How bad could the by-election be for Labour?

Political Currency

Persephonica

Money, Politics, Economy, News, Ed Balls, Business, George Osborne, Westminster

4.1 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 19 February 2026

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We’re one week from the Gorton and Denton by-election, which could prove another brutal blow to Keir Starmer’s already unstable premiership. Could Reform gain another MP or will this be the Green Party’s first by-election victory? And is a Labour hold out of the question?

Ed Balls and George Osborne explore the state of play for the parties, including the U-turn on postponing 30 local elections, the Labour Together scandal, and Reform unveiling their ‘shadow cabinet’.

Then, following last weekend’s Munich Security Conference, the pair turn their attention to further calls for Europe to increase defence spending. The question for the UK is: can the Treasury afford the proposed 3% defence spending by the end of the parliament? And would the British public accept spending cuts needed to hit that target?

Finally, George gives the inside scoop on the AI Impact Summit in India. He explains what opportunities and concerns are being addressed by world leaders, as well as why it represents an achievement for Britain.

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Credits:

Research: Sam Burton

Production: Caillin McDaid & Caitlin Caitlin Hanrahan

Video Editor: Avi Asher

Executive Producer: Ellie Clifford

Political Currency is a Persephonica Production and is part of the Acast Creator Network.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Political Coancy with Ed Balls and George Osborne.
0:30.6	So welcome to our weekly episode.
0:33.7	We're recording a day early and it's a bit challenging.
0:35.6	I'll come to that in a moment.
0:38.9	But before I do, talking of challenge, I'm going to start with an apology from George and I. And this was a comment on Spotify from somebody called Jay,
0:46.9	didn't give their full name. It was referring to our discussion of Keir Stalmers' speech last week,
0:53.2	his fight back speech, he used the word
0:55.5	fight, I think, 26 times. And we came up with this great idea. I'm not sure who it was,
1:00.2	that we should have a bell ringing every time Keir Stama said fight. And if you heard last
1:05.1	week's podcast, you'll know what I'm talking about. Jay messages us, good episode, but bell
1:10.7	incredibly annoying. I use this podcast to help me sleep,
1:14.8	brackets, not a criticism, and that bloody thing woke me up. Now, I've got to say to Jay,
1:19.8	I don't know what you think, George. What are you doing trying to go to sleep to our podcast?
1:23.3	You should be staying awake. That's what the bell was for to keep you focused on our insights.
1:27.7	No, I'm very happy to be a substitute for white noise or, you know, a sleeping pill.
1:33.7	Because we've discussed before, you get that rather odd thing of people come up to you and say,
1:37.9	oh, I go to bed with you every night. And what they mean, of course, is they're listening to us as we send them off to sleep.
1:44.6	And don't you say, sorry, you've got me mixed up. I'm not Boris Johnson. Sorry, mate. That was the other guy. We perform many public services, and one of them is a sleeping aid. And I can imagine the bell's quite annoying, just as you've dropped off to have this ping, ping, ping in your ear. It's one in the morning.
2:00.9	You've got headphones on.
2:01.7	You've just gone to sleep.
2:02.8	Anyway, talking of annoying. dropped off to have this ping, ping, ping in your ear. It's one in the morning. You've got headphones on. You've just gone to sleep.
2:02.8	Anyway, talking of annoying, we are recording a day early because George Osborne has gone to the AI
	...

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