. @lukecharters.bsky.social, who is backing this option, said he welcomed PM’s commitment to find "ways to make the student loan system fairer”
Charters said Labour must "fix the dog’s dinner the Tories created... in a progressive way that benefits lower to middle earning graduates."
Prinsley said the Gorton byelection showed that Labour was at risk of losing younger voters, adding: "We have a duty to do something about it, and there is a cost-neutral solution that could help.”
The IFS report has been circulating among MPs - the last option is one being backed by some
One backbencher said it was the single most frequently raised topic during the meeting - at least four or five MPs asking what she was doing to grip the problem.
Speakers included Jas Athwal and Peter Prinsley. Both MPs told @theobserveruk.bsky.social it was a question of intergenerational fairness
Understand that several Labour MPs confronted Rachel Reeves over rising concerns about the student loans crisis.
Although she was not expected to announce any new policy in the spring statement, backbenchers are pressing for her to do so in the autumn budget.
Thanks!
Listen to the full episode - which also features a genuine town crier - here
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
This is first class work from @catneilan.bsky.social
Yet another prime example of how regulation completely fails to stop fraudsters and scammers - and costs the public billions (in this case alone)
And Number 2 it's the start of a new series of The Naked Week on BBC Radio 4 at 6.30pm. With a focus on the big news story of the week, Amol Rajan.
(yeah still with @swerytd.bsky.social @stucooper1.bsky.social and me)
#TheNakedWeek
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Anyone want some dodgy licence plates?
Look no further than The Naked Week Number Plate Criminal Enterprise...
thenakedweeknumberplatecriminalenterprise.com
@jonholmes.bsky.social @andrewhunterm.bsky.social
Massive UK media scoop - Germany's Axel Springer is poised to agree a shock £500mn deal for the Telegraph in a move that will scupper the acquisition of the UK newspaper group by the Daily Mail. W/ the FT's finest @JFK_America @ArashMassoudi
www.ft.com/content/e5cb...
"Downing Street on Wednesday refused to deny suggestions No 10 had asked Mahmood to tone down her tough rhetoric but insisted there would be no shift on the policies on asylum and immigration she announced last year."
Interesting update on Labour's brewing immigration row from @arjsingh.bsky.social
Quite a story 👀
Good lord. What an abject failure the Blue Labour strategy has been.
Here is short article on the UNISON website
www.unison.org.uk/news/article...
As I was saying. You cannot make policy without the support of MPs and you can’t expect the support of MPs when your publicly declared strategy is “antagonise people like you and the people who voted for you”
bsky.app/profile/catn...
Also the farming IHT U-turn happened without people particularly going public. Lots can be achieved behind closed doors
Very but it's always difficult to put your head above the parapet (ministers would have to quit). Obviously I did ask.
Some names in the piece, lots in this debate share.google/bODQWpc9WzOZ...
Worth noting the welfare rebels didn't reveal themselves until late in the day
As the thread (and article) makes clear, opposition has been brewing for a while.
It's true that they sense an opportunity to change No 10's thinking post Morgan/Gorton, but it would be wrong to suggest these MPs are *solely* motivated by the polls
Same, although she's not the person leading the charge currently
I can imagine Rayner wheeling herself out to cut a compromise where the ILR changes only apply to new arrivals. Which I'd still regard as detestable, but which I could also see possibly buying off some dissenters primarily motivated by "the doorstep" or the unfairness (to existing migrants) argument
A rebellion of this size means Labour would be relying on Tory and Reform support for Starmer and Mahmood's reactionary policy
Ramsay McStarmer.
Keir Starmer is going to end up with his trademark u-turn here – where it becomes obvious to those paying attention it was entirely forced by backbenchers. So he gets no credit for the u-turn by people who wanted it, and attacked for dropping the policy by others.
I reckon it'll be more than 80.
Labour MPs largely didnt favour it already, and fhe political arguements have collapsed (not to mentioned the silly rhetoric)
But the opposition hasn't sprung overnight: MPs have been meeting with migrant care workers over recent months, and there was a well attended Westminster Hall debate last month with some strong objections raised
Many MPs were deeply unhappy about the 'bourgeois' comments on Friday. They feel it further points to the fact the approach is just about Reform, rather than the policies themselves
bsky.app/profile/bena...
One minister said there was “very little appetite” for Mahmood’s approach among cabinet colleagues, with another telling The Observer: “There is a gap emerging [between No 10 and the Home Office] because people have started saying we shouldn’t be doing it, so Shabana has gone public pre-emptively.”
Exc: As many as 80 Labour MPs are braced to oppose the home secretary's immigration policies
Dozens of backbenchers and ministers are understood to be hostile to Shabana Mahmood's reforms. After the Gorton by-election they're pushing for a "recalibration"
observer.co.uk/news/politic...
It's not just the timeline that doesn't make sense
and hats off to @petergeoghegan.bsky.social for breaking the story 3 weeks ago about Labour Together hiring APCO to investigate the journalists who had written about the thinktank and its £730k of undeclared donations used to help elect Starmer, which is where the really significant questions are.
Exactly. If I had just lost my job for commissioning and sharing information about journalists I would simply not share any more information about journalists
