To reduce hours when labour win election

[Parttimeplay]

I fall into the “60%” tax bracket. With the upcoming elections and knowing the government always hammer the middle ground….woudlnt it make more sense for me to cut my hours for a more relaxed life, eligibility for childcare, reduced tax?

Yes and now we are faced with the same issues again. Labour pledges are out of control already. People have short memories.

I don't think it is fair to say their pledges are out of control without seeing the manifestos and the spending plans.

But I do think there are going to be a lot of surprises for their supporters who are expecting a spending splurge when they actually get in power.

The bottom line is we cannot borrow much more money. So all spending whether it be Labour or the Tories has got to be funded.

All I am hearing from Labour at the moment is we are not going to raise tax x, y or z. All I hear from Labour supporters is vote Labour to get more funding for you (whoever you is).

But if they aren't going to raise the taxes, and they can't borrow more money, how exactly are they going to spend more ? We will have to see when the costed manifestos come out.

But at the moment it is a mystery that ranks up there with BigFoot and the Bermuda Triangle.

"Some of us are old enough to remember when we last had a Labour government and could find an NHS dentist and didn’t have to wait years for treatment or weeks for a GP appointment."

Some people have very short memories.

https://m.youtube.com/shorts/Do3Y3ga7dyE

They do, don’t they? And a flagrant disregard for facts.

https://assets.kingsfund.org.uk/f/256914/x/54a86c88b5/high_performing_nhs_2010.pdf

All getting a bit desparate for the poor Tories now. The fearmongering won't work this time.

Do you think @GasPanic posts are ‘fear mongering’?

More measured than all the other shrieking, but the contention we'd have had to go to the IMF if not for the glorious Tory austerity seems somewhat informed by pro-Tory bias to me. Of course, like all the best claims of its type it is unknowable and unprovable, just like all the Thatcher apologists claims that's we'd have been fucked without her.

I make no secret of my anti-Tory bias of course.

You lost me at the word envy. I support the VAT on fees. Because it was never fair that it wasn’t already in place. I say this as someone who did use private education until a move and could now if I could be bothered with an hour back and forth journey to the nearest private school. I’m not envious.

What I am is sick of seeing abject poverty and inequality all around me. I want a fairer society. That’s it really.

You are going to be sorely disappointed as this ill considered policy does absolutely nothing to address inequality and is likely to make it worse! PS will still exist and the best ones will become even more powerful thanks to this dumb idea.

State schools will become overloaded and guess who picks up the tab for all of the extra pupils? You.

Again - proving the point. No-one cares where you got lost. You got lost by not answering the op or being able to discuss any concerns re the marginal tax rates. Dog whistle policies.

You certainly need to do some planning OP. Rachel Reeves has just announced that Labour won't rule out tax rises if they find a black hole in public finances.

So we're looking at tax rises. I'm willing to bet across the board.

I suppose the only positive thing is that they are admitting they are going to raise tax and not lying. They damn well know there's a massive hole, this is just the start of it.

As I posted on the thread the other day - we are not an attractive country to skilled workers. Skills we need. Our taxes are high and our salaries are low. For example a cyber job - 100k here and 250k in the USA plus more benefits. These kinds of jobs are essential in today’s modern world. That’s why the government is panicking because all of our talent in these fields are leaving or dropping productivity.
Tories don't appear to be panicking.
This is where we are after 14 years of Tory government, all the myriad problems you highlight, and weirdly you advocate at least 5 more years of their ruinous policies.

As for dog whistle policies - could there be any better examples than National Service and the reintroduction of pensioner tax allowance (which the Tories removed) - the Tories haven't said where the money is ccoming from either.

I doubt that people on low income are driving expensive cars or have most of their childcare paid for. If you have little then pleasures such as takeaways are all you have. There is no hope for the future, there is only now. Don't be so envious of poverty.

Eh what? No I don’t. What part of I hate what the Tories have done and would never vote for them missed you? Just because I think Labour are also a disaster waiting to happen doesn’t equal Tory voter. Try reading the posts properly. I understand ops issues so have commented on them. I also understand them from the specialist skills market who can command higher salaries. I haven’t got lost banging on about private schools.

It’s fair to say most of the main parties are in disarray. That is an honest assessment. I think we would ALL prefer something better!

The political system has been captured by the parties. They force their preferred candidates onto constituencies and it results in a self-reinforcing Westminster clique that is completely detached from the public and their own party members. We've now got a Conservative Party full of social democrats and a Labour Party obsessed with fringe issues that are irrelevant/hostile to their own traditional voters.

Nothing will change while we have First Past The Post, because it's impossible to break their hold on power - e.g. UKIP won two elections that were held under PR, but got nowhere under FPTP.

Something desperately needs to change.

I think we’ll face political strain while countries work out how to deal with an international law now unmatched to impacts of climate pressures and volatility. You’ll see it in the EU too.

We don’t know how to rectify without parties pulling in different directions.

UKIP won two elections that were held under PR, but got nowhere under FPTP

That isn’t actually true but if it was, that’s the best argument I can think of for retaining FPTP.

Apologies. They came first in 2014 and second in 2009.

If you're happy to continue with the current failing system, then fair enough. It prevents 'extreme' views from being represented, but it also disenfranchises the majority of the public who are 'forced' to vote for the lesser of two evils, rather than what they actually want.

Is that democracy?

I have wondered if we'd have had the Brexit referendum if we'd had PR instead of our wanky out of date system.
If Farage and his mates had been elected and turned up in parliament they might well have been shown up for their inability to do anything useful - as they did in many local elections.

We are way overdue a proper electoral system instead of the steaming pile of wank that is FPTP.

I disagree with your politics, but I agree with this post.
Under FPTP, negative campaigning is very effective as you are essentially voting against a party.
Under PR, you are voting for the party you actually want and that is much more engaging. It also reduces corruption.

I'm not sure it reduces corruption. The problem with PR is the use of candidate lists. If you had corrupt politicians sitting at the top of their party's lists, then they'd get elected and there's no way of getting them out unless people (everybody) vote(s) for another party.

No system is perfect, but FPTP is a scam that keeps the incumbent two main parties in power. How many Labour voters would switch their votes to fringe parties (such as Greens, Extinction Rebellion, Open Borders, Communists, etc) under PR?

But would we want those parties forming coalitions?

I haven’t felt strongly about PR, although we may be getting to the point enough voters feel disenfranchised that it becomes a problem