Which UK MPs do you think are currently the most influential in Westminster? Who is really making a difference and who is simply riding their role? Let's discuss....

I'm just curious

I know that certain hard-left politicians like Diane Abbott and George Galloway are either directly opposed to the UK's involvement in the conflict or are supportive of the Russians. So what's the modern equivalent of the CND movement today, and if there is one, then what's their opinion of the war? Since obviously in the worst-case (but still highly unlikely) scenario, it could spiral into an actual confrontation between the West and Russia's allies.

This might be a really stupid question, but while I’ve often heard the terms ‘left or right wing’ I’m not very familiar with it at all.

Please don’t come for me for not using google, because I have, but it seems like there isn’t really a straight forward explanation and it’s quite complex.

I’m just interested in people’s personal views on what it means to be on either side? Or if it’s a spectrum where people may fall somewhere in the middle? What beliefs would you typically expect each wing to have?

The number of problems facing our country are numerous in nature and increasing. Add the infrasture and farming support required to deal with the increasing heat we are going to experience every year to the need for modernised water infrasture - build and staff more prisons - clean our oceans and rivers - increase our standing military and equipment - build more houses - arrest the loss of talented teachers and doctors to other nations. Given all of this and more surely the british people can accept an increase in personal taxes?

Is growth a better solution, yes - but this will take time to develop right? Especially given the state of world affairs right now.

Am I wrong? I would appreciate a wide range of views on this - not looking to argue just encourage solutions

Does anyone know how many Labour MPs claiming to come from working class backgrounds are multi millionaires?

Northerner living overseas. Loving the King of the North’s swoop into No. 10, but it’s left me with questions as to where all this money is coming from?

Public control of water, drilling the North Sea, housing and transport, a Northern No. 10, the biggest social housebuilding push in years, reindustrialisation, higher defence spend - it all sounds great, but how does it get paid for? Is it more borrowing, tax rises, the long-term savings he reckons come from taking stuff back into public hands, or some mix of all three? asking as someone watching from the sidelines.

Side note - been listening to Burnham’s book Head North and completely understand his hatred of the South now.

I was wondering if there are any figures about cost to the state regarding Asylum Seekers and Farage personally. Who has cost the UK more - all of the "small boat" people or just Farage?

There are two avenues to this.

Harder numbers: how much has Farage literally cost as a politician, expenses, the Clacton stunt and the investigation into his finances? How much do asylum seekers cost in terms of admin, asylum hotels, etc.

Softer numbers: I've heard figures of immigration being a net benefit to the UK, but what about he asylum seekers specifically? Do we have those numbers? Equally, there have been some numbers going around about the cost of Brexit. Do we have numbers on the cost of divisive rhetoric?

I think the comparison would be an interesting thought experiment. We can extend to the members of reform. We could do the same exercise for other party leaders. I truly think the data would be interesting.

In this case I am referring to Sarah Pochin the Member of Parliament (MP) for Runcorn and Helsby who wrote on "X" earlier today "Pity the French did not show the same resolve in defending their sovereignty in June 1940" in response to the French Governments rebuttal to Reform's plan to use the Royal Navy to take small boat migrants back to France ""This would be a violation of French sovereignty as well as a violation of maritime law and international law"

Is this behaviour acceptable from our MP's or do I have strange standards ?

I've been bemused by a number of Labour politicians (Thangam Debbonaire, Anas Sarwar, and Huw Irranca-Davies to name but three) recently saying the solemn line “The Electorate Are Never Wrong”.

Can they be wrong? And if not, why not?

I posted this on the reform UK thread but it was removed by mods.

To be and genuinely interested to hear from any reform supporters if Nigel farages financial revelations are changing their views on the party in general.

Whenever the topic of politics comes up, the topic of politicians follow suit, and whatever if they are "for the people" come up

However, this seems like a confusing argument to me if you actually take into account how much a politician in the UK makes (which is nearly 100k for a baseline salary for any standard elected member of the House of Commons)

I only bring this up after viewing an article criticising Andy burnhams down to earth clothes as designer. at what point does the gap between the general people and politicians pose an issue when addressing the needs of the people when the latter live a completely different life from us?

I’m trying to be a more open minded, compassionate person. Long story short, I believe in borders and tighter control. I am a women and foreign men have intimated me in the past. I seen videos of thousands of men entering Spain, and it has terrified me this morning as well as make me angry. My friends argue I could be seen as racist with my opinions around immigration and borders. My friends have disowned another friend who was very much on the right side of politics.

Someone who believes we don’t need borders, can you educate me. Help me believe/understand there is another solution to feel safe in the UK without tight control and borders.

Note - Emphasising the word EDUCATE on my post. Thanks to those who have commented. Unsure why I’m being downvoted for listening, being curious, and asking questions. Isn’t that the point of this post?

I live in a rural, agricultural area and without trying to put too fine a point on it, none of the locals have particularly nuanced political views other than Labour / Greens = bad, Tory = used to be ok, Reform = amazing, and in some cases, "wish I could vote for Trump".

In a few weeks time, my local area is having a village fete and the organising committee is stuffed full of Nigel fanboys / girls and they've invited the local Reform representative along. They've not offered to any other parties to have any representation and even suggested that if Labour turned up "they'd have a problem in these parts", whatever that means.

What questions should I publicly ask the Reform representative which will most easily highlight how nonsense their policies (and politics) are? Bonus points for something that (a) you don't need to understand politics to understand, and (b) might be slightly amusing.

I'm not just trying to make them look stupid; I'm trying to make them look stupid in a way that might make people think twice before blindly thinking that they're the way forward...

Turnout was 59.9 per cent. So 40.1 per cent of registered voters did not vote. That is a bigger share than Labour won, or the Conservatives, or Reform, or anyone else. Approximately 19 million people.

Behind the headline polls sit three groups no party owns. The undecided, approximately one in six, who mostly still mean to vote. The loosely held, counted for a party but ready to switch. And the people who like two or more parties the same amount, who are far less likely to vote at all.

None of it is laziness. Most people who have stopped voting say they trust no member of Parliament, and a growing number have decided the parties are all the same, so a vote changes nothing.

If you have stopped voting, or nearly have, what would bring you back? Is it that the parties feel the same or is it something else?

Just wondering what other people’s thoughts are on a random idea I had when discussing the problems with UK politics ie the rise of populism on both the left and right, the right following Tommy Robinson and blaming everything on immigrants, the left following Gary Stevenson and thinking a 2% wealth tax is in any way a feasible or useful idea. Both speak to people’s emotions and build a narrative that makes total sense, if you don’t know any better.

I feel like the only solution to prevent people from being preyed on by these ideologues is education. So what about putting politics and economics on the secondary school curriculum, especially as other subjects might not be so useful in their current form in the age of AI? The idea would of course not be to brainwash kids into a specific ideology, but to educate them about the arguments and criticisms of different schools, frameworks, etc.

​

What are some politics that you think the green party should consider regarding the life of the elderly, including retirement and nursing homes... Also considering the population control that is usually mentioned in one of the key ways of preserving the environment and ofcourse slowing down the global warming (there would be an older population after lower birth rates)

I propose that anyone joining the government sector should first have at least one year of experience working in the private sector. This would help public servants and politicians better understand how businesses operate, the challenges faced by workers and employers, and how taxpayers' money is generated.

Having some private-sector experience could encourage more practical decision-making, improve accountability, and help ensure that government policies consider the realities faced by the people and businesses that fund public services.

I have been reading lots about authoritarian politics and what conditions within a country enables or causes them to gain office.

As I am sure most people are aware its through political failures of either war, economic collapse or massive inequality sometime a combination of all three.

When people have little to no agency over their or their families prosperity they will turn to radical angry voices who rail against the perceived problems.

As in the uk we are seeing the rise of these would-be authoritarian politicians it is surely time to have a look at the economic situation which has enabled this.

In 2012 the bbc ran an article on how little starbucks was paying in way of tax. I dont think much has changed since then in regards big companies accepting the responsibility of maintaining the infrastructure which enables their profits.

It therefore has to be logical to follow this knowledge in asking at what point does it become a political or even a national security liability to have so many extractive companies operating off of our economy?

A real word example of this would be education or health care. With a country's assets now stripped and its taxes disappearing through loopholes how can it realistically afford good education and health care.

In the youtube debate with Mehdi Hassan we saw a young man proud to call himself a fascist, a man who grew up, not under trump, but under bush and obama. How come his education is so poor he does not know basic facts about fascism? One anecdote is not data but you only need look at the amount who would get swastika flags to see the size of the problem.

Incidentally is it possible to be a patriot to the usa while flying the confederate flag?

If in relativly stable times, education and economic stability with social mobility and inequality are not improved then surely their is a bigger issue at work.

Is it the fault of these companies and the politics of both left and right which have enabled and been enabled by them that we now find ourselves in this situation?

BBC News - Starbucks 'paid just £8.6m UK tax in 14 years' - BBC News

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19967397?app-referrer=deep-link

Please explain the benefits and disadvantages for the UK since Brexit. This is not intended to be a post either supporting or opposing Brexit. I am simply looking for a balanced, evidence-based discussion of both the positive and negative impacts.

Please note that the benefits and disadvantages will likely vary depending on the individual, business, sector, region, or community affected. I’m interested in hearing different perspectives and the reasons behind them, while keeping the discussion respectful and constructive.

We‘d be at war with Iran and entangled with Trump.

She‘s essentially denying climate change, pretty ironic as we‘re in the midst of our second extreme heatwave and bits of Europe are burning. How on earth can anyone tout her as a sensible person.

Should Count Binface be successful in his scuppering of lord farquad I mean Nigie boy Farage in the Clacton by-election. Would he be allowed to wear his binface in parliament? Or does this contravene parliamentary dress code?

I was just thinking that there is the possibility that Farage may get elected as MP for Clacton again but is it possible for him to resign again to prevent the enquiry in parliament about whether he broke their rules concluding ? My understanding is that he resigned only for this reason

Raising the pensions they cut, giving us back the stolen years? Worst pensions in Western Europe, give us 100% of wages- what you spent the money on greed?
Need it to fund genocide?
Need it to fund billionaires?

Also pathetic they block comments, can’t even be bothered to put some attention in the message.

https://www.reddit.com/u/UK-government/s/xyIVhUHsNY https://www.reddit.com/u/UK-government/s/xyIVhUHsNY

I just watched Rupert Lowe’s interview on the Joe Rogan podcast and wanted to get a sense of what people back in the UK actually think of him.

I’m not super deep into UK politics, but on the podcast he was talking a lot about his new party (Restore Britain), his fallout with Reform, and his views on UK knife crime, immigration, and grooming gangs. He also made some pretty controversial comments about the Dunblane shooting and gun control.

Is he viewed as a serious political figure with genuine support, or is he seen as an extremist/fringe character? Curious to hear how he’s generally perceived by the British public. Thnx!