what are the top 3 things that you think the government should be tackling?

[MentholLoad]

after reading various headlines related to the Tory Party Conference and also not related to the conference, I am interested to hear what people think the priorities should be for the government?

because to me they are just mincing around the edges, HS2, smoking bans, so much emphasis on stopping immigrants, post 16 qualifications....huh?

for me, these are the 3 top priorities (subject to change, as I read other people's!)

1. the NHS
2. social housing (need more) and rental properties (the STATE that landlords are providing and controlling the cost
3. poverty....cost of living/wages
4. the environment....water pollution (water companies discharging sewage to rivers etc) and air pollution

Yep!

As for pp question on why higher taxes aging population is a big factor. By 2036 1 in 11 will be employed by NHS. That’s is intense and needs to be funded

That high public demand for Covid has to be paid for (people were v keen at the time), the war and energy support which most would probably want

Brexit also an adjustment

Key is investment, growth, and security ready for next threat imo

1. more money to the NHS, less bureaucracy, less managers, train more doctors, more nurses, easier access to treatments, less waiting time
2. education: more money to schools, more pay to teachers, less paperwork, more extras (music, drama, etc)
3. nurseries should be like schools, free and there should be a lot of them.
4. tax avoiding companies - stop people avoiding tax by registering elsewhere. tax higher earners (over 200k/ year) more.
5. stop privatising everyhting. stop selling UK to foreign companies.
6. ban all party donations from foreign investors.
7. ban politicians from earning money elsewhere while they are in parliament - they should do their job and nothing else, no fucking private speeches etc. - they are paid enough
8. fix rents - more rights to renters. impose rules on what can be rented out - there should be a minimum standard to what properties can be considered liveable.
9. return to separate benefits, simplify the benefit system.
10. re-join the EU

yes, its more than three and yes, I live in la-la land ))

1 sort out sex equality a bit more. Ie proper sentences for sexual assault and rape, harassment and stalking to be taken far more seriously, misogyny to be a crime like hate speech against race or disability is as an aggravating factor, reality based pshe and sex Ed, tw are men in all important areas (loved Caitlin Jenners interview on sky last night).

2 social care funding, without just saying anyone who saved can pay and anyone else on the same salary who pissed away money on holidays and a bigger house gets it free.

3 benefits shouldn't pay, work should. Pension credit and the triple lock as part of this. At the moment even uc is very unfair. Mw is maybe low but I'm very very against raising mw to equal to responsibility roles as why should anyone bother if they only earn slightly higher than the least competent?

Also on homelessness, anyone who wants it can be housed. The issue is them keeping to the rules required, many will not or cannot. They want their dog in, they do drugs or are so unhygienic or aggressive they cannot stay.
It's already practically impossible to move problem families who literally blight whole streets.

That's 4, not 3

I hate the Tories and always will. I don't believe they have the best interests of the people at heart, they are more interested in their own power and interests, which includes the interests of the rich people who fund them.

So my list is not for the Tories - they would never do any of it - but if I was in charge this is what I'd do:

1. rejoin the EU (Brexit was and is a disaster)
2. improve democracy, including electoral reform and better regulation of the media (ie bias and media ownership etc)
3. renationalise public services and fund them properly; prioritising education, NHS and social services, but also including public transport and other services

@Bumpitybumper and @ChardonnaysBeastlyCat

First to address the 'it's not a piece of piss' comment. And that homelessness is about addiction and MH and other things about the person. It is and it's not. 30+ years in housing, working everywhere from rehabs through shelters to prisons (in more than one country) has taught me that thinking it's about the personal circumstances of the homeless person is sleight of hand. It's not about that. Addiction and MH requires support. And different models of housing. And professional staff.

My immediate policies... tackle empty homes. There are taxation and other means to do this. Tackle the commodification of housing. REITs in particular. Incentives for home sharing with older relatives (like Singapore). Coordinate small units with transport and walkability so that tenants don't need cars. Work on cities. Too many cities are for business and not for living. Housing first in place for actually homeless people. Fund women's services. There are more but start with those!

Sen issues from primary school, as early as possible.
Extra schools classes, special sen teachers that teach a range of reading. Not just phonics.

Stop forcing angles on older children who hate maths. Proper finance teaching from actual experts not some random who know nothing about money and budgets and investment.

Housing. All grotty estate houses painted, murals on walls, planting... Seeds, climbers and garden spaces and absolutely no mould.
I saw a program about a man visiting estates and one lady had the most horrific mould from an over flow pipe. 3 years of problems.

I thought ok. For some reason they can't solve the pipe issue but what about extending the actual over flow pipe.

In. The. Meantime.

To stop water running down her walls???????

The power and profits of private companies that used to be nationalised or public services and the misuse of funds channeled into private pockets thereby.

Whether you count that as one or three it’s up to you, but it needs to be stopped. It has impoverished us as both individuals and a nation, while superyachts get built by the billionaires.

1 and 2 are very contradictory! 3 is impossible even now, especially if in the eu. The imf and World Bank would never allow this. A major condition of tied funding OR our credit score is following neoliberalism so re nationalisation is discouraged. Developing countries can only get aid and help on the condition of privatising utilities.

Education - to include rebuilding all the schools falling down due to RAAC
NHS
Affordable housing

Sort wealth inequality - for a start tax Capital gains at the same level as income.

Intergenerational inequality - everyone has to pay a fair share for the services that they use. I believe inheritance tax is a fair tax that redistributes wealth.

Rethink the Welfare state including the NHS, Social care and childcare. We need to focus on need not want and have very difficult conversations about what can be offered universally.

Sorry, that should have read ‘the ongoing misuse of funds channeled into private pockets thereby.’

1 and 2 are not contradictory.
Re 3 - I didn't mention utilities, I meant public services which should be public and which have been privatised by stealth - we need to reverse that and fund them properly.

We're in fantasy land anyway; none of this is going to happen, so why on piss on my chips? It's my list and I'm not changing it ;P

It's hilarious how people say they believe in leftist ideology but when asked about inheritance tax hate it. Anyone who really did believe in socialism would surely want 100% tax, otherwise social inequality can only ever worsen.
Some people have a funeral bill to pay when their parents die, others are up in arms about possibly being taxed if their parents leave them over 1 million pounds. Remember no tax before that!
If we want to sort inequality we need to sort the attitude that we should pass all our wealth to our own kids.

How can they not be? Eu has a parliament that supercedes ours if in the eu. Greater democracy was the main reason for the brexit vote unless you truly think 52% of people are racist and also don't understand that if we limit the white immigration from.eu more immigration will come from the commonwealth countries.

And yet there are European public companies which own our private ones…

You go first....

I'm clearly centre right, don't believe in socialism 🤣

I'm socialist and like inheritance tax. I like tax in general. Funerals can come out of pre-tax amounts. Just to wind up the person's commitments. Sentimental items and so on...

You'd need exceptions for farmers (where the land stays in the family and is worked), family carers who live in the house, that sort of thing. But yes, no issue with inheritance tax.

@MentholLoad can you give an example of a tax loophole exploited by a large company?

HMRC's UK Tax Gap report overwhelmingly shows that the largest part of the UK tax gap arises in the small businesses sector.

Large companies tend to be listed / audited / subject to higher levels of regulator scrutiny/ have in house tax teams / use advisors, so it's very difficult to see how they can access loopholes that were never intended by Parliament.

In addition to healthcare/NHS and education, which are pretty much universal concerns, I’m deeply concerned about

1. food security
2. energy security
3. financial inequality - I don’t think everyone should have the same, but it seems wrong to me that a family with 2 parents working full-time need some form of top-up benefits in order to live.

Stop giving ridiculously high payments to those in the house of Lords. Especially free lunches for them when many DC go hungry.

Curb illegal immigration because we can't as a country afford the huge daily bill it creates. Not enough housing, GP spaces, dentist, schools etc. We take a lot of legal migrants let's stick with those.

If foreign students come to UK make them pay for a year upfront and not claim a loan from UK. ATM too many foreign students take out a student loan in UK then skip off back overseas and never repay the loan. If UK students have to pay for their degrees then certainly foreign students should. They should take a government loan in their own country.

I retired early and how am I pulling up the ladder? I'm not claiming any benefits and can't get my state pension until I'm 67. I manage on my Teachers pension I could get at 60, an annuity, interest on savings, and btl income all of which I pay tax on.