To be sad that there will be no £500 vouchers

[benadrylcucumberpatch]

Being able to make a frivolous purchase definitely would have got me back to the shops!

@Yankathebear

Lack of PPE and ventilators was about poor planning, not money. They found 2.5 million pretty sharpish to build a Nightingale Hospital in my city which was always, and remains empty. They're still paying to staff it (non clinical) too, despite being empty.

@Lexilooo it’s only for eating in. I don’t think takeaways and fast food places count. More like places like Nandos, Wetherspoons etc. You have to ‘eat in to help out’

Hasn't it been done in other countries with success so although unlikely, it's wasn't completely out of the realms of possibility.

I know hospitality has taken a massive hit but I'm worried that there are other sectors that just won't be able to survive. Local games shops still can't have players come in to play games and I can't see many surviving unfortunately.

I think a cash incentive would have been good for the economy TBH.At the moment the shops are dead.Apart from Sainsburys rarely venture anywhere else these days! Went into Bournemouth Town centre on Saturday morning and all the shops were empty .Also few pubs open!

I could be the one .No controversy here! Only to happy for Nursing Staff and Doctors to go ahead of me in a queue!

We were hoping to spend ours on new carpets.

Looks like we'll have to pay for them with real money instead.

I can’t believe anyone actually thought this would happen, or that anyone believes even half the shit the media have published over this.

As well as a government enquiry, at the end of this there also needs to be a serious press enquiry.

TBH, while people might be annoyed over the eat out discounts, the truth is that people who would have gone out will be more likely to do so, it’s not about making it affordable for everyone, it’s about encouraging people back into the hospitality industry.

As for giving everyone a £500 voucher, most of it would have ended up being spent on stuff people didn’t need but because they had a voucher they would feel they had the money to spend on frivolous crap most of which would probably have ended up back in the charity shops or in landfill.

I think he was snookered by the press publishing that Stamp Duty was going to be cut in the Autumn. This would have stopped house sales totally until the Autumn, who would complete and pay the tax, knowing that if you delay a few months you will save 1,000s? So he had to bring the stamp duty cut forwards to immediate, cutting his options for a big giveaway. Still. I will go and have a half price steak at my local pub, which I wouldn't have done without the voucher. Don't forget VAT has been cut to 5% too, so as long as the restaurants pass the cut onto the customers, there will be bigger savings too. And astute business will have Eat Out offers, priced to make sure the customers spend the full amount.

I don't expect restaurants to pass on savings in VAT, and I don't think that's the intention, more to increase the margins for restaurants struggling with increased costs on reduced capacity so that they can hopefully make a living.

Because we shouldn't forget that many start up restaurants go bust within a year or two, and pretty much all the big chain restaurants have massive debts and have been teetering on the edge of going bust for years. It's quite lucky and unusual to make a decent income from the restaurant trade.

I don't expect restaurants to pass on savings in VAT, and I don't think that's the intention, more to increase the margins for restaurants struggling with increased costs on reduced capacity so that they can hopefully make a living.

Exactly. The VAT cut is to try to help restaurants and cafes to survive what will be a very quiet and unprofitable few months for them. It helps them keep a little more of their takings to go towards staff and other costs. It's up to the restaurant whether to reduce prices slightly - but considering people will be reluctant to eat out due to risk of covid, I really don't think that price is the barrier. Pointless for a restaurant to reduce prices if it doesn't lead to higher sales.

One of our local restaurants has said they will pass on the VAT savings to locals, you need to provide proof of address.

As is always the case with Tories, its incentives to help the rich. Eating out discounts, stamp duty cuts, tax cuts on holidays. Great for those that can afford it.

Nothing at all to those who have lost their jobs, had to cut back due to wage cuts etc.

People would have spent it on stuff made in China anyway.

Where do you think the money will come from to pay for these daft schemes. We will be paying for it out of our taxes.

I thought it was too good to be true. Youngest son is very disappointed as he was making all sorts of plans for the family of 4 net gain of £1,500. We would have had such fun arguing over how to spend it. I'm not bothered about eating out, but would have looked at how I could get that money back into some of the other industries that are struggling - the arts, for example. Could have bought a lot of theatre tickets ... not that there's anything to see just yet.

This has NOTHING to do with the Tories. ANY government handing out anything be way of benefits, be that 500 quid vouchers, universal credit or tax relief has a pot of money and a budget to manage (actually, there is no money, it’s mainly all debt).

Anything that is handed out, is funded by tax. We’ll be paying for corona for decades to recover the economic losses and the recession we are heading into.

With those on furlough, state pensioners, on unemployment benefits, and all the people who are employed by public sector...... that’s HALF the adult population currently being supported by taxpayers and the government.

Just let that sink in for a bit please before you start expecting shopping vouchers etc. Yes it might get us back in the shops etc but you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul.

I was looking forward to it for the sole purpose of the outrage threads on here because somebody’s DH spent all the money on a new console or they reckon their MIL has nicked theirs etc etc

I do think it would have been the wrong approach. They weren’t suggested as food shopping vouchers, more as a way of boosting the high street. It would have just ended in people buying disposable tat rather than tackling the economic damage at the source

I feel like I’m the only one concerned about such schemes. Where exactly is all this money coming from ? Taxes are going to have to rocket on income and goods to pay back this colossal debt.

@FlyRobinFly unashamed to admit that I was looking to the content too!

Yes, I’d mentally spent my family’s £1500 of shopping vouchers too!

Surprised by the level of cynicism on the eating out vouchers here though. We live rurally where you can’t normally get Tastecard, Pizza Express offers etc and I’m looking forward to half price meals out during August. We will use this a lot for lunches in the school holidays and maybe the odd date night too. I know lots of families who own local restaurants who are really pleased with this.

I’ve also won the Stamp Duty lottery as we’re due to complete on a new house next week - woohoo!

I’ve never felt so warmly towards a Tory chancellor in my life.

Where exactly is all this money coming from ? Taxes are going to have to rocket on income and goods to pay back this colossal debt.

It's coming from the money saved by not having to pay the benefits of the laid off staff, it's paid by the larger tax revenue from the companies that survive (when companies go bankrupt, only if their assets can be deployed to more efficient companies is it good for the economy, in a recession that is much harder to do because there aren't more efficient companies coming about, generally less efficient ones take over the assets, or the assets rot without use)

That's where the money for stimuluses come from, they tide over businesses (and therefore their employees) at cheap rates of borrowing - a government can borrow considerably cheaper than any individual business - so that money is not destroyed as the companies and individuals go bankrupt.

Different stimuluses have different effects of course, but there are even stimuluses that governments provide during boom situations that don't cost anything. If COVID is a short financial shock (ie businesses return to how they were before) then a short stimulus in keeping jobs is likely pretty successful. If it's simply postponing things due to a longer recession then it's more likely to be a waste.

Tax is not the zero sum game you imply.

Well said @sirfredfredgeorge.

We will also benefit from the green housing grant and so will my mum, who’s in her 70s.

@Meeh yes, it is the tories. They are still 'giving' which WILL come out of taxes. So the unemployed, low income, pensioners will be paying for peoples stamp duties, meals out and holidays. They only 'give' to those who have money.

I'm disabled, I was made redundant. I've not been able to claim ESA because they are not doing face to face assessments, so in the meantime I'm living on £75 a week to pay all my bills and food. I can't afford to eat never mind eating out. I certainly can't afford to buy a big house or go on holiday, but I guess that just makes me a benefit scrounger who should be grateful I get £75 a week!!!

Anything this government says is a soundbite and anything that actually does come to something has numerous rings to jump through... no idea why anyone believes anything they say or can bring themselves to vote for them based on their track record