Thoughts on the election of Keir Starmer as Labour Leader from our COO There’s been a sigh of relief from many moderate Labour Party members at Keir Starmer’s election as leader. Disconcertingly, though, that relief has also been expressed across the political aisle in a cosy mood of establishment collaboration. George Osborne has taken to the airwaves to welcome a return to sensible opposition. Sajid Javid is looking forward to…

Thoughts from Labour in the City Chair, Sophia Morrell, following the General Election.   We are just three weeks out from Labour’s most disastrous election result since 1935 and there have already been many thousands of words offered on what went wrong. Where I’d like to offer a perspective is on Labour’s approach to business relations and wider economic policy. Renewing both of these in tandem will be critical to…

Thoughts from Labour in the City Membership Officer, Dave Clarke, on the General Election. The election result was obviously bad, but the evidence suggests that a progressive majority is possible. The result was widely heralded as a triumph for the tories, but their vote share only increased by 1.2% over the result of the 2017 general election under Theresa May’s leadership. In 2017 the combined share of the Tory and…

Reflections on the General Election from our Vice Chair, Bilal Mahmood Anyone who tries to give you a hot take about this election with one simple answer is selling you a dud. Part of the reasons behind our defeat have arguably been generations in the making. The fall of the red wall certainly happened on Jeremy’s watch, but even his most ardent critics would begrudgingly admit it wasn’t all down…

Some reflections from LITC Treasurer, Christian Mole Whilst Jeremy Corbyn is correct in saying that a period of reflection is needed, the danger is that this morphs into excessive navel gazing: the reality is quite simply that we need to start thinking properly about what the electorate wants, rather than the socialist fantasyland that we seem to have targeted in an policy programme which by the time election day came…

Post general election thoughts from Labour in the City Secretary, Nick Smith. This is the first time I’ve ever felt bad voting Labour.  There are many reasons for this but mainly because of what the party has come to represent, and how it’s no longer a viable candidate to run the country. I’ve seen the party change considerably in the past few years.  While we’re good at recruiting activists this…

Reflections on the general election from Labour in the City COO, Andrew Clark The binary nature of the bitter, hungover post-election argument in the Labour Party is dispiriting. Was it Brexit that lost it for us? The unpopular leader? The hostile media? An over-ambitious manifesto? Of course, it wasn’t one of these things – it was a bit of each. On Brexit, personally, I don’t blame the leadership for settling…

Over lunch with the Financial Times, John McDonnell fired a warning shot over bankers’ “grotesque” bonuses this weekend, pledging a consultation on ways to limit the size of payouts. “It’s become part of the [City] culture and it is so separate and distinct and isolated from the rest of the real-world economy and that’s why people are offended by it,” said the Shadow Chancellor, who is looking at options ranging…

Much has been said about the Irish Backstop, but little clarity has resulted. The current Prime Minister of the UK, Mr Johnson, has demanded that the Backstop be removed from the Withdrawal Agreement. He seems confident that the EU27 will back down on its insistence that it is retained. Seemingly, an impasse arises. However, if the rhetoric is removed, a much clearer picture emerges. Mr Johnson’s confidence appears to be…