Funding the Future

Labour could demand that every business declare who it actually is

There is still massive opacity available to businesses in the UK, many of which provide little or no information as to who they are, especially on the web. Labour could change that by demanding full disclosure wherever a business trades, meaning we should all be better protected from fraud. 

Labour could introduce a 20mph speed limit in towns throughout England

Labour has already introduced a 20mph speed limit in Welsh towns. It’s already working to reduce the severity of accidents, saving money and lives, and helping the environment. Labour could extend this to the whole of England at almost no cost to the government.

Labour could deliver fixed rate mortgages for the life of a loan

Labour could demand that every mortgage provider in the UK should have a fixed rate mortgage for the rest of a loan’s life available to borrowers so that never again should people be caught out on the whim of the Bank of England. It would cost Labour nothing but it would give certainty to millions of people’s lives.

GDP records everything but the things that really matter

GDP – which measures our national income - does, as the late Robert Kennedy said, value everything except the things that really matter in life. So why is Rachel Reeves trying to maximize it when there are so many better things for her to do?

Labour could change our libel laws

Libel laws massively limit free speech and proper investigative journalism in this country. That’sdangerous for our democracy. Labour needs to change these laws now, and it would cost them nothing.

Water or AI? Is that the choice we face?

AI is not only going to massively increase energy usage around the world, it is also going to use vast amounts of water to cool the data hubs that will drive it. When clean water is already scarce does that mean AI will threaten HI – or human intelligence – by denying HI the resources it needs to survive?

Labour could stop charging interest om student loans

Total annual student loan repayments are way less than the interest supposedly charged on these loans at present. In that case why impose these charges? They make no sense. Labour should scrap them and give graduates a chance in life instead.
 
 

The House of Commons needs to join the 21st century

How can we have a serious parliament that can do its job when there aren’t enough seats for all MPs and when so many of parliament’s systems are so antiquated it’s hardly got into the 20thcentury as yet, let alone the twenty first. Isn’t it time it got its act together?
 
 

Labour needs to abolish the hereditary peers

The 92 remaining hereditary peers in the House of Lords are a historical anachronism that preserves privilege for the aristocracy when that should have been gone long ago. It is time for them to go.

The curse of the badge politician

People are tired of meaningless badges, titles, rosettes and banter in politics. They don’t want symbols and logos. They want conviction and delivery. And they’re not getting it.