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

climate change/ the environment
investing in our infrastructures in an eco way investing in our people (health / mental health / education)

NHS
better childcare costs/better benefit system
Environment

The benefits being discussed were quite obviously not pensions

Climate change
NHS
Cost of living

Not a fucking chance on any of them

Yeah. I'm sure you know ALL the carers.

And we are not talking about paid carers, it's about doing a job that's paid.

And you don't find it strange that most carers are low paid immigrants, who of course love that job so much no one could possible compare with their vocational dedication? Because at leat these are the women I see every day, working in care homes. Of course YMMV, and it seems it does.

And no, we cannot possible expect anyone to re-train. It has to be a vocation, which is very strange because not many people have the luxury of doing a job they have a passion for.

😢

I think a bigger problem with the benefits system is that UC is propping up a culture of low wages. It’s been that way for donkeys’ years - supplementary benefit, income support and now UC have allowed employers to pay low wages and the tax payer picks up the bill. And with no rent control the housing benefit system is rewarding greedy landlords. We need a reset of the tax and benefits system and the closing of the loophole allowing claimants to work less hours. Perhaps then there would be more funding available to properly support the genuinely sick and disabled who can’t work, and to fund better public services all round.

agree @Rosscameasdoody , the headline is really that people aren't being paid enough to live NOT that people are at fault for claiming benefits

Please let’s not forget that many benefits are taxable, so if they take the claimant over the tax threshold, they will pay income tax too.

oh and i also think the answer to benefits and working conundrum is to have a basic universal income for all

It’s ridiculous to have a benefit system that penalises people for working more hours and makes them better off claiming more benefits instead. And if employers were forced to pay a proper wage that people could live on, there would be no need for the tax payer to effectively foot the bill. It’s become the norm - deeply entrenched over many years and across many changes to the benefit system, but something has to change, and soon, because it’s not sustainable.

And the funding will come from……………… ?

Money unlike the air we breath, the water we drink, the minerals we mine, only money is a purely artificial concept , man made

I also think there’s a tendency with threads like these, to forget that many people on benefits have been tax payers and have themselves contributed to the benefits system now supporting them - that’s what it’s designed for. People go straight for the “the tax payer pays your benefits” option without thinking things through. Yes, there are those who have never worked, and those who have no intention of working if they can get away with it. There are also benefit cheats. But they’re not nearly as prevalent as the press and the media would have you believe. Fraud and error in the benefit system is less than 2 percent. The fact that people think it’s higher comes from things like people suspecting their neighbour or whatever doesn’t look sick/disabled enough to be on benefits so it follows that they must be cheating the system somehow.

What is the point of that comment though, in the context of this thread?

Sorry
Where people go "where is the money to come from"

You have many options
Tax the very rich - the top 10%
Greater inheritance tax - so the top 10% of estates not the current 3 or 4 % - unearned wealth
Or redefine money and economy and basically print some

🤣
I only referenced my experience of carers/caring/the care system because you said that I must be naive of it; to demonstrate that I am not

Climate change.
The welfare bill.
Housing - including much more social housing being built and curbing second home owners and landlords.

Re money on SEND provisions. And education and mental health services. Providing better services for these people will enable them to come off benefits and pay back into the system through taxes.

I have a high needs Sen child without a school place. So I had to quit work and now rely on benefits. After a lot of hassle the LA now pay for him to have a tutor. They had to pay me compensation for his missed education. Because I'm poor I qualify fo legal aid so tax payers are funding my taking the LA to court to get my son a school place. My solicitor has instructed private reports from multiple professionals all paid for by the tax payers (before I had to stop work I was paying for these reports when we needed them).

The lack of send provision in this one case is costing tax payers far far more than a school place would cost.

I know of people who are on long wait lists for operations or treatments they need to get them well enough to return to work.

Good early education correlates with less reliance on the welfare state.

There is so so much money could be saved by running public services better and faster for those who need

But this is being tackled to some point ( although not going far enough imo). They are raising the earnings thresholds on UC so that both of a couple need to be looking for work and earning a minimum amount each month. It is rising but not enough, but it is moving away from the old tax credits where people could work 16 hours a week for years on end and claim benefits.

Naive or disingenuous, was what I said.

I think someone on another thread put up some stats recently and said that there is one taxpayer supporting three pensioners currently and there's been a massive shift since a few decades ago with people living longer, pensions rising, many many pensioners being on disability benefits, the cost of care etc. It's unsustainable as there are not enough tax payers funding it and it's not something any government are properly addressing.

Social housing and renting cost
NHS
Violent and youth crimes

Benefits I don't think so .. most people are living on nothing.. its the wealth with all they tax cuts and loop holes that actually cost us more .. the wealth gap is massive in this country.. why go for the most vulnerable

Ah, I understand what you are saying now. Some problems though. Not to say it cannot be done, but these things need considering.

Tax the very rich - the top 10%
Bar bill analogy

Greater inheritance tax - so the top 10% of estates not the current 3 or 4 % - unearned wealth
That might raise another £13bn. This is a reasonable sum but is only 5 days of total taxation, levies etc raised in the UK. The difficulty is IHT is based on asset values and there are two main asset classes that are caught - listed shares and let property. Most of the UK's land is exempt and so are most businesses. Your IHT tax is going to depend on the right number of people dying owning the right sort of assets.

Or redefine money and economy and basically print some
That is what we did between 1995 and 2020. But the UK now owes £2.7 trillion to investors that lent that money. The interest bill next year is estimated to be £160bn. This is about 6%. To put it into context the Treasury might raise £800bn but out of that will be paying one-fifth of our tax revenue to meet the interest alone. When it pays back some of the underlying debt it will have to issue some more - at even higher interest rates than the previous 25 years.

Taking all the above into account, you will see we have little in the way of wriggle room. The days of printing money are over. We have to work harder and be more productive. There is no other choice. This is why Truss and Kwarteng's 'magic' was dismissed by the rest of the world as snake oil.

Unfortunately money is the common denominator in how things are measured.