Starmer says we are going to have more money in our pockets (new year's speach

👏👏👏 yep! It is a nasty petty policy designed to inflict maximum damage for very little financial income. The fact it is being brought in mid-year proves that.
The other fact is that Labour are taking 3 years to increase duty on vapes but only 3 months to tax education. So they think indy schools are more damaging to kids than vapes.

and this too. I have a colleague on just above minimum wage. We are all pretty rural and she has to take 3 buses each way to get to work. The total trip is around 9 miles, but how the bus system runs and having to get to the main interchange. That is an extra £6 pounds a day- or £30 extra a week. That is a significant hike for someone on min wage. When it was announced she was in tears in our office because she was already struggling as it was.

At a base level I am out of pocket. The bus fare cap target has gone up 50%. From £2 max each journey to £3.

Exactly a million times.

I use the private sector for education and know for a fact many of my friends are planning to move state and either one parent will give up work entirely (usually the mother) or both will reduce hours as they no longer have to work all the hours they do. Loss to the state of income tax. Additional burden to the state to educate their children. Slow hand clap, Starmer.

Also FWIW the fact i use all my disposable income to pay for my child with autism, adhd, tourettes, dyspraxia and global development delay to be in a very nurturing independent means that I actually work fulltime (I am in a regulated profession) plus evening shifts in our local pub for about 8 weeks a year so we can go on a nice summer holiday each year. I don't care if anyone believes me on MN (they have not when i have said it before) but it's a fact;. We are not all rich arseholes.

I'm out of pocket already quite significantly. But Starmer does not give a shit about the likes of me. Not in a union. Not reliant on the state. Never again a Labour voter as far as i can imagine.

@IVTT

"But oops that’s a chunk of income tax gone too.
How is this better for the economy again? Your posts lack detail…
Rather like Labour’s plans."

Because for most voters the attraction of the VAT on private school fees has nothing to do with raising taxes revenues (which in any case looks like it may raise less than it costs) but more to do with "bashing the rich" because it's not fair when the wealthy can afford things they can't and even more unfair when it relates to their children.

@ThisPageIsBlank

"God, most of the comments on this thread are depressing and just emphasise the point I made. People arguing over which of the pathetic excuses for proposed leaders would be the least useless when all of them are totally incapable of doing anything to improve the UK and not one of these "parties" has been able to articulate a remotely plausible and cohesive policy programme that would start to improve things"

Because if any candidate ever told the truth then they would forever remain a candidate and never be elected.

Everyone wants the Government to spend more money on services that directly benefits them provided it's paid for either by taxes on someone else or Government debt that paid for by the next and subsequent generations.

For example people want green energy but don't like higher energy prices and don't want solar farms or wind turbines built near them.

Or first time buyers and young families complain about house prices but once they have a home would be the first to complain about new houses being built on the adjacent fields.

The policies to stop the managed decline are easy to list, it's just that no one would vote for them.

@LostittoBostik MPs are elected and paid to represent all of their citizens. They can’t just pick and choose any demographic.

With both a full time job and a 5hr a week part-time job I certainly meet the criteria of “hard-working people” contributing to the economy. Why don’t I deserve more money in my pocket?

With 3 children moving to State schools we will cost the Gvt around £22.5k a year more than we do now.
The silver lining for me is I don’t have to be quite so hard-working at that point so am excited to be reducing my days at work!
But oops that’s a chunk of income tax gone too.
How is this better for the economy again? Your posts lack detail…
Rather like Labour’s plans.

As I have never driven a train, I am fairly sure that no government in the future is going to give much weight to my views. I am (just) retired, I have saved sensibly to do so, but my pension isn't going to be larger than a middle-ranking public sector worker, and importantly, my pension income is dependent on my investment success, not paid by the tax payer, and it won't be inflation-related. But it will be funded by income forgone in earlier higher-earning years, by me and us, so I am a bit peevish about anything I leave to the DC becoming part of the estate and subject to IHT.

Absolutely. All countries have their problems but Ireland has taken some very smart economic decisions in recent decades and also in the last few years has been a big beneficiary of the UK shooting itself in the face with Brexit, the cherry on the cake.

Lol love to hear you explain both those points ?

Please could you elaborate?

Er if they are a working person who contributes to this country then yes the speech was aimed at them.

The speech is not aimed at you

@LostittoBostik did you even hear it?

"And finally, I promise this. A determination to bring our country together, not exploit its divisions"

Doesn't really match up with your comment, does it? The Prime Minister is there to represent every citizen of this country and every single one of them should rightly be expecting him to take appropriate steps to improve their lives. That's his job.

"So I want to be clear: until you can look forward and believe in the promise and the prosperity of Britain again, then this Government will fight for you... The security of working people. That is the purpose of this Government. The goal of our plan for change. And we will push it forward in 2025."

Presumably that poster does work? So why does she according to you not count as part of Britain according to you, which allegedly is going to be become more prosperous for all? Why this nasty comment at IVTT?

So many similar examples on this thread of pure spite. No sensible proposals of course how anything might actually be improved for everyone, which is what Starmer claims to want to achieve. It's just a shame that every single measure he's taken so far is having the opposite effect, per every credible economic forecast.

It would be nice if he could have bothered to regale us with some policy proposals that might actually improve things even slightly, rather than make them continually worse, but I guess six months hasn't been long enough to come up with even one positive idea? We have such unreasonable expectations.

The old quote about a country getting the Governments it deserves was very accurate. It's just a shame for the minority of us who actually deserve better.

A couple of years ago it was £3.60 return for a journey which is now 6 pounds. The great flat fare con.

How is it good for the economy? Not even Labour are claiming that!
How is it good fir kids who are happy and settled to be forced out of their schools? All the research shows how damaging it can be to change schools, especially mid-year.

Ps: your kids going to state school now genuinely IS very good for the economy - and I suspect it will be v good for them too

The speech is not aimed at you. You're doing better than 94 per cent of the country.

Bus fares haven’t doubled, they’re capped at £3 instead of 2.

God, most of the comments on this thread are depressing and just emphasise the point I made. People arguing over which of the pathetic excuses for proposed leaders would be the least useless when all of them are totally incapable of doing anything to improve the UK and not one of these "parties" has been able to articulate a remotely plausible and cohesive policy programme that would start to improve things. Yet people are quite happy fighting like rats in a sack over the rotten remaining crumbs about which incompetent moron they prefer.

Ahahaaaa!

Yes, precisely, hence the delusion and inevitable decline continues. Frankly, at this point, it's becoming more of a death spiral.

They did but its wafer thin.....going to snap easily. Getting the majority they did was a joke yo democracy

@BIossomtoes

"And how you typed Labour being unelectable with a straight face when they achieved a 156 seat majority less than six months ago I really don’t know."

Whilst Labour did indeed achieve a 156 seat majority- they did this with the lowest share of the popular vote in over a 100 years.

So they are supported by only a third of voters. Which I imagine will shrink as we get closer to 2029 and the economy deteriorates.

Yep daughter is now struggling more, bus fare has doubled, she has to use bus for unpaid placements, (Uni student) on max loan because of my income, so poorer students have larger debts and now increased costs with rent and energy.

To work for the Gov to become a teacher. Madness, no bursary help for her subjects.

Plus the 6 from Newcastle. So that's 26 over a few days

I think he is a liar who doesn't think about implications. For example the so called great fixed fare bus tickets mean it now costs me 6 quid return to travel less than 3 miles in total and same price to travel 30 miles! Obviously walking would be the solution if I didn't have arthritis, plantar and a fair bit to carry each day. Idiot policy which will result in more car use and/or less public transport use. It discriminates against people with disabilities not bad enough for PiP etc or older people doing shorter journeys. Also a rise massively above inflation and pay rises. Grr. Labour are so not on the side of working people.