Scared of what labour will do

[Wantachangefor2024]

Is anyone else terrified of what labour will enforce. The tax on farmers. Will they means test pip? Will they tax state pension more? What else will they do and where will it all end. They ruthlessly without no care took away the winter fuel allowance. Means testing and taxing state pension would massively impact my family

Actually we don’t have a higher personal allowance, it’s £12,570 like everyone else. Many of us have pensions well below that, the old basic pension for women born before 1953 (like me), and men born before 1951, is around £200 a month less than that of younger pensioners.

Old basic SP £169.50 per week, New SP £221.20. Each time they increase, the gap gets wider. No government plans to equalise them.

Interesting read here. I am now one of the hated pensioners that are comfortable. How did I get here it was planning and living frugally, second hand furniture or no furniture, ensuring I could afford the things I bought and building up assets for the future. So now I am where I am people seem to hate it, I pay tax like everyone else but it would appear that some want more of my money than I am willing to part with. When I do spend I use local businesses that helps the economy, if you take us out of the equation who will employ all the local tradesmen they could lose 25 to 50 percent of their work. I might as well not have planned all those years. Just pause a moment to think those of you that will become pensioners will you enjoy having your funds taken away. It’s easy to look up and be jealous.

Just pause a moment to think those of you that will become pensioners will you enjoy having your funds taken away. It’s easy to look up and be jealous.

They won't have the funds to take away in the first place 😆. It's not jealous to question the lack of investment in younger people.

When was young we invested in ourselves I just worked harder did extra education. There were no special handouts help or assistance we both had two jobs. It’s easy to bleat but harder to work.

Prince Charles? Did the death of a previous Monarch pass you by?

When was young we invested in ourselves I just worked harder did extra education. There were no special handouts help or assistance we both had two jobs. It’s easy to bleat but harder to work.

🙄 Yes, the only thing that has changed is people's want to work harder. Sanctimonious twaddle.

Well, in the 80s i got free evening classes, free college education, free books, free parking at college and the local hospital too....it was the norm.... in fact, as a mature student, i got over £600 per term.

My DD now has 45k of debt after 3 years in Uni and pays £1200 per year in parking charges.

But oh how we pulled ourselves with only our boot laces for support!!!

As someone who’s probably around the same age as you I’m frankly appalled by your posts. The world we grew up in doesn’t exist any more, it’s way harder for young people now than it was for us. This kind of sanctimony is the reason our generation has the reputation it does. Talk about reinforcing a stereotype.

When university was free you mean?

You are lucky you could go to college, obviously from a fairly well off family, I had to leave school at 16 in the 70s and get a job so I could contribute towards household expenses, no further education for me, however free it was.

I doubt that poster has been anywhere near a university.

Ha ha no single parent family, on social security, nowadays, it would be considered living in poverty.

The £1800 per year grant funding and no debt, made all the difference, i worked on a farm in term hols.

Paid my way by helping mum with 'keep money.

Nowadays, a young alex would never in a million years be able to better herself.

You're just sounding like a petulant child now.

She studied PPE at the University of Oxford. That is a fact. She got a Masters degree from the London School of Economics. That is also a fact.

You are just someone from a rich farming family who have benefited from Tory policies for years who may need to pay some inheritance tax for the first time.

And when house prices were 4x wages.

Vastly more people go to university than 50 years ago. Many from poorer backgrounds work at the same time.

Yes I'm scared of what they and other goverments do. Not necessarily in the way you meant it though. I'm scared of them not being tough enough with benefit claimers and not being smart enough to make good growth/investment decisions.

I watched several current event discussions recently. The amount of people off sick because of depression and anxiety is a bloody disgrace.
I know what I am talking about. I had a very abusive childhood (mother with BPD, father enabling and depressed). I've been on antidepressants for years and quite frankly I should have been on them for longer as I made alot of bad decisions due to being depressed (only I didn't realise it at the time).

I always worked. Would it have helped me to be sat about on benefits. No. I would likely have been more isolated, more depressed, carried out more OCD rituals, ruminated more.

People who are anxious/depressed should get put on medication and back to work for them. Ideally of course they will get therapy to address the issues but in the meantime back to bloody work. I mean we have medication which on the surface fixes it (and yes they do work) so what is the point of these people sitting at home doing nothing.

I mean if someone has MS or a condition that can't be cured and is properly dehabiliting then of course then need to be given benefits and looked after. The depressed/stressed/anxious lot - nope back to work with you.

There are lots of other benefits which would make sense to cut or means test. So for example. Attendance Allowance. Again I speak from personal experience. Given to all pensioners who need help. I claimed it for my mum. Not means tested at all. Surely madness to give it to pensioners that are rich.

In a ideal world where Britain was rich yes we could do these things without worrying but given that we are skint giving benefits to a category of people who don't need it is crazy.

Don't get me started on illegal immigrants. I watched a current affairs program and they were wailing and clasping their hands saying what can we do. We can't let the small boat full of illegal male immigrants drown so we have to get our coastguard to pick them up and bring them on land.
Actually yes we can let them drown. I mean if they knew they were not going to get entry that way (and potentially put themselves in harms way, well let them.) They are adult men if they want to risk their own lives let them. Once word speads that this was not a way to get into the UK they would soon stop and go the legal way. I mean if you are a genuine person, entitled to be allowed to live here why do you need to do it this way. Why not go through the proper channels.

So yes in the spirit of putting on our own oxygen masks first. We sort out our own country and people. We vet and allow in genuine immigrants who meet our conditions otherwise no they can drown if they are stupid enough to get into a small boat and break the law.

So yes I'm scared of what our goverment will do .

We have so many problems of our own. There is a huge crisis brewing. All these people who are retiring in rented private accomodation. This is going to be the next big benefit drain. We need to sort out our own problems as the private rental market is a disaster waiting to happen ( i mean bigger that it currently is)

Also something has got to be wrong with our children. Why are they all special needs nowadays. Every 2nd post somebodys child gets benefits because they are special needs. I'm not saying there are no genuine cases but why are there so many nowadays and what the hell is going to happen to all these non verbal special needs kids once their parents die. I mean is it all the ultra processed food they are eating or something we are doing that is hurting them.

I fear Britain is going to explode in next 20 years. Hang onto your hats.

We need a sensible, practical, tough goverment.

I wouldn’t have said it like the poster you are responding to but I share the feeling.
When people were so happy about us having to pay an extra 20% on our kids education, we will definitely not mind them being taxed more / receiving less money from the same Govt - they were the ones who voted them in, did they think it was just ‘others’ who would pay?!

Proportionately, Uni is still a MC thing, poorer families are put off by the very high tuition fees.

there is less social mobility than say 30 years ago.

DH and I are older pensioners, with a joint pension income of just over 20k. We are lucky to own our home outright, so no rent or mortgage. We manage OK without the fuel allowance, and we keep warm. I have a gym membership at £25 a month. Keeping well is very important as we age! Our DCs and their partners are high earners and have very comfortable lifestyles.

I have friends with DGC who already have good careers, and are buying houses in their twenties. Our DGC are still at school, but I have no reason to believe they won’t be able to do the same. The older ones are already focused on university and careers, one has worked part time for a while, the next is looking for work. They don’t need the money, but I’m pleased they’ve taken the initiative. A lot will depend on where they live of course, DH is a Londoner, but moving back there was outwith our reach. DD lived there for several years, sharing accommodation, but came back to a Northern city and was able to buy a house.

They didn’t radiate anything except racism.

Here we go again. I’m surprised you didn’t call the chancellor “Rachel from accounts”. CCHQ is that you?

The problem is that we are an ageing population and not very financially dynamic anymore. All of the tech innovation is from the US.
The question of where the money is going to come from to finance our pensions and care is not possible to fund over the next 30 years without bancruptcy.

I think there was a small minority who were genuinely spiteful about the 20% rise. Most of the posts I saw were from people who were ideologically opposed to private education and felt that the VAT exemption was unfair. There was also the feeling that the vast, vast majority of families using private education wouldn't have to pull their children out - which largely seems to be the case.

As I said earlier, I'm a bit of an outlier. I'm not in a position to be able to afford private education, attended state school myself, and I'm firmly left-wing. However, I think given the absolute train wreck of our current state education, making it harder to access private education is the last thing we need right now. The money from the VAT won't even touch the sides trying to shore up the current shit-show that is going on in state schools right now (I was a school governor for 5+ years). I was/am very opposed to the VAT rise.

Nevertheless, I still don't think the two viewpoints are equal. Private education remains quite controversial, and it's an ideological position that many people are opposed to because it gives some children an advantage, many of whom who are already privileged. Laughing at vulnerable people not being able to afford to eat is not an ideological position, it's just punching down on the less fortunate.

And yes, I do think people expected Labour to be more sympathetic to vulnerable groups. They've always been the party to protect those in poverty, the disabled etc. But there are very real concerns that they're Tory-Lite at the moment - the courts have already said that changing disability benefits just to raise money is not acceptable, and will leave people in unacceptable poverty with no improved chances of being able to work. People are worried about what Labour are going to do to disability benefits because at the moment they're a lifeline for those who can't do all the things that other people take for granted. We're waiting for an announcement but it's pretty scary.

(I work FT as self-employed, but I also care for three disabled people and in addition, two years ago my DP collapsed with a neurological issue. He had a high-flying IT career and has been told they can't cure him and he will never work again. Not everyone on disability benefits are chancers - it's really, really shit having no choice but to rely on government handouts).

Also something has got to be wrong with our children. Why are they all special needs nowadays. Every 2nd post somebodys child gets benefits because they are special needs. I'm not saying there are no genuine cases but why are there so many nowadays and what the hell is going to happen to all these non verbal special needs kids once their parents die. I mean is it all the ultra processed food they are eating or something we are doing that is hurting them

Older parent hood and increased alcohol intake in women as you asked.

What aspect of free speech have Labour got rid of? As far as I can see, there's absolutely zero change or attempt to change this.