I was listening to BBC R4 PM just now and this is what I heard Keir Starmer say:
“Children should be able to go as far as their talent will take them. They shouldn’t have barriers. Poverty is a barrier to children realising their talents and being able to play their full part in the economy. And that’s why I’m really proud to have launched the strategy [on child poverty].”
What other Labour leader, Labour Prime Minister would have said ‘the economy’ and not ‘society’ in the above.
Does Labour see our children, including my grandchildren, as mere economic players? I want poverty to be to be tackled because of reasons of social justice not because of my yearning for an economy that Rachel Reeves can brag about.
Maybe the BBC has badly edited Starmer’s words – they did something similar recently I remember.
Or am I over-reacting?
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I guess Starmer doesn’t need to convince you of the merits of social justice. But according to a YouGov poll the majority of the general public, who opposed the removal of the 2-child benefit cap by 56% to 31%, might find his approach of regarding happy, healthy children as an investment more appealing.
No you are not over reacting, this is typical of a government that has stopped seeing us all as people instead of economic units. Frankly it is appalling and totally inappropriate for a democratic socialist party. Then are Labour under this uncharismatic man still a democratic socialist party, I certainly doubt it. a disappointing, government with no heart, soul or it seems guiding principles, all the things we would have expected of an “old” Labour government and it and us would be better for it. Without massive change I’ll not be voting for them again, as a lifelong socialist that is truly a shock even to me.
I guess Starmer’s target audience wasn’t people like you (and me) who believe in social justice. He needs to convince the general public, who according to a YouGov poll, opposed removing the two child benefit cap by 56% to 31%, that happy, healthy children are a good investment. Sadly the viewpoint seems to have become embedded that ‘welfare’ spending is a drain on our society rather than a general benefit.
I agree wholeheartedly Lyn. We have Kemi Badenoch claiming that lifting that benefit cap was unchristian FFS. The whole of mainstream politics has shifted so far towards the selfish me , me it is both astonishing and veru concerning.
I’m sure Keir Starmer doesnt regard children as ‘mere economic players’. Yes you are over reacting. Stop being a pedant & get real. Removal of child benefit cap, breakfast clubs, minimum wage increase etc will all help people in real need.
Sorry to be so late to this discussion but:
Agree totally with those who have the sense to see that those on the left are not the target audience – it’s the apparent majority who want to retain the cap.
Disagree with anyone who requires charisma in a leader – BoJo was such a success, wasn’t he!
Chris – if you say something, in public, and likely to be broadcast on national radio, then if you know it won’t go down well with your natural supporters (the left, including me) then not only do you disappoint those supporters but also you appear to be rubbing their noses in it if one says that the natural supporters just have to suck it up because the unnatural supporters are gagging for it.
“If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck”. If it can’t be bothered to act like a duck then don’t trust it to be a duck.