After a weekend of number crunching and sleep deprivation, Sam Freedman joined Sunday's Power Test crew to discuss the local election results and what they suggest about the tough choices facing a future Labour government. Sam and the team looked back at a week of high drama in Scottish politics and chewed the fat on Ayesha and Sam's recent sit-down with former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale.
In a post-election Sunday special, The Power Test’s Commissioning Editor Charlotte Aldritt was joined by Sam Freedman and elections analyst Lewis Baston for a deep dive into what the results tell us about the tough policy and political choices facing a potential Labour government.
On the key policy decisions facing Labour in government, Power Test host Sam said that getting the keys to Number 10 would force Labour into an electoral corner on NIMBY-ism: “If they are serious about taking on the planning system, they will lose a lot of these council seats”.
“The question is whether [Labour] will have the political will to take on the powerful forces of NIMBY politics - this will be a defining question of Starmer’s first term”, Sam said.
The team discussed how a Labour government should work with the last Tory man standing, Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen, and the possible bust-ups between increasingly powerful Labour Mayors and a Labour government on spending.
Reflecting on the latest episode with former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale, Sam and the team chewed the fat on the political management of devolution within the Labour Party, Labour’s proposed Council for the Regions and Nations, and whether constitutional reform would be “downplayed” on the list of priorities in Starmer’s first term.
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