Is the Chancellor about to crash the economy?

[Startingagainandagain]

I will start by saying I voted Labour, but I am increasingly concerned about what the government has done so far.

Today there are warning that food prices could shoot up, the pound is going down, there were big jitters on the bonds market and government borrowing is higher than planned.

More generally Reeves seems to have spooked businesses and they have no will to expand or employ more people.

I agreed that the Tories left a total mess.

But Labour seems to just go from bad to worse and I am really starting to wish she could be replaced by someone more competent to restore some confidence.

She needs to raise income tax and VAT.

Government departments are already cut to the bone.

She has dug herself into a hole of her own making by her election campaign promises.

Or reduce a lot of tax exemptions to start with.

She can't raise tax and still remain Chancellor. Remember she 'promised'

Honestly that will not even touch the sides and if done quickly tends to have a disproportionate impact on small groups of people.
Eg VAT on private schools, IHT on farmers
(I do not want to debate the rights and wrongs of the above here - but the impact is disproportionate on individuals at the margins)

A penny on income tax will give her the wriggle room she needs.

And she may have to resign.

I have alot of sympathy for both Starmer and Reeves who have inherited a terrible situation. I want them to succeed as I do not want them replaced by Reform. But both are technocrats and lack any kind of political nouse.

Maybe Cummings was the man after all!!!!!!

Hopefully that would push interest rates back up, couple of percent would be great just before new ISA season.

That is the conclusion I reached too.

I knew the civil service was out of control but I didn't realise that there were 400 different organisations, staffed by unelected bureaucrats, who were responsible but unaccountable for so much if the work of government and even the government in power can't get rid of them.

It makes you wonder exactly who is running the country.

I'm surprised that Starmer hosting Bill Gates and Larry Fink at Downing Street, in late October, didn't raise more questions after the budget. Both like to invest in agricultural land!

I don’t think a penny on income tax would be a disaster for the government (14 years, Lettuce, black hole etc), would be the end of our Rachel though.
Should be matched by a penny off benefits, and get rid of the triple lock.
And fucking Motobility needs a massive review.

The IHT measures against farms are clearly designed to force the sell off of farm land - it will be hoovered up by foreign corporations and investors.

The blob is running the country. It is terrifying.

Reeves is out of her depth. Can we get someone with some experience??

Changes the IRT rules for farms is a massive own goal. Does she want farms to be under Chinese/Russian control?

More like it can be sold off to developers for new houses or solar farms

Growing the public sector and giving them pay rises and pandering to the unions won’t end well.

Labour need to replace her with someone with some experience - wait- they haven’t got anyone…..

It’s genuinely a very difficult position, I’m not worried about Reeves, but UK more generally is at risk of decline relative to others globally I think. I think the best thing she can do is improve trade with the EU, the cost of that will be freedom of movement for young people and that seems like a good trade to be honest. Not sure how they sell this, but I do think Labour and Reeves are the least worst people to have in power at the moment.

The first women Chancellor and she is making a pigs ear of this. Shame on her and she skips off to China rather than sort out the mess.

Did Reeves honestly think that increasing the NMW, and changing the NI so employers would be paying more would increase growth. Who on earth is advising her?

This chancellor is saving the economy. Brexit blew a massive hole in the economy as did other awful decisions by the previous government. She's on damage limitation currently while trying to fulfil pledges. Not an easy task

How is contracting the private sector and getting closer to public sector cuts saving the economy?

The growth they wanted has resulted in the opposite

Being au fait with economics should kind of been in the essential part of the skill set list for the job.

Talking down the economy never works well.

One would think so.

How anyone can think she is doing a good job is beyond me. Talking down the economy, putting taxes on employers will not increase growth. Where is she getting her advisors from??

How on earth is she saving the economy as a PP mentioned.

It’s such a bizarre claim at this point

I think it's a little premature to be thinking she's crashed the economy quite yet. Much of the current problem is because world markets are jittery because of Trump's imminent inauguration and what economic policies (and territory-grabbing policies) he might try to enact. It might be convenient to blame it entirely and squarely on Rachel Reeves and Labour, but it would be very naive to do so.

For me the worst thing she did was target the farmers. Has anyone ever met a lazy farmer? This is our FOOD chain. Does she really want the UK farming land to be in foreign hands?? I heard her on the news and she didn’t even know what the new changes were with regard to inheritance tax.

She couldn’t explain it properly.

Any glimmer of recovery has been snuffed out. The economy and the cost of borrowing wasn't remotely robust enough for their idealistic plan.

It was obvious before the budget, but they gambled have the country's future.

I fundamentally believe we can't afford to spend on public services with such high levels of debt, as it leaves us too exposed to the global cost of borrowing.