Chancellor’s spring statement

[Cheesecakeandwineinasuitcase]

AIBU to think that today we are about to be hugely disappointed by what Rishi says in his spring statement and just to realise just how out of touch he is with the grim reality that normal people (I.e. not millionaire politicians) in the Uk face?

My prediction is that he won’t back down on the 1.25% increase in NI contributions that he is making people pay from April. There will be a paltry reduction in fuel duty (maybe a few pence if we are lucky - but that will easily be cancelled out within a few days as prices increase to compensate). Maybe he will reduce the duty on champagne this time or some other gimmicky sweetener (wasn’t it Prosecco last time?). He might raise the threshold from which people have to start paying tax but for most working families that won’t make a jot of difference.

So it feels like we are sitting ducks and that as time goes by more and more people end up really struggling.

@Blossomtoes you seem to think a labour goverment was perfect and we all lived great lifes
You may of many of us didn't
Lets not forget the needless war we went into as well
So yes I stand by they are all as bad as one another
I see none of them at the moment that make me think yes I will vote for you and thats the issue and hence why we haven't had a change for years

[quote worriedatthistime]@Blossomtoes you pick your stats as you like but you said they never existed and were not needed which simply is not true[/quote]
You can’t “pick” stats. Either something’s factual or it’s not. Foodbanks barely existed because there was no need for them and, 12 years later, the number has risen by over 2,000 and they can’t keep up with demand. Are you seriously saying all those foodbanks have been opened for fun?

@Blossomtoes also under labour many were better on benefits than working that should never be the case
Work should always pay
All of them need to take a good look at what is happening and address
House prices were allowed to rise massively under labour and goverments since
Often this is peoples biggest cost as renting is high and takes most peoples income , leaving little for anything else
All these things have had an affect on the average person
This should of been managed much better and house prices going up inline with wage increases
Instead as usual the rich get richer and the poor or even middle earners get shafted

@Blossomtoes stop saying there was no need for them that is untrue
We went hungry did you

@ClaudineClare exactly. People should just try to have more empathy for those less well-off than themselves and facing straightened times. Perhaps a GoFundMe or a new charity. Poor Petr.

@Blossomtoes yes you can totally pick stats as well as there will always be an alternate and stats doN't always show the wider picture

It was the Tories getting rid of crisis loans/ the social fund and having the wait for UC that increased the demand for food banks.

People who were in poverty in the noughties would be in much worse poverty given the same personal circumstances post 2010.

@felulageller yet im not ? I wasn't entitled to a crisis loan as we worked but had less than those who didn't , how was that ever fair
Uc is better its just the wait that is the issue once on it , its real time
No tqx credit bills of £1000 because you got a better job , yet needed the money when you received

@worriedatthistime how do you suppose we control house prices ? Most of the Tory vote comes from wealthy pensioners benefiting from huge rises in house prices. The tories are laissez faire to the max and will not interfere with the housing market.

Your posts blaming everything on labour are a bit tedious now. Tories have been in power most of the 20 century. Blame the inequalities in this country on them maybe.

@Mistygreyeyes interest rates is how you control and house prices they went up under labour a lot as well
Its too late almost now but was possible before also tories didn't introduce 100% mortgages and buy to let
Im not blaming all on labour but im also not seeing them as doing it all perfectly , we wasn't in q great position when they were voted out and its like council housess everyone blames Maggie but labour were in for years after and hardly built anything
If you had read my posts you would see i clearly think they are all as bad as one another and all are responsible for where we are now

@Mistygreyeyes many pensioners don't benefit from house process going up as it then puts them in a higher c tax band which on a pension they struggle to afford
Its landlords who benefit even so called accidental landlords and those with huge portfolios
Your one of them lets blame pensioners , people who paid in for years and paid there taxes
Forgetting that one day hopefully you will be a pensioner

@Mistygreyeyes it was only 13 years ago labour were in power not that long ago really

Exactly. 13 years is nothing. I get most frustrated when the government announce really new initiatives like levelling up and say the streams will be delivered in 8 years then some negative interviewer points out the Conservatives have been in government for 12 years while a measly few things might not have improved. We can't lose sight that labour were in power only 13 years ago and might be again if we don't cut benefits in real terms now to build a warchest to keep Corbyn out if he tries to return in 2024.

[quote worriedatthistime]@Blossomtoes stop saying there was no need for them that is untrue
We went hungry did you[/quote]
I did, child of the 80’s. Parents hit by redundancy and recession repeatedly.

There will always be poverty, people on hard times. Society needs to have the tools in place to support people when they fall on those hard times, and ideally, prevent them ever getting to the point of needing food banks. It shouldn’t be a charity’s place to do that. Food banks just show people are willing to support people more than the government do.

It's only 13 years since Labour were booted out, and then we had a coalition govt for 5 years, so we've only had a purely Tory government for 8 years!

@EvilPea I agree i just think its untrue to say they were not needed , not available and not needed is too very different things
My children were borne in early 2000 so my struggle was not that long ago and I would of so loved a food bank option that would of been such a help, yes its the goverments job and our own to a degree to help ourself , but when we were working hard to improve ourselves it was tough not having food , yet a sil on benefits living a much better life
It would of been easier for us to stop trying to better ourselves and stop work , we didn't and in the long term thats paid off
But benefits should be short term unless disability/ illness and people working is always best
My kids never went hungry but we did and often run out of electric and it was only because we had friends and family around to help we managed, having to ask to borrow a couple quid of my mil for sanitary wear and her handing me 5 tampons was pretty low for my dh
But none of the lot I see now are really addressing the issues from deep down, when one does then maybe I will vote again

There are a lot of people who do believe the “we’ve all got the same hours as Beyoncé”. That there’s numerous benefit scrounges
That we could buy a house if we quit Costa, sky and the internet.

Who won’t support extra taxation to support people, they just don’t see or believe that as a society we do better when everyone does better.

Yes we need personal responsibility but we also aren’t born equal.

I am amazed at the pretzel-like mental gymnastics of the Tory apologists in this thread who still manage to drone on about "but labour".

Enough. It's been 12 years.

The UK has been converted into a Potemkin village writ large.

We are imploding internally while trying to project strength.

We have massive regional and inter-generational inequalities.

All of these things have been exacerbated by the Tories over the last 12 years.

It took €2 Trillion for West Germany to "level up" East Germany up to 85% of the West German standard of living over 20 years.

That is what it will cost to fix the UK.

That is £1.65 TRILLION over 20 years

And the Tories are talking about a £billion here and there.

It is insulting. And will accomplish nothing. Its just scraps.

[quote worriedatthistime]@Mistygreyeyes it was only 13 years ago labour were in power not that long ago really [/quote]
Out of 120 years, Labour has been in power for just over 30 in total. So, if the UK is in a bad way, I think it is clear who carries the can for it.

Out of 120 years, Labour has been in power for just over 30 in total. So, if the UK is in a bad way, I think it is clear who carries the can for it.

Exactly that. There have been Labour governments for 25 of my 68 years on this planet. The last 12 have been spectacularly shit. Every time I think it can’t get any worse …

Yes they were in government for 12 years but only in sole power for 8. I like the sound or 'purely' Conservative government. The other years they were almost a junior partner as the LDs almost controlled everything. Then DC, TM and BJ w=had free rein to set out a vision of a great, united, wealthy, buccaneering nation and worked tirelessly to serve the interests of the people they truly serve.

And there are reasons why levelling up hasn't made as much progress as they planned in the last 8 years but will meet the plan by the next 8. probably.

You can’t “pick” stats. Either something’s factual or it’s not.

@Blossomtoes you really can pick statistics that will prove anything.

Out of 120 years, Labour has been in power for just over 30 in total. So, if the UK is in a bad way, I think it is clear who carries the can for it.

So why haven't they been in power more?

@DdraigGoch

You can’t “pick” stats. Either something’s factual or it’s not.

@Blossomtoes you really can pick statistics that will prove anything.

You can’t “pick” child poverty stats.

The reason there have been so many Tory governments are twofold. FPTP is one, the other is that the media is hugely influential in election results, that’s why in 1997 it was proclaimed that “It was the Sun that won it”. The mainstream media backed Blair.

@Blossomtoes but yes why have they not been elected