Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell catches up with PoliticsJOE at the 2024 Labour conference. Subscribe to our new podcast now, or you're a silly goose: linktr.ee/pubcast
@@TimComley Ah yes, the slackers! They’re the reason Britain is in the state it’s is today, nothing to do with the super rich. You don’t by any chance write for the Daily Mail or the Telegraph do you?
I should check on his economic credentials if I were you! Particularly when he was employed by his mate Ken Livingstone on the GLC before Ken decided to dispense with his economic skills.!
A true labour gentleman. He's the man that Labour should listen to and not take the whip from him. Starmer would rather surround himself with arselickers and remain a control freak.
In a country that leans to the right, I'm afraid "true socialism" will NEVER be accepted in this country. We have to take what we have been given, and do what we can. We have just had years of the alternative!.
@@paulbird3235I was born in 1952 and I and everyone of my generation benefited from the NHS, fully funded education, secure jobs with decent conditions won by the unions and even now I claim the state pension as a right bought by my contributions not a means tested handout. Socialism worked well until it was killed by greed by employers and also by workers when they had the whip hand. I am resigned to the fact that socialism will not come back in my lifetime but we did have it, it did work and for that I will be eternally grateful.
@@hughneal1866 I'm afraid socialism was killed off by thatcher in 1984. As a striking miner fighting to keep a job I know all about socialism and communities, but when you are fighting the state with very little assistance from your fellow workers you feel very isolated and alone. And didn't the great Margaret Thatcher say "there is no such thing as society" And as you say for a short period we did have socialism, but the right wing press destroyed everything we believed in, helped obviousley by Tory rule. This new government have had a terrible start but if they fail we may never see another labour government in our lifetime. I have a grandaughter aged twelve and I constantly fear for her future. You take care my friend.
Well said John. Keir Starmer is a real disappointment. I am sick of austerity and it does not have to be like this. We are a rich country and the rich should pay.
@@Believe-you-me- actually, I think you have it backwards. Given the nature of politics and the many cases of actual proven corruption of big money in politics (and this is very big money), the burden of proof should be on you to demonstrate how big political donations have NO influence on government policy.
What I really want to know is.. what my £300 is going to be used for?. I don’t want it going into the black hole where it could be squandered again, or given to someone much better off than me, but if Reeves said ‘I need it to raise children out of poverty’, I would be ready to accept it and I’m not a rich pensioner.
I would be calling on MICK LINCH AND CO,,,to call his members out on strike,,in support of the pensioners losing the winter fuel allowance to STARMERS CLOWNS,,,,now that they have got what they wanted ,,,AND I WOULD REMIND HIM THAT MILLIONS OF PENSIONERS WERE PAYING UNION SUBS BEFORE THEY HAD TO RETIRE,,!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Talk Talk it's a party that no longer represent me a solid tu member former miner. When the tories are in power you know who your enemies are, when labour is in power you don't know who your allies are. So now Alba saor agus Alba gu bràth
The only one that voted for keeping the WFA. Labour does not seem to know what to do, Starmer says the opposite to what he has done. He wanted to help the pensioners and ended up with making them poorer. The cost of fuel has gone up and this makes things far more difficult. Trade unions want the decision to be reversed and I hope that they have some influence before things get too bad.
@@Titus9508 no it's not lmao , it's a decision by the useless government , an oversized public service and the bank of England printing ridiculous amount of money not too say this fricking ridiculous net zero nonsense
i hate this labour gov but we have to be careful that we dont forget to praise the raise for striking workers and we dont explain the dangers in increasing 2 child policy. having benefits increase with child birth also increases crime rate in urban areas. we saw how bad that was 20 years ago. women having kids to get paid and be 1st on council house ladder was not sound policy. its not a good measure and we should look at other ways to distribute benefits aside from numbers of children.
John I think you are great but I don't agree with universal payments ,much better to means test by taxation . Ok thats not happening but it may do in the future. Please wait until the budget before making judgements John. Remember currently tax thresholds are frozen till 2026 unless we hear otherwise.
@@Crouchy232323 Really….just why did he impose a 3 line whip to support the Tories get Article 50 through parliament, and he didn’t even know what the Tories were planning ? 4% drop in GDP buys an awful lot of sausages.
you are part of a disgusting class war, the labour party should represent and be staffed by members of the working class from multiple trades & backgrounds the working class and Under class people need agency and representation. not to be managed by a bunch Of middle class professional politicians, we have at least two other parties that fit that bill. You and others like you have selfishly turned a member funded party into a party funded by capital, it's plain wrong. You are a full time troll and a coward.
My illiterate parents didnt beg, get welfare steal to feed 8 children while living on the banks of a canal in a shack made of branches and corrigated rusty steel sheets. They sacrificed to feed theur children and worked, even my mother in the shack worked. You're a lazy people (breast feeders on welfare who are not disabled).
Politically it makes sense for Starmer to go further right. The left are so fractured now and have no option but to vote labour to keep reform U.K. out. Starmer knows this and will go after the Tory voters that will not vote for a far right reform U.K. but will vote for a new conservative Labour Party. The next election is all that matters to Starmer and it will be an election fought on right wing policies between three right wing parties. The question is will the conservatives join reform in a coalition or will labour join the conservatives in a coalition to defeat reform U.K. if the left does not stand by Labour?? Starmer’s gamble of purging the left is paying off and that leaves Britain with right wing governments for the next 10-20 years!! Reform really could be in power sooner than people realise. Either way the left are far too fractured to be any opposition to the three main right wing parties. Starmer could go much further right than the torys have managed so far as there’s no opposition in parliament to stop him from pushing right wing policies through parliament.
you can't CUT your way to growth, it never has and never will work. The Government needs to put is big boy pants on and start taxing those that actually have enormous sums of money. Start targeted problem solving for long term solutions rather than patching things because they look or sound good.
Too right John. So sick of hearing Labour ministers defending these policies by saying 'unfortunately we've got to make these really hard decisions' while in reality the destitute families and old people are making the really hard and sometimes life threatening decisions of whether to eat or heat.
I am a pensioner myself and will not get the £200 allowance, but in the grand scheme of things, keeping the Triple Lock is far more important to me. Where was McDonnell when the Tories introduced a two-tier State Pension in 2016? Where older, more vulnerable pensioners receive £2000 per year less than younger ones. Where was he when the Tories broke an election pledge in 2021/22 by not paying the Triple Lock to pensioners? Where was he when the Tories froze the tax Free Allowance at £12500 when it should now be in the region of £15000? Many pensioners would consequently not be paying any tax at all, and others would be £500 a year better off. Sorry but McDonnell and his crew were nowhere to be seen, they are just taking any opportunity to grift and undermine the current leader!
I am a state pensioner I am losing my winter fuel payment I have asthma so I have to keep the heating on I am fed up listening to politicians telling me That I must accept tough decisions So that I can access some Golden utopia That I know from past experience Will never arrive
As a pensioner also, my wife and I have also lost the allowance, but what really grieves me is ---. On the morning of the election and after voting. My wife and I were in a que at Tesco and a little old lady who lives on her own said to me "I am in a dilema and I don't know who to vote for" I then convinced her not to vote Tory but to support Labour. I told her that they would look after her. I hope one day to bump into her and apologise.
Apart from that, lets stop tax loop holes and make sure that the wealthy ACTUALLY pay tax. Not an unfair amount of tax just a fair share. 40% for the richest without fail.
John McDonall is absolutely right in saying that starmer has to introduce a new way to tax people and force the idle rich to pay their fair share, instead of constantly taking more and more from hardworking families, but I don't think he will because he's part of the ruling class and like his tory pals,is happy to take much needed money from the most vulnerable in our society, but leave the idle rich to wallow in their obscene wealth, absolutely disgusting ,
The real question is: Why is his hair grey but his eyebrows are dark? Before the trolls come out from under their bridge… I love John & what he is saying. I’m a lefty that hates Skier!
Oh John, why didn’t you run to be leader after Jeremy in 2020, you’d have beat starmer hands down, this guy would be PM, instead bowed to wokery and the insistence it be a woman and we end up with Rebecca long Bailey as candidate for the left, a total non entity,
People need to understand what economic austerity actually is: reducing public spending and increasing taxes, typically done to reduce government debt. Labour have clearly increased public spending and have committed to not raising income tax, VAT or NI - so the assertion that we're seeing 'austerity measures' is absolutely false. Taking the correct decision to means test the WFA so that pensioners, the economic group that is by far the wealthiest demographic, don’t get handed out free money that is by and large not needed is - and I repeat - NOT AUSTERITY. The question we should be asking is why do we live in a society where taking away an annual payment of up to £300 will allegedly disadvantage so many people? This is the legacy of fourteen years of Tory mismanagement, and the blame should continue to be laid at their feet, as opposed to the party in power tasked with unenviable job of clearing the absolute disaster they have inherited.
I have a theory If you believed that very soon people attentions might be drawn to more immediate concerns - like fresh water, tourniquets, and shelter from when the bombs drop; you WOULD be disinclined to invest in services, like transport and major instrasturue projects, wouldn't you? I know it's a weird one, but as things are, I'm feeling this increasingly more likely a possibility.....
I like his comments at the end on the PMs speech. The only question I have which hat is he going to pull that lot out of. O yes he’s suggesting we tax the wealthy a lot more. Well two things on that first get his leader to pay tax on his pensions and secondly all that will happen is the rich will take there money out of the country.
Two cheeks of the same arse. It was clear to anyone paying attention to Starmer's behaviour over the last couple of years, what sort of party we'd end up with with Starmer in charge.
Labour party bed with people who got Money.......... forget they are not Winning this??.........even the opposite Tories who would Never share food with others...........would makes sense........... damn.....
The people complaining about means testing a pensioner benefit are the same people who voted time and again for disabled people to have benefits removed or restricted, for the 2 child cap, for young people to be given mandatory national service, for the removal of the £20 universal credit uplift, for everyone's pay to stagnate for over a decade, all while having extremely generous triple locked pension increases well above wages and inflation, and these very same people are now complaining that the free handouts to rich people are withdrawn. 1 in 4 pensioners are in millionaire households. They should be getting nothing from the state.
@@samuelstevens248 You do realise that the majority of brexit voters were NOT pensioners, right? Just because their age group were more likely to vote for Brexit doesn't mean most pensioners voted for brexit, or most workers voted to remain. Do you also realise you've been ranting for nearly a decade now?
Until the goverment invests in infrastructure, we cant have the economic growth to ensure the pension exsists when I or my neice and nephews need it. capitalism is a plant that demands care and maintainance, thatcherism abandons the plant, ebay's the state and blames minorities for the conseqences. weak men bring hard times, bruh the boomers should take a small sip of what they sew.
I'm complaining and none of this applies to me. The issue isn't the concept of means testing, it's that they are doing it at a level leaving many poorer pensioners unable to heat their homes.
I don't know which country ypu are living in, but it is not the same one that the vast majority of us live in. There are some very rich people who are also pensioners, but the vast majority are not rich. Re the triple lock, next year the state pension will rise by 4% not the 22 or 14% that has been awarded to junior doctors and train drivers.
Redistribution of wealth does not work. Its destructive. It’s the politics of envy and it’s cynical. You need to provide a framework for growth for individuals so that they can start business create wealth and become prosperous.
It's not the politics of envy, the current economic system is simple not sustainable. The current system means the rich can basically say "do as I say or I'll leave or not invest" and get their way until the end of time. And yet the rich increasingly see any form of investment that creates jobs as too much risk and too much management. They'd prefer to invest in speculative assets, especially pump and dump scams, one of the worst being cryptocurrency for example, which provides basically no jobs and wastes extreme amounts of energy. Asset stripping companies are another example of terrible investments that previously didn't exist when this economic model was first adopted, these issues were not accounted for at the time. Take those issues on one hand, and then add on automation and AI... And then add the fact that housing costs have increased well above inflation, with pay increasing at a rate lower than inflation, energy bills going through the roof, despite energy companies making massive profits...oh and did I mention we're giving these energy companies over 11 billion pounds (often higher) every year to keep fuel costs "low" (even though they're increasingly rapidly)? Where is the money for ordinary people coming from? This is not a sustainable economic system, there logically must be a breaking point. A truly wise government would act before that breaking point erupts into chaos, rather than pretend the current system is fine and continue bending over backwards for the very richest. Pointing this out has sweet FA to do with envy or jealousy. It's honestly a pathetic excuse to suggest anyone criticising excessive wealth or private schools for instance are just doing so because they are jealous. It's about fairness and decency. If some people are jealous that's up to them but I for once criticise them because they are elitist and reinforce class supremacy, which shouldn't still be a thing in 2024, and yet your framing as any argument against them as being the politics of envy proves that it is still a very real issue.
