Please step forward Andy Burnham - Finally a Labour bloke that understands

[pastafarian]

As a tory voter(boo hiss) i was sort of hoping Labour will make Mr Corbyn the next leader,pretty much guarantees another Tory win in the next election.But thats a bit selfish.Government needs a strong opposition to function for the good of the country,and after What Mr Burnham said on question time thursday night i think he is the man.

Might vote for him myself,he could possibly pick up some floating UKIP supporters as well.......nice to see common sense at last.

Andy Burnham

Question Time 25/06/15

"Ive come to the conclusion we need major reform of immigration in Europe.After the Berlin wall fell there was a mood around Europe that all borders came down,that Europe should operate without borders,it was the Schengen agreement.And do you know i just dont think it is working and its not working for the people involved either because we are seeing these uncontrolled movements,mass movements of people across the continent from southern Italy to Calais and its just chaotic,its unmanaged and its chaotic,and i think Europe has to examine whether or not these borders should be brought back"

 

[Seagull on the wing]

As a tory voter(boo hiss) i was sort of hoping Labour will make Mr Corbyn the next leader,pretty much guarantees another Tory win in the next election.But thats a bit selfish.Government needs a strong opposition to function for the good of the country,and after What Mr Burnham said on question time thursday night i think he is the man.

Might vote for him myself,he could possibly pick up some floating UKIP supporters as well.......nice to see common sense at last.

Andy Burnham

Question Time 25/06/15

"Ive come to the conclusion we need major reform of immigration in Europe.After the Berlin wall fell there was a mood around Europe that all borders came down,that Europe should operate without borders,it was the Schengen agreement.And do you know i just dont think it is working and its not working for the people involved either because we are seeing these uncontrolled movements,mass movements of people across the continent from southern Italy to Calais and its just chaotic,its unmanaged and its chaotic,and i think Europe has to examine whether or not these borders should be brought back"

Remember that it was Labour that signed us into the Schengen Agreement now,like the economic ideas of Labour they are saying it was wrong..
All the time Andy Burnham was saying that the last Labour manifesto was the best policies he ever stood for.
Liz is the one to be wary of.

 

[BadFish]

As a tory voter(boo hiss) i was sort of hoping Labour will make Mr Corbyn the next leader,pretty much guarantees another Tory win in the next election.But thats a bit selfish.Government needs a strong opposition to function for the good of the country,and after What Mr Burnham said on question time thursday night i think he is the man.

Might vote for him myself,he could possibly pick up some floating UKIP supporters as well.......nice to see common sense at last.

Andy Burnham

Question Time 25/06/15

"Ive come to the conclusion we need major reform of immigration in Europe.After the Berlin wall fell there was a mood around Europe that all borders came down,that Europe should operate without borders,it was the Schengen agreement.And do you know i just dont think it is working and its not working for the people involved either because we are seeing these uncontrolled movements,mass movements of people across the continent from southern Italy to Calais and its just chaotic,its unmanaged and its chaotic,and i think Europe has to examine whether or not these borders should be brought back"

A strong opposition is something that is important in politics. I wonder about the idea of not having political parties and just have a bunch of elected representatives proposing and debating ideas based on the ideas worth and usefulness rather than in order to score political points and ensure the legacy of a particular party.

obviously this is never going to happen and i haven't really though it through but the question remains: Are party politics a positive or negative influence on our government system?

 

[supaseagull]

Remember that it was Labour that signed us into the Schengen Agreement now,like the economic ideas of Labour they are saying it was wrong..
All the time Andy Burnham was saying that the last Labour manifesto was the best policies he ever stood for.
Liz is the one to be wary of.

So the Tories are allowed to change their opinion but Labour arent? The same Tories whove already broken one major election manifesto pledge?

 

[Goldstone1976]

Remember that it was Labour that signed us into the Schengen Agreement now,like the economic ideas of Labour they are saying it was wrong..
All the time Andy Burnham was saying that the last Labour manifesto was the best policies he ever stood for.
Liz is the one to be wary of.

Umm, the UK has never been a member of the Schengen area; we've always had an opt out. Labour got us accepted into one of the Titles of it (III?) in the late 90s, but that's the one about Police & judicial cooperation. We've always had an opt out from the "free movement without passport" parts of Schengen.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Remember that it was Labour that signed us into the Schengen Agreement

Do you actually know what the Schengen Agreement is?

 

[de la zouch]

Step forward the man who presided over the North Staffs NHS debacle........

 

[supaseagull]

Step forward the man who presided over the North Staffs NHS debacle........

Or the man who successfully fought for justice for he Hillsborough victims??

 

[Vegas Seagull]

Step forward the man who presided over the North Staffs NHS debacle........

Step forward the man who dyes his hair & eyebrows for Telly

 

[Goldstone1976]

Step forward the man who dyes his hair & eyebrows for Telly

 

[drew]

Umm, the UK has never been a member of the Schengen area; we've always had an opt out. Labour got us accepted into one of the Titles of it (III?) in the late 90s, but that's the one about Police & judicial cooperation. We've always had an opt out from the "free movement without passport" parts of Schengen.

Agree. Have to say I hadn't heard of Schengen (although aware of the principles) but when SOTW spouts something you always have to double check the accuracy!!!

 

[Dandyman]

Remember that it was Labour that signed us into the Schengen Agreement now,like the economic ideas of Labour they are saying it was wrong..
All the time Andy Burnham was saying that the last Labour manifesto was the best policies he ever stood for.
Liz is the one to be wary of.

Neither the UK or Irish Republic are part of the Schengen Agreement, so it's hard to see how anyone signed us into it.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Or the man who successfully fought for justice for he Hillsborough victims??

Without doubt he's done a great job fighting for Justice for the Hillsborough victims. Without his support I really don't think the Inquiry at Warrington would be taking place.

However this is a quite amazing back tracking on immigration from the person who is favourite to lead the Labour Party.

 

[BadFish]

[MENTION=2351]m20gull[/MENTION] didn't like my questions, what a strange thumbs down without even answering it.

 

[m20gull]

[MENTION=2351]m20gull[/MENTION] didn't like my questions, what a strange thumbs down without even answering it.

Sorry, [MENTION=1313]BadFish[/MENTION]. Didn't realise I had done that! Must have been a misplaced finger on my iPad. Can you remove a thumbs down?

 

[BadFish]

Sorry, [MENTION=1313]BadFish[/MENTION]. Didn't realise I had done that! Must have been a misplaced finger on my iPad. Can you remove a thumbs down?

Its all good, just wondered why thumbs down doesn't worry me. Just seemed like an odd post to thumbs down as it was half a half considered idea and half a question.

 

[Scoffers]

Step forward the man who dyes his hair & eyebrows for Telly

He looked almost like Virgil from Thunderbird's when I saw him on Question Time, I was looking for the strings

 

[Ernest]

Remember that it was Labour that signed us into the Schengen Agreement now,like the economic ideas of Labour they are saying it was wrong..
All the time Andy Burnham was saying that the last Labour manifesto was the best policies he ever stood for.
Liz is the one to be wary of.

Labour didn't sign the Schengen agreement

 

[m20gull]

A strong opposition is something that is important in politics. I wonder about the idea of not having political parties and just have a bunch of elected representatives proposing and debating ideas based on the ideas worth and usefulness rather than in order to score political points and ensure the legacy of a particular party.

obviously this is never going to happen and i haven't really though it through but the question remains: Are party politics a positive or negative influence on our government system?

I will also give the decency of a reply. I think party politics are a negative. I understand why the party system exists in that it allows consensus to develop and also give voters a shorthand to save them investigating an individual candidate's opinion on every single subject. The problem for me is that MPs are stuck with having to broadly support all of the policies of their party and if they show any dissent the media turn on them as disloyal. I personally have always voted for the candidate of the same party because it aligns most closely with my political preference but I do not agree with all of their policies, and nor should I have to.

 

[BadFish]

I will also give the decency of a reply. I think party politics are a negative. I understand why the party system exists in that it allows consensus to develop and also give voters a shorthand to save them investigating an individual candidate's opinion on every single subject. The problem for me is that MPs are stuck with having to broadly support all of the policies of their party and if they show any dissent the media turn on them as disloyal. I personally have always voted for the candidate of the same party because it aligns most closely with my political preference but I do not agree with all of their policies, and not should I have to.

Yes a necessary evil I suppose. We have suffered in Australia (and continue to suffer) with our two main parties bickering and picking at each other while largely ignoring the issues and policies in question. Spin spin spin and one team against another is such a turn off for the voter that we end up with apathy and disengagement with the political process.

Currently we have a party who were distractive yet effective in opposition and won an election by running down the incumbent government (who made themselves and easy target) who introduced some worthwhile policy but let the opposition dictate the narrative away from this. the main problem with this is that they have spent most of the their current term still acting like they are in opposition.

Not sure if this is entirely down to party politics but they certainly appear to be working against each other rather than with each other.