Off Topic Politics Thread

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Reform is reporting £331 million in savings across the councils it runs, but Private Eye’s Rotten Boroughs writer Saba Salman says the claims are complete guff.
In Kent, the party’s flagship council, supposed tens of millions in savings include cutting councillor allowances only to reallocate the money elsewhere.
Watch the full episode of Page 94, the Private Eye podcast, on YouTube.
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HIGNFY
"Following an investigation in the aftermath of the Budget, we now know how the Economic and Fiscal Outlook was leaked: "The EFO was uploaded by the OBR on a PDF via a URL". With the investigators all agreeing: OMG, FFS"
 
Libby said:
Hampshire elections due in May next year delayed to 2028.
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I was ok with the original concept because it is a pointless waste of time and money to hold elections to cover a 1-2 year gap.

But now the Councillors (at least current HCC ones) will be on a 7 year term, time to bite the bullet.
 
Shandy_top_89 said:
I was ok with the original concept because it is a pointless waste of time and money to hold elections to cover a 1-2 year gap.

But now the Councillors (at least current HCC ones) will be on a 7 year term, time to bite the bullet.
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Can't help but think that if Labour were polling really well then they'd be getting held.
 
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Libby said:
Can't help but think that if Labour were polling really well then they'd be getting held.
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Don't really see it, under the original plan it was a fair point and would have been a genuine waste of time and money to hold an election for a seat that is being dissolved in 1-2 years time, but now it is stretching too far. Also many of the affected Councils are Tory anyway.

I suppose the counter might be that Councils have now submitted their plans for restructure and it is too much of a pain in the balls to risk having Councils rebel against plans that they previously approved (although I am not sure that is really possible either).
 
Shandy_top_89 said:
Don't really see it, under the original plan it was a fair point and would have been a genuine waste of time and money to hold an election for a seat that is being dissolved in 1-2 years time, but now it is stretching too far. Also many of the affected Councils are Tory anyway.

I suppose the counter might be that Councils have now submitted their plans for restructure and it is too much of a pain in the balls to risk having Councils rebel against plans that they previously approved (although I am not sure that is really possible either).
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Going to flip on what I said earlier.

Councillor elections are still going ahead.

It is the new mayoral positions that are being pushed back.

I dont think there is as much of an issue with an election being pushed back for a post that doesnt exist yet, since I assume this is because the actual start date of the new role has been pushed back a year.
 
It is illegal for the Labour Party to directly receive donations from foreign individuals or entities that are not "permissible donors" under UK law. However, foreign money has entered UK politics, including to the Labour Party, through legal loopholes such as donations from UK-registered companies with foreign ties.
Foreign-linked donations to Labour via loopholes
  • Cayman Islands-based hedge fund: In 2024, Labour received a £4 million donation from Quadrature Capital, a hedge fund with its parent company registered in the Cayman Islands. The company stated that it pays corporation tax in the UK.
  • Pro-Israel lobby groups: Reports from 2024 revealed that pro-Israel lobby groups have donated over £300,000 to more than half of Keir Starmer's shadow cabinet members. Some of these donations involved groups paying for Labour MPs to take trips to Israel, with some payments coming directly from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
  • Foreign-domiciled individuals: As of 2015, the Labour Party had received at least £8.55 million from donors who were domiciled abroad for tax purposes.
Labour Party's response to foreign donations
  • Pledged to strengthen rules: In its 2024 manifesto, the Labour Party committed to strengthening the rules on political donations to address "dodgy money" from overseas.
  • Internal division over a ban: In February 2025, reports indicated that Labour had dropped a plan to ban foreign political donations after an intervention from a Labour peer.
 
It'sOnlyAGame said:
It is illegal for the Labour Party to directly receive donations from foreign individuals or entities that are not "permissible donors" under UK law. However, foreign money has entered UK politics, including to the Labour Party, through legal loopholes such as donations from UK-registered companies with foreign ties.
Foreign-linked donations to Labour via loopholes
  • Cayman Islands-based hedge fund: In 2024, Labour received a £4 million donation from Quadrature Capital, a hedge fund with its parent company registered in the Cayman Islands. The company stated that it pays corporation tax in the UK.
  • Pro-Israel lobby groups: Reports from 2024 revealed that pro-Israel lobby groups have donated over £300,000 to more than half of Keir Starmer's shadow cabinet members. Some of these donations involved groups paying for Labour MPs to take trips to Israel, with some payments coming directly from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
  • Foreign-domiciled individuals: As of 2015, the Labour Party had received at least £8.55 million from donors who were domiciled abroad for tax purposes.
Labour Party's response to foreign donations
  • Pledged to strengthen rules: In its 2024 manifesto, the Labour Party committed to strengthening the rules on political donations to address "dodgy money" from overseas.
  • Internal division over a ban: In February 2025, reports indicated that Labour had dropped a plan to ban foreign political donations after an intervention from a Labour peer.
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I think this is exactly why people distrust Labour. They should not be accepting money from business just as it should be for all parties. Being the Party that is supposed to look after workers' interests makes this even worrying.

I think the good news about the Reform donation is that it makes it abundantly clear that a vote for them is not in ordinary people's interests. I am really worried by the things I read about Farage and Reform. The financial organisations like hedge fund will benefit and Farage and his cronies will be the ones making money. Luckily the tide has started to turn against Reform but donations of this size are a threat to democracy.

I know the counter argument is that the unions fund Labour but there is a broad difference between the unions and Labour in policy which weekend this viewpoint. I do not think the scenario with McCluskey has done anyone any favours.

I can see the dissatisfaction with the traditional parties being a factor in the lack of popularity but turning towards Reform is surely even worse. Not difficult to see why the Greens are popular. They are doing what Labour should be doing..I think Your Party is a disaster. A complete waste of energy even though I admire Corbyn.

The Left have the moral argument for so many things. Just a shame they are always infighting or letting us down like McCluskey and Raynor. Probably time for Polanski to step up to the wicket.
 
Libby said:
Can't help but think that if Labour were polling really well then they'd be getting held.
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It’s a local issue on this occasion. The Unitary councils, the county and districts are all pulling in different directions. They’re no where near agreement so the mayor role isn’t viable currently
 
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Shandy_top_89 said:
Our Reform mayoral candidate got caught out making racist remarks about David Lammy.

Unfortunately that will probably make him more popular with some of the Apes around Hampshire. Saw plenty absolutely beating one off in the social media comments when he was announced.

Amazingly it is the Telegraph reporting it.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politic...l-candidate-david-lammy-to-go-home-caribbean/
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"Rotten to the core.
The Reform UK leader of Staffordshire County Council has been removed from the party after being accused of making racist comments on social media.

The posts at the centre of complaints about Ian Cooper included one making reference to then foreign secretary David Lammy, which stated "no foreign national or first generation migrant should be allowed to sit in Parliament.

His dismissal comes after activist group Hope Not Hate claimed to have found racist posts on an account on X allegedly linked to the council leader.

His alleged activity on Facebook also came under scrutiny after a group called Reform UK Exposed claimed he was a top fan of a page called The European Race, which promotes white supremacy.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn09z578p4lo
 
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