Jonathan Ashworth on losing the Muslim vote, the smoking ban, and Labour's supermajority

Join Fraser Nelson, Katy Balls, and Kate Andrews at this special live edition of Coffee House Shots. With special guest Jonathan Ashworth, they dissect the first few weeks of the new Labour government, and look ahead to the policies Autumn might bring. Jonathan Ashworth also discusses his time on the campaign trial, the NHS crisis, the smoking ban, and what he thinks Labour needs to do in the coming months.

You can listen to Coffee House Shots, The Spectator's daily politics podcast, here:

Sign up to the Spectator Events newsletter to be the first to hear about our upcoming debates, talks and conferences:

// SUBSCRIBE TO THE SPECTATOR
Get 12 issues for £12, plus a free £20 John Lewis/Waitrose voucher

// FREE PODCASTS FROM THE SPECTATOR
Hear more from The Spectator's journalists on their podcasts, covering everything from the politics of the UK, US and China, to religion, literature, lifestyle and more.

// FOLLOW US

[declanstewart]

The fact there's such a thing as the "muslim vote" in the UK is depressing.

[maureenbarclay]

Im a retired NHS nurse. We need to put the money on the patients head. The nhs was far more streamlined in the 70s. Its now a total beurocratic mess look at procurement and PFI. IT needs to be taken apart top dowm. Why do they talk about SPA bet they never talk about the 3 part agreement employer employee and the government.. But the government renaged and pulled out in the 90s saving the exchequer at the time. So dont look at past governments hit the pensioners now. This is despicable. I guarntee taking away the energy support will impact on the NHS. Whe. I worked in emergency care u couldnt say to patient your knees hurt because your over weight. The patient charter stopped us being trueful curtsey of Blair . We have a nanny state stop infantiling people

[Casper-wedq]

The Muslim vote was always only temporary for Labour as far as I'm concerned. Once you group people in a block along religious lines sectarianism is almost inevitable.

[vicicooper]

They were trying very hard not to mention the Muslim threat. Last minute gentleman at the end was quashed. Why so squeamish about the most urgent problem in Britain?

[FraserBailey-jmyz]

You only have to look at Ashworth to know that he's smug and smarmy piece of work. To be honest, none of the people on this panel are wort bothering with and they're not telling us anything we don't already know.

[therighthonsirdoug]

Kemi Badenoch must be in the final 2! The fact that she is a little abrasive is a positive when it comes to being a leader! Didn't the Conservatives previously have a slightly abrasive female leader? Wasn't she quite successful? What was her name again...

[phwbooth]

Always remember that pensioners vote in great numbers.

[RichardEnglander]

On Kemi: we dont want another leader with ties to foreign nations. We are tired of leaders prioritising others over British people. We want to see huge changes stopping those born abroad from getting benefits and social housing, does Kemi get this?

[robinfox]

Fraser Nelson dodged mentioning the muslim vote.

[gpw]

A recent study found that our young people today are mentally seven years less mature at the same age than the previous generation, and that generation was seven years less mature at the same age than that previous generation. So the next time you find yourself arguing with a young person in their mid-twenties on any subject, remember this, you are actually arguing with a ten or eleven-year-old!!

[paulcaswell]

Re the podcasts: I could listen to Katy's voice for ever. She could even make deep sea dredging sound fascinating!

[marumaru]

11 Billion on foreign windfarm! massive over taxation so why work and massive immigration lowering wages!

[RichardEnglander]

We have a housing EMERGENCY.
22:05 we need to ban foreign people from benefits and social housing and free NHS. This will massively reduce the spending and the immigration, it will ejll encourage those who don't contribute to leave.
Perhaps the way is:
1) foreigners have to have health insurance like we do when we go abroad, we just do same.
2) foreign born only eligible for benefits and free NHS after paying ten years taxes and no remittances sent abroad.
3) foreign born never eligible for social housing

If foreigners can't afford to live here then they can go home, but This IS our home and we have nowhere else to go.

[swarming]

You skipped over the question about the Muslim vote

[joeingle]

Pagers are used because they are cheap and effective, JA would prefer to see £400 spent on smart phones rather than £50 spent on pagers. Even gives us a little smug chuckle.

[theoutsider]

Can't see the Labour Gov managing to build a million homes in the next year, and not just because of Nimbie mentality. They will also have to contend with builders that don't want to flood the market and reduce their profit margins. There will be materials supply and demand to consider if you want houses that are built to be affordable, so massively increasing demand for materials will make them more expensive, not less. Not to mention that unless they are planning on getting immigration down massively, building a million homes is going to only slow down the problems for a year. After that it will be back on the gas.

[carlsmith]

For record it would have been instructive if Mr Ashworth had been asked about his election defeat ( he seemed quite keen to talk about it ) and if he thinks it will return to the Labour Party or continue to coalesce into a regular party. The argument put to Muslims in the past is that being within the Labour Party . They will benefit without the downside of exposure of their beliefs to public debate and the fact that 99% are from migratory background and not Caucasians.

[TadgNokomis]

Poor guy was going to be in govt and now baby bro is doing podcasts

[andrewcharlton]

Even as a smoker, they should either ban cigarettes completely but the half thing is frustrating

[advocate]

When the first OAP deaths come in from hypothermia come in this Winter on back of +£170 bills, Liebour have that on their conscience. Mean rest yes, but not at level of state pension when.800k don't access pension credit and the form is.264 pages long. It's unhumane. So glad we left.last year.