The banker loving, baby-eating Tory party thread (regenerated)

[Genie]

The bit that looks like absolute petulance from Sunak is that the existing budget was already set at 100 school repairs per year, the study then said it needed to be increased to at least 200 schools and the outcome was that they halved it rather than doubled it as per the advice. 

Sunak’s defence is that 50 per year was a consistent number for the years that had gone by, but he fails to mention the bit about being told by experts the schools were now falling down and needed urgent attention / budget increase.

 

Edited September 5, 2023 by Genie

[chrisp65]

1 minute ago, blandy said:

This might be pedantic, but it isn’t the government’s job or responsibility to fix buildings like these. It’s rightly the responsibility of the building owners or local authority. The government role is basically twofold. To, where appropriate, provide funding for councils for this type of non-recurring work and to provide information advice and support- alert authorities that “such and such has been discovered, you need to check your buildings…”

It’s also the case that new buildings for schools, hospitals etc are something the government is responsible for from the national budgets.

Buildings all eventually require maintenance and refurbishment and so on. Where a “pattern” defect like this RAAC or cladding come to light there’s more onus on government to get more involved and this is where the Tories have fallen massively short.

Would it be the government’s duty to adequately fund a local authority so that it can regularly survey its building stock and carry out necessary maintenance?

 

[Genie]

6 minutes ago, blandy said:

This might be pedantic, but it isn’t the government’s job or responsibility to fix buildings like these. It’s rightly the responsibility of the building owners or local authority. The government role is basically twofold. To, where appropriate, provide funding for councils for this type of non-recurring work and to provide information advice and support- alert authorities that “such and such has been discovered, you need to check your buildings…”

It’s also the case that new buildings for schools, hospitals etc are something the government is responsible for from the national budgets.

Buildings all eventually require maintenance and refurbishment and so on. Where a “pattern” defect like this RAAC or cladding come to light there’s more onus on government to get more involved and this is where the Tories have fallen massively short.

The survey was done and they asked for more money. The government response was to cut the budget.

[blandy]

4 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

Would it be the government’s duty to adequately fund a local authority so that it can regularly survey its building stock and carry out necessary maintenance?

 

Absolutely 

[blandy]

3 minutes ago, Genie said:

The survey was done and they asked for more money. The government response was to cut the budget.

Yep.

[mjmooney]

47 minutes ago, Genie said:

but he fails to mention the bit about being told by experts the schools were now falling down and needed urgent attention / budget increase

We've had enough of experts. 

[blandy]

1 minute ago, mjmooney said:

We've had enough of experts. 

That’s gonna go down like that Labour whopper who left the “there’s no money left” note. Byrne, was it?

[Genie]

“we’re all in it together” is my personal favourite 

[chrisp65]

5 minutes ago, Genie said:

“we’re all in it together” is my personal favourite 

And let’s not forget: pig ****

 

[VILLAMARV]

3 hours ago, Genie said:

“we’re all in it together” is my personal favourite 

Mine too. I'm a sucker for succinct cross party political critique.

[Genie]

It’s amazing how many of the issues we face today stem from the year 2010.

link

Quote

At least 13 schools confirmed to have reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) had funding to rebuild withdrawn in 2010, the BBC has found. 

They had been approved for rebuilding under a Labour scheme, later scrapped by the Conservative-led government.

School buildings have been closed because potentially dangerous RAAC has been found. 

The analysis raises questions about whether schools could have been helped far earlier with government investment.

[bickster]

Hilarious amount of nonsensical policies being announced yesterday.

Proscribing Wagner as a Terrorist Group, just a bit late that one considering it's no longer active in Ukraine and it's leadership was blown to bits a few weeks ago

Changing the rules on onshore windfarms, a good thing on the surface, until you listen to what they've done. They've removed the ability of one or a few people objecting being able to stop the whole thing BUT they've put it into the hands of local councils to approve or deny. The local councils in rural areas are generally run by... Tories, colour me shocked when the Tory Councils start denying the planning applications because of the NIMBYs. Yes Sunak managed to get the Green and pro-fuel wings of the party to agree on that because it'll change feck all

Neither of those stories managed to cut above the crumbling schools stories, neither will have had the impact they desired, in fact the wind farm one will probably lose them votes because the NIMBYs mostly won't read past the headlines.

[chrisp65]

It does genuinely feel like end of days for this government.

Other than ‘power at all costs’ I can’t see why they wouldn’t now chuck in the towel and say you know what, you all think you could do better, here’s the keys.

I guess if we can just get a few more deals closed out for Infosys before the collapse then it will all be worth it in the end.

[mjmooney]

Quote

Gillian Keegan has questions to answer over a £1million schools IT contract given to a firm her husband is a director of, Labour said last night.

A Mirror investigation found the deal with Centerprise was paid for from the same pot of cash earmarked to rebuild classrooms at risk of collapse because they contain ­potentially deadly concrete. Michael Keegan is a non-executive director of the company which was given the contract in May.

Mirror

[ml1dch]

17 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

Other than ‘power at all costs’ I can’t see why they wouldn’t now chuck in the towel...

Isn't "power at all costs" pretty much the main reason Tories want to be in charge? If there is any party that will reinvent themselves and drop any belief they've ever held* just to cling onto power, it's the Tories. 

 

*feel free to tap in that Starmer open goal if you wish

Edited September 6, 2023 by ml1dch

[bickster]

Oh yes I forgot, the classifying of Nitrous Oxide as a Class C Drug against the advice of experts and making the mentally ill apply for jobs where they could work from home were another of the absolutely pointless policies they launched yesterday

All be forgotten by lunchtime tomorrow. Absolutely desperate party scrapping the bottom of the lucky dip policy barrell 

[Genie]

anything to stop the boats? That’s keeping me up at night

[bickster]

3 minutes ago, Genie said:

anything to stop the boats? That’s keeping me up at night

In this instance it's anything to stop the schools falling down. They are busy trying to forget boats unfortunately for them, the media haven't forgotten boats

[Genie]

I really want someone to quiz them about the Rwanda plan.

Q1: Is it safe in Rwanda and will those sent there have freedom to create a new life once they arrive? 

A: Of course

Q2: Currently international organised crime groups are bringing people from all over the world to France and putting them in boats to the UK, why do you think they’ll not just traffic the people sent to Rwanda back to the UK?

A: ???

[desensitized43]

16 minutes ago, bickster said:

In this instance it's anything to stop the schools falling down. They are busy trying to forget boats unfortunately for them, the media haven't forgotten boats

Or the brown people in them but they've worked out you can't be racist against a boat, just it's occupants.