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.

Yes, of course. Morally, she should anyway because she will have broken the fiscal rules she put in place at the start of Labour's term in office.

I don’t think you can control us discussing it as much as you try 😬

Starmer is definitely accountable on this too.

Completely agree but it's clear Reeves feels the full weight of responsibility. I pitied her yesterday, bungling her way through questions after a truly awful speech that even she struggled to believe in.

Labour is meant to be the party of the young! When did they forget that?

Reality is the WFA fiasco has them utterly spooked and now they are cowards and it is all going to cost us an arm and a leg.

If you are going to tax workers, you must also make the pensioners pay! Demographics and all. They are unbalancing the equation. This will send us into freefall.

Discuss away. I'm not stopping you - carry on.

The VAT has hammered us!

We are paying £900 pcm.

We were easily spending that a month on eating out, days out, clothes, holidays etc, but now we just have to give it to the Gov, alongside the £3500pcm we give in tax to the Gov through salaries.

When families like ours stop spending, or think the cost of things are a piss take, we stop going out.

The Gov have forgotten that the middle pay for so much, not just in tax, but in spending.

Yes I actually think she’s in a bind. The last budget has had a detrimental impact, there’s a bigger hole now due to that, and it is on her but Starmer too. However the markets have shown they’ll react if she goes.

What a job to stay in, I think she’s probably struggling and on a personal level I kind of wouldn’t blame her if she walked, MH is important too.

I hope the whole of the Labour Bench's mental health is in tatters. Vile Gov.

I can't think of anyone that could replace her but the toll it's taking on her is plain to see. No job is worth that as you say. What a mess.

I do not think it is Reeves or Starmer to blame though. It is some of the unrealistic backbenchers with no clue of the real world and international finance and putting bleeding hearts above the best interests of the country long term?

Of course young people are sick and not working and have mental health issues. They were dumped on screens for years to save the NHS and elderly during Covid. It is time the elderly pay and the young are propped up so that this country does actually have a future?
The whole rhetoric from Reeves of “we want to attract the brightest and the best” - you cannot keep shopping for talent in India and China endlessly and then tax them through the roof here? As those economies grow and their quality of living improves, there will be no interest to come here to a dying island. You have to invest in your own. You have to keep a balance between making your young as productive as possible, especially if you want to support 40 years of dead weight (18 years minimum in education), 20 plus years retirement. Each and everyone of us has to work to support ourselves for 50% of the time of our life.

Oh give over - accepting clothes and tickets to events from political donors which are fully declared is no different to any other MP.

I don't agree with it for any of them, but gifts and donations is the way our political system is set up. To claim that it is a level of corruption that is anywhere near akin to the corruption scandals in the Tory party is frankly ridiculous!

Starmer's £100,000 in declared freebies over the past five years for clothes, accommodation during the election and a box at a football match for which he previously had a season ticket but wasn't allowed from a security perspective to sit in the stands any more, is in no way comparable to Johnson's £1,000,000 + of free gifts including holidays and donations to decorate the Downing Street flat and his attendance at parties held by the likes of Lebedev - including that time he ditched his security!

Raynor's failure to pay £40,000 in stamp duty is in no way comparable to Zahawi's £5,000 000 in unpaid taxes - plus she was gone within days. It took Suank months to sack Zahawi!

VAT on adult clothes is the same on whether you spend in Harvey Nichols or New Look. High end items? Spend more on VAT.

You seemed to have forgotten to mention the £740,000 of undeclared funds used to support Starmer’s election to leader of the Labour Party.

@SJone0101 , We were easily spending that a month on eating out, days out, clothes, holidays etc, but now we just have to give it to the Gov,..
The government isn't forcing you to eat out, have days out, buy new clothes, go on holiday.
Children's clothes don't have any VAT.

I don’t think that was the point. Rather that money spent on taxes is money not used to support the economy in other ways.

Having said that, I think pp doesn’t appreciate who actually represents ‘the middle’.

The backbenchers squashed £5bn welfare cuts, it did prompt Reeves HoC reaction but really the hole is now much bigger.

Around £41 to £50bn depending where you read. Barclays says £41bn

There's statutory agreements in place for spending, especially when it comes to social care, which is the biggest spend.

I agree with NI insurance being solely directed for all health care.

Well if they target their "success penalties" at individuals with wealth over £200 million" that will likely satisfy the majority of MNers.

It's the definition of "rich" (aka deserving of penalty) as having worked to put a child in a private school or being able to go for a family holiday or not having to sell a family home that people are objecting to.

They haven’t directly yet but am keeping an anxious eye on the budget as we are to the wire financially and can’t afford for life to cost more at the moment.

Sorry, I meant the VAT on private schools.

How do you value the assets of those worth over £200 million? Cash in bank may be clear cut but they are likely to only have a few million there at most. Property is also relatively straightforward, though that might well be mortgaged as that tends to be a cheap loan compared to other loans and they would likely want their money invested elsewhere too.

Mostly you will be valuing shares in businesses probably operating through various complex structures and holding companies, quite possibly linking overseas too. Just establishing the wealth of such an individual will be far from straightforward.

If you are earning enough to pay over £3500 a month in tax and pay £4500 a month in school fees while having £900 a month left over for going out, you are not 'the middle'. You are the top 1 or 2%!

The 'middle' are households with income between £40,000 and £70,000.

I completely agree with you - pensioners have far more than other working areas and all the benefits of home ownership. I think Labour have stopped even considering them as a group though after the Winter fuel fiasco - weirdly reported on as it was only being cut for people who could already afford fuel - pushed them to the ring early on and they're too scared to turn to them again. They don't have the balls to do things properly and equally. It's court of public opinion.

“They don't have the balls to do things properly and equally. It's court of public opinion.”

The pensioners do not control the financial markets though so we will all be screwed. So Labour need to develop some courage and share the burden fairly. Old people will always moan, that is their prerogative. No point in taking it too seriously.