0:00
It's clear that one of the reasons, just to go to the specifics of this particular number
0:05
the 2.1% decline in the living standards of the worst off, this is inflation
0:10
This is the cost of outgoings outstripping the cost of or the gain of incomings
0:17
And this is because energy bills are higher than they ought to be
0:21
The price of food on the shelves has gone up. Inflation in Britain has been higher than other G7 countries
0:27
and a lot of economists would put that down to government policy
0:31
government spending, government borrowing. These are inflationary things. The thing is, Tom, I still do believe, and it might be naive of me
0:39
but I still do believe that the Labour Party has the ability to fix these things
0:44
Lots of people think they can't do it. They've wasted their chance completely
0:48
I still think they can wrestle that back. I don't think they can do it with the current leadership
0:53
I don't think Stommer's capable of doing it. I think in a time where things were going fine and you wanted a bureaucrat, a middle manager to just keep things on the straight and narrow
1:03
Keir Starmer was your man. Rachel Reeves was your woman for that task. They are perfect status quo kind of maintainers
1:11
But look, there's no hope at the moment. And we're not going to agree politically, you and me, Tom, because I want to see things shift leftwards
1:18
which is the direction you would be horrified if things went more that way. But I look across to the likes of New York City
1:24
where we've just had the inauguration of Mayor Mumdani. Look at the hope that is in the air over there
1:31
And actually I was reminded during his inauguration by the singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus
1:37
She sang a song based on the speech by Rose Schneiderman. I think I've got a plaque of it somewhere
1:43
on the wall behind me. You'll probably be able to see it, but it's about bread and roses
1:47
And that is the message that the labor movement should get back to
