To think there are more people becoming poorer in the UK

[fullyfurnished]

I don't know if it's because I am and live in a working class area but I can see my area becoming more run down, loads more people on the streets, more crime, loads of people unemployed. I've been living in this area for over ten years and things are just going downhill. I know covid has resulted in alot of job losses but the slow decline has been gone on for awhile now.

Anyone else noticed this in their area?

@Alsohuman

The lack of funding to schools, police, hospitals has been shocking. Labour is just as to blame as the tories

How on earth do you work that one out? We haven’t had a Labour government for 11 years. What we did have was years of Tory austerity while Cameron and his merry men were feathering their nests.

you are quick to forget the state things were when labour left!

And now the tories will be blamed for the effects of the pandemic. It will be such an easy target. The bill will be astronomical, but so much easier to blame tories and nothing else.

We haven’t had a Labour government for 11 years

Labour been in power for 20 years here and they have charge of NHS and schools and both are areas of concern.

The lcoal council flips between Lab/con - and frankly labours lack of ambition is very evident - conservative council at least tries to work with local business - though I've never yet voted conservative.

"Where the hell does the money go? "

If you look at how the council have spent money, you'll find out. It does seem to surprise a lot of people.

The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. It’s always been that way.

you are quick to forget the state things were when labour left!

I remember very well the state of things when Labour was last in charge. It’s not my memory that’s failing.

Is anyone really surprised though - the tories had to be bullied by a millionaire footballer into providing meals for kids; some food parcels were so dire they contained tuna wrapped in coin bags. It only took what .. a Global pandemic to reveal that things like universal access to the internet isn't some far fetched 'broadband communism' idea and actually rather sensible.

The schools sent round links to council last spending documents- I think there were upset about funding -but when I went through mostly it was statutory services they couldn't cut.

I think the aging population here - lack of jobs - isn't helping the budget balancing.

I think post-covid is going to reveal to a lot of people exactly how precarious their financial position is. There’s no judgement from me in that but there has been very little encouragement to face up to this in successive governments since the late 80’s/90’s. Housing is an example of the house of cards that our society has been built on. It’s not sustainable without meddling from the government which completely undermines the idea ownership should be influenced by market forces when it’s quite clearly not.

@Alsohuman

The lack of funding to schools, police, hospitals has been shocking. Labour is just as to blame as the tories

How on earth do you work that one out? We haven’t had a Labour government for 11 years. What we did have was years of Tory austerity while Cameron and his merry men were feathering their nests.

Because the same austerity measures were taken by successive Labout governments too!

You could say much the same about any Blairite! Remember Alistair Darling's promise of cuts that would bite deeper than anything Thatcher had done? If you don't look it up, but don't forget he said it.

And yes, I was still a card carrying member at that time, so I bloody well did vote for it!

Yes, a combination of factors: austerity measures have hit the poorest, cuts to public services, higher prices, fewer jobs, higher childcare costs, the welfare state not providing a safety net, lack of affordable housing.

Poverty is set to grow. The Tories just don't care.

It's not the peoples income necessarily, it's the council's budgets have been cut so less street cleaning etc. People's attitudes in some areas are really bad too - it's free to take your litter home yet it's noticeable there's more litter in poor areas , income is not an excuse! People take pride where I like volunteering to pick up the jobs which the council no longer do, this is not often the case in deprived areas, perhaps because people are working 3 jobs but more likely that they don't care

Yes a lot of people are becoming poorer. Jobs that were advertised for £32,000 last year now only over £24,000. COVID is being used as an excuse at times for employers to save costs e.g. (fully remote, reduce salaries as more people are desperate for jobs etc..)

It will become worse especially when furlough ends in September. Finding a job is much harder now. Anyone in work should consider themselves lucky. However, the sad thing is that a lot of people who are poor are working (the working poor). Bills go up every year but wages remain the same or go down. I think in 2022, we might return to a more normal society but the effects of COVID will last for decades.

Remember Alistair Darling's promise of cuts that would bite deeper than anything Thatcher had done?

Yes, I remember. I also remember he proposed ring fencing the NHS and education from cuts. And he was also going to raise taxes. Osborne protected nothing apart from his cronies’ bank accounts and cut taxes.

offer

I also remember he proposed ring fencing the NHS and education from cuts. But it didn't happen, did it? It was sleight of hand, sophistry!, a lie! As Cable said at the time, it just couldn't happen!

www.pulsetoday.co.uk/news/politics/chancellor-leaves-it-to-trusts-to-fill-25bn-budget-black-hole/

And I was in education at the time. That was all bollocks too!

I think if this is the case, it is quite often due to bad life choices and wrong priorities by individuals. I appreciate that many fall upon hard times through no fault of their own, due to redundancy, poor health etc. But credit is too easily available to ‘help’ people live the ‘Instagram dream’ without thinking through the consequences. It appears that many have a sense of entitlement to the latest IPhone, hot tub (😱), financed cars, several holidays a year etc etc. IMHO anyway.

‘new normal of high and rising inequality since 1980s’ is subject of academic studies at the moment. Population is less willing to accept v high tax rates and other policies than they were post war

And now the tories will be blamed for the effects of the pandemic. It will be such an easy target. The bill will be astronomical, but so much easier to blame tories and nothing else.

The pandemic is a godsend to the Tories because it completely glosses over the utterly disastrous consequences of the monumental act of self-harm that is Brexit. Everything will be blamed on Covid, given a shrug of the shoulders, and the claim made that they can't realistically be held to account for an 'act of god'

In any case, anyone who thinks the cost if this pandemic is 'going to have to be paid for' is completely delusional. That's the line the Tories will feed in order to have the public passively accept yet another decade of ideologically-driven austerity and cuts, and yet again it'll will have no impact whatsoever on national debt, deficit, borrowing etc.

This country has been run on the never-never for decades. The pandemic is going to change nothing, it will be used as an excuse to yet again persecute and repress the people in our society who are already struggling the most though.

In any case, anyone who thinks the cost if this pandemic is 'going to have to be paid for' is completely delusional. That's the line the Tories will feed in order to have the public passively accept yet another decade of ideologically-driven austerity and cuts, and yet again it'll will have no impact whatsoever on national debt, deficit, borrowing etc.

you do realise that it's not just the UK who has been victim of the pandemic, don't you..

So you can blame the Tories in this country, but who are you blaming for other parts of the world?

@weekend2021

I think if this is the case, it is quite often due to bad life choices and wrong priorities by individuals. I appreciate that many fall upon hard times through no fault of their own, due to redundancy, poor health etc. But credit is too easily available to ‘help’ people live the ‘Instagram dream’ without thinking through the consequences. It appears that many have a sense of entitlement to the latest IPhone, hot tub (😱), financed cars, several holidays a year etc etc. IMHO anyway.

My experience is those people are quite wealthy. It's not minimum wage staff, who are often the most vital for life to go smoothly, who are making their home look instagram worthy.

Our tax system is currently very wrong and very unfair. There shouldn't be such a disproportional difference in rates.

The whole benefit system needs a complete update.
If you put labour in charge, it will be an absolute disaster.

But it's true that not everybody has got poorer recently. Many have saved so much they will be the ones boosting the economy.

If you put labour in charge, it will be an absolute disaster.
eh? why?

you do realise that it's not just the UK who has been victim of the pandemic, don't you

Yes.

So you can blame the Tories in this country, but who are you blaming for other parts of the world?

Why are you implying I blame the Tories for Covid?

My point was entirely about the ridiculous way successive UK governments borrow in order to prop up a completely unrealistic standard of living in this country, then turn around an tell the people who benefit most from it that it's all the fault of the poor and infirm that the UK is in a colossal degree of debt, and that they are the ones who should be paying for it.

If other countries are in a similar predicament, then yes, I absolutely do blame the governments in those countries as well

Incidentally, the shambolic state of the UK when Labour last left office was brought about by a Labour government that followed intended Tory fiscal policy almost to the letter, so if you want to be really pedantic, you can in fact argue that the Tories were ultimately responsible for that as well.

@weekend2021

I think if this is the case, it is quite often due to bad life choices and wrong priorities by individuals. I appreciate that many fall upon hard times through no fault of their own, due to redundancy, poor health etc. But credit is too easily available to ‘help’ people live the ‘Instagram dream’ without thinking through the consequences. It appears that many have a sense of entitlement to the latest IPhone, hot tub (😱), financed cars, several holidays a year etc etc. IMHO anyway.

Agree credit is too easily available. So many aren’t willing to save for things they want let alone a rainy day. We’ve also lost sight of what’s an essential and what isn’t I feel in many cases.

There’s also a bigger sense of entitlement for many in that they think the state should pay for choices they make, be in the area they live, children, luxury of working part time or not at all etc. Personal responsibility seems seems to have been replaced with blaming the government

@thebillyotea

In any case, anyone who thinks the cost if this pandemic is 'going to have to be paid for' is completely delusional. That's the line the Tories will feed in order to have the public passively accept yet another decade of ideologically-driven austerity and cuts, and yet again it'll will have no impact whatsoever on national debt, deficit, borrowing etc.

you do realise that it's not just the UK who has been victim of the pandemic, don't you..

So you can blame the Tories in this country, but who are you blaming for other parts of the world?

No doubt the Tories will come up with some poor-bashing austerity to "pay for the costs of Covid" whilst other Countries will deal with it in a fairer way, that's all. A lot of people fell for Thatcher's ridiculous sound bytes about "running a household" and we've never been able to get past that utter stupidity.