Stuart Coster

Research & campaigns • Better democracy • End leasehold • Owner of broken cars • Director @DemocracyMovemt • Co-founder @PeoplesPledgeEU

[Stuart Coster @StuartCoster]

@s_bentall @DemocracyMovemt @BritainUnbound @Keir_Starmer Denial. YouGov check questions and will not allow "hugely biased" ones to be put to their panel, so you'll need to come to terms with the answers given. The EU isn't as popular as you like to think it is, especially when the details of membership are raised.

[Jessica Elgot @jessicaelgot]

Keir Starmer’s speech essentially encapsulates much of Labour’s MPs frustration with him. “Ultimatums” rather than action. Talk big, act small. Perhaps you then eventually do act big but not without losing an awful lot of goodwill in the process.

[Harry Scoffin @HarryScoffin]

@MortgageMikeN2 @Neil_Ryner Confidence would only ever come back if service charges are under leaseholder control with a Universal Right to Manage schemes. Buyers do not want to suffer junk fees imposed by freeholders and managing agents they have no control over.

[Free Leaseholders @FreeLeasehlders]

Sad to see The Times fall for Number 10 spin.

Bringing forward the £250 ground rent cap is not a real concession when Starmer's government refuses to include a commencement clause in the Bill to make it happen.

Once again, Starmer is treating leaseholders with contempt.

[Stuart Coster @StuartCoster]

@andrewhesselden Not at all. I think most will understand the principles and overarching benefits of democratic lawmaking, as most do when our interactions with the state start to broaden as adults. Excepting EU centralism ideologues. I think the EU will become ever less appealing.

[Stuart Coster @StuartCoster]

Middle-earners *will* be paying more tax due to the thresholds freeze, a broken pledge. You want 'more more'? Yet there's no growth as most don't have any disposable income left after paying current taxes & utility bills. What economic effect do you think more tax will have? IMF.

[George Eaton @georgeeaton]

Middle-earners should pay more tax – targeting the wealthy will never be enough.

New column for @ArguablyMag on the inconvenient truth that no politician will speak. https://t.co/tb3DWMYBhf

[Stuart Coster @StuartCoster]

@georgeeaton @ArguablyMag The economy isn't growing because middle-earners don't have enough disposable income left after all the existing taxes, sky-high council tax & huge utility bills are paid. What economic effect do you think more tax will have? IMF intervention, probably.

[Stuart Coster @StuartCoster]

@DavidHenigUK You say "of course" but you ignore the democratic factor, which surveys show was almost as prominent as border control in the motivations to vote Leave. Economics came some way behind, which was well-judged because the economic impact has been muted at worst.

[Stuart Coster @StuartCoster]

Still no sign of @SteveReedMP or @mtpennycook fixing this. No timetable to enact the substantive reforms passed into law 2yrs ago. Could release thousands abused by leasehold, and don't they want to revitalise the housing market? Instead, fearful of legal action by the abusers.

[Myra Butterworth @MyraButterworth]

A one-bed flat. Service charge marketed at £2,014.
It's now £7,834. Up 289%.
Lenders are questioning whether they'd touch it. Can you blame them?
There comes a point where owners simply can't afford to stay.
But these flats become impossible to sell. Owners trapped, unable to get out. This is happening across the country.

[Stuart Coster @StuartCoster]

@MaxKendix @Steven_Swinford Welcome move, but where are all the other leasehold reforms; easier, cheaper renewals, quicker enfranchisement incl abolition of marriage value & sharing legal costs? Changes that will make a real difference. Has the PM had to intervene because his ministers appear absent? 😬

[Stuart Coster @StuartCoster]

@MaxKendix @Steven_Swinford Welcome move, but where are all the other leasehold reforms; easier, cheaper renewals, quicker enfranchisement incl abolition of marriage value & sharing legal costs? Changes that will make a real difference. Has the PM had to intervene because his ministers appear absent? 😬

[Michael Mosbacher @MossyMosbacher]

Order is restored: The Duke of Wellington and Lord Cromwell have returned to the House of Lords

[Stuart Coster @StuartCoster]

@MossyMosbacher @Telegraph Great piece.👏 Cruelty is absolutely at the core of this policy. Seeing @bphillipsonMP gleefully brushing off harms to 'the few' when that's thousands of children separated from schools & friends - over a tax grab - is sickening. Worse, cruelty looks intended, tax gain secondary.

[Stuart Coster @StuartCoster]

@bentleykarl @MossyMosbacher @Telegraph 'Subsidising', how? No public money was spent on independent schools. Opposite in fact. Children attending those schools saved the state money. But that's all beside the point about the cold cruelty of young lives being overturned just to grub for a bit of extra tax.

[Lara Spirit @lara_spirit]

EXC: Eleventh-hour No10 bid to fund defence investment plan revealed in today's Sunday Times

*All departments now ordered to cut 1 per cent off their capital budgets – due to raise around £6bn

*DESNZ and transport to suffer larger cuts but those to NHS causing most concern

*Rachel Reeves "deeply frustrated"

With @domhauschild @ShaunLintern

[Kate Ferguson @kateferguson4]

BIG story tonight!

EXCL: Keir Starmer will fight a leadership election against Andy Burnham if one is triggered.

PM spoke to key supporters this weekend and told them he will "fight" any challenge.

https://t.co/7Vl0aWRyUm

[Stuart Coster @StuartCoster]

Matt nails it, as ever ... 😄

[Steven Swinford @Steven_Swinford]

The Times's weekend read:

* The Labour leadership contest has already begun. In No 10 Starmer is fighting for his political life, putting huge pressure on teh system to bolster his Premiership in face of existential threat posed by Andy Burnham

* Expect a frenzy of activity in coming weeks - the defence investment plan, social media restrictions for under 16s, the Brexit reset. Announcements bogged down in months of bitter internal rows will finally come into public view

* All the announcements are coming before or shortly after June 18th, the date of the Makerfield by-election. Starmer is trying to send a message to Labour MPs that he can deliver

* He isn't the only one. Burnham has began issuing his own national leadership pledges - starting with a £300million cut in business rates for pubs and small businesses

* His press release directly attacked Starmer and Reeves, accusing the government of 'undervaluing' their importance to local communities. This is a *Labour* candidate directly criticising a *Labour* government

* The lines between the Labour Party and Burnham's campaign are increasingly blurred. Team Burnham now has a lot of the party machinery on his side - press officers, officials etc - and also has most of the cabinet out knocking doors in Makerfield. Power is already moving

* Starmer thinks he can fight Burnham, but his allies are unconvinced. One said that he thinks Burnham has behaved 'appallingly'. 'His view is why should he make it easy for him?'

* But there is an acknowledgement that Starmer is on borrowed time. That it is a case of when, not if he goes

* There are divides in Team Burnham over when he should amke a move if he wins Makerfield. The 'go-now' camp say he must seize the opportunity or it could slip through his hands, using the momentum of the by-election to act decisively

* But others think this could be disastrous - that he needs time to build up a proper plan for government and No 10. That if he doesn't he risks repeating Starmer's mistakes all over again

* Then there's what's being billed as the 'battle for the soul of Burnham'. There are those on the left - Louise Haigh, Miatta Fahbulleh and others - who favour a radical break from Starmer. Then there are the centrists - Josh Simons, Jim O'Neill - are are said to be emphasising the importance of fiscal credibility. It is potentially a v unwieldy coalition

https://t.co/tiUGeFJ0Jc

[Stuart Coster @StuartCoster]

@educationgovuk I saw the news about teacher numbers falling, yes. The government pledged 6,500 "additional" teachers. Are these 4,600 additional, or how many of them are? Here you go @bphillipsonMP, in case you forgot. 👇 I'm sure you're not misleading us.

@afneil @vicderbyshire

[Stuart Coster @StuartCoster]

@PaulfrYorkshire "Just not there"😆 Why suddenly "not there" ... vanished?🤦‍♂️

Starmer promised to recruit 6,500 "additional" teachers. Yet numbers are dropping. Apart from the broken pledge, how does that benefit state schools?

Pointless trying to swerve obvious reality.

[Stuart Coster @StuartCoster]

What a surprise; adding VAT to education, forcing 20,000 children out of their familiar schools, hasn't benefited state schools: "Number of teachers in England’s state schools drops for second year in row, despite Labour’s promises to increase recruitment" https://t.co/yrBqVFHVTO