Will the Local Elections on the 4th be an indicator as to the size of the rout that labour will suffer in the General Election?

We have now sunk to a depth at which the restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men. [Orwell]

Not really going to do Corbyn any favours though is it? SWP & Communist Party cheering him on.

As for May, that's a difficult one, it certainly isn't ideal having her husband working for Capital. BUT most senior politicians will have partners in jobs that could arguably benefit from them being in government. She has put her own investments in a blind trust, which is the correct thing to do, as for her husband, I am not sure what the answer is, should he quit his job? They could then both be unemployed in 5 weeks!

Ladies and gentleman (both CIS and non-CIS), this is the Shadow Home Secretary spectacularly ballsing up explaining Labours 'flagship' Policing policy:

[Link]

"That was fun and to round off the day, I am off to steal a charity collection box and then desecrate a place of worship.” - Smokey, The Selhurst Arms, 26/02/02

This is the primary reason why we can't have Labour.

They are just not up to the job.

The bias of anything you post is always in question.

The trouble for you is that people know that LAbour are not a party for middle England or even the average working man. They are more interested in minority interests and hippy trippy ideology.

We were discussing government borrowing actually but I'm not debating anything with you.

Tbf both sides have cabinet or shadow cabinet members who don't know their stuff outside of their own matters.

I remember Preeti Patel making a t1t of herself on QT on quantity of housing.

But this is the country's finances I suppose. Would've been better if it was John McDonnell not knowing the cost of proposals. That would be election over.

COYP

She has well and truly shot her bolt this morning.

Ok so figures - I hate this Government for what they are doing for those who are genuinely self-employed. They are not a Conservative Government in that respect.

However let's take Labour's plans.

If you reverse the Corporation Tax reduction you will increase the burden on small businesses disproportionately. In the last year they have seen their taxes go up by at least 10% in most cases - no if's, no buts. Likewise with Capital Gains.

On the radio the other day there was a woman complaining the self employed can offset expenses - yes they can but as the name suggests they are expenses so money you have to pay out to run a business. You are generally spending £1 to save £5. I earned more in a job than I do running a business.

This Government has introduced some of the most draconian legislation in respect of dealing with tax avoidance with the APN regime and the pay up front. But it has also ended a lot of marketed tax avoidance. What should happen is an investment into HMRC administration, rather than assuming that all self employed people are on the take.

No politician on any side understands small businesses. They can make all the claims in the world but if they kill the engine room of this country then there will be no recovery. Unfortunately simple mathematics though like Diane Abbot this morning show why Labour has an issue of credibility on the economy.

I work with hundreds of self employed people. To a man none of them will vote labour and I am in a very split area. You have the main towns as working class, and the surrounding villages are more right leaning. I would dearly love Mr Corbyn to be electable, but he isn't. No one genuine believes they can finance what they are promising and if Mr Corbyn couldn't see that coming this morning then he isn't fit to lead. It doesn't matter how you slice it, that was a car crash.

British politics is far to partizan and accusatory. There is a middle ground between the "everyone deserves everything" and the "cut it all right back". But with the greatest of respect Nick you are not an economist and you don't deal with small businesses on their finances every day of the week. They are not being turned by the press, or not reading between the lines. They know that if you keep spending money that you don't have then you will go bust.

That isn't a media spin on it, that is history combined with car crashes like this morning. If you are going to put a divisive, racist individual out as a front person and put her on the radio, then for Christ's sake at least make sure she is competent and prepared. I don't particularly agree with Maggie's politics, but that would not have happened under her watch.

What is sadly depressing is that for those of us in the centre there really is no choice of who to vote for. Parliamentary candidates are now no different to Apprentice candidates. It used to be you entered public service at the end of your life, whereas now it's a career - no candidate in my constituency inspires me and those who are genuine free thinkers would need the party machine behind them to get elected.

So all we can do is make the best choice and trust me if you are self employed - it ain't Labour. But then again the choice is which end of the s***-stick would you like.

It was certainly a very poor interview and she just kept digging. I'm not sure it is as big a news as being made out, but it definitely is poor.

Given she is a bit of a liability this could have been a really good opportunity for Corbyn to sideline her, but he is definitely loyal.

"It's almost like a moral decision. Except not really cos noone is going to find out," Jez, Peep Show

Hard to disagree with that, certainly feels like it's a case of Hobson's choice though neither will get my vote