To want a budget which puts young people and families first

Same with daycare workers

Could say the same about pensioners but hey ho.

HCP's can take an express route to nursing

So 2 years of being an HCP can be used towards your nursing degree for example

What are you taking about 'never-ending supply of sprogs'. You know the birthrate is about 1.5 in the UK don't you? And continuing to fall. Really showing your child hatred there.

Subsidized daycare, from birth

Free education, at all ages

Free travel for youth/students

Never gonna happen

And @MeowCatPleaseMeowBack … not the worst idea, but I would add a little Soylent Green into the plan… so those pesky childless people have something to eat in their cardboard boxes down by the river.

It was due to end in December anyway. I’m glad it is being extended, but agree it would have been great if it had been possible to keep it at £2.

i believe there may be longer term plans to bring bus services back under local authority control? Hopefully that would help with cost and service availability.

I disagree a little bit.
I think above all else, we need to invest in children. This isn't just for the benefit of those children, it's for wider society going forward. I think it's widely acknowledged that for every £ spent in childhood saves money in adulthood. Even just feeding them better sets them up for better health, saving society money, in the future.

Not rubbish at all, it encapsulates the OP's views perfectly, the old can go and lie down in the middle of the M6, how dare they breath air that might be needed for the never-ending supply of sprogs.

Those jobs have awful working conditions. Change that, and people might be interested.

Sorry I think the idea about giving benefit money to children instead of the parents is a terrible idea.
While it's terrible that there are some parents out there spending that money on drugs instead of their kids. Thankfully most parents are good and abusers are the minority. Your idea would lead to loads of children wasting the family money on expensive shoes and games consoles. Worst case scenario the kids would spend it on drugs. In fact seeing as kids have poorer impulse control then adults there would probably be way more kids spending the family money on drugs (if your idea was implemented )then there currently is parents spending the family money on drugs.

Your idea about making shelters for runaway teens that are being abused was a good idea though imo

Slow handclap OP.

Why is it always someone pitching young against old, or some culture war type rubbish?

Most people’s reality is not this thankfully. We have parents, uncles, aunties, who we care about, or we are grandparents who love and want the best for our kids and grand kids. Or maybe we just care about other people outside of our own bubble.

I hope when you are over 60 the younger workers paying tax are just as pleasant as you.

As ridiculous as I think the OP is, pitting age groups against each other.
It's also an arithmetic fact that a critical mass of working population is needed to sustain those above them.
When one pays 'taxes all their life' they are paying for those above them, not themselves.
It is expected that the next generation of working people (so, the kids) pay for their parents.
It's not a bank account where you pay for 'yourself'.

Not only are people living longer (and so costing more), but the working age population is shrinking in relative proportion to the non-working that need support.

Now obviously there's been mismanagement erc but this isn't just a problem in the UK. It's a trend seen across most of the developed world. Even the Nordic utopias that MN loves.

What's the solution then?

Everyone can get as angry as they like but it's not going to change these facts. Unless the entire financial system undergoes a major reset.

BTW I don't have DC so not part of the 'smug parents' camp.

Exactly, the work-shy have no income to tax, they're just happy to take.

£10 charge to see a Doctor… I’m pregnant and have had to see at least one Doctor/HCP most weeks, so that’d be around £400 - £500. No amount of ‘taking responsibility’ for my own health would have prevented my pregnancy related illnesses, nor would it help my young family with maternity leave pending!

No. Because one group doesn't deserve more than another. A working uterus doesn't somehow make you better and more deserving, and neither does being young. Saying you have more value in youth or motherhood is quite frankly insulting.

Let me think. How can I put this?
FUCK YOU Op. I have worked and paid my contributions for 50 years including when my children were little why should I have to still be struggling? When life really should be a little bit easier now.

What a load of rubbish.

My family will be affected by this. I am a single parent and I earn a pound or so a month over the threshold for my DD to get a subsidised bus pass, so it will cost me an extra £40 a month to get her to college after the rise is implemented. We won’t starve but that’s our annual holiday budget gone.

This is actually a very sensible idea. Much better than anything OP suggested. It might encourage people into vital - but not highly paid - jobs e.g. care workers, TAs and HCAs.

Inheritance to be taxed at 99%….after all its unearned income.

So nobody over a certain age (ie, older than you and your offspring) is to be permitted to have 'hope, aspirations and goals'?

Have you ever heard the phrase 'It's not all about you, you know'?

This.