Jane Middleton

Labour frontbench doesn't know what it thinks!

Try
He won the Mayoralty so congratulations to him for winning the trust of the voters. As we know, power brings responsibility and so I wish him well in taking on that public service and leadership challenge.

After Gordon Brown became Chancellor, @cpaguk.bsky.social went to see him and rather nervously presented their case for a modest increase in child benefit. He listened in silence then said, ‘Well, I think we can do better than that.’ And he did. Where is this government’s ambition to do likewise?

And yet again the party hierarchy keeps the two-child limit off the conference agenda. Every day the leadership fails to tackle this issue is another day of children living in hardship.

Labour must choose differently on child poverty In a country as wealthy as the UK, allowing child poverty to deepen is a political choice. Labour must choose differently. Sign the petition below calling on the Conference Arrangements Committee t...

I just signed the @mainstreamlabour.bsky.social petition calling on Labour’s Conference Arrangements Committee to allow party delegates a debate on ending the two-child benefit limit.

We must tackle the scourge of child poverty. Sign the petition: actionnetwork.org/petitions/la...

Channel 4 to mark Trump’s UK visit with ‘longest uninterrupted reel of untruths’ Broadcaster to dedicate Wednesday night schedule to unpicking US president’s false or misleading statements

Good move, @channel4news.bsky.social. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

New centre-left Labour group Mainstream is launching tomorrow, key backers include Andy Burnham and all of the below.

Pitches itself as “the home for Labour’s radical realists” and will play key role in the deputy leadership contest.

‘I was cool, I was composed, I knew I was going to hit the back of the net. I don’t miss penalties twice.’ Chloe Kelly, total hero. #lionesses #Euro2025

Scrapping two-child benefit cap may be harder after welfare U-turn, minister says Bridget Phillipson stresses that changes to welfare bill after threatened rebellion by backbench MPs have come at a cost

Pitting disabled people against children ... not a good look for Labour (or anyone). www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

David Blunkett: ‘The Labour Party isn’t about welfare, it’s about work.’ Historically illiterate - it’s about both. #r4today

Taking hunger out of the classroom. - The Sutton Trust Unpacking the Government's decision to widen FSM access to all households on universal credit.

A big (and very welcome) announcement from government today on free school meal eligibilty, widening it to all children on families eligible for UC.

A quick thread on these changes, and the remaining challenges 🧵

www.suttontrust.com/news-opinion...

Starmer and co are trashing Labour’s legacy. We must take back control of our party – before it’s too late | John McDonnell Today’s government is unrecognisable from the party I joined as a young man. If we don’t act now, it might be lost for ever, says independent MP John McDonnell

Impossible to disagree with a single word of this from @johnmcdonnellmp.bsky.social. Destroying the left has taken away Labour's conscience. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Minister gives strongest sign yet Labour could end two-child benefit limit Bridget Phillipson says it is party’s ‘moral mission’ to ensure fewer children grow up in poverty

Bridget Phillipson: ‘It will be the moral mission of this Labour government to ensure that fewer children grow up in poverty.’
This is just so WEAK. The last Labour government pledged to eradicate child poverty. THAT’S a moral mission.
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

🚨 NEW: Opportunities for the poorest young people in London far outstrip the rest of England, we have found.

Our new Opportunity Index reveals how the area young people grow up in shapes their life chances, with huge differences between constituencies across the country 🧵⬇️

250 000 plunged into poverty

50 000 of them children
 
This is unconscionable. 
My constituents know I have always fought poverty.
I will not stop now.

I welcome many of the announcements made by the Chancellor in the Spring Statement, particularly the renewed commitment to tackling tax avoidance, £2 billion investment to expand affordable housing and £1 billion a year investment in an Employment Support Scheme. However, I am deeply disappointed by the decision to proceed with £5 billion in cuts to welfare spending. As a GP, I see first-hand the positive impact that work can have on people’s mental and physical health, self-esteem, and communities — not to mention the financial benefits. Getting people back into work is a good thing. But I also know the negative effects of austerity; shortened healthy life expectancy, increased mental health issues, and limited social mobility. The government’s own impact assessment makes it clear: these welfare reforms will push 250,000 people, including 50,000 children, into poverty. I did not come into politics to make life harder for those already struggling. I will be voting against these proposals when they come before Parliament. I have written to both the Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, urging them to reconsider these cuts and instead explore a 2% wealth tax on assets over £10 million — a fairer alternative that could raise up to £24 billion. Fiscal responsibility is important, but we must not balance the books on the backs of the poorest in society.

Rachael Maskell with text overlaid that reads 'Spring Statement Response'.

The super-rich should be paying their way through a wealth tax, As little as a 2% tax on wealth over £10 million would raise £24 billion every year. Money that will go to our NHS, our social care services, our buses and our schools. My full response,🔗in comments 👇
#York #WealthTax #SpringStatement

If you believe in a strong welfare state that works to ensure no child grows up in poverty, give @labagainstpoverty.bsky.social a follow. There is work to be done!

Bad start to the morning when you turn on #r4today and someone is letting Keith Joseph off the hook for his eugenicist views: ‘I don’t think he meant it that way.’

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Liz Kendall's speech today laid out plans to cut disability and sickness benefits by billions.

❌ No truly moral choice would leave disabled people without support designed to allow them to lead a dignified life, or facing hardship. 1/4

What Rachel Reeves should do instead of cutting benefits Labour was founded as the party of the working class

'Targeting “cost savings” on disability benefits is not only immoral, it is the opposite of everything a Labour government is supposed to be.'

My column for the @theipaper.com ...
inews.co.uk/opinion/what...

Instead of slashing welfare and disability benefits — forcing more disabled people and children into poverty — the government could introduce a 2% tax on assets over £10 million.

It would raise £24 billion — five times the savings from these cuts.

This is austerity 2.0

Liz Kendall unveils UK benefits cuts set to leave many sick and disabled worse off Welfare secretary announces changes aimed at cutting bill by up to £5bn in face of opposition from Labour MPs

Kendall says the benefits system is “failing the very people it is supposed to help and holding our country back”. This is the kind of twisted doublethink we heard from the Tories for 14 years. It’s obscene to hear it from a Labour minister. #disabilitybenefits www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

How to think about politics Join us for an event to mark the launch of Peter Allen’s new book, 'How to think about politics: A guide in five parts'.

On Tuesday March 25th in Bath, I will be in conversation with the brilliant Aditya Chakrabortty to mark the launch of my new book, HOW TO THINK ABOUT POLITICS. Tickets are free, you can book and find more details here — tiny.cc/HTTAPlaunch

If only he’d ever been in a position to do something about it …

#pmqs is pretty dispiriting but oh, the joy of seeing Sunak, Hunt et al on the back benches …

Labour urged to defend workers’ rights bill as poll shows huge public support Exclusive: Poll reveals 72% of UK voters favour ban on zero-hours contracts, including majority of Tory and Reform supporters

Exclusive - Labour urged to defend workers’ rights bill as poll shows huge public support

Poll reveals 72% of UK voters favour ban on zero-hours contracts, including majority of Tory and Reform supporters

Labour MPs tell the Guardian govt must face down critics and deliver bill in full.

The Government is likely to introduce tighter controls on employers offering unpaid or underpaid internships.

Our research has shed light on the persistent use of unpaid & underpaid interns in many sectors.

We're calling for unpaid internships over 4 weeks long to be banned.

Labour must seize the moment to show child poverty matters in push for growth | Heather Stewart Scrapping two-child benefit cap is among levers Rachel Reeves could pull – yet chancellor remains silent on ‘shameful’ levels of poverty

"missing from the government’s hi-tech utopia is a vision of what kind of country we want to live in...surely...that means working towards a Britain in which kids are not skipping meals or shivering in homes that their parents cannot afford to heat"

www.theguardian.com/business/202...

My daughter, English Literature student, uses em-dashes and I assumed it was just a sneaky way of keeping the word count down. Maybe I’ve done her an injustice.