Why are Labour so aggressive on the Greens?
Political Currency
Persephonica
4.1 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 7 May 2026
⏱️ 64 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It’s polling day, and the tensions have never been higher for Keir Starmer. The threat to his left, with the Greens, or to his right, with Reform, makes this a defining moment of his premiership. Ed Balls and George Osborne take this time to look at the future of the devolved governments, which could all be led by nationalist parties for the first time. Which parties will be willing to work together? Will there be another independence referendum? Is the UK at risk of breaking up?
The war in Iran is still ongoing, despite Donald Trump still maintaining a peace deal is imminent. With the market shocks seen in recent days over the Strait of Hormuz and the status of peace talks being unclear, George wonders why Britain has been hit worse than any G7 economy. Ed explains why the Bank of England must keep a clear inflation target, and why he thinks they will cut interest rates despite what others have said.
Finally, it’s been nearly 10 years since the Brexit referendum but the debate rages on. Keir Starmer was at a meeting with European allies earlier this week and has signalled closer relations. Will Starmer take us back into the single market? Will the EU budget debates return? Could we even see another referendum? Ed and George explain how the government must navigate relations with Europe to stabilise the economy, while not repeating the mistakes of the 2019 election.
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Credits:
Research: Sam Burton
Production: Caillin McDaid & Nasreen Arain
Video Editor: Carla Mercer and Ryan Finnigan
Executive Producer: Ellie Clifford & Henrietta Harrison
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is political currency with Ed Balls and George Osborne. |
| 0:35.9 | So we are remote, even though we're both in London, our studio is being revamped and I'm excited to see how that looks. |
| 0:38.0 | But it's a sunny day. It's May. |
| 0:39.1 | It's polling day. |
| 0:40.7 | Yes, I've just been to vote, actually, in my ward. |
| 0:43.8 | And, you know, Thia and I went, and it's really sweet. |
| 0:47.0 | We brought our three little children. |
| 0:49.3 | And it's, of course, the first time they've sort of been into the polling station. |
| 0:53.5 | And certainly the um beau the oldest |
| 0:55.7 | he kind of understood you know we explained what was going on and it brought back all these |
| 1:00.2 | memories of um i remember kind of going into the polling station with my mother in the 1970s and |
| 1:06.3 | that's one of my early memories um so that was great. What have you been doing this week, |
| 1:11.4 | anyway? Where have you been voting? You can vote several times, right? You can vote in the |
| 1:17.3 | Castleford. Do you vote in London? Do you vote early and vote often? No, I voted once and I |
| 1:22.8 | voted in Yorkshire. And I voted by post. So my ballot paper went off a couple of days ago. |
| 1:29.2 | And but I was also in Yorkshire. So when Labour lose your local council in London by one vote, |
| 1:33.6 | they'll go, well, thanks a lot, air balls. Well, like you, I am not revealing how I'm voting. |
| 1:39.7 | Although you are right, I've not voted in London. So if that's what happens, then, I mean, |
| 1:43.7 | either the |
| 1:45.1 | winner or the loser will be crossed with me or pleased with me, but they won't know which it is. |
| 1:48.9 | I was actually in Yorkshire the weekend. I was on Monday at the World Snooka Final. I went to |
| 1:55.6 | the afternoon session, which was amazing. Wu Yazat, the young 22-year-old Chinese, lost the first five frames. |
... |
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