Is the way this Government is behaving normal for a Government?

[BionicWomansAnkle]

I don’t remember briefings weeks before budgets telling us how bad they’d be, constant kite flying regarding tax raises almost immediately after one budget has ended, regularly finding ‘black holes’ that almost exactly match up to money they’ve just spent and constantly shifting definitions of who exactly those with ‘the broadest shoulders’ are.
YABU - Yes this has always happened
YANBU -No this is not ordinary

First post nails it. It's very unnerving. Also the aggression coming from some of the PLP is quite concerning. I'm shocked at how quickly the wheels have fallen off and quite depressed about the next four years.

You must not know anyone ‘with the broadest shoulders’.

I think its fair to say that any government would be making cuts and raising taxes as its basically the only available choice.

My tory mp made a comment about how it was good it was a labour government because they coukd get away with making cuts/raising taxes in a way his party couldn't. I thought it was pretty telling.

Id hate to be un government now.

Generally these things come in waves. You have periods when the entire Budget has been leaked well in advance. Then someone senior remembers that Budgets shouldn't be leaked and it stops for a few fiscal events. Then the leaks gradually start coming out again until you are back to having the entire Budget trailed in advance again. Rinse and repeat.

There is a desperate flailing to it all which feels rather different this time.

Yes agree re aggression plus flailing in pp

I've never known a government behave like this before a Budget.

It seems they're suggesting terrible news in the hope we'll be happy if it's just bad news.

If they put as much effort into being less incompetent than in treating us all like idiots then maybe the economy wouldn't be in the mess it's in

It's unfortunate for Labour that the end of postwar consensus politics has collided with their taking of office. That said, they've made the situation worse by refusing to accept that this is the case. We can't continue to take from people who work to fund a black hole of welfare entitlements for those who, by and large, really don't need handouts and are perfectly able to work. Especially those who arrived into the country five minutes ago by boat with their hand out. Productive people will reduce hours and quietly quit, whatever means are available to them, to not pay for this. A huge reckoning with welfare and citizenship, relative to the fundamentals like defence spending, is coming in the next decade, whether people like it or not. It's time for people to anticipate that and start thinking about how they are going to rely on the state less

Labours achievements so far
Screwed over the farmers
Screwed over the pensioners
Screwed over private school pupils
Screwed over the disabled
Screwed over the fishermen
Doubled the "black hole"
Released many violent criminals early
Jailed people for their opinions
Put illegal immigrants rights above British citizens
Dubbed a large section of the electorate racists.
Yeah I'd say they were doing a sterling job
(Of losing votes)

Panic might be too strong a word but yes I do think more people than usual are aware of it and thinking/worrying/discussing it.

It does feel like big change is coming. In fairness I think we need big change so.....

I agree with your post on several points. I am seeing lots of threads on here about people limiting their income so not to pay more tax. I personally retired earlier than I thought I would (no benefits though). I have thought about going back part-time but the thought of funding more benefits for others puts me off.
So yes, even people who were traditionally hard working savers etc are feeling huge resentment at the amount of piss taking going on.

I wish they would just rip the plaster off with regards to welfare dependance. There is going to be a huge outcry (you see it on here everyday) so they may as well just get it over with. The sooner they start taking a hard line on this the sooner they can start repaying down debt and investing/growing the economy.

We seem to have ended up in a really weird place where people expect the goverment to fund their rent, their bills, their kids and give them spending money too. Gone are the days when people were embarassed to be a 'scrounger'

We want a booming economy so employers pay good wages to attract good talent. This in turn gets people off all these top up benefits.

I totally agree. Used to be a total socialist leftist, but then grew up. Nothing is free, because somebody else is paying for it. The fundamental problem with the left is the total denial that people's obligations are to family first, followed by friends, community, countrymen, rest of world. If you take away people's ability to care for their families, and give their efforts away to random people, they will rebel in any way they can. This is what people are doing when they see the twenty thousandth random bloke arrive by boat at Dover, or the two hundredth thousandth person with a nice new Motability car. They are thinking f that, and avoiding being the mug that foots the bill at all costs, and finding ways to keep their money and time for family. We can accept that, or not. Either way, it's coming to an end

Reeves' speech felt like crisis management to me. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

I think the media have a big part to blame.

Lots of ‘a think tank has suggested’ which is meaningless really.

But a lot of the leaks are coming from the government, flying kites. You can't blame the media for printing it.

That ridiculous press briefing this week showed how completely she is out of her depth. In my long life this is the worst government I have ever had to live with.

Hopeless and useless.

And as for Lammy. Well don't get me started.

What scares me the most is how much they are opening the door to Reform.

You can't blame the media when she did her own scripted press conference talking the economy down

I think as a strategy people are starting to realise this doesn't work.

The reason is that pretty much every announcement whether it is a spending cut or a tax increase is met by a squeal of outrage. But although it may be possible to measure the outrage, it's very difficult to measure how many people think the policy is a good idea as they generally won't bother to respond.

So effectively you get into a paralysis where you can't do anything out of fear it will be badly received.

Then you get the misconception amongst the public that anything floated as a policy might be a policy, and this modifies behaviour.

For example, the current "leaks" from wherever are indicating that Labour may well do something re taxing property, ie stamp duty or council tax. No one is quite sure what will be done, but the general impression is that this is stalling the housing market, because people want to see what happens re tax increases before they make a decision. So the leaks are actually acting negatively to dampen economic activity and stall the housing market, which I am sure is something the government don't want. I'm pretty sure this is why Reeves made a statement to the other day to try and clear up some of the FUD. But of course because it didn't include any specifics it didn't really achieve anything.

And of course there is the added issue that none of this "information" might actually be coming from the government at all and might just be FUD spread by VI opposition !

Doing that will wipe out Labour in Wales next year, and the rest of the UK will follow.

That would be the end of the Labour Party.

Late 40s, have never felt this worried before. How on earth have they ballsed up this badly in just a year and a bit?! I have no faith in this govt - Reeves lacks competency, ability and experience… & many other ministers in post do too. It’s really concerning as to where we could be by the end of this government’s term if things don’t change. How far can they push it before the public start to demand (as opposed to moan about) change?

They are totally out of their depth. As were the conservatives before them. We lost a lot of good politicians during Brexit and are reaping the rewards now with this shower.

The briefing of press and social media to ‘test’ policy (presume to avoid poll tax riot level displeasure or another Liz Truss meltdown) has been going on for years but I’ve never known it so blatant or constant.

People will not accept being made poor to continue funding all these benefits and failing services while accepting nigh on a million immigrants a year.

I predict protests on the streets if any of this bullshit comes to pass.

Compared to the tories, they are doing a great job but are still rubbish. Why aren't they taxing the rich?
If reform get in, it will be like the USA. We will be totally screwed. There's just too many people full of hate and ignorance who support them though.

Completely agree. I think the children education tax was an undeniable demonstration of hate and ignorance, it does not bode well for the future that we have so many of these people living in our communities.

For me, the most puzzling thing is that despite being career politicians, they seem to have no awareness of how it all looks. For example in a week where there’s ‘leaks’ about tax rises and some banded properties doubling in council tax, the PM pops off to Brazil for 48 hours. Or every single time one of his cabinet ministers lands themselves in hot water, the first thing he does is offer them his ‘full confidence’ before inevitably having to backtrack a few days later.

The early semi announcement of the budget was presumably done so the Press would hyperventilate and make people think the worst so that by the time the actual budget arrives and it’s probably not quite as bad as people feared, we’ll feel this odd sense of ‘gratitude’.

Honestly, it feels like political interns are running the country.

Yes, it's been happening for years.

Absolutely, this.