Just quietly noting that the non-Farage vote in Clacton (36% x 44% turnout) is comfortably higher than the 10% of the constituency electorate needed for a petition to trigger another by-election if Farage is suspended from the Commons for 10 days...
Abby Jitendra
@abbyabhaya.bsky.social
Policy Director at ThinkLabour thinking about how progressives can win. Prev JRF, Citizens Advice, Trussell Trust. Views always my own.
Burnham: "Social care in England is as unfair as American healthcare." It's a very good line.
It's a big day for social care. I've written about the biggest lesson to learn from the past - success depends on finding a way to pay for reform. And it's harder than ever because we can't agree who owes who. Read below 👇
ThinkLabour@thinklabour.bsky.social · last mo.The National Care Service has been promised before. Why could this time be different? Our latest substack by Policy Director, @abbyabhaya.bsky.social, explores the politics of care reform, intergenerational fairness, and whether Labour can finally deliver a National Care Service.
Great to be featured in today’s First Edition talking about care reform. Andy’s committed to change - the good news is that while we’ve delayed reform other countries have figured out what to do & how to pay for it. Japan, Australia, New Zealand have all made the system more generous (1/
Hettie O’Brien@hettieobrien.bsky.social · 2mo agoThis morning’s First Edition is about the most exasperating, decades long debate in British politics - and what Burnham might do differently this time www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
Labour's headline voting intention is recovering. This pre-dates Burnham becoming PM, but as his victory became inevitable we've seen polls putting Labour within touching distance of Reform. Crucially, this appears to be a consolidation of the progressive vote, rather than gains from Reform.
Nigel Farage has just claimed that men in London are too afraid to wear watches in public, which is just transparently nonsense
Extraordinary credit to Sadiq Khan for pushing through this deeply controversial policy. This is what can happen when politicians are prepared to stick to their principles.
Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan@london.gov.uk · 3mo agoThis is remarkable.
Job moves news - have just started at @thinklabour.bsky.social as Policy Director! I'll be thinking about how we can give people a stake in government, how communities can thrive, and how we can fight the far right online. Get in touch if you want to chat!
The idea that Starmer failed because he didn’t appeal enough to Reform voters ignores all the evidence: *six times* as many Labour supporters defected to the Greens/LDs. It’s a classic example of motivated reasoning used to justify a reactionary platform that would leave Labour unelectable.
The cost of care for ordinary people is a burning problem. Glad to have written something for this edited collection. Social care support is now a reserve of the very poorest, while many pay vast sums out of pocket. We need to grip the issue >
Fabian Society@thefabians.bsky.social · 3mo agoNew Pamphlet out now 👇 Care To Share: Building a National Care Service, in partnership with @jrf-uk.bsky.social 🧵
It is extremely important that Labour understands that the movement of voters between Lab and Ref was not the crucial factor, it was consolidation of the anti-Ref vote and Lab voters turning out in droves. Otherwise Burnham will make the same mistakes as Starmer in targeting only one set of voters.
Nathan@nwylabour.bsky.social · 3mo agoConcerned about this 'swathes of ex-Reform voters returning to Labour' narrative taking hold. On the numbers it does not seem likely to be true - Reform got more votes at this by-election than they did across the constituency's wards at the locals.
Absolutely fascinating polling by @christabelcoops.bsky.social @thinklabour.bsky.social. Says a lot about the (mis)perceptions of voters - and the cues they use to evaluate the social background of politicians.
I have to say, listening to the Today programme dedicate an entire (context free) section about whether migrants are more likely to be convicted criminals *the morning after* hundreds of non-migrants of my own ethnicity committed a pogrom is blood boiling.
Lots to like about this interview. One thing in particular is Andy's belief that workers rights also helps businesses. That's what we found when we looked at the impact of low pay in the care sector - meagre wages drove turnover and lowered productivity.
The hidden cost of low pay in the social care sector
Low pay in the care sector is contributing to high staff turnover and costing providers, and users, billions of pounds.
jrf.org.uk
Rachel Sylvester@rachelsylvester.bsky.social · 4mo agoAndy Burnham backs proportional representation for Westminster with a Labour manifesto commitment if he becomes leader. He also says he would work with the Greens. My interview for @theobserveruk.bsky.social Walk observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
It’s okay for the Tories/Times/Telegraph to pretend that taxes are up “because of welfare”. That’s politics. But if you care about policy you need to understand that is a long way from the truth - and wrestle with the consequences
The measures in the Employment Rights Act are some of Labour’s most popular. Donald Trump is loathed by most of the public. Labour’s immigration reforms are alienating its base. Blair’s critique is totally disconnected from political reality. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Tony Blair tells Starmer and rivals: abandon net zero and move closer to Trump
In highly unusual intervention, ex-PM says his party’s ‘almost infinite capacity for self-delusion’ makes it likely to lose next election
theguardian.com
The reactions to this are mainly focused on the move to the right, but what's really striking in reading Blair's essay in full, is how little Labour's most electorally successful politician understands the current electorate. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Tony Blair tells Starmer and rivals: abandon net zero and move closer to Trump
In highly unusual intervention, ex-PM says his party’s ‘almost infinite capacity for self-delusion’ makes it likely to lose next election
theguardian.com
Plumbers as candidates seems to be a theme of by-elections at the moment, and touches on anxieties about who Labour is for. I speak to that, and how Labour could expand its politics of work, for HopeWorks below.
UCL Policy Lab@uclpolicylab.bsky.social · 5mo agoWho are Labour’s workers? Brilliant piece to kick back off HopeWorks from @joshwesterling.bsky.social @jrf-uk.bsky.social. open.substack.com/pub/thisisho...
Bluesky: Govt is too timid and needs to take bold action. Govt: moots voluntary price controls previously delivered by Tories Bluesky: This is an abomination and govt is going too far!!!
Jim Pickard@pickardje.bsky.social · 4mo agopeople are acting like Labour asking supermarkets if they might voluntarily cap the price of a handful of products is some kind of Stalinist state intervention but Boris Johnson did something similar in 2022 without facing the same criticism here’s a reminder
Good. Lack of prep in opposition explains much of the current govt’s woes. Nowhere is that more evident than social care www.politico.eu/article/andy...
Labour leadership hopeful Andy Burnham working on 100-day plan for government
The Greater Manchester mayor’s team is drawing up a plan for his first 100 days in Downing Street that will likely include reforms to England’s creaking social care system.
politico.eu
The debate about rent controls is too often about negative impacts (which need to be taken seriously). But can landlords actually afford to bear more financial risk than they are bearing now? New research suggests yes - important reading for policymakers.
The Autonomy Institute@autonomy-institute.bsky.social · 4mo agoOur new report – The Property Premium – is out today, with @jrf-uk.bsky.social 🎙️ Key finding: being a private landlord has been the best investment option available to individuals in England over the past decade. Read the full report here: autonomy.work/portfolio/th...
Great to see @jrf-uk.bsky.social research & thinking on improving care leave and a more generous childcare system included here as critical to building a better labour market.
Renewal@renewaljournal.bsky.social · 4mo agoNEW ISSUE: In this special extra edition of Renewal, @louisehaighmp.bsky.social, @yuanfenyang.bsky.social, and other members of the Tribune Group of Labour MPs set out paths to repairing Britain's broken economic settlement. renewal.org.uk/journal/volu...
Reform UK claimed to have the “best vetting in the country”. Their candidates told a different story. Here are some with records of racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, conspiracy theories and links to far-right groups. They are now in office and must be held to account. 🧵
Happy May Day! Show your solidarity by letting us know if you got your copy of our new work issue <3
Colm Murphy@colmpm.bsky.social · 4mo agoFor May Day, I chose some appropriate reading for the tube this morning: @renewaljournal.bsky.social's latest special issue on the politics of work. renewal.org.uk/journal/volu...
Minimum wage increases are some of the most popular policies around. But giving better wages to employed workers while leaving loopholes open for companies to class workers as self-employed (see: Deliveroo) means this could push more into precarity. www.ft.com/content/431a...
Greens to pledge £15 minimum wage in employment rights’ push
Insurgent party seeks to court voters and trade unions with promises on pay and secondary picketing
ft.com
It's terrifying that wearing a kippah, or a hijab, or walking around in a neighbourhood where more religious minorities live, or praying in a mosque or synagogue, are increasingly terrifying things to do in the UK.
Under these proposals, people with severe anxiety or ADHD who can't work won't be given financial support. Hard to imagine how this could be defended. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
'Emergency handbrake' needed on sickness benefits, says Tony Blair think tank
The Tony Blair Institute says people with conditions like anxiety should get employment support instead of cash benefits.
bbc.co.uk
Note the assumption, from Farage, that "ethnic minorities" are not "working people". "The working class" is almost always imagined on the right as old, white & male - never as young, black or female. It's a fantasy version of class politics, that's totally out of kilter with the working population
Sunder Katwala (sundersays)@sundersays.bsky.social · 5mo agoLink to Sun report: “I don’t see the Green vote as being working people. I see the Green vote as being ethnic minorities". This also rhetorically makes a distinction between "working people" and "ethnic minorities" www.thesun.co.uk/news/3891254...
This was a fun one to write. Here I argue, with @joshwesterling.bsky.social, that the next frontier for workers rights must be those devoid of key rights - the self-employed, insecure workers who are now the worst off. Extending basic protections to them should be the govt’s priority.
Renewal@renewaljournal.bsky.social · 5mo agoSUBSCRIBE TO READ: @abbyabhaya.bsky.social and @joshwesterling.bsky.social examine the ERA's biggest blindspot, self-employment, and argue that Labour must extend protections to all areas of the workforce. renewal.org.uk/articles/lab...