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Labour by-election candidate’s views on nurses’ pay sound eerily familiar (video)

‘Magic money tree’ nonsense echoes Theresa May – and puts Starmer’s Labour well to the right of Boris Johnson’s magic money forest

Labour’s Batley and Spen by-election candidate was unwilling to provide a straight answer when asked if she supported a 15% pay rise for nurses. In that, she’s clearly in line with her party leader, who has persistently refused to name any policies Labour does stand for. But – after also refusing to say she would support the abolition of tuition fees – she went further, claiming that people are ‘sick’ of being told there’s a ‘magic money tree’.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because it is:

Leadbeater appeared to be channelling former Tory leader Theresa May – or at least regurgitating the same economically illiterate nonsense May and the Tories used to spout to mislead the public about the nature of the UK’s ‘fiat’ economy.

But even the Tories have abandoned it for now, because Boris Johnson and his Chancellor have magically found whole magic money forests when it suited them – as they well should, as a country with control of its own money supply need never run short.

Of course, at some point the Tories will flip and make ordinary people pay while the rich get richer – and that’s all part of the ‘Big Lie’. But for now, Starmer’s Labour are well – and pointlessly, spinelessly – to the right of the Tories on public spending.

Instead of making the (easy) argument that paying nurses (and everyone else) properly is not only the right thing to do, it’s good for the economy to do it, on the rare occasions that Starmer breaks cover to say anything, he’s again trying to sell himself to Tories instead of showing how he’d actually change things for the better.

It’s hardly surprising then that Labour’s ’emotional blackmail candidate’ – the sister of the constituency’s murdered former MP – is hacking up the same garbage. But if people want Tories, they’ll go for the full-fat version. It’s a disastrous recipe for an ‘opposition’ – and that disaster continues to play out daily.

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75 comments

    1. Tory parasite says as Tory parasite believes🪱 The parasites don’t hide their devotion to squeezing, crushing and devaluing those who keep the country turning. That is no surprise. They don’t hide their lack of care and compassion🪱

      how vile keith’s capitalising on tragedy. her sister’s murder by a right wing terrorist … probably a tory sympathiser as they usually are, does not bother starmer one jot🪱

      even more depraved for her to collaborate with keith in such an unethical way. very sad. unsurprising behaviour from starmer’s choice. what do these blair creatures value? imagine to impose on the good people of batley & spen such a candidate❓❓❓

    2. Andrew – Thanks for the insight into yourself, your comment is very revealing.

      1. This really is shaping up nicely. Apparently the labour team were assaulted with eggs and legs. No footage or evidence.

        They are blaming the electorate for the shit they have created (look at our resident troll if you’re unsure), and aren’t happy that the whirlwind they created is now blowing in their faces.

        I really do hope Galloway wins. The press and politicians are gonna have a seizure if he does.

      2. NVLA – “I really do hope Galloway wins.”

        Your idiocy and your callous indifference for the welfare of people living in Batley & Spen has been noted

      3. The insults are scattergun from you Steve H today and make me wonder whether you are channelling your anger at your pathetic right wing misfits at the only sensible comments of the majority on here .IF you cant keep your comments relevant and useful then don’t comment..!

      4. …Your idiocy and your callous indifference for the welfare of people living in Batley & Spen has been noted…

        The fuck do you think you are? Has been noted…

        Stupid remarks like this show that you’re either a lunatic or 77th brigade (in which case, come round for a visit chap…)

        There’s only one idiot in this thread. As for callous, that describes the fucking Labour party shitting on millions.

        Even the Guardian’s BTL commentators are turning on Starmer…

      5. SteveH
        Do you believe Muslims are inherently anti semitic
        Are Red Tories in the wrong party
        Did they wake up every morning and think how can I stop JC becoming the first openly Socialist Prime Minister
        Did they prefer a Boris Johnson Cheap and Nasty Tory Government
        Scumbags every one of them

      6. I’ll be complaining to the Skwawkbox about your slanderous comment.

        At what point did I condone violence? I said there was no evidence or footage. Given we live in a society where everyone has high definition cameras to hand, I find it suspicious. Suspicion does not endorse violence.

        Do you want to blame me for the suspicious flyer going around as well?

        You really are a pathetic individual!

      7. IIRC didn’t the ‘rags accuse a corbynista of ‘punching’ one of their candidates?

        At least when they showed their footage it showed nothing of the sort happened.

        Therefore, let the injured parties come forward and make their own complaints; and while they’re at it, let Joe public see any footage.

        I’m not saying it didn’t happen, but phones have cameras these days…Got time to watch someone being thrown to the ground and kicked in the head, then you’ve got time to get the culprit on film…. Especially if they supposedly come back to throw eggs at the same people..

        .

      8. Toffee – Oh dear, I’m ‘devastated’. Which one is you?

      9. SteveH
        Its a pointless exercise taking people to court who don’t have a pot to piss in
        You only sue people of substance which rules out you and every other Red Tory

  1. I got a text message from her today begging me to help her campaign. Of course, I disregarded it.

    The last paragraph of her plea she inserted in parenthesis: “(Just say if you’d rather not get Labpur Party texts)”

    It’s getting that way Kim. It’s getting that way.

    1. qwertboi and all, don’t answer either way. like fishing scams, any response = intelligence for them. never let justified anger cause u to give them any info 💐💐💐

      1. Windchimes…spot on the Labour right wing are building a Hit list of members ,she’s probably been offered a job at the roost for another witchunt as she’s well aware that the Labour party are as toxic as her comments on politics.More money wasted on attacking the Labour membership after another millionaire Lawyer from Surrey disaster.

      2. Joseph – You’re not a member and you live at the other side of the world (literally).

      3. Joseph – You’re not a member and you live at the other side of the world (literally).

        Isn’t he allowed to ‘make observations’??

      4. Toffee – I didn’t say that, but I do question whether he has his finger on the pulse.

  2. It does not surprise me. I think that Mr stammer and co are doing their hardest to perfect the dubious talent of scoring own goals. I wonder what other demographics are left over to disenfranchised.

  3. Not surprising, I would argue Leadbetter ain’t a socialist and is a political lightweight? Just read in financial pages that the Tories Quantitative Easing Programme (the electronic printing of money) is up to nearly £900m so far to buy the rich and powerful time because “They haven’t a clue what to do” (Streekt). If I lived in Batley & Spen I would reluctantly vote for ‘Bourgeois George’ (?) though was not impressed with a speech he made. Hopefully a Labour loss will be the end of Starmer but those lining up are political lightweights too. Apart from Zara and Burgon & a few lefties from Liverpool etc can’t think of a decent socialist alternative in Labour.

    1. What??? Leadbeater ain’t a socialist???

      Like Keith’s gonna give his blessing for a socialist to become so much as an office charwallah ffs.

      As for burgon. Nah. Not for me. Shot his bolt with his shite campaign for deputy last time out and has skulked in the shadows ever since, much like the rest of them, I suppose, but I expected more from him – which ain’t been forthcoming.

      Do like the term ‘bourgeois George’ though. I’m nickin’ that. 👍😋

      1. No doubt Starmer will be replaced after a period of mourning but by whom and how should be the response of what remains of the left in the party? There is no left candidate and if there was they’d never qualify. Prepare for the next anti-left onslaught and rule changes

    1. Meanwhile at neo liberal HQ the senile molester Uncle Joe Biden is printing money 💰 whilst the doller heads for a meltdown,and the pound is no longer recognised as a major currency and as even lost 5 cents against the US paper trail of a economic collapse in the West.

    2. So when the financial pandemic hits and we the people end up owning everything, what should we do

  4. Her complete lack of political experience leave her without the ability to respond to any policy-related questions – though the “leadership” keeping its policies secret doesn’t do her any favours. But on the subject of the monetary system, her parrotting of the usual neoliberal bullshit actually puts her on a par with the vast majority of the PLP. There’s not one of them who understand how the monetary system works – or if they do they’ve not got the balls to speak up. Even after witnessing a year of money being issued at will by the government with no mention of how it’s going to be “paid for” they still limp along believing the govt budget works like a household’s, that taxes pay for spending, that we need to be warming up for more belt tightening bla bla. And Leadbeater thinks she’s on safe ground with this one.

    1. Most of them know exactly how fiat money works but they dare not say it because focus groups inform them that if they told the truth people wouldn’t believe them and wouldn’t elect them and if they could convince people that the economy is nothing like a household budget, people would demand state capital investment, and that’s against the unwritten rules.

      1. lundiel – What did Corbyn’s team do to educate the electorate about the concepts that they had gently introduced in Labour’s 17GE Manifesto.

      2. lundiel – What did Corbyn’s team do to educate the electorate about the concepts that they had gently introduced in Labour’s 17GE Manifesto.

        For starters, they told them labour would respect the referendum result. Something which got labour a lead in the polling

        Although I don’t remember it being a tune stammer & fatberg and the genial 70% marching to…

      3. lundiel “because focus groups inform them that if they told the truth (about money and modrn money theory) people wouldn’t believe them and wouldn’t elect them…..”

        Therein is the reason the left needs to i), shake-up MSM and challenge the neoliberal PR merchants pretending to be journalists, and, ii), stimulate discussion about MMT and set up networks of community-based education activites.

        Clearly the BBC and MSM are not going to assist in this. If we don’t do it, nobody will. Re i), (above), SKWAWKBOX and SW show us that the right strategy is “replace”, not “repair”.

    2. I would recommend anyone interested in this matter to read “The Deficit Myth” by Stephanie Kelton.
      MMT, or Modern Monetary Theory, is not a theory – it is a description of how the fiat monetary system works.
      Most economic talk is pure blarney, but regular reading of the likes of Richard Murphy’s Tax Research UK blog, Michael Hudson, and Steve Keen will clear the brain of the fog of the blarney, and help build that political economy bullshit detector that we all need.
      I should add that Grace Blakeley is also bang on the button as well.

      1. Yes her book is excellent. Another good source is the GIMMS website – set up by 5 women frustrated about the how far behind the UK is re MMT awareness. It’s got loads of resources – videos and references etc and pre-pandemic were trying to establish networks round the country.

  5. New New Labour could do with a magic voter tree, along with the magic money tree.

  6. “There is no magic money tree” says Dim Leadbeater. Where does money come from then? She hasn’t got a clue and thinks taxes fund spending.
    https://twitter.com/AaronBastani/status/1409228399072055297?s=19
    “Once I’m elected I’ll consider those things” Like how can we pay back the 300bn Covid deficit I suppose. Honestly these people are utterly hopeless. But you have to blame the NuLabour machine for picking a clueless candidate in the hope of a sympathy vote, someone who’s only just joined the party, who isn’t local and shouldn’t even be standing, putting her out there and leaving her to it. Shows just how useless they are.,.. briefcase Labour.

    1. lundiel – You really should do some basic fact checking if you want to be taken seriously.

      1. Steve H fact “I am not political” comment from Labour party candidate for Batley and Spen before the election..How many times have I listened to that exact comment from old Torys when I campaigned in Toryfied Home counties?.Think about it Steve H and realise just how much your comments betray your once political belief.How as it come to this that your comments seriously destroy the Labour party.Think about how you abandoned your beliefs for a handful of silver..!

    2. lundiel [Leadbeater] isn’t local

      I note that you haven’t corrected your ‘assertions’ yet.

      How much more ‘local’ do you want Kim to be?
      She was born in constituency
      She was brought up in the constituency
      She works in the constituency
      She is the only one out of all 16 the candidates who actually lives in the constituency.

      How can we believe anything you write when you are so cavalier with the truth. Perhaps you should check your other ‘assertions’.

    1. I never do. I don’t do anything to justify its salary/existence lundiel.

      1. Really?
        Has anyone noticed yet.

        Thanks for trying to keep us all in the loop.

  7. She was clearly approached by Lab to stand and probably persuaded that she would walk it. As she wasn’t even a member until recently It’s hardly likely that she boldly walked up to the CLP door and said “Hey put me up as your candidate”.

    If she doesn’t feel that has has be badly let down by Labs half arsed campaign and abandoned by it when Starmer threw in the by-election towel over a week ago she dafter than she looks. The by-election itself looks like a really ill tempered and nasty affair which surely to God local activists might have expected and warn of.

    What an all round shambles that predictably is unlikely to end well for Labour.

    1. The scapegoats are being lined up for the inevitable defeat come Friday morning- Leadbetter is going to be severely embarrassed, Rodders knows she’s goin’lose big time hence he hasn’t bothered turning up, if he did she’d lose by an even bigger margin.

      It’s time to walk away from Labour, sold it’s soul to the neoliberal Thatcherite Devil, it’s become ever increasingly like a Stalinist party where dissent from The Dear Leader is likely to get u expelled or a writ from Labour’s solicitors.

      Rodders isn’t interested in becoming PM, no he wants to follow Stalin and purge his enemies within Labour and weed out socialism as ant Labour and a danger to the state.

      Sadly the PLP will continue on their supine ways instead of holding their leader to account for his failings.

      Maybe they could ask why Blair, Mandelson & Campbell were hanging around with Ghislaine Maxwell for?

  8. This woman is nothing but a black flag, abusing the “sister on a murdered MP” for Political Gains. For her or for the Neolabour Tory Party I am not sure, whether she approached them or they her, I am not sure, but it is blatantly obvious that the death of her sister is all that she has ‘going for her’ politically!
    The fact that ‘the “Antisemitic” t-shirt incident’ hysteria died after one hour is another indicator that this woman is marching with a Black Flag, just like the Zionists/Israel Lobby abused Jews and the Holocaust, 2015 to 2020, for their Political Gains, it is Sick and Disturbing!

    1. skellyknelly – ….and yet you are the one who is posting “sick and disturbing” comments

      1. Really more sick and disturbing than abusing ones dead sister and the memory of our war dead!? Or would you prefer Truth to be Fluffed Up and Lied about to make everyone feel better about themselves, while the evil continues in front of our eyes!? You’re not an idiot, So Stop being so stupid Steve!

      2. skellyknelly – I’m happy to stand by my comment. I can’t see any reason to retract it.

  9. MAGIC MONEY TREE
    Politicians often like to point out that there is no “magic money tree”. But that raises the question, where does money actually come from? The answer is more complicated than many people realise.
    If you listened to some government ministers, you might assume that there’s a fixed amount of money in the economy, or that the amount is strictly controlled by the Bank of England.
    But in fact, money is being created out of thin air all the time. And this process has hugely important implications for issues like housing, inequality and the environment.
    Most of the money we use comes in digital form, as the numbers we see on our bank statements. This money is created by private banks like HSBC and Natwest when they make loans. They create it by simply typing numbers into a computer – some might call this magic!
    Sound implausible? You don’t have to take our word for it – the Bank of England itself has confirmed that “whenever a bank makes a loan, it creates a deposit in the borrower’s bank account, thereby creating new money.”

    https://positivemoney.org/what-we-do/magic-money-tree/

  10. Money creation in the modern economy
    By Michael McLeay, Amar Radia and Ryland Thomas of the Bank’s Monetary Analysis Directorate.
    1 This article explains how the majority of money in the modern economy is created by commercial banks making loans.

    2 Money creation in practice differs from some popular misconceptions — banks do not act simply as intermediaries, lending out deposits that savers place with them, and nor do they ‘multiply up’ central bank money to create new loans and deposits.

    3 The amount of money created in the economy ultimately depends on the monetary policy of the central bank. In normal times, this is carried out by setting interest rates. The central bank can also affect the amount of money directly through purchasing assets or ‘quantitative easing’.

    https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/quarterly-bulletin/2014/money-creation-in-the-modern-economy.pdf

    1. I love the way she stumbles over her words. When she mangles “accrued” and “incurred” to produce “incrued”. Future leader material right there!

  11. The twin pillars of Capatalism are ‘Moral Hazard’ and ‘Free Markets’ in 2008 these turned into pillars of salt, the to big to fail banks were bailed out by Obama and Brown
    They the 0.1% refused to take a haircut, they effectively privatised profits and nationalised losses
    Capatalism died in 2008, markets are rigged and printing presses run 24/7
    The rest of the world has turned to gold or bitcoin
    All that is left is the mother of all crashes, what happens afterwards, I’m fucked if I know

    1. You just know when the Tories start believing in public spending that’d make Corbyn blush that something’s up. Perhaps Sunak knows the bill will never arrive. Klaus Schwab gave him the inside track…

  12. .”………& now we just have to live with it!” Sajid Javid. I wonder what he’s talking about?

  13. I am so happy to have damaged my spine during a work related accident whilst an ITU nurse, so that I was unable to be placed in a sacrificial position during the pandemic.

    If society cannot manage its ill health, how can it manage its purse without the workers in place to keep the purse in the black?

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