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.

For us VAT on private school fees

(Working parents, both state educated ourselves, not born with silver spoons etc we choose to have one child & cut our cloth to afford private school, don’t have things many take for granted eg foreign holidays / Netflix etc)

It was snarky and smug and it won’t help Labour do well if that’s what you’re after. I’m guessing it was a moment to feel good by going for others.

Plus one day they might hit what matters to you, looking at their policies they’re unravelling at a pretty fast rate. From no tax rises to this morning shows how badly thought out they are.

University fees have increased by £285, but maintenance grants have increased for the poorest students.

Such hurty feelings for those who love to hurt the most vulnerable in society.

The rise in minimum wage is not unreasonable but adding an additional cost of employing all employees in the form of NI was always going to have a negative effect on businesses that employee people.

“Many of the people you are sneering at have proritised work over life are pay the most tax.“

I am literally telling my 4 DC now that if they want to be overly ambitious they need to leave the country, but if they want to relax and just game the system and have an easy life, stay here.

If it’s taken the Labour government implementing some policies you don’t like to make you realise there’s more to life than work that’s quite sad

Those people working hard are the ones adding to GDP and paying large amounts of tax. The attitude “there’s more to life than work” is why we are in this mess. Yes, there’s a balance, but too many people don’t want to work hard but expect someone else to fund their lifestyle through the tax system. Implementing policies which encourage people to work less is short sighted and economically non sensical.

Yes it’s not unlimited though. Tax hikes, people opting out, as much as Reeves couldn’t get welfare cuts through it’s not going to help to keep hiking taxes and borrowing to cover it.

Also ‘hurty feelings’ again Labour come on.

The aim is to be an ordinary working person. That has got to be the aim for all. The message is delivered loud and clear.

Exactly this. I’ve told my children to look abroad as well. This country doesn’t value hard work. What’s the point in working hard to provide for yourself when it then gets taken away?

Soon that will just be people not working. 1984 style.

It is not about “hurty” feelings. You can only control the population who actually needs you and has no where to go and cannot adjust their behaviour. You cannot control the population who has even a bit extra. You need their buy in. Nobody can force me to work 100% instead of 60% (or 80% some weeks), because it is my choice. You also cannot levy exit taxes and controls off taking cash out of the country when financiers will refuse to lend to you at a reasonable rate, if you go totally nuts.
So I am fully expecting tax rises but also welfare cuts and if they do not do the latter, a further run on the pound, worse than Liz Truss.

Well, yes, those people too. We should all acknowledge our privilege, and I am quite happy for those who buy into expensive catchment areas etc to contribute their fair share of taxes via stamp duty etc.

Only some of those people are vulnerable. Some are just work shy thanks to a benefits system that can be gamed. That makes them just as bad for the genuinely vulnerable as any billionaire tax avoider.

No - it's the threshold at which you start to pay those levels of tax - the bottom threshold has been £12k forever and it now means that pensioners who only receive state pension are having to pay income tax - which is quite frankly ridiculous.

The tax threshold for 20% should be set at £20,000, 40% at £75,000 and then 60% on anything over £150,000 rising to 75% over the next five years.

This would ensure that more people in lower earnings brackets keep more of their money, while not reducing the amount of income tax revenue. It would also boost the economy because people will have more disposable income which means they would buy more, helping business and also contributing to tax revenues via VAT.

I would favour a move to a French or German style health insurance system (absolutely not a US style system), where everyone is required to have insurance for health and retirement, but they can choose whether they want to use public insurance or private insurance. The public insurance schemes are either run by the government or outsourced on their behalf but the contribution percentages are controlled. Most importantly, the money goes into a dedicated pot - unlike our national insurance which for the most part gets lumped into general taxation. I also like the fact that people can choose to take care needs insurance out, which means they do not have to sell their home to pay for care fees.

The government also need to announce a massive infrastructure improvement project and borrow the money to make it a reality. They are never going to balance the books by tinkering around with taxes and budgets for services as they stand - the only way the economy improves is through investment.

With 14 years of austerity, decimation of public services and Covid, the country is in a very similar position economically and infrastructure wise as it was in the 40's - infrastructure may not have been bombed, but it is crumbling, we may not have lost hundreds of thousands of men to war, but millions are unable to work due to sickness and NHS waiting lists.

We've effectively been through a war and the government need to rebuild in the same way that Atlee's government did in the late 40's.

It is impossible to get an EHCP in Scotland - they don’t exist there.

“The tax threshold for 20% should be set at £20,000, 40% at £75,000 and then 60% on anything over £150,000 rising to 75% over the next five years.”

@BloominNora - 75% would lose pretty much the entire financial and legal sector over night. All our competitor countries would be rubbing their hands in glee!

Any insurance style system will end up like the US not France and Germany. PFI should give you an idea how private / state partnerships work in the UK.

Thanks, I wasn't aware of that. Presumably that is an issue that the devolved government could resolve if it chose to do so?

“Hurty feelings” - how old are you?
Some are vulnerable, some just prefer a life on benefits. Which Labour is facilitating.

That’s a nice line but you’re overlooking Labour’s failure with policies, they’ve put in place policies that hamper growth.

That’s why after pledging no tax rises they’ll have two successive budgets hiking borrowing and taxes, or just taxes as they’ve maxed out borrowing.

They know this, they’ve just fucked up and given up.

"I have been very clear that every policy we announce, and every line in our manifesto, will be fully costed and fully funded."
“Nothing in our plans requires any additional tax to be increased.”
“We’ve got the Office for Budget Responsibility now… You don’t need to win an election to find out [about the public finances].”
“I don’t believe that fiddling around with tax rates is the best way to grow the economy.”

But that's fine. I presume that the country will cope without your children, as indeed it coped without me for the years when i chose to live abroad. There will be others who step in to do the jobs that your dc might have done if they had stayed. Same if you reduce your hours - others will do the work instead.

Nobody is irreplaceable.

I don’t feel any worse off than when Liz Truss was in government. That’s the only time I remember being panicked because of the rise in heating costs etc.

However, I feel like everything is expensive now (not blaming Labour, it’s been this way since the Tories). We are spending a fortune on food for example.

The ‘most vulnerable in society’ are the ones losing out the most from increasing food costs, sky high fuel bills, inevitable reduction in public services as the tax take fails to keep up with cost of government borrowing.

But at least the government supported Labour MP PBM will enable them to kill themselves instead which, as has been pointed out be the proponents of the bill, will save money on health and social services.

For me the government, which just happens to be Labour on this occassion, have outlined sweeping NHS reform and closure of services without a full understanding of what those services actually do, who will do the work when they go and what will happen with those staff. I work in a service which provides essential front line services to patients who are chronically ill.

I was told I would be made redundant, then the treasury admitted they wont actually fund that level of redundancy. I was then told I would be redeployed but no one can yet confirm what my role will look like. Just had first redeployment meeting to be told when we move into the new service we will immediately go 'at risk' for redundancy as that service has to cut spending by 40% with no guidelines how.

The government is saying redundancy with one hand but then refusing to pay for it with the other. What do I do. Jump ship, lose my continuing service, end my pension scheme, leave a specialised job I am skilled and experienced at when there is nothing else available at all, leave only to find colleagues get redundancy pay out a few months later. It's stressful and anxiety inducing. My income and career are insecure. I don't sleep and I have started anxiety medication.