I regret voting Labour - they've let women down

Agree with this.
Those of us who said during the Election threads that we wouldn’t vote Labour because of their treatment of women were often vilified by other mumsnetters.
Now here we are

No, I mean replacing the population with British born people. Old people die, just in case you didn't know.

We are already a desperately overcrowded little island, and you think increasing the population further is the answer? Utter madness.

The most popular message is 'let someone else pay', as always. 'Just' taxing the rich is not going to hack it. This what economists say, but politicians of the Left generally refuse to admit. I don't think a wealth tax is a bad idea, but we'll need a lot more than that.

I feel the same and suspect many other do locally too.

Worrying with the by-election to replace Mike Amesbury in our constituency due in May.

I fear a Reform landslide.

As I said before the election anyone expecting much from Labour was living in a fantasy world. Yes once parties are in government and they see what shit we are in their choices are more limited. Cant overly tax the really rich, they'll be off. The 10% of income taxpayers with the largest incomes already contribute over 60% of income tax receipts. The country cant afford the welfare state we currently have, you have to make cuts somewhere or tax everyone a bit more. We've bought too much Chinese crap and too little from within our own country.

Could maybe reintroduce higher rates of tax on "luxury" goods - anyone remember those taxes? Of course you need to be careful with that or the rich buy abroad. Changes to ISAs are probably coming, bringing pensions into inheritance tax is happening. Increase the age at which pensions are paid for all new entrants to any public sector pension scheme. You could introduce a tourist tax, you could introduce more council tax bands. Stamp duty could be further increased for foreign buyers of uk property. Higher capital gains on foreign owners of uk land and property maybe? Remove free prescriptions for those over 60 but under pension age, sweeten it by extending exemptions for certain conditions or reducing the cost of prepayment certificates.

I'm not a tax avoidance expert - there are probably loop holes to close still. Taxing larger farms was one of them, the threshold probably too low.

You could try to stimulate growth in different ways - increase gifting allowances for inheritance tax so people pass on more in their lifetime. Reduce Vat on any energy saving building work. Reform the honours system so those who donate more of their wealth to charity are honoured instead of sportspeople and others just doing their job and being well paid for it. Tax breaks for any car parks covered with solar canopies. Make men pay proper maintenance for their children, using the full range of powers.

Ideas from anyone else?

No doubt by concreting all over the green belt and without the infrastructure to match! We dont have the skills to enable large scale house building and who is going to pay for "affordable" housing?

She’s doing particularly badly.

Halving growth and wiping out headroom. Trying to cover that up hasn’t gone down well, for most anyway.

The OBR is a Quango of unelected officials set up by George Osborne in a cynical attempt to deflect the blame for cuts from him. Bin the OBR. Here's what I would do - a massive housebuilding programme of affordable housing which would provide a lot of employment and boost population growth which means the economy wouldn't have to rely so much on overseas labour to fill jobs. Couples with a roof over their heads wouldn't put off having children.

Approval ratings don't mean shit, though, do they? And by the nature of things, Chancellors are never popular.

Local MPs are bald faced lying on their Facebook pages + claiming OBR said growth for this year so that "working people" will be better off.
I think they are so scared of losing the whip as new MPs, that they will peddle any shit.

Reeves was already on an 11% approval rating, which would make her less popular than Meghan Markle or Tommy Robinson. She may feel the only way is up. And Starmer can't sack her without damaging himself.

But the Chancellor will be judged on whether the voters feel they're becoming better off. That should be her sole focus. Instead Labour are getting her to pose in front of a tank, and sending talking heads onto TV to complain about the "Rachel from Accounts" meme being sexist.

I think we can smell desperation.

Headlines are scathing today. I feel like Starmer and Reeves will try to ride it out no matter what. Regardless of damage.

Sometimes, when I am querying my cynicism, I wonder if the problem is that in reality, once you are in government, the choices are narrow or even non-existent.

So even if you see the long term issue with these PFI arrangements, you need money for hospitals, and you don't have any, so what are the options? Not renew them? Or go with the PFIs and hope somehow it works out down the road?

In part it's would be that the public would not accept doing nothing and not re-elect you, but I think even for a very ethical MP, it would be stressful to say, we can't fulfill the obligations the public expects for healthcare and I know people will suffer and die because of it. So you kick the can down the road.

It's a feature in our political model that the opposition only has to criticize what the government does rather than offer alternatives. Which is for good reason, but sometimes it might be nice to get a good sense of what other options might be available to solve problems.

The PFI sums up our political class.

It was introduced by Major as a work around spending constraints, and widely critised by labour. Once in power, Blairs government ran with it, George Osborne being particularly critical of the long term problems. Oddly enough, once chancellor, he seemed to have a change of heart.

Its as if we can't predict what we are voting for.

Haha 😄 maybe a bottle of whisky and a shotgun 😜 🤣

It's like being in the Headmistress 's study:

You have let the Party down.
You have let the Country down.
But most of all, you have let yourselves down.

I don't see any point in rehashing the recent election. The voters didn't want the Tories any more, and that's that. It would be more useful to talk about what Labour will do under Starmer, and whether times have changed in a direction that makes victory more difficult for the trans cause. Or whether such a change could be made to happen, even with Labour in charge.

Good signs were the Cass report, the discrediting of the Tavistock Clinic, and various legal cases that make it clear that GC beliefs don't make anyone into a pariah, and others relating to women's insistence on single-sex spaces. Still pending in Fife and Darlington, of course.

Oh, and the fall of Nicola Sturgeon, who's widely seen to have backed the wrong side and paid a high price for it. Who'd want to do what she did?

PFI was a disaster. But not as much as Blair's wars. I never voted Labour again after that. TBH, I don't vote for any of them. They are all liars. Count Binface gets my vote especially as he promises free croissants for all.

They turned a black hole into a super massive blackhole, crippled business, stifled growth. taxed education, cut WFA, taxed farmers, screwed over WASPI women, cut benefits for disabled....all in less than 12 months!
They lie + gaslight when found out.
That's all I need to know.