Thread 15 Starmer - Nolite te bastardes carborundorum

[DuncinToffee]

Previous thread

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5244293-thread-14-starmer-the-starmeristas-strike-back?page=40&reply=141334312

I would be much harder on benefits - the current system is a ticket to doing little

Not true @bombastix

There are around 6.4 million people on Universal Credit.

2.4 million people on Universal Credit are in employment. (So not doing little).

2.3 million of non-working people on UC are not required to look for work because they fall into one or more of the categories below:

• People who have limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA) (So are doing little because they are sick or disabled)
• People who have a medical professional who says they might have 12 months or less to live (see above)
• People who have regular and substantial caring responsibilities for a severely disabled person (Certainly not doing little. In fact saving the state billions)
• People who are the responsible carer for a child under 1 (Not doing little)
• People who are the responsible foster parent for a foster child under 1 (Also not doing little).

58% of Universal Credit claimants are women. I wonder why that is?

It feels odd having to write that sort of thing on this thread...

Indeed. It’s taken a very strange turn this weekend with very few regulars posting.

They’re probably just busy doing weekend stuff.

I expect she was mulling, like she was over rewriting the Equality Act.

Braverman wearing a maga cap and Laurence Fox arrived at Washingron dc (Channel 4)

I wish I was surprised.

Its like a scene out of Dallas.....

I wonder if they are knocking boots ?

Suella is not her birth name. It is Sue Ellen.

I know...... hence my v weak attempt to lighten the mood....

It really is a gathering of the grotesques.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nigel-farage-inauguration-party-trump-b2682135.html

So Truss, Patel and Braverman and they will come back with MEGA - make ENGLAND great again… and will attempt to convince Elon they should be in charge, not Farage.

I find it strange to say nobody is doing anything about county lines. There is a lot going on - very recently in our area some key county lines big boys were arrested.

SMEGMA more like.

Well if they tried that it might just possibly fuck off everyone in Scotland, Wales and NI?
So they probably will.

@Bombastix it is incredibly lazy to just say 'target benefits' when there are enormously complex reasons as to why people in the UK need them. @PandoraSox has already laid them out very neatly - I would add that if you want people with chronic conditions and disabilities to enter the workplace and stay there, employers need to make that possible. We all know that the majority of employers won't do this because it's so easy to get someone for whom they don't need to make any adjustments. This is a shocking waste of talent, but sadly the only way we're going to make employers take on people who have disabilities or illnesses is with financial incentives.

it is incredibly lazy to just say 'target benefits' when there are enormously complex reasons as to why people in the UK need them.

The state pension is a benefit.

Very true. But the people who go one about 'but benefits' don't want to know that.

So why is Peter Mandelson not there? Haven’t had time to get on top of the whole thing around him becoming US ambassador. That is Starmer’s choice.

A friend of mine posted this up earlier today. I agree with all of it - with perhaps the most exception of the child benefit. It's a long standing bug bear of mine that things like WTC and UC for working people is merely subsiding the businesses that employ them. The minimum wage should be set at a level that doesn't require what are effectively government subsidies.

(I have posted my personal comments in italics before the C&P)

Sorry I am getting a tad fed up with business leaders saying they are being charged too much in Taxes and NI contributions, and not getting enough government support, most recently Lord Wolfson Chairman of NEXT. I would like to offer this:

Businesses operating in the UK:

If any of your staff working full-time are also claiming Universal credit, you are getting government support

If any of your staff working full-time are also claiming Working Tax credits, you are getting government support

If any of your staff working full-time are also claiming Child Benefit, you are getting government support

If any of your staff working full-time are getting Housing Benefit, you are getting government support

If any of your staff working full-time can claim free childcare, you are getting government support

If any of your staff come to work on the bus with the £3 cap, you are getting government support

If you are developer who doesn’t honour your Section 106 commitments such as road improvements, and the local council has to do them instead, you are getting government support

If you offset staff benefits such as the Christmas Party, against tax, you are getting government support

If your company vehicles are used for private purposes and not declared, you are getting government support

That’s why you have to pay taxes and NI

If you have a sustainable business plan, all your full-time staff should be able to feed, clothe, transport and house themselves and their children on what you pay them - without government support

When reviewing accounts an Auditor has to declare that a business is a ‘going concern’. If you have to rely on government support to operate your business, are you a ‘going concern’?

Has his appointment been approved by Trump ?

God forbid businesses should take smaller profits to allow for NI increases. This about Next, from https://www.theretailbulletin.com/fashion/next-raises-profit-guidance-but-warns-that-uk-growth-will-slow-07-01-2025/

Next raises profit guidance but warns that UK growth will slow
Next has raised its annual profit outlook after sales exceeded expectations in the run-up to Christmas.

The fashion and home retailer said its full price sales were up 6% in the nine weeks to 28 December compared to a guidance of 3.5%, although it explained that the number was “slightly flattered” by the timing of its end-of-season sale. Adjusting for this, underlying full price sales were up 5.7% in the period.

Next said the over achievement added £27 million to full price sales. However, online sales growth increased at the expense of growth in retail stores, where there was a decline of 2.1% in the period.

The performance has led the retailer to forecast that group pre-tax profit for the year to January 2025 will grow by £5 million to £1.010 billion. This means that profit is expected to be up 10% on the previous year.

For the year ending January 2026, full price sales growth is forecast to be 3.5% while pre-tax profit is expected to increase by 3.6% to £1.046 billion. Next said it believes UK growth is likely to slow in the year as employer tax increases, and their potential impact on prices and employment, begin to filter through into the economy.

The retailer said it faces a £67 million increase in wage costs following the Government’s Budget measures, which means it will need to push through an “unwelcome” 1% increase in prices to help offset this.

In other words, rather than accept the hit on profits (must be hard only making £1bn), they're going to increase prices to customers. FFS.

Edit: "with perhaps the exception of child benefit" (don't know where the "most" came from )

It is hardly ever food and general living costs that are the issue for most people though who do actually work full time? It is housing cost. And if successive Governments have failed to keep house prices in check and actually encouraged ridiculous profits and growth (by for example, not even taxing the substantial capital gain some people make on their prime residence or allowed unfettered foreign ownershio) then how is that exactly the responsibility of businesses, especially small businesses?