So what change would people like to see in this country - given people seem to want change and are fed up with the pace of change?

[cakeorwine]

That seems to be the message from people in the recent elections.

Clearly immigration - controlled or uncontrolled is an issue for some / many people and the impact on local communities

But apart from that, what other changes do people want to see that are not being delivered?

I know that housing is a massive issue. Affordable places to live
Job opportunities in a local area
People being able to stay where they live instead of being forced to relocate
NHS waiting times, seeing a GP quickly, seeing a dentist who is NHS
Cost of living - life is expensive for many people. How can life be made more affordable for people who are struggling?
Run down town centres, too much shoplifting and a feeling that people are getting away with crime

What changes do you want to see happening?

Our national budget is tight, we cannot have everything so I'd reprioritise certain things.

We have millions of SEN children who need help but only 0.1% trans people. So I'd reprioritise any money currently spent on trans to SEN children. When the economy is better, we can look again at reallocating budget.

Building houses, I'd stop all building of 5 bed detached homes, and focus on 1,2,3 bed homes. That is where there is real urgency. And I'd ban the whole "reserved for the over 55s" nonsense. An available flat should be available to anyone. Mixed communities are healthier anyway.

In our parish, homes only get planning permission if they have solar panels. I'd make that nationwide.

I'd make 10x council tax on second homes standard.

I'd ban solar farms on empty land, they should be on rooftops and over carparks. If Heathrow did that, they'd produce a third of all their own power.

Secondary schools badly need more funding so I'd scrap MATs and put the money back into actual teaching. Dumping OFSTED would save a bit too, as would scrapping mayors and police&crime commissioners. Less gold braid and political egos, more text books. 🤗

Meadowfinch - a 10x council tax in areas like Cornwall might make more houses available but unemployment would sky rocket when the tourists stopped coming.

I think it's tragic that with all our MPs that it took 3 women to get what is clearly commonsense enacted... Lucy Powell accusing those of 'dog whistle' when asking questions about grooming gangs shows how point scoring is far above the good of everyday people. Could anyone else function in their jobs with this level of pettiness?! Any job I've done you just get on with the job, work with others, put the company aims above your own personal ones...

If people want excellent state provision, then it needs to be far clearer what is on offer. My experience working on schools is that a very small number of students destroy the education of whole classes.

Schools: an excellent education is on offer - if your child is constantly violent or disruptive then then parents have to attend parenting classes. Exclusions happen very quickly where needed.

Crime: even small crimes (shoplifting) have consequences whether it be jail time or a large amount of community service

Benefits: massive reform, a life on benefits isn't an option. More people back to work or working on community projects. Working always pays.

Taxes: everyone contributes, not huge cliff-edges.

There would be chaos if they actually raised the SEN budget, it’s truly enormous

Tax wealth not work.

Control immigration so it works for the country and ensure the safety of women during this process. Ensure those immigrating have a fair start with a clear explanation of the laws / acces to health/ housing / education and work to enable them to be an productive part of our community.

increase funding to the nhs / police / education and social services - literally need double their current budget and reduce the amount of benefits paid by ensuring those fit enough have the training and support and incentive to work.
Taxing wealth - mostly inheritance and ensuring people pay their tax and support their own children.

give tax incentives for healthy lifestyles and paying into the system- eg 2 plus members of the same household who work for the public sector- reduced child care etc

2 parents who are teachers- free before and after school clubs etc

if these weightloss injections are going to take off- get on board and make some money off them or invest

Yup, we need to go back to having higher tax rates for unearned income such as interest, property rentals, pensions and other investment returns. Not as stupidly high as Labour did in the 1970s, but at least as high as all worker taxes, and scrap the over generous reliefs and exemptions for ISAs and bank interest.

The cost of living crisis and climate change are the things that worry me most

It's fine - you want good services, you need to pay for it. Our tax rate isn't that high anyway. I'd be happy to pay more like Norway, Finland etc if we had comparable services and infrastructure.

I will never support the return of the death penalty, especially with a reform government on the horizon. The state should never be given the right to kill its citizens for any reason as it is then a very slippery slope to deciding who qualifies to be " dealt with".

So a single parent teacher would pay for childcare but a 2 parent household on double the income would get it free?

So you want a reduction in spending on SEND and Social care! Clearly a Reform voter, how are people going to be cared for? Parents of SEND children already have to fight for everything even down to a school placement. What do you suggest they sit at home and vegetate? This will stop their parents working and increase reliance on benefits. You clearly don’t understand that caring for people in their own home is far cheaper than placing in expensive US owned care home chains!

I'd add to my list childcare. There is a serious shortage of places and all the 85% from UC, free hours etc is no good if you can't get a place. And people with no childcare can't work/work more however much the government likes to portray them as benefit scroungers.

But the SEND budget does not cover meeting the needs of these children! In the UK it’s around £328 million compared to the EU which spends €3.309 billion!

The biggest change I would like to see is the government having the brass tacks to tell people "no, that is not something the government will be paying for, it is your own responsibility to pay for it yourself".

I'm assuming you're a journalist OP

Or a Labour or Tory party policy adviser desperately scrabbling around trying to understand why they've screwed up so badly and lost the trust/respect of the voters? But then again, probably not, as they seem convinced they're right and it's everyone else who is wrong!

Making work pay, despite working full time and not being able to buy and seeing my neighbours better off on benefits. More incentives not to work it seems. I did a benefit check, if I didn't work I would get thousands in universal credit, no tax to pay, extra perks such as free school meals, discounted council tax and less stress. The system is crazy.

Remember, to a Reform voter, there is no such thing as a SEND child, they are just naughty and need more discipline, preferably by an Army drill instructor drafted into the school to 'sort them out'.

Rather than raise minimum wage constantly, we need to control/reduce housing costs. If that means a few rich landlords/investors lose out, then tough!

The cheapest flat my son could find to rent is over £1k per month - for a tiny one bed flat. That's not London, it's a Northern Uni city. It took him six months to even get a viewing as demand is so high all viewing slots are taken within an hour of the listing being put up on Rightmove. He had to offer a years rent up front and a 10% uplift on the asking rent to secure it as everyone who viewed it wanted it! That's a tiny one bed flat, not in the city centre, so in theory shouldn't be "popular". Some of his co-workers who started at the same time (all graduates) ended up living in hostels for a few months until they could find a flat or house share.

It's absolutely insane. It's not just the cost, it's the lack of availability too, especially in popular places such as Uni cities or tourist cities, made worse by all the holiday rentals that are also snapped up by investors!

Can I just highlight that if you want a crack down on crime you will need to massively invest in the police / cps / courts and prison / probation

this will then massively impact social care and education which will also need a huge investment

I'd like to see (this is mostly blue sky idealism, not within budget):

• Masses social housing; stable housing for people on low incomes would make a massive difference on their physical, mental and financial wellbeing and that of the country
• Taxing the wealthy: plenty of people could be taxed more and still clothe, feed and heat their household. This makes so much more sense than taking money off people's benefits that will only lead to expensive (and cruel) consequences
• Universal Basic Income: Similarly to social housing, plus would open up more jobs to people from more backgrounds.

Really. What’s stopping you, then?

I won't comment on the various things others have said.

I would like one change that costs nothing from the public purse other than the costs of changing the law- have the same time all year round, preferably BST.