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.

Lucky you… huge council tax rises, higher food costs every week, energy rises, clothing prices rising, fewer jobs for everyone, high interest rates, rise in crime and illegal businesses in every town… Now we face the first tax rises in decades.
Graduates have huge interest payments on loans, no NHS dentists etc etc. Are these all part of your ideas for a great way of life for the average person?

Not at all, your attenpt at a put down actually made me reflect on how valuable it is to be around different views and not let politics ruin relationships.

I know some who fall out over whatever, whether it’s Israel / Gaza, left / right, any issue with a divide. No way am I doing that, the people I care about are too important. to me.

Plus there are connections other than politics anyway.

Spoke to some friends last night. More redundancies (big 4) and those in finance ( UK companies). All negative feedback - not looking good! These are all the highly taxed lot we rely on for public services. I am scared of a doom loop. This Government has no handle! We can keep lying to ourselves though. We need the City of Lonfon to pay a lot of tax to fund services.
AI replacing jobs and tax take is not good for public services. Where are the taxes going to come from? Will Government actually keep up with AI? Is it going to be centralised? It’s all very confusing.

Of course, and it's normal to have differences of opinion between friends. However, I think it's impossible to be close friends with someone if their values and ethical framework are fundamentally incompatible with your own.

Also people keep forgetting about covid. Furloughs saved workplaces and people's jobs and cost a bomb. Mortgage holidays saved peoples homes and cost a bomb. eat out to Help out was probably ill-advised and cost a bomb.

Furlough in particular was hideously expensive but kept people from losing their jobs and homes. Okay alot of the policies were shit, but I do think the Tories can be thanked for that. The years of austerity beforehand was utterly shit but ensured there was at least money for something as unexpected as a global pandemic. There wasn;t any money in the budget when Labour left power before that - if a pandemic had happened then none of these protective measures would have been able to take place.

Odd how when Reeves is chucking around how the Tories are to blame - how Brexit is to blame she never actually says 'Covid was an economic catastrophe because the Government at the time had to put in emergency fiscal measures to save people's livelihoods'.

Ok that’s your call. I love that I’ve had some conversations outside my thinking. I’m keeping that and value it.

Between 2007 and 2023, public sector pay saw a 1% decrease in real terms, compared to a 4% increase across the private sector.

Even with recent wage increases, teachers, nurses and doctors salaries are 9% or more lower in real terms, than in 2010.

Since 2020, private sector average wage has been higher than public sector for the first time ever - which, when you consider that the Private Sector includes many more minimum wage roles and public sector a lot of (what should be) highly paid roles like doctors and teachers is really quite astonishing.

Highly skilled, professional, public sector workers often chose to remain in the public, accepting a lower wage than they could get in the private sector due to vocation, pension and security.

All of the 'perks' within the public sector have been massively eroded over the past 14 years.

On top of pension changes which mean they are no longer the gold plated pensions they once were, constant restructures and redundancies, budget cuts and pressures to find savings have been put massive pressure on public sector workers.

Add to that lower wage growth compared to the private sector and its really no surprise that so many public sector workers are leaving either for the private sector or better opportunities abroad.

Its always been fashionable to scoff at public sector workers, and historically there was probably some truth in it, but there isn't any more.

I want the brightest and the best people to be teaching my kids, providing my medical care, working in local government and the civil service - but the brightest and the best don't want to do those jobs when they are treated so badly, both in terms of wages, working conditions and derisory public opinions about the 'public sector' which have no basis in fact!

Inflation at 11%, food at 30%, Energy so expensive, the Tory Govt had to step in to subsidise it.
No NHS dentists
Mortgage Interest rates at 6%
Universities with no funding thanks to a lack of Govt funding and drop off in international students.
Debt to Gdp at 100%.
A total failure to get to grips with organised crime

Labour are not responsible for any of this, they took over with all of this already in place.

14 years of the Tories did this and at times, i voted for them :( but like many voters, have completely abandoned the Cons, i'll never vote for them again.

The Tories mis manged Covid, causing a lot of long term costs, MH, Education, borrowing, fraud.

Evidence for this is the long term sickness issues in the UK, far above any other European country.

Another issue the Govt has to deal with.

Conversations outside my thinking? Absolutely, bring them on. That's one of the reasons why I have enjoyed being in a cross cultural relationship for the last 3 decades or so. I welcome the challenge that different perspectives and insights can bring.

But being on the same page about basic moral values is important to me, yes. Fair enough if you're not bothered.

Why do you do that last line every time 😬. It’s no where near what I’m thinking.

I don’t want your version of cutting people off no, I’m happy to value people with different political views.

But really the people you’re talking about are private school users who like paying Labour VAT. In the general scheme of things it’s a privileged position even if they do tell you they happily paid extra thousands for sod all.

In a progressive society it would. In our current set up, it will just make the rich richer.

Think of the quality of life that could be achieved if AI was used to replace manual processes, but money made continued to flow into the exchequer rather than pockets of Bezos, Musk and Zuckerberg.

At the very least we could establish a Sovereign wealth fund which would cover pensions, benefits and other key services (Like how Saudi and Norway use their oil revenues)

Ultimately we could potentially introduce Universal Basic Income giving people more choice as to what they wanted to do, improving work life balance and providing more time for creativity and the arts.

But unless proper statutory foundations are laid, with protections against short term ideological changes, it will just increase the wealth gap even further.

Absolutely, it's an incredibly privileged position to be in. But that's kind of the point. I would find it hard to be friends with someone with that level of privilege if they didn't at least recognise that privilege or if they had a sense of entitlement about it.

I have friends from very different backgrounds and very differing levels of wealth. I enjoy that diversity immensely, but our friendships are founded on a shared perspective on what is important in life/what constitutes right and wrong etc.

When were interest rates 6% over the last 10 years?
can you imagine Labour managing Covid?

You can have the same moral compass but disagree with someone. I agree we should have some form of motabiliry scheme but disagree that someone should be able to buy a BMW with it.

I said mortgage rates... which for many went over 6%.

Always helps to read whats in the post, which given your user name, i'd expect.

I think pretty much anyone could have done better than Boris Johnson, have you ever listened to him at the Covid inquiry? the guy is an idiot.

He hadn't a clue.

Ok so using private school is in but the person must say how much they like paying the VAT.

In any case it’s a terrible policy so if someone talks about it from an economic perspective then great, they haven’t fallen for Labour’s divisive and damaging policy.

Corporates rarely pass the savings on. The government doesn't have the skills or the teeth to address this. I am sure with our brightest and best minds we should be able to come up with something better.

Of course, there will inevitably disagreements about specific issues. But a shared moral compass will typically result in shared values and shared beliefs about right and wrong.

I do understand that this doesn't apply to politics if you don't frame political choices as a moral issue. So, if you believe that voting should be based purely on self interest, then it obviously wouldn't matter if friends had wildly different political views, because they would simply be voting for whatever they considered to be in their own self interest, which might be different from your own. But if you frame it in terms of making moral choices, then you don't necessarily need to vote the same way as your friends - and you often won't - but there will be some choices that you might consider to be morally incompatible with your own value system. And it is hard to stay friends with someone if you really don't like the values that they stand for.

It’s just too devoid of economics tbh. I like that aspect and understanding with some of the people I know. Not all but it’s an interest I have.

The problem is that no one is interested in the past. For someone facing financial hardship after losing their job due to Reeves' economic incompetence, what the Tories did or didn't do is irrelevant. Unless Labour can grasp this and start taking accountability, their last few remaining supporters will desert them handing a huge victory to Reform in the next GE. It's time for Starmer to grow a backbone and lead the country instead of running scared.

No, that's not what I'm saying at all. I am not a fan of private education personally, but I don't judge other parents for doing what they believe to be in the best interests of their children. I do judge them if they are unable to acknowledge the incredibly privileged position that they are in to be able to make that choice.

Whether or not they agree with VAT is entirely their prerogative - it isn't for me to dictate. I have merely said that I have friends who are ok with having to pay it, and that it's hardly surprising that my closest friends have values that are similar to my own.

... and is a blunt instrument which has undoubtedly made SOME families worse off.

In my situation I think I'd throttle them! It's literally upended our life and I don't know if DD will even get A' Levels now. The idea of rich mums sitting in Gails virtue signalling to each other is giving me the rage.

The poster is still worse off. That was the title of the post.