Is anyone better off since Labour

[Luckymum20]

I am not just talking financially but feeling optimistic about the future for children, old age.

With the £22 billion debt now pasing £50 billion.

The increase in Council tax (that they said the wouldn't do). OAPs raid on pensions and no Winter fuel relief. Changes to finance regarding care homes. Utilities up. TV licence up. Food costs up...

I know minimum wage has increased but all costs have increased by a greater amount!

In 2021 minimum wage was almost 30% lower than it is now...

So I ask. Is anyone actually feeling better off, optimistic and pleased with this Government.

Also the October budget of likely to bring more stains on the 'average working man"

YABU - change will happen. It a good thing.

YANBU - not good

Marvellous sarcasm. And she was correct.

The IMF would provide a loan with strict strings attached. The strings will be much lower public spending and possibly tax rises, although I don’t know what else there is to tax.
The UK will need to apply in May next year going by current trajectory and even earlier if Rachel comes up with another black hole. Looks like France will too in the near future so saves a bit of face.

I agree with you.

We deserve better representation than this. There are so many talented younger people itching to make a difference but they can never break into politics as the party machines just erase them.

@ThatWaryOchreQuoter thank you
so what would happen the IMF will just say this is the amount that’s it sort it out x

I'm much worse off Food prices are rising and now electricity as well.
I expect Rachel from accounts will out taxes up. She lied on her CV so I expect she lied in the manifesto .
So much for 'we'll smash the gangs '
Not only am I worse off I don't feel safe going into my local town

It would be IMF’s largest ever bail-out, but they’ll impose severe cuts.

We’ll have massive cuts to spending and an increase in taxes. Both of these need to happen just to stem the deficit spending. It won’t improve anything - just stop things getting worse. Labour backbenchers didn’t accept any cuts to welfare spending, it’s unpopular with the recipients of benefits who now outnumber contributors, and increasing taxes is political suicide, although Reeves will have to - she has no other choices.

We’re heading towards a Greece-style economic collapse but people would prefer to keep their heads in the sand.

@smallpinecone fux sake this looks shit I’ve just put my last BTL up for sale hope it gets over the line before shit
so benefits will just be cut hard and fast
what happens to the government ?

The IMF will insist on the government making policy changes and legislating them as a prerequisite. So the triple lock goes, the NHS, any kind of public funding for social care, etc. All this will all go immediately.

It will be a very large loan with very strict conditions on public spending.

It would be IMF’s largest ever bail-out, but they’ll impose severe cuts.

It wouldn’t. It wouldn’t be close to Argentina’s in 2018.

So the triple lock goes, the NHS, any kind of public funding for social care, etc. All this will all go immediately.

That’s nonsense. The triple lock would probably go. The NHS and social care definitely wouldn’t. As well as imposing cuts, an IMF loan can also insist on increased taxes and anyone who thinks those won’t happen is deluded.

What’s the issue with Labour saying we should leave the ECHR? Do you think we should put up endless economic migrants? Do you think that’s a good thing?

Denmark is an interesting case study in this regard. The left wing socialist party there is very anti immigration. They want to preserve the welfare state for Danish citizens and Danish citizens only. They remain a signatory to the ECHR but have no qualms about leaving it if it is no longer in Danish interests. It’s a mature stance to take. It doesn’t mean all the other human rights contained in the ECHR are immediately binned. We can draft our own bill of rights to put in its place.

We have to be able to discuss these things, not just immediately pearl clutch at the thought of leaving the ECHR. If it is not discussed by Labour we’re looking at a guaranteed Reform government. Labour should grasp the nettle, take the lead back from the right wing. It has been an extremely successful means of combatting the rise of the right in Denmark.

It’s just like changing the funding model of the NHS to something that works though. So many gasps and pearl clutching that nothing changes when positive changes could be made.

I'm interested in this too. Don't think the UK has had an IMF bail out since I was a baby so no idea how it works.
Will they tell the government what taxes to raise and cuts to make or will they just just say spending has to be cut by 40% and it's up to you how you do it?
I'm kind of hoping they are told what to do. Wouldn't trust them to cut the right things if left to their own devices.

What’s so infuriating is that Labour had a gold-plated opportunity to make a significant change to the way our country is run. They could have properly addressed the deep structural flaws in the NHS, or reformed the welfare system and made cuts. They could have changed immigration policy to encourage high-skilled workers while discouraging asylum seekers or illegal immigrants.

But they have been totally half-hearted about everything and caved at the first hint of opposition. Look at the winter fuel allowance, or the proposed reforms to PIP. The slightest hint of opposition and they roll over and do nothing, making our situation all the worse. They have the power to help us but they refuse to do it.

And they turn yet again to the productive, hard-working, hardest-pressed section of society to again foot the bill. The middle class has been squeezed so much they are very quickly losing patience, especially when they typically get atrocious value for money from their taxes. Crimes they are the victim of won’t get solved nor the perpetrators punished. The free healthcare they are owed won’t deliver the outcomes they require, so they’ll rely on private healthcare. The schools their children go to won’t provide the education their children deserve, so they’ll pay to go private. All whilst seeing those taxes they sweated for used to pay for not only those in genuine need (which they don’t resent), but the indolent and lazy, or to house illegal immigrants, or fund absurd programmes to promote diversity (not a cause that should be prioritised in a desperate financial environment).

I’m no fan of Farage - but if we were properly governed, he wouldn’t exist as a credible threat. Labour have fucked up so badly that they’re making a Reform victory inevitable.

I feel that things are going in the right direction in policy terms. I think a lot of the feels stuff (perception of how things are) will take time to kick in given many of the issues are baked in after over a decade of Tories

@twistyizzy - so twisty..you have devoted page after page, thread after thread explaining how much you hate labour (I believe that one of their policies may have resulted in an increase in private school fees). Tell us what is so good about Reform as surely you want to offer an alternative.

@MillyMolliMandi Why don't you sell Labour to us? Why should those of us who don't like this government vote for them to serve another term? Give it your best shot.

Why does it follow that if someone thinks Labour are doing an appalling job, they must therefore think Farage and Reform will be good?

Have you ever chosen the least worst option when presented with two shitty choices?

I’d be very interested to learn why, too.

Labour had a gold-plated opportunity to make a significant change to the way our country is run. They could have properly addressed the deep structural flaws in the NHS, or reformed the welfare system and made cuts. They could have changed immigration policy to encourage high-skilled workers while discouraging asylum seekers or illegal immigrants.

What, all in 13 months? That’s the work of 13 years.

As I said earlier - look at the winter fuel allowance, or the proposed reforms to PIP. The slightest hint of opposition and they roll over and do nothing.

Whether they have 13 years or 13 months, they accomplish nothing. We don’t have the luxury of time.

@MillyMolliMandi I am interested in why you would think Labour is still an option
@blossomtoes they have capitulated at every reform apart from vat on school fees and the farm tax they are absolutely useless and they were given a golden opportunity

And ironically those were the two best ideas they’ve had!

It’s the first time I’ve ever seen a poison chalice described as a golden opportunity. You must live in a parallel universe.

Why complain that they haven’t been given enough time, then turn around and say it’s a poisoned chalice anyway 🤷‍♀️

Why even bother, right?

I pointed out that they inherited such a mess that it would take at least a decade to make meaningful change. You can’t repair the damage of 14 years in 14 months. Your expectations are ridiculous.