To wonder how the UK will look in 3 years time?

[Labradorlover987]

I was inspired to write this after reading the UC post that was just reported - the govt’s welfare bill has passed but was watered down so unlikely to make any real savings.

I earn 40k, have a school age child and just feel like I am living hand to mouth 😩 I 100% think there should be a welfare systems that supports people on low incomes but I wonder how the current system will be sustained in the long run?

Just wondered what other people thought.

I actually wouldn’t mind paying more in taxes if we could be guaranteed more in services etc - for example my council tax just went up and the services seem even worse this year than usual.

I understand your concerns and I have my reservations but as we live in a democracy, I can’t get over the fact that no governments appear to have taken the issues seriously. The electorate say we have concerns about Y (or X or Z, whatever the main issue at the time is) and the problems are getting worse.

Reform will be in in three years? That will be tricky. GE's not 'till 2029. Is Farage going to stage a coup?

I can confidently predict the State Pesion won't be means tested within 3 years, not even within 10 years.

The UK will still be here in three years. Some things will be good, some things will be bad. People on MN will still be predicting that it will be all smoke and rubble in x years.

5 years ago, people were predicting permanent lockdowns and that we'd never return to normal life.

Four years ago, predictions were that we'd all be dead within two years from the vaccine, etc.

People like to cast doom and gloom.

I 100% think there should be a welfare systems that supports people on low incomes but I wonder how the current system will be sustained in the long run?

You dont think employers should he compelled to pay more livable wages?

Why are benefits the only answer.

Yes I’m the same, want to tell the kids to get the hall out when they’re older but where?

I suspect that people are going to start resenting the higher taxes that are inevitable that will be needed to sustain the Welfare State with more and more claimants.

I really don’t know who to vote for (Voted Labour last time, have never Voted Reform/UKIP or anything like that) but I live in a very mixed area and know (from
visiting the homes of friends of DC who’s parents are on benefits) that they have a similar standard of living to me, plus the security of council accommodation and more time to spend on their own children.

The benefits are due to being signed off with “anxiety and depression” in nearly every case, though they appear to function perfectly fine day to day.

The difference is that I’m privately renting and working full time.

I suppose I shouldn’t judge as I don’t know how things are behind closed doors, but a lot of people will vote based on perceptions rather than facts.

Bankrupt probably.

Those who think Reform are the answer should have a look at this. Doesn't inspire with confidence:

https://bylinetimes.com/2025/06/16/reform-uk-councillors-nigel-farage-chaos/

It doesn’t exist. Australia is going to be as hot as the core of the earth in the future. That is not the utopia people like to make it out to be. The countries that have law and order are also the ones that have a TERRIBLE human rights record. The only ones I can think of are maybe Switzerland, Holland, Iceland 🤷‍♀️

I've had anxiety for years, wrongly diagnosed several times for depression, now at nearly 50 I am having an ADHD assessment. Also have osteoarthiritis.

Can I get it?

Canada?

It isn't that politicians are not taking the issues seriously. The problem is that the issues are not simple to resolve.

The reason Farage does so well is that he offers simple solutions to incredibly complex problems. "Sort out immigration and everything will be fine." And some of the public are happy to believe him because it's appealing to think that there is a quick fix if someone would only come in and get on with it.

The reality is that "sorting out immigration" is not as simple as Farage and his cronies want you to think it is, and even if by some miracle they did manage it, that still wouldn't fix the myriad other problems that the country is facing. And indeed, in some ways, it might actually make things worse.

The problem that we really have is that the electorate don't want to hear politicians being honest about the challenges that our country faces and the trade-offs that we might have to choose between going forwards. They don't reward politicians at the ballot box for leveling with the public about the stark reality that this country is facing, so the politicians tell us what they think we want to hear and make promises that they can never deliver.

We don't need people like Farage, who will promise sunlit uplands and then deliver chaos. We need politicians who are brave enough to articulate the very difficult choices that we are going to need to make as a society. But I won't hold my breath...I don't see anyone at the moment with the vision and the charisma to be able to bring the public round to a more realistic way of thinking about things.

Mass immigration is not something that can be tackled overnight. It’s complex and nuanced, there are laws that govern how people (all people) are treated. Reform does not have the answer. Farage is a professional agitator; the proverbial fox in the hen house. He enjoys the limelight and spinning yarns, not the painstaking work of governing.

Friends of my husband know Farage; worked with him back in his city days. He is surprisingly genial in person; there is a lot of insecurity there, he was privately educated but unlike many of his peers, he did not have the cushion of generational wealth. School boys can be cruel and I doubt he was ever allowed to forget that. I believe he wants to build up his wealth and sees being Prime Minister as the quickest path to achieving this.

Lower paid workers disenfranchised with politics will put Farage into power and then pay a terrible price for it. Because once in power it is the wealthy that Farage will serve; if only to finally be accepted as one of them.

I suspect that people are going to start resenting the higher taxes that are inevitable that will be needed to sustain the Welfare State with more and more claimants. @PansyPotter84

I think we are there already. On the one hand, we have a disproportionate number on sickness and disability benefits in addition to many long term welfare recipients, and a thriving black market with no ID system. At the same time, we have the pension triple lock and a free (and abused) NHS.

Few countries can afford to look after so many welfare claimants, pensioners and undocumented workers in the black market, funded by a group who themselves are struggling. No-one begrudges the very sick or the old, but the problem is in the grey area. The risk is that the politics will go so extreme that even the clear cut cases that need help will suffer in a very right wing world.

My acquaintance left general practice as she could no longer write endless sick notes for approved but suspect reasons (script by TikTok) and was even pulled up for refusing to do so. At the same she couldn’t provide proper help to those badly in need with long term conditions especially severe mental health and chronic illness. That’s the problem here..

Within 3 years we’ll see this explode.

Possibly but I thought they were having a nightmare with the USA trying to claim it as Northern Territory. I’ll add it to the list though.

Less of the despondency! Things will be better in a three years! Keir says so. And if a principled man like that - who looks great in those suits and glasses he worked so hard for - tells us things are on the up, we should believe him.

He’s fixed the foundations of the economy, smashed the gangs, has forged a great partnership with the doctors now, and has made huge strides to getting the welfare bill down.

I predict El Dorado UK.

I’m going to disagree with some of this. I think we are in a new era where authenticity is key. We know so much now that unless these politicians get honest people will believe the conspiracy theorists instead. Why do you think people naturally move towards the likes of Farage and Trump? It’s because of the plain speaking. I would much rather hear Starmer say it’s a shit show, we can’t get France to cooperate because they are still pissed over Brexit so we are doing to best deal we can (to be fair I did hear the Labour MP responsible for that area pretty much say that and I applauded her. More of that and I might just hate Labour less.

Given the number of “late potty training”
threads that seem to be popping up,
I also predict a surge in “children starting secondary school not potty trained” news stories.

Out of Pampers and straight into Tena Pants!

My DD's departments waiting list has fallen from 22 weeks 12 months ago to 2 to 4 weeks, thats in acquired brain injury, mainly stroke.

22 weeks to get therapy... under the Tories... 4 weeks is still far too long but at least its going in the right direction.

Pay has gone up a lot, so less leaving.

Done through increased budgets, hired more medical staff.

Truss was NOT reversed, because of the Tories, Gilt yields went from 1.6% to 4.5%, we are still paying for that, interest payments on govt debt trebled.

Build more homes? 158 planned not far from me, huge protests against this.... mostly from people who moved into homes built in the last few years....

The same as it does now, ie the same as it has been for years. Very little has changed in decades, tbh.

But while I agree authenticity is key, the problem is that taking off the gloves works only when you’re in fighting fit condition which we are not. Brexit, long term decline and a big welfare dependent state means we are not in great shape.

If we start taking on France like that, everyone just rolls their eyes and thinks “the Brits are at it again”.

I think the biggest problem in this country is the cost of housing and if that continues to go up the problems will continue to get a lot worse.

More concrete on natural habitats.
More migrants.
More rude disobedience of laws.
Less UK grown food.

Three years from now?

A lot worse I think. By then there will have been a major shift in the job market. A.I will have displaced a large number of roles, the "economically inactive" rates will be significantly higher. Current Uni students will be graduating into longterm unemployment.

Uncontrolled mass immigration into the EU and subsequently into the UK, will change the demographic of the country. By 2030, if rates remain unchanged, we will have added over a million (mostly young males) to the population. If we dont provide meaningful employment for this unprecedented number of immigrants, the alternative is a million pissed off young men, who have no allegiance to the UK, and no desire to integrate. It would be catastrophic to allow that situation to develop. Regardless of what you think about illegall immigration, it is happening, it will continue to happen, and the numbers I have mentioned are the best case scenario.

We will see the beginnings of a CBDC by then, that, coupled with the new "Digital wallet" that the government has introduced, and the linking of your National Insurance to your bank account, will kill off any notion of privacy or autonomy. The government will own you at that point. There will be the introduction of "climate credits", a digital system of control measures, designed to "encourage" compliance with an ever more reductive set of environmental rules. For example, your bank card will be blocked from certain transactions, like flying, or buying more than your allocated amount of red meat or alcohol, even geographical restrictions will be put in place, so your cards won't work outside your curfew area. Anyone speaking out will be accused of hate speech and arrested. This is currently being done with critics of certain religious practices and those who oppose the housing of illegally immigrants. So it absolutely will be done to anyone speaking up about environmental restrictions.

We will all be significant poorer, with millions dependent on a government which will want something back for the "support" it will have to provide. The unemployment rate will be such that UBI will probably have to be introduced. A handful of huge tech companies will be responsible for controlling the majority of industry, and consequently, the tax revenue. Impartiality will be a thing of the past, government will do whatever those companies say, because without them, there won't be any functioning economy. Imagine how little autonomy or influence you will have when you are unemployed, dependent on UBI, to a government that is beholden to a few tech companies, and if you complain about any of it, you get accused of Hate Crime. Welcome to the future.

And don't think it will never happen, Covid demonstrated how quickly people turned on their neighbours, reporting breaches of "the rules". When we are bombarded by media stating the "new rules" and how its "all for the good of the environment", people will turn each other remarkably quickly. Especially if their UBI was dependent on it.

"Are your neighbours or friends breaking their curfew?"

"Every time a citizen breaks the law, they are contributing to CLIMATE CHANGE and HABITAT DESTRUCTION"

"They are stealing your child's future"

Three years from now, the above rethoric will be common place. We are heading into a very dark period.

You've never heard of A.I have you.

The ones that would rather kill
off their disabled instead of fitting their houses with basic handrails?