Labour isn't working - Thread 20

[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/5443813-labour-isnt-working-thread-19?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

Reeves to spend £6bn more on benefits

I.... don't even know what to say at this point.

It could be a hell of a lot worse, to be fair. The massive hike in food prices that we're all still reaping the consequences of occurred long before Labour and Reeves came in to office.

Eta: don't worry, I am not going to post again! But I did think it was worth pointing this out.

Ik it’s relentless. We’re sinking.

Didn’t Labour say they wanted to get the welfare spend down anyway?

@PandoraSocks I do agree about the post-lockdown inflation.

Sorry but your graph literally proves my point. In July 2024, food inflation was at 1.5%.

Retailers are blaming the budget for our current prices, specifically NI and NMW.

I'm having second thoughts about the Christmas turkey. Fuck knows how much it will cost.

I wonder if I can roast a biggish chicken and ask everybody to pretend they have not noticed.

That was before the backbenchers torpedoed everything. She could have held off lifting the benefit cap and it might have been prudent but again there was party pressure.

Labour cannot seem to decide whether to keep their own party sweet or the electorate.

That was the energy crisis / Ukraine war plus lockdown finishing. It was pretty much everywhere.

I think Labour might refer to it, but the conditions are not so relevant to now. Oil price is low.

Yes, it was steadily falling until mid 2024.

I wonder what happened back then...

Well, yes, but this is additional inflation on food. The raw cost of feeding your family is up again. People who haven't been given a inflation linked boost to their income are still absorbing that earlier hike in food and now an additional 5% to boot. It has climbed and climbed since Labour came in and engineered this inflation with bat shit policy.

We did this last year as the turkey quote was £100 or something and we were going away afterwards anyway, I have to say though family did notice my attempts to pass off big chicken as turkey.

This year 🤷‍♀️

Yep.
Also worth pointing out that we are a outlier on inflation. Its much higher in the UK than other comparable countries.

Absolutely.
I started to really notice it in January this year.

I thought if I stuff it and cover it in bacon and maybe go generous on the prosecco then at least there won't be any mutiny because luckily none of them are Labour backbenchers.

Inflation was under control when Labour came into power. The inflation spike that occurred under the previous government was a Europe wide problem. This spike is largely a UK problem. Apart from Turkey, which has its own issues, we currently have one of the highest rates in Europe. Under the Tories, we were about average for Europe.

Perhaps a chicken could identify as a turkey and then everyone could pretend in polite silence? I mean, if we are playing non-workers whose non-work pays for the benefits of workers who don't work, who will have an inflation linked boost to their money paid for by the non-work, while our non-work is taxed at increasingly higher amounts to support the working non-workers...asking a chicken to be a turkey will be a piece of non cake.

Yes exactly. It was down again.

Economists warned the NI could spike inflation of course no one wanted to hear it.

My sentiments exactly.

I was having this conversation with my sister the other day, discussing food budgets and my spend has gone up about 20% recently!

Thankfully, I've been buying in dribs and drabs for Christmas, so other than the fresh elements and those we've pre-ordered so know the cost in advance, it's done.

Retail is going to be tough going this year.

Ah yes the graph shows the recent picture clearly too.

I work for retail / supermarket clients, we've discussed the issues. I'm well aware that price rises, redundancies and closure of fresh counters are directly attributable to Labour's actions. They told me.

Yeah IK.
I've really noticed shrinkflation too when buying Christmas bits, particularly chocolate.

Dog food has also gone up for us this year. Its costing us £60 per week atm.

UK is an outlier. US and Japan's up to date figures are not yet available, but their September figures were 3% US, and 2.9% Japan.

Don't talk about dog food. My boy costs a fair amount to feed too. Thankfully he's not a Labrador Labrador as he's not a greedy guts!

And YY to shrinkflation. It's everywhere.

Re turkey, frozen tend to be cheaper, if you've room in your freezer.

@Julen7

Yes, but I don’t ’keep name changing’ troll-style. It’s happened once! My name hasn’t changed since the last thread.

Mumsnet allows a name change.

It’s the ignore the bot/troll/it/thing etc that I’m asking for clarification on.