Can someone explain to me why/how the Labour government has directly made them worse off in the last 15 months?

[MotherofAdults]

Can someone explain to me why/how the Labour government has directly made them worse off in the last 15 months? I see this claim a lot on these pages, but I don't understand why. Sorry if I sound stupid, I am just trying to get clear.

I totally understand that the cost of living keeps going up - that inflation keeps rising (3.5-3.8%?) and that mortgage interest remains relatively high, but I don't understand why or how this is the fault of the current government? What have/haven't they done? Are people angry that they haven't curbed inflation? What should they be doing?

If we could avoid mentioning the things that didn't actually happen (eg the Winter Fuel Allowence cuts) and speculation about what the next budget will do (doubling of council tax, rise in minimum wage etc), that would be really helpful. I am looking for actual changes made by this that have directly affected your financial situation since Labour got it.

Cutting national minimum wage to £10 an hour would mean people doing a 35 hr week take home around £16 ish if that. That isn’t liveable with rent to pay.
if somebody is single under 25 and not working they would get about £9k if they were also paying rent ( my area LHA shared rate only)
so about £5k difference. Although the worker if renting would prob get approx £10 per month UC.
That amount of £400 a month isn’t really an incentive to work is it? Given transport to work you need a car if you’re rural.
UC rates are pitiful amounts as standard allowance, housing element don’t cover rent so they can’t be cut.
cutting the minimum wage to £10 an hour might work if the young person is at home with parents and don’t have to pay big rents BUT it is really unfair for those who do.

I'm hardly going to name my friends on MN. And if you're trying to insinuate that they are fictional, they will no doubt be amused, but personally I feel a bit sorry for you if you don't know anyone who isn't able to think beyond their own selfish interests.

It’s more that the views sound really in line with your posts.

I agree totally - but I don’t think it’s a shit PR machine, it’s actually conniving by the right wing press of which there is far more ( plus the same people own so many of these local page digital media sites) to keep anything relatively positive out the news- look at the rentals bill for instance- very much not reported in detail by so many media places. Starmer ( or even Ed Davey or the Green guy) could announce £19,000 of food and leisure vouchers for every household paying council tax and the Express and Mail and Telegraph and Times would have all over the front pages ‘who is paying for this?? ’ - Boris Johnson could have done the same or Farage and it would be ‘at last, some relief’

Economic growth from artificial intelligence which the UK is heavily investing in. We are only in the early adoption stages.

AI is going to do wonders for productivity and tax take isn't it?

If starmer announced £19k of food and leisure vouchers for every household paying council tax of course we would want to know who was paying for it! If the tax payer then what a waste of nearly half a trillion pounds. If food and leisure industry then what would they be getting from the government in return?

Thank goodness we have media who sometimes hold the government to account!

How does it fit with net zero though? It is a huge consumer of electricity. Or does it not count if it is only the energy demand from the uk, not the actual use?

Stop blaming those who caused it and who spent 14 years blaming Labour for their own inadequacies? Sure, I’ll get right on that.

Apparently we cant afford net zero so it doesn't really matter. I feel so sorry for young people.

What did the Tories cause ? A 20 billion ‘black hole’ ? Possibly. Another 40 billion ‘black hole’ a year later? No.

Above inflation pay rises? Bloody hell, I’m in the wrong job working for the government. This year is the first year in 15 years we’ve had a pay increase even close to inflation and we had 1% ‘increases’ for a decade before the profligacy of 1.5% one year.

Labour have stuffed up. The last budget has created a tax spiral.

Barclays is forecasting that Reeves will be looking for £41bn in tax rises in the budget, up from their prediction of £26.5bn in September.

Not according to ONS it wasn't, up compared to previous quarter, adjusted for inflation and up compared to same period 2024.

Thats a positive, you banged on none stop it was £51bn a few weeks ago.

You need to read up beyond mn. You bang on about stuff unrelated to any economic indicators.

Have we had a farmer on this thread yet - or have they all just given up on life?

I think Labour have generally. Bar a few of course batting for them to the bitter end.

Well, that's hardly surprising, is it? I have friends with values that are similar to my own. Naturally, I know plenty of people with very different values and priorities, but I don't choose to spend much time with them.

I'm very sorry if you haven't been able to find like-minded friends who share your own values and attitudes towards morality. That must be hard.

I'd stick to your day job if I were you. Creative writing doesn't appear to be your thing.

Oh I don't know ...

+1 😂

I find this answer hilarious

You describing these companies as having a a crap barely functioning business model and there are lots of these kinds of businesses around- particularly in ‘middle men’ services

A lot of my work is in Government run departments and agencies

So it is interesting that you think that this Labour Government run a middle man service industry company with a crap barely functioning business model

In areas like diagnostics the impact will be phenomenal which will have a huge impact on health. Plus discovery and delivery of new treatments will also be sped up. So in this area there is potential as long as we continue to invest in UK.