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.

Plenty has changed in the last 2 decades....

15 years ago i could get NHS dental treatment, 20 years ago, buy a house on a single salary. Drive my car without wrecking a tyre on a pot hole.
Sewage was not routinely dumped in my local river, an ANOB. .... most importantly, an ambulance didn't take 24hours to turn up... AE waits were not in days.

Austerity has wrecked the country & has proven to be hugely expensive, it has saved nothing at all.
eg 100s of millions saved in road mcte? costs to get back to where we were? 10s of Billions...
Same with justice system, public buildings, NHS estate....

AI might mean less lower level jobs, on the other hand it might also turn out to change things in ways we cannot yet imagine.

Have to disagree. Any semblance of centrally owned and managed services have disappeared. The cult of the individual looms large.

There will be more " White Flight" Those with the dollar will set up enclaves in the Cotswolds, North Yorkshire and the like. Urban areas will deteriorate.

Nobody will use handwriting.

Churches will die.

Austerity.....we're all in together....belt tightening.

A disgrace.

Agree!!!

I do totally agree that authenticity would be well received, but I don't think authenticity is behind the success of Trump and Farage. I don't think either of them are authentic.

What they are able to do is speak in simple language and promise simple solutions to complex problems. The snag is that none of their solutions will actually fix the problems, but people will believe them because they want to believe them.

Rightly or wrongly, for all that we say we want authenticity, the mainstream political parties clearly don't believe that they can be honest with the electorate about the severity of the situation that we are facing and the difficult choices that we're going to have to make. They don't think that they will be elected if they level with the public, presumably because the focus groups have told them that the electorate want messages of hope and positivity rather than realism.

The problem for Starmer is his soundbites really are inauthentic, ie shown to be lies. I mean the recent videos of deporting people are a sham and everyone knows it. They are simple but false.

He will struggle now all the ‘ground breaking’ has been sold in.

I'd just love this government to do something, ANYTHING about the cost of living.
I don't understand why the people in the UK will take to the streets to march for any cause other than the one every single house is dealing with.
People are paying three times more than they used to for gas, electricity and water.
The banks are running this country, not the government.
The energy companies are fucking everyone and nobody says a fucking word.

We have a house in France and our energy bills came down 30% since September last year. Here in the UK they just keep going up and everyone gets used to it and struggles on.
If Labour gave a shiny shit about people they'd do something about that and people would be able to breathe financially.
But they won't. And their supporters keep defending them.
I know so many people whose wages used to support them well but are now dwarfed by the energy costs.
But we're all adjusted to paying a fortune now so nobody notices that.

Just wanted to add before someone chips in with "Yeah but the conservatives fucked it all not labour..." Things have gone into freefall since Labour got in. It was a shitshow before but it's a lot worse for everyone now.

They are all run by the banks. I don't want to be conspiracy theorist but it's like they are trying to bankrupt everyone. When you can't pay your mortgage they'll take your house and rent you one of the lovely copy and paste shit-boxes they're building over green-belt.
Freedom of speech is being removed.
If I didn't have kids in the UK I'd be gone to France, mind you that's on fire too.
What a mess.

Starmer tried it... he said, quite rightly, how bad the country is in... very quickly accused by plenty on here and in the media of "Talking the Country down"

Meanwhile the 'right wing... well thats all they ever do, inc on here, slag off the country.

We have always had problems with taxes not quite covering our expenditure.

What concerns me most, are the recent moves to close down freedom of speech and crush protesting. This is truly terrifying. We are a nation proudly built on democracy.

Kier Starmer still going on about the hole the Torys left in the treasury.

Not the case elsewhere in the UK. One year on, the country is in steep decline. Reeves was responsible for over a quarter of a million job losses even before the NI increase took effect.
Junior doctors recently striking again after Labour claimed they'd solved the problem.
Housebuilding at its lowest level for 12 months back in February - far from increasing the number of homes built, they're actually building fewer.
It paints a grim picture but the one ray of sunshine is that it's cementing Labour as a single-term government.

if labour doesn’t curb illegal immigraton and stop censoring those unhappy about it, farage will be in and I am beginning to think that might be a good thing

What is Farage going to do? Better public services with reduced taxes is just as much bullshit as the money from the NHS from Brexit....

Well, they did, their NI cut is costing the Treasury 10billion per year... thats money that has to found by borrowing or cutting services.....

Did you think cutting NI by 4% was "free money"

TBH its not you having increased taxes thats the problem. Its the hoarding of wealth and assests by the super rich. And I dont mean anyone who is actually working for a wage, not even those who are bringing in 6 figure sums.

The middle classes need to realise they are in it with the poor, not align themselves with the wealthy - who are so so far above them that if they are not in that group now, they will never be.

We are where we are due to unregulated global end stage capitalism. The poor dont have any money or assets. The lower middle dont have any money or assets. The middle are hanging on to thweir assets and are scared of any talk of tax raising, etc, as they fear they will lose them. The upper middle are only a policy away (see the furore with Liz Kendals budget, when the media class saw the risk to their homes and caused a turnaround) The upper classes do what they do, and the super rich are snaffling up everything and trying hard to keep the upper middles onside - blaming immigration/poor/disabled as a blame game distraction.

The government are broke. Theyve sold most of their assets. They cant run the country because they have no money. The super rich have it. They are beholden to them because they have the banks in their pockets, its the super rich who lend money to the banks.

This guy is a bit of a one message pony, but he has the measure. And some politicians are begining to catch on. Some countries too - several in Europe now introducing a wealth tax. Wealth, not work. So not anyone earning a wage. But all these assets that are based in the UK. Corporate buildings / property shares in UK companies. And all the other ways that passive increase of wealth is generated. If its made here, its taxed here. And globally.

https://www.youtube.com/@garyseconomics/videos https://www.youtube.com/@garyseconomics/videos]]]]

The most sensible thing I ever heard about the problems inherent in British society and the economc choices we face was from the ex Bank of England chairman, Mervyn King. He said the problem was British people wanted Scandinavian level of public services with US tax levels and that is just not possible.

That was a post GE line to tax more and they’ve created a bigger one now £50bn

If they're so concerned about this supposed 'black hole' why is Reeves haemorrhaging £34 billion on quantitative tightening with the tax payer left to foot the bill?

I agree. The welfare system is out of control. A lot of the UC bill is paying private landlords rents and this needs to be controlled.
I work in this area and am genuinely shocked at who gets given disability benefits. It needs to be restricted to the most severely disabled or I genuinely think we are going to reach a state where the welfare system collapses completely with catastrophic consequences. No-one wants to see that happen but the current system is completely unsustainable.

Planning permission takes years, any drop off in building is down to developers not building....
An older link, but planning hasn't speeded up.... if anything, its slowed down.

https://lichfields.uk/blog/2016/november/8/start-to-finish-how-quickly-do-large-scale-housing-sites-deliver

However, Labours house building plans were silly, they haven't the money to pay builders to build houses that will be sold or rented at below market rates.

I agree with you but the era of never answering a question is over. They don’t realise it yet I don’t think, but they have to find a way to answer it, even if it’s unpalatable.

top rate tax payers? 😂😂 you think people on £150k can afford to flee with their family and get a new job and home in another country?

Even if that was realistic, where would they be getting working visas??

Planning permission does NOT take years and Labour has introduced moves to streamline the process anyway so that's no excuse. The blame lies solely with the Labour government.

What do you think is the answer? Especially the number of pensioners.

This thread is a perfect example that what the super rich want us to do is what we are doing.

arguing about the little people, arguing about the crumbs, while money gets syphoned out of the system by the people who made a killing on austerity, who cleaned up during covid, who's wealth has increased by multiples into figures that are so staggeringly high that we cant even comprehend them.

We will end up voting in someone like Farage, who pretends to be one of the people, but is backed by billionaires? Why would they back him? only because they know they will make more money with him in power, no other reason.

There is not one person on Mumsnet, I can guarantee, who would be affected negatively by a wealth tax. Not one. But we would all benefit from a funded government. And we would benefit mentally from a relief from anxiety and stress about losing our homes/losing our jobs/ getting sick and relying on the NHS. Every dept in government is at rock bottom. Because all the money is in the hands of the few.

This is a joke, right?

Labour planned to talk everything down because that was their strategy in opposition. They re-purposed it once in government. They thought they could get some political cover early on with “oh my word, we knew it was bad but not this bad”.

Then the voters and the markets both saw through it and became suspicious of Labour’s honesty and their willingness to do anything except pander to their client base.

So Starmer panicked and ordered an upbeat message of “Growth, growth, growth!” Which has generated only laughter.

As for the right slagging off the country, did you miss Labour’s endless misery narrative?