To reduce hours when labour win election

Labour hate anyone who works hard and does well, a child’s education should not be subject to a tax grab. Frankly I don’t mind paying a bit more tax from my Income if it means we get better services etc but Labour are ignoring some of the big issues that if fixed would alleviate some of the pressure on our nhs, school places. gp’s etc. but hey have no plans to fix the immigration issue which is a critical piece and I can’t see that they will make any more progress than the current government in most other areas without levying even more income tax on everyone. The state schools in our area are awful, so we had little choice but to find money for school fees. Lots of parents borrow money to fund the fees. I know that there are people struggling to pay for heating etc, some of my own family included but that is the fault of the current govt however, it’s a product of the war in Ukraine / Russia etc. If you prioritise your kids education it does not necessarily mean you are wealthy, we still have to watch what we spend and make choices on what we spend on, without the school fees we would be comfortable yes that’s true but that is a choice we made based on the local schools. However, there is a huge difference between paying an extra 5p per £ on a portion of your income and finding an additional 20% on top of your school fees when you are still paying via your taxes to fund the state school system and making Places available for other people’s kids. Labour just want to tax the same people over and over again. Lastly if vat is to be levied on education then it should be levied everywhere Including nurseries and university fees, singling private schools out in this way is definitely an act of spite / envy by Labour and will ultimately make things worse for everyone when 30% of the current kids in private schools get forced back into state schools that are already overwhelmed.

Labour consider you to be comfortable. You have children at private schools, which most people cannot even think of affording (only about 7% of children go to private schools) - the 4k extra you mention is what some people have to live on for 3 months. I am afraid Labour will not do some things that need doing, such as tell the teaching unions to stop moaning about the phonics screening check; to pay doctors and nurses more and train more of both; to at least attempt to re-nationalise public services such as railways, and the utilities which are currently holding us all to ransom and the private ownership of which prevents proper planning and use of resources. Mind, I do not think that you are worried about paying heating bills, but some people are and will turn off their heating even on the coldest days to save money because they dare not have a large bill, or have their Direct Debit increased, because they will fall into debt, have to have a pre-paid meter which unfairly charges them more per unit than you pay by DD. Try to imagine their position rather than that you might pay 5p more tax on some part of your marginal income. The Conservatives have done some despicable things for most of the population. Their only pluses so far are that they want to stop illegal immigration (surely something everyone wants?) and that they are less susceptible to gender-woo than Labour (the LibDems and Greens are a lost cause as is the SNP). I loathe the politics of envy but some people need a Labour government to help redress the balance just little in their favour (not mine, unfortunately - I may also find myself paying more tax).

Aaahh but we can take the Labour pills seriously can’t we 😂😂

I think what we will see is a huge swing in all polls as we get closer, and especially once Starmer enters the leadership discussions. He still has trouble figuring out penises belong to men, I really don’t fancy Starmer’s chances, and the publics’ opinion of Labour seems to tank every time he opens his mouth. He reminds me of Ed Miliband minus the sandwich. 🥪

I think you underestimate the British public at your peril history tells us..

Really.
Even I don’t think that 🤣
He is crap I agree, he can’t speak or think for himself, his policies are non existent, the same as the Conservatives (I loved reading Labours energy policy stating they will be pioneering offshore wind farms, so pioneering the Conservatives have already finished two off the north coast 🤣🤣🤣), alienating or not costed out.

However
Its obvious Labour will get in as the majority of the population really don’t care what he’s saying, just that he’s standing against the Conservatives.

I think what we will see is a huge swing in all polls as we get closer, and especially once Starmer enters the leadership discussions. He still has trouble figuring out penises belong to men, I really don’t fancy Starmer’s chances, and the publics’ opinion of Labour seems to tank every time he opens his mouth. He reminds me of Ed Miliband minus the sandwich. 🥪

I don't know what Labour pills you're taking!

Anyway there are plenty of polls from a wide range of leanings. It just so happens that only the JL Partners one gives Labour such a small lead. They are famously Tory.

You think the spectator headline is rubbish? Yeah I agree. I mean even in their own article they show all other polls giving a different story.

You really can't take the Spectator seriously.

I think that is absolute rubbish and we will see on election day 🥳

Yeah someone posted that previously. The headline is based on one poll by a conservative backing company. No other pollsters are finding such a small lead. Nice try though.

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-lead-slashed-to-just-12-points/

So, one of the reasons that for the massive inequality and the unaffordable housing and high rents in this country is because those with the most buy the most. So the wealthy buy the property, take in rent for doing very little, earn way more and then buy more. It becomes a money making cycle. They avoid tax by setting up companies and holding companies that are based overseas so they pay very little tax and make tons of money. This reduces the housing stick and prices the average buyer out. So the ordinary working person has to pay so much rent they can’t save a deposit and means they are stuck renting for the rest of their life. Taxing income won’t tackle this. It hits ordinary working people too hard.

@GasPanic,I am writing from mainland Europe and the UK is seen as an example of how things can go wrong.
The UK is big and there are important divisions. Roughly, the UK split into ten regions, with approx 60 MPs. That would require a couple of % to get an MP and that threshold could be raised.

@GasPanic, more an argument for PR. We have seen in the USA how a party can be captured by a faction, that can then command outsized power. It could certainly happen with the Tories and could have been said to have happened to Labour.

PR is just a red herring to me.

The idea that parties like Reform, UKIP and the Greens don't influence policy is not correct.

It's just that they do it from outside parliament rather than inside. These parties have a huge effect on Tory and Labour policy. The EU referendum would not have happened without UKIP and the Greens had a huge influence in moving both the Tories and Labour to take environmental policies more seriously.

When parliaments get fragmented through the introduction of PR governments just become dysfunctional rather than focusing on enacting change.

You just have to look at Europe to see where it ends up. Belgium have got one of the most dysfunction governments out there. Along with Italy. Germany aren't doing too great at the moment either.