Government suggestions to help with cost of living crisis

[ThankGodItsThursday]

Is it me? I don't think so. Latest suggestions being reported include making MOT 's bi annual. How will this help. My MOT in March cost £37. That's a drop in the ocean compared to rising petrol prices, increased fuel costs, food prices etc.

Plus wouldn't this be a safety issue. Cars being driven that are potentially unsafe and it won't help anyone who owns a garage will it. There will be less people having a MOT so less income for the business.

Why is everything this government suggests or does a complete and utter cock up.

And no I don't have any suggestions myself that won't cost the government anything which is what I understand they are looking for. But any ideas surely need to be safe and actually save people a decent amount of money if it is to genuinely help.

Why have they chosen 2 safety critical things? It's a joke.

@Hiddenmnetter I didn't say that the financial crisis was as bad but I do think the economy barely recovered from it before pandemic. Imo the QE for too long & there was not enough investment into the economy in general & too many housing market props. Look at wage stagnation & the productivity issue we have.

But at under £50 a year, what's the actual point???

The best bit fro the useless fuckwits is the mot saving is likely to be offset by reduced fuel efficiency from not getting cars tuned.

Yes, exactly. Most people who can afford to run a car aren't really that perturbed about the cost of the MoT itself - it's the potential work that will need to be done as revealed by the MoT that terrifies people.

Even if delaying repairs didn't lead to a reduction in safety or efficiency over those two years, how can they possibly think it's going to help people who are struggling financially to eventually have twice as big a bill all at once?

The government already deliberately exploits poorer motorists by charging an extra fee if you can't afford to pay your annual VED/road tax in one go and have to spread it out monthly. All in automated DD payments, of course, so it's not like it costs them more in admin.

Private insurance companies do this as they consider it a loan on a risk that's spread through the year - and they are private for-profit companies - but when it's an ongoing tax levied by the government to cover a specific period of time for the permission to use the vehicle, there's no possible justification for charging extra other than that they've decided they want to exploit the poor who have no other option.

Maybe that's the solution, the 99% should just expect a drop in living standards under the Tories and post Brexit, afterall, it's what we voted for.

It will come down to the fact that those struggling most are unlikely to be Conservative voters, in many cases won't be voters at all.

I think the dilemma for the Government is to try and help the "right" people, which for them, means Tory voters. Those are likely to be people who aren't facing destitution, but are starting to have to think twice about purchases or trips they would once have made easily.

Most classic owners still get theirs mot’d as it’s another set of eyes over the car. It also proves insurance road worthiness. Some policies stipulate it.

This is true. The pandemic and now war were always going to be big problems, but also we went into them in a real state. We could've been facing the pandemic without having had over a decade of emergency interest rates, and deliberately propped up housing costs.

What would really help those who are struggling would be an increase in benefit rates and raising the threshold at which workers start to pay tax/NI.

So this is Labour’s policy. Sounds a lot more sensible to me.

So they’re the party of excess oil and gas profits and we’re the party of working people.

This government’s had its head in the sand throughout the cost of living crisis. First they let prices got out of control. Then they denied it was happening. They failed to do anything about it. And then they made it worse with higher taxes.
Because of his choices, we are set to have the slowest growth and the highest inflation in the G7.

A vote for Labour next week is a vote for a very different set of choices. We would ask oil and gas companies to pay their fair share of reduced energy costs. We would not hammer working people with the worst possible tax at the worst possible time. We would insulate homes to get bills down. And we’d close the tax avoidance schemes that have helped his chancellor - where is he? - reduce his family’s tax bill while putting everyone else’s up. That’s proper plan for the economy. So why doesn’t he get on with it and finally make choices that make things better not worse for working people.

The pandemic and now war were always going to be big problems, but also we went into them in a real state.

exactly

I also think the BOE should have raised rates earlier than then did, they've been somewhat asleep at the wheel.

I agree OP. Also annual MOTs on older cars actually save money in the long run because any problems are spotted earlier and are therefore cheaper to fix.

They are completely out of touch with reality.

We would not hammer working people with the worst possible tax at the worst possible time

Other countries have similar inflationary issues but have any increased taxes?

Personally I am going to cut down on the number of types of bread we have in each of my families 12 homes, and I suggest that others follow this suggestion as well in the current crisis that was caused by Labour not knowing what a woman is.

We would ask oil and gas companies to pay their fair share of reduced energy costs. We would not hammer working people with the worst possible tax at the worst possible time. We would insulate homes to get bills down. And we’d close the tax avoidance schemes that have helped his chancellor - where is he? - reduce his family’s tax bill while putting everyone else’s up.

Sounds sensible to me.

Great post. They aren't being honest about a lot of things.

I think the threshold is increasing later in the year. I would be wrong but I'm sure I read that

in june or july.

We only have an M.O.T every two years in my home country and its absolutely fine.

It won’t stay at a £37 saving when smaller things turn to bigger things
e.g brake pads turn to pads and discs. Welding jobs get bigger.
and also MOT stations have to put costs up

I’d bet your police have better teeth to enforce unsafe cars though.

And if those people pull their belts in and stop going to pubs and restaurants, that will ruin the hospitality trade, and put hundreds of thousands of low-paid staff out of work altogether.

That really isn't going to help.

The Conservative government are just useless Their best ideas involve compromising the safety of young children and families.

@EvilPea Probably. They have to attend every single traffic accident too, or your insurance won't pay up.
You could be waiting hours for them to show up too and when they do they go over the vehicle with a very fine tooth comb.