Comments by "Andy Monaghan" (@229andymon) on "Rachel Reeves could not have done worse than this" video.

I am a socialist. I hate the Labour Party.
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@RobertMustoe Labour used to *be* that….
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@ChrisJones-ht9zn And many, many more not rich ones (were) that *do* need it. Thanks, “People’s Party”….
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@nitsujism What has Labour done re railways? It has said it will take back into public ownership rail franchises currently operated by the private sector. Sounds great, right? But - firstly, it was already happening, some have already been transferred under the Tories due to catastrophic performance and other issues. Labour’s only alternative would’ve been to continue the Tory policy and re-issue licences to obviously failing and incompetent private companies. Not exactly manning the barricades, eh? On the other hand we could discuss what Labour *aren’t* doing, like taxing the wealthy, tackle UK offshore tax havens or nationalising Water etc. If you follow the excellent Richard Murphy, as I do, you’ll see he’s created a long list of sensible, un-radical and viable things Labour could, should, but won’t do. Free breakfast clubs - yeah, a nice gesture, but what about Labour’s voting to continue the Tory 2 child benefits cap? Maybe if Labour wasn’t making so many poor people poorer, they wouldn’t need breakfast clubs, eh?
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@Banjo2030 I think Labour (and the Tories) need to give up their craven, cynical and opportunist support for FPTP and let a real left wing party emerge.
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@kevinwilde Labour is not a left wing party anymore, and I say that without a hint of exaggeration. They are a centrist party. Left wingers do not represent or control that party and I doubt ever will. The fact is there is no mainstream left wing party in UK.
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@sonny1987100 There are those in UK that *need* taxed to hell. It’s just a pity that Labour have ruled out doing that. Labour has only one thing going for them in my book - they’re aren’t Tories. However, I reckon people who voted for them voted for far more than just that.
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@puckinhell622 Yes, of course. Would you like a full manifesto or say, 50 or so? You know this isn’t the Oxford Union debating chamber, right?
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@shtarpark7938 OK not all, but some do. I spoke to one last week who went on about how “lucky” I was to live in my generation - until I told him I was 7 before we had an inside toilet..!
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@shtarpark7938 Did you miss where I said “OK, not all, but some”..? Personally, I don’t think this generation is any better or worse than mine, and they face challenges I didn’t. But do some have a warped sense of what my time was like? Sorry, but yes.
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@shtarpark7938 I hope you have the maturity to understand that any decisions we made were what we considered sensible and obvious - at the time. Now some of them appear wrong and stupid, but back then they made sense. In fact I’d say in general we hoped and assumed we were working to pass on a brighter future to the next generation. I find it depressing when a young person tells me, in all seriousness, they consider me lucky. I don’t envy the young. They have materially far more than i could dream of at their age, but my generation seemed happier.
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@ChrisJones-ht9zn They’re £500 quid down pa. I’d call that affected. I know, I’m one of the not rich pensioners affected Why are they doing this but deliberately *not* increasing taxation on the ever growing number of wealthy people instead?
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@ChrisJones-ht9zn I live in hope they change their minds on that, but Sir Kid Starver has stated they won’t increase income taxes, including for the wealthy.
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@martinmcdonald4207 Which ones?
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@kevinwilde Isn’t that what many left wing voters in UK just did? Didn’t work, eh?
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@puckinhell622 A party that plans for and enacts policies that can clearly be identified as left wing.
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@puckinhell622 One that plans for and enacts policies that are clearly left wing.
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@kevinwilde Where can I find true, left wing Labour?
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@nitsujism Well, far, far more than that. How about *not* voting *to continue with* Tory child poverty measures or refusing to increase taxes on the wealthy to reduce the obscene (and widening) gap between rich and poor? How about cracking down on UK offshore tax havens, how about increasing corporation tax, how about a long list of completely viable and sensible left wing things RIchard Murphy has highlighted Labour could, should, but will not, do? Free breakfast clubs and not replacing private sector rail operating franchises (not nationalising rail infrastructure) with new ones cut it for you? You’re easy pleased.
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@nitsujism He’s a professor of accountancy, written books on taxation policies and one of cleverest guys not to be listened to by Labour. So you’ll pardon me I hope for preferring to listen to him rather than Labour sellouts, apparatchiks and apologists. Transpennine Express and Southeastern were already taken into public ownership, even the Tories couldn’t save them. You’re easy pleased. As for voting *for* the Tory child poverty bill, what was wrong with last week? Why vote FOR it? Why wait if they’ll do it “eventually”, keeping kids in deprivation? Why are you so obviously making excuses for them? Labour is showing their true colours, and there’s more Tory inspired austerity misery on the way, which you can try to excuse if you like, I won’t be. Nor will I be taken in by the nonsense about looking in the cupboard and shock, horror, found it bare. To give them their due, they at least aren’t even pretending to be left-wing anymore. They are a centrist party, and I say that without a trace of bias. It’s the truth.
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@puckinhell622 Looks like we’re both gonna be disappointed, eh? Labour will camp firmly in the political centre. I’m also bitterly opposed to FPTP (and have been for a very long time) which is an atrocious voting system. Labour won’t end that either, which, while cynical and craven, at least has logic, since I reckon it would/will completely change UK politics, ending the “shots each” system that is only supported by the 2 parties that unfairly benefit from it. Labour has effectively cornered pretty much the entire left wing vote in England, which is remarkable given they’re not a left wing party.
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@puckinhell622 Incidentally, you asked about left wing policies. Of your 5 I’d call the first left wing, the NHS and green tariff non political and the rest right wing Regarding green energy policy, that was actually a very rare example where I reckon the Tories didn’t do too bad a job, albeit they made some disastrous mistakes, like effectively banning onshore wind and spending oceans of taxpayers money on wasteful nuclear. Labour’s manifesto energy commitments are extremely optimistic and in my view highly unlikely to be achieved.
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@puckinhell622 And Thatcher was a “Conservative”, but left UK a smoking ruin.
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