Is there anyone on here who voted Labour who is genuinely happy with how things are going

Anyone who thinks Reform will be any better needs to have a good look at what mess they are making in their local councils. In Leics they are spending an enormous sum on a consultant to identify waste, despite the fact that services have already been cut to the bone.

Farage has wrecked the economy through Brexit. Now he wants to finish the job off by ruining the country completely.

I mostly agree with you...I think they / the media are doing a poor job of reporting on the things that are improving.

However they also need to communicate better full stop. They are dealing with an absolute shitshow of a legacy due to Brexit / Covid / Tories. And I think they are doing their best...which is definitely better than Tories or Reform.

Reform would be an absolute disaster for the country, they can't even manage local councils well and are selling themselves to the Russians too!

It’s £26bn in extra taxes, someone is paying it. Mostly middle earners.

Can you explain that more, how do you think the metric should be reevaluated?

Genuinly interested.

Right, but if incomes increase, so does the poverty line. Endlessly unless we reevaluate the metric.

Nice to see lots of sensible comments on this thread, id almost given up hope of anything political on here, so much ignorance and hate about these days.

i voted for them and would do so again if they were the best party, there certainly isn’t another credible one around at the moment.

theres a hell of a lot of witch hunting and misinformation around at the minute, both the press and social media. I don’t get the furore around the budget - nothing really changed and almost no one is worse off now, all of the bad news is significantly down the line, which means it may never happen. We’re in a period of stagnant economic growth and growing political instability both at home and in the rest of the western world - why exactly was anyone expecting some sort of bonanza? These are difficult times and the Labour Party is not the cause of that.

So what do you suggest instead?

But rewarding irresponsible parents won't either. I am pretty certain we will still be talking about children in poverty next year, giving money to people who a low level of financial literacy won't help, the money will get misdirected.

And it is often the women left to hold the baby, but he let's make it even harder for them.

Agree with this. What good does it do to deprive children already here? And people don't always know their financial situation for years ahead when they have kids. There are job losses, disabilities, deaths, divorce...

Yep. I think their comms are letting them down - the media hates them. They’ve fucked up a few things - but they are doing the change they promised.

Being furious with parents isn’t actually gong to help. And, as an aside, if you go by Mumsnet, accidental pregnancies are incredibly common…..

We can help people in poverty regardless of the definition.

Being furious with the parents is not going to help those children. Lifting the cap does.

We need to redefine poverty before we try and tackle it. Can't eradicate relative poverty. It's a meaningless, endless task as is.

I'm not happy to leave children in poverty. I'm furious with the parents who decide to have children in poverty - it is one of the most selfish actions you can make - bring a child into the world that you know is going to poor life changes and will suffer. Imagine sitting deciding to have a baby that you can't afford to feed.

I voted Labour. I’m not happy with everything they’re doing-I wouldn't expect to-but they are still the party that aligns closest to my political views and my personal philosophy.

We all share society.

If you are happy to leave children in poverty, that is your outlook.

Well, we're the ones who end up picking up the bill.

They said they wouldn't raise taxes for normal working people and that they wouldn't raise Income Tax, VAT and Corporation Tax.

Not many of us interpreted normal working people as it just meaning Dave from Runcorn. Or that not raising income tax was just the headline rate but every single variable around would change.

It takes a village to raise child.

You only get one childhood. If it is impaired by poverty and deprivation, many never recover. When so many lives are damaged in this way, the whole of society suffers.

And to those posters espousing that those women claiming benefits should not get pregnant (irrespective of the circumstances): Who the fuck are you to dictate who can and who can't have a child?

That way lies fascism.

There's a reason why no other European countries rushed to copy us and leave the EU. Because it was an idiotic and self destructive thing to do.

How do you suggest a country decides who should have children and who shouldn't?

Labour made a big deal of fully funded and fully costed at the GE and then they had a ‘one off’ tax hike last budget, then £26bn more again.

That’s a problem for them even if you are personally happy with higher taxes and welfare, you can see that in polling. And likely reflected in upcoming local elections.

They're a lot better than the Tories were

The Tories accidentally bumbled out of the single market, trashing the economy for years to come

Trashed state schools

Trashed the NHS and ambulance waiting times.

Absolutely useless.