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.

I think you may well be right. Equally it wouldn’t surprise me if the next Labour leader had that background either.

You can expect something on that on 26 March, possibly also higher rate relief on pensions.

In the Autumn we will hear about War Bonds.

He’ll be history. His love affair with Trump puts him at odds with the vast majority of the population.

Even the DM readers are outraged at Trump

He's relinquishing his share in Reform to democratise it as it was a company rather than a political party and was owned by Nigel Farage. I don't know if he's a leader. He seems to be doing pretty well in the polls. Can he be worse than Keir Starmer? Many people don't think so.

See, I don’t understand this.

I don’t think Labour are greedy and unprincipled, or in the pockets of the corporations etc.

So why don’t they just tax them, like everyone talks about on here? What’s stopping them?

Yes yes yes. Except more tax won't actually go on defence if you're about to say we should have tax rises!!

Yes, if respected voices in the military said this was essential, then I would without grudge. I'd also dig for Britain. We need to be food and energy secure too.

Absolutely not. Funny how there's always enough to spend on weapons but not public services.

Really. After 7 months. Who’s gonna win then ? Nige ? Kemi ? 😂

Tbf the laughing emoji doesn't match voting intention. Only 7 months in.

Don’t scare your children with such suggestions.

Having said that it's very interesting how Ben Wallace is being cited as a guru at the moment. So you may be right about a military leader. Shame he left Parliament and shame they didn't make him head of Nato.

Worse than anyone could possibly imagine. Even worse than Johnson was.

@TemporaryPosition Do we need to have such an adversarial relationship with Russia? Really?

I agree.
People forget they supported us in WW2 while Italy aligned with Germany.

You can blame Merkel for that poor relationship with Russia - she wanted to create an EU Army to go and poke the Russian Bear.

included the bloated civil service

Me when I believe what I read in the daily mail.

This.

I'd prefer the UK not to be invaded than more money thrown into public services. In any event the ones we do have are so rubbish anyway round here so perhaps we won't even notice the cuts.

I don’t think Labour are greedy and unprincipled, or in the pockets of the corporations etc.

So why don’t they just tax them, like everyone talks about on here? What’s stopping them?

Because governments want businesses to invest in their country, create jobs, blah, blah, blah. Plus we have competition literally on our doorstep, look at how much Ireland has changed its economy with their low corporation tax.

Can someone explain to me who is going to invade us? I’ve not followed the news much lately, and I can’t bear to read anything that involves Trump or Putin.

As if we have a choice about Russia being our enemy. They poison people in broad daylight in this country.

Hell, if you annoy Putin and you are Russian the chances of living greatly reduce.

Let's not be naive about them. Putin and his people are vicious.

You are joking? What does the other £1.1 trillion raised go on then?

Yes we do, they are our enemy, just a few months ago, he threatened to se nuclear weapons, have you forgotten?

Merkel did more to bring in Russia from the cold, than almost anyone.

Why shouldn't europe have an army, pity we didn't listen, the Yanks have decided to pull up the draw bridge, leaving us with no time to prepare.

Some ally!!!

No we pay enough crippling taxes as it is - government need to stop foreign aid and stop the boats and use this money to fund UK defence

The answer to that is no-one.

I recently worked with a guy who used to be in the Army, and he follows military developments very closely. He reckons the Russian economy and war machine is a year max from complete collapse. They're conscripting North Koreans, FFS!

stop the boats

Bingo, although it took longer than I thought.

Correct. The core problem is inadequate economic growth. The UK is trying to slice a pie that isn't growing. Government policies undermine productivity and investment. Germany and most of Europe are in the same situation.