Jacqs | Thoughts

@Dan4Barnet Council Tax is about the services you receive? Not about the asset value of the house! Does the house get more potholes, more bins, more social care ,more police for being 10m no.. My god the treasury saw you all coming!

Right now some £10m homes are paying less council tax than a normal family home. It's not right and it's not fair. So this government is changing it.

@AndyBurnhamGM @afneil Spend less time assuming you’re right,more time engaging with the argument being made. Debate is about listening to understand, not talking down to people. The irony is that the PM you want to replace is criticised for exactly this attitude,most haven’t exactly warmed to it.

@afneil You need to get out of London, Andrew. You’ve clearly got no idea how much people here are struggling. And, yes, a lot of it can be traced back to Margaret Thatcher.

Except that it purports to claim that the area (Makerfield) has been a victim of 40 years of Thatcherism (that’s what Burnham seems to be running against, which means he’s also running against the Blair-Brown government, of which he was a part). Yet the backdrop to his wandering shows rows of neat, well-kept, substantial semi-detached homes, with plenty new cars in the driveways and a vibrant high street, despite all the road works improving it. Oh yes and a state school so good he sent his kids to it. Put simply — the pictures clash with his words of victimhood and deprivation.

@JeevunSandher Are Labour in government? Why I ask is every post is a pot shot,a mistruth which rather feels like you are in permanent campaign mode! Its tedious, its tiring and its not even factual...i won't vote reform nor you...but fgs start acting like your governing!

Reform want to ban solar farms. I want to build them. Cheaper homegrown energy over fossil fuels sold by Putin’s mate, Farage.

@SamCoatesSky 706 is hardly a good representation now is it...selective stats..by Sky..

NEW - YouGov Labour members polling If there is a leadership contest, your first preference: Burnham 47% Starmer 31% Rayner 8% Streeting 4% Miliband 3% Cooper 3% Mahmood 1% Carns 0% Head to heads: Burnham 59% v Starmer 37% Burnham 80% v Streeting 10% Miliband 58% v Streeting 28% Rayner 70% v Streeting 19% On Keir Starmer, should he: Take party into next election 28% Remain as leader until closer to GE 33% Step down no / in months 33% YouGov polled 706 Labour members, May 14-18

@djsanderson1970 @PrfChrisPainter Does Burnham?

@PrfChrisPainter Do you realise this isn’t a general election?

Does Burnham realise that to win a general election he needs a platform that appeals across the country and not just in north of England?

@LukePollard So there’s an active investigation, but because everything isn’t immediately made public it’s suddenly a ‘cover-up’? Odd argument from someone in government, considering ministers defend withholding details repeatedly during ongoing investigations. Hypocrite!

Last week I appeared on Politics SW and called out the Reform councillor for Ham on his racist social media posts. The BBC are still refusing to show the full episode on the iPlayer, and on yesterday’s show played this short clip instead.

@peterkyle Watching you in the HOC now you’re in govt, not on the campaign trail. People watching debates are tired of every speech sounding like an election pitch by you. It distracts from what you’re actually saying, to the point I’m not even sure what is being announced.@peterkyle

This is great news for Britain. Loads done. More to do.

@BBCPolitics Reversing course on previous statements this early undermines credibility. With a govt already seen as failing to stand by its promises, this reinforces the impression that Burnham hasn’t fully thought this through and so early on, it’s starting to show, not just on the EU.

"I am not proposing that the UK considers rejoining the EU, I respect the decision that was made at the referendum," Andy Burnham says Follow live bbc.in/4dwtz79

@PaulBrandITV Reversing course on previous statements this early undermines credibility. With a govt already seen as failing to stand by its promises, this reinforces the impression that Burnham hasn’t fully thought this through and so early on, it’s starting to show, not just on the EU.

“My view is that Brexit has been damaging, but the last thing we need right now is to re-run those arguments”, says Burnham. “I’m not saying that the U.K. reconsiders rejoining the EU”.

@BBCPolitics @GordonMcKeeMP factcheck, many conservatives voted to remain, to suggest as you did being a conservaties means you voted to leave, this is factually wrong. You talk alot but your understanding is quite shallow.

On Monday's #PoliticsLive Gordon McKee MP, Labour Ben Obese-Jecty MP, Conservative Kate Ferguson, The Sun on Sunday 12:15pm BBC Two bbc.in/4df92oO

@Dan4Barnet We appear to have least moved from policy making by WhatsApp to now policy by X replies. .

Mixed views in the replies. Let's remember, the government is giving Mayors in England the choice to implement the levy. Local areas in Wales and Scotland already have this power. So many other regional leaders across the world have this choice. Some use it. Some don't. And that's fine, in fact it's a good thing. It's called devolution! But England is pretty much the most centralised country in the developed world when it comes to taxation, and I'm not going to be yet another tax Minister that lets it stay that way. We need regional leadership to have, if they wish, revenue streams that they can rely on to fund investment in growth-enhancing projects in their areas. Rachel Reeves has been leading from the front on fiscal devolution, and the Chancellor's recent announcement of "revenue sharing" for Mayors is a decisive break with the past. The timeline and phasing-in details for this will be set out in a roadmap at the Budget, and I'm looking forward to working on it in HMT in the months ahead.

@Dan4Barnet What a pity your op didn’t explain any of that context. It came across as enthusiasm for another levy, then after the backlash it’s suddenly about “choice” for Mayors and local discretion. Same old comms mistake: present the policy first, add the nuance once the reaction lands.

@ajcdeane I'm hearing whatsapp is the preferred delivery platform for Labour, where diary and meeting info...disappear..

Each personal assistant will now have their own delivery unit, led by a senior civil servant. And every personal assistant will be given a new “delivery advisor” in their private office to support this work.

@TomBaldwin66 @ObserverUK @TomBaldwin66 Can you help answer? If the PM truly wants to fight on, and cares about the country as claimed, why stay silent? No engagement with the public or press since Monday while the narrative swirls around him. Strange behaviour for a leader determined to carry on, no?

My piece for @ObserverUK this week on all the fear and loathing being generated by the prospect of removing Keir Starmer from No10. observer.co.uk/news/politics/…

@lukejcr @SkyNews It is and was already a Labour Seat! The General Election is in 2029! Make it , make sense.

Good to be on @SkyNews talking about how Andy Burnham can take the fight to Reform UK in Makerfield and send them packing, alongside the welcome news from Rachel Reeves this week on the Government’s growth figures. 🌹

@montie Words... x.com/darrenpjones/s…

A million delivery units won't make any difference until individual civil servants face consequences (including pay freezes and - ultimately - termination of employment) for missing measurable performance goals.

@SaulStaniforth Remember his article on resigning, he's only 32, he was and is naive!

Allowing a man who ran a factional org that broke the law when it channelled secret cash to fund Starmers rise, & which then ran a smear campaign against journalists investigating its role, to opine on whats gone wrong for Labour & the need to come together, is frankly absurd.

If Burnham won it, fought on removing the current leader, it doesn't prove he’s the only one who can beat Reform, it would prove voters backed him to challenge the leader. Claiming it proves he alone can beat Reform nationally is a flawed bandwagon narrative. @AndyBurnhamGM

@joshsimonsmp @AndyBurnhamGM The tories capped bus fares across england at 2.00,labour increased to £3. Shall we take a deep dive into bee network p&l and subsidies Josh..no i didn't think so. Your everything wrong with politics a careerist , only there to serve yourself

Always good to see Bee Network buses in the background. I heard someone brought them under public control, capped fares at £2, and got free travel for pensioners anytime. Oh yes. @AndyBurnhamGM.

@Channel4News He might need to work much harder on reasons..as to why the taxpayer is funding a labour leadership campaign.masked as a by election ..that was weak very weak

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has set out his views on Labour's path forward and the policy challenges facing the country. Speaking to Channel 4 News' Andrew Misra, Burnham said he wanted Labour to become “a party that they can believe in again, a party solidly on the side of working class people.”