What I would like to ask Reform supporters what are the specific Reform policies they support?

Is it not a case that it should be hoped that Restore get a following ? Because that will split the Reform vote.

You do you.
And whilst your doing it, try and remember that a reasonable presentation of your political leaning will always progress a discussion. Rudeness does nothing of the sort.

Come on - even Tommeh is questioning if Lowe is too racist. That grooming gang enquiry is a disgrace, and is just re-raping the victims in his ‘cause’.

I don’t know what he wants except a platform - a dig at those who didn’t want him in their parties - oh and backing from the richest guy on the planet. I’m sure he’d be fine to be PM - and spout his outdated, obnoxious rubbish but hopefully no great numbers will buy into him.

Fair enough.

You missed this bit from that report though :" Put another way, the costs of failing to bring climate change under control would be much larger than those associated with decarbonisation. "

My ciggie packet sums was for building nuke power stations alone. We should extrapolate it to 2050 then to do the sums.

Has your preferred political party done that ?

@EEexpat, you really must stop trying to teach your grandmother to suck eggs. I really don’t need an idiots’ guide to politics/economics in every reply to me, kind as it is.

I’m not entering the Brexit argument. Too many have solidified views connected to their Brexit vote.
I don’t think he has any dreams of getting absolute power. I think he wants to multiply that common sense viewpoint to challenge some of the established two party fixed approach.

@blossomtoes

The greater the number of people who are unemployed, the greater the burden on those who are working to cover the cost of;

Unemployment benefits
Lost tax and NI revenue
Reduced tax take from industries that survive from people having a disposable income.

ie higher taxes or reduced spending on services or increased borrowing.

@RedTagAlan

To achieve net zero by 2050 is estimated to cost between 1.4 and 7.6 trillion. Source:

https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/article/explainer/paying-net-zero

A large range. So, apply your split the difference approach gives a figure of £4.5 trillion. That’s four times more than your estimate for nuclear.

that’s the ultimate tax on those who became unemployed.

ie not working people.

And how much does a nuke power plant cost to build ?

$14 to 30 billion. Lets split the difference. Say $22 billion for 300MW. We use about 14 GW peak, So we would need 46 of those power stations. That would cost about $1 trillion.

Lowe wants simplified taxation, yes agreed its far too complex.
He also want much lower tax but as always, can never say what he would cut to be able to do this.

Liz Truss tried this approach and came to close to wrecking DC pensions and trebled Govt borrowing costs.

He also campaigned for Brexit, which has led to a smaller economy.

Thats quite a confusing post, on one hand you blame Labour for increased costs on employers, yet then go one to say that Covid has cost the hospitality industry £115billion, many times more than Reeves added to their bills.

The numbers IN employment has risen, as more economically inactive people have gone back to work... apparently, its 400,000 more than in July 2024.

Btw i'm not suggesting NI hasn't cost jobs, it has but on the other hand, how would the Govt pay for all the unfunded costs it inherited?

You still haven't suggested how you would (realistically) pay for the unfreezing of tax thresholds.

Back to Restore.
I’ve been following Rupert Lowe for some time. Not so much for his politics, which can err on the rather extreme, but because he intrigues me.
His party has been focussed on the Great Yarmouth area, and won (I think) all seats in the recent local elections. That are is in great need to hope, having suffered severe decline for many years. He indicates he will now start to expand.
Other than that he spend much parliamentary time in committee holding people to account. Yesterday he posted about HMRC and tax collection. It’s all available on Facebook Reels, X etc. I honest believe he’s asking the right kind of questions, just the sort we’d ask ourselves, but with the experience of being a successful businessman.
Would I vote for him? I honestly don’t know. But I do know he fills a purpose - even though he earns nothing for it, donating each MP payment to a different Great Yarmouth charity each month.

@Alexandra2001

It’s still not taxing working people.

If increasing the tax burden on employers results in higher unemployment, that’s the ultimate tax on those who became unemployed.

It’s estimated that unemployment has increased by about 300,000 since Labour came into power. Source FullFact. Direct benefits cost about £12K per year and loss of tax and NI take is about £8K per year. So, an increase in unemployment costs the UK government about £6 billion per year in direct costs alone.

Then there’s the knock on effect of reduced spending on leisure activities such as; bars, restaurants, gym, holiday, etc. The less the disposable income that is around, the more the hospitality and leisure industry will suffer.

It’s estimated that COVID cost the UK hospitality sector £115 billion over two years.

@RedTagAlan

For energy, small modular nuclear power plants would be my choice. They can produce power 24 hours per day as they don’t depend on the weather.

Quote : "Move away from net zero. Lots of wind farms near where I live, but energy prices keep rising."

And can you show that the two are related ? Energy prices might be rising, but are they rising because of those windfarms ?

And of course, move from net zero to what ? Back to coal ? Who pays for the new coal power plants.

Is it not like a tin of beans ? When they go up in price what causes that ? It will be a combination of things. But when energy prices go up, its " the windmills".

It’s still not taxing working people.

Since Labour have come to power this time, unemployment has risen and more small and medium sized businesses have declared they are having financial problems due to NI rises.

Correct. From 2015 to Q3 of 2024, unemployment had declined. Source ONS.

So, increased NI burden on employers has resulted in fewer people working.

Unfreezing tax thresholds would cost around £11 billion per year.... reversing this would also increase Gilt yields as markets would see it as yet another unfunded tax cut.

Your tram project savings would account for about 6 weeks of that.

Net Zero also creates jobs

the real money Sunak wasted was on Covid business support loans, mush oof it given to non existent companies, they wrote of this debt, Reeves has managed to re claim around £1billion i believe.

Nice bit of make believe. Blair will never credit Brown with his superb management of the economy which managed to balance improving public services with prudent financial management. He’s a world class rewriter of history.

Brown led the world in his management of the global crisis in 2008. He was the main influence at the 2009 G20 summit where the world’s leaders followed his lead.

https://archive.ph/WXF5H

https://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2009/pdf/g20_040209.pdf

National debt was 500billion in 2006 (38% of GDP) Blair also was the last PM to run a budget surplus.

Under the Tories, debt rose to almost £2.7 trillion and debt to GDP around 99%

Brown sold off a tiny amount of UK Gold, approx £2.3 billion.

The Tories cancellation of HS2 cost us £29 billion and the remainder of this folly of a project will cost at least £103 billion.

@Alexandra2001
@blossomtoes

Had the personal allowance increased in line with inflation it would be about £15500. Tax on the difference between existing allowance and the inflation adjusted amount is (15500-12570) x 20% = £586

Each year the allowance does not increase, the greater the amount of tax people will pay.

By 2031 it’s estimated that fiscal drag will generate about £55 billion per year in tax revenue.

https://obr.uk/box/fiscal-implications-of-personal-tax-threshold-freezes-and-reductions/

That fiscal drag started under the previous government does not prevent Labour from overturning the policy. Remember that Labour stood on a manifesto of change.

Costs could be saved by:

Move away from net zero. Lots of wind farms near where I live, but energy prices keep rising.

Stop wasting money on projects like Edinburgh tram system. Initial budget for 20 miles of track was about £400 million. Final cost was £1.2 billion for less than 9 miles of track. Similar can be said for HS2. Costs keep rising.

A fortune was spent during COVID due to lockdowns. Sunak burned a fortune on a track and trace app.

The only reason we are struggling now is due to the lying, corrupt leave campaign which has left all of us poorer.
imagine if our finances had been under the control of Jeremy seven properties Hunt.
I worked in social care during the financial crisis and we only started to struggle in 2012, up to then it all ran beautifully. It got steadily worse and eventually I baled out. Now self employed and this last tax year I actually had disposable income.
I have no complaints about the NHS or any public service really, grand children in a decent nursery, we’re feeling the benefits all round.

@Buzyizzy217 @BIossomtoes
Blair has suggested himself that he overspent and did not regulate the financial industry enough. He did not follow the premise of saving for a rainy day. Therefore, when the 2008 financial crisis hit us, we were much more affected than we should have been and some of it could have been avoided with better financial regulation. We are still suffering the consequences now. There are many economics articles explaining this. Brown selling our gold reserves was also a disastrous financial decision.
Since Labour have come to power this time, unemployment has risen and more small and medium sized businesses have declared they are having financial problems due to NI rises.

I wouldn’t waste the minutes out of my life.

We raised our family during the Blair years and never encountered any of the issues young families are now. NHS worked, education, everything really. I went back to work in 2009 and by 2012 it was falling apart.

This! Me too.