Is Keir Starmer the new Nick Clegg? | UK politics | The New Statesman

Labour say they face difficult choices. Where have we heard that before?

Three listeners ask whether Keir Starmer is reliving Nick Clegg's experience as deputy Prime Minister in coalition?

David Gauke served with Nick Clegg in coalition and joins Hannah Barnes and Rachel Cunliffe on the New Statesman podcast to explain the similarities and differences between Keir Starmer's Labour government and Nick Clegg's Liberal Democrats and the coalition government.

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Rachel Reeves's great gamble, by Andrew Marr

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[terry]

Nick Clegg was actually popular before he betrayed the people who voted for him.

[jonathancorbyn]

I'm a hospice nurse, and let me tell you, the failure of social care and GP practice generally, no amount of money will save the NHS. I threw away a few hundred quid of out date equipment from one cupboard the other day. There's no chance of improvement.

[janeknight]

The NHS needs a complete overhaul from the bottom up. This can only be done with a Labour government in place for all sorts of psychological reasons. It will always be a bottomless pit. However there is no point in throwing in big headline figures to have them dissipated to nothing when it comes to making actual change. We could start by making a national social care service.

[Phil-nc]

The NFU do NOT represent small farmers, they represent big corporate interests

There's definitely something to be said for brightening up the public realm

[fabfran]

Unintended consequences with farming surely. Foreign groups such as Americans and Chinese are buying up large swathes of agricultural land and farmers who've been on the Land for generations will be affected.

It doesn't take much for farms to be worth a million.

Do you want massive, animal unfriendly practices coming here from China and the USA?

Just because you don't understand food production and are mostly urban based doesn't mean this policy isn't going to have huge long term effects.

It wouldn't have been difficult to see which farms are family farms, and which ones have bee acquired recently for tax purposes.

[TouringTony]

Sunak was aggressive in his budget response because he will have to pay almost all the tax rises. It was as if Reeves looked at his lifestyle and went we'll take more money from Sunak. They even lowered tax on beer in the pub just to make sure he knew it is personal (he's teetotal)

[garybradley]

Reeves, and many others, like to remind us that “you can’t tax and spend your way to growth.” We need to remember that austerity guarantees a contraction of the economy.

[adriancurtin]

Are we heading for Lib / Lab pack in the 2nd 5years, rather than a 2nd Lab 5 years .Due to unpopular but necessary decisions being made now, the
Lab party is likely to be too unpopular on its own to be elected for a 2nd 5year term?? The broard trust of the budget is correct but may make Lab v.unpopular towards the end of its 1st 5 year term.No more kicking the can 😮down rhe road (good) but N.I. increases for employers (jobs tax ) not so good.She must be complimated on the balancing act she has accumplished between the need for growth, which as she knows will come m the private sector & old traditional Lab Economics theorywhere economic grow comes mainly from the state, with all the stultifying effect of ever increasing taxes.As a famous person once said there is no public money only tax payers money.

[martineyles]

The tax take was too broad based and will eventually affect the poor more. They need to target people earning above the median wage, such as myself. Unfreeze the basic rate threshold increase and reduce the higher rate threshold to include me.

[khard]

Its all very interesting. And it will take years to see if this higher tax approach works out in terms of growth and whether public services seriously improve. But the main age group that voted Labour was 30s and 40s. Will this generation feel the benefits? As a 32 year old i want housing sorted even more than i want the NHS sorted. The danger is extra money for the NHS just helps to keep some very old people alive for a few more weeks. And younger people see little benefit.

[Simalacrum]

While these moves by Labour are unpopular, I do hope that people don't forget the total and utter chaos that defined the 14 years we've experienced under the last government.

I've seen some people talk as if this government is already as bad if not worse than the last one - it absolutely isn't.

[SwatantraNandanwar]

Oh yes he is.
Whats Nick up to these days.Planning a comeback or just kining his pockets.
Btw hive that Sir title back to the his maj, Keir, and call yourself Just Keir. No Labour member should ever accept any honours.

[pauljs]

Would Alastair Darling agree that Osborne wasn’t acting on a fantasy?

[adriancurtin]

D.G.is good, we are from similar wings of the party the difference is the level of interlect with D.G well ahead!

[thomashobbs]

Putting up fees by 173% is a bit different from putting them up 2.8% in line with inflation

[pauljs]

17:50 you said earlier on the chat both parties were playing with cards close to the chest. So sure Mr I’m alright had punchy taxes up rhetoric but everyone knew after 14 years of decline the only thing the Tories were offering was more of the same. So ok taxes are up, and hopefully having found her feet more at the next budget the chancellor will start going after extreme wealth in a serious way.

[javiernelson]

"There are limits", and if they don't like the limits, as it seems, they can happily change the rules so now they have much higher limits. I honestly hope the markets panic and scare them with a huge rise in interest rates. Maybe that is the kind of thing this government needs.

[Robert-vwod]

100% this is more financial gatekeepers with no decent policies who are not going to bring in any of the change necessary, so you will have an increasing number of poor underachieving people in the country who for no fault of their own will have to be paid for, he doesn’t want to do anything about housing energy or such like. He’s useless.

[georgethompson]

Watching David Guake schooling these 2 is quite amusing.

[kieran]

No, because Nick Clegg apologised when he made promises he didn't keep. Starmer pretends he never made them.