year does nothing for this winter does it? Judging by the weather the last week it looks like it will be a long winter as well. Your decision will also bed block the NHS well into next year as the elderly that don’t perish will be in hospital for prolonged stays with respiratory problems in large numbers.
6. Yes, I am sure the Treasury give a hoot about Thanet residents. You haven’t made decisions for our benefit though-that is the problem. You promised to when you wanted our vote & right after you won & then you stabbed us all in the back.
7. Finally you tell the truth about the energy bills being too high, but of course pretend that is all down to the evil commie in Moscow-like Reagan 40 years back. The reality is it is due to the people running the energy companies ripping us off for years now using that as an excuse, of course you will do nothing about that. then again you lobby for a big energy company in the US, don’t you? Your employer Hanover represents US Oil giant Valero-so that isn’t in your interests.
8. Yes, you were elected to fix the problems caused by the Tories & you promised to do that by taxing the rich-with your broadest shoulders carry the biggest burden lies. Instead you are attacking the poor.
9. You are cooked. You might have five years in power due to our undemocratic system that allows you, like the Tories before you to stay-no matter the harm you are doing & your unpopularity with the people who put you in power, but you will not get a second term. The first chance we get to vote Labour out we will. The first chance we get to vote you out we will. You have betrayed the nation & though it probably doesn’t apply to many like yourself who are only in politics for themselves, as Dostoevsky wrote-Your worst sin is that you’ve destroyed and betrayed yourself for nothing, applies to the Labour Party & so many of those longtime MP’s who used to be in it for the right reasons.
10. Get used to the ‘abuse’ you are hiding from-I am sure the stuff coming into your underlings at your office while you hide away in London & let them deal with it all is probably abuse-but of course that is what happens when rich people cost poor people their homes, jobs, life etc & it will get worse when you go after every poor group in the budget soon & reward the rich with tax breaks, taken from those punishments of the worst off in society.
Here while we are angry, it is rebutting your claims & that is criticism-which you cannot handle, just like your boss Starmer & his cabinet cronies. You are all Benedict Arnold’s & we will never forget what you have done. No matter what cheap, grubby little inducements you throw at us in four years to get elected again.
Hissy fit
C’mon, own up – who voted for her? Apart from Andrew and George, that is?
Of course-because we knew the Tories weren’t going to change after 14 years of failure, incompetence & corruption. We voted for the only other party that could defeat them-a socialist party making promises to tax the richest & turn things around. Instead we got a bunch of Tory Liars that have totally abandoned any socialist principles-other than champagne socialism.
Even the worst labour government is ten times better than the tories
Tell that to the starving and freezing pensioners this winter.
Very strange attitude from the far-left. All the ‘leftie’ papers & journalists are trying to justify all this & even Starmer’s freeloading for clothing for him & his wife. While still going after the Tories & Farage-neither of whom are even in power for their corruption.
The Labour cult mentality gives a free pass, or is it because they are all upper middle class like Polly-who ‘agonise’ over the poor in their posh coffee shops/restaurants in Surrey, when it is the Tories kicking the poor & then as soon as they get in power & do exactly the same it is somehow good, because they are the ones doing it?
Grow up
Can’t afford to. Labour hate old people.
Over the last 100 years the balance of power in this country is 80 – 20 in favour of the Tories no wonder this country is #######
And how long are you going to blame everything on the Tories & nothing on how Labour are behaving? In case you hadn’t noticed Labour are the new Tory Party.
I think you’ll find reform are the new Tory party ,talking about blame the Tories were still trying to blame labour for the global financial crash of 2008 if you don’t know your history try watching the film the big short which explains in some detail how the banks were to blame not the labour party .