If You Were PM What Would You Change?

[ChronicOnVodkaAndTonic]

Just that really. If you had the power to change our country what would you change/do?

And what, in your opinion needs a compete overhaul?

For me it's NHS...

I’m not sure you need to raise public salaries much if you have a well funded exchequer and can push housing prices down. I’d sooner work on bringing down the cost of housing (everybody’s single biggest outgoing) than risk more inflation by raising salaries.

I agree.

Related to the housing issues, a PP mentioned the cost of some of the ideas in this thread but false economy is a thing. Affordable housing including lots more social housing would massively reduce the benefits bill. So would well funded public services. I've just posted on another thread about doctors fobbing patients off. Lots get fobbed off and told they have depression or anxiety, when it's actually physical issues the doctor has failed to test or refer for. Someone I know is now unable to work. Repeatedly fobbed off by GP, told it was mental health. She eventually went private but by the time she was diagnosed her health had deteriorated. I do wonder how many people signed off with anxiety or depression actually have undiagnosed physical health issues (my friend doesn't claim benefits as her DH is a relatively high earner and they manage on his salary but that's not an option for many people).

There are loads of jobs but so many people make benefits a lifestyle choice rather than a last resort and that is not cool.

@Youcannotbeseriousreally There's 916,000 job vacancies in the UK. Yet over 1 million job seekers (the 1 million doesn't even include people on sickness benefits).

overhaul benefits so it was never ever that you are better off not working.

Why should people who are genuinely too unwell to work be punished? They shouldn't be forced into extreme poverty.

As there's less jobs than there are people out of work, what's really needed is Universal Basic Income

Yeah exactly, so only 84,000 people ( approx) should be claiming benefits shouldn’t they?! (Excluding those with medical / disability that I wasn’t referring to)

like you’ve tried to undermine my point but you have just supported it!

And those they genuinely can’t work would still get benefits but it would be more rigorous and better monitored , but the majority of poverty at the moment is people who are actually trying to work!! That should never be the case.

@Youcannotbeseriousreally I suspect employers have a role to play here. There's loads of threads on MN where people struggle to get hired. Some vacancies might need specialist expertise or experience but often employers are simply too picky and they're unwilling to train people in the job (unlike when I started work years ago). A lot of the jobs available also pay so low (despite often wanting tons of skills and experience) people would still need benefits on top on work. Cheaper housing like a PP said would help with that.

Also even if every single job vacancy was filled, 84,000 people is still a lot of people needing a living benefits income, either traditional benefits or UBI
(I do wonder much this issue of job shortages is related to the state pension age increase. Fewer older people retiring probably has at least some link to higher youth unemployment).

1. Limit the number of residential properties people can own to three. Commercial buildings no limit - Anyone with a higher number of residential properties must have them sold upon their death rather than passed down through inheritance.
2. Corporation tax must be enforced for companies like Google and Starbucks etc who famously avoid paying it somehow
3. Child benefit should be universal, no limit on earnings.
4. WFH should be encouraged by the government in order to help get people back into work, especially young families
5. Companies should be given incentives to provide highly skilled, well paid roles across the country, not just in big cities
6. more funding for NHS and Education
7. Triple lock on universal credit (if possible)

Yeah I get all of that. What I’m saying though is, surely that can’t be the case for almost a million jobs. So there are absolutely people getting benefits who could have a job ( but they just don’t want one) the numbers of job seekers could be significantly reduced if it wasn’t more appealing to be on benefits. I think the minimum wage should be higher to help with that and that’s what I was saying in my first post - you should never be better off on benefits.

Carers allowance increased and no longer a taxable benefit

2 child limit on UC scrapped

100% childcare fees paid on UC rather than 85%

No work related activity on UC till youngest child 5

SEN units within ALL schools

free school meals, eye tests, dental treatment and healthy start card for all on UC

ULEZ nationwide

Immediate cease of sewage going into any water - huge fines for companies if they breach this

I never met a poor nurse. Do your research. Their starting salary is £30k fgs.

It's threads like this which make me want to join the flat-earthers.

Do you think £30k is enough to work a rubbish long shift pattern all year long and be completely responsible for keeping people alive?!

30k is literally nothing to support a family!

overhaul the train system
its a joke currently

Start the process of replacing the NHS with an insurance-based system following the French model where no citizen is ineligible for medical insurance.

Join the European Economic Area, not rejoin the EU itself.

My priorities would be public sevices and climate change.

Increase funding to the NHS, education and local councils.

So taxes would need to rise or money be redirected.

Increase VAT on luxury goods and windfall taxes for profiting from essential services: utility companies, transport companies, supermarkets.

Rejoin the EU to boost the economy and job/education prospects for young people.

Begin planning and modification for warmer, wetter and more unpredictable weather, especially around farming, housing, transport and the supply of electricity and clean water.

And, yeah, clean water. Not sewage in our waterways.

"Introduce French style super-tax on the wealthy"

If you tax the wealthy at more than 55% of their earnings, what makes you think there would be any left living here to tax in 5 years?

Inheritance tax - abolish
Public transport - improve and reduce prices
NHS - complete overhaul.

There are a lot of great ideas here - if only we had the cash to pay for them

windfall tax and huge fines for companies (eg water ones polluting rivers and the sea)

Hugely restrict what MPs can claim on expenses

I would put lots of money into general practice. With more money we could employ more and stay open longer and take the strain from hospitals.

I would put money into secondary schools
And teach more life skills as apposed to 'hobbies' in schools.

You might be right but I disagree. I believe most jobseekers do want jobs.

One way to find out which of us is right is to force employers to fill every single vacancy with someone currently unemployed.

Only allow applications from candidates who're already employed and looking for job change if every unemployed person has got work.

Provide training on the job, offer flexible working options for primary carer of DC and the disabled and carers, no more rejections for being 'too inexperienced', or 'underqualified' or 'overqualified' or 'too old' or 'career break, been out of workplace too long', or any other of the many reasons companies give for not hiring unemployed applicants.

Doubt that would be popular with employers? However it would get people into work.

Would also need more funding for childcare. Will that cost the state more than paying benefits, especially when it's a lone parent and or a low paid job that needs benefits as well as their wage?

(I suspect the few people who genuinely don't want to work aren't very employable tbh. Might not have diagnosed health issues but likely there's social problems and they need social care support.)

Where can I vote for you?

Both of these. I would also reduce maternity leave as to what other was 30 years ago. Six months is plenty imo. More than that cripples businesses.

I knew this thread would be a laugh when I saw the title, but good god people's heads are way further in the clouds than I expected.

I can only hope they are actually satirising political manifestos 🤣

I don’t understand why childcare has to be funded. I just paid for child care. If employers paid fairly then it would be fine. I think you, like many people in this thread, think that benefits and government ‘top ups’ are to be relied on. The reason why we are in the shit is because we are spending too much and in the wrong places. People have become reliant on unsustainable things ( like the free childcare that’s killing nursery etc)

at the end of the day, there is one pot of money. It has to be spent in the most appropriate way , things like free doulas are ridiculous. We need to go back to the basics of what the country needs. Then work from
there. Benefits Britain is out of control.

let’s sort out some housing, some healthcare getting people into some jobs ( might need to support the employer or offer training but all would be invest to save rather than wasted benefits) and some education and then after all that is there for everyone, then we can add nice to have extras.

On day one I would meet with all MPs and sack the rubbish ones
Liz Truss would get a lifetime ban from any form of political activity (and possibly a prison sentence)
I’d hire a firm of forensic accountants to find where the cash had gone and get as much as possible back
Make a realistic plan of how to overhaul NHS - not an overnight political exercise but a graduated properly funded scheme

I’d steal Barbiepinks ideas re windfall taxes and fines

other areas would be education, housing - house building plans, quality childcare provision
I think that’s it for now - tbh the scope of what needs doing feels overwhelming

let’s sort out some housing, some healthcare getting people into some jobs ( might need to support the employer or offer training but all would be invest to save rather than wasted benefits) and some education.

I agree with you on this. With childcare I don't know if many smaller businesses can afford higher wages? Cheaper housing and more options of flexible work might solve the problem? Be good if could sort out the CMS system too to make sure the absent or NR parent pays their share.

PP who think some of the ideas in this thread are unaffordable (I think there's some really good suggestions) need to think about false economy. Invest in good public services, housing, education (including vocational training opportunities), and healthcare, and it saves money in the end. Would cut unemployment, there'd be fewer people off sick, and a lower benefit bill.