Is there money to do what Labour wants to do?

The majority!? More people voted Reform and Tory than Labour. I dread the next five years.

Labour can raise more money only from either:

1. Personal capital (higher capital taxes).
2. Borrowing from UK and overseas.

There is little place elsewhere to go.

The problem with 2 is an annual interest bill approaching £120 Billion a year as it stands. That is £1 in every £7 collected in central government tax paid away.

If you were to capitalise that figure, the UK has an interest only mortgage of £3 trillion on which it is not making capital repayments. We have no Sovereign Wealth Fund to help us do that.

Neither Labour, Conservative or the 2010 Coalition come out of the last 30 years with clean hands.

Reform come in worst on economic policy. There is a £150 billion gap which they cannot explain how they will fund. Everybody gets a tax rebate, but spending goes up. It makes Truss’ plans pale into a small student overdraft to get by until payday by comparison. Like £350m per week for the NHS, it’s true because it’s written on the side of a bus.

God help Starmer. He needs to break and share fishes and loaves now.

Multinational corporations like Facebook employ very expensive tax lawyers to minimise their tax bill by basing themselves in ultra low tax countries. It is legal and without international consensus there is not a lot we can do. The US will not agree to the UK squeezing more tax revenue out of US businesses, irrespective of how much money is generated from UK territory. Life lesson: don’t shop with Amazon, etc.

The Tory way of managing public services is

1/ strip them to the bone
2/ outsource to private sector
3/ realise private sector don't know what they're doing and massively fuck it up
4/ end up buying in the ex-civil servants who they made redundant on huge consultancy fees to try and sort out the problem and claim a victory for privatisation.

At least labour are more likely to keep things in house. More costly short term perhaps but longer term we are better off.

Don't be ridiculous.

One person sending a thousand pounds or so will make not difference.
Thirty million doing so, would help a bit.

I’d be interested to know how wages and housing costs compare.

Not this again!

The note was a myth, and it doesn’t make sense anyway because national finances are not like a household budget or monthly pay check.

Well hopefully having a government that respects public service will encourage teachers to stay if working conditions are improved and they are actually respected by the govt for the very difficult job they do.

This one made me laugh, adding VAT to private school fees won’t magic up teachers. Half the reason there’s a shortage is because they can’t convince the ones they’ve got to stay in teaching! Nearly half of newly trained teachers plan to leave the profession within 5 years of qualifying.

@MissyB1

...dh says he would happily pay more tax for improved public services.

What's stopping your DH from paying more tax now if he is so inclined?.Tell him to open his chequebook and send off a donation to HMRC.

Go on, do it today.

Sorry, what's that? He said he'll do it tomorrow? Oh ok. Sure he will.

I didn't vote Labour this time but I really hope they do well - for everyone's sake.

Unlike a lot on here I have no Party "loyalty".

I fear a future under far right or far left equally.

The world is a very dangerous place ATM. We, as a country, need to concentrate on what we can achieve working together, perhaps on a small local scale for starters.

I hope they do not get rid of the single person discount but I'm not hopeful at all anything to take more money from.single people who onltnhave one income to rely on

They are restructuring council tax bands, everyone moves up a level, an extra 1,000 each. A higher tax for private school fees and pensions.

No they will need to raise more tax
They said they wouldn't raise income tax but I imagine petrol, cigarettes abs alcohol prices will all go through the roof. I expect VAT will rise too. They may take money off councils and allow them to pull it back on council tax.

I also pay for private school and private healthcare. Without wanting to derail into a private school VAT debate (as there are enough of those already), I feel I’m paying ‘normal’ tax into a state system I don’t use, which is fair enough, that’s my choice to ‘opt out’. Then funding my own DC’s education (again, fine, my choice), but now being asked to pay a third tax, only applicable to 7% of people with school age children, to once again, fund a state education system I don’t use. I’m paying 3 times to educate my own DC.

If Labour came out and said we need to fix state education, it’s not working, schools need more money, so everyone needs to pay in a bit more, that would be understandable. And fixing state education benefits everyone. But they are asking 7% of school age parents, to fund the education of the other 93%. And my understanding of our European colleagues (who I hope will correct me if I’m wrong), is that everyone in those countries pay higher taxes, including lower earners.

80% of eligible voters didn’t vote for Labour so it’s fair to assume that the vast majority are not feeling at all optimistic, quite the opposite in fact.

good financial
management is better than taxing
more, which cripples everyone but the squeezed middle especially) but Labour only know how to spend...
(have notes the champagne socialists on this thread who say they don't mind higher taxes cos they're higher rate tax payers. Sure, won't affect them, but will affect the majority of us.

Putting VAT on Private schools means they can then claim it back

It won't raise what they say it will.

A lot of people on this thread are just making up rubbish! Labour have said they'll raise the extra money by putting VAT on private school fees and closing all the loopholes so companies such as Facebook and Starbucks have to pay tax in the UK. In their manifesto they clearly set out where the money would come from.

There are several ways to generate treasury income that haven't been explored and won't affect your average Joe.

These are things the Cons could have done ages ago but deliberately chose not to for ideological reasons.

This, and it'll be the squashed middle who'll be hit hardest, the nhs will only be available to those on benefits, the wealthy will be OK with their private health care, but those on minimum wage and squashed middle, we'll be taxed for services we're not able to use.

@LumiB I hear you, very similar situation here. Husband and I both in full time work, have funded our own university educations with the exception of my BA, pay for private healthcare and have a hefty mortgage. We still have to budget very carefully and I am loathe to throw more money into supporting poor decisions and propping up failing institutions that are viewed through a sentimental lens.

Hey Rishi! You ok hun?

I think they should increase the capital gains tax rates.I have always thought it odd that it is so much lower than taxes on income.

However what they shouldn't do is put it on your main home. There were whispers of that but it would be madness.

For higher tax payers tax is the same as in the UK but you also get a % of your income as pension so you are far better off if wealthier. France does not pay out things like working tax benefits and also has an insurance backed healthcare system where you pay to see a GP so no time wasters. It would be worth seeing what other countries do as our health system is inadequate compared to France.