VOTE Labour and

[DistinguishedSocialCommentator]

AIBU to feel this will happen un a Labour government???

From what I see and IMO, the Labour lot on the whole believe in aspirations but only for themselves

Older people will vividly recall the the hideous tax rates under labour - between 1974 and 1979 the paye tax rate was up to 80%. Then there was a tax on top of that for so-called higher earners of 18%. This equated to 98%

I don't trust Labour, nor do I trust the Torties. Liberals, IMO they will sell your soul down the river to get a sniff at number 10

As I said I don't trust any of them. But if you are working, worked hard, been prudent with your money and have savings, decent private pensions in the pipeline and possibly a property or two that you have worked for, for your retirement and not wasting your money and want to leave some behind for your kids, GC etc rather than throw it away on the hand to mouth life - then if Labour comes into power, you are totally and truly F'd

Labour rants they will do this and the other - the last time they almost bankrupted England,

If you are working hard being prudent with your money and made sacrifices to send your kids to a private school as many Labour MP's do on pay at almost 100k - they are eager to put VAT on this part of education. The MPS whose pay is a couple of times above average pay will be able to afford it - will you??

Me, my family, relatives have all worked hard, not on benefits, never lived in social housing and not thrown our money away but been prudent to be self-sufficient and pay our taxes to support our country. If you are like us, then trust me, under Labour, you will be shafted hard.

I'm not sure if I will vote tory or an independent but this circus of Tories and Labour taking turns to lie to the nation is not on and yes, most politicians lie and will lie and say anything to get into number 10 and if your feel that is not true, then you must be on another planet

@DistinguishedSocialCommentator
1974 was 50 years ago.
Labour didn't tax us as highly (as we are NOW) from 1997-2010. Highest tax burden 2022/23 (since 1948/49).

In around 2007, didn’t Labour want to increase fuel duty by 5 pence per year ?
Meaning that a litre of fuel would now cost an extra £ 80p per litre on top of the price.
Had this have happened fuel would be massively expensive by now

Do you have any evidence of that?

"Wanted to?" So you're complaining about something they didn't do?

Ah yes. If only Labour had done something they didn't do, we would be in a right mess by now.

As opposed to the mess we are in because of what the Tories DID do.

As I understand it , it may have been later than that but they lost the GE so it didn’t go ahead.
Im worried that Labour tax people more and I’d actually be worse off under Labour.

Atleast the Tories took people out of paying income tax if they earned less than £12500 a year or something. So millions of part time working people don’t pay tax as a result of their policy.

I actually think Labour may have been glad they lost the GE in 2010. Things were quite bad with financial crisis and the country was basically skint.
People forget that even under Labour things were starting to get bad and that was the start of austerity.

Labour didn't tax us as highly (as we are NOW) from 1997-2010. Highest tax burden 2022/23 (since 1948/49).

This is true. We've also got a public debt that's 100% of GDP. As a conservative voter (until this election that is), we have not been a party of low taxation.

Which brings us on to the key question: how are Labour going to spend more on public services? They've historically been about higher taxation and redistribution of wealth. Look at the bond market reaction to Liz Truss's unfunded tax cuts.

The reality is that the country is very different than when Labour last ruled. We have an ageing population, a rising population, a high proportion of net receivers rather than contributors and a huge public debt. So either they won't be spending more on public services or middle income families will be paying more tax. This isn't a cut a bit of waste and the NHS will magically mend itself, schools will have generous budgets and the benefits system isn't reviewed.

We have major structural macroeconomic and demographic issues and frankly Labour isn't going to be able to fix them either. And that's before we get to geopolitical tension that is on a knife edge. I was in Harrogate recently and a war veteran was collecting for charity and said to his friend that the best times for our country were over. I think he had a point.

I actually think Labour may have been glad they lost the GE in 2010.

Not as glad as the Tories will be to lose this one. Government now is a poison chalice.

You know that raising tax on anything isn’t irrevocable? It can be lowered again at any point, either by the government who raised it or a subsequent one. So how are you extrapolating an inevitable increase based on a tax rise that didn’t happen anyway? And have you seen the graph of fuel prices?

How can anybody ‘but Labour’ this election when they look at the gathered ‘legacy’ of the Tories?
Have a read of this if you are still tempted.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/24/punishment-election-tories-voters-lies?CMP=share_btn_url&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0BMQABHdK1oBv7LLceZ8OqS1djdEnHBY67tt4rkwPYmH_3zF0cMj25Z4W2xtJv9Q_aem_ASRVOHU8P_bI0i2aWfUd11mvFiQ2AXsqRZ0iRbuQGLl2LfDWb3I-58rYVBFeYrmiwSdKHxgezsToj_oL8E_NBO4x

The key difference for me is that I think Labour will at least try to do the right thing. If the current inept government stayed in power, they would just continue focusing on what they can get out of the country.

The advantages of smaller classes, not mixing with undesirables, future networking potential, facilities, opportunities etc al, mean many will suck up the fee increase. I don't think most parents will move their children to state. Perhaps the ones that just about manage the fees but not most of us in my circle wouldn't.

Most will just pay higher fees, it's not that much of a vote loser.

I don't care. I don't know if that wasn't clear?

Can I add something exciting? I now live in a marginal seat. Boundaries changed. For the first time since ooh 1996 my vote may actually mean something in the selection of the government. Very exciting.

Once this country kills all ambition and becomes unattractive for high achievers and investors then we all we'll be in deep trouble as there won't be funding for anything and taxes will increase for "normal people ". Especially as the country seems to also be hostile to families so young people don't have children.

I have children in state school but you are nasty.

I am not better off. My children are not in private school.
Still I would not vote labour.
I don't agree with VAT on education. It's wrong to tax people who already pay towards public education yet unburden the system and it doesn't happen anywhere else.
Education should be made more affordable not less and children should not be targeted for political gain.

What's going to be next? VAT on universities, tutoring, private healthcare?
This policy will backfire with more pressure on state education and higher house prices near good and excellent schools.

I believe in progressive income taxation but taxes should be reasonable and leave people better off for earning more. With the cliff of losing personal allowance, which effectively means 60% rate and losing childcare support, many people reduce their earnings or don't bother getting promoted. This is terrible for productivity and the money that would have been going into revenue is lost into pensions and pay cuts.

In order to redistribute wealth you need to encourage people to create wealth. System that fails to recognise it it's self-destructive.

Me too. I've lived in a very safe seat constituency for nearly 30 years. I always voted but felt like it didn't really count. This year it's exciting and new and I feel like my vote might actually contribute .

Not nasty at all

💯

My youngest son only has one year left so it's no skin off my nose. But I don't agree with politics of envy that cost more than they raise (and I went to a state school so I'm a supporter of both).

And if you're going to be even handed then perhaps university tuition fees should get the same treatment and arguably nurseries. There's also more than 30% of pupils on bursaries, many full ones, at our school so that will change.

The reality remains that we don't have enough net contributors to fund a large increase in public spending. Hit non doms and you lose their VAT and contribution to the local economy. There's already cliff edges in income tax and part time working is more prevalent than it used to be so people may decide to drop to four days a week. I don't think many middle income families want to pay more tax (and if they do, perhaps they could contact HMRC and put their money where their mouth is).

Some of these policies are very short sighted, they may make people feel satisfied in the short term but they're not the magic bullet to fix our creaking public services.

Wrong? As in morally wrong? What's wrong is our society has a 2 tier education system that perpetuates inequality. Most people can't afford private school. It is ethically unjust that children of the most wealthy in society are afforded more advantages in education than the rest of the country, leading to some very mediocre people running our country or being massively over represented in certain fields like the creative and cultural industries. And its getting worse.

People are getting fed up with this narrative on here that they're doing us a favour by putting their children through private education. You're not. Private schooling is elitist, and undermines the principles of equality and meritocracy. Ultimately, it fucks over the working classes.

If people can longer afford it, why don't they practice what they preach and get an evening job in a supermarket or take in some ironing.....

What @Lou7171 said! Some people really do think they're doing everyone a favour!