Why won't any political party focus or help the squeezed middle

[Winterday1991]

Off the back of another thread, has got me thinking about the next general election.

Why is there not a party that will focus on the middle earners in the squeezed south east , where both partners work full time, who are struggling juggling mortgages, cost of childcare and self fund everything and are over threshold for any help or subsidies ie child benefit, cost of living payments, free childcare via universal credit?

We are a middle/highish income family and are just so sick of paying into the system and getting nothing back! The amount of tax we pay is insane, certainly not anywhere near value for money. Labour just seem to want to focus on single parent families and those on universal credit.

Any party who focuses on the middle will surely win the election?

This is true. Artificially inflated property prices are at the root of a lot of our problems in the UK. Not sure there's a way to treat the symptoms without this root being addressed.

We are on £120k combined too but early 30s. While we are younger, we have had to spend more on housing and moving further out would just have meant the same amount of money being spent on commuter fares (as much as £8k per year for two of us). Living in zone 3 London means DH can bike to work.

I don't consider us as rich. I don't begrudge the tax I pay but there is a huge difference between us and the rich particularly since we don't have any inheritances and the like.

If you live in the shires I can assure you it's very easy to be cash poor on 95k

It's a real shit show round here now

Councils do nothing. Rubbish everywhere. Fly tipping all over

No police presence

Drug dealers and county lines

House prices ridiculous

Houses sitting on the market
Sellers not reducing

No doctors appt

No investment

Schools and hospitals bursting at the seams.

Shops in towns shutting down

No mental health support
No sen support

Train prices insane and they never run

That's just a starter.

Try being in the North with benefits your sole income. It is a lot worse up here. At least there is investment down south.

People on half that amount still have all the problems you list though, and have to try even harder to make ends meet every month.

The OP wasn't interested in decline in services, she wanted to know what was being done to help her.

That is indeed the question to ask. You’re not the squeezed middle if inheritance causes you problems.

If you said nursing home fees, you’d be right. That’s one way for your inheritance pot to disappear within a few years.

What benefits life? I live in London and we earn combined £120k. We earned combined £75k in 2018. So basically have been in this 'range' for a while.. our flat would cost £1850 to rent on the private market (while we managed to buy it on our incomes). I don't like to think how I would manage private rent in London on benefits and many families in London are living in single rooms while waiting for council housing.

Exactly.

The simple solution is we all pay less tax, and there are fewer handouts!

Free childcare should be top of that list to be scrapped, am I right?

That's Tory Britain though. People have been pitted against each other since Thatcher's time. Divide and rule.

This. Madness people on 95k moaning. I have a friend on a similar salary who moans constantly about childcare costs etc, but have still by the age of 30 managed to buy an immaculate 4 bed house, have 2 kids close together and go on foreign holidays every year. yes they don't have much to spare but not exactly struggling. People just like to moan !

We have a reasonable household income, but have always been absolutely behind paying a good amount into the coffers so that we have a decent and fair society - no one starving, no one destitute, children getting a good education, roads, environment and waterways looked after, a decent health service etc etc. I think those with broader shoulders should support those who are struggling

I do understand though - our mortgage and bills have gone up to such an extent that we're paying about £600/700 more every month, and we also have to pay £600 a month to supplement our son at uni as he's on the absolute minimum loan because of our household income. Things as a consequence feel comparatively tight.

But we're the lucky ones. We have a roof over our heads. We have food on the table, and we can help each other out. Our children are able to make use of their education.

I don't begrudge one penny of the taxes. I do want people in charge who make better uses of them though - I feel very angry that they're being used to line the pockets of the haves, and not to help the have nots.

No, Thatcher played an absolute blinder by making people like the OP Think they middle-class and they’re not.. they’re working class who own a home very different kettle of fish.

If you cannot maintain your current standard of living without going to work, you are not middle-class you are working class.

Perhaps if people acknowledged they were all in the same category together together. They might feel a little bit less bitter towards each other.

The Middleton were teased for being middle-class, just in case you need anything to sort compare and contrast with.

I am on 33k household income plus xhild benefit.
The idea that someone on 95k has the same net income as me because of benefits is laughable.
I am not entitled to anything except child benefit.

But people reliant on benefits aren't having as many kids as they want on the benefits system.

From my understanding since 2017, if you have more than 2 children you cannot get support past the second child.
No Housing benefit uplifts, no additional UC payment to feed or clothe them.

I'm not sure if that covers child benefit too, but what's that? £18 a week for each child? That's not going to cover children's essentials, let alone allow people to contribute to a life of Riley.

But its still not free. And only relevant for a smallish period of time.
Government does not pay nurseries enough so you still pay for your free hours.
It is in reality subsidised childcare. And before it existed loads of low paid women did not work until their children went to school.

I have a couple of brilliant solutions , raise the minmum wage so no one earns so little to need benefits to top up their wage , or scrap all the low paid jobs , no binmen , no shop workers , no delivery drivers , no HCAs , no carers etc .

I 100% agree with this..I have been slammed many times for calling myself the squeezed middle when we earn combined £120k but it's true, we rely on income to survive and live in London. We go on more holidays and buy what we want from the supermarket but that doesn't make us not economically working class or the squeezed middle..

Like you say we are economically working class with a large mortgage on our flat.. better than people on the breadline or minimum wage but far from rich..do not begrudge paying tax but we have far more in common with people on the breadline than rishi sunak.

Because you are more likely to die younger if you live in a deprived area, to put it bluntly.

If you live in a deprived area, you are more likely to have less quality housing, less safe environment, fresh unprocessed food is expensive and takes time to prepare, higher rates of smoking and preventable diseases etc.

From ONS 2018

In the period 2018 to 2020, male life expectancy (LE) at birth in the most deprived areas of England was 73.5 years, compared with 83.2 years in the least deprived areas. For females, the equivalent estimates were 78.3 years and 86.3 years, respectively.

86 v 78 is quite a difference.

You have to pay the first month or so upfront though. How many people qualifying for benefits have let's say £500 upfront? Not to mention the issues many seem to have with it not being paid etc.

The term “elites” (which I didn’t think was a noun before, let alone a plural noun) is used on this thread and I’ve seen it elsewhere on the internet.
Who do we think are the “elites” who are keeping people down and don’t want to pay their share?

• Top footballers? Rich for sure, but hardly influential in society’s finances
• Politicians? The average MP representing a London constituency earns £85K so is actually part of the squeezed middle. Outside interests are available via Google before anyone says that
• Landed gentry? Most of these are on their uppers and are selling the family silver if they haven’t already.
• Global billionaires like Bill Gates or Elon Musk? They don’t live in the UK and are irrelevant to the squeezed middle in this country.

Every day I see how business is leaving Britain to go to more favourable locations (Ireland - lower corporate tax), EU (single market), US (lower business tax due to lack of social welfare). We isolated ourselves with Brexit.

So stop reading the DailyMail about the “elites” - who don’t live here anyhow - as it’s nonsense to mask the real problem. The reality is that this country’s fortunes are declining. That has accelerated since Brexit.

There is no magic money pot to help the “squeezed middle”.

Do people not factor this sort of thing when they plan kids?