Would you pay more tax to boost defence spending

[trainermush]

Obviously we are now in a more precarious position & defence spending has been underfunded for some time. RR had just said we need to spend more money & she will but without breaking her fiscal rules,

"So we will stick to our fiscal rules. But recognising the priority of defence spending in the world that we live in today means that we will have to make difficult choices so that we can spend that money that is needed to keep our country safe."

Mulling it over & even though I think I pay enough tax I would pay more each month towards this (cut back in other areas) as opposed to labour cutting back on something else. I guess thinking about my dc & other loved ones has changed my mind somewhat now things appear more bleak. What do others think?
Conscription of young people terrifies me even though my dc are too young.

Nope.

No

If we become more involved it will not just be extra tax we pay directly but indirectly too

Absolutely not. Give peace a chance

If you want Peace, Prepare for war!

Putin understands nothing but strength.

How did that work out for Ukraine?

Quite. It’s a bit hard to give peace a chance when your country’s just been invaded. 🙄

I'd rather income tax was raised to "spread" the load of tax rises over the entire population rather than hike NIC which is just another tax on workers. Either that or extent NIC to ALL income sources, including pensions, rental income, interest, foreign income, capital gains, etc for ALL age groups. We can't keep hiking taxes only on the workers and working age population.

It wouldn’t be a tax hike, it would be a reversal of an unaffordable tax cut.

You don't get humour? I know where our very few deep water ports are. Cornwall was a tilt to you.

Yes, absolutely.

No. Reduce the 22bn going to net zero policies.

Sounds like you’re hellbent on destruction one way or another.

This.

It’s a false dilemma.

Apart from removing some of the waste in our military, we could also raise funds by selling of things we don’t need.

For example the Chagos islands

Obviously we offer the Donald first refusal and then invite tenders from India and China.

They must be worth tens of billions to the right buyer

The aircraft carriers are probably worth something also, if only as scrap

No.

Bombing ethnic Russians in the Donbass isn't peaceful.
Actions have consequences

Falmouth was (in the 1960s) going to be the main submarine base for the UK, but it was eventually relocated to the west coast of Scotland and Faslane. We would definitely need to upgrade to a much faster motorway or A road to Falmouth though.

I though Stoltenburg had retired and been replaced by Mark Rutter as SecGen of NATO?

But that started when a Russian led unit started attacking Sloviansk, should the Ukrainians have done nothing at all about that?

& what about Russia taking Crimea, Crimea was Internationally recognised as Ukrainian territory.

The conflict in Ukraine is 100% on Putin, he could end it today.

Stolteberg did retire, but stayed on for a year until a consensus was reached about Rutte taking the job.

As 60 percent is on welfare who would be paying? Can we trim the benefits list of recipients?

The population of Crimea voted overwhelmingly to become part of Russia.
So too did the other former Ukrainian regions.
Peace is better than war.

Oh mate I've got a bridge for you to buy.

You're welcome

Precisely.

@seebiscuit1

"Peace is better than war."

Whilst most people would agree with this simplistic statement, what you are missing out is "peace on what terms".

A peace agreement enforced against a nation and the wishes of its citizens down the barrel of a gun is very much what happened to Germany in 1918 and the desire of an aggrieved and humiliated German citizens wanting to restore their dignity is what led to the rise of Hitler and WW2.

Zelensky and the Ukrainian people want a peaceful end to this war just like everyone else- what they don't want is a capitulation as that will just set up another war.

The best thing for Ukraine is to negotiate from a position of strength, so at least they can say no to whatever is presented to them by Putin / Trump and now that the US has backed away from military support, then their only hope for Ukraine is for Europe to take up the military aid shortfall and quickly.