Andy Burnham calls on David Cameron to seek quick EU migrant deal | Politics | The Guardian
At the moment, Andy Burnham is VP’s favourite in the Labour leadership race. However, there are some major caveats.
He’s right to want to overturn Labour’s opposition to a referendum. It’s going to happen so there’s no longer any point opposing it. His keenness to support an early referendum for the sake of business leaders is disappointing, though. Businesses stand to win a lot from staying in the EU, if TTIP goes through and workers lose most of their rights. Labour should oppose that ferociously but Burnham hasn’t said anything about it.
Labour’s opponents will attack over the proposal to ban new immigrants from claiming benefits for two years, and he’ll need to have an answer for them. The clampdown on undercutting UK pay is sensible Labour policy, as Labour should be supporting workers at all times.
Burnham said he would overturn Labour’s policy of only holding a referendum if there were a substantial transfer of power to Brussels. He said he would back a referendum wholeheartedly, hoping for a new deal and a yes vote. He said the date should be moved for the sake of British businesses who had complained of continued uncertainty.
Burnham said he would back Cameron if he secured a good deal and brought forward the referendum – but would hold him to account if he tried to sell an unambitious settlement as more far-reaching than it was.
His minimum requirement to ensure Labour support for a deal would be that there should be a two-year ban on citizens from other EU countries claiming benefits after they arrive in the country and a clampdown on the undercutting of pay in the UK by European migrants.
Source: Andy Burnham calls on David Cameron to seek quick EU migrant deal | Politics | The Guardian
Andy Burnham is my preferred choice as leader, he is well liked and respected by his constituents in Leigh and has done a lot for the town. He is passionate about the NHS and wants to try and reverse the privatisation. I think his experience in politics means he will have no problem standing up to David Cameron.
The problem with Andy Burnham is that when ever anything is said, the response by the cun’servatives will be “how dare you say that after presiding over the thousands of deaths on your watch,” or words to that effect.
Never mind that the facts showed that the “Mid Staffs” HSMR raw recorded data was invalid; never mind that the number of “avoidable deaths” were at most in the low 10’s (statistically insignificant and about the level one would expect if everything was working “OK”); never mind that HSMR is in its self flawed as a methodology due to re-basing; never mind that there were no vases on the wards, so patients could not have been drinking from them.
Yes there was some failings; yes “care” (as in being nice, spending time, explaining what was going on) was lacking badly on some wards but the majority of this was down to under staffed wards to cut costs, the important bit “outcomes” when the HSMR raw data was re-checked and entered correctly (1) showed that it was actually a “good performing” hospital.
(1) The statistics only works correctly when every bit of data is entered correctly, this includes every type of comorbidity (possible reasons for death, additional complications/illnesses) when only the primary, or most obvious, cause is entered it screws up the statistics.
To save money an inexperienced person entered only the most obvious reason without access or understanding of the full medical file. In simple terms, if the person had a heart problem and died while still under the hospital care of a heart failure this was logged as reason for death so a lot of these is flagged as “bad” however if the person was old, generally frail, had pneumonia,was underweight, had a history of heart attacks, and had an infection when admitted from the care home, then all of these reasons would add to the likelihood of death and anyone could have been the “final, or group, reason” for death.
There are many other reasons that could skew the figures.
Now that I’ve explained a little bit, and shown some of the facts that the enquiry found… Does anyone remember the enquiry and its outcome or does everyone remember the “facts” as “thousands of unavoidable deaths/Mid Staffs scandal/Drinking from flower vases?”
How can all the real facts, pages and pages of enquiry reports, data, and minutia compare to two simple three word sound bites… “Mids Staffs Scandal,” “Under Your Watch.”
Do you have any thought about deputy? SImon Danczuk, or Tom Watson? Both have performed well on bringing social issues out, and campaigning until they’ve been heard.
I personally will be voting for Andy Burnham as Labour leader. He is a political heavyweight and in any debate should prove to be more than a match for Cameron.
Disappointing on Andrew Marr this morning. Too much emphasis on placating demands from right wing media i.e. Business Friendly, Pro Europe for Business no socialist explanation of European Federation of Socialist States. Apologising for Labours spending not explaining about rescuing banks and tax avoidance adding to deficit. Not a good start for my liking. Deputy leader Tom Watson definitely