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AIBU?

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Original poster

To worry about the Tory plans after this budget

324 replies

bobbywash · 18/03/2015 15:10

and I accept the election may derail all of this but.....

The chancellor has said an additional 30bn worth of cuts needs to be made in the next parliament for their figures to work.

Now bearing in mind the ring fenced NHS budget and the (wavering) commitment to the education budget and pensions. Where the heck are an additional 30bn of cuts going to come from.

Is there anything left to cut

OP posts:
mariamin · 19/03/2015 12:39

Viviennemary - With carers, it is about the constant cuts to services. A friend has a mother who is very disabled and needs help everyday to get food, wash, get out of bed. Her mother lives alone. She used to have carers coming in every day who looked after her mother, meals on wheels, a lunch club that picker her up, and an art club that did the same.

Now all the external activities her mother used to do have been cut. Carers come in very briefly and do a bare minimum to keep her mum alive. She has had to do more and more basic care for her mum, which has meant cutting her hours at work. As a result she now claims working tax credit as she is on a low income.

She also has to pay for things that used to be free. Her mum is doubly incontinent. She used to get free adult nappies for her mum. Now she only gets two a day free, nowhere near enough.

None of these individual cuts had a massive impact. It is each cut that adds up so that costs and time increases for carers. I don't know how any severely disabled person manages who does not have family members to help.

Dawndonnaagain · 19/03/2015 13:04

Well in real terms, the spending per person will be the same as 2000.

Which isn't really great as the costs for services and foods has not stayed the same as 2000.

mariamin · 19/03/2015 13:23

2000 was 15 years ago. That really was a long time ago.

Justanotherlurker · 19/03/2015 13:25

Well its certainly better than the 1938 scare figure you used, and the deficit needs to be reduced so we can tackle the debt, or are you of the thinking that the debt\deficit is nothing to worry about?

Labour's solution is to tackle it at a slower pace, and the greens, well the greens haven't really costed anything have they.

Justanotherlurker · 19/03/2015 14:52

Ahh thats OK then, if the Guardian are using it, it must be true, after all the Guardian are pretty balanced when they report on the Tories.

Think Im going to stick with the OBR thanks all the same.

Dawndonnaagain · 19/03/2015 15:12

Oh good grief. I'm just showing you the source. Shove your prejudice aside for a second. I found a source, it's different from yours although quotes the same source. FFS. It's not about politics, I'm just pointing out, ah fuck it. I give up.

Edsgreypatch · 19/03/2015 15:19

The greens policy seems to be promising everyone the earth with aboslutely no way of funding it bar taxing the top 1% a bit more.

But then they can promise anything as they'll never have power.

The debt and deficit HAVE to be reduced. There isn't any choice. Cuts have to be made- again - no choice and Labour are saying the same.
The problem is that decisions have to be made in the best interests of the majority because that is the only fair way to govern.

irretating · 19/03/2015 15:20

Labour's solution is to tackle it at a slower pace, and the greens, well the greens haven't really costed anything have they.

That seems to be the Conservative plan too tbf, given that they keep making these big promises and predictions and then backtracking. The deficit was supposed to have been eliminated in 5 years, now we're looking at 10.

Edsgreypatch · 19/03/2015 15:26

And under Labour we'd still be up the proverbial woth no proverbial!

The Tories have done a good job bringing it down and boosting the economy.

mariamin · 19/03/2015 15:31

Its the same as the 80's. The rich are doing better, and the poor are doing worse.

2old2beamum · 19/03/2015 15:32

Dawndonnaagain

Like you I give up, people just haven't got a fucking clue. They wouldn't last a day in our shoes. As you say it's not politics it is the lack of care and compassion that grieves me.

Baddz · 19/03/2015 15:34

Ed...the Tories have created more debt in 5 years than labour did in 13.....

Edsgreypatch · 19/03/2015 15:36

The rich are doing better, and the poor are doing worse.

Except they're not. Under the Tories the group that has borne the greatest burden is the wealthy.
They also pay more tax than at any time under 13 years of Labour.

I do wish people would think and read before coming out with such trite rhetoric.

albertcamus · 19/03/2015 15:38

These comments about carers are incredibly short-sighted, ignorant & selfish. Carers' Allowance is the best VFM benefit a society can fund. If elected, the Tories will wreck the lives of society's most vulnerable which is a massive false economy. My twin daughters are front-line social workers & my son is a housing officer, and I have taught for 27 years in challenging areas; this is one thing we all agree on.

irretating · 19/03/2015 15:43

^The debt and deficit HAVE to be reduced. There isn't any choice. Cuts have to be made- again - no choice and Labour are saying the same.
The problem is that decisions have to be made in the best interests of the majority because that is the only fair way to govern.^

There is a choice, austerity isn't the only option or even the best one.

irretating · 19/03/2015 15:47

The Tories have done a good job bringing it down and boosting the economy.

I wish I could fail all my targets and still be thought of as doing a good job!

mariamin · 19/03/2015 15:51

Edsgreypatch - The poor are doing much worse. Bedroom tax, zero hours contracts, benefit sanctions, foodbanks. Lots of people are really struggling.

You can not look at this proportionately. If you have a million pounds a year and get a 10% cut, that is a lot of money, but it is not going to have a great impact on you. If you get £5000 a year and get a 10% cut, that £500 is really going to bite.

And as I said above, it is about the erosion of services which means disabled people and carers are now having to pay for things they used to get free or at very reduced cost.

Justanotherlurker · 19/03/2015 15:51

Do you think that might be because of inheriting the 150 Billion budget defecit Baddz?

mariamin · 19/03/2015 15:58

There are disabled people killing themselves because the changes to benefits mean they can't cope and are not getting the care they need. Meanwhile well off people go on about deficits, as if we are not talking about real people here.

Baddz · 19/03/2015 16:05

I agree that the deficit needs sorting....but why do the young, ill and disabled have to bear the brunt?
Maybe tax all the tax evaders?
And make the huge corporations like amazon pay tax?
Just a thought....

Baddz · 19/03/2015 16:07

The govt HAS NOT met their own deficit payment plans.
In spite of ruining lives and causing untold distress.
But, hey, as long as George osbournes best mate made £23 million from the post office sell off!...

ConferencePear · 19/03/2015 16:33

Even if you collected up all the benefits fraudsters, put them on a treadmill and whipped them until they generated electricity - I don't believe they would produce £30bn pounds worth.
There is something badly wrong with the basic system.

albertcamus · 19/03/2015 16:41

Exactly, Conference. Google, Facebook, Amazon & Starbucks spring to mind, to name but a few. Let's see more column inches about these to balance the incessant benefits-bashing.

Edsgreypatch · 19/03/2015 16:43

Erm, did you all miss the part of the budget where Osborne specifically targeted Google et al and talked about tightening up all forms of tax evasion?

What did Labour do in 13 years to address tax evasion? Hmm