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"Panic in the markets will force Starmer into an early election
We are careering towards a fully-fledged debt crisis. Labour’s chances of survival are narrowing by the day
Allister Heath" (£)

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/27/market-meltdown-will-force-starmer-into-an-early-election/

Heath is unhinged and someone needs to stage an intervention .

He may be, but even the French Finance Minister has warned France is facing an IMF bailout

France is a different matter as complete insanity has broken out both amongst the public helped along by the far left and far right who are peddling unicorns . It will end in tears .

Much like UK then !!!!!!

I was in our global tax policy group today, talking through various domestic and international issues including fiscal positions.

The most notable thing is that almost all the major developed economies, with the exception of Germany and a couple of others, are in exactly the same position. They have debt to gdp at or above 100%, a large fiscal deficit and anaemic growth.

The UK’s debt to GDP is actually a little below the middle of the pack. The US (leaving aside Japan) is at the top and the biggest systemic risk. Our numbers really don’t scream IMF intervention.

However, where we’re an outlier in a bad way is the interest rates we’re paying on our debt, both directly (the gilt coupon) and indirectly (gilt yield). That’s down to market assumptions about inflation - higher than the Eurozone - and currency depreciation which mean investors demand a higher return for the same credit risk. So we pay more in interest than France despite having significantly less debt.

That’s what we need to focus on. Getting our debt servicing cost down.

The most noteworthy example on that front is Turkey. Relatively low debt to GDP ratio but because of its currency and inflation history a massive yield on sovereign debt meaning its actual debt servicing costs are above those of much more indebted European neighbours. Hard for them to escape this because they have decades of track record in high inflation and lira devaluation. Nigeria is an even more extreme example but that’s a very different economy.

Forgive me if this has been raised before, but I am baffled by the time spent considering the Sultanas/Jezbollah as a credible political force. Where is their support going to come from? OK, I agree, the appalling situation in Gaza gives them a cause around which they can rally, but when a General Election comes, surely they are going to end up in the same category as the SWP, Communists, TUSC, IRP and all the other ideologically based left wing parties. Yes, they think Labour is doing a bad job (and so do I) but the average Labour voter isn't going to give much consideration to Corbyn - he's yesterday's man, and widely seen as a man who tried but failed. (Clegg and Johnson also come into that category.)

No, if left-wing ideological voters want to punish the Labour Party then they will vote Green (or Nationalist, if one is available.) They might, at a stretch, think that the Lib Dems are pointless, but at least they are seen to be "sound" on Gaza, Trump, etc and a vote for them might get rid of another Tory. But this new Leftist concept has arrived too late in a crowded political marketplace, and their weaknesses (leadership, nomenclature, half-cocked launch etc) are already plain to see, long before the PR hatchet-men in ther Labour Party get to work on them.

So, ignore them - they are not relevant now, and will not be at the next General Election.

The nascent political grouping without a final name yet that is built around the Independent Alliance grouping have 6 MPs already. That makes them the fifth largest party in the Commons and 50% bigger than the Green Party. If the Green Party elect Polanski as their leader, as seems likely, you might have two parties looking rather similar, so which populist left firebrand do you want? Polanski or the original, Corbyn? Or maybe it's Polanski vs Sultana? Polanski wants an alliance, although Corbyn is sceptical of that. But my point is that I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss Your Party. They might come out ahead of a tussle with the Greens, or part of a formal alliance with the Greens. Or they might sink without a trace.

I'm a former MP for 13 years (not all that left-wing, though I was happy with Corbyn as leader), and have been a member of Labour since I was 21; I'm currently chair of my constituency CLP. I'm fed up with the negative slant of the current Labour leadership, but don't feel the Greens or the LibDems offer a coherent alternative, let alone a left-wing one, though I'd be open to the possibility of alliance. I'm therefore a possible switcher if the new party offers a coherent, largely positive alternative. If they end up like the SWP, certainly not, but we'll see.

There are lots of Labour people like me - at least 25% of the membership, I'd say - and we are not exclusively basing our choices on probability to win outright We feel the voters are in sufficient flux to give a serious leftish party a reasonable chance. We might be wrong, but it's a mistake to assume we don't exist.

I have been left of centre all of my life and only left the Labour party during Corbyn's reign. I think you are going to find that there is a very limited market for a party that appears to prioritise the interest of Palestinians over the interests of British people.

However much I deplore Netanyahu's actions I know that Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran are the far greater threat to me than Israel will ever be. Much of the concern about the boats and asylum seekers is actually concern/fear about the impact of political islam on the UK and if you wish to dismiss/ridicule that as racist then so be it.

It saddens me that all over Europe the left cannot see how islamic immigration is fuelling the far right. The day I hear Corbyn unequivocally criticising the mysogeny and homophobia of Hamas and their fellow travellers (or indeed many muslims in the UK) is the day I might listen to what he has to say but I know it will never happen

Personally I would prefer that we sought a consensus with other European countries in relation to ECHR and in the UN on the Convention for Refugees. A unified approach recognising the changes since 1952 and 1967 which make the current Convention unworkable would be better but the timescale for this is probably unacceptable. It is something our government should have been working on for more than a decade.

Unilateral action, such as contemplated by Reform, risks a lot of uncertainties, not least because it is likely to have knock on consequences for other countries which may well invite retaliation in ways we will not appreciate. What is increasingly clear is the live and let live attitude of our civil service, courts and political class is simply unacceptable to the majority. I am nervous that Farage will use this issue to propel himself into Downing Street unless the liberal consensus amongst the other parties breaks in a material way.