Labour isn't working - Thread 9

[TheNuthatch]

A chat thread for those who don't like this Labour government.

The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.

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The other thing that is being talked about in the budget is an increase in online betting. Now I have to admit to a vested interest here as I work in horseracing which is inextricably linked to the gambling industry.

At the moment all bets on horseracing are taxed at 15% and online gambling (casino-type games) are taxed at 21% There is talk they may seek to harmonise all betting duties and probably increase them too.

It’s causing huge concerns in the racing industry as it will impact on the amount of money flowing into the industry, which is worth £4billion a year to the economy. There are efforts underway to lobby the Treasury to continue to treat bets on horseracing differently to other gambling products. Betting on horses is completely different as it is also skill-based and supports a separate economy.

I won’t go into huge amounts of detail but if you are interested you can read more here: https://www.britishhorseracing.com/axetheracingtax-campaign-update/

Agreed! Sanity saver!

We love our SUV. Very practical for families, trips to the tip, shopping, uk holidays etc.

I must admit electric SUVs sre very heavy due ti their batteries. It’s more wear and tear on roads and bridges.

Treating gaming and betting as equivalents is stupid, runs totally against all historical and legal precedent and is counter-productive anyway.

We don’t need to support casino operators, bricks-and-mortar or online. We do need to support horse racing which is a great genuine sport, a big employer, a TV favourite and - frankly - a fantastic day out.

I hate the bickering over who ‘deserves’ a higher tax burden.

i didn’t vote labour, but the only silver lining in the election was their signalling on growth, which I (over)optimistically inferred to be a more business friendly approach. If we had growth, we wouldn’t need higher taxes. The anti-business policies are crippling the broader economy and will be their downfall. Labour seem to view the world as worker vs business, but without business there is no work.

Agree.
I am no labour fan obviously, but I was genuinely looking forward to some new ideas on growth. They lied didn't they. There wasn't a growth plan.

Fully costed frauds…

Yes I hate the pretence too - let’s raise 20 different taxes, distort a range of markets and choices, all so we can have our sound bites. Doesn’t seem right.

Public sector workers don’t generally make AVC contributions that get tax relief because the employer contribution ranges from 20-28 percent.

See I struggle with this I'm afraid.

It was the most important thing to tax education but they still haven't looked at gambling properly. They are saying that gambling is more important than education. It really sticks in my craw to be honest.

Inflation remains at 3.8%, but food inflation has risen again to 5.1%.

https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2025/09/16/paul-ovenden/

This claims that the messages from Paul Ovenden were leaked to Daily Mail cos BBC + C4 had sat on them for over a year.

Now I've had time to sleep on the debate yesterday, a few things have become clear.

1. Keir Starmer is a coward and a liar (I know, we know) has no intention of apologising for his humungous blunder in giving Mandy the US Ambassadorial role.
2. David Davis made a very valid point when he asked ; if the Mother of the house Diana Abbott and her rebelling colleagues have had the whip removed for a misdemeanour, which has still not been returned, would the same rules apply to Mandelson. Will he have the Labour lord's whip removed? and will he be stripped of his lordship for bringing the house into disrepute? If not does he PM not think there is a double standard of justice in his party, he refrained from using two teir!
3. Emily Thornberry and her colleagues in the Foreign Affairs commeitte are livid. Reading between the lines, it seems no.10 consistently and deliberately refused to allow the committee access to Mandelson for scrutiny.
4. Taking 3) into consideration, it is pretty obvious no 10 knew Mandelson would not pass scrutiny, therefore they would have to would have to deny him the job.
5. Mandelson obviously has a great big dossier on someone, somewhere in the Labour upper eschelons to even get be considered for the ambassadorship role, let alone getting it. Who in their right mind would consider a failed politian a good diplomat? All in all, it went swimmingly for the opposition and very badly for Labour. If the government doesn't answer these questions, it really could be sunk.

Hmm. It makes you wonder what else they have sat on, or ignored for the greater good.
Abbott will probably outlast Starmer and his cronies. She'll have the last laugh.

I really hope she does!

They won't answer the questions. Some minion will get the blame and be the fall guy and Starmer will continue to live in his alternate reality where he is right.

I'm beginning to feel that Starmer should be done for misfeaseance.

All excellent points. The more Starmer keeps digging, the worse he will look because everyone knows he's lying.
The House did a good job yesterday. I even saw senior politicians nodding along to Richard Tice. All opposition parties are united, and I suspect from the empty Labour benches, that most Labour MPs agree with the opposition.

Agree with you there twisty
I appreciate taxing gambling affects businesses but i do believe all gambling should be taxed at a higher level
As you say very few gave a second thought to taxing education

They are cowards. Couldn't even be bothered to turn up/hiding

They more than gave taxing education a second thought- they relished it! The glee was unseemly.

I did see my MP tucked in a seat by the door (he's Labour) and he did stay until kemi had finished speaking.
Thinking further, the deputy leadership race will never have as much importance.

I take your point.

But casino gambling - a great deal of which is online these days of course - is very different to sports betting, principally horse racing. Betting is central to racing. It’s what the whole industry was founded on.

And racing is significant. It’s a big employer. It offers much-loved national events. Jockeys, and the occasional horse, become famous. It’s one of the biggest sports in the UK and Ireland. It’s very different to roulette wheels, card games and slot machines.

All I’m saying is that taxation should differentiate between a useless (and financially very dangerous) activity like gaming, and a very different and much less dangerous form of gambling like horse race betting, which would inflict damage on the sport if taxed more heavily. (Other sports like football couldn’t care less: their income and structure isn’t reliant on betting.)

To be clear, I was and am against VAT on education. But it’s not the only sector that deserves protection from this rapacious, incompetent government. Plus, the government should be cutting public spending.

Labour don't seem to be doing much to change things that really want changing Such as the totally unfair BBC licences fee Apparently they have made it free for over seventys There are a lot of people on low income who would benefit from it being free and don't watch BBC For me BBC is mostly people having chats sport and the ridiculous adverts telling the public it's an unbiased institution Why do we have to pay for them to advertise themselves and they definitely don't seem unbiased

Horseracing should, in my mind be a protected betting system and treated as a separate entity to other forms of gambling, including the 'pretend' horse racing shown in betting shops.
Casinos and online betting make mountains of money and it would be the perfect cash cow to fill those black holes. So why doesn't government do it? well as usual, you need to follow the money. There's an awful lot of 'old' money in casinos and the new money in online gambling has always struck me as a bit dodgy.

Yep same with vaping. Always follow the money.

Inflation in UK versus other countries