LyrArc Article Gist
The thinktank Onward says a relatively small shift rightward on cultural issues would deliver for the Labour party a 1997 type of landslide at the next election. Today's 12 point lead for Labour is fragile and could be watered down to 4 points and an uncertain result. It says that people who are conservative on social issues and still favor Labour on economic and climate policy are the ones Labour should go for. They make up 61% of all voters in Britain and 78% of voters who would switch. Keir Starmer has a way through.

On sees this in Starmer's enthusiasm for his visit to Westminster Abbey for the coronation of Charles as monarch of Britain. The positions he takes on many cultural issues have this in mind bringing Labor into the mainstream and making it a bold innovator for Britain, taking pride in the nation's scientific and maritime achievements from the Industrial Revolution.

LyrArc Article Gist
As the British parliament prepares to vote on Brexit deal put forward by prime minister Theresa May, Joanna Sugden summarizes what is expected as the next step if parliament rejects it.  Why are a faction Conservative members opposed to it? There is the Irish backstop which they oppose. Keeping open the border between the two Irelands- Northern Ireland as part of Britain and Ireland as a EU country is important to preserve peace achieved through the Good Friday Agreement between the Catholic and Protestant communities.May wants to keep the border open. Far right Conservatives see this as keeping Britain connected to the EU in some way which they oppose. They stubbornly hold onto this view. Add to this the opposition from the Remain campaign which sees leaving the EU as bad for Britain's economic future. Some Leave supporters now see the dangers of Brexit, especially leaving with no deal made with the EU. Most of the Labour Party members fall into this group. What happens if parliament rejects May's deal by a small margin? The deal would be renegotiated with the EU to tweak it for more support. What happens if parliament rejects it with a huge margin? This would result in several options. May could call a general election. Britain could have a second referendum on Brexit. Or in a chaotic situation Britain could leave the European Union without a deal altogether, something everyone wants to avoid because of the disruptions it would cause. May is using this risk as  a way to persuade reluctant MP's but it may not work.     ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Crowley home to Gatwick airport- situation of migrants in UK in one English town, shown in The Guardian. Migrants has become a divisive issue in Britain with Labour shifting to new policy on migrants, many Conservative party leaders joining Reform UK party. The situation is similar across the continent in Italy, Germany and France, Netherlands and Nordic countries. It is also a divisive issue in the US in January 2026, and has been since the Operation Wetback under President Eisenhower in 1954 as the US Border at the time was not secure following large migrant flows similar to the last decade. The issues of citizenship are still what they were in 1904 when US president Teddy Roosevelt in his Annual Message to Congress said- "The citizenship of our country should not be debased. It is vital that we keep high the standard of living of our wage workers, and therefore we should not admit masses of men whose standards of living, customs and habits, are such that they tend to lower the level of the American wage worker, and above all we should not admit any man of an unworthy type, any man of whom we can say that he will himself be a bad citizen, or his children and grandchildren will detract from instead of adding to the sum of the good citizenship of the country."    ...

LyrArc Article Gist
This editorial in the Economist points out the dangers for Britian of having a non functioning opposition in parliament to act as a check on government policies. It says Jeremy Corbyn has damaged the Labor Party by being intolerant of other views. It points out that Corbyn is popular with young people in the half million members of the party, yet nationally among Britain's 45 million voters he has an approval rating of -18%. It hurts the Brexit negotiations putting the hard line Brexit supporters who see it in terms of a single issue immigration, in control. It hurts Britain's union, with Scotland in serious difference about Brexit. Corbyn is unpopular in Scotland where Labor needed a comeback. The Economist sees Corbyn as a disaster similar to the view expressed for Europe in a recent DW.com article.

LyrArc Article Gist
The Economist magazine expresses the view in this editorial that Britain is likely to shift to the "greatest extension of economic democratic rights that this country has ever seen" under Labour party because of what it calls the "grotesque"  uncertainty situation created by Brexit and years of austerity under the Conservatives, split in Conservatives under Theresa May. Britain is getting the debate of ideas that the referendum has led to and the possibilities for reshaping Britain under Labour after the "grotesque folly" of Brexit. 

LyrArc Article Gist
Nigel Farage is making a comeback in European Union elections in Britain. He led the Independence party and has formed a new Brexit Party to contest the elections. He says the Brexit supporters were deserted in the way the Conservative Party bungled Britain's leaving the European Union. As a result of loss of support for Theresa May with the mess created by repeated failures to pass Brexit deals in parliament, some polls show the Brexit Party surging to 34% of the vote inEuropean elections. The Conservative Party at 11%, and the Labour Party at 21%. The Liberal Democrats at 13%. The Conservative party fragments, and the Labour Party loses supporters to the Greens and Liberal Democrats. Another change is that some of the pro-Brexit supporters of the Labour Party in the middle and the north of the country may shift their vote to the Brexit party. The Conservative party's losses of support are a result of the failure of Theresa May to hold her party together. In the case of the Labour party even though it had 40%  of the vote in the last British election, it is faced with the fact that it has an odd mix of supporters. In the north and the middle of the country its working class support comes partly from Pro-Brexit supporters, and in the cities and London the support is from more liberal, better educated people. This puts both the main parties in the situation which they never thought they would be in.  Mr. Farage says its OK for Britain to leave the European Union without a deal. Prime Minister May has taken great pains to forge a deal, even a cross party deal with Labour if necessary. This has alienated the most fervent Brexit supporters in the Conservative Party who favor a no-deal Brexit. Much of this comes from caution that a no-deal Brexit would hurt Britain's economy and lower growth. A large majority in parliament believes a no deal Brexit would be disastrous for Britain. Nigel Farage does not have to deal with such distant matters as economic growth, the British pound and GDP.       ...

LyrArc Article Gist
More answers on more questions by readers, this time from the Guardian.

How does Britain get out of this mess- finding a deal acceptable to all, the Tories right wing, Labour party, and the EU, which isn't likely any time soon. Extending Article 50 beyond March 29, only adds a few months.

Is the UK going insane asked one reader. The answer from the Guardian- yes.

 

LyrArc Article Gist
Keir Starmer and the Labor party's plans for Britain are laid out in this interview in The Observer. He says "This will be a bold and reforming Labor government bringing about real change, that I hope will be felt through the generations." On the 13 years of Tory Conservatives in government- "It is important that everybody asks themselves: am I better off now than when this government started 13 years ago? Is the health service working better? Have my wages gone up in real terms? Is the criminal justice system better? Is anything better? And the answer to those questions is going to be no, no, no, no, no, no." On change even though Labor will be fiscally savy and prudent- "So therefore we need change. We have to be the party of change. Are we going to inherit a very broken country including the economy? Yes, we are. I accept that. But I don't accept that that means we can't inject real purpose and meaning into change." Starmer wants to get the economy of Britain growing again. He plans to do this by making Britain a world leader in a green industrial revolution and through redistributing power to the regions to take advantage of opportunities to tackle climate change. "Clean. energy by 2030 is critically essential. And we will be part of the global race in renewables." "There is a theory of growth that you grow London and the southeast even faster and redistribute to the rest of the country. I reject that model, as I want growth in every part of the country." Home ownership for first timers- "I want Labor to be the party of home ownership." Starmer wants to build 300,000 houses every year and first time buyers given preference, no foreign buyers.  ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Labour leader Keir Starmer tells the 1923 Labor Conference in Liverpool imagine what we could build  "if working people feel they belong and can contribute to Britain, if a whole country says we back your potential." He said of the Tories damage during 13 years of government, "their project will crash against the spirit of working people in this country." And he called the Labour party the builders, the healers- "But know this-what is broken can be repaired. What is ruined can be rebuilt. Woulds do heal." And he said "people are looking to us because they want our wounds to heal and we are the healers, people are looking to us because these challenges require a modern state and we are the modernizers, people are looking to us because they want to build a new Britain, and we are the builders."

LyrArc Article Gist
Sure Start is a child education program for the early years to provide community centres and services to children started in 1998 under Labor prime minister Gordon Brown and later reduced in funding by the Tories. Efforts to revive the program under Labor party with high degree of child poverty in Britain. Results of the program show children improved in later grades in their learning ability and educational level proficiency. Children from low income households and mothers could benefit from such programs in the US and UK. This is part of an overall effort under Starmer in the UK as Labor returns to government with an expected majority and as Biden continues efforts to raise levels of educational opportunity for children in the US.

LyrArc Article Gist
As part of the European Union Brtiain could not shape its own trade deals since the 1970's. The current Brexit standoff leaves little option of changing this. The new Department of International Trade is unlikely to accomplish much even with 400 staffers and a new trade negotiator hired from New Zealand. Britain is likely to remain in the EU trading bloc customs area for many years under the standoff with EU. Countries will wait till Britain finalizes its trade deal with the EU under Brexit. It took Canada 7 years to achieve a trade deal with EU. 

Brexit uncertaintly, split in Conservative Party and Labour Party's agreeing to a second referendum on Brexit mean little progress on trade deals for Britain.

LyrArc Article Gist
Lucy Powell Central Manchester MP elected Labour's Deputy Leader with 54% of the vote in 17% vote turnout. In a sign of the big changes in UK politics and economy Lucy Powell was fired by PM Starmer as leader in the House of Commons as recently as September 2025. Starmer clearly has not led the Labour Party in Britain in ways that would win the confidence of the people of Britain as demonstrated in a recent Wales by-election with Labour having only 11% of the vote after Reform in a previously safe seat.  Lucy Powell says about the lack of listening within Labour to the grassroots people and organization- “I think we often feel like our members and elected representatives are something we need to stand against or not value. They are our strengths. “They connect us to the national conversation. Instead of just telling people what we want them to do, we need to respect, value and include them more, and recognise that debate is not division or dissent, and recognise you have to take people with you and hear from broader voices, not just a narrower group of voices. “They haven’t felt they have been included and connected as they should in recent months, and that’s what often happens when you go into government. “I’m going to really help to do that, to re-engage with the party, and make them feel part of the conversation again. I’ll do that through working with Keir [Starmer], working with government, working right across the party in the leadership roles that I will have.”     ...

LyrArc Article Gist
A young socialist leader in the Sanders campaign effort asks what it is about aging socialist leaders Jeremy Corbyn, 68 years, in the UK, and Bernie Sanders, 75 years, that makes them popular with young people. She says both leaders stood up consistently for decades on issues important to ordinary working class people, when Labor under Blair and Democrats under Clinton abandoned their base to a point when one political expert could say Democrats  were the "second most enthusiastic capitalist party" in the U.S. She says under Blair Clause IV was rewritten. That clause committed the Labor party in Britain to "common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange." Under Corbyn, with support from young people, Labor received 40% of the vote. The party was reenergized on issues important to students such as making higher education accessible to all. A similar situation happened with Sanders in the U.S., who received more of the young people's vote in 2016 primaries than Trump and Clinton combined. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
"Because of the pressure on public services that resentment (by public) is real"- Shabana Mohamed tears up old rules in asylums that put migrants before British neighborhoods. Under the old rules refugees were given 5 years of protection and allowed to bring their families, followed by possible permanent status. Now this is cut to 30 months and if the country is safe the person has to go back, Waiting time to be able to settle in Britain will be extended to 10 years. The system worked in Denmark cutting by 90% the flow of migrants. In 2025 100,000 claimed asylum inUK half of them coming in small boats.  The asylum people placed in hotels has resulted in an outcry from locals in many British towns who see a way of life of the British people being pressured by the migrants some from remote countries with different cultures and leading to lack of safety for women on the streets. In Denmark without these changes the labour working class party would have lost power to a movement like that of Nigel Farage Reform UK which wants to shut the door completely on migrants. Public patience appears to be gone. Similar situations have happened in Dutch politics and is happening in other countries including Germany and France. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Britain's Labour party sees a big opportunity in Scotland with the divided SNP. Mr. Humza narrowly edged out Forbes for leader of the SNP party in the election to replace Nicola Sturgeon. Labour could win 20 seats north of the border putting Mr. Starmer in No.10, say some Labour party leaders. Labour sees that it has been left out of Scotland's parliament and government for far too long with a cost of living crisis and need for public services.

LyrArc Article Gist
The Times looks at local elections in Britain this week, and a swing to the Labor party of 700 seats given Labor's 15 point lead over the Conservatives. This is a dry run for the general elections that Keir Starmer is preparing for, as Britain ripped by crises like the rest of Europe and the US, faces another once in a generation period to decide what kind of a society to create for the future. The blue wall refers to former Labor party supporting constituencies that voted for Boris Johnson in the mistaken assumption that the  Conservatives could deliver for British workers and families. A similar situation exists in the US as president Biden seeks to gain traditional Democratic states such as Pennsylvania and the midwestern states such as Wisconsin, southern states such as Georgia, and western states such as Arizona.

LyrArc Article Gist
Labour party and Tories party have lost touch with working class people in Britain says The Guardian. The working class itself has more of a base in service sectors as the manufacturing sector has declined. Fewer and fewer leaders in both parties in Britain have a working class background and can identify with workers. 

LyrArc Article Gist
University fees in Britain are set at 9250 pounds a year and millions of people have tens of thousands of student debt. The student loan book in Britain is already at 120 billion pounds and it weighs in heavily on young people starting life after college affecting the quality of life. 

The Green party says it will cost 40 billion pounds for waiver of recoverable student debt over 5 years. The Labour Party in Britain is looking at following the Green Party's support of writing off the student debt. Labour has said it will abolish student fees. Labour party's McDowell says the system was designed so that much of the student debt would remain unpaid and it is time to clear this and take this burden off the shoulders of young people. 

This would also give the economy a boost as young people are better able to afford basics such as housing, food and services after this is lifted.

LyrArc Article Gist
Theresa May, Britain's Home Secretary in the Cameron government, is a candidate for prime minister with the planned resignation of David Cameron by the fall of 2016. May was first elected to parliament in 1997 from Maidenhead, a town west of London. She was educated at Oxford University, worked in financial services and the Bank of England, before entering politics. She is known for hard work, a direct approach, and candor on policy issues. During a annual party convention she told Conservative party members that "our base is too narrow, and so occasionally are our sympathies," adding that people called Conservatives as the "nasty party." This was the period when Blair's Third Way was popular and Labor Party was in power. A daughter of a clergy man, she presents a rather austere image but reassuring in turbulent times with a down to earth and patient manner.  Her sports hero is a cricketer Geoffrey Boycott, known for taking long patient batting stands on the cricket  grounds- something Britain needs as it faces long and difficult negotiations with the European Union.  During the EU referendum she supported Cameron and the Stay campaign but quietly, so that she can be seen as the Unity candidate for the deeply divided Conservative Party. On immigration  she was as Home Secretary responsible for one of the difficult issues of the Brexit campaign- with net immigration at 330,000 in 2015 exceeding the 100,000 target set by Cameron. That she retains confidence from all segments of the party, as well as her education, experience, and resilience, may provide some of the "calm and composed" manner that German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for in the Brexit negotiation. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Scotland joined with England and Wales to form Great Britain in 1707, at a time of increasing opportunities for Scottish people in the expanding British Empire. Britain's shipbuilding industry had a major base in Glasgow. During the Thatcher Conservative government Scotland suffered, and decades of globalization led to gradual deindustrialization for Scotland, the demise of the shipbuilding and other industries. The Labor Party under prime minister Blair pursued a "devolution of powers" policy, creating the first Scottish parliament following a referendum in 1999. Ironically this has changed the fortunes of the Scottish Nationalist Party led by Jack Salmond, a economist first elected to the British parliament in 1987. Salmond became head of the party in 1990 and led it to second place in 1999 elections, followed by a win in 2007 and 2011 elections. Salmond is seen as a vigorous campaigner, who can speak above others and not seen as a good listener. The party gained the confidence of Scottish voters by running a competent administration led by businessmen who were well aware of problems in local communities. Programs such as free prescriptions for medicines were popular with voters. The Labor Party stands to lose its voter base in Scotland (former Labor prime minister Gordon Brown is from Scotland), and the Conservative Party will also suffer a blow with a yes vote to independence. Polls show voters don't fully trust Salmond, but a majority 39% support an yes vote to 38% no vote, with 23% undecided. Britain just emerging from a deep recession would lose Scottish oil revenues of about 6 billion pounds, and the economy would suffer as business waited to see how things would turn out before making investments. Scotland now manages health, education and transport. Even without independence Scotland now stands to gain more powers and control, and control a higher percentage than the 60% of Scotland's budget that the Scottish government manages today. Scotland represents about 148 billion pounds or 9.2% of the UK GDP....

LyrArc Article Gist
Only 1 year after getting 412 seats in parliament Labor party under Keir Starmer a public defender, and Angela Rayner is seen as having lost much of it's support in Britain. So have the Conservatives who fare even worse. Only the Liberal Democrats and SNP in Scotland hang on. Outlandish You.gov poll June 26 2025 shows Reform UK with 271 seats in British parliament, Labor at 178 seats, Conservatives 46 seats in hung parliament. Nigel Farage led the fight for Brexit, and voters are having second thoughts about the value of Brexit. On immigration Nigel Farage led the fight, both parties have failed to stop migration. On welfare cuts by Labor this could lead to it doing better than Conservatives, yet Farage taking a position to avoid harsh cuts gets him Labor support. Britain sees the two main parties ineffective in meeting cost of living goals for the British people. But does Reform UK have the answers, and has it been getting the scrutiny it should be getting? Is Kemi Badenoch the right leader for the Conservatives, and how popular is Keir Starmer, how good is his stewardship of the economy?  ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The national picture for Labor would include Scotland which is where Labor has roots. John Smith of Argyll and Butte in Scotland was elected Labor leader in 1992 and Leader of the Opposition in the British parliament. His untimely death in 1994 from an heart attack deprived Britain of a Labor prime minister from Scotland. Smith was able to get enthusiastic support of Scottish voters. It is this Smith period that Labor aspires to as it seeks to widen its lead of nine points over the Conservative party to be confident of getting an overall majority in parliament.

In 1997 a young Tony Blair of Labor who succeeded Smith won the general election. Blair setup the Scottish parliament not convened since 1707, starting a new chapter in Scottish history. In 2007 the Scottish National Party with Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon formed a new government which is losing the confidence of Scottish voters with the cost of living crisis.

LyrArc Article Gist
The huge problem of collapse facing the Tories, UK Conservative Party, as Britain goes to the polls in 2024. A 15,000 person MRP poll conducted by Survation shows 468 seats for Starmer's Labour party and 98 for Conservatives. So great is the anger in Britain with the Tories in general and how they ran the country for the last decade. Today the Tories lack any clear vision for Britain going forward into the middle of the 21st century.

LyrArc Article Gist
The Labour party takes the Rutherglen parliament seat from SNP with Labour's Michael Shanks winning twice the votes of the SNP candidate. Scotland can now lead the way to a Labour government. In his speech Keir Starmer, Labour's leader said he would put Scotland at the "heart of a Britain to last." Labour stands for working people across all these islands, "there is nothing more important." That Labour stands for an argument for Britain, an old partnership perhaps, but a flame now reignited to  face a modern flame of insecurity." On the Scottish nationalists and their party the SNP Starmer said- "Once again they will wave away the lessons of history, try to present nationalism as a bridge to the world. We have to remind them that it can barely provide a ferry to the Hebrides."

LyrArc Article Gist
Britain turns to Labour as the lead for Labour party increases to 27 points after Sunak announces the general election will be held on July 4, 2024. What would a Starmer administration look like and how will it meet the expectations of Britain for generational change after the failure of Brexit, and 14 years of austerity policies that failed to invest in Britain and failed to deliver on infrastructure and housing? These are questions not easily answered as Britain's finances are left in a bad state by the Tories for Labour. Starmer is taking the right approach to first get a grasp of the tremendous challenges facing Labour in this situation. It was easy for Boris Johnson and the Tories to make the promises that were never kept and left the British people in the lurch.