Labour’s challenge will be to overhaul government | Andrew Marr | The New Statesman

Once in power, Labour’s challenge will be to overhaul how government works, says Andrew Marr.
Subscribe here: / @newstatesman
After the 2007-08 crash, the degradation of austerity, the deceit and exaggeration of Brexit, the profound disruption of the pandemic, Truss, Ukraine-driven inflation and Tory internal wars, much of Britain has tuned out and doesn’t believe Westminster will, or can, help them.
Keir Starmer is in a dangerous position following the defection of Natalie Elphicke. In order to secure more than one term in office he must transform the system.
Read Andrew Marr's piece here: www.newstatesman.com/politics...
--
The New Statesman brings you unrivalled analysis of of the latest UK and international politics. On our KZbin channel you’ll find insight on the top news and global current affairs stories, as well as insightful interviews with politicians, advisers and leading political thinkers, to help you understand the political and economic forces shaping the world.
With regular contributions from our writers including Political Editor Andrew Marr and Anoosh Chakelian - host of the New Statesman podcast - we’ll help you understand the world of politics and global affairs from Westminster to Washington and beyond.
Subscribe on KZbin: / @newstatesman
Sign up to Morning Call, the daily UK politics newsletter from the New Statesman: morningcall.substack.com
Subscribe to the New Statesman from just £1 per week: www.newstatesman.com/podcasto...

[@BigNightLikeDog]

What a startling proposition: MPs should think about the people before their own political interests.

[@skasteve6528]

Payment by results. Only give them a pay rise if they satisfy certain criteria. Average wage increases, hosptial waiting times, amount of affordable housing, number of people forced to use food banks would be some of htose criteria.

[@gabrieldsouza6541]

⁠@@skasteve6528tying the pay of individuals in government to figures collected by the government? what could possibly go wrong?

[@aleccap5946]

100k plus perks a year, private health care, would you give a toss ?

[@julianp9730]

Yep, it's PR we need, I don't understand why Andrew didn't mention it. Cynicism is perfectly logical if you live in a safe seat and your vote always counts for nothing because you vote for a losing candidate and therefore are ignored. It's the government tail wagging the electorate dog, but there is nothing the dog can do about it.

[@pastyman001]

PR voting the key reform to kick off reforms. Otherwise the pendulum will swing back to Tories and more unworthy Tory majorities not supported by a majority of voters, probably far worse than now and they will undo everything Labour have done in 9 months.

[@pierremartini2229]

There has to be a much fairer distribution of wealth. The biggest danger to Western democracy and society is the growing wealth gap between the very rich and the bulk of the population. If mainstream political parties continually fail to address this, people will either continue losing faith in the system or vote for more radical parties. It's already happening, and we all know where that could lead to.

[@garyb455]

The conflict is between those that have it and those that want to take it away but do very little for it. Lets look at the UKs biggest taxpayer, he is a Russian Trader in the City and last year he paid £644 million Tax, one could argue we have plenty of his money for doing nothing !

[@trevorwiley5098]

I think Gary has given us a great example of why people are giving up on mainstream politics. People are sick of being told that living in a world where you can work full time and barely afford housing, childcare and bills so that we can protect the richest who make all their money through investments (doing nothing) makes perfect sense.

[@MrTimg12]

Taxing capital gains at the same rate as income would be a good start.

[@clivet3252]

This is a gap that increased under the last Labour government.

[@gabrieldsouza6541]

you say this, but people in societies like Europe and America are increasingly voting for right-wing parties which explicitly rail against the fairer distribution of wealth and seek to reverse progressive tax rates which makes income inequality worse. people don’t want fairer distribution of wealth, they want to keep the wealth they create.

[@markhayward7400]

It is not Keir Starmer's responsibility alone to rebuild trust in politics. It is the responsibility of all elected politicians to mean what they say and say what they mean and to behave and act in ways that uphold the dignity of elected office. This begins with politicians demonstrating that they serve us, not themselves

[@agedcorsair6707]

Without addressing the vast inequality in our country, it's all just words.

[@garyb455]

The conflict is between those that have it and those that want to take it away but do very little for it. Lets look at the UKs biggest taxpayer, he is a Russian Trader in the City and last year he paid £644 million Tax, one could argue we have plenty of his money for doing nothing !

[@agedcorsair6707]

@@garyb455 And do you think that our Russian friend did enough genuine, honest "work" to warrant the kind of income on which such a tax would be levied when many of the people who break their backs to actually keep the nuts and bolts of the nation working can barely feed their families? To accuse those people of wanting something for nothing - when all they want is an NHS that works, schools that aren't falling down and to be able to both feed their children AND heat their homes (greedy freeloaders that they are) is typical Tory/right-wing b.s. You need to give your head a shake. Without redressing the imbalance the Holy Grail of real economic growth is a pipe-dream. The wealthy need the working class to spend...but what?

[@beachcomber1able]

Blubbery Marr the millionaire talking head doesn't care a hoot about us starving peasants.

[@MG-df8mw]

Well said.

[@Vroomfondle1066]

@@garyb455 I've already answered the duplicate comment you made earlier in the thread, so I'll limit myself here to commenting thusly: 'What a steaming pile of horse shite'

[@JoannaHammond]

Another major change that is needed is PR, it will have downsides such as letting some nutcases get seats in parliament, but that's democracy. EDIT: Just thought, we already have the nutcases, the DUP and some members of all parties.

[@ecohipster7724]

Yeah called tories!

[@TheWitchfinderGenral]

Nobody trusts politics because it's been the same duopoly for decades, two sides of the same coin. Implement PR and watch people re-engage instantly. They will know their vote truly matters. How can it be right that it takes only 26,000 votes to elect an SNP MP, but 865,000 votes to elect a Green MP?

[@rorywilson656]

Because greens are pish and sassenachs multiply like rabbits?

[@SplashTasty]

Thats just a completely naive few of democracy lmao. Do you know a fantastic way to ensure weak governments and low voter turnout? Coalitions and frequent elections. There wont be some magic enthusiasm for politicians or voting because PR is implemented.

[@beachcomber1able]

Are getting your skivvies in a twist about the SNP being so popular in Scotland? 😮

[@oliverraven]

I'm in favour of a form of PR being introduced for Westminster (ideally different a kind for each chamber) but it's worth noting that countries with fairer voting systems still suffer from many of the problems of cynicism which Marr outlines here. The media and a lack of critical thinking skills are also key issues, as is the socio-economic model which often leaves people tired, angry and in despair. I also think the comment above may have misinterpreted the original post's motivations simply because the SNP were mentioned for purely arithmetical reasons.

[@ricardosharry8944]

​@beachcomber1able I didnt interpret that way another example is back in 2015 Ukip got 5 million votes and only had one Mp which I think was a defection anyway 🤔

[@mfs1011]

If Labour thinks it can surf into power on the basis of a few flimsy and frankly meaningless bromides, then enact a series of radical reform it hadn’t bothered to mention before the election, the general public’s disdain for politics will be sustained.

[@SplashTasty]

Ah yes as in 2001 and 2005 when the notoriously moderate new labour their opportunity to form a majority government after governing more radically than it had campaigned...not.

[@jonsmith5058]

Why do people keep lying to themselves that Labour will do radical reform once in office? How many time does Starmer need to prove he’s a right winger until you believe it?

[@allialliw]

Long of the short; no more career politicians

[@lheureexquise140]

People don't trust the system or politicians, Andrew. In that respect, you are correct. But rather than arguing for more democracy, you are advocating top-down solutions in which a friend of Sue Gray, or some questionable American academic, hands down the tablets of stone to the rest of us. Even if any of this were true, and it likely isn't as Starmer is one of the most untrustworthy and unscrupulous politicians we've seen in the UK, it would not work. "Grey Labour", as they have been called, will be just as hated as New Labour. Why don't you liberals go back to advocating PR? That is the only way to start rebuilding trust in politics.

[@adam7802]

Because Labour will not benefit from PR, especially right now.

[@leor7870]

Andrew you forgot to mention brexit as part of the economic woes.?

[@idoshulman6379]

I would think his best way of doing this is by actually following up on his promises

[@lcg8220]

The ones that were made impossible by tory corruption and incompetence tanking the economy and extracting, in the last 4 years, over 100 billion from us? Those promises?

[@chrispietryga8710]

Remind them (the politicians) that they have two ears and one mouth. Nature's way of telling them they should listen twice as much as they speak!

[@davidkeeling5726]

People who go into politics and end up as an mp or government minister should stick to that rule of serving the people who they represent ,not lining their pockets ,taking back handers from big corporate companies ,like the pigs in the trough lot we have put up with for the last 14 years

[@christopherwaller2798]

Starmer could at least wait until after the election before he drops all his pledges.

[@williamhenry8914]

Our politics are very fractured. We're split into 4 camps, moderate and extreme on both left and right. But our FPP electoral system punishes anything beyond 2 parties. Therefore any attempt to form a majority government is doomed to upset a lot of people.

[@keithparker1346]

Extreme left???

[@vinm300]

France 3rd Republic "The Republic of pals" Started as a temp solution after humiliating defeat to Prussia 1870 Because nobody could decide on Royalism (Bourbob or Orleans) or Empire Bonapartists So temporary became permanent When a coalition collapsed the same faces would appear afterwards wearing different hats Vichy was the result July 1940 MostFfrench were glad to see the 3rd Republic end

[@malcolm8564]

These videos of a line of Labour members and Starmer walking aimlessly along are less than inspiring.

[@carltontweedle5724]

Well will they fix the roads, listen to the people stop taxing the poor tax the those with the most.

[@BeepBoop2221]

Cant do that when he's always uturning to please his donors.

[@MrTzimisces]

He can't fix the massive distrust the public has of politicians because he offers absolutely nothing new from the cosy Red v Blue team politics.

[@tonyprice1526]

😂😂😂 Starmer has to build trust in Starmer

[@pault1289]

Starmer has a once in a generation chance to redefine what people think a politician is. I sincerely hope he does that for the good of us all.

[@willrelf1377]

He’s already failed

[@californiadreamin8423]

@@willrelf1377. Guess what ….you only get one vote. I wonder how you’ve voted in the past ?

[@christianliechtenstein4879]

YOU BRITS DO HAVE A LOT OF EXPECTATIONS FROM YOUR POLITICIANS ?! BORIS WITH HIS BREXIT; TRUSS WITH HER GROW; NOW STAMER TO REBUILT EVERYTHING HIS PREDECESSORS HAVE DESTROYED .... YOU WILL BE DISAPPOINTED AGAIN ! THERE WILL NOT BE ONE POLITICIAN WHO CAN ACHIEVE THIS IT´S THE BRITS AS A WHOLE WHO HAVE TO CHANGE . YOU LOVE TO BE LIED TO BY THE MEDIA AND PEOPLE LIKE BORIS WHO ARE TELLING YOU WHAT YOU LIKE TO HEAR BUT THAT´S TOO FAR FROM THE TRUTH AND REALITY !.

[@willrelf1377]

@@californiadreamin8423 Labour all my life, but not anymore. I also happen to think that democracy extends beyond just voting. It's what they do once elected that counts, and Starmer has proven to be a duplicitous piece of crap.

[@iwasborn8470]

Exactly, the next 5 years of Labour will define what the electorate think of Labour for the next 20.

[@syleshwhycantileavethisbla802]

Yeah good luck with that. Leave it to the guy who stands shoulder to shoulder with Jeremy Corbyn and Natalie Elphicke, depending on which benefits his career in the moment. A man who has campaigned on policies and dropped them when they no longer benefit him. Starmer doesn't stand for anything.

[@phildiamond8549]

Build trust? Oh do piss off Marr.

[@williamkennedy5492]

How can starmer rebuild trust when no one likes or trust him, the man is onto a loser !

[@brettwright6808]

Andrew Marr in touch with the zeitgeist. Multidisciplinary teams can both address the issues and deliver. Politics at local level is also in crisis in terms of Officers and Councillors forgetting who they are there for..

[@tatata1543]

Andrew Marr wouldn’t recognise the zeitgeist if it bit him on the arse. He’s part of the cost Westminster establishment who view the voters with , at best, indifference or , at worst, contempt.

[@keithparker1346]

Explain to an idiot like me how exactly will multidisciplinary teams deliver

[@sjhhej]

Hard to trust a liar.

[@jackn4853]

Yet you've voted them in over the course of 14 years. I suppose you voted leave also, yet more lies from the Tories.

[@oscarmike3482]

@@jackn4853 you're making a lot of assumptions my guy. Some people don't trust ANY politicians.

[@keithparker1346]

​@@jackn4853can you accept the possibility that Starmer much like nearly every politician is a liar?

[@liaminwales]

The lack of weapons of mass destruction and non stop war after lost all my trust, I know people who served who did not know why they where sent out.

[@robmetcalfe]

Vote for Andrew Feinstein in Holborn & St.Pancras. #Starmerlies

[@thetragicyouth]

Keir Starmer?? That's like appointing an arsonist to head the fire brigade.

[@shaun7163]

How so?

[@keithparker1346]

​@@shaun7163he's not been democratic within Labour

[@JRattheranch]

As always Andrew, your insights into the nation and its politics, are always worthy of attention! Well I certainly believe so!

[@captaintorch983]

Well I dont. He is a total bore who just talks bollocks.

[@tatata1543]

He’s been spouting the same crap for years. It good old a long time ago, he’s just another Westminster client hack. Politicians and journalists, it’s all one big club each feeding off the other, I despise them all.

[@captaintorch983]

@@tatata1543 Well said Sir!

[@derekcooney6576]

Good luck with that

[@davidalderson7761]

Labour has to sell a vision of what good looks like. I have NOT seen one. Brexit Wealth tax for those with more than £10M Children with rickets and food banks WTF has happened when Labour say word for word the same as Tory “Pepsi & Cola “. may as be one party

[@snowyowel7961]

Oh dear oh dear you are kidding it is starmer who I don't trust seriously keep the undemocratic hypocrite starmer out of number ten seriously OUT.

[@domm1341]

They only seem to care about the headlines.

[@hugodrax71]

And he's off to a great start with all the u-turns.

[@Llooktook]

Dear Andrew, do you think there are any low hanging fruit that keir can initiate early on in his tenure? Ideas like electoral reform, House of Lords or other constitutional/bureaucratic adjustments?

[@joeledsam3978]

This is an excellent analysis. The Natalie Elphicke defection (and dropping their green investment pledge) lost my vote for Labour, exactly because it shows Labour are willing to compromise on their ethics and move towards the conservatives. It makes it difficult to trust that they will stick to their principles and promises in government.

[@keithparker1346]

Not just willing to compromise but HAVE compromised

[@tarlochankaliroy1030]

When both main parties have leaders who appear to lie as easily as they breathe, the chance of them being able to engender trust is an impossibility.

[@californiadreamin8423]

Drizzle attack on Labour who have been out of office for 14 years.

[@davidprentice9325]

Except one of them doesn't

[@liaminwales]

@@californiadreamin8423 Labour told us about weapons of mass destruction and started a 20+ year war in the middle east.

[@californiadreamin8423]

@@liaminwales And ?

[@liaminwales]

@@californiadreamin8423 A gov can start something that keeps going after they are out, so 14 years later it can still matter.

[@mbs7966]

Thank you for this analysis, Andrew.

[@user-ff1um6mv5q]

I believe the electorate gets the politics and politicians it deserves. People want to hear there is a quick fix available for complex social , economic & world issues and better still - it will come with little personal cost to themselves. So naturally they vote for people who say they can deliver that - with the resultant disillusion when they can't.

[@Kavala76]

I am very disappointed with the government and uninspired and untrusting of the opposition party and its leader. I'm determined to not vote Tory or Labour. Neither will bring about the meaningful change the UK needs. If Labour win it will be on the back of anti-Tory sentiment, not pro-Labour enthusiasm.

[@jamesthomas4841]

That is true of all incoming governments. The party in power loses power the opposition does not really win it.

[@SP-eo1vl]

I would like to see the Select Committee call on the executives of the very very large housing providers to answer for their abject failures in addressing repairs. Reports abound of their maladministration, incompetence and negligence. I know that there are rogue landlords out there who own a few properties which are inadequately maintained but some of the biggest names in housing provision have just as bad a record as a brief search of google reveals. I would like those executives to appear before a Commons committee and be named and shamed.

[@JoannaHammond]

So in summary give more powers to select committees?

[@MrTimg12]

Here's a thought why not give councils the funding to build homes to rent at social rates? I dunno, perhaps call it council housing?

[@JoannaHammond]

@@MrTimg12 :) Go back to what it originaly was, you do have to be caerful though. There was some corruption in contracts. But yeah. EDIT: But then again, there is always corruption.

[@clangerism]

Just to make it easy at the next election-If you're traditionally a Labour voter, vote Green, if you're traditionally a Conservative voter, vote Labour, and if you'd like to see a return of the National Front, vote Tory. You're welcome.

[@ehnowthen]

He'll never do that

[@timwoodger7896]

Oh come on 😂😂 we all know he is a total liar already so how the hell could he redeem trust in politicians 😂😂😂.

[@andrewsmith-cm9qw]

The biggest disappointment for me was New Labour not repealing some of the Conservatives punishing acts Water privatisation being the main one. Thames Water is the next Post Office so do I expect radical out of the box thinking ? NOPE meet the new boss same as the old boss😡

[@StephenBeale]

Why aren't these published on the New Statesman podcast? Or am I missing something? It seems Andrew's ones only appear sporadically in the feed of published episodes

[@andybrice2711]

Regarding simpler public services: One of the most destructive ideas I've noticed expressed repeatedly is that it's good for governments to "create work" for people. And that it would be dangerous to streamline state bureaucracy, because civil servants would have nothing to do, and therefore lose their jobs. That makes no sense. Just because part of someone's job is automated, that doesn't mean you have to fire them. You can instead reassign them to work on something more constructive.

[@davidnorton7437]

Dream on !!!

[@johndinsdale4471]

Such helpful information that greatly helps me see through the fog of misinformation and misdirection that the world is steeped in.

[@philipcochran1972]

Starmer must re-build trust in British politics! (stating the blatantly obvious) Well yes, but no one else has done it. Why would Starmer be any different? It seems to me that either party in government muddles their way through until their corruption and incompetence become over whelming.

[@keithparker1346]

Labour are already corrupt

[@HassanHaid]

U said the truth nothing but the truth . Uk politicians should and must but UK INTEREST FIRST 🇬🇧

[@MiPointIs]

Labour Mantra Country First, Party Second Shouldn’t need to be said but unfortunately that’s what 14yrs of Tory chaos does!

[@tonywilson4713]

*AUSTRALIAN HERE:* If this was overdubbed with an Australian accent I would NOT be able to tell the difference. Even with the British accent I am struggling to understand if he his talking about Britain or Australia. I'm actually an engineer who's been looking into Economics because of the interference I have seen in the engineering space and the training of skilled tradesmen from economists. AND YES I watch Gary Stevenson's channel here on YT as part of that. Gary has recently confirmed something I worked out and something economists like Steve Keen have been trying to explain. There's 2 major issues with Economics education. 1) It is very narrowly focused on market economics and includes NOTHING regarding any understanding of things like infrastructure or energy systems. Everything is taught from a market perspective rather than a functional perspective. This is why Thames Water has the current issues it has and those issues are being repeated across the entire Western Democratic world and not just in water but also energy, infrastructure, rail and worst of all education. 2) It is uniform across all of the tertiary education systems. All of the text books are printed by Harvard Press, Oxford Press, Cambridge Press,... etc *OR* they are written by people who studied at or teach at Harvard Press, Oxford Press, Cambridge Press,... etc. The problem at the political level is that EVERY politician in the Western World NO MATTER if they are Left, Right or Center all studied the same economics at university or they have advisors who studied the same economics at university. This is why no matter who wins political power the overall economics doesn't change or only changes very little AND WHY there's no real solutions in sight.

[@PhilGoddard-oq7id]

Rebuild trust? Good luck with that. This would require trustworthy MPs of which there are none - apart from Andrew Bridgen!

[@christophernoble4489]

I think its great to hear what you think outside of the constraints of the BBC

[@juliansmith5401]

Interesting that Andrew mentions the crash, austerity, brexit, Truss, the energy crisis as reasons for people to feel disenchanted with politics, but no mention of Covid. For me, Covid is the No1 reason. It really set the UK back - many businesses have simply not recovered and the NHS is still in catch up mode.

[@rogermurphy1154]

Can't tackle any of this until they get a grip of wealth inequality in this country

[@mbarker1958]

‘Tuning out is pertinent’, all of the people I work with in Devon, don’t follow the news as they are accustomed to disappointment and have no hope for anything better.

[@ataboyboyboy8895]

Yeah .... Dream on. Keep going ....

[@kola100]

Don’t think he can - he’s too close to being conservative!

[@gilgamecha]

Some would call this a "circular dependency".

[@francescahamilton6856]

Excellent

[@carolinenorman6141]

Devolution a disaster here in Scotland with the SNP

[@andrewwebb9426]

Thank you for your boundless enthusiasm for Starmer-Reeves! Not many of us out here in the real world retain this though I believe that we all desperately hope they don't mean what they say. What we want is genuine radical thought hopefully led by a charismatic leader but this is nowhere to be seen. Angela Rayner with her strong pitch for council housing is much, much nearer to it. She, apparently alone on the shadow front bench, understands that when you get young people into cheap and secure housing and not worrying forever about 'housing ladders' and 'moving up' you get young people that can devote their energy to new ventures and businesses. The priorities should be housing, vastly broadening tertiary education opportunities and getting rid of all those internal cost-centres within the NHS. Perhaps the best leadership prospect Labour have is Andy Burnham though he is unfortunately far more likely to stay on in Manchester where he does real good.

[@bakerbaker4455]

i trust him less than a lot of politicians. hes already shown himself to be untrustworthy

[@RegionalVariation]

LOL. Starmer is a proven liar. He’s reneged on the 10 pledges he made to become Labour leader. Marr needs to up his scrutinising game. And that’s what it is to his ilk.

[@clivet3252]

Exactly. And look how he treated Jeremy Corbyn. He is full of lies and contradictions. He's the last person to restore faith in politics. Sadly clowns in the media like Andrew Marr will always make more of Boris Johnson having a cake than Starmer lying every time he opens his mouth.

[@RegionalVariation]

@@clivet3252 Too true. The hypocrisy and contortions to make allowances for Starmer are exasperating. This is a managed handover of power.

[@RegionalVariation]

Marr is precisely the type who preferred Johnson over Corbyn. Like LBC liberals O’Brien and Fogarty. They have zero credibility to me.

[@clivet3252]

@@RegionalVariation it's so obvious. 9 years of the Tories was fine. Boris was fine. Then they finally manage to get rid of Corbyn and replace him with a puppet and the Boris bashing starts, the Tory bashing starts and everyone laps it up like they lapped up the Corbyn bashing. It was the same with Blair. He managed to win another election after Iraq but as soon as he's replaced by Gordon Brown then Labour and Brown get bashed left, right and centre and Cameron gets propped up by the Lib Dems and their corporate leader who appeared out of nowhere and disappeared back into the corporate world with a knighthood.

[@clivet3252]

@@RegionalVariation people fall for it every time. I advocate voting Tory as a protest, to break the cycle and where it applies to make sure we have decent opposition MPs and decent numbers in opposition.

[@AllenTaylor-lu9bu]

Labour is not the party and Starmer is not the man to carry this out. Our MP's are largely in it for themselves and vote not what the constituents call for and not by their conscious, they vote as their party demands irrespective of the consequences for the UK.

[@shaun7163]

Who should I vote for then?

[@lyudmilakutsenko7045]

I understand how desperately you want Labour party as you support it. But he isn't all the Labour party. Moreover there are many other worthy people in your country who also support your party. What is the point in one person only, you can choose at any time.

[@garyb455]

Starmer is Tony Blairs Poodle

[@MrTimg12]

Blair accepted the neoliberal creed handed to him by the Tories. I'm not so sure Starmer is in that mould.

[@mindless-pedant]

No more political theory from america. We've had that crap since 1979.

[@davidwhitehouse2162]

'Keir Starmer must rebuild trust in British politics'? Why him? Are there no other people who want to change politics, and if so, where the hell are they, because to say they are very thin on the ground is a vast understatement. Perhaps Mr Marr should ask this question and better still look much farther afield for his 'saviour'. Trust in British politics has nose dived and for every individual viewed, it just seems to get worse, scandals lies and arrogance within a tight knit club of self interest, obliging a mere glance at the public when elections come round. Trust in British politics has to be earned, not assumed, demanded or taken for granted. Feeble promises that no one believes, tempting new 'brooms' that unsurprisingly offer only the same brushes, and Question Time entertainment that presents as much enlightenment as a bout of diarrhoea.

[@j.johnson3520]

A truly fascinating insight into what's going on in the minds of Labour which one can't seem to find anywhere else. Let's hope it's an interesting and productive next 4-5 years, in the positive sense. Great viewing Andrew.

[@captaintorch983]

Remind me, when was the last time we had an interesting and productive 4-5 years following the election of a Labour government? Not in my lifetime, Ramsey McDonald in 1924 perhaps. More drivel from Marr!

[@j.johnson3520]

I can understand your disappointment with politics in general, Captain Torch, but I think in *light* of what Andrew insightfully said, might I suggest procuring *Duracell* next time? It might enable you to *see* his perspective a bit clearer? Merely for your consideration, of course. Have a great weekend, CT.

[@aleccap5946]

Is he taking the piss ? Stammer is a traitor FFS

[@daigreatcoat44]

I agree with what you say about public cynicism - but it has existed for a long time. The perception that there's little difference between the two main parties is of long standing. Richard Neville said "there's only an inch of difference between Labour and Conservative, but we have to live in that inch" - ambiguous, but we knew what he meant. It was said of the electoral fight between Heath and Wilson.

[@MK-1973]

Very interesting. I hope if this new model can be made for work and experts called into the heart of government it will include genuine action to halt and reverse the devastation of our natural environment - not just the disaster of climate change but reversing the terrible declines in nature we're seeing.

[@Brynmawrhill]

It's all very well devolving power to communities. With it you have to devolve funds. We've had government after government avoiding real accountability by giving responsibility away without providing the means for people to accept that responsibility. It's just a means of avoiding blame and it stinks. One of the first practical steps must be to change our rating system so that people with valuable properties pay a higher proportion, and higher total sum, towards the financial responsibilities of local authorities. That should be a part of wider move to tax wealth as well as income. The second is to transfer funds from national to regional and local government. The third is to invest in local businesses with a strong bias towards those areas with the highest levels of depravation - starting with the kind of investments for which the poorest communities used to rely on the EU. There is absolutely no chance that Labour will have the courage to really tackle these things but I guess we can dream.

[@mariamorgan8447]

Well he was the head of the Crown prosecution service. So he must have bullied and manipulated and downtrodden all competition. His obviously a narcissists. He might get lucky but l suspect lots of the general public will see straight through him, in time.

[@keithparker1346]

Starmer is I believe the most unpopular leader of a party which is polling highest

[@djtomoy]

I’ll let him know next time I see him down the pub

[@skadooshly]

Offer a clear and definite alternative instead of the tory lite offering he's been presenting.

[@MrTimg12]

Under FPTP Starmer has to move to the centre ground as this is where elections are won. Fortunately Sunk didn't get the memo and allowed the far right wing of his party to call the shots and now they face oblivion.

[@jerryorange6983]

How can we Trust him if takes Tories in and the Labour lies to Londonners.

[@somecuriosities]

Labour may put fresh bandaids on the festering sores of this country but they will do ( _maybe can do_ ) nothing to fundamentally heal beleaguered Britania of the festering open wounds that plague her Andrew, I got a lot of respect ya pal, but I have to ask - when it comes to your faith in Starmer and this new government - what world are you living in here?

[@Elisolstice]

Laughable idea, considering his track record before he has even set foot in number 10

[@hakanozaslan9571]

It MIGHT help British politics if there are no more boarding school boys elected into the highest positions. And I am not only talking about the PM, but also the roles in individual parties themselves.

[@CurransQuizzes]

The UK needs a Trump like figure, who is not from the political class but is youthful enough to understand what works and what doesnt work. Building houses, bringing the trains under government control and making them work for actual humans. I am a traditionally right wing thinker, but will vote for labour as all I actually want from this election is political stability, although I do not agree with the higher tax & gender politics of the party. What this government coming in needs to realise is that the younger generations have been so screwed, even those who are higher earners are completely screwed. Taxation needs to be based on wealth, even if it makes life more complicated. I get absolutely rinsed in tax, and yet I don’t earn enough to buy where I live and I have no support from my family as they do not earn anywhere near the same as me.

[@jamesthomas4841]

Why do so many hanker for " trump like figures". I want show biz and personality politics gone. I think after Johnson the country does too.

[@zhelezniakov]

Don't people like you, ever learn.

[@keithparker1346]

So as a right winger are you saying Labour are right wing?

[@619wisey]

Devalution has to be bootstrapped. The benefits of it outway the drawbacks..

[@VaucluseVanguard]

I agree with Andrew Marr that the people are tuning out of politics, but the main reasons why they are doing so is because the political class no longer seems to reflect who they are or represent their interests. Years ago, Bill Clinton’s slogan was”it’s the economy stupid”. Today the people are saying, “it’s the culture stupid”. Yes polls indicate that peoples most pressing concern is the cost of living crisis. But, as the economic upturn - largely not in the control of politicians occurs - the deeper worry of culture will still be there. The US economy is doing well under Biden, but still Trump is ahead in most polling. Most of his supporters think he’s awful, so why do they stick with him? Because they believe he will do something about their culture wars concerns, while they believe Biden will do nothing, indeed make it worse. I suspect the UK will do the same. in 18 months time, the economy will be doing better and the cost of living crisis slipping into memory - the just see what happens with the “culture”!

[@terasci5102]

They just rip us off

[@briandelaney9710]

Don’t u turn again

[@simon19162]

This is one of the best pieces of analysis I have seen on the UKs problem. The question is can we really change the way "the machine" works? On this point, I am highly cynical. The machine looks after itself. Getting any UK department or quango to think about how best to better the lives of the citizens of the UK, rather than covering their own behinds, is a pipe dream!

[@rubyerinl4287]

I'd have more hope and faith in labour if Angela Rayner wasn't involved in anyway

[@VeteranFitnessChannel101]

Andrew. My view is that Labour need to use the motto ‘Let’s Fix This Mess Together!’

[@MiPointIs]

Yes a job for a real lawyer, Hooray Henry’s need not apply

[@CharlesLeigh-Smith-lm1yz]

Error. I meant Mike Brown - not Mike Smith.

[@user-hj4ug2yq5x]

I take it Andrew Marr is a member of the Labour party as a 0:54 journalists he sjhould be impartial and zll yoh hear him say is how wonder Keir starmer is , so sad i always rated him very high now i cantvwstch him.

[@Kicklighter.A]

I've lost faith in Starmer. Unless he makes serious changes to the electoral system, house of lords, party funding and think tanks and building planning. Regulates the media and the house of commons properly to stop lying and deliberately misleading the electorate. Then it's just more of the same with a different coloured tie.

[@grahamepigney8565]

Keir Starmer and Labour can't change any of those things unless we help them win the General Election when it eventually happens.

[@lighting7508]

how have you lost faith when he hasnt even been in office?? I want to give him a chance.

[@keithparker1346]

​@@lighting7508more fool you

[@keithparker1346]

Regulating the media is effectively censorship...good luck with that

[@sinfo881]

Great analysis as always but are you really hoping that a leader like Stamer will take this opportunity? Hasn't he proven already that he can point any direction the wine blows, meaning, do you know of a successful leader that has no values? That changes with the wind? The is spineless?

[@jimadams6159]

Great disappointment that the New Statesman had an event sponsored by Equinor.

[@lostyly]

The "English south" Please elaborate on that term bruh lol