To be starting to really worry about Liz Truss

[Anothernamechangeplease]

OK, so I'm not a Tory. I hate Boris, and despise the rest of them. I don't hold or much hope of any of them actually doing anything to address the problems that we're currently facing, because I don't think any of them actually give a toss about ordinary people. Of the two candidates that are left in the Tory leadership contest, I would pick Rishi, because I think he has a more realistic understanding of the economic challenges, but obviously, I'm not a party member so I have no say in the matter.

Nevertheless, I have been relatively sanguine and the prospect of Liz Truss as leader, a) because I figured that things couldn't get much worse than the shit show that we have had under Boris, and b) because I am pretty sure that she will be utterly unelectable when it comes to the next general election, so worst case scenario would be that we have another couple of years of crappy Tory government, exacerbated by the cost of living crisis, and then we can be pretty confident of getting shot of them. So, pretty shit all in all, but survivable.

But listening to everything that she is saying she wants to do, to the economic forecasts, and to the analysis from both within and beyond the Tory party, I'm starting to get really very worried. All this talk of huge tax cuts and massive reductions in public spending...I fear that she is going to make the looming economic crisis infinitely worse at a time when we can least afford to risk it. Nearly all economists seem to agree that her plans are going to make things worse, not better.

We are already at breaking point. Public services are on their knees. Businesses are struggling to stay afloat. People both in work and out of work are struggling. The most vulnerable are already having to choose between bare essentials such as eating and heating. Inflation continues to soar, energy prices are going off the scale, interest rates are going up... and she is about to make it worse! We just don't have the resilience in the system to cope with this.

I am actually very worried about what is going to happen. This could be very bad indeed, and a lot of people are going to suffer. If we end up with austerity on steroids in the midst of an unprecedented economic crisis, there will be massive civil unrest, surely?

[Sporty2022]

Are there really any people out there who still think the Tories are worthy of being voted in again?

[RayneDance]

I can't see any hope with any of them.

No one has come up with a clear plan or something ground breaking but the whole world is in crisis

I don't know what the solution is.

[Dalint]

@Elmore

Mumsnetters love to catastrophise about politics but it’ll be fine. Tax cuts benefit all of us

Do they?

[Zilla1]

Grasping at straws, I suppose if someone believe's in the fiction of the Laffer curve then they might try and argue so. In practice, I think some people just think their own circumstances apply to everyone.

[DowningStreetParty]

Mumsnetters are not all of one mind (why on earth would they be- MN is just women talking) so we don’t need sexist generalisations about that.

However MNers can often give real world feedback on new government policies, because there are thousands of women on this massive site and they will be affected in different ways by government policies.

Tax cuts will have different effects on different families- quite obviously. So why try to ignore that? What is the benefit of tax cuts to ‘help pay bills’ going to be, for anyone who earns below the threshold to pay tax?

[boys3]

picking up on @DowningStreetParty ’s point. Below tax threshold zero benefit as she says.

for someone on 20k taxable income, after the 12570 allowance 20% tax currently due on £7430, so £1486 tax due.

knock 1p off the standard rate gives the princely sum of £74.

knock 2p off £149.

on a £40k taxable income the reductions would be £274 and £549.

obviously if two earners in a household at those amounts the figures can be doubled.

But still pale into significance compared with an average annual bill that has gone from around 1200, to likely upwards of 3500 when Friday’s figure is announced, with higher levels again expected into 2023.

presumably any tax cuts would not take effect until April 2023 either.

[MaryTruss]

@Elmore

Mumsnetters love to catastrophise about politics but it’ll be fine. Tax cuts benefit all of us

This aged well 😂

[Diamondsareforever123]

Message? Never never trust the Tories. They'll sink everyone if it means they survive.

[TooBigForMyBoots]

@MaryTruss

This aged well 😂

Hasn't it just.😂😂😂

[baroqueandblue]

@MaryTruss

This aged well 😂

Whereas the opening post was sadly prophetic 🔮

[MerryMarigold]

@baroqueandblue

Whereas the opening post was sadly prophetic 🔮

Scarily so. In got goose bumps reading that OP from early August. I was on holiday.. The UK was a different place.

[ShandaLear]

I thinks she’s a straw man, elected to make things so shit we’d start looking at Blow Job’s tenure through rose coloured glasses while Nadine rocks back and forth, wild eyed, and mumbling the party chant ‘getting the big calls right’ (by lying to the queen and giving out covid contracts to his mates). Then when Liz gets the shove around Easter they can reinstall him in time for next election as he appeals to the flag shaggers and the Sun readers. Truss looks more like a Spitting Image puppet than a real human, in spite of trying to pretend she’s the reincarnation of Thatcher. We’re not just scraping the bottom of the barrel. We’ve gone through the bottom of the barrel and we’re scraping the shit from under it. Still, given we’ve had 3 prime ministers in the last 6 years, I don’t imagine she’ll be there for long.

[sjxoxo]

..hence why nearly half a million people have signed this petition..

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/619781

[Dave20]

@ShandaLear

I thinks she’s a straw man, elected to make things so shit we’d start looking at Blow Job’s tenure through rose coloured glasses while Nadine rocks back and forth, wild eyed, and mumbling the party chant ‘getting the big calls right’ (by lying to the queen and giving out covid contracts to his mates). Then when Liz gets the shove around Easter they can reinstall him in time for next election as he appeals to the flag shaggers and the Sun readers. Truss looks more like a Spitting Image puppet than a real human, in spite of trying to pretend she’s the reincarnation of Thatcher. We’re not just scraping the bottom of the barrel. We’ve gone through the bottom of the barrel and we’re scraping the shit from under it. Still, given we’ve had 3 prime ministers in the last 6 years, I don’t imagine she’ll be there for long.

Yes we’ve had 3 PMs in 6 years.

Between 1979 and 2007, we only had 3 Prime ministers, just to put into context !

[Zonder]

And yet there are still people saying at least we didn't have labour in government!

[Hollyhead]

@zonder in fairness Labour have really only been a credible opposition for a couple of years. The left wing vanity project of Corbyn is quite a big contribution to the current mess we’re in.

[Believeitornot]

@Hollyhead

@zonder in fairness Labour have really only been a credible opposition for a couple of years. The left wing vanity project of Corbyn is quite a big contribution to the current mess we’re in.

It’s ironic because the Tories have turned into a right wing version of themselves. They get away with it because they dress better. And sound posh.

But the nonsense that Liz Truss is spouting is nonsense and has not worked anywhere in the world. If you look into the history of the economic theory she follows then it’s pretty dark and bizarre stuff. Cut the state isn’t about targeting welfare, it means everything is ultimately privately owned. That’s the path they want to follow. They also think any form of social infrastructure- which includes the NHS, education, anything, is the path to fascism. Sounds nuts because it is.

Their politics thinks of us as mere consumers and that corporations are more important than democracy.

That is why they want tax cuts for the rich and the idea of growth benefitting everyone is just nonsense.

similar economic policies were followed in Chile. The economy grew but so did inequality and it was and I think still is one of the most unequal economies in the OECD.

Truss and Kwasi need to fuck off. They’re not centre right Conservatives at all.

[Hollyhead]

Completely agree @Believeitornot both main parties have been taken over by their fringes. Well not Labour so much now - I hope Kier learns from David Cameron’s mistakes about not going far enough to detox the party. I wonder if that’s why he’s considering electoral reform as then ‘hard left’’hard right’ can go and form their own parties.

[Believeitornot]

@Hollyhead

Completely agree @Believeitornot both main parties have been taken over by their fringes. Well not Labour so much now - I hope Kier learns from David Cameron’s mistakes about not going far enough to detox the party. I wonder if that’s why he’s considering electoral reform as then ‘hard left’’hard right’ can go and form their own parties.

Yes, it’s why electoral reform has to be a good thing because it exposes and shines a light on the fringes who disguise themselves in the main parties.

The thing that frustrates me is that people (especially journalists) just can’t see what’s happening to the Tories!

[paintitallover]

This did age well, I agree! 🤣🤣🤣

[Avidreader69]

I've been worried for a very long time. She is very limited in intelligence

That's a bit silly, isn't it? You might not like her or her policies, but as far as I know, Girton College Oxford don't accept women who are 'very limited in intelligence.'

[the80sweregreat]

She isn't dim at all , far from it.
She is just a bit deluded and inexperienced and doesn't come across that well.
Other people are pulling her strings , but that's just my opinion!

[Clavinova]

Believeitornot
That is why they want tax cuts for the rich and the idea of growth benefitting everyone is just nonsense
similar economic policies were followed in Chile

Similar economic policies were followed by President Macron?

www.reuters.com/article/france-tax-idUSL5N26M3SG

taxfoundation.org/emmanuel-macron-2020-france-tax-plan/

www.reuters.com/world/europe/macrons-government-defends-french-tax-cuts-spending-with-2022-budget-2021-09-22/

[LikeTearsInRain]

I don’t like Liz Crust I hope she doesn’t last long we need a proper old school Tory leader like John Major

[ArseInTheCoOpWindow]

Would that be the John Major who lost via a landslide to Labour then?