AIBU TO WONDER HOW IN GOD'S NAME PEOPLE WILL BE ABLE TO AFFORD THE INRESE IN ENERGY PRICES

[Diamondsareforever123]

OK this obviously won't affect those who are lucky enough to have money - but - how are those on low incomes/benefit, poor pensioners, etc. ever going to possibly be able to afford the energy price increases? Also the increases will have a knock-on price increase effect on everything we buy - food, clothes ...... I am concerned.

Sunak's £200 discount is a scam - it's a loan you have to pay back over the next 5 years when wholesale gas prices will continue to rise. It's simply not enough. We need nil VAT on fuel and a windfall tax on the likes of Shell NOW. People at the top don't get it. Does the Queen have to choose between eating and heating?

@Againstmachine

*The point is, that l was better off due to Labour being in power. Mainly because they don’t screw people over who are on middle to low incomes.

Unlike this lot.*

Except they did back in 2007 they increased taxes on the low paid.

Do you mean the 10p rate? Yes, Labour introduced that rate and then abolished it a few years later But Brown did mitigate it slightly by raising the personal allowance at the time by a few hundred quid.

Yes. I think Rishi said it when Martin Lewis was interviewing him this week. He definitely said it.

@Againstmachine

I tell a lie, Labour introduced a new top rate for earnings over £150k, so technically an increase. But most people earn nowhere near that.

No they also made the low paid worse off with the change to the 10p rate.

As I said above, that rate was initially a tax cut introduced by Labour. The 10p rate did not exist under the Tories.

Do you mean the 10p rate? Yes, Labour introduced that rate and then abolished it a few years later But Brown did mitigate it slightly by raising the personal allowance at the time by a few hundred quid.

No it was after people became worse off and brown realised his maths made people worse off. I was there and on a low wage. The fact is labour made people on a low wage worse off.

If the left get in I'll have to pay more taxes

As I've mentioned elsewhere, VAT was 8% in 1979, it rose first to 15%, then 17.5% and now it's 20%, all increased under Conservative governments.

National Insurance employee contribution was 6.5% when Thatcher came to power and 10% by the time Major left. 11% when Cameron got in and up to 13.25% next year. Earnings above the upper limit were charged at 1% when Cameron got in and it's up to 3.25% next year.

Basic rate tax payers weren't taxed on dividends until the Conservatives introduced Dividend Tax in 2016.

Even the High Income Child Benefit Tax Charge which seems to affect you was introduced by the Conservatives.

So much for them being the party of low taxation.

Well said @Gardeningcreature.

It's unacceptable, it really is.
It's not that people's standard of living will drop - it will for most lower and upper middle class people - but for those struggling already, who've been hit by austerity, by illness, by long Covid, by the sheer cruelty of the last decade under this uncaring government, it will be close to a death sentence. And that is not right. It's not acceptable, and it's what a lot of us feared when the Conservatives were voted in yet again.

All we can hope and encourage is that those who didn't vote last time, who couldn't be bothered, or felt their vote wouldn't count, or weren't able to - come out in massive numbers to vote this time round. Vote tactically, hold your nose if you have to. We have to get this government out. I don't care that the others aren't perfect - they're not. Labour/Lib Dems can be disappointing, they can be imperfect, but they're not murderous. Then we can at least get some reprieve and take things from there.

@Againstmachine

Do you mean the 10p rate? Yes, Labour introduced that rate and then abolished it a few years later But Brown did mitigate it slightly by raising the personal allowance at the time by a few hundred quid.

No it was after people became worse off and brown realised his maths made people worse off. I was there and on a low wage. The fact is labour made people on a low wage worse off.

Yes true Brown waited a year before raising the PA by £600. But at least he listened to criticism and did something.

If the left get in I'll have to pay more taxes. I'm the epitome of squeezed middle and have a small child in London so pay £1600 each month for nursery, vvv narrowly miss even child benefit. I can't afford to pay more tax, so I vote Conservative. I don't deny other people are worse off, but my family can't take further reductions in our take home pay, so I'll never vote Labour.

Not to mention, no other party knows what a woman is.

But the Tories are the ones who have removed child benefit from "high earners", they are also the ones who will be charging you another 1.5% in NI (in reality this is just another tax). I agree with you about the woman thing (although all this woke stuff has happened during the last 11 years of Tory rule), but the Tories are definitely not the party of low tax, nor are they the party of rewarding hard work. After the NI rise you (and your employer) will be paying more NI "tax" for the privilege of having a job (most people are going to be hundreds of pounds worse off per month)!

After the NI rise you (and your employer) will be paying more NI "tax" for the privilege of having a job (most people are going to be hundreds of pounds worse off per month)!

Hundreds of pounds worse off a month due to the NI rise?

Portugal have elected a socialist government.

@Lightning020

Yes. I think Rishi said it when Martin Lewis was interviewing him this week. He definitely said it.

Andrew Bailey said that no one should be asking for a pay rise.

I wasn't aware that Rishi had said it too?

Portugal have elected a socialist government

I wish we had😢

Absolutely. The Tories have brought this country to its knees. They have seen fit to bung their pals millions while the rest of us rot. We are going to being a situation where poor people stink and have bad teeth because they can't afford to wash and go to the dentist. Is that progress? makes me sick. We have gone back 200 years with this lot. Did you know that 3 out of 5 kids in this country are hungry?

Blankets, heat blankets, lots of hoodies, shower only twice a week.

The Tories won't help you mate, not when you are really down. Never, ever rely on them , unless you're a millionaire.

All I know is that we can't go on like this, getting worse and worse every day.

Please sign the petition I posted earlier

r.ippl.es/energy-prices/

If it helps then it's not a wasted effort

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow

I read that in Portugala windfall tax has been levied on energy companies, so there is no effect on the consumer. No price rises.

Meanwhile here, Shell have just announced huge profits. But nothing like a windfall tax here. I hope this government ultimately get what they deserve.

Yes I was wondering about this. How can large energy companies justify any profits in the coming year or for the duration of this crisis - surely they need to share the pain

OMG. I have just read that Shell and BP have made £450 billion in profits. Am I right in thinking this is so unfair it is beyond belief?? Well their profits will decrease because no one will be able to afford energy.....I foresee bonfires on street corners in London, cooking baked potatoes. People drinking homemade gin, Hogarth said it all.......shame it's coming back.

Just think if we had gone ahead with fracking we could be in the same position as the USA.

They won't. People will be cold and/or hungry, some will die. I hate this as it's unnecessary.

And Shell and BP will be paying 19% corporation tax on profits. And any shareholders who receive dividends will also pay tax too.
Maybe you should check out how much tax Amazon, Google, Apple and Starbucks have dodged over the years.
At least Shell and BP pay tax, they also have other worldwide businesses that refine the products of crude oil for thousands of other daily life and household products. The profits are not purely derived from gas.

Cannot agree with you more. It's so unfair and sick.

@Diamondsareforever123

OMG. I have just read that Shell and BP have made £450 billion in profits. Am I right in thinking this is so unfair it is beyond belief?? Well their profits will decrease because no one will be able to afford energy.....I foresee bonfires on street corners in London, cooking baked potatoes. People drinking homemade gin, Hogarth said it all.......shame it's coming back.

They are legally obliged to put profit before fair costs or conditions. This is what we need to campaign against - a corporate system that is legally obliged to behave like greedy, heartless villains.