Labour isn't working - Thread 19

[TheNuthatch]

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

We are bracing for the budget 😬

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

Previous thread
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5441764-labour-isnt-working-thread-18?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

Agree

Well that didn't take long. There's already a protest organised against the asylum seekers being housed in the barracks in Inverness, as well as a counter protest with some somewhat contradictory wording.

Needless to say local social media is very bunfighty just now although the numbers against significantly outnumber those for.

Place marking this is day 543 or smthg of not working or working or something. I am so tired but not tired enough to not rejoice in the downfall of these unintelligent clowns downfall bring it on. I mean I like a joke but the unbelievable speed at which this has been unravelling must be unprecedented

I’m seeing on SM the hilarious belief that Starmer really didn’t know anything about briefing against challengers. It’s all got up by the right-wing press!

All supporters of all parties can close their eyes to some uncomfortable truths. But that takes the biscuit. It’s not only delusional, it’s colluding in a giant lie.

I suppose that when it’s clear the party you support is worse than the ‘scum’ you railed against, you have to go into full disciple mode and deny anything awkward.

My algorithms are now feeding me wall to wall Kemi. I think she's been on fire recently! We just need the press to get behind her now.

🤣🤣🤣

<Rushes in, slams front door shut>. Thank you, @TheNuthatch. Dentures? Vapes? Seriously?

Interesting panelists on QT atm, including Ken Clarke and Zarah Sultana. I'm hoping for fireworks, or at least some awkward questions.

Ken? He should be good value. He used to be my MP.

Question Time is very telling tonight. First question about what happened to Labours “grown up” approach?

Ken Clarke talking a lot of sense.

Question time very good Ken Clarke god total respect to him ZS total pita and banging her own agenda reform chap very good Labour nil point

Ken Clarke talked a lot of sense; the audience listened quietly and none of the other panelists tried to interrupt him - mainly, I suspect, because it's a long time since we've heard real political rhetoric delivered in measured tones.

ZS wasn't really on my radar until this evening and I hope she doesn't ever cross it again. Just awful.

https://news.sky.com/story/starmer-and-reeves-ditch-plans-to-raise-income-tax-in-budget-13470025

So I wonder what's next in the agenda!

Hard to understand what this could possibly mean.

They don’t need the money to reassure the markets about debt? Seems highly unlikely.

Or that they’ll borrow more, or print? Suicidal.

Or that they’ll cut spending massively? Er, no, not possible, backbenchers and all.

Or that they’ll tax some people huge sums on wealth but no-one on income? That would be madness and would lead to capital flight and catastrophe on longer-term bond yields.

I think this is more Labour spin.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/rachel-reeves-income-tax-rises-budget-b2865029.html

That's a relief I guess. What next I wonder. Hmm...

Sorry cross posted.

Well, personally I'm relieved about the income tax thing as we really can't afford it and would be so screwed. They'll probably get us some other way though I'm sure.

The FT are reporting she is considering lowering the tax thresholds (e.g. for higher rate).

This would raise more income tax.

So we all still end up poorer (apart from the half of the population who don’t pay income tax).

I suspect she will lower the higher rate threshold to 45k or whatever number they have decided makes you no longer a “working person”

That will raise 14bn from the existing higher rate taxpayers alone plus of course all the new higher rate taxpayers which I cannot quantify.

Not that I trust a word that Starmer and Reeves utter, but it’s too late. The damage has been done by all these pre-briefings leaked to the media. If not this budget, then the next. No one of sound mind will invest here until these thieving charlatans have done one.

Benefit claimants are poised to spend less time looking for work, after the Government agreed to end the “rigid focus” on job-hunting.

Instead of requiring jobseekers to dedicate 35 hours per week to finding employment – effectively treating the task as a full-time role – a new “Pathfinder” service is being trialled with looser requirements.

The Government said the system would “balance conditionality requirements with customer-centred action planning”. It said: “We aim to give claimants more choice and empowerment on their journey into work.”
The watering-down of job-hunting targets comes despite the benefits bill for working-age adults surging and as unemployment hits 5pc for the first time since the depths of the Covid lockdowns.

In response to a report from the work and pensions committee that called for targets to be relaxed, the Government said: “Instead of a rigid focus on the requirement to undertake 35 hours of work-related activity, through these Pathfinder tests work coaches will be encouraging claimants to take all reasonable steps to search for and prepare for work, considering their circumstances and capability.”

Debbie Abrahams, the Labour chairman of the committee, welcomed the move as “a constructive step forward on a holistic, supportive and humane approach to worklessness”.

Morning all! Thanks for the new thread @TheNuthatch. I’m learning so much - and also enjoying the light heartedness you all manage to display!

@MNHQ

Sorry to bother again! What is Mumsnet’s stance on the formation of thread ‘echo chambers’. I don’t want to derail this thread - but it states very clearly at the beginning that this thread is for people who ‘don’t like Labour’.

A poster @Falseknock then posted to point out an alternative viewpoint, and a special rock gif was used to persuade other posters to ignore this poster.

A subsequent post was later - I assume reported and removed by Mumsnet.
In political threads, I would say it’s extremely important not to form ‘echo chambers’ or attempt to gang up/bully anyone with an alternative view off the thread.

An early election IS a possibility - so if posters are concerned about what is looming on the horizon - I think they should be free to post.
As Mumsnet/this thread is a public forum, I think all should be free to post - not just posters with a certain political view. It should be open to those who agree and disagree.
The behaviour I’ve been exposed to is being referred to as an ‘it’, that my comments are ‘stupid’ - and then a rock gif indicating to others to ignore me.

The gif is the used again whenever any poster points out a more anti-right wing view.

Many thanks!

Hopefully you posted this on the pro Labour echo chamber. No? Thought not.

I'm not sure she'd get away with that as it's still raising income tax. The articles I've seen about the about turn also mention freezing the thresholds.

I suppose we non-workers just have told hold our breath and hope for a bit longer.

My thoughts exactly.

@Legolava

There should not be a pro Labour echo chamber thread either - and Mumsnet should not allow the formation of one!
I didn’t seek out this thread, it came up in my feed (somehow!) - so I should really be free to comment!

I haven’t seen the ‘other’ thread. Can you link me?