Have been told by the Commission and Member States of their disappointment at Labour's handling of youth mobility. I'm sure they were also told. Clear message that thix is your test. So far, being flunked.
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This could be a serious failure, beyond the issue or even EU relations, if it is a failure of vision. Or, it could be extreme sensitivity to immigration issues, which is more forgiveable, but still an error as i can't see even hard core tories against.
I think the Lab leadership's problem is that they go into a cold sweat whenever EU is mentioned, are they still afraid of Sun / Mail / DT ? They seem to constantly want to rule things out very loudly and draw 'red lines' where none are needed. TBH it all looks a bit of a mess.
Presumably if they allow 18 to 30 year olds the next call would be for up to 50 year olds etc, but I guess that is the point, why are they afraid of the discussion?
Labour leadership still obsessed with positioning, media messaging etc at the highest levels - "how will this play with bla bla". They were elected to be the grown-ups. Act like them and get on with it.
They're going to do exactly what they said they'd do, which includes carry on with Brexit a la Johnson.
I don't think they're liars (unlike Johnson), I just think they're wrong and will achieve little.
So in that sense, yes, deeply disappointing.
I think it depends which agenda is your priority. There's quite a bit happening on housebuilding and union/workers' rights. There's rather less happening on other fronts.
My biggest disappointment is that Labour don’t appear to be using their majority to instigate a *kinder* politics - towards the young, towards immigrants, etc. To reduce things always to economics seems clinical. They had a chance to show that they were morally, and not just competently different.
And I get that they have had 50 years of being labelled financially irresponsible in the press, but if you can’t ignore them with this majority, when can you? At some point they surely have to stop dancing to the Tories’ tune?
Also, just... let's be honest, whatever they do they're going to get called financially irresponsible by the Daily Mail, why not actually spend some money on good stuff and earn it?
It’s the McSweeney/McFadden permanent campaign mode. You’d have thought they’d have learnt from Johnson’s experience that campaigning and governing are different.
McSweney & McFadden certainly behind all this, but who's their boss? Starmer ofc. He had final say on ruling out freedom of movement at last election & customs union & has continued with this. Blame lies with him
No, this is I think a misread, partly because as Chaminda says that is just how some people fill space, plus it is mid to late August when there is always little of substance. The actual substance is 'Downing Street struggling to find a shape, departments struggling with the CoS'.
I still take the view that a lot of those stories are just lobby hacks filling space the only way they know how. If reports come through of actual policy disagreements I'd pay more attention
MacSweeney seems to be an odd combo of old school Fine Gael dissident crusher and Blue Labour true believer, he may turn out to be as bad for Lab in govt as he was good for getting it into it
Not really. The press will have a pop at them whatever they do, so they are just getting on. We may or may not like every little thing they are getting on with.
Thing is. People convinced themselves that Labour would be the grown ups because they wanted them to be. It is not necessarily a great surprise that they are carrying on as they have been doing.
I remember drunkenly ranting to a fairly disgusted Spencer Livermore in 98 or 99 that I thought he and the party leadership were a bunch of cowards. Man, this lot are worse
I share that disappointment, but I also suspect KS thinks it's too soon to do a 180 degree turn on this after having (unfortunately) said shortly before the GE that Labour did not want a youth mobility agreement. Maybe he needs a loud groundswell of UK support for it to justify reversing himself.
The youth mobility scheme was rather sprung on the UK. Might have been better if the EU had waited until after the election. They must have known that this would be difficult.
That's a good point. If Starmer hadn't needed to say anything at all on this pre-GE, he might not feel boxed-in on it now. And even though it understandably feels like a small ask from the EU side, Starmer's tenure as PM hasn't even reached Truss-length yet. The EU needs to give him a bit of time.
Yes; but a lot of this is the UK press - as far as I can see, talks have barely begun on the matters where the UK want to reset the relationship. No final decisions have been reached on anything.
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https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/the-gen-z-brexit-brain-drain/#:~:text=Later%2C%20in%20October%2C%20a%20study,next%20two%20to%20three%20years.
So if not now...?
I don't think they're liars (unlike Johnson), I just think they're wrong and will achieve little.
So in that sense, yes, deeply disappointing.