We don't want the government to lurch to the left

14 months in to turning around the damage that the previous government did over 14 years I do not expect miracles

That Labour have and are working towards creating a fairer society

Increase in healthcare spending, working towards recruiting more healthcare professionals, increasing minim wage, laws passed to support workers rights and better support for working families, changed laws to protect tenants better, laws to protect, laws passed to protect victims of domestic abuse better, funding for green projects

this is just some. no one is claiming Labour are perfect but Labour inherited a country where the divide between rich a poor had increased to levels not seen in living memory and that is utterly shameful, we are a country that has a lot of wealth but less and less of this wealth is shared that has to change, that is what Labour are working towards (they should be braver) and that can not happen over night

Higher taxation absolutely doesn't work for the individual if you are a net contributor. Especially once it goes beyond a certain level and all the arguments about a 'civilised society' can't be made. Clearly some people would be financially better off in a low tax economy where they fund just their own needs privately. This is why Dubai etc is attracting a lot of these people. You can think whatever you want about the ethics of this but it's clear that the people going there feel that they are better off there.

It is fundamentally selfish to want tax increases funded by someone else to fund spending that will be spent on you. You are essentially asking one family to fund another. It isn't a selfless stance to take when you're the beneficiary. It is by definition selfish.

30% of the budget is welfare - so let’s start there.

I also have private health and use private schooling, and have paid seven figures in personal tax in just the past few years alone.

I am now mitigating my liability everywhere I can - I will not pay this government a penny more than I have to. I am not alone.

14 months in to turning around the damage that the previous government did over 14 years I do not expect miracles

That Labour have and are working towards creating a fairer society

Increase in healthcare spending, working towards recruiting more healthcare professionals, increasing minim wage, laws passed to support workers rights and better support for working families, changed laws to protect tenants better, laws to protect, laws passed to protect victims of domestic abuse better, funding for green projects

this is just some. no one is claiming Labour are perfect but Labour inherited a country where the divide between rich a poor had increased to levels not seen in living memory and that is utterly shameful, we are a country that has a lot of wealth but less and less of this wealth is shared that has to change, that is what Labour are working towards (they should be braver) and that can not happen over night

30% of the budget is welfare - so let’s start there.

I also have private health and use private schooling, and have paid seven figures in personal tax in just the past few years alone.

I am now mitigating my liability everywhere I can - I will not pay this government a penny more than I have to. I am not alone.

And when do you think that success might come because there’s precious little sign of it so far .

By “taming” spending do you actually mean cuts?

I’d be interested to understand what you think should be cut, and what your personal stake in that is?

For example - we have private health care, so cuts to NHS services wouldn’t impact us as much as others. I still don’t want those cuts, but if that service further deteriorates, it’s no skin off my personal nose.

Taming spending and avoiding performative taxation which raises little to nothing. I.e. PS VAT.

Labour have tried the former with the Welfare reform bill, but ran into the back benches, of course.

Stop pandering to the unions, and the NHS should also not be treated as a holy cow, just because it’s politically expedient.

What you don’t do is chase away capital and investment, entrepreneurs and high earners.

Sorry, what I meant is do you have an idea of what a reasonable taxation and spend system would look like.

From your posts I can see that you don’t like the idea of taxing wealth, or applying VAT to private education, but what solutions would you suggest?

Stopping the lies would be a decent start.

What’s your view?

Well that is good that in your opinion Labour shall be able to bring the country up a little as the Tories pulled the UK down to the gutter

I personally have faith that Labour shall be more successful than you predict

My opinion IS based on research, I'm just not going to spend my time laying it out to you. Asking for research isn't argumentative, but your tone is.

Well that is good that in your opinion Labour shall be able to bring the country up a little as the Tories pulled the UK down to the gutter

I personally have faith that Labour shall be more successful than you predict

Labour will bring this country to its knees .

Labour will bring this country to its knees .

Opinions based on proven and copied facts are worth more in terms of a reasoned argument. It’s very normal for research and backing up information
That’s not to say people can’t believe and say whatever random stuff they like of course…free speech and all that
It’s interesting that a request for stats in your opinion makes me argumentative. Disagreeing with an opinion when there’s no proof offered is sensible, not argumentative

but I’ll leave you there if you don’t have the proof ( or don’t want to post it? ) that’s all fine and you could have just ignored the requests. That’s what others do when they don’t have it.

I'm here to express my opinion which I did. I'm not going to spend my time laying out all the research I've done to a random argumentative person on a forum, that's a waste of time. Just because I don't want to engage with you doesn't make me wrong. Maybe you have more time on your hands than I do

I'm just getting a bit befuddled by how many times I've now read the utterly agenda-less OP writing 'lurch to the left'. OP, why IS is that political parties 'lurch' to the Left?

I'm also getting an ear worm from Rocky Horror now ... 'It's just a LURCH to the Left ...'

I was just wondering if you actually had any figures etc. you don’t. That’s fine

Assume you are aware most European countries that introduced wealth taxes found them both unsuccessful and damaging and have since backtracked.

There is clear precedent that it is an unsuccessful long term method
Which is why the IFS are against it.

What would you do about those that don't pay anything or very little and take an awful lot? I'm not talking about the severely disabled before people pounce. More those that could clearly do more to contribute and don't. Surely you would agree that we need to resolve this too if we talking about people paying their fair share?

What would you suggest?

What would you suggest?