A 1p / 2p raise to income tax should lawfully trigger a general election

[TesChique]

There are vague promises in manifestos, and there are those which are explicit and should be binding except in exceptional circumstances (war etc)

If labour, or any party reneges on a core manifesto promise it should lawfully trigger a general election

They have lied to the public.

AIBU to think we need to see this change in law?

To be fair the welfare budget is completely out of control.

And when peoples’ spending ability is cut drastically by the hike in income tax, business and SME’s will be hit even harder as people will have less money to spend. I know my family will be having to tighten our belts considerably after the budget, and we certainly won’t be spending as much on Christmas this year. I can see a recession happening very soon.

A pandemic on the back of austerity. What a surprise that was a disaster, eh? It’s reminiscent of the sort of mindset that acts surprised when the roof of their mould-riddled home caves in, because they kept delaying repairs and couldn’t understand why the consequence of this was that the cost of rectifying the damage caused by deliberate neglect seemed to be growing exponentially.

Unless someone is going to grab the bull by the horns and actively make drastic reforms nothing is going to change. We keep hearing welfare is cut to the bone when welfare is a free for all. The welfare budget is now £100 billion, twice what it was in 2018. Thats not cut to the bone that’s out of control.

It seems to me that the only constant is the civil service, it needs a shake up, big time. A few starters for ten:

massive reform in the NHS to reduce wastage
review and cut civil service pension entitlements
tighter controls in PIP, should not be given for anxiety and milder health conditions
review of motability, again should be reigned in and not be available for certain conditions. (And let’s stop this narrative that it’s a charity and doesn’t cost the tax payer - it receives significant tax relief)

Someone needs to be bold, unfortunately it won’t be this bunch as they seem to believe they can just continue to tax hardworking people. It’s going to come back to bite them.

You may be right, although I hope not the 2008 recession was bad.

On the pandemic I recall the IMF warning Reeves / Labour that they no longer had a buffer for a similar economic shock. So let’s hope no more virus leaks or similar for a long time.

The richest people who pay the most tax have left the country in huge numbers, so we now need to pay more to make up for it. The rich are the most mobile and so a good government needs to push them as far as they can without pushing them away, this lot have failed and we all pay the price.

Rishi Sunak was one of the architects of the 2008 crash (which is when national debt began to spiral). I absolutely would not be using him as a symbol of economic virtue.

Sunak worked at a hedge fund involved in controversial deals during that period. When he worked for the hedge fund he wasn’t a decision maker at a national level, nor was he a regulator or a policy maker - hardly the “architect of the 2008 crash” as you say in your post above, which is a massive over exaggeration 🙄

Yes what a bizarre post.

You don’t think it unwise that someone who founded their career (and made a great deal of money personally) on making the very deals that drove us towards economic disaster, is put in charge of an entire national economy? Okay cool.

You’re better off looking at the government and regulators as they exposed the economy to very high risk.

It boosted things for a while but the crash was next. They enjoyed it politically while it lasted but it was always a gamble.

I understand the need for an increase in taxation but would favour an increase in the rate of VAT. VAT is paid by all, income tax is not. I would not be in favour of an increase in VAT thresholds though.

I remember the Tories making structural changes to the NHS during austerity, none of which did anything other than waste money, appear to make the NHS even more inefficient, and take money away from frontline care. It seems to me it’s the constant attempts by fuckwit temporary politicians to replace anything that resembles experience or constancy with inexperienced and underresourced alternatives or private sector opportunists who pocket the profits they make from the taxpayer without providing what they promised, that’s the bigger issue, not “the civil service.” Ideological tinkering for personal gain and the benefit of personal friends does not improvements make. I also note with amusement that Reform in Kent appear to be finding it harder to slash costs than they anticipated andnthey’re all arguing like cats in a sack. Quelle surprise. It’s almost as though armchair fantasies bear no resemblance to reality.

VAT is a regressive tax with no reflection of ability to pay. It disproportionately affects the least wealthy.

So we can't tax the rich more because they're all leaving in droves and we can't increase VAT because it affects the poorest disproportionately - I know why not just fuck those in the squeezed middle over yet again!

I'm with you OP, if there's no consequences to sticking to the promises you make then people can promise anything just to get in.

I'm amazed that people don't seem to notice that this is Farage's favourite tactic (350 million for the NHS anyone) - maybe it's because they're too busy defending Labour's right to pull this shit.

So much truth in this, in particular about the "tinkering" which all too often is only done in pursuit of a headline

Trouble is, once the news has moved on, it quickly descends into opportunists of every stripe wanting a place at the trough, and with nobody prepared to say "HOW much??" any possible benefit to frontline services vanishes

I know the thread has moved on but this genuinely made me laugh. Worse than the murderer and philanderer? Worse than the one who tanked the economy and was outlived by a lettuce? Have a word with yourself.

I agree. We need to share the burden rather than hammering the same people again and again.

We are not the laughing stock of the world. Don't be silly. Have you seen the state many other countries are in?

If anyone's a laughing stock it's the US.

Was that said just before the largest economy in the world elected a maniac intent upon recreating the Great Depression?

Grow up, seriously

The country needs investment. The government spending money puts it straight back into the economy if they do it properly (not handing out dodgy contracts to their mates) and will provide opportunities for businesses and jobs. I’m fed up of Tories, Red Tories and Farage’s New Tories. We are paying staggering amounts on these ridiculous contracts because of years of under investment and privatisation.

The tariffs haven’t hit us as much as predicted, to the extent that Reeves and Starmer can’t even use it as an excuse.

Not sure what they’ll use beyond we lied and got it wrong.

Don’t you feel that it is really sad that we all accept that “every government lies” about the policies on which they are elected?
Surely if, as OP suggested, breaking a fundamental pledge triggered a GE, parties might be a little more careful with their promises? Wouldn’t it be better if we voted on their actual, informed plans, rather than voting for their ideals?

How do parties, other than the incumbent, make such plans when they cannot see the books in advance and don't have access to whole departments of civil servants to support them?